"...Can you repeat that?" David asked. "I think I misheard you."
Henri smiled. "I said, you are now a noble. That way, we can properly reward you!"
"Father-" Henrietta was about to say, before Louise's shout cut her off.
"You can't just hand out a title to him! He only defeated Fouquet, he didn't do anything that actually protected the kingdom, and he didn't even do it alone!"
David glanced at him, raising his hands palms-forward. "Y-Yeah...I really don't deserve becoming a noble…" Seriously, most of what I'm doing is for my own gain…
He couldn't tell if the king was too trusting or if he knew exactly what he was doing. He'd had zero information on the king before since he was dead before the series started.
From what he'd seen, Henri was either the most idiotic or the shrewdest ruler in the series.
"You have Agnes' support, and that's plenty in my book to make anyone a noble...though you have also done things of your own accord that sat well with the ruling class. Getting involved in the Fouquet incident...you saved Henrietta's reputation by doing so."
David touched the back of his head with his hand, nervously laughing at the king's compliments. "I really wasn't thinking about Henrietta during any of that…" It was true, he hadn't really been thinking at all during most of the mission. Even warning Matilda to play dead was a spur of the moment thing, and he honestly had no idea why he'd helped her...she gave no reason for sympathy at any point in the anime, and he didn't agree with her turning to thievery to help Tifa.
"David, you may not be aware of this, but my husband does not just hand out titles to people." Marianne said. "It is rare for a commoner to become a noble. You are not even from this world, yet you have earned his trust even with the few memorable actions you have made."
Henri nodded. "When Henrietta returned from the exhibition, she clearly had changed...and it didn't take much pressing to find out it was thanks to your playing. And even barring that and Fouquet...your actions leading to Mott's arrest were invaluable to the kingdom. Whether you intended it or not, you did a great service sending that letter."
Louise stiffened, and Agnes stared at the boy. "...You...You're Odekoron Knight?" she asked, and he grinned sheepishly.
"I wanted to be anonymous, that's the whole reason I got someone else to write the letter for me...Plus I can't read or write Tristainian."
"There's no reason to be anonymous." Marianne said. "Nothing wrong with being known for your accomplishments, and you certainly have several that few nobles can brag about."
Henri clapped, grinning. "Now, then. I'm exercising my power as king to officially give you the title of a noble, and from now on, to the royal family, you will be given the runic name 'King of Commoners'...though this wasn't really prepared or anything, so I don't have a mantle to give you...Besides, you are still a familiar, so the title will be mostly superficial, I apologize."
David shook his head. This is the most informal promotion I've ever seen, but whatever, I can'twould defy the king...and it's definitely not a good idea to make him angry. "It's alright...I wasn't really expecting any sort of reward anyway."
"Nonsense, you deserve as much as Louise does!" Marianne said. "Oh, Henrietta, you like to tell them the other thing? You've been very quiet since we came here...Are you embarrassed by your parents being around him?"
Henrietta's face flushed again, but she managed to handle herself well enough, walking forward, hands clasped together in front of her like she often did when she was trying to look more regal than she felt. "Well...Asking you two to come here wasn't really just to reward you...We had something to request of you too."
"Of course! Anything!" Louise immediately said, and within seconds, she had the hood of David's sweater tightly gripped in her hand, forcing him to bend over so he wouldn't collapse to the side thanks to how short she was. "I'll even jump out the window with him if you ask it!"
David sweatdropped. We're on the first floor… he thought.
Henrietta laughed, shaking her head. "Nothing that extreme...I just want you to take a vacation in the village...There's been reports that a noble has been abusing the peasants there, and we wanted you to check it out...and now that David is a noble by name, it should be all the easier to be in disguise there."
"You can take a knight as well if you want, though Agnes and Cheri are both unavailable." Henri said.
David looked thoughtful...or rather, that's how he made himself look. In reality, he was looking knowingly at Henrietta, who had the same expression toward him.
Good, she passed along that information. Looks like the New Divide messaging system is working well. He internally smiled at the pigeon that loyally went between them...that bird was also apparently smart enough to know that it was to be kept a secret, because it never came by when he was near someone else, other than Tabitha, who never seemed to care in the slightest about his messages.
"A knight wouldn't be necessary, I can handle anything that would happen in the village with my Gandalfr power." David replied, taking the lead before Louise could start shouting her objection. The village arc was mostly just filler, but this time, he wasn't really trying to follow the plot. He just genuinely wanted to meet Scarron and Jessica, they seemed like nice people, even with Scarron's...issues.
Henrietta nodded. "Then good luck on your mission. I'm sorry to send you on another so soon after your last one…"
David grinned. "No worries...my ribs are almost healed now."
Sorry for the short chapter today. I recently got really into Pupa, and I've been prepping for a fanfiction of it, so I haven't really had the time to write a longer chapter...plus it's currently at a bit of a boring spot for now. Don't worry, I will do my best to make sure next chapter and the following ones will be normal length!