Chapter 81: I Shall Be Crowned King, the Surprise Pandora Prepared (Patreon)

Ram rose and smoothed out her maid's uniform, shooting him a coy, petulant glare before going to stand behind Daniel's throne alongside Rem.

Around the throne stood five consorts' seats, each crafted from brilliant diamonds.

Seated upon them were Emilia, Priscilla, Crusch, Felt, and Anastasia — the the Dragon Maiden.

The reason there were so few consort seats was that all the other women had their own reasons for not wanting the title.

Ram and Rem, for instance, wanted nothing more than to remain Daniel's maids.

Volcanica and Shaula likewise preferred to keep their places as Daniel's pets.

Betty had no interest in being a consort either — she already held the singular position of being Daniel's contracted Great Spirit, and that was enough for her.

Elsa, that wicked woman, claimed she'd rather serve as a shadow guard, and turned down the consort's seat as well.

Theresia, meanwhile, felt she wasn't yet worthy of standing beside Daniel.

Everyone had their own excuse, to the point where it almost looked like no one wanted to be Daniel's consort at all, so in the end he'd simply let Emilia and the others fill the empty seats.

Naturally, all of them had come today regardless, standing behind the seated consorts.

Only Pandora was absent. Daniel hadn't given her a consort's seat — that troublesome woman was better used as a weapon, and he liked being able to unleash her on his enemies without a second thought.

She'd said she had a surprise planned for him today, then gone quiet. He had no idea what she was scheming this time.

Daniel didn't bother probing into it. Knowing how thoroughly self-absorbed Pandora was, whatever she had planned probably wasn't bad news for him.

The playful antics between Daniel and Ram a moment ago had stirred up the other women as well, but sensing the ceremony was about to begin, they'd forced themselves to hold back.

Of all of them, Emilia was easily the most shameless — nothing was faster or more alarming than watching a once-pure girl fall into depravity.

If the coronation weren't about to start, she'd probably have already crawled over and presented herself for punishment.

Daniel checked the time. It was exactly noon. He turned to Ram at once. "Alright, let's not waste any more time. Begin."

"The hour has come! Let the coronation begin — Knights, enter! Musicians, play!"

Ram amplified her voice with wind magic, sending it echoing out through the palace's sealed gates.

At the same moment, Daniel's Mental Power Scan spread across the whole of Lugunica, and above every city and town, the coronation ceremony began broadcasting into the sky.

The towering gates, dozens of feet high, swung open, and rows of knights marched into the hall in perfect formation, splitting into two columns lining either side of the ceremonial path — one led by Ricardo, the other by Natsuki Subaru.

At the same time, a rousing martial tune began to play outside the palace.

Nobles who'd been vetted by Crusch and the others — those with no history of oppressing the common folk — filed in through the palace gates, while commoners gathered outside to watch.

"Look up at the sky — isn't that the King's coronation? How are they doing that?"

"Heh. Only some backwater foreigner would be surprised by that. His Majesty is a powerful mage — projecting an image in the sky is nothing."

"Wow, His Majesty really eats well, huh. But wait, who's that half-elf?"

"Shh! Are you crazy? That's one of the consorts! Who cares what race she is — keep talking like that and His Majesty will have your whole family executed!"

"Long live the King! We love you, Your Majesty!"

The crowd listened to the music and cheered wildly as they watched Daniel's coronation unfold, and most ordinary people genuinely felt grateful toward him.

After all, now everyone had food to eat and a roof over their heads — a far cry from the days when no one knew if there'd be a next meal.

Only the foreign spies among the crowd watched with unease. Lugunica was rising again.

Just then, the sky darkened suddenly, and the Divine Dragon Volcanica soared overhead in her true form.

"It's the Divine Dragon!"

"Ah, has His Majesty's greatness summoned even the Divine Dragon?!"

The massive, magnificent dragon circled the sky for a while, sending the crowd of Lugunica into another wave of cheers.

The Knights and the others showed no sign of alarm — this had all been planned from the start.

Using Volcanica's true identity for a bit of theater was, in fact, Anna's idea, once she'd learned the truth of who Volcanica really was.

Daniel figured a little public spectacle wouldn't hurt, and for the occasion he'd even shared his Authority of Lust with Volcanica so she could transform back into her dragon form.

After circling the sky a few times, Volcanica landed and shifted into her half-dragon form, carrying the prepared crown as she walked into the hall to perform Daniel's coronation.

Daniel looked at Volcanica and smiled. "No need to put on that form just to vouch for me. I still like your demihuman form better."

At his words, Volcanica nodded gently and shifted back into her small, blank-faced, adorable form, lifting the crown-bearing tray up to eyebrow height and offering it to Ram beside Daniel.

The gesture — lifting the tray to eyebrow level in reverence — was almost unbearably cute, and Daniel, ignoring all sense of ceremony, simply scooped Volcanica straight into his arms.

Ram wasn't surprised in the least — nothing Daniel did could surprise her anymore, given his personality.

She and Rem each took hold of the jewel-encrusted crown and set it upon Daniel's head, one on either side.

Standing there in his platinum-white robes and crown, Daniel looked every bit the imposing sovereign — if not for the fact that he was holding Volcanica in his arms.

Still, the crowd outside erupted into cheers once more.

"His Majesty is holding the Divine Dragon in his arms! Truly, His Majesty has no equal under heaven!"

"Ha! Lugunica really does have no shortage of talent," Daniel said, having caught the remark himself, unable to hold back a laugh.

Seeing him laugh, the nobles below hastily burst into laughter along with him.

"Ha ha, it's all thanks to His Majesty's wise leadership."

"Exactly, exactly! With His Majesty here, of course Lugunica produces one hero after another."

These nobles were the very ones who'd been cowed by the recent example made of the disloyal — now they scrambled to please Daniel however they could, terrified of ending up like those whose families had been wiped out.

The envoys sent by other nations to attend the coronation exchanged glances. They were nobles too — did they really need to grovel this hard?

So what if he had a mental spell blanketing the whole country, and a Divine Dragon watching over him? What was so impressive about that?

Though privately quite jealous, the foreign envoys were nonetheless shrewd enough to offer their congratulations along with everyone else.

Originally, upon hearing news of the Sword Saint's death, the other nations had planned to probe and see just how this king had managed to defeat him.

If it turned out he'd relied on outside help, they intended to test the waters further.

But now, having personally witnessed the long-absent Divine Dragon appear before their eyes, whatever schemes they'd been harboring quickly fizzled out.

So the dragons hadn't disappeared after all — well then, this had all just been a misunderstanding, hadn't it?

Daniel gave a light wave of his hand, signaling for the flattery to stop.

"As of today, Lugunica is my domain. I don't think I need to say much about how life has been lately."

"As for the nobles — behave yourselves, and don't try anything clever. I won't do anything to you, so long as you stay in line. I've already dealt with the disobedient ones, and I'd hate for any of you to be next."

"That's all I have to say. The coronation is over — go on and get back to your business."

"Oh, and one more thing — today, every meal and every drink in the capital is on the royal treasury. Eat well, drink well, and don't catch a cold. That's all."

BOOM!!

"Long live His Majesty!"

Every human and demihuman in the capital erupted into cheers as one.

But before their celebration could even wind down, a thick white mist came rolling in from beyond the capital's edge.

A massive shadow flickered within the white fog, and snow — from nowhere — began falling from the sky.

Daniel was the first to notice something was off. A sweep of his mental power told him everything, and he laughed despite himself.

"White Whale, Great Rabbit — so this is the surprise you had planned for me? Trying to get me to show off in public one more time?"

"You really are itching for trouble, aren't you, Pandora."

Teleporting a magical beast out of nowhere like that — only Pandora could pull off something like this.