“That makes sense. I am beginning to understand your line of thinking, Mr. Iwatani. We needed to reward you anyway, so this is a good chance.”

The queen closed her folding fan and pulled out a map.

“Somewhere close to the castle town would probably be best. Do you have a place in mind?”

“Here.”

Without hesitation, I pointed to a coastal area near the port. The port was the one we had departed from when heading to the Cal Mira islands.

“Wha . . . ?”

Raphtalia had started to say something but held back.

“Hmm . . . That area . . . Yes, that’s where Miss Seaetto is currently serving as governor.”

“You mean Eclair? She’s got more going on than I expected.”

“Yes. I had been planning to assist with the reconstruction of the territories in that area as well, but according to reports, the current situation . . . doesn’t sound very promising.”

“I see . . .”

I’d heard that the area had suffered extensive damage in the first wave, the one that occurred before I had been summoned. I’d passed by it several times. It had been a desolate area filled with abandoned buildings. I wasn’t sure if it was because of the wave, but even the plant life seemed to lack vitality. Reconstruction would be a difficult task.

It had only been two and a half weeks since the most recent disaster, too.

“I would like to recommend another area, if possible. That area suffered extensive damage in the first wave and is in ruins.”

“I’ll be developing the land, anyway. It will be easier to do things my way there than somewhere that’s already been developed, like the areas near the castle. It works out perfectly.”

“Understood. Now, if you are going to have a territory, you will need to be given an appropriate rank.”

“I plan on returning to my own world once the waves have ended anyway. I don’t need a successor. In fact, you should just return the territory to Eclair at that point. Actually . . . If she’ll let me do things my way, I wouldn’t mind if she just stays the governor.”

It’s not like Eclair was a stranger, and I figured she’d do just fine, considering she had shown an exceedingly earnest determination to get along with the demi-humans.

“I cannot allow that. Mr. Iwatani, you are not giving yourself the credit you deserve. If we did not reward you appropriately, we would be giving other countries cause to attack Melromarc.”

I was being lectured by the queen for some reason.

“I shall grant you the rank of Count.”

“Wait a minute . . .”

Wouldn’t the fact that my shield had translated her words as Count mean that the rank was hereditary?

I knew about the noble ranks and titles from some manga about nobility that I had read fanatically a long time ago. The manga had been set in the early modern period and not the Middle Ages, but still . . .