The Banquet (3)
I headed straight for the banquet hall with Erinn, who'd just saved me. Whatever she'd done, a few words from her had left Erwin sprawled on the floor with no intention of getting up.
What the hell did she even do to her…?
The moment Erinn stepped into the banquet hall, she opened her mouth.
"Heojeop~♡"
"…What?"
"Just one little warning for you~."
"A warning?"
Erinn looked back at me, eyes crinkling in a mischievous smile.
"Never let them look down on you~♡ You can act like an idiot in front of the party, but don't do that around other people, okay~? This place…."
For some reason, Erinn giggled as she looked at me.
I have no idea what's so funny, but I'd appreciate it if she got to the point already.
"There are plenty of shady people who'd love to take advantage of a scrub like you~♡"
"Are you worried about me right now?"
"Pfft♡ Yeah, I'm worried. Worried you'll drag our party's name through the mud~♡"
"…Right."
Figures.
Anyway, I got the message. Situations like the one just now—or worse—could happen again, so I needed to keep my head on straight.
"Stop standing there like a lost puppy and come on~♡"
"Yeah."
When did she get all the way over there?
We made our way toward where the rest of the party was clustered together. Letisia, mid-bite of a piece of cake, spotted me first.
"Allen, you're late?"
"Uh…."
I glanced sideways at Erinn before answering.
"Got lost."
"Pardon? Ahaha, did you really?"
"……It's complicated."
"Puhaha, Allen's got no sense of direction?"
It's the interior layout that's way too complicated, okay? New palace staff probably have to start by memorizing the floor plan.
"Still, it's a good thing you made it before the banquet started."
"It's a good thing I brought him~♡"
Erinn said that and drifted over to Letisia's side.
"Is this good~?"
"Yes, it's nicely sweet. Delicious."
"Hmmhmm, is it~?"
Guess they all like cake. You could tell just from the way they were huddled around that appetizing strawberry cream cake.
Even if they act like tomboys most of the time, they really are girls, huh…?
"Allen."
"…Hm?"
Letisia held out a plate of cake.
"Try some. It's delicious."
"…Oh. Thanks."
Maybe it was because I'd gotten her first place earlier—her treatment of me wasn't half bad. I took a bite of the strawberry cake she'd handed me.
"Oh."
The admiration came out on its own. So this was the skill of a royal pâtissier. The depth of sweetness was on a completely different level from anything you'd buy at a neighborhood bakery.
"Good, right?"
"Yeah, this is seriously good."
I was still marveling at the softness and sweetness of the strawberry cake when the thief turned her gaze somewhere else.
"……They're here."
"Hm?"
At her words I turned my head, and there on the high terrace at the far end of the banquet hall, two figures had appeared. Queen Lenia of Estire and Prince Consort Ogie. The two of them stepped forward to the front of the terrace.
Then Queen Lenia herself spoke.
"Ohohong~, I do hope everyone is enjoying this gathering."
"A splendid occasion, Your Majesty."
"A banquet lacking in nothing whatsoever!"
"Ohohong~, I'm glad to hear it."
Queen Lenia swept her gaze around the room, spotted our party, and smiled.
"Ohohong~, I am deeply grateful that so many of you have gathered at this banquet held to ease the labors of the heroes who protected our Estire Kingdom."
"Of course we had to attend!"
"Are they not the heroes who saved the kingdom? Haha!!"
The nobles present responded quite positively. The recovery of the northeastern region was something they couldn't help but celebrate—a natural reaction, really.
"Ohohong~, then it is only proper that we honor today's protagonists—the heroes who saved our kingdom—for their efforts."
"Indeed!"
"Naturally they deserve a fitting reward!"
"So I thought we might take a moment for that."
Queen Lenia glanced once toward us, then once toward Orlando's party on the opposite side.
"Hero Erinn, Hero Orlando. I would be grateful if you would come up to the terrace."
So the Heroes go up as representatives.
What followed was the kind of procedure that needed no explanation. The two Heroes received their rewards on behalf of their parties—medals and titles of nobility.
I wondered what use a title would be to Erinn, who belonged to the Dern Empire, but Letisia explained from beside me that it carried a different meaning: Should you ever wish to naturalize here, we will welcome you.
In other words, if the Dern Empire ever throws us under the bus, we can throw ourselves on Estire's mercy.
No reason not to take it. When the two Heroes turned and offered a polite bow after receiving their awards, applause erupted from every corner of the hall.
"The hero who saved our nation, Hero Orlando!"
"The kingdom shall never forget this debt, Hero Erinn!"
I was starting to see why the Dern Empire had gone out of its way to dispatch its one and only Hero party.
With this, the Empire had secured compensation through the negotiation terms, personal rewards for Erinn, a diplomatic debt from the kingdom, and improved the Empire's standing in the eyes of Estire's nobles and citizens.
Those last points especially mattered. They would be critical factors in future diplomacy between the Empire and the kingdom—and if the Empire ever faced a similar crisis down the line, Estire would find it very hard to look the other way.
…There's a ridiculous amount of political calculation baked into this.
So this was what it meant when a specialized force like a Hero party was put into motion.
I thought the award ceremony was wrapping up—then Queen Lenia spoke once more.
"Ohohong~, and now we must also reward the one who contributed most to this operation."
…Huh?
The greatest contributor…
"Allen of Hero Erinn's party—please come up to the terrace."
"……Excuse me?"
M-me? Why…?
"Allen, go on."
"No time to stand there gawking."
"Lucky you, Allen! I want one too!"
"……I'll be waiting."
I looked at my party members with a dazed expression, then back at Queen Lenia. She beckoned me up, and the eyes of everyone around us began to turn my way.
"……."
I figured I should just go up first and figure it out later. I scrambled up the stairs to the terrace, where Queen Lenia greeted me with a bright smile.
"Ohohong~, all cleaned up, you cut quite a dashing figure."
"Y-you're too k—no, too kind, Your Majesty."
Ah, I tripped over my tongue.
Queen Lenia smiled faintly and accepted a medal from the chamberlain beside her. It was shaped like the wings of a golden eagle.
"This is the Medal of National Salvation."
"Pardon?"
"Allen, thanks to your bold planning and execution of this operation, our kingdom has secured more than half of this year's wheat production. Compared to the losses the military and finance experts had projected, the results are truly extraordinary."
Queen Lenia continued.
"Do you understand what that change means? Countless subjects of this kingdom will not go hungry. With the royal relief granaries opened, there is enough to feed everyone."
I listened quietly to the queen's words. Something about them made my chest feel… full.
I hadn't actually fought. I'd just sat at a table spouting theories—it was the party members who'd made it real. The queen knew that. I knew that. Everyone here knew that.
"Had we moved by the book instead of following your plan, the land would certainly have been more contaminated, and the wheat yield would have fallen accordingly. If the results had matched the original projected losses… even opening the relief granaries would not have been enough. People would have suffered from hunger."
But they were telling me this: the one who had laid out that plan and pushed it through was none other than me.
"As the sovereign who rules this kingdom, as the representative of this nation, I express my gratitude for saving the lives of so many of our people. Allen."
The queen inclined her head slightly. The Prince Consort bowed from the chest, and the nobles below the terrace all lowered their heads in gratitude along with them.
It was a surreal feeling. Royalty and high nobles bowing their heads to a porter like me. It didn't feel real.
"And so, Allen, I bestow upon you this Medal of National Salvation. Ordinarily it is not awarded to those who are not subjects of the kingdom—but the lives saved by the success of this operation are simply too many."
"……Thank you."
"Here, let me pin it on for you."
The queen fastened the medal to me herself, wearing the kind of kindly smile a grandmother might give a grandchild she was proud of.
"A round of applause, if you please, for Allen—the greatest contributor to this operation."
She gestured for me to turn around. I spun on my heel, tense as a bowstring—and my eyes went wide at the sight that greeted me.
"Magnificent!"
"Truly a member of a Hero's party!"
"Incredible!"
"Your courage and wisdom have saved the kingdom!"
Nobles showered me with every kind of praise. And most striking of all was the Hero of the Holy Flag himself—Orlando—clapping with his own hands.
"……."
I stood there, overwhelmed, before snapping back to myself. It was time to bow and step down. But was a simple nod enough? There had to be some proper etiquette….
"Place your right hand over your chest, bow at the waist with dignity, hold briefly, then rise."
Prince Consort Ogie must have noticed my hesitation, because he quietly coached me through it.
"…Thank you."
"Not at all."
I performed the bow exactly as he'd instructed. Another wave of applause poured down, and I descended from the terrace in a daze.
"Ohh, Allen! That thing on your chest looks awesome!!"
"I'm so jealous."
"Congratulations, truly!"
"…Congrats, Allen."
The party members were the first to welcome me back. I smiled awkwardly at their reactions—then my eyes met Erinn's. And Erinn….
"Well done, Heojeop~♡"
…acknowledged me for the first time.
While everyone was praising the Hero party's achievements and lauding Allen as the architect of the operation, one person alone wore a sour expression.
Where the hell did that Erwin bitch go?
He'd told her to lure Allen away and isolate him, yet she was nowhere to be seen in the banquet hall. At this rate, there was no way he'd find an opening to approach the thief during the event.
"…Tch."
Looks like I'll have to try a different approach, Kael thought, glaring at Allen as he came down from the dais. Just then, someone tapped him on the shoulder.
"Kael."
"…Orlando?"
It was none other than their party leader, Hero Orlando. He gripped Kael's shoulder, studied him for a moment, then spoke quietly.
"Where has Erwin gone?"
"…What? Why are you asking me?"
"You were the last one to speak with her before leaving, were you not? And yet Erwin is still nowhere to be found."
Kael let out a hollow laugh at Orlando's question.
"Orlando, I didn't do anything. I just talked to Erwin, that's all."
"…So you're saying you don't know?"
"I don't!"
Orlando considered this briefly, then turned to Barg.
"Barg, I believe we should look for Erwin for a moment."
"She's probably just taking a dump."
"I wouldn't know. Still, better to check."
"Fine."
Barg started out of the banquet hall first, and Orlando looked back at Kael. Kael stared back as if to ask what he was looking at.
"Kael. Please do not do anything foolish."
"…What?"
"Consider this a warning."
Only then did Orlando release Kael's shoulder. He, too, left the banquet hall after Barg, heading out to search for Erwin.
Kael stared at the spot where they'd vanished for a moment, then let out a hollow laugh.
"So even you're taking that guy's side?"
Brows furrowed at Orlando's change in attitude, Kael turned a somewhat vicious look on Allen. He coolly replayed Orlando's warning in his mind.
It was true that the porter had become a dangerous target to mess with. He'd been personally recognized by the queen, awarded a medal, and his reputation had soared—picking a fight now would likely only hurt Kael.
So Orlando's warning made sense. Don't do anything stupid. Meaning: don't do something that brings trouble down on Orlando's party.
Which meant….
"…Don't pick a public fight, is what he's saying."
Having reinterpreted Orlando's warning, Kael smiled thinly.
The warning also meant that anything done where no one would know about it was none of Orlando's concern.
The long banquet had ended, and only the afterparty remained.
"Puhaha! I'm gonna throw this cork into that wine glass over there!"
"……Can't wait."
"Want to bet? Hits or misses?"
While my party members were getting thoroughly drunk and rowdy, I slipped out of the banquet hall unnoticed and headed somewhere.
I wasn't up to anything shady. I was simply following a party member who'd left ahead of me. I was making my way naturally toward the restrooms when someone popped out of the corridor.
"J-jeez…."
"Did you get out without being noticed?"
"I said my stomach hurt and I was going to the bathroom."
It was Letisia. Her hair, tinged slightly violet under the bluish moonlight, looked incredibly striking.
"Then let's go."
The reason the two of us had snuck out of the banquet hall like this was, of course, the promise we'd made back when we were alone in the carriage.
Magic lessons!
Finally I get to use this damn mana properly. I was so happy I could cry.
"You look incredibly excited."
"Ah… is it that obvious?"
"Yes. Very."
I should practice hiding my expressions too….
"I like that everything shows on Allen's face. It means you're not hiding anything."
"…Isn't that just a polite way of saying I'm an idiot whose every mood is an open book?"
"Why interpret it so negatively?"
You people made me this way.
"I'm not being negative. I mean it genuinely."
"…Well, thanks for seeing it that way."
"So, Allen, one question. Which attribute of magic would you like to learn?"
"Attribute? Ah…."
Just as spirits had attributes, so did magic. Not every spell fell into a category, but combat magic—the kind useful in battle—was mostly elemental. The combat spells used by mage characters in Dungeon in Evil were largely elemental magic as well.
Fire, water, wind, light, darkness, earth.
Six basic attributes for elemental magic—two more than the spirit attributes.
And "basic" implied that special attributes existed too. That was correct.
Ice derived from water, stone derived from earth, ash derived from fire… a whole range of derivative attributes existed.
If every elemental mage used only the same six attributes, characters would be too cookie-cutter—so Dungeon in Evil had added these settings to introduce a variety of mage characters.
And among them, of course, there was one absolute broken-tier mage. That character's magic attribute was a little special—an attribute no one else used, exclusive to that one character—and its performance was absurd.
So in the mage class, no one else even came close. The only problem was that the character was male, so he never made it into the party I'd built. If he'd been a girl, I'd have slotted him in immediately.
Recalling that performance, I answered Letisia.
"Void attribute."
"…I don't know anything about that. I'm a spirit mage, not a wizard. I meant choose from the basic attributes."
"Ah, really?"
Right—Letisia's a spirit mage, not a wizard, so she probably doesn't know the derivative attributes…?
"Then the closest one—darkness attribute…."
"That's a rather unusual choice, though, Allen."
"Hm?"
Letisia went on.
"Void-attribute magic is… rather infamous for its problems."
"What kind of problems?"
Don't tell me… ethical problems or something? Then I couldn't learn it. If a member of a Hero party started learning magic with that kind of baggage….
"Performance problems."
"…Performance?"
Maybe it's so broken the magic itself got banned?
But I quickly realized that was wishful thinking. Letisia spoke in a slightly puzzled tone.
"The cost-effectiveness is terrible compared to other attributes. For example, if you spend a hundred mana to cast a spell, other attributes would produce a hundred points of power—but Void magic only gets you sixty or seventy."
"……Huh??"
"That's why I said it was unusual. Why do you want to learn the Void attribute?"
That can't be right…? The character who used Void-attribute magic was so broken that every mage-including party composition ran him.
"…Is it really that bad?"
"Yes. Anyone with even a little knowledge of magic knows that."
"Uh…."
Why, though?
I was still tilting my head in confusion when we arrived at the room.
"Well… we can't jump straight into elemental magic anyway, so think it over carefully. Today I'll teach you the absolute basics—non-attribute magic."
"Uh…."
And with that, I shoved my door open. The moment it swung wide, both Letisia and I froze.
"Huh?"
"Huh?"
The same question tumbled out of both of us. And sitting on my bed was a somewhat familiar face.
"Finally. I was waiting so long my neck nearly—"
A scrawny, shut-in-looking face. None other than the assassin from Orlando's party—Kael.
…What are you doing here?
"……Kael?"
A voice thick with bewilderment slipped from Letisia beside me. Kael, taking in the situation, flicked a slightly flustered look between me and Letisia—then vanished into the darkness in a hurry.
"…Wh-what was that just now?"
"……I think he came to kill me."
"What?! What do you mean—!"
I'd said it as a joke, but Letisia got genuinely angry.
"This needs to be addressed officially! Breaking into someone else's room without permission—what was he planning to—!"
"Huh?… Uh, wait, Letisia!"
"What!"
"Th-that… let's talk about it tomorrow morning. Tomorrow."
"Pardon?"
I absolutely could not let this chance slip away. If I brought it up now, an investigation would start, everything would get noisy, and my secret lesson time with Letisia would evaporate.
How hard had it been to get this lesson opportunity? Who knew when the next chance like this would come—and I was supposed to just throw it away?
Kael, that shady bastard, being in my room was plenty unsettling—but learning magic was more important. If I didn't learn it now, even studying on my own would fall behind.
"It's late anyway. Making a scene now won't help anyone… and talking about it tomorrow won't change anything, right? Besides, I don't think we'll get many more chances to sneak off like this…."
"…Haa. Fine."
"Thanks for understanding."
I led Letisia into the room.
And quietly closed the door.