Bet Big
Lily appeared in the banquet hall.
No one mentioned it directly, but every high-ranking dignitary and official in the room could tell at a glance.
A blue-haired beauty walking in through the doors.
Her sapphire eyes, reminiscent of a deep blue sea, glittered like priceless jewels, and her beauty was enough to freeze everyone in the hall, man and woman alike.
Especially the dress she wore.
It was her usual saintly attire, but the colored fabrics and ornaments blended beautifully with her presence.
Everyone understood.
Whoever had arrived first, and whoever might arrive later, the star of this banquet was unmistakably that woman.
"Ah."
Lily gave a polite bow and went to find an empty seat.
In that instant, a silent war of glances broke out among the kingdom's recruitment officials in the hall. Who would approach her first? This was a banquet sponsored collectively by the kingdoms — no one held priority, and no order had been set.
Vir, Foreign Affairs Director of the Thalical Kingdom, hesitated uncharacteristically, holding himself back.
Could I really ask Lily for a straight answer, face to face?
It wasn't that her appearance intimidated him or left him speechless. Well, as a man, that reason wasn't entirely absent either — but Lily was quite different from the Immortals he had seen so far. She felt less like an otherworlder and more like a human who belonged here.
And yet she was undeniably an 'otherworlder' Immortal.
Which made her even harder to approach.
Just as he decided it would be better to watch someone else make the first move and then maneuver organically from there—
Tap. Tap.
"Lady Lily?"
"Yes?"
Someone addressed her.
A young man with navy-blue hair and ruby-red eyes, handsome as a storybook prince. His clothes were luxurious garments fit to symbolize gold itself, and his face was full of confidence.
The Second Prince of the Viapon Kingdom!
The Viapon Kingdom lay fairly distant from Thalical, so they had little to do with each other, but it was still one of the oldest kingdoms on the continent — one that had survived even the Empire's centuries-long 'Wars of Conquest.' Above all, the Viapon royal family was famous for carrying special blood.
Every last one of the royal bloodline possesses strength on par with elite knights. But... why is he here?
This was a banquet held to celebrate the tournament and recruit Immortals, not a playground for royal offspring.
In that moment, Vir caught the flaw in his own reasoning.
Recruitment...?
"I am Ryu Drek Viapon, Second Prince of the Viapon Kingdom. I have watched your exploits with great interest, Lady Lily Elbrit. They were truly tremendous."
"Thank you."
"And that beauty of yours, like the sea itself — one simply cannot look away. You could search the entire continent, Viapon included, and never find another. Not even across the whole breadth of the Empire."
For the Second Prince to come in person, this is no simple recruitment offer. Underlings are more than enough for that. If he came, there must be a definite reason he had to come 'himself.'
The Second Prince slowly bowed his head and extended his hand. His ruby eyes gleamed.
"Might I ask for your hand in marriage?"
The banquet hall froze in an instant.
"No thanks."
I shot down the out-of-nowhere marriage proposal in a single stroke.
What did he just say?
And my viewers, it seemed, weren't all that different from me.
A saint is fundamentally incapable of loving anyone. In the past, that very trait kept marriage proposals from coming — though not entirely. An impossible target only makes the conquest feel that much greater, after all. And if that target happened to be a beauty found nowhere else in the world, and — unlike a Celestial — someone you could actually 'touch,' all the more so.
After I'd retired as a Saintess, the offers had practically poured in.
Not that I ever had any intention of accepting.
Whether he hadn't expected rejection, or was simply stunned that anyone dared refuse a proposal from the Second Prince of Viapon, the prince found himself struck speechless.
Ahem.
Collecting himself, the Second Prince smoothed out his voice.
"I understand. Receiving a marriage proposal so suddenly must have flustered you, Immortal or not."
"You clearly knew that, and proposed anyway."
"...But the Viapon Kingdom is no mere petty realm."
The Second Prince's expression soured with displeasure. At a flick of his hand, one of the servants behind him handed over something.
A gleaming necklace of blue jewels. No ordinary necklace, judging by the way the gems threw off shifting, multicolored light.
"This necklace was made from the heart of the Blue Dragon that once made its lair atop Bidreksion, the highest peak of the northern continent. It is an excellent conduit for amplifying mana."
We have many such things in the kingdom's treasury.
"You will surely never regret it. You could scour the entire continent and, save for the Empire, find no kingdom that compares—"
"So you're saying it's the kind of necklace that grows on trees, then?"
So common that even a kingdom short of an 'Empire' has its treasury overflowing with them.
A hollow bauble.
"Right?"
"...No. I merely meant that Viapon is so great that even rarities abound."
"That's literally what 'common' means. It's not like it's some irreplaceable heirloom of your kingdom."
If he'd hoped to persuade me even a little, he should have shown me a price worth the ask. Not some trinket lying around the treasury — an actual relic passed down through the royal line, maybe.
That said, the necklace the Second Prince produced wasn't truly so cheap as to be lying around. It looked like a Legendary-tier hidden piece, seemingly crafted by a fairly renowned smith — but a handmade work all the same. It couldn't hold a candle to the Mythic-grade Masterpiece I'd won at the Mock Siege, the Blue Guardian.
Not that I'd accept even if he offered ten Mythic-grade items.
Perhaps it was my somewhat cutting response to his absurd proposal — the Second Prince's face flushed red. He looked ready to explode into shouting at any moment.
Straining to hold back his fury, he spoke as though delivering a lecture.
"...It seems you are unaware, Lady Lily, but the kingdom's treasures may only be used by those of royal blood. An otherworlder could never wield them. This necklace alone is an exceedingly rare treasure."
"That's how it looks, yeah."
"I am the Second Prince, but my succession to the throne is all but assured. Become my wife, and you will be the master of a kingdom."
Master of a kingdom, he says.
Pfft.
"...What's so funny?"
"Nothing at all."
This kind of proposal was nothing new to me. In fact, after I'd stepped down as Saintess, I'd received an absolute flood of offers premised on marriage alliances.
Marry me and I'll give you my throne. Marry me and bear my child, and I'll give you anything I have. So please, marry me.
But what I want is something none of them can give.
If even Celestials and Demons couldn't provide it, how on earth could they?
I gave a bitter smile.
"I appreciate the offer, but I must decline."
Besides, the whole king thing — I'd already done it once. It wasn't for me. I'd left it to someone better suited.
"Y-you...!"
"Hahaha! We seem to have gotten a bit carried away. This is a festival, after all — shall we all take a breath and calm down?"
"You..."
A man wedged himself between the furious Second Prince and me. Dressed in a modern-style suit with a modern haircut, entirely unbecoming of a local NPC, he smiled and gave a polite bow.
"Good day to you. I am Vir, Foreign Affairs Director of the Thalical Kingdom — the homeland, incidentally, of the Blue Guardian you carry, Lady Lily."
His speech was polished, his whole bearing nothing like the medieval nobility around him.
He's like a 'player.'
The Second Prince seized Vir by the shoulder.
"A diplomat of a foreign kingdom dares obstruct a prince?! Are you out of your mind?"
"Haha. Your Highness, Second Prince of Viapon — this stage does not belong to the kingdoms alone. Look around you."
The Second Prince turned his head.
Every eye in the banquet hall was already fixed on this corner of the room. And the gazes of the otherworlders among them were anything but friendly.
Tsk. Vir brushed off the hand gripping his shoulder and straightened his clothes.
"There are far too many people who don't belong to any kingdom for the kingdoms' logic to carry the day, wouldn't you say?"
It would be deeply troubling if a third party ended up turning against the Viapon Kingdom over this, wouldn't it?
"..."
Vir turned his head away from the Second Prince and looked toward me. His gaze was a little different from the possessiveness or greed I'd felt from the prince — a fierce determination to see his mission through, whatever it took.
Vir smiled.
"Lend us your aid in the affairs of the Thalical Kingdom, and we shall grant you the great Masterpiece — the Red Guide!"
Bet big.