The Banquet
A commoner of unknown origins. A man whose past was anything but certain—no one could say where he had crawled out from.
The sole reason every noble gathered in this hall both welcomed and warily eyed such a figure was simple.
Power.
The horrific war against the demons had dragged on for years. Countless skilled fighters had drawn their blades and thrown themselves boldly into the fray—some for personal honor and glory, others for the advancement of their factions.
It had not been the Empire alone. The elves and the dwarves, too—the finest among them had flocked in, eager to carve their names into history with this opportunity.
The problem was that demons were never pushovers.
So many powerhouses died. Half the renowned knights vanished in the war.
That woman the elves so revered… what was it? The Divine Archer? She got butchered by the demons too, right?
And the Iron Warrior, whose might with an axe was legendary among the dwarves—he died as well.
Truly countless experts had perished, leaving not even corpses in the demons’ grasp.
Amid that terrible, devastating war, that man—Lethe—had been a victor from start to finish. Three Demon Kings dead by his hand alone, plus over a hundred mid-tier figures beneath them. The demon warriors who had been slaughtering the Imperial army became well-minced meat in his grasp.
The moment this completely unknown figure stepped onto the front lines, the tide of war flipped completely. Record-breaking great victories achieved solely by Lethe, without any support or aid from anyone. A sudden rising star, an undeniable powerhouse, the Empire’s war hero. Even the prideful elves and the stiff-necked dwarves had scrambled to praise him.
“I greet Your Highness the Crown Princess.”
That man had entered the banquet hall. He had never once set foot in a gathering like this before. For that very reason, the Crown Princess could not suppress the smile that rose to her lips.
“Welcome, Sir Lethe. How curious to see you in a place like this.”
“This is the banquet held after the peace talks concluded, is it not? Of course I should attend.”
“Is that so? Your thoughtfulness is most appreciated.”
Lethe glanced once around the room, then asked a question as if he truly knew nothing.
“It seems no one from the elven or dwarven sides has come?”
“Invitations were sent, but all declined. They sent their deepest regrets along with their apologies.”
“Their internal affairs still seem rather chaotic.”
“Unlike the Empire, that is.”
It might have sounded like ordinary conversation, but the reality was anything but.
Our Empire isn’t going to squabble like those pointy-eared and short-assed idiots.
I’d love nothing more, but I doubt those lot will actually help.
A few hardline nobles who caught the subtext between the two of them stiffened slightly. But what could they do? One was the Empire’s Crown Princess; the other, though he had stepped back from the front lines, was still a war hero. Both of them knew it perfectly well—that was why they could speak so openly.
Linger too long and the mutual scrutiny would grow excessive. The conversation ended there. Understanding that, Lethe withdrew from the Crown Princess’s presence.
“It has been some time, Sir Lethe.”
“Have you been well?”
“Haha. Good to see you all again after so long.”
Of course, greeting the Crown Princess was not the end. It was only the beginning. He went around meeting every noble with whom he had even a passing acquaintance, exchanging pleasantries. If someone had helped him even once, he made a point of asking after them—empty words or not.
And that list included a few of the hardliners as well.
“You still look hale and hearty, Count.”
“Only on the outside. Inside I’m already rotting through.”
A conversation with a count belonging to the hardline faction. What the man meant was perfectly clear. You used to fight the demons just fine—why are you so friendly with the Demon Kings now? Why support them? At the very least, someone like you ought to keep a sharp edge toward the demons. Because of the way you’re acting, our hardliners’ footing is getting narrower by the day—that was the grumbling.
“If there’s anything I can help with, just say the word. You did assist me once before, after all.”
So hop on board already. I’ll put in a good word with Her Highness the Crown Princess.
“A sickness of the heart doesn’t heal so easily, you know.”
You think it’s that simple? Can’t you just go back to calling the demons bastards?
“What a pity. I hope you manage to resolve it well.”
That’s enough of that crap. If you don’t want to, fine.
He had extended the invitation; he had done enough. Lethe withdrew cleanly. Meanwhile, those who had once opposed him were never forgotten—he excluded them thoroughly. Whether they were moderates or hardliners made no difference. They had made the wrong call, and they would bear the consequences.
“Sir Lethe.”
In that sense, the First Prince now approaching could only be described as the bastard among bastards.
Ha. Why the hell is this bastard crawling over here to start shit again.
Standing before a direct member of the imperial family, he could not even slant his body and shoot a look that said What? Deep down he wanted to shout “Revolution!” but the Crown Princess held him back. Suppressing the boiling in his gut, he slowly bowed his head.
“I greet Your Highness the Prince.”
“What a busy man you are. Making a simple greeting this difficult.”
The faintly mocking words made the nearby nobles flinch. But Lethe’s next reply left them stunned.
“Which is why Your Highness came to me in person, is it not?”
He was wrapping it as politely as possible, yet the meaning was singular: don’t get impatient, crawl up to me, and then spout nonsense. The Empire had elevated him as a war hero, and this was an imperial prince, so he would show the proper courtesy—but keep this up and things might stop being fun. An invisible threat from the “Demon Crusher.”
“….”
The First Prince understood exactly what Lethe meant. His face flushed crimson in an instant.
He wanted to scream, Arrest this traitor at once! He wanted to watch the man beg for his life. But—but? Was there anyone in this banquet hall who could actually subdue this man? Even if he summoned every last one of his guards, the odds were low. No—nonexistent. And his own sister, the Crown Princess, stood firmly on that man’s side as his powerful supporter. In this situation, ten times out of ten, he would lose. Even if he lived, it would not be living.
Grit—
The First Prince clenched his teeth. Damn commoner bastard. A rootless thing who had simply gotten lucky. How dare he deliver such an insult and still expect to walk away unscathed? It was absurd.
Of course, had Lethe heard the prince’s inner monologue, he would have cracked him across the back of the head with a “There’s a limit to the bullshit.” From the earliest days of the war the Crown Princess had recognized his true worth and given him full support, while the First Prince had done nothing but belittle him as a commoner—purely to curry favor with the nobles. Once he had even outright refused a request for reinforcements, leaving Lethe in considerable hardship. The man ought to be grateful just for being left alive, yet he was swaggering around on nothing but the title of prince. For Lethe, the urge for revolution grew stronger by the second.
I’m only letting you live because I owe the Crown Princess. Count yourself lucky. If that woman were the kind of iron-blooded lady who could casually cut down even her own family, your head would already be on a pike.
Your Highness the Crown Princess—please, even now, make the decision that will save the nation for the Empire’s sake. He wanted to say it. Wipe out every last hardliner and enjoy a peaceful academy life as a transmigrator. Wasn’t that why he had worked himself half to death during the war?
“Hahaha. Sir Lethe is right, elder brother. Why act like this after you were the one who spoke first?”
At that moment the Second Prince quietly stepped in and, without anyone noticing, eased the First Prince back.
“…Your Highness the Second Prince.”
“It has been some time, Sir Lethe.”
Unlike the First Prince, who possessed nothing that could truly be called talent, the Second Prince was different. He clearly had ability. The problem was that his talent was not aimed at the grand affairs of state the way the Crown Princess’s was, but focused entirely on his own advancement. That was why he had formed an alliance with the First Prince.
“I hope you can understand my brother a little.”
“Understand? That is an outrageous thing to say.”
“He seems to have gotten rather worked up. Over the fact that Sir Lethe—our great war hero, no less—once saved the demons. Of course I am not ignorant of your position. As an ordinary person who could not have known they were destined to become Demon Kings, that fleeting moment of compassion must have been hard to ignore.”
“….”
Here it comes. Here it comes again. A war fought not with sword and magic but with tongues and words. This really isn’t my style, Lethe grumbled inwardly, then quietly waited for the Second Prince’s next words.
“But did you truly have to save the demons? That, I cannot help but wonder. During the war itself you slaughtered demons without the slightest mercy, did you not? For such a man to have rescued demons only a few years earlier… the Demon Kings who died by your hand would be quite bewildered if they heard of it.”
“People experience changes of heart, Your Highness.”
“Indeed. Changes of heart come to everyone. Just as they did to certain individuals during the war.”
Ah. He had not quite grasped what the man was driving at, but now he saw the angle. Lethe let out a cold snort inwardly and looked at the Second Prince.
There had been two reasons the Empire had been so thoroughly pushed back by the demons during the war. First, they had been overwhelmingly inferior in every respect—martial power, magic, numbers, even will. Second, traitors had appeared in the midst of it. From ordinary citizens all the way up to fairly high-ranking nobles, people had sold out those around them for their own safety.
Right now the Second Prince was casually pressing that second point against Lethe. Had he not been planning from long ago to betray the Empire and side with the demons? Otherwise there was no way a man who saved demons would later become the Demon Crusher. As if he were a traitor desperately trying to rewrite his own evaluation, to erase the past.
“I hope to maintain amicable relations with Sir Lethe—with the Empire’s war hero—for a long time to come.”
So pay a little attention to us hardliners too. Keep this up and we’ll start feeling left out. I did look after you at least a little, you know?
Declaring he would take his leave, the Second Prince disappeared with the still-flushed First Prince in tow. Lethe quietly watched their retreating backs. Yes, as the man said, the Second Prince had looked after him a little, so he could afford to be a bit more generous in his thinking. Thinking…
…Should I just harvest his head?
Good heavens. What am I even thinking right now? Lethe hurriedly shook his head. After watching Astaroth these past few days, it seemed her obsession with collecting heads had rubbed off on him in that short time!