Chapter 77
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 76
Chapter Title: Banquet
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Time passed, and the day of the banquet arrived.
Ellis smiled brightly as she handed me a set of clothes.
"Hmm. This seems just right for you, Enoch."
"Doesn't it look too half-hearted? It's a banquet where even His Majesty the Emperor is attending. I also promised Cornelia the princess that I'd dress properly."
The clothes Ellis had picked were made from expensive material, but it was a loose-fitting shirt that prioritized comfort over style.
Put nicely, it had the minimum required formality... but to be more honest, it was just barely meeting the bare essentials.
"No. This is perfect. You don't care about politics, and you don't want to get dragged into anyone's schemes, right?"
"Yeah."
"Then it's good to give off the impression that you're someone common sense doesn't apply to."
"Huh..."
"Above all... I don't know the full story, but you're pretending to be a wastrel, aren't you?"
"Apparently, everyone in the Zahav bloodline was spoiled rotten growing up, so they've been wastrels for generations. I didn't turn out quite that twisted because I grew up in Calypso..."
"If people see you acting relatively normal, it'll make them even more uneasy. Understand. Superiors have a duty to show their subordinates the version of themselves they want to see."
"Yeah, something like that. Last time, I made a few normal comments and talked about the mercenary guild business, and they even asked if I was terminally ill."
I shrugged and cracked a joke, and Ellis giggled as if she found it amusing.
I've kept it secret from Ellis that I'm not actually a Zahav... but I did tell her that I'm putting on a wastrel act.
I trusted that she'd keep even this much a secret, and I figured that hiding it completely would prevent her from cooperating properly.
Fortunately, Ellis believed me without raising any questions... or at least, she chose not to pry.
It made me grateful, but also a little sorry, that she trusted me just as much as I trusted her.
As I rolled my neck and shoulders to shake off my own awkwardness, Ellis spoke up in a voice brimming with laughter.
"Honestly, I get that part too."
"What."
"Enoch. Do you know how surprised I was when I first met you in Calypso and we had a few conversations?"
"Was there something to be surprised about..."
"Of course. I received all sorts of education as a noble's child when I was young, but you just grew up in Calypso. And that environment wasn't exactly great."
"That's exactly why I didn't turn into a wastrel."
"Yeah, that makes sense. But what surprised me was that we could actually communicate."
"...Back then, I couldn't read, but I could speak, you know?"
"Speaking the same language doesn't mean you communicate."
Ellis continued as she inspected various pairs of pants after the shirt.
"People are creatures who learn from what they see and experience. The scary thing about poverty is that it makes even your way of thinking impoverished, just like how a slave born in chains won't run away even without them."
"That's..."
"But you were different. Maybe it was just rebellion against what you'd been through."
Having found a good pair of pants, she examined them this way and that, continuing in a casual tone.
"You didn't give up thinking even without knowledge, you held onto your beliefs even without power, and you never lost your convictions amid anxiety. ...Do you know what people call that?"
"No clue."
"They call it noble. Ah, could you hold the shirt up to your body?"
Ellis naturally held the pants up to my lower half and nodded.
"Someone who doesn't conform to reality but tries to change the world. Someone who doesn't bend what they believe is right amid hardship and adversity. And someone who actually pulls it off. Having one or two of those traits makes you impressive, but having all of them makes you a noble."
"..."
I hadn't expected a serious response to what I'd half-said in jest.
But I understood what she meant.
Even as this world grew more familiar and I assimilated into it... I'd never forgotten my core self.
Once-formed values don't change easily. In that sense, though my body was young, I was practically an adult.
No matter how much I was pointed at as the whore's child from childhood, or how every adult I met bragged about how they'd fucked my mom.
Even then, I loved and respected the mother who had sacrificed so much for me and my brother.
It was the same when I was subjected to torture-like experiments by a mad alchemist under a black mage's orders.
I may have thought about killing every last black mage, but that didn't mean everyone else deserved to suffer what I had.
I'd never thought that since the world runs on the law of the jungle, I could do whatever I wanted just because I had power.
Of course not.
No matter how angry I got, or how severe my PTSD was—enough to send me into half a seizure at the sight of a black mage... there was always a voice inside me crying out what was right and wrong.
Of course, that wasn't an absolute truth. Earth and this world were far too different to begin with.
Still, one thing hadn't changed: the way I thought was different from the average person in this world.
That must have been what stood out so unusually to Ellis.
Having found a good pair of pants, she tucked them into my arms and spoke.
"So don't worry too much, Enoch. You'll do better than back in the orphanage days... no, much better."
"Ellis..."
"Ahem. I said too many embarrassing things. We'll be late at this rate. Hurry up and change."
I smirked at the sight of Ellis getting embarrassed by her own words, then changed and stepped out.
Ellis had also changed into her banquet attire in the meantime... but it was a bit provocative.
Much flashier and more revealing than what I'd seen before.
Her slender figure kept the first impression from being too stimulating... but just looking at her stirred something.
What even was that hole cut into the side? It looked like the perfect size to slip a hand through. Where on earth had she gotten an outfit like this?
I quickly scanned the bold design of Ellis's dress.
"Staring like that is embarrassing."
I snapped back to attention at the sight of her naturally draping a man's coat over her shoulders.
"Ellis. That thing. You still wear it?"
"Of course. It's a gift from someone special. I even want to be buried in my coffin still wearing this coat someday."
"That makes my heart heavy..."
That coat was something I'd given her a long time ago.
Back then, I was young and weak with nothing to my name, so I'd just given her the coat I was wearing... If I'd known she'd treasure it this much, I would've gotten her something better.
"Anyway, preparations are all set, so let's head out. The thing I asked for..."
"Of course it's ready. Carlo and the other mercenaries looked a bit excited since it's your orders, Enoch."
The talk about the mercenary guild with Ellis was more or less settled.
The mercenaries under the guild had to hand over a portion of their earnings from requests to me... but in return, the guild lined up reliable clients and fellow mercenaries, and if they ever got backstabbed, we'd go collect maximum revenge.
It seemed like pretty appealing terms to mercenaries who couldn't even complain after getting slapped around due to discrimination wherever they went.
According to Ellis, pretty much all the mercenaries in the capital would join up.
Once it reached a proper scale, I'd bring Ellis into House Zahav, give her a suitable title, and put her in charge of operations.
It would naturally resolve her wanted status, let me bring her into House Zahav, and secure talent to run the mercenary guild in Jevella's place, since she was already overburdened with work.
Everything was going smoothly. All that was left was to get through the banquet without issue.
I undid the top button of the shirt that felt a bit tight around my muscles and extended a hand toward Ellis.
Using the basic etiquette I'd learned from Hilda to the fullest.
"Then, will you accompany me, madam?"
"Of course, Your Grace."
She wore an expression like it was nothing new. But Ellis, in a mood that wasn't displeased, naturally took my hand and hooked her arm lightly through mine.
...By etiquette standards, it should have just been a light hand on the arm, but for some reason, she pressed in close enough that her slender chest nearly brushed against me.
Her house had fallen long ago, so she'd probably forgotten the finer points. It was a bit burdensome, but not enough to embarrass her, so I showed no sign of it as we headed outside.
Right in front of the casino's bar. Carlo and the other mercenaries were already armed and lined up in formation.
The front ranks were mostly southern mercenaries as expected... but the further back, the more mixed in from other regions.
Carlo, standing out as the representative, approached me and bowed deeply.
"As per the request, we'll escort the two of you."
"Good. I'll pay you generously, so stay sharp even while waiting outside. You get what I mean?"
"If you pay that well, even a mercenary who's rolled around for ten years will move like a fresh recruit. We absolutely won't bring any disgrace upon Your Grace."
Carlo grinned brightly and bowed his head once more.
To win over the mercenaries' loyalty—and because it felt empty heading to the imperial palace without any escorts despite being a grand duke—I'd decided to use mercenaries in place of knights...
After spending some of the gold seized from the black mages, their discipline was razor-sharp.
It looked enough like a small private army that anyone might mistake it for one.
...This is okay, right?