The Banquet and the Bargain

Even stepping out of the exhibition hall, Simon's mind was still filled with thoughts of the 'Overlord' he had seen at the end of his tour.

The soft-bodied undead had struck him as that fresh a shock. He could easily have written several pages of report on the Overlord alone.

"You worked hard today, Simon!" said Shun as they rode the carriage back to the estate. "Your guard duty starts tomorrow evening, at the exhibition banquet."

"A banquet?"

"Yep! A dinner with our Oldone family and the VIP guests attending the exhibition. Then the day after tomorrow, the exhibition opens to the general public too."

Simon nodded. "I was planning to come in early tomorrow morning."

"No need! There's nothing to prepare ahead of time. Just show up two hours before the banquet."

For a thousand-gold job, the benefits were better than he'd expected.

The carriage arrived at the estate, and Shun waved goodbye before heading inside with the butlers.

During the guard duty, all lodging expenses were covered by the Count's family. The head butler had said Simon was welcome to stay at the estate, but he had politely declined—he had something he wanted to practice alone, somewhere quiet.

The lodging Simon chose was a small cabin a little removed from Blue Harbor's central district. A tiny one-story house with a view of the night sea. It was cheap, and hardly anyone passed by after dark, so the undead could come and go freely without incident.

As a gesture toward Erzsébet's feelings, Simon had dinner with her over a glass of wine. For the first time in a while, he even let the corpse spiders roam the sandy beach freely, letting them drink their fill of insects and small beasts.

The moment the meal was over, Simon shut himself inside his room alone.

I can't afford to waste a single second.

His goal for this mission was to raise his Bone Armour to a whole new level.

Taking a deep breath and emptying his mind, he filled his body with plenty of Jet-Black, then rose from his seat. From his subspace, he drew out two skeletons and set them on either side of him.

Bone Armour!

Crack-cra-craaaack!

The skeletons' bodies broke apart and began snapping onto his own, piece by piece.

He wasn't even dreaming of reaching the level Aaron had once demonstrated, where the armor swallowed the entire body. What mattered most was whether the pieces could connect into his limbs and draw out a full-body strength augmentation.

Focus. Focus.

Raising pillars out of the large bones was no trouble, but the moment the smaller bones found their places, the balance wavered violently.

To succeed at Bone Armour, Simon had to twist—almost invert—everything he had internalized, whether through theory or instinct, about the 'order of connecting bones.' Spine bones fitted into the joints of arm bones; leg bones and neck bones merged together. What's more, since he was using two skeletons, pieces from different bodies locked together indiscriminately.

He had to shake off that eerie, crawling wrongness and fit the bones together deliberately, purely in service of the shape of 'armor.'

Clatter-clatter-clatter!

His concentration broke. The ribs he'd neglected while fitting together his arms collapsed, and every connected section scattered like dominoes.

Simon dropped to his knees on the floor, gasping for breath.

"Hah! Hahk!"

Hard, as expected. Even preparing the mud golem hadn't been this bad. It had been a long time since he'd felt the sheer height of the wall standing before him in Summoning.

Again!

Simon leapt back to his feet and kept attempting Bone Armour, again and again, until it worked.

Erzsébet froze in the doorway, a plate of food in one hand. Then she shushed the corpse spiders trailing behind her.

The spiders, creeping silently toward her with plates of juice and pudding balanced on their bodies, stopped as well.

-Kriiii!

Erzsébet quietly closed the door behind her.

"Simon! You're here?"

Shun, dressed in a crisp formal suit, greeted Simon as he entered the banquet hall.

"What's this? I gave you time to rest, and you look more tired."

"I'm fine. Really." Simon forced a smile.

Truthfully, he'd spent most of his rest time on Bone Armour training and it had taken something out of him. But he'd squeezed in naps between attempts, so his condition was more than good enough to carry out the mission.

"By the way, do I need to change clothes?"

"You're already wearing the perfect outfit—what are you talking about?" Shun pointed at the stylish Kizen uniform Simon had on. "We just need to do something with your hair."

Shun snapped his fingers, and suddenly a pair of rough hands seized Simon's wrists from behind. In an instant he was seated on a chair in the next room, stammering.

"Wh-what are you doing?"

"Setting your hair. Close your eyes."

Sizzle! Sizzle!

A middle-aged woman in a maid's uniform began spraying something over his head.

His eyes really were stinging, so Simon squeezed them shut. Shun trailed behind, snickering mischievously.

"Whoa! Your scalp's stretching like bread dough!"

"……Quiet."

With his hair finally set, Simon moved into the banquet hall alongside Shun.

Before antique tables, freshly prepared dishes gleamed in dazzling buffet-style displays. Even the smallest piece of tableware looked expensive.

"Our spot is here." Just inside the hall's main entrance, beside an indoor fountain, Shun perched himself on the fountain's edge and went on. "When guests arrive, you greet them, exchange pleasantries, and see them inside."

"Got it."

"Most of them will notice the Kizen uniform you're wearing and strike up conversation. Just play along! You can handle that, right?"

"I'll manage."

Simon straightened his tie and steeled himself. Just then, the head butler standing at the main entrance spoke up.

"My lord. Guests arriving."

"Right! Let's begin."

The doors opened, and gentlemen in formal suits entered arm in arm with ladies in dresses. The head butler announced in a ringing voice:

"Sir Kinola Oldone and Lady Sophie Oldone!"

Oldone—the same family as Shun.

Simon quickly filed away the situational details and read the mood as the Kinola couple stopped before Shun.

"Welcome, Uncle!"

"Hahaha! Lord Shun, it is an honor."

The two exchanged brief pleasantries. Perhaps because of his count's rank, Shun did not bow first.

Now—focus.

Every nation ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠of the Dark Alliance had its own etiquette and ceremonial forms.

The Alliance currently consisted of four kingdoms. The Kingdom of Dresden, with Rankustin—closest to Kizen—as its capital. The Kingdom of Baldwin, home to Simon's birthplace of Leshill. The Kingdom of Kahlos, which included Arnish, the site of Simon's first mission. And the Kingdom of Shahed in the north, part of the Alliance yet standing in proud isolation.

Blue Harbor was Baldwin territory. He knew this kingdom's etiquette well.

Having finished their greetings, the Kinola couple noticed Simon and approached.

"Uncle! This is the Special Admission No. 1 student from Kizen!"

"Ah, so this is…!"

"Simon Polentia."

Simon smiled gently, inclined his head, and shook the man's hand. To the lady, he offered a light kiss on the back of her hand.

"Thank you for so graciously gracing our family's exhibition with your presence, student of Kizen."

"The honor is mine, thanks to your Count's invitation."

After exchanging a few more words, Simon straightened his posture and bowed once more. He had come as an escort, after all; the Count himself had introduced him, and lingering too long in conversation would be discourteous. The Kinola couple seemed to understand this as well, and moved deeper into the hall.

"Baron Ryan Darby, lord of the Galan territory!"

Simon's mind snapped taut. Galan—a territory of the Dresden Kingdom.

This time, Simon greeted him in the Dresden manner.

After that, some ten guests arrived in quick succession, but nothing fazed him. Responding deftly to each guest's nationality, station, and sex, his handling went beyond skillful into the downright dazzling.

Shun stared, then smacked his thigh in astonishment.

"What the heck? How do you know all that?"

"My father drilled etiquette into me. Hard."

He'd learned it while taking beatings for every mistake. Back then he'd wondered why a rural barony bothered teaching this stuff, but it turned out no lesson was ever wasted. Simon kept his smile in place and attended to the guests throughout.

"My apologies—I'm on guard duty for the Count at the moment."

"It's by the Count's grace that I've been given the honor of coming here."

"Yes, all of it thanks to the Count."

"I'd imagine Lord Shun knows better than I do."

A Kizen uniform stands out anywhere. Some guests took more interest in Simon than in Shun—and every time they did, Simon greeted them warmly, then took a step back and made a point of elevating Shun.

Why the Oldone family paid a thousand gold to hire me for this mission.

He knew perfectly well.

First, a dazzling trophy—a Kizen Special Admission No. 1—to lend prestige to the occasion. And second, a kind of safeguard: for Shun, young and newly inheriting an unstable county, the presence of Kizen's No. 1 served as a guarantee of his title.

You'll get your thousand gold's worth from me, one way or another.

No one in this hall could look down on Shun tonight.

Simon kept himself firmly in the supporting role, focusing entirely on lifting Shun up. The family's staff and butlers, watching him work, wore barely-concealed smiles of delight.

"Rare depth of thought in one so young, I must say."

"Mm. He knows his position to a tee."

"Well-mannered, too. So courteous to the elders. No wonder everyone's falling over themselves trying to poach a Kizen man."

"Shh, shh. Sir Pinch will hear you."

Just then, the head butler glanced around, frowning.

"Speaking of which—where is Sir Pinch?"

At that same moment.

Pinch, having slipped quietly out of the banquet hall, checked that no one was around. Then he drew a communication crystal from his coat and spoke in a calm voice.

"It's me."

A man's voice, thick with a rough accent, rang from the crystal.

"Understood. No problems on my end either. Every key figure of ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠the family is gathered in the banquet hall."

The man's voice turned cold.

"Ah, no need to fret. A Kizen student at most is a first-year chick—hardly even a variable. If it worries you that much, I'll handle the brat personally, so relax."

Pinch smirked.

"What, scared now, of all times?"

"Of course. I, Pinch, guarantee it."

The corner of his mouth curled upward.

"Everything on this island will be yours."