The Banquet
The Banquet
A count kneeling before a princess.
Many people were watching.
The Count was kneeling on one knee right in front of her, but the Princess raised her voice so everyone could hear.
"It is only natural for the Kingdom's army to protect the Kingdom."
Rather than look at the kneeling count, she gazed at the soldiers and the people of the territory watching the scene.
"And we came to this fortress to help the soldiers who protect the Kingdom."
Perhaps because the speaker was a girl barely into her teens, there was no hint of pretense in the Princess's words.
"First of all, it does not matter whether you support me or not."
As the Princess continued speaking with conviction, Senior Benjamin let out a sigh.
The plan he had painstakingly prepared seemed likely to be derailed by the Princess.
"All the citizens of the Kingdom and the royal family are always grateful to you for protecting this fortress and the Kingdom. I hope you will continue to protect the fortress and this kingdom."
Whether or not she meant every word, her speech resonated in everyone's hearts.
"Whenever we hear that this fortress is in danger, we will come to help."
The Princess looked at everyone and placed a hand over her heart.
Then I, the escort knights, and the knights of the order followed her lead, placing our hands over our hearts.
It was a knight's oath.
The Princess finished speaking with her hand still over her heart.
"We will stabilize the Kingdom. Just as you protect this kingdom from monsters, we will restore this chaotic kingdom to its proper state."
When the Princess finished her speech and everyone lowered their hands, a cheer loud enough to shake heaven and earth rang out.
"Long live the Carlos Kingdom!"
"Long live Princess Aisha!"
"Long live Soroka Fortress!"
It was the cry of the Kingdom's army defending the fortress and of the people of the territory who had been trapped inside it.
The Princess's speech had indeed been excellent, but it alone could not have drawn out such a tremendous cheer.
More than anything, it was because the one who had given that speech was Princess Aisha, a member of this nation's royal family.
The Princess had finally eased this fortress's long-standing sorrow.
The people of the fortress had probably never once received proper thanks or an apology from the royal family.
The Second Prince's coercive demand that they withdraw must have only deepened the people's discontent.
Amid all that, the Princess's gratitude had kindled a fire in people's hearts.
The cheering did not die down for a long time.
If anything, it seemed to grow louder as word spread through the city.
As time passed, this cheering would become a tale told over drinks and a song sung by bards.
Before the cheering died down, the Count who had been kneeling rose to his feet.
When the Count looked up, I saw that his eyes had reddened.
Even he seemed moved by the Princess's words.
Perhaps because there was no media, people in this world seemed more easily moved than they had been in my previous life.
And that also seemed to make them much easier to incite.
Indeed, it was only in a world like this that heroes or champions whom people followed could emerge.
And such a world was not so bad.
The Count, his eyes reddened, escorted the Princess, and we followed behind him.
The cheering continued without pause along the roadside, while flower petals—who knew where they had come from—were scattered from all directions.
Thanks to the tremendous welcome, it felt as if we were a knight order returning victorious from war.
As I walked behind the Princess, Senior Benjamin came up beside me.
"I didn't expect things to turn out like this. My heart nearly stopped when I heard the Princess's words."
Benjamin was even more cunning than I was in some ways, but he still didn't seem to know much about how to move people's emotions.
Indeed, even in my previous life, effective crowd agitation had only really emerged around the time of World War II.
In a world where the media had not developed, that field was bound to be weak.
I looked at the Princess walking beside the Count.
The Princess's expression hadn't changed.
There was no sign of pretense, and though her face had reddened slightly, it seemed to be from embarrassment over the words she'd just spoken.
The Princess had spoken sincerely, and everyone was happy, so it seemed best not to mention things like agitation or psychological manipulation to anyone.
Unfortunately, the besieging forces didn't withdraw just because the former Vice-Commander of the Royal Knights had died.
But since the troops had pulled back considerably, it didn't seem they would attack right away.
First, we distributed the food we'd brought from the Gracia Dukedom to the fortress.
The ducal household also had an artifact bag, though it was smaller than my backpack.
We unloaded all the food packed into the bag for the fortress. The fortress had been suffering from poor food supplies because of the siege, but now its people could enjoy a plentiful meal for the first time in a long while.
That evening, we were invited to dinner at the Count's.
It was a modest meal for a banquet, but many people gathered and happily ate and drank.
The Princess, Benjamin, the other knights, and the escort knights all enjoyed their meal with the nobles and knights of the fortress.
As the Princess's escort knight, I sat near her.
I was eating and watching the joyful scene when the Count, who had been talking with the Princess for a while, came over to me.
He filled my cup to the brim with alcohol and said,
"I could tell when I saw her earlier, but she truly is a remarkable princess. How can siblings be so different..."
The Count—the fortress commander—shook his head as he looked at the Princess.
"I was truly moved when she spoke earlier. When has a royal ever thanked us—especially one in the line of succession...? This would move anyone."
He downed his drink and continued.
"It was a fine speech, and I was moved, but it wasn't what made me decide to side with the Princess."
I'd been wondering why he'd come over to praise the Princess. It turned out he had something else to say...
"I'd already decided to entrust myself to the Princess—from the moment you and the Princess came to visit, from the moment I saw you pushing the monsters toward the Empire."
Indeed, even before the Princess's speech, the Count had laid down his conditions but said he would stand with her.
Fortunately, his decision didn't seem to have changed even after the Princess's speech.
But he said I pushed the monsters toward the Empire?
At the time, I was sure I'd said the imperials had simply happened not to appear... Had that not worked?
"Perhaps it was because of the contract that I couldn't get the full story from my son, but I've defended this fortress for so long that there's no way I wouldn't recognize a situation like that."
So he'd only pretended to believe me back then?
Indeed, even if you made the person beside you sign a contract, keeping a secret perfectly seemed difficult.
"I don't know exactly how you did it, but I know you were the reason the imperial army couldn't hold back the monsters."
Still, the contract seemed to have had some effect.
"And on top of that, after seeing the duel today, I thought you might have killed every imperial soldier outright."
I'd done it to leave a clear impression on people's minds, and judging by the Count's reaction, it had worked.
It had brought him close to the truth.
The Count raised his cup.
"Honestly, I raised my hand for the Princess because of you, and because of Duke Gracia and the forces behind you. The First Prince and Second Prince factions are powerful, but Duke Gracia won't lose easily either."
Indeed, there was no way he would make such a decision based solely on a young princess.
Since neutrality wasn't an option in a civil war, he'd simply joined the faction that would suffer the least damage.
"But while I was listening to the Princess's speech, all those plans vanished from my mind."
"As the lord protecting this territory and a general in the Kingdom's army, I rationally decided to join the Princess's faction. But as a knight, I fell for the Princess in that moment. You can trust a knight's loyalty."
He laughed heartily and walked away.
The Count had probably come to me, as someone close to the Princess, to tell me what he couldn't say to her himself.
It was unexpected, but it was nice to hear.
As the evening wore on and dinner turned into a drinking party, I rose from my seat.
There was someone missing from this noisy gathering.
Just then, as I'd instructed earlier, a servant brought the food.
A meal sat on a large tray.
"If someone needs to be served separately, we can deliver their meal."
I shook my head at the servant's offer. I couldn't let others see her.
If it had been all right for others to see her, there would have been no reason for her not to attend the dinner.
I picked up the tray and left the dining hall.
Carrying the large tray, I asked people passing by for directions and headed toward the mansion's basement.
I went down the stairs, passed through an empty underground storage room, and arrived at a place filled with oak barrels.
A chilly basement.
I knocked on an oak barrel near the entrance.
Knock. Knock.
It was an oak barrel that would once have been full of alcohol, but now it was completely empty.
I subtly spread my mana and examined the surroundings. The other oak barrels were empty too.
In the center of the chilly storage room, someone sat on the floor with her eyes closed.
It was Balea.
I approached her carefully.
I moved cautiously, even using my abilities, but unfortunately, Balea opened her eyes before I could reach her side.
"You came?"
As expected, there was no way to evade the gaze of Balea, who was creating a domain.
"I thought you might not have eaten anything, so I brought you some food."
I set the tray down in front of her.
Nothing on it had spilled.
That was thanks to my keen senses and physical abilities.
I looked at Balea with satisfaction, but she looked at my face instead of the food on the tray.
"How did you know I was here?"
"You don't seem sick, and you're not someone who neglects your own duties, so I thought you'd be preparing to create your domain in advance. The best place to create a domain seemed to be underground..."
When we infiltrated Ivana's mansion, Balea had also stayed in its basement.
Besides, I was familiar with Balea's domain by now. Finding its center wasn't difficult.
Balea said nothing in response, so I had to bring up something else.
"Isn't it too dark?"
I had felt that way earlier, too, but I didn't like the idea of Balea being left alone in this dark basement.
When I said that, Balea smiled. Her smile was faintly visible in the darkness.
It looked just as dark as the shadows around her.
Balea opened her mouth, still smiling.
"Sitting underground like this and creating a domain was ordinary for me. It came naturally. The reason I made our house into an impregnable fortress was that I built it up like this every single day."
I knew well how terrifying that house was. Apart from the bandits who attacked later, I myself had died there once.
"I'm used to it. I'll gratefully accept the meal."
Balea bowed her head to me and spoke again.
"Please go up first. It's such a large domain that it will take a long time."
Was she planning to create a domain over the entire fortress, centered on the mansion?
Honestly, that seemed like too much, but since she'd said she needed time, it seemed I should leave her alone.
But at Balea's words, I sat down right where I was.
Anyway, dinner had turned into a drinking party, and there was probably no one urgently looking for me.
"I'll stay with you until you're done. Protecting a woman is an important duty of a knight."
At my words, Balea let out a small laugh.
Fortunately, this laugh wasn't as dark as the one before.
Balea looked at me.
"Do you know? You're the first person to stay by my side while I create a domain, Young Lord."
In the darkness, Balea's eyes sparkled like stars.