The Banquet
A carriage drawn by a pristine white horse cut through the streets of Bolston.
Evidently they shoe their horses here the same as anywhere else — with every lurch forward, the rhythmic clatter of hooves rang out briskly against the cobblestones.
"This is my first time riding in a carriage like this."
"It's softer than a bed!"
"It's a far cry from the carriages the Guild used. I'd wager selling this one alone would be enough to pay off all of Lena's debt."
The moment we accepted Harrington's invitation, we were ushered into a carriage that had been waiting outside the inn.
Even at a glance, the thing dripped with refinement — clearly no ordinary vehicle. But the interior was even more extravagant than its exterior suggested.
Not in terms of decor, but in terms of function.
I ran my hand over a seat so plush it seemed liable to swallow me whole.
"I think this might be leather from that Sea-Serpent we saw at the smithy a while back."
"There are few leathers with a pattern of swirling blue lines. I would say the probability is high."
"...A leather armor made from that stuff was worth a hundred gold coins. And they're using it just to wrap the seats?"
"Hm... I did not realize Mr. Harrington was so wealthy."
"He shares a family name with Henry, so he's probably a noble. Why would someone like that be working for the Guild, though?"
As the familiar name suggested, our host was Harrington — the low-level Guild technician who had once been dispatched to Pioneer Village.
Despite his unassuming appearance, he'd left an impression with his surprisingly resolute side.
He had mentioned treating us to a meal once we reached Bolston, but never in my wildest dreams did I imagine an invitation like this.
Much less one where he revealed his true identity.
"He must have his reasons. My guess is that working as a Guild technician was some kind of cover identity... If it were purely an act of hospitality, he wouldn't have invited us this way."
"Did word of us subjugating the Bishop reach his ears? Henry seems to be from the same family, after all..."
"Perhaps. Well, we have no information at the moment, so further speculation would be pointless."
"Ooh... Mister. We're entering the inner city right now."
At Lena's awestruck remark, I glanced out the window for a moment.
The carriage absorbed vibration so perfectly that I hadn't noticed at all, but it was traveling at quite a clip.
Perhaps because of that, the towering inner walls were already drawing near.
"...This is a place not just anyone can enter. First time seeing it myself."
Bolston had not one but two great walls — the outer one to repel invaders, and a second within.
The inner city, built to house the key facilities of the region and the nobles who resided there.
In the modern era, people would be up in arms about discrimination — but well, this world very much had a class system, so there was nothing to be done about it.
And even back on Earth, wealthy districts were frequently walled off from everyone else, so it wasn't exactly strange.
"Personally, I'd rather see that money invested in the outer walls instead..."
"There will be spies anywhere, no matter what. As with Lady Catherine's abduction."
"Wow... the streets are so pretty."
Our carriage passed through without so much as an inspection and entered the inner city directly.
We had only crossed one wall, yet the scenery was utterly different from outside.
Unlike the rigid exterior, built purely for efficiency, the streets within the inner city clearly prioritized aesthetics.
Some kind of magic must have been at work — despite it being winter, rows of trees bloomed beautifully along the roadside, and not a speck of trash marred the streets stretching out ahead of us.
"The architecture is all different, too."
"Money just oozes out of this place. Is this how all nobles live?"
"Hey, Mister... could you maybe—"
"No matter what, I can't ask him to pay off your debt."
"Figured as much..."
Lena had been gaping at the sight of a world she'd never seen before. But at the mention of money, her own debt must have come to mind, because she'd ventured the question ever so carefully — and I promptly shot it down.
We weren't on bad terms with Harrington, but even so, asking him to cover five hundred gold coins was a bridge too far.
However...
"Still, we could probably get legal advice out of him. It's not like we know the law inside and out ourselves."
To be precise, unlike in my past life, there was no way to find books laying out the law in meticulous detail.
The courts here felt very much like a private club with their own rules.
But nobles were surely connected to people who could offer legal counsel, so if the mood was right, we could just ask him for an introduction.
When I said as much, Lena's face brightened.
...
"We have arrived."
The carriage stopped before a stately three-story mansion of modest size.
The solemn manor looked like something out of a film — genuinely impressive — though regrettably, the garden attached to it was not particularly large.
Space was at a premium inside the inner city, after all.
The butler personally escorted us inside.
"Whoaaaa..."
Ornate chandeliers. Marble statues that could only be the work of a master craftsman. Portraits of successive heads of the household posed in stately dignity.
The moment we stepped into the foyer, an opulence accumulated over who knew how many generations blinded us with its brilliance.
Even I — hardened by the visual media of my past life — felt a flicker of awe, so it went without saying that Lena, with zero immunity to such displays, had her eyes spinning in her head.
"Everything is ready. This way, please..."
Unlike Lena, the butler stole puzzled glances at how calmly Noah and I were taking it all in.
Then he looked at Lena, still starry-eyed, and — as if to say, this was how it ought to be — wore a satisfied expression and continued leading us onward.
Several doors passed under our feet, wooden yet utterly silent — either marvelously well-oiled or simply that well-made — until the butler came to a halt before a door painted white.
"You may head on in."
"Just us?"
"Yes. Do enjoy yourselves."
The butler bowed with unfailing courtesy, then walked off in a pose straight out of an etiquette manual and vanished from sight.
Hm... usually in situations like this, isn't the butler supposed to deliver some warning about behaving properly before the master of the house?
I felt an odd sense of letdown toward the butler, who had remained faithful to his role right up to the very end.
Noah caught wind of my drifting thoughts with eerie precision.
"You are having some strange thought again, aren't you."
"...I was just trying to relax. Oh, right — Lena."
"Yes?"
"Somehow I forgot to bring this up, but... could you please, please watch your mouth? Did you see how horrified Lady Catherine was when you tried to talk back to her the other day?"
She had a short fuse, sure, but was a comment about her height really worth getting that worked up over?
Catherine was a decent enough young lady, so it blew over — but if Lena had crossed paths with a villainess instead, her head might have genuinely gone rolling.
At times I genuinely wondered whether the girl had anger management issues.
We were bound to meet more nobles down the line, and I'd rather she not cause a scene every single time.
At that, Lena glanced warily at Noah and answered in a small voice.
"I'll be careful... actually, Unni already wrung it out of me..."
"You need to watch your words, young lady."
"I got scolded..."
"Sigh. Fine. Let's do better going forward, okay?"
I ruffled Lena's hair, saying something that felt oddly like what I'd have said to a junior soldier back in the service.
Thanks to diligent care and proper nutrition, her light purple hair now swayed far more luxuriously than it ever had before.
Feeling strangely soothed by the sight, I opened the door in front of us.
...
The instant the door swung open, a rich aroma of spices washed over us.
Hard on its heels came a full symphony of mouthwatering scents billowing from dish after dish.
Nothing at the inn — none of that cheap bread or watery soup — could hold a candle to this feast of smells, and before I knew it, my mouth was watering.
But more important than any of it was the person who had invited us here.
"Welcome, Ha Jun."
The man seated at the head of a table groaning under platters of every conceivable dish was, of course, Harring—
Huh? Who is that?
It wasn't Harrington.
The man greeting me wore comfortable, decidedly un-noble loungewear — and I swore on the heavens that I had never seen his face before.
"G-good... evening?"
I stammered my greeting in the face of the entirely unexpected situation.
The butler had most definitely said Harrington had invited me, yet the man before me was not the Harrington I remembered.
That said, his features weren't completely different either... the shape of his eyes and the set of his nose were just slightly off?
Brothers sharing the same name?
As I stood there bewildered, the man clapped his hands together as if only now remembering something.
"Ah! My mistake — I'd taken off my artifact. I am Harrington, I assure you."
Swhoosh.
The man stroked his face once, and his features shifted subtly, weaving themselves into a new countenance.
The finished face was the Harrington I knew so well.
With the addition of his usual thin silver-framed glasses, the mild-mannered blond young man I remembered was complete!
"...You've been in disguise this whole time?"
"Haha. There were circumstances. Please don't go telling anyone."
"Of course not. Although, um... you really don't have to speak so formally—"
Harrington maintained the same easygoing manner as he had back in his days as a low-level Guild technician.
Wondering if this was some kind of test, I tried to keep a respectful distance, but Harrington shook his head.
"No, no. If I let myself get accustomed to throwing my weight around, it becomes a problem when I'm doing Guild work. Talking like this has simply become a habit, you see. The butler keeps nagging me that it lacks gravitas. Haha."
"Ah..."
"So just treat me as you always have. Personally, I find it more comfortable this way."
"...Understood."
"Good. Ah — let's talk over the meal, shall we? Making the kitchen staff keep everything warm would be a poor way to treat them."
"...Yahoo."
At Harrington's gesture, Lena let out a tiny cheer and darted into her seat.
Watching her fidget with both hands barely restrained and a thin line of drool escaping the corner of her mouth, it seemed she was one step away from losing all reason.
Perhaps because it was her first time seeing dishes like these in her life, though—
—the girl found herself utterly helpless before the unfamiliar spread, with no idea how to even begin.
Harrington chuckled at the sight, clearly finding her endearing.
"Just eat however you like. This isn't a formal occasion."
"Is that why you've dismissed the servants?"
"Partly. Now then — let's eat."
"Thank you for the meal..."
Unable to bear watching any longer, Noah began by portioning food onto Lena's plate in easy-to-eat pieces, and with that, our meal began.
The dining room was modest for a mansion, the tableware and ornamentation restrained, and Harrington himself led by example with an unpretentious manner — all of which allowed us to simply lose ourselves in the delicious food.
It was a thoughtful touch, considerate of guests unfamiliar with occasions like this.
...
The meal lasted about an hour.
At first I picked at my food, ticking away nervously over what possible purpose this invitation served — but my tongue was an honest creature.
Before I knew it, I looked down to find a steak tossed in exotic spices filling my mouth to the brim.
In the end, I had no choice but to set my worries aside for a while and devote my entire being to inhaling the cuisine.
I'm stuffed...
And the result: where bountiful dishes had once stood, only tiny fragments remained on the plates now.
I hadn't expected us to eat all of it.
"Urp..."
Lena, who had demolished the most food of any of us, gave a small burp while patting her belly, which bulged out as if she were pregnant.
Seeing a sight that comics usually exaggerate for comedic effect play out in real life left me somewhere between horror and admiration.
As an Awakened, her entire body was reinforced, so it wasn't impossible for a stomach to stretch like that...
But watching her reach for dessert in that state drew a sigh out of me all the same.
Stop eating already.
"Everyone has hearty appetites. I suppose that comes with being Awakened?"
"Haha... how embarrassing."
"Not at all. If anything, I'm envious. The Awakened can eat to their heart's content without worrying about gaining weight..."
My sanity crept sheepishly back at last, making me ashamed of the outright battle Lena and I had waged over the table — but Harrington truly seemed unbothered.
So seriously — why did he invite us?
The entire meal had been nothing but small talk.
Perhaps sensing my puzzlement, Harrington set down his teacup and spoke.
"Now that everyone's finished eating... shall we get down to business?"