Chapter 65 – Banquet
As the proverb says that a horse without feet can travel a thousand miles, the news that Hero and his party defeated Carmion, the spear of the demon king, spread quickly to the royal capital.
‘That… Carmion is dead?’
Hearing the news, Madris sat down on the throne and remembered his past.
How much manpower and money have been spent trying to kill that lizard so far.
Just counting them one by one made Madris’ chest tight and he couldn’t breathe.
Madris did not go directly to the frontlines because he was the king, but every time he heard the news of Carmion appearing on the frontlines and the enormous damage that followed, Madris’s heart burned with fierce flames of hatred.
He even cursed that he wanted to kill Carmion rather than the demon king who was in charge of Carmion, so he said it all.
“… Keu,hee hee!”
A mean laugh inadvertently leaked from Madris’ mouth when she saw the picture of Carmion’s gruesome corpse included in the report.
If the ministers saw it, it was the sound of laughter that would have prompted them to keep their bodies intact, but now there was only one Madris here.
‘But, to be able to defeat that Carmion…’
Inside of Madris, who was not very good even then, his image of a warrior became more formidable.
Since he is a warrior enough to defeat Carmion, isn’t a giant with a scarred face coming?
In the middle of imagining that, Madris suddenly smiled, wondering if her imagination was too weak.
‘But… I’m a little grateful.’
It came from the shallow reason of killing her, but Madris wanted to meet the hero no matter what kind of person he was.
*****
A few days later, the hero finally arrived at the castle and stopped in front of the castle.
“… Would it be okay to dress like this?”
The warriors had light casual clothes, but there were no formal suits or clothes suitable for such a position.
I thought that announcing that I was a hero would be something later, and above all, I had so many things to do that I didn’t have time to take care of them.
He thought that even his teammates would be embarrassed because of him, and when the hero stretched his shoulders, Lina said.
“It is said that armor is a suit for a warrior, so there is no need to worry so much.”
“… Is it?”
“That’s it. Besides, the Behemoth armor you wear is hundreds of times more expensive than the clothes worn by the nobles of the kingdom, so it’s okay.”
It wasn’t a matter of price, but when Lina said that, the hero nodded and went inside.
Passing through the long and luxurious corridor, the eyes of the knights and attendants working in the castle were fixed on the hero and his party.
He was a warrior who was accustomed to the curious gazes of others, but since the place was the place, he was a little nervous today.
After walking through a long corridor, they arrived at a large door engraved with the pattern of the Biltan Kingdom.
Beyond this door was an audience room, guarded by two knights armed with swords.
As the hero stood in front of the door, the knights guarding the door opened it and the hero entered the throne room.
Originally, you had to entrust your weapon to the knights here, but it was so clear that there was no point in leaving your status as a warrior and your weapon, so you could enter with your weapon in hand.
Upon entering the audience room, I saw a road lined on both sides with ministers bowing their heads.
At the end of the road, a gray-haired old man was staring at the warrior in silence, wearing a heavy crown that he didn’t normally wear.
I don’t know if it’s because of my mood, but for some reason, the look on the hero’s face looks like he’s taken aback.
‘… I’m nervous.’
Like a hero who was nervous about standing in front of the king, Madris, who saw the hero for the first time today, was a little nervous.
Perhaps because of his presbyopia, he couldn’t see the warrior’s face well from this distance, which made him even more nervous.
Perhaps recognizing that feeling, the hero slowly headed towards Mardis with slow steps.
Eventually, when we arrived in front of Mardis, he knelt down on one knee and said in a trembling voice.
“Hey, nice to meet you. Your majesty… I am Hero Yoa.”
Just as Madris was nervous, it was difficult for Hero to remain calm in front of the king of a great country.
Saying that, the hero lowered his head and slowly raised his head, and only then did Madris see the hero’s face and said in embarrassment.
“Get up, warrior. I am very grateful to you for listening to this old man’s request to participate in the banquet.”
“Oh, no… Thank you It wasn’t even that difficult.”
Seeing the warrior’s face with his head raised, Madris realized how absurd he had imagined.
‘I expected a fierce, gigantic warrior to appear. He’s a surprisingly handsome young man…’
The warrior’s face was far from a fight that ten people would have said was naive if ten people had seen it.
Of course, there were no scars, and Madris, who saw the face that a man would like to see, felt particularly like it, perhaps because of the gap with the first impression made by hearing the report.
Madris, relieved to see the hero’s gentle face, continued the conversation.
There was a formal conversation that was familiar to Madris but not so familiar to the hero, and one of the officials asked to introduce a colleague, so the hero’s colleague introduction began.
“Let me introduce you. This one…”
Although the ministers were indifferent when their names came out to unknown people like Yuria, Mirian, and Rina.
Starting with her saintess, Martha, then Rose, the daughter of the Allen Baut family, and Grindella, the princess of a ruined country, her expression began to change gradually.
‘Those three whose names are not known also look like quite strong people. But that man…’
It didn’t take long for Madris, who had learned a little on the surface, but had some knowledge in swordsmanship and magic, to notice the talents of Yuria and Mirian.
But Horde, standing behind the hero, didn’t feel anything like mana or anything, let alone the talent he felt from those three.
“Finally, this one…”
Just as the hero was about to introduce the Horde, Madris couldn’t hold back his curiosity and pointed at the Horde and asked.
“Warrior… Who is the one in the back?”
“This is the porter, Mr. Hod. Oh, and he even does the coachman’s work sometimes.”
When the hero said that, Horde was embarrassed and hurriedly bowed his head to Madris.
However, Horde didn’t come to Madris because of the word “Porter,” Which Horde had heard a while ago.
‘A porter? Coachman?’
It is not unreasonable that Madris could not understand at the moment and was so embarrassed.
At least not a thief, but only a porter or something like that, so how can you not be surprised that the hero party is included.
‘He probably didn’t use slang that is only used among adventurers in a place like this.’
As speculated, Horde’s identity was just a porter and coachman.
However, since he was only a porter of words, there was a possibility that he might have played a different role in reality, so he did not make a hasty decision.
‘A horse is a porter, but in reality, it might be playing the role of a bookkeeper in a hero party…”
No, if there was such a schemer, there would be no way such a stupid strategy would have come out, so it wouldn’t happen.
Then, was it just a porter hired when the hero was still weak?
‘Then why are we still together…’
Madris didn’t know much about the world of adventurers, but he knew that day jobs like porters would be fired as soon as they were no longer needed.
‘… Are you still hiring because of affection?’
The porter’s wages may not be that expensive, but seeing as they keep hiring them even though they don’t need them because of affection, it seems that the hero is a better man than he thought.
Of course, if it wasn’t for the sage, he wouldn’t have been chosen as a hero in the first place.
Madris: Personally, I thought it was back, but what… Isn’t that a good joke?
After the formal conversation, Madris said to the warrior that there was nothing more to share.
“Then… There is still time before the banquet, so let’s meet again tonight. In the meantime, warrior, please relieve the travel poison.”
“Yeah, well then…”
The hero and his party, who readily accepted Madris’ favor, headed back to the door, and Madris looked back at them and suddenly remembered the money she had promised to give to Grindella.
‘… If he was a good man like that, he wouldn’t have thought of taking revenge. Then there was no need for support?’
Realizing the fact belatedly, Madris felt regret, but by the time he realized it, everything was already too late.
*****
As time passed and the sun went down and the curtain of night covered the sky, the banquet began as planned.
A warrior dressed in a white suit prepared by the kingdom entered the banquet hall with stiff movements.
And unlike such a warrior, Rose started with natural movements and as the party members entered the banquet hall one by one, the attention of the nobles gathered in the banquet hall was focused at once.
“… They say he is the rumored hero.”
“There are rumors that he destroyed the base of the Demon King army by himself…”
“From what I’ve heard, the story that you defeated Carmion, who is called the spear of the demon king…”
“This is what I heard from my exclusive mage, but I also heard that you defeated Behemoth, who is said to be on par with Carmion…”
“… No, aren’t there too many achievements?”
A young lady said that, but after saying that, her eyes were on the hero like the other young ladies gathered here.
It was a little flawed that he was a commoner, but he was a first-class bridegroom who was not easily seen as a warrior who was chosen and had good looks and even excellent abilities.
The young ladies approached the hero full of selfishness, thinking of at least talking to them.
However, when a female Jin, starting with Martha, who noticed this, fired a bloody look at her young ladies, intending to kill them if they came, they couldn’t come closer and lingered around nearby.
So the hero spent an awkward time without being able to talk to anyone, and as the night got late, the banquet was almost over.
It was just a time to be in a daze in the uncomfortable air, but it wasn’t such a bad time because the food at the banquet that Grindella brought in between was delicious.
With such thoughts in mind, I naturally move to the exit area to get out as quickly as possible.
– Right!
With the sound of fingers snapping, the chandeliers in the banquet hall began to go out all at once.
“What? What kind of mana was discharged?”
“I will be back soon…”
“Maybe it’s an event prepared by His Majesty!”
It took a while to say such a carefree voice, and in the center of the banquet hall, I felt a presence I had never felt before.
All the nobles gathered at the party passed out without even screaming at the presence that could not be explained with words such as ominous or reluctant.
On the other hand, the first warrior who felt its presence immediately ran to the center of the banquet hall and swung his fist.
It was suddenly dark, so the hero couldn’t distinguish an inch ahead, but he didn’t need his eyesight to stand in front of that presence as if he claimed to be here.
– Poof!
It was the warrior who swung his fist with the intention of popping off the head of this mysterious intruder, but the warrior’s fist was easily blocked.
He swung it with the intention of killing him, but he didn’t think it was an enemy he could defeat to this extent in the first place, so the hero wasn’t taken aback.
“Ugh! Light!!”
In the brief moment when Rose hurriedly activated her luminous magic, the hero and the unknown intruder exchanged hundreds of sums.
When the chandeliers hung from the ceiling began to shine again and the light returned to the banquet hall, everyone could see the intruder’s face.
Goat-shaped horns on either side of its head, claiming to be non-human.
Other than the horns, he looked like a surprisingly normal human being, but he looked like he was in his mid-40s and had a heavy face with a shaggy beard.
The intruder, who looked at the hero’s face with his fists in contact with the hero, spoke to the hero in a low voice.
“A long time. You did a good job killing my pet.”
