26 – Reception (3)
They headed straight to the reception hall with Erin who saved him that day. He didn’t know what she did or how she did it, but as soon as she said a few words, Erwin was speechless.
What exactly did she do?
At that moment, as soon as Erin entered the reception hall, she spoke up.
“Lame~♡”
“…why?”
“I’ll give you one warning~.”
“Caution?”
Erin turned back at me and said with a despondent smile in her eyes.
“Never underestimate~ ♡ It’s okay to act foolish in front of party members, but it’s better not to do so in front of other people, right? Here…”
For some reason, Erin looked at me and chuckled.
I don’t know why she finds it so amusing, but I hope she tells me soon.
“There are a lot of ominous people who want to take advantage of someone who seems like a fool~ ♡”
“Are you worried about me now?”
“Pooh ♡ Yeah, I am worried. Worried that those fools will tarnish our party’s name~ ♡”
“…Alright.”
Well then, it’s settled.
Anyway, I understand what it means. It’s like saying to stay alert because a situation like before, or even worse, could happen… It’s probably best to keep a clear mind.
“Stop dawdling and let’s go~♡”
“Huh.”
When did we come all the way here?
We headed towards the place where the party members were gathered. Leticia, who was eating cake, was the first to spot me and said, “Allen, you’re late?”
“Uh, yeah…”
Looking at Erin, I smirked and spoke.
“Lost the way.”
“Hmm? Oh, is that so?”
“…It’s all so complicated.”
“hahahaha, Alan, are you lost?”
The internal structure here is too complicated, isn’t it? For those who are new to work in the palace, understanding the internal structure seems to be a priority.
“Still, I’m relieved that we got here before the party started.”
“I’m glad I brought you here~♡”
After saying that, Erin went to Leticia and said,
“Is this tasty~?”
“Yes, it’s delicious, just sweet enough.”
“hehehe, is that so~?”
It seems like everyone likes cake. I could tell by how they were gathered around the strawberry whipped cream cake, looking so delicious.
Even though they usually act like boys, they’re definitely girls at heart…?
“Allen.”
“…Yeah?”
Leticia handed a plate of cake to him.
“Try it. It’s good.”
“Uh, thanks.”
Maybe she’s treating me well because I got first place earlier. The girl gave him a piece of strawberry cake and he took a bite.
“Oh.”
Exclamation involuntarily slips out. Is this the skill of a partygoer in the royal family? It was on a different level from the sweetness of buying and eating at the local bakery.
“Is it delicious?”
“Yeah, this is really tasty.”
At that moment, when he was admiring the softness and sweetness of the strawberry cake, he turned his gaze to somewhere.
“…They’re coming.”
“Huh?”
After hearing those words and turning his head, two people appeared on the high terrace at the end of the banquet hall. Queen Renia of Estelle and Minister Oji of the National West. The two came forward to the front of the terrace themselves.
Then Queen Renia opened her own mouth.
“Ohoho Hong, I’m not sure if everyone is pleased with this gathering.”
“It’s an excellent gathering, Your Majesty.”
“It’s a perfect event in every way!”
“Ohoho Hong, I’m glad to hear that.”
Queen Lenia glanced around briefly and smiled when she spotted our party.
“Ohoho Hong, I deeply appreciate your presence at this banquet, which is held to honor the efforts of the heroes who have protected our kingdom.”
“Naturally, we must attend!”
“They are the heroes who have defended the kingdom! hahahaha!”
The reaction of the noble attendees at the banquet was overwhelmingly positive. It was only natural for them to feel pleased about the restoration of the northeastern region, perhaps even expected.
“Ohoho Hong, then it’s necessary for us to acknowledge the efforts of the heroes who saved our kingdom, the protagonists of tonight’s celebration.”
“Yes!”
“Of course, I should repay you in kind!”
“So, I thought I would take some time for that.”
Queen Lenia glanced at our side and then looked towards the Orlando party on the opposite side.
“Erin, the hero, and Orlando, the hero. I would appreciate it if you could come up to the terrace.”
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It seemed like the heroes were going as representatives.
After that, well, there was no need to explain the obvious procedure. The two heroes would go as representatives to receive their rewards, medals, and titles.
Although Erin, who belonged to the Deren Empire, might wonder why he needed a title, it had a different meaning. It meant that if he ever naturalized into our country, we would welcome him… Letisia explained from beside me.
“It means that if he falls out with the Deren Empire, he can entrust his safety to the Estelle Kingdom.”
I’ve received it, and it didn’t seem bad. When the two warriors, who received awards as representatives, turned their bodies and greeted politely, applause burst out from all around.
“You are the heroes of the nation, Sir Orland!”
“The kingdom will not forget this favor, Sir Erin!”
The reason why the Dern Empire had sent a party consisting of only one hero to their own country can be seen.
In this way, the empire obtained various compensations through negotiation proposals, personal rewards given to Erin, and even erased diplomatic debts owed to the kingdom. Moreover, it improved the perception of the empire among the nobles and citizens of the kingdom.
Especially the latter is important, as it will play a crucial role in future diplomacy between the empire and the kingdom… If the empire faces a similar crisis in the future, the Kingdom of Estelle cannot be ignored.
‘…There seems to be a lot of political calculations involved.’
It seems that the movement of the special forces called the Hero Party carries such significance.
That’s how the award ceremony seemed to be coming to an end when Queen Lennia opened her mouth once again.
“Ohoho, then we should give a reward to the greatest contributor of this operation.”
…Huh?
The greatest contributor…?
“Sir Allen, a member of Erin’s Hero Party, please come up to the terrace.”
“…Me?”
Me, why…?
“Allen, come up quickly.”
“Do you have no time to just stand there blankly?”
“That sounds good, Allan! I want to receive it too!”
“…I’ll be waiting.”
Staring at the party members with a gloomy expression, I looked back at Queen Renia. She gestured for me to come up quickly, and the gazes of people around us began to focus on me.
“….”
For now, I should go up and see. Hurriedly climbing the stairs and reaching the terrace, Queen Renia greeted me with a bright smile.
“Ohoho, the character looks impressive when dressed up.”
“It’s… not a big deal… No, it’s an honor.”
Ah, my tongue got twisted.
Queen Lenia giggled and received a medal from the adjutant standing beside her. It had the shape of a golden eagle’s wings.
“This is the Medal of National Service.”
“Yes?”
“Allen, thanks to your bold and effective execution of this operation, our kingdom has secured more than half of this year’s wheat production. It is a tremendous achievement compared to the losses anticipated by the military and finance experts.”
Queen Lenia said.
“Do you know what kind of outcome that has led to? Countless subjects of other kingdoms no longer have to starve. By opening the royal granaries, we now have enough to feed everyone.”
I listened quietly to the queen’s words. It was an incredibly… overwhelming feeling in my chest.
I didn’t actually fight on the front lines; I merely discussed theories and plans. It was the party members who made it happen. The queen knew it, I knew it, and everyone here knew it.
“If we had followed conventional methods instead of your strategy, undoubtedly… the land would have been further contaminated, and wheat production would have declined accordingly. If the expected losses had occurred… even with the granaries open, it wouldn’t have been enough. Surely people would suffer from hunger.”
However, they are telling me. It was none other than me who clearly explained and pushed forward that operation.
“As the ruler of the kingdom and representative of this nation, I express my gratitude for saving the lives of countless people. Allen-ssi.”
The queen slightly nodded her head. In response, the prime minister bowed deeply, and the nobles under the terrace also bowed their heads together in appreciation.
It was a surreal feeling. Seeing royalty and nobles bowing their heads to a mere porter like me. It didn’t feel real.
“So, Allen-ssi, I will award you with this distinguished medal. Normally, it is not awarded to anyone who is not a citizen of the kingdom, but you saved so many lives through the success of this operation.”
“Thank you.”
“Here, let me put it on for you.”
The queen personally attached the medal to me. It was as if she was giving an honorable gift to a deserving grandchild, accompanied by a benevolent smile.
“I’ll ask you to give a round of applause to Mr. Allen, the greatest contributor to this operation.”
The Queen gestured for me to turn around, and I turned around nervously. My eyes widened at the sight that unfolded before me.
“Excellent!”
“Of course, you are a member of the warrior party!”
“You are amazing!”
“Your bravery and wisdom saved the kingdom!”
The nobles sent various compliments. And the most noticeable thing was that the hero of the Holy Flag, Orlando, was personally applauding.
“….”
Dazed and overwhelmed by the sight, I belatedly regained my senses. It was my turn to greet and go down. But do I just bow my head? There
“Place your right hand on your chest, bow your waist gently, and then raise it after a moment.”
Oji, the national instructor, noticed that and quietly informed me.
“…Thank you.”
“You’re welcome.”
I greeted as instructed. As a result, applause erupted once again, and I descended the terrace with a trembling heart.
“Wow, Allen! That looks cool on your chest!”
“I’m envious.”
“Congratulations!”
“…Congratulations, Allen.”
The party members welcomed me first. I awkwardly smiled at their reactions, and then my eyes met Erin’s. And Erin…
“You did well, you mediocre~♡”
…I acknowledged it for the first time.
Everyone praised the achievements of the hero party and complimented Allen, the planner of this operation. However, one person didn’t seem pleased.
“Where did Erwin go?”
I clearly told him to lure Allen away, but he’s nowhere to be seen in the banquet hall. With this, it seemed impossible to find the right timing to approach the thief within the premises of the hall.
“…Chit.”
It seemed like I had to write the next number, Kaël thought, glaring at Alain descending from the podium. At that moment, someone tapped Kaël on the shoulder.
“Kaël.”
“…Orlando?”
It was none other than the heroic warrior Orlando. He grabbed Kaël’s shoulder and looked at him quietly, then spoke softly.
“Where did Erwin go?”
“…What? Why are you asking me about that?”
“Weren’t you the last person to talk to Erwin? But he still hasn’t shown up.”
In response to Orlando’s question, Kaël let out a hollow laugh and said.
“Orlando, I didn’t do anything. I only talked with Erwin.”
“…Do you really not know?”
“I don’t!”
Orlando pondered for a moment and turned to Varg.
“Varg, I think I should look for Erwin for a while.”
“Aren’t you just going to take a dump?”
“I’m not sure. But let’s check, just in case.”
“Alright.”
Varg began to leave the banquet hall first, and Orlando looked back at Kael. Kael stared at Orlando as if questioning why he looked that way.
“Kael, please don’t do anything unnecessary.”
“…What did you say?”
“I warned you.”
Orlando finally let go of Cael’s shoulder. Then, following Varg, he left the banquet hall to find Erwin.
Cael glanced at the empty space where they had been for a moment before letting out a bitter laugh.
“So you’re also taking his side?”
With a puzzled look on his face due to Orlando’s changed attitude, Cael looked at Allen with slightly angry eyes. He calmly recalled Orlando’s warning.
It was true that the loadmaster had become a dangerous target to mess with. Not only did he gain recognition and receive a medal directly from the queen, elevating his reputation, but there was also a possibility that unnecessary trouble would only disadvantage Cael.
So Orlando’s warning was only natural. Don’t do anything foolish. That is, Cael shouldn’t do anything that could harm Orlando’s party.
That means…
“…It seems to be a story about not engaging in public quarrels.”
Reinterpreting Orlando’s warning, Cael smiled bitterly.
His warning meant that it was not my concern to move unnoticed by anyone.
After the long reception, only the after-party remained.
“hahahahaha! I’m going to throw this cork stopper into that wine glass over there and see if it fits!”
“…Looking forward to it.”
“Should we make a bet? Guessing, between ‘right’ or ‘wrong’?”
As I started downing my drink, I quietly slipped away from the partygoers and headed somewhere else.
I wasn’t up to something suspicious. I was just following the first person who left the party. It was then, naturally heading towards the restroom, that someone abruptly appeared in the hallway.
“S-surprise…”
“Nicely done without being detected?”
“I said I had a stomachache and went to the restroom.”
It was Leticia. The moonlight cast a bluish tint on her hair, making it look incredibly captivating.
“Then let’s go.”
The reason why she and I had secretly left the banquet hall was, of course, because of the promise we made when we were left alone in the carriage earlier.
Right, it’s time for the magic class!
Finally, I’ll get to use my damn magical powers properly. I was so happy that tears were streaming down my face.
“You look really excited.”
“Uh… Me?”
“Yes, very much.”
I should practice hiding my expressions…
“Allen seems to show his feelings on his face, which is nice. It means he’s not hiding anything.”
“…Isn’t it just a story about being a fool who can’t hide his feelings from others?”
“Why interpret it so negatively?”
“You made me like this.”
“It’s not a negative story, it’s a story that’s really true.”
“…Thank you for seeing it that way.”
“So, Allen, I have one question for you. What kind of magic attribute do you want to learn?”
“Attribute? Ah…”
Just as there are attributes for spirits, there are also attributes for magic. Not all magic is like that, but generally, most useful magic for combat is elemental magic. In Dungeon In Evil, the battle magic used by wizard characters is mostly elemental magic.
Fire, water, wind, light, darkness, earth.
There are six basic attributes of elemental magic, two more than the attributes of spirits.
So, does that mean there are also other special attributes besides the basic ones? That seems to be what they’re saying.
The properties derived from water, the properties derived from the earth, and the properties derived from fire… There are various derived properties like these.
In order to avoid having characters that are too stereotypical if all elemental sorcerers use the same six major properties, the developers of “Dungeon in Evil” added this kind of setting to introduce a variety of magician characters.
Among them, of course, there is one extremely overpowered magician character whose magical attribute is a little unusual. It’s an attribute that only that character uses and no other characters have… It boasted truly unbelievable performance.
Because of that, there was only one character in the magician occupation. However, since it was a male character, I couldn’t join the party I formed. Maybe I would have included him immediately if it were a female character.
Thinking about its performance, I replied to Letitia.
“Hollow attribute.”
“…I don’t know about that either. I’m not a magician but an elementalist. It was a story for me to choose among the basic attributes.”
“Ah, I see…”
Well, Letitia is an elementalist, not a magician… She probably doesn’t know about derived properties either, right?
“Then into a nearby darkness attribute….”
“But you’re making a peculiar choice, Allen.”
“Hmm?”
Leticia said, “Void magic is… well-known for having problems.”
“What kind of problems?”
Could it be… there are ethical issues or something? Then I can’t learn that. As a member of the hero party, if I were to learn magic with such issues…
“There are performance issues.”
“…Performance?”
Perhaps magic itself has been banned because it seems too fraudulent?
But I soon realized that it was just my misconception. Letizia spoke with a slightly puzzled voice.
“Compared to other elemental magics, the cost-effectiveness is very poor. For example, if we assume that you use 100 mana to create a spell, while other elements can produce a power of 100, in the case of void magic, it only reaches around 60 or 70.”
“…Huh?”
“That’s why it’s considered peculiar. Why do you want to learn void magic?”
Is that so…? The character who uses void magic is so despicable that any party of mages would have used him, right?
“…You really don’t like it?”
“Yes. Anyone with even a little knowledge of magic would know that, wouldn’t they?”
“Um…”
Why is that?
He suddenly came into the room as I was scratching my head in confusion.
“Well… for now, since you can’t learn elemental magic right away, think carefully about it. Today, I’ll start by teaching you basic non-elemental magic.”
“Uh…”
With that, they suddenly burst into my room. And as soon as the door opened, both Letitia and I were taken aback.
“Huh?”
“Huh?”
At the same time, a question arose. And there was a slightly familiar face sitting on my bed.
“You’re finally here. I was waiting so long, I thought I’d run out of breath…”
The thin, hikikomori-like figure. It was none other than Orlando’s assassin, Cael.
“Why are you here?”
“…Cael?”
From Letitia’s puzzled voice next to her, and Cael’s slightly perplexed gaze as she grasped the situation, she quickly hid herself in the darkness.
“What… what were you doing just now?”
“I think I came to kill you.”
“What?! What is that…!”
It was said as a joke, but Letitia said angrily and seriously, “We need to discuss this properly! What were you trying to do by trespassing into someone else’s room?”
“Huh?… Uh, wait, Leticia!”
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“What?”
“Um… Let’s talk about it tomorrow morning, tomorrow.”
“What?”
I couldn’t miss this opportunity. If I bring this up and it leads to an investigation, the chance to secretly receive lessons from Leticia will disappear.
How can I let this chance, which came to me out of nowhere, slip away like this? Who knows when such an opportunity will come again?
Yes, that creepy guy, Cael, being in my room was quite unnerving, but what mattered more was learning magic. If I don’t learn it now, it will be too late to study on my own.
“It’s already late at night anyway, causing a disturbance now won’t do any good… Even if we talk about it tomorrow, nothing will change, right? And it doesn’t seem like I’ll have many chances to secretly find you like this…”
“…Sigh, all right, I understand.”
“Thank you for understanding.”
I led Leticia into the room, and quietly closed the door.