Chapter 59
Music filled the hall.
Desserts and alcohol filled the tables.
All the participants freely moved between the tables and enjoyed the banquet.
“Yaha—! It’s finally over.”
“I wanted to come to Altein so bad before the competition, but now I just want to go back to school.”
“Me too.”
The contestants that fiercely competed during this spring were all enjoying themselves.
They were talking with each other and relaxing, looking as if a great burden had been lifted from them.
“Dylan Marken. So, have you thought about it?”
“Ah…… Lord Calphonse. If it’s about your offer from before, I’m still thinking about it. I apologize.”
“……Is that so? No, don’t worry about it. Rather, I’m worried that I’m putting too much pressure on you. Huhu…… But, if you end up getting an unexpected offer from somewhere else, please tell me. Our territory needs someone extraordinary like you.”
“I understand.”
For the students who showed exceptional performances, the nobles that were aiming for them were always near.
Some would openly ask the students about working in their territory.
Others would ask about their path after graduation while thinly veiling their true intentions.
Talented magicians were rare.
Because of this, since all 32 of the student representatives that had gathered here were at least guaranteed to be accomplished to some degree, everyone was trying to take at least one student.
Of course, my case wasn’t any different.
“……Hmhm.”
When I appeared, the nobles who were standing around the lobby checked me out while dry coughing.
Their gaze held their questions.
‘That guy over there beat Doom Prime twice?’
‘The Ardell Family…… I haven’t heard of them before.’
‘Should I try talking to him?’
As if they were watching an exotic animal, they all showed signs of wonder.
However, that was it.
Even though everyone was observing and showing attention to me, no one dared to walk up to strike a conversation with me.
It was as if there was an invisible barrier around me.
No one could approach me.
“……Is it because of the clothing? Uee…… I should’ve forced him to change.”
Muttered Jason to himself with pity.
But I didn’t give a damn.
All this was done intentionally.
The main character of this place was me.
I didn’t want to be annoyed by ‘indecisive goons’ while I tried to rest up for the first time in a while.
And this prediction of mine was successfully realized.
“Have you heard?”
“Hm? About what?”
At some point, Irene, who was sitting next to me, whispered to me.
“The nobles that are gathered here. Some say that they’re all scared of you, Ruin.”
“……Scared of me?”
“Yes. They all want to talk to you, but they’re only observing you right now. Your entrance was quite showy. You look like some stubborn and self-righteous person.”
“That’s good. Greetings of formality, fake laughs. I’m tired of all these things.”
“So, is that why you chose to wear that?”
“……”
I fiddled with the shirt I was wearing.
“Is it that weird for you too, Irene?”
Then, Irene made a humoured expression.
“No. You look pretty comfortable. Enough to make me want to change too.”
“Pft.”
Irene Prius.
She also filled out a beautiful white dress inlaid with daisies.
“I wore a dress because I had to…… but it’s really suffocating.”
“Why don’t you change now?”
“I want to do that, but I’m not you, Ruin. If I appeared like that, everyone would slander me.”
“Who cares about slander? It’s fine if you’re comfortable.”
“It’d be so nice to be as carefree as you.”
“Of course. Huhu……”
We looked at each other and quietly laughed.
Then, as if having thought of something, Irene spoke up.
“Ah! There’s another thing.”
“What is it?”
“Another reason why these powerful people that gathered here aren’t talking to you.”
“Hm?”
A reason they wouldn’t talk to me.
It wasn’t just because I made the image of holding the ultimate initiative in the conversation here.
There was one more reason that I didn’t know and hadn’t seen.
“There was a rumour that someone had already picked you out.”
“……Me? Who?”
“I don’t know that either, but one thing is for certain. Just because that someone picked you out already… all these people here hadn’t dared to talk to you.”
“……”
Someone had already picked me out.
Even though I myself didn’t know who that person was.
“Seems they’re fussing over nothing by themselves. Do you think it’ll continue until the end of tonight’s banquet?”
“……”
Just who was it?
Luckily, learning who or why this person of power had picked me out didn’t take too long to figure out.
The door opened and a servant entered and announced with a gentle voice,
“The dinner party will start now. The 32 student representatives, please follow me.”
The dinner event of the 32 student representatives with the Fire King Teron…
No.
“Ah…… So it’s finally time.”
With a warm dinner as a pretext, the ‘competition review’ had begun.
This dinner was known as the Banquet on a Guillotine for the students who were lacking in performance.
The reason was simple.
“Ahah……! I wanted to avoid this if possible.”
“Look who’s talking. I’m the one who’s ranked last for this competition……”
The assessment given by the King of Magicians today wouldn’t change under normal circumstances.
Because today, the winners would be remembered as winners.
And the losers as losers.
Naturally,
“Then, I’ll be going.”
“Ok.”
This wasn’t a problem for me.
I walked with Irene into the dinner hall.
Then, as soon as we entered, we were both shocked.
“Is that…… our only table?”
“Yes.”
“How is it so……”
I had never seen a table like this before.
It was a gargantuan table that could fit more than 40 people at once, and on top of that, it was filled with so many different types of dishes that were hard to even count.
Even if I didn’t know anything, I knew that this dinner tonight would be fancier than any dinner an emperor could have.
I tried to sit at the furthest seat away from the seat of honour, but the servants stopped me.
“Sir Ruin, your seat is not here, but over there.”
“……Are seats assigned?”
“Yes. At least for Sir Ruin.”
I moved from my seat to the place the servants indicated.
It was the seat next to the seat of honour.
The seat that was right next to Fire King Teron.
Seemed like a type of special treatment for the winner.
But this was quite uncomfortable.
However……
Huh?
“But isn’t this wrong?”
“What is?”
“Why are there two seats of honour?”
* * *
Translator – Jreaming
Proofreader – Artethrax
* * *
“What?”
Yeah.
At the head of the table, where Fire King Teron would be seated, there wasn’t one seat of honour, but two.
“……Huh. Yeah.”
Looking at this, Irene narrowed her eyes and muttered to herself,
“This hasn’t ever happened before……”
“Perhaps, another judge might sit there?”
If it was like this, maybe it was Director Tirion.
However, Irene shook her head.
“Probably not. This seat is for the Fire King alone.”
“……”
Then, who was it?
The owner of the seat that was at the same level as the Fire King’s.
As I was pondering this question for a moment, at some point, all 32 student representatives had taken their seats at the table and the servant standing outside entered.
“They’re coming.”
“……”
The Fire King was coming.
With this one phrase, the noisy room instantly went silent.
Step…… Step……
It was so silent, one could clearly hear the footsteps in the hallway outside.
The sound of footsteps wasn’t from one, but two.
The door soon opened and Fire King Teron, looking quite joyous for some reason, entered.
“……Everyone’s here.”
With his entrance, about 10 people all stood up and simultaneously bowed.
“Lord Fire King……”
They were all from the 11 Children.
But ‘Lord Fire King’……?
I was cringing all over.
However, the Fire King ignored the greetings from the 11 children and walked directly up to me.
“Heh. Seems like I lost all face to see you.”
“……Yes?”
“I told you this before, that I was curious about how the child I gave up on was different to the children I selected.”
“Yes. You did.”
“It was made clear today. I was wrong, and you were right. I’m quite ashamed that I can’t say anything.”
The Fire King’s gaze shifted toward Doom, who was keeping his head down.
“……”
As Doom met the Fire King’s eyes, his eyes started shaking uncontrollably.
And simultaneously, a sense of hostility that I couldn’t pinpoint started to thinly flow out of him.
The Fire King continued his speech.
“It was quite an impressive competition. Without saying much else, your performance was truly extraordinary. Compared to the 11 children that I raised, you alone are much better.”
“……”
The higher the position you were in, the heavier your words weighed.
This one phrase said by the Fire King Teron carried quite the weight as one said by the King of Magicians.
Because this meant…
‘He wants everyone to hear it.’
That he was openly declaring his intentions and rebuking the 11 Children that were gathered here.
The effects instantly became apparent.
“……This kind of performance…… I’ll never show it to you again.”
Doom was grinding his teeth.
For this Doom who was a Fire King Admirer, this event today was an unforgettably humiliating experience.
However, the Fire King threw another humiliation to Doom, who had newly resolved himself.
“A common mistake people make is that they believe a second chance exists. But know that it doesn’t exist. When a second chance appears, we call that a miracle.”
“……I apologize.”
“Everyone, stand up. A guest has arrived.”
“……”
His speech ended with that, and we all stood up from our seats.
He said it was a guest.
Yeah.
In the doorframe of the room to the dining hall stood a man who was covering his face with quite the humorously large hat.
“Please, come in.”
“……”
The Fire King himself showed respect towards that man.
Who would dare to be worthy of the respect from the magician at the boundary of human limits?
And on top of that, why would he respect someone who looked to be only in their late 20s?
Looking at this, everyone had the same question.
‘Nah, no way……’
Yeah.
This was an impossible occurrence unless that person was of Raynac Imperial Royalty.
Then, this mysterious man fixed up his hat and rubbed the tip of his nose.
“This, well, I only intended to come and go quietly…… but I feel like I’m just intruding on godfather’s dinner.”
“Keke. Isn’t it great that we get to see each other like this?”
“Yes. Well, I guess that excuse is good enough for me to be here.”
The man had called the Fire King his godfather.
“G-godfather?”
The doubts all changed to certainty.
All the students from the different parts of the Raynac Imperial Federation all instantly lowered themselves to the ground and bowed.
“We greet the crown prince!”
“……”
What?
Crown prince?
At that, the man tossed aside his funny-looking hat.
“Yeah…… Well, looks like everyone figured it out already.”
Then, he looked directly at me.
“So, you’re Ruin Ardell?”
“……Yes?”
“Let’s have tea sometime.”
“……”
The man who suggested drinking tea with me.
The one and only crown prince of the Raynac Imperial Federation, a place which governed over 13 different nations.
Chaurmetan Raynac.
On top of being the next in line to be the emperor, the person of power who had ‘picked me out’ before.
He looked quite amused as he looked at me.
“I’ll refuse your refusal.”
I couldn’t dare to refuse.
——
