Chapter 27

Chapter 27 - The Eve Festival (1)

 

“……They have certainly decreased.”

As he walked along the walls, a soldier who had occasionally been glancing toward the moat muttered to himself.

Until recently, this had been the boundary of the Lands of the Barbarians, where brutal battles had taken place. Recently, however, it was clear that the Barbarians’ momentum had weakened.

Especially on misty dawns like today, they once would have been unable to lower their guard for even a moment. These days, however, they had enough leisure to appreciate the mood of the fog.

But soon, the air in the area sank heavily.

“Huh? What is that?”

A group came rushing through the thick mist.

The threatening thunder of hooves was utterly unrestrained, and the armor revealed between the veils of fog gleamed in a chilling, colorless hue beneath the sunlight swallowed by the mist.

Alarm bells began to ring in the soldier’s mind.

“Is it a raid?”

Their overwhelming spirit was enough to make him shrink back just by looking at them.

His body tensed as he adjusted his spear, and it would not move properly.

Were they enemies or allies?

Just as he hesitated, unable to identify them rashly, something strange caught the soldier’s eye.

“……A flag? I-it is Esteban’s flag!”

If there was a group that would appear bearing Esteban’s flag at a time like this, there was only one possibility.

The soldier hurriedly pulled the rope connected to the wall.

DING DING DING—

“Hurry!”

“His Highness the 1st Prince has returned! Open the gate at once!”

“Open the gate!”

At the commotion that had begun from daybreak, the soldiers guarding the walls moved busily.

The raised bridge over the moat began to lower, and soon, torches illuminating the castle gate appeared here and there.

It had been two weeks since the Expeditionary Force led by the 1st Prince had headed north.

***

“Excuse me! Please move aside a little!”

“Do not push!”

“Hey! Who keeps pushing?”

“I am passing through!”

MURMUR MURMUR—

The grand procession of people who had heard the news that the Northern Expeditionary Force had entered the Capital was more than enough to create an unprecedented commotion.

There were so many that one could almost joke they outnumbered the weeds along the streets.

The ones suffering because of it were the guards deployed throughout the Capital for safety.

“P-please calm down and step back!”

“Oh no! That is dangerous!”

The guards seemed never to have imagined that such a large crowd would gather, and they sweated profusely as they struggled to maintain order.

The unprecedented chaos reached the point where knights had to be dispatched to the road leading to the Royal Palace.

Had they waited for quite some time?

“Th-they are coming!”

At last, knights in golden armor began to appear on the road where the people had been waiting.

As the citizens watched their disciplined movements, thunderous cheers and applause burst forth.

“Waaaah!”

“Those people must be the Sun Knights!”

“Oooh, how can this be! They returned from the Lands of the Barbarians, yet hardly any of them are injured!”

They were heroes of war who had fought against the Barbarian warriors.

Considering the damage those savages had inflicted upon them until now, the praise the citizens gave them was far from excessive. If anything, it was insufficient.

A knight who had been focusing on opening a path muttered,

“So this is what it means for such a great crowd to gather for a reason…….”

This was a monumental day when they had returned not from a reluctant defense, but from launching an attack for the sake of profit.

The people cried out in victory, and the spirits of the knights watching them gradually began to rise as well.

However, the moment the Expeditionary Force drew closer and the face of the man at its head was confirmed, the cheers that had seemed to reach the sky ceased.

“That man is…….”

“……His Highness the 1st Prince.”

The citizens forgot even to clap and stood there, blankly trembling.

Though he held a position higher than anyone else, he had willingly taken on the heavy duty of Commander-in-Chief and entered the remote lands of the north.

And he had carried it out brilliantly, proving his own ability.

Even after such an arduous journey, he displayed the same dignified and imperious bearing as before.

“So that man is the ruler who will one day lead Esteban……!”

At the moment when no one could move, swept up by emotion and awe that swelled grandly in their chests, someone’s shocked voice echoed through the quieted Capital.

“L-look over there!”

The gazes of the crowd, which had been focused on the 1st Prince, began to turn toward the direction someone was pointing.

That direction was not toward the Sun Knights, nor toward the squires who had accompanied them on the northern expedition.

It was farther behind the supply wagons, which normally would not have attracted any attention at all.

“……What is that?”

What was there was a being no different from a legend itself.

The fairies of the forge, who had appeared only in history and mythology.

“……!”

There were no more shouts.

No, only fervent praise existed there.

“Waaaah!”

The cheers that poured out as if they had been waiting erupted loudly enough to shake the Capital’s square.

And the citizens’ overwhelming emotion continued until the Northern Expeditionary Force passed through the road and entered the Royal Palace.

BOOM BOOM! BOOM BOOM!

We advanced along the road where the military band, arranged like a folding screen, was playing.

I moved in step with the majestic melody, and soon the knights raised their swords to their chests and showed respect.

Before long, I approached Father, who was nodding, and knelt on one knee.

“The Northern Expeditionary Force has successfully carried out His Majesty the King’s command to stabilize public order in the north by defending the borderlands and attacking the enemy’s empty rear.”

It was something no one but I could have done.

It was also something no one else would have accomplished.

It was a line that revealed such bold confidence.

I did not stop there. I waited briefly until the gazes of the nobles focused on me, then continued.

“Of course, as you must have heard through the news sent from the borderlands, we were also able to establish a cooperative relationship with the Dwarves, an Other Race thought to have vanished.”

Clap— clap clap clap—

The palms of those attending the triumphal ceremony moved busily.

The eyes of the knights looking at me had reached the level of awe, and the nobles, too, were purely rejoicing over the benefit brought to Esteban with respect rather than greed.

Of course, the faces of some nobles were rotting away.

‘They are so transparent.’

Those fellows had opposed the northern expedition during the State Council, citing the fact that the benefit to Esteban would be small.

Considering that their true purpose had been to reduce support and put me in danger, this situation must have been truly amusing.

And the one more relieved than anyone else by my achievement was—

“……Is that so?”

Father, who had been watching everything.

“You did well. Defending the Northern Border would have been impossible without your judgment as well. I am truly proud of you.”

“You praise me too highly.”

“Humility is a virtue, but there is no need to decline it in a place like this. Allen Esteban, you deserve it.”

Not only had troops needed to be organized in haste, but no special ceremony like a departure ceremony had been held to raise the soldiers’ morale.

To begin with, no one had forced the 1st Prince into war.

Yet despite those worst possible conditions, both the defense of the borderlands and the expedition had succeeded magnificently.

Even in a situation where no one had expected him to gain any profit at all……

Father looked in turn at me, the Sun Knights, and the Dwarves, then spoke.

“You may rise.”

“Yes.”

Squeeze—

“Gasp!”

“……His Majesty the King?!”

I felt Father’s warmth enveloping my body.

This was an official occasion, and he had always been someone who clearly distinguished public matters from private ones, yet……

Feeling slightly flustered, I smiled awkwardly.

‘Was this the first time since I was a child……?’

It was a memory from a very distant past, even before my regression, so even I could not help but be shaken.

But that lasted only a moment.

Soon, Father stepped back with an expressionless face as if nothing had happened, then moved toward the Dwarves.

“It is good to meet you. Are you the leader of the Dwarf clan that had been in the Lands of the Barbarians?”

“That is right. Please call me Surt. I apologize for not being familiar with human etiquette.”

“I shall do so.”

He was acting boldly, but he seemed quite nervous.

Of course, the cause of his nervousness was not the countless gazes looking at him with burning interest.

I moved my lips so that he could understand.

-You are doing well.

“Ahem!”

A “contract” with one’s life as collateral could not be broken.

Moreover, he bore responsibility for leading his clan in a better direction.

“I thank you for inviting us Dwarves into the kingdom.”

“I heard that part from the soldiers who brought news from the borderlands. You needed a place to live, did you not?”

“That is right. The Barrier that protected our clan broke, so we had to move our residence. At that very moment, the one who appeared was the 1st Prince over there.”

“……This is truly so astonishing that I can hardly believe it even after seeing it myself.”

And that was the same for the nobles present here.

After all, until now, the existence known as the Dwarves had been nothing more than a word that appeared in myths and legends.

Rather, from the King’s perspective, seeing them directly with his own eyes now was even more astonishing than when he had first heard the news and felt dumbfounded.

Father stared at the Dwarves with an intense gaze for a moment, then spoke.

“There is a mountain of things I wish to ask, but human gazes must still be burdensome for you. I will have a place prepared for you to rest, so withdraw for now. I shall speak with you later.”

“Thank you.”

And so, he withdrew.

I want to speak with him a little longer.

I want to resolve the curiosity rooted in my heart even a day sooner.

Such yearning gazes from the nobles followed him, but they could only smack their lips at the sight of the Dwarf Chief Surt leaving without even looking back.

As for me, however, their reactions were only welcome.

The highlight of this stage had not even begun yet.

‘The mood is just about ripe.’

As discussed beforehand, I lightly gestured to the Sun Knights.

Then the Sun Knights brought out the chests that had been carefully sealed.

At their cautious movements, Father raised his eyebrows.

“What are those?”

“They are gifts of gratitude from the Dwarves, who were provided a place to live. Originally, they gave them to me. However, as one who rose to the post of Commander-in-Chief bearing the spirit of the kingdom, I could not indulge in personal greed, so I wish to offer them to the royal family.”

“What in the world could they be……?”

Powerful single-use magic chains of the sort used to restrain Monsters.

They were too precious to waste merely on binding a single box.

However……

“If they are worth that much, it will not be a waste at all.”

“…….”

“I will show you now.”

At my signal, the seals binding the boxes were undone, and the lids of the chests opened all at once.

……And it happened in an instant.

The moment the closed lids opened—

“Gasp!”

“Wh-what is that?”

The arms and armor that received the sunlight revealed their radiant forms.

In the heightened atmosphere, where it felt impossible even to breathe, someone shouted.

“……By the heavens! Dwarf-made equipment! It is Dwarf-made equipment!”

Dwarf-made equipment, which had only ever appeared in legends.

Though it had been made with the crude Ore of the north, we had selected only the finest pieces among the arms and armor crafted over several hundred years.

I could say with certainty that the tributes possessed a value unseen anywhere else, enough that even the nobles lost their composure and stared in shock.

And the same was true of Father, who had been watching with a solemn expression.

“……My goodness.”

At the flood of astonished gazes, I shrugged.

***

The party held at the Royal Castle was grand, as if to emphasize the achievements of the Expeditionary Force.

Some rigid nobles sent negative gazes, dismissing it as nothing more than a worthless exercise in armchair discussion, but even they could not deny that this party would raise the spirits of all Esteban.

“The Commander-in-Chief of the Expeditionary Force! His Highness Allen Esteban, the 1st Prince, is entering!”

The chandeliers glittered like crumbling starlight.

Groups of nobles moved their bodies in time with the waltz performed by the royal orchestra.

That dull and restrained atmosphere was quite different from the festival someone might have expected.

George snorted as he looked at the Sun Knights awkwardly enjoying the party.

“……I envy those people for not having a single worry.”

It was sincerity from the depths of his heart.

The initial excitement of waiting for the entrance had vanished without a trace, and now he was merely standing in a corner of the banquet hall with a bored expression, picking up the prepared snacks.

To make matters worse, even the nobles who might have guaranteed some amusement did not approach and only watched from a distance.

“I feel like a lion in a zoo.”

“If you think so, I can send you back to the office immediately. Shall I make you study, as I did at the party with the delegation?”

“……It was a joke. The party is truly enjoyable.”

Judging by his face, which showed no sign of brightening, it seemed to be boring enough that even the greatest swindler under heaven could not endure it.

However, there were only two choices given to him.

Would he pass the time watching a foolish clown show that did not stir even the slightest feeling, or would he be buried in studying that he would rather die than do?

It could truly be called a cruel fate.

“Do as you please tonight. You may return to your room if you wish.”

“Pardon? I may do that?”

“At a gathering like this, it should be acceptable for you to act freely.”

“If a bit of nagging is the price for freedom, then that is a bargain.”

He had certainly received a scolding from the Baron, no doubt.

Something like, never leave my side while the party continues……

Of course, I had no reason to drag around an attendant who was making that sort of face and twisting his body.

“Then I will be going first.”

“Mm.”

And so he left with a sly smile, holding a snack in his mouth.

Since I had no intention of continuing to kill time in boredom either, I tried to move toward the empty terrace, planning to slip out of the hall when the chance arose.

……If not for someone blocking my path.

“It has been a long time, Brother Allen. I heard you achieved remarkable military merit.”

The man was leaning against a table, bringing a wine glass to his lips.

It was Albedo Esteban, the 2nd Prince of Esteban.