Chapter 3.11:

After half an hour, trumpets sounded. Everyone turned to the direction of the main doors.

Ten guards lined the main walkway in the middle of the hall where a red carpet had been laid down. Each guard had a trumpet in hand.

Everyone stood.

“His Royal Majesty, King Aldwin Mithril II. Her Royal Highnesses Queen Consort Eliza Mithril and Crown Princess Cecilia Mithril. His Royal Highness, Prince Engres Mithril.” The court crier announced.

The doors opened and the Royal Family marched to their thrones. Everyone bowed until they took their seats.

King Aldwin gestured for everyone to sit down. He nodded to Princess Cecilia who immediately stood and walked to the center of the stage in front of their thrones.

She cleared her throat. “Welcome dear nobles and loyal retainers. It fills our family with much joy seeing everyone in great health. Thank you for making the journey to the Capital for our yearly Banquet.” She said in a crisp commanding voice.

She then nodded to the table on their far left and then returned to her seat. The members of the table she gestured to stood and marched single file towards the center of the hall in front of the stage.

“Lord Rudrick and Wesley Helm, accompanied by Master Lee Rayu, of North Haven.” The court crier introduced the group.

So that’s Lord Rudrick Helm and Master Rayu…

The city lord was average in height with a slightly stout build and dark black hair. He had a full moustache and beard that had been carefully combed and sculpted to make his face appear sharp. In contrast, his son was taller and had a very muscular and imposing frame. He had the same black hair but he was completely clean shaven. He looked about sixteen.

Master Rayu was similarly tall and muscular. He was tanned and his eyes were a little small.

The three men stood directly in front of the Royal Family and kneeled.

The King waved for them to rise and return to their seats.

Then another table stood up and presented themselves. After the four main city lords, it was our turn.

I felt really anxious. I was at the end of our marching line.

When we got close to the Royal Family, I was able to see how they looked. Queen Consort Eliza and Crown Princess Cecila were really pretty and had kind smiles. In contrast, King Mithril had a stern expression and seemed very tired. Prince Engres appeared very bored. He was looking at his fingernails.

“Lord Chase, Lady Vela, and Lady Mina Valera, accompanied by Master Abram, Paul, and Adi Finch, of the Roost Collective.” The court crier declared.

We all straightened our backs and kneeled at the same time. I snuck a look at the King.

He’s… smiling?

The King waved his hand and gave Lord Chase a small nod. Lord Chase smiled in return, and we all returned to our seats.

I looked back and saw a man in heavy plate armor was already in front of the King. It turned out to be Lord Arthur Fordgraine of the Heroes Guild.

Then the nobles from each city, including Lord Buck and Lord Jerome, presented themselves. In the group of nobles from the Capital, I saw the two boys that Lady Mina had warded off, including the girl in red named Vanya.

There were several more announcements and updates from each city including the taxes and fees collected on behalf of the Capital. The Roost was surprisingly ahead of both North Haven and South End in terms of collection but no one seemed to applaud this fact. Rather, when the Crown Princess complimented Lord Chase on his administration, the room went silent and I could feel everyone’s gaze on our table.

There were some disturbing reports we heard about the monster culling effort in the south but Lord Cayden assured everyone that the army had it under control. A moment of silence was observed for the fifty soldiers who had died in the past year.

Soon, we came to the tail end of the ceremony. Crown Princess Cecilia stood up again and announced the rankings of the various nobles. I could feel the tension in the room. All the murmurings and whispers died out instantly. I could see several nobles looking excited.

There were so many names that I was unfamiliar with, but one caught my attention: Lord Stilton Safyre.

That’s that girl’s father, right?

Lord Stilton Safyre was in the bottom five of all the nobles in the Kingdom.

I tried to look for Lady Vanya in the sea of people in the hall but the lights had already been dimmed.

Soon the Crown Princess moved to the commendations for outstanding service. Two nobles from East Watch and one noble from South End received medals. From the Capital, Lord Jerome also received a medal. I clapped very loudly for him.

After the commendations, the Crown Princess thanked everyone again for attending and bade us to enjoy our dinners.

When I looked outside I saw that it was already evening.

The King then stood up and the entire hall stood with him. The Royal Family marched out and everyone bowed.

Once the doors were closed, the court crier took center stage. “Good evening my lords, ladies, and esteemed guests. Now that the formal ceremony is over, enjoy this lovely feast that our chefs have prepared. The Royal Musicians will likewise be playing until midnight for those of you who would like to dance. Please do not hesitate to approach any of our servants-in-waiting for any requests you may have. Enjoy.” He gave a low bow.

The hall began to fill with music. Servants flooded in carrying delectable dishes straight to our tables.

I didn’t even realize how hungry I was.

I was about to dive straight into the food that was placed in front of me when I noticed that no one in our table had even picked up their utensils.

Lord Chase had a solemn expression on his face. “I’ve spoken with Tim earlier. I think we should try Boris next. Have you made headway in befriending Master Halivat, Abram?”

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Abram shook his head. “My apologies, Lord Chase. The other retainers from West Port informed me earlier that Master Halivat did not want to see me.”

“That is quite unfortunate. Still, we need to make some progress.” Lord Chase insisted. “Come, darling.”

Lady Vela flipped her hair and took Lord Chase’s extended hand.

Abram stood with them.

“Should we go with you, dad?” I asked.

“No, lad. You enjoy the party with Paul and Lady Mina. We need to attend to some business.” Abram replied.

Soon the three adults left and we started eating.

After some times, Lady Mina got up. “I’ll be going to the desserts table.” She announced. “No need to escort me.” She held up her hand as Paul and I prepared to get up.

We watched her go.

“Does she have a sweet tooth?” I asked Paul.

“It’s hard to say. I think there are just particular things that she really likes. I know she loves sweet pastries. But she hates candied fruit.” Paul shrugged.

Ooohh… She likes pastries too! Maybe I can bake her something in the future.

“So, what do you want to do? Do you want to try to mingle with the other kids?” Paul asked unenthusiastically.

I thought about it and shook my head. “I think it’ll do more harm than good. It’s best to just stay at the table and avoid trouble.”

Paul nodded and he seemed upbeat about it. He continued to eat his steak and the dinner rolls placed on our table.

“I’ll just grab something quickly from the desserts table.” I announced.

Paul nodded and waved at me.

I followed the same path we took last time around the room. I hugged the wall and tried to avoid people.

Soon I saw the huge piles of desserts. At the far side of the long table, I saw Lady Vanya holding up a pink cupcake to Lady Mina.

Lady Mina took it and the small girl hugged her.

Is… is she smiling?

I couldn’t believe my eyes. Lady Mina was actually smiling sincerely while patting Lady Vanya’s head.

I wonder if I could ever get her to smile like that with me.

Suddenly, I felt someone bump into me and I fell face first to the ground.

“Ah! Sorry, my boy.” A raspy voice called out. I felt a strong pair of arms pull me up and turn me around.

He’s… he’s Lady Vanya’s father. Lord uh… Stallon?

I was drawing a blank.

“Didn’t mean to bump into you. Are you okay?” He said worriedly while lightly brushing my shirt.

“I’m okay, Lord… Sti…?” I bowed and tried to murmur the last syllable.

“What was that?” The man in front of me asked. His tone had turned serious.

“Lord… Stindler?” I ventured a guess and shot him an apologetic look.

“St-stindler?” The man sputtered. “H-how dare you! I know I’m not as prominent as I once was but how dare you insult me!” He started raising his voice.

My eyes went wide in panic, I started flailing my arms. “NO! I mean, I’m so sorry! Please forgive me!”

Suddenly Paul appeared and inserted himself between us.

“Lord Stilton, my deepest apologies.” Paul said in a placative tone and a low bow. “You have to excuse my brother. This is his first Banquet and he has a hard time with names. But of course he knows of you.”

“HMPH. This is why I said children shouldn’t be brought to these events.” Lord Stilton said angrily as he shot me a dirty look.

I looked down and felt Paul nudge me. “Go back to the table.” Paul whispered.

I gave Lord Stilton another bow and excused myself. I ran back to the table and buried my face in my serviette.

GAH! STUPID.

Sometime later I felt a hand clasp my shoulder.

“Well, that was intense.” Paul said casually.

“Sorry bro… I… I just blanked.” I said quietly.

“It’s fine. All things considered it wasn’t the worst case scenario.” Paul smiled at me.

“It wasn’t?” I looked up hopefully.

“Nah. Lord Stilton is just… well, you heard it earlier right? He’s in the bottom rung. His family’s been in decline so he’s a lot edgier than the other nobles here.” Paul explained.

I sighed. “Still… I wish I could have just remembered his name.” I said sadly.

“Really, it’s fine. I’ve already taken care of it. Nothing to worry about.” Paul said confidently. He put a bread roll on my plate.

I nodded at him and poked at the bread roll with my knife.

A few minutes later, Lady Mina returned and she was accompanied by Lord Chase, Lady Vela, and Abram. We took our leave then.

Back at the inn, I kept quiet and asked Paul to let me be the one to tell Abram about my mistake. I waited for Abram to scold me but he only gave me a hug and told me not to worry about it too. It was only then that I felt better.

The next day we had an early breakfast with the Valeras before we set out. That was when we had an unexpected guest. Lord Rudrick Helm showed up in the Fairy Lights Inn dining hall and made a beeline for us.

“So. You’re Abram, huh.” Lord Helm addressed Abram.

“Yes, my lord.” Abram confirmed with a small bow.

“Hmph. Chase. Vela.” He greeted the Valeras curtly.

“Rudrick.” Lord Chase replied with a smile. “Would you like to join us for breakfast?”

Lady Vela smiled too but her expression made my arm hair stand on its end.

“I wouldn’t eat this filth.” Lord Helm replied with disdain.

“Ah, then to what do we owe this pleasure?” Lord Chase replied still maintaining his smile.

“My men told me that they spotted Abram here and I thought I’d pass by and give him some friendly advice.” Lord Helm leered.

“Of course, my lord.” Abram answered.

“Now that you’ve settled in my city… Make sure to choose your friends carefully, Master Abram.” Lord Abram said menacingly. “You don’t want to cross me.”

“I would never dream of doing so.” Abram replied with a low bow.

“We’ll see, won’t we?” Lord Helm said while leaving.

“Always a bottle of sunshine.” Lord Chase commented.

I glanced at Paul and Lady Mina who kept their heads down. Lady Vela was gripping her butter knife very tightly.

“My deepest apologies for that unpleasantness on my account.” Abram lowered his head. He seemed to be directing the apology more to Lady Vela than Lord Chase though.

Lord Chase touched Lady Vela’s arm and she released her knife.

“It matters not. It was hardly your fault, Abram. The pig waddled in here by himself.” Lady Vela replied savagely.

I was in the middle of drinking when she said that and the image of Lord Helm with a pig snout and tail made me laugh so hard that water came out of my nose.

“Adi!” Abram shouted in surprise. He started wiping my nose with a table napkin and was repeatedly bowing to Lord Chase and Lady Vela in apology.

Lord Chase, however, just let out a laugh and even Lady Vela giggled.

Soon the table started chuckling. Even Lady Mina let out a small smile.

Despite the tense turn breakfast took, we parted ways with the Valeras in good spirits.

They passed by the east gate on the way back to the Roost and the three of us rode our carriage towards North Haven.

When we got back to the shop it was already past noon.

But then there was a collapsed figure slumped on our steps.

“Who is that?” Paul asked.

“I think that’s Master Leery.” Abram replied. “What’s he doing there?”

Our carriage came to a full stop and I leapt down. I shook Master Leery awake.

“Master Leery? Are you okay? What happened?” I asked with concern.

He woke up with a start. “WHAT? WHO?”

His eyes slowly came into focus and then it narrowed when it saw me. “SO! FINALLY DECIDED TO SHOW UP HUH?”

“I-what?” I said confused.

“Where’ve you been then, boy? Think you can just disappear and skip your training huh?” Master Leery growled.

“I was at the Royal Banquet.” I replied quietly.

“WELL, GOOD FOR YOU THEN. I SUPPOSE YOU THINK THAT’S SOME EXCUSE.” He barked back.

I turned to Abram for help.

“You did tell Master Leery that we were going to be gone for the Banquet right?” Abram offered.

My heart sank. “I… I just assumed he knew. I thought everyone heard about the Banquet.”

“Obviously not everyone.” Paul shook his head.

Suddenly, I felt a dangerous stare and tried to leap out of the way.

A rough hand caught me by the scruff of the neck and lifted me up off the ground.

“AHHH. HELP. PLEASE. I’M SORRY MASTER LEERY—GUY!” I begged.

“I’ll teach you some manners, boy. Waste my time will you? I’ll work you so hard your arms will fall off.” Master Leery said angrily as he shook me violently in the air.

I turned to Abram and Paul and pleaded with them.

They looked at me sadly and gave me a wave.

I resigned myself to my fate and just hung like a limp rug as Master Leery dragged me to his shop.

-End of Chapter 3-