‘‘Must we really wait for the prick to call us?’’Laedio asked as he pursued his lips in a sneer. His eyes moved to the decorations in the halls.

‘‘Yes it is custom for these people for the host to call upon guest’’ Jarza answered as he tried to stand as still as possible. He did not know for how long the jacket would hold his frame .

‘‘Yes but they are not OUR custom.Me must have been waiting ten minutes ... I say we just enter without a care ‘‘ Laedio proposed as he sighed

‘‘For these people appearances are everything, else how can they say that they are better than us if they don’t have a way to distinguish them from the common rabbles they rule over?Man must always hold something to justify an action, else it would go crazy’’

Suddendly as Laedio was to give his point to Jarza, the door opened, the guards on the other side giving way for the group to enter .Ahead of them a new world appeared.Wherever they looked at they were either staring at food, or on beautiful decorations.The people inside were all silent as they observed the men at the door . They were silent , but the singers kept doing their job.While the mummers and jugglers, continued to exhibit their works upon a crowd that was ignoring their life’s work.

A man as upright as a wooden pole in an arse, stood at the right of the king.He could see that white mane from twenty kilometers away and he would still recognize , it as that of Robert. At the left was instead the prince consort, who instead just looked bored as her eyes moved to that of the jugglers. While the youngest was there the eldes daughter was nowhere on sight .

‘‘The guest of his grace is entering the feast.They may now walk forward and express their gratitude to their host’’ Robert shouted as if he was reading from a script

‘Just like Jarza said ' customs are everything’ ' Alpheo thought, as he walked forward approaching the king , his wife and their two daughters.When he was at an adequate distance he dropped on one knee. ‘‘This man thanks his grace for his generosity, may he live to be one hundred’’

The prince looked down at Alpheo, and then with a graceful smile waved his hand for them to rise ‘‘Your gratitude is accepted, you may eat my food and share warmth within the fire. From now on you are my guest, and as per sacred laws , you shall not me harmed, you shall not be deprived of your possession and no slight will come to you from me. May the gods witness my words’’

And just like that the room went from chaos to silence, one again after the words of the prince the guests resumed on their activities. Ladies went back at laughing, man once again between themselves boasting of their achievements. While others instead marveled at the play of the mummers and jugglers, whose mastery of tricks let the guest at a loss of words.

Alpheo walked amidst a sea of opulence, surrounded by people who had known nothing but luxury their entire lives. While he had toiled as a slave, they had slept in comfortable beds and dined on fine foods. Yet, even the supposedly exquisite fare of this society tasted like shit to Alpheo.

As he brought a piece of meat to his mouth, the overpowering pepper assaulted his tongue, he never liked hot food. And it seemed that there was more condiment than actual food on the table. Alpheo glanced around at his companions, hoping to share some bad words about the cuisine .

But they were too busy stuffing their mouths with food to notice. Even Jarza, typically reserved, was enthusiastically tearing flesh from bones with his teeth.Apparently such strange taste, was seen as delicious by them.

Disappointed, Alpheo scanned the table in search of potatoes, his favorite dish. Surely, they couldn't mess up potatoes, was it even possible to do that? Yet, to his dismay, they were nowhere to be found as potatoes were seens as the food for pigs .

"Oi, come here," Alpheo called out to a passing servant carrying trays of wine. As the servant approached, Alpheo snatched a cup ‘‘Point me where the potatoes are ‘'.The question caused the servant to give small smirk.After all no-one would dare to think of finding such low food on the tables of the nobles.

That smile took Alpheo by surprise, which then quickly morphed in anger. He could let the princes and nobles pass off few comments directed at him, they were at an higher position than him , but there was no way he would allow a servant to make fun of him.

He restrained himself from lashing out physically but leaned in close, his voice low and dangerous.

"You have exactly three seconds to point me in the direction of what I requested," Alpheo whispered, his grip tightening on the servant's arm. "Remember, I could just as easily disembowel you after this feast, and your prince wouldn't bat an eye. The next time I catch you smirking at me, I'll cut your mouth ear to ear so you'll never be able to stop smiling. Understand?"

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.

Realizing something was wrong , the servant lowered his head in submission. He tried to inform him of their absence , trying to explain the reason as less humiliating as possible.

He failed.

With a swift and forceful motion, he grabbed hold of the servant's ears and neck , pinning him in place. The servant winced in pain as Alpheo gave such a hard yank so hard that blood began to trickle down from the servant's ears, staining his clothes . Though the servant whimpered in agony, he dared not raise his voice.He

The commotion, as small as it was still caught the attention of those nearby who stared at the mercenary captain , who just returned the stares with a steely one of his own . The crowd, sensing the intensity of the situation, quickly averted their eyes, not wanting to be near a ticking bomb.They knew of the importance of the mercenary's presence for the war-effort , so they preferred to avoid causing a scene.

"On second thought, I've lost my appetite," Alpheo declared, his voice laced with disdain as he released his grip on the servant's ear. The servant, now bloodied and scared , nodded frantically in response, eager to escape Alpheo's wrath.Alpheo turned around and walked back to his companions, feeling the lingering stares from the other guests to his back .

Better like this, he reasoned as he ignored the stares. He was in no mood for useless talks with these high turds and so he instead decided to come back to his dear rats.

"What was that about?" Jarza asked, his mouth half-full with a morsel of bread.

Alpheo glanced over at his companion "Apparently, arrogance went over the head of a small worm," he replied, his tone dripping with disdain. "So, I made sure to remind him how to wiggle in shit."

Jarza chuckled, a low rumble emanating from deep within his chest. "Want us to pay the worm a visit after the feast?" he offered

Alpheo considered the suggestion for a moment, tapping his chin thoughtfully. "I don't see why not," he finally conceded, his expression firm. "Just make sure not to kill him. We don't want the prince to feel slighted, better not give him any reason to believe that. "

"You do you, boss," Egil chimed in, swallowing the last of the food in his mouth before turning his attention back to his plate.

With the matter settled, they returned their focus to the banquet, devouring their food with the same voracity as a pack of hungry wolves. Alpheo couldn't help but feel a twinge of disgust at their crude manners, but he held his tongue. As long as they didn't cause too much of a disturbance, he supposed it was best to let them enjoy themselves.

‘‘I am going to watch around, you can keep eating if you want , just make sure not to give anyone trouble’’

They nodded , leaving Alpheo to play his own games.

Since the food was shit , and the company even worse, he decided to divert his attention to the spectacle of the high society's entertainment.

As he wandered amidst the crowd, he observed the various performers who had been hired to entertain the guests. Jugglers skillfully tossed balls and objects in the air, never missing a beat as they dazzled the audience with their dexterity. The music, while not to Alpheo's personal taste, was still pleasant to the ear, filling the air with melodic notes that added to the atmosphere of the event.

However, it was the mummers who truly captured Alpheo's attention. One of them, in particular, caught his eye as he held a torch in one hand and a bottle in the other. Taking a swig from the bottle, the mummer then proceeded to ignite the torch with his tongue, a feat that left Alpheo momentarily speechless. He watched in awe as the flames danced upon the mummer's tongue, seemingly unaffected by the heat.

As the mummer extinguished the flames and revealed his unscathed tongue, Alpheo couldn't help but marvel at the spectacle before him. He had always been skeptical of magical tricks, preferring to uncover the secrets behind them, but this display left him baffled.

‘Maybe the drink was special and it functioned as a bad conducent of heat’ Alpheo mused, it was a far-off explanation but it was the better that came to his head.

Suddendly a voice came from behim thim "Like the spectacle?"

Alpheo turned around in surprise to see the face of the prince's eldest daughter, who was smiling in amusement.

He lightly bowed. "It is to my liking. I find the fire trick the most intriguing , your grace"

She chuckled, finding his reaction amusing. "Wanna know how it is done?"

Alpheo raised a curious eyebrow, glancing between the princess and the jugglers.

The princess smiled, a mischievous glint in her eyes. "That one has no tongue."

Alpheo's expression shifted to one of disbelief. "What?"

"You heard me. He has no tongue; it was cut off from him. And the one you see him displaying is a pig's tongue sewed to the uncut part."

Alpheo blinked, trying to process the information. "Your grace, if that is a jest, I must say it is a bad one."

"It is no such thing," she insisted, her tone serious. "If you don't believe me, you can observe it yourself. It's not hard to notice once you know it.See how he only shows a small portion of it? He is hiding the sewing."

He felt a shiver run down his spine, uncertain whether to feel repulsed or simply disturbed by the show . The princess's laughter, however, drew his attention, her amusement at his reaction evident.

"The interest disappears once you know, right?By nature, we find what we do not know to be exotic... " she remarked, her eyes fixed on him, perhaps mistaking his reaction for disinterest rather than disgust.

Alpheo tore his gaze away from the juggler to meet her eyes. "I have never presented myself, did I?" she asked ‘‘My name is Jasmine ‘‘

''This one's name is Alpheo, your grace''

"Yes, I know. Robert talked a lot about you," she said with a hint of mischief.

"I suppose nothing good came out of him ," Alpheo remarked dryly.

"Certainly not things that are to be said in public,"

"Good to know, then, that our first meeting left an impression on both of us," Alpheo quipped, his lips curling into a small smile.He too hardly had good thinks to share about the old bastard.

Her laughter filled the air, and Alpheo found himself momentarily captivated by the musical sound of it . "How are you finding the feast?" she inquired, her tone shifting to a more casual one.

"Quite a spec—" Alpheo began, but she interrupted him before he could finish.

"Boring, right?" she interjected, her expression reflecting her own disinterest . "I'm actually fighting off my yawns."

Alpheo remained silent, unsure how to respond to her candid remark. Was it not an insult to his father, the host of the feast?

"Wanna do something fun?" she suddenly proposed, her smile taking on a mischievous edge that Alpheo found strangely charming.After all the thorns in a rose could be considered to enhance its beauty