CH 319

Chapter 319: Wouldn’t I accidentally get a response if I just shout about it in the middle of the hall? part 1

Day 76 – Nighttime, the Capital, Royal Palace

Are they not not acting yet? Are they not acting anymore? Or perhaps they can’t act?

It seems that at the dangerous outside, reroreroing middle-aged man is disposing of all assassinish-looking people that were hiding, so the ball is proceeding without any issues. At the moment, only a few pairs are dancing in a tiny space in front of the orchestra, so the main part of the ball must be still ahead.

I’m going to send the orphans to rest in a large room before it begins, and with Slime-san as their bodyguard, there is nothing to worry about. I’ve also asked the Big Shot from the Second Division to look after them, and it seems Royal Girl is going to deploy some Royal Guards too. When it starts the food is going to be put away anyway, leaving only some light snacks alongside the walls, so let’s have them eat as much as they can while still possible.

Each orphan has a small Slime-san with them, which is probably busy stuffing itself with food by now. The orphans are completely safe, each equipped with portable Slime-san. Be it an assassin, a kidnapper, a Dungeon Master, or a Demon Lord, they all would end up devoured, so the kids are totally safe? It also would alleviate food expenses so that actually would be a great help.

After all, for now it’s still socializing time for greetings and introductions, once the main part begins, the tables will be removed, and this entire hall will become a dance floor, with the partition for lower seats and seats of honor also gone, the nobles with be all jumbled together and attendants are going to start moving around the venue.

And unexpectedly greatly contributing Elf Little Sister Girl-san has a super rare skill 『Detect Emotions』which apparently allows her to sense malice and killing intent. However, with the swirl of emotions on the clamoring lower seat side of the hall, where killing intent, malice, spite, hatred, resentment, envy, and prejudice are all jumbled together with an addition of fear, desire, and even lust, it’s impossible to make out anything, so at the moment, she is focusing on strong killing intent or particular emotions linked to 『Poison』,『Drugs』or『Magic』.

Extremely sadly, there are no Sexy Female Assassins around, even though I finally got to see real maids.

I’ve even probed the surrounding for suspicious maids with Detect Presence, in case there is a hope they might accidentally reply if I yell 『Are there any beautiful female assassins among the guests?』right in the middle of the hall, but sadly, it seems the only maid harboring murderous intent is Maid Girl? Yeah, she is glaring at me from Royal Girl’s shadow. She must be still pissed because of what happened during dress making. Well, certainly, considering that she is going hide in the shadows anyway, Maid Girl probably didn’t need a dress, so there was no need for her to go through hanging and insane measurements hell, is the kind of rumor one might’ve heard 75 days ago, but since I wasn’t even in this world back then, it’s totally not my fault? Yup, everything must be the old fart’s (god) fault, so if there are any complaints, go burn a church or something? I have some good oil for that, you know?

There are so many nobles glancing this way that even though I’m memorizing them with 『Wisdom』the number is too great, and there is actually only a handful of nobles not looking here, so it’s probably completely pointless. Well, Armored Pres-san and Dancing Girl-san are both peerless beauties who might render one so speechless with their beauty it could cause one to scream in despair, and the Pres and others are also in a full force of the class of beauties (which however includes a raccoon) which is said to have caused even some distant schools to come on observation tours just to see them. It is because they have good looks that they can wear such gorgeous dresses without being worn by them. Merely being able to elegantly wear luxurious dresses puts them (Which includes one beautiful raccoon) on the same level as Armored Pres-san. It’s hard not to look at that. This is the most superb sight in the venue. The rest are just wallflowers.

Elf Little Sister Girl-san was complaining that there are actually more than just a few openly glaring ladies, making using『Detect Emotions』 to spot them quite difficult, but she doesn’t seem to be aware of also being one of the targets of their gazes. And with the addition of Royal Girl and Merimeri-san, those glares become only natural. Yup, putting so much effort into your appearance for the sake of the ball only to encounter a group of such transcendent beauties there has to be insanely unpleasant. They stand out a lot.

Even so, I can’t stand this, what is this? A new sort of bullying?

All of the girls are silently following me in a line, and once I stop, they smoothly get into a formation, encircling me, and looking my way? Their faces are covered with veils, but it’s still possible to make out their features and expressions, and they don’t seem to have Flat Gazes? Disappointing.

As a result of that even I stand out. It’s because they are taking the attitude of some sort of obedient servants that even I end up as a center of attention.

Those people are violent bludgeonists who were trying to beat me with morning stars before we stepped into the palace, you know? Instead of silently obeying they were about to turn me into a silent corpse?

When I hand them a plate with the food, saying「Wanna try it? Here you go」,

They reply with 「「「Thank you, I’ll have it」」」, bowing their heads and giving it a taste, but their quiet demeanor doesn’t change?

Well, they might not be hungry since they were fighting with tridents over fried pasta (mountain) with mushroom cream topping, which I offered to wrap up the lunch, in a grand battle that could eclipse Annals of the Three Kingdoms… But where did all of that energy go? They even made numerous holes in the mithrilified plate that I made just for how? Those forks definitely weren’t meant for eating!

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My foolish sons that were evaluating noble ladies in a vulgar manner mixed with obscene ridicule while having dirty smiles plastered on their faces went completely silent with the arrival of the Princess and the Margrave’s young lady, while their expressions turned even more indecent. The simple thought that these are my sons who will succeed House Kasgir is enough to fill me with shame, but there is no doubt that they are the best ladykillers in the Kingdom.

By now, the only way for our House to avoid collapse is to take either the Princess or the Frontier’s young lady, and if we can get both, the Kingdom itself will become ours.

But the beauty of the princess and Omui’s young lady, far surpassing that of those around them, seems to have finally gotten them motivated. Both are beautiful maidens praised throughout the Kingdom, but neither is participating in high society. Not to mention that this time, instead of armor, they are wearing elegant dresses, overflowing with beauty akin to blooming flowers.

The mood of the venue completely changed.

But that group that was invited last as visitors from afar. All of the nobles present in the hall couldn’t produce a word once the rumored clown and black-haired maidens made their appearance. The princess and Omui’s young lady caused quite a bit of murmur and sighs of admiration, but now, forget speaking, everyone seems to have forgotten how to even breathe.

Peerless beauties clad in gorgeous shiningly pure white dresses. The Capital is singing praises to their lustrous hair, black as a raven’s wing, and dark eyes resembling polished obsidian, but it seems the rumors didn’t lie, rather, they didn’t praise them enough.

And now, adding to his preposterous insolence and outrageously arrogant demeanor, paying no respect to us, nobles, and bringing lowly orphans to mess around in the seats of honor of such a noble gathering, also the sheer hubris of having not only black-haired maidens waiting upon him, but also the Princess, the Frontier’s young lady, an elf, and foreign beauties, he is now looked with the eyes filled with murderous intent by everyone.

「If we are to bring that clown to our side, we are ought to act quick, or he might be poisoned right away.」

「I changed my mind, Father, let’s kill him.」

「Agreed, let’s have him die, and take all of the women.」

Well, the looks of those heavenly maidens are enough to make lust surge from all of the nobles that saw them, not just my sons, putting plots and schemes in motion. Just how many nobles would be willing to silently let such pretty women slip by. No one must’ve had a taste of such first-class goods. Merely obtaining these women and putting them into one’s own service could be enough to take a country.

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Even when it came to an official occasion, the boy’s status still hasn’t been revealed, but that has nothing to do with me. He is the strategist that after saving the Capital, sought no honor or commendations for that and immediately departed for the Frontier by himself, toying with and destroying 40,000 enemies there. I’d like to attend to him today, but with him being a person not fond of ceremonious greetings and concealing his status, I limited myself to a simple greeting.

Not only does he not fret standing next to our King, he is even teasing him along with Omui-sama. He might be able to conceal his status, but the difference in caliber is too apparent.

And on top of that, now even the summoned marquis Skobathus is prostrating himself, thanking him. He might’ve fallen ill, but he still was called a ferocious tiger, one of the best warriors in the Kingdom, and the head of one of the four great marquis houses. The sight of him deeply bowing his head is making a stir through the hall.

Everything must be because of that disrespectful theater play.

Because of that play, the true liberator who saved the Capital without shedding a single drop of blood, the true hero that protected the Frontier all by himself, and led his comrades to suppress overflowing dungeons, became known as a laughable boastful stupid coward and a clown, without anyone learning of his true achievements. To mock the benefactor of the Kingdom and all of the Kingdom’s subjects in such a fashion is way over the line.

Hearing about this I immediately went to see it with my own eyes. Although I managed to restrain myself since I was surrounded by the jubilant citizens, overjoyed over the finally arrived peace, but the urge to behead the entire troupe involved in this outrageously rude play and then yell out the truth made me so angry, that simply suppressing it made me dizzy.

It was that awful. There is no way it could be allowed to insult and ridicule the person that saved the Kingdom, in such a fashion. Even now, merely thinking back on how great of a miracle he brought to the Kingdom and the Frontier, despite being completely unrelated to all of this, makes me want to hang the entire troupe and display them at the castle gates.

The actor (clown) in a black wig and black cloak was acting with an arrogant swagger, giving out orders to the maidens, while he sat doing nothing in the safe rear. Once enemies appeared in the castle he would run tumbling on the stage in the most ridiculously comical manner while screaming hysterically, while the audience would laugh and jeer, pointing fingers and throwing insults at him. At our savior. At the protector of our Kingdom. They would point fingers at the person who fought to protect the lives of every single citizen of the Capital who was present there and laugh at him. Is there anything more vexing than that? What possibly could be more wretched and enraging?

Enduring it for a maddeningly long time and seeing the play to its end, I then went backstage, after confirming that all of the audience had left the scene. Screw my position as the Second Division Commander, I might as well murder them all, and at least have them apologize with their lives, is what I thought as I stormed in with a yell into the dressing room, and that’s where I encountered the scriptwriter for the play, who was holding the permit for the performance, issued by me.

Which is only natural, since I was the one who gave it to that person.

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Wait upon him, making sure not to leave his side, that’s our objective.

Everyone in the Capital is hailing the Princess, Meriel-sama, and us, as heroes.

And everyone is making fun of the black-haired strategist. Apparently, at the theater, the audience would boo the moment he appeared, and once his life is in danger, they would erupt in cheers, and throw insults while he is running around. Unforgivable.

Words are meaningless here, everyone sees us as powerless servants or attendants, obedient to his command.

That’s why we asked the Princess and Meriel-sama to cooperate as well. We won’t allow any insults, mocking, or banter, to reach Haruka-kun. We also won’t allow any false accusations or meddling either.

If that’s what they want to think then we are fine with being followers or servants, in such a case, what’s the problem for us to be protecting our master?

That is our very desire that we are powerless to make true.

This Master-san doesn’t give orders to anyone, be it servants, attendants, classmates, comrades, friends, even if they are under his Taming, and goes to do the most dangerous stuff by himself.

He probably wouldn’t care no matter how they boo, mock, or insult him.

He probably protected everything that he wanted and doesn’t care about the rest.

But we cannot permit such a thing.

He kept going from one dangerous gamble to another, constantly betting his life, so why does he have to be ridiculed and laughed at by people that he worked so hard to save? How can they do such a cruel thing?

I’m sure the nobles have seen the play as well. That’s why we are going to protect. We won’t allow them to approach or mock him. There is no way we’d allow some nobles, who didn’t move a finger to protect the people, to mock Haruka-kun, who protected everything.

So today there is no playing around. Our feelings are decided. We don’t care about being seen as servants, rather, we’d like to become his shield. It doesn’t matter if we get Tamed or become his slaves if it means that we can protect him.

After all, our lives, our happiness, our joy, our delight, all of it was given to us by Haruka-kun. If we are seen as servants, then poor manners of servants would bring shame to the master, that’s why today we are going to be the shield and the sword for Haruka-kun (master). If he was attacked by swords or spears then it wouldn’t be an issue, even poison is not a big deal, but when it comes to scorn or disdain, not only does he have no means to protect himself, he lacks even the desire to do so. That’s why we are absolutely not allowing anyone through.

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The orchestra and the venue are ready, the music begins to grow louder, and several groups of men and women have already started dancing, and the ball is finally about to begin.

The King began his speech. There are many nobles in the Capital who have been given rewards for their deeds on arms and have been raised in rank on this occasion, but awarding starts from those of the lower ranks and lesser accomplishments.

Certainly, they haven’t done anything, but even after their families went into decline, eventually coming to ruin, they still remained a faithful sword to the King.

They are the saviors of the Kingdom. Those who learned of the plight of the orphans and tried to help them, but were driven out of the noble district for refusing to participate in the corruption and actively opposing it, becoming nobles in name only, unable to take any public office, and who yet hurried to the Palace when they learned of the danger to the Royal Family, arming themselves with their own very modest funds. It was plainly obvious that with the King collapsed from illness, the Palace must’ve been usurped, and yet they rushed not to the Second Prince or the Great Nobles, but to the King’s side instead. They arrived knowing full well that only defeat is awaiting them. Certainly, they didn’t get to do anything, but even so, they are the true nobles. The fact that there was someone who tried to reach out to the orphans was a small salvation for the Kingdom, and the day there is no one to help those in need is when the Kingdom will truly end.

Each division is also being awarded accordingly. The Royal Prince seems to have turned down the award, claiming that he didn’t do anything, much less anything worthy of reward.

From a young age, he was clumsy in his way of life and desperately tried to follow the rules we taught him. If the Royal Prince is called a foolish King, then the blame is on us and our teachings.『Commoners, nobles, royalty, each have their own responsibilities, so do not get involved』or『A smart King makes a decision after carefully considering opinions of nobles』, as a result, the Royal Prince ended up accepting all of the insults thrown at him. This is our responsibility.

The Royal Prince was openly criticized and badmouthed on the streets. Every time I heard it, I felt remorseful for my unspeakable sins, and I guess it was thanks to that Play that the public dissatisfaction with the Royal Prince disappeared.

The black-haired tactician hinders, tricks, and deceives the Royal Prince, weaving his sinister traps, and he is just a foolish ruler, toyed by him.

But it is because of the pact, what that foolish ruler risked his life to make, that the black-haired maidens destroyed the dungeons. It is because that foolish king kept desperately struggling that the black-haired strategist lost his way out and was forced to send out the maidens to fight. The story is about a foolish King saving the Kingdom through his although foolish but sincere actions.

In short, the black-haired boy was made a villain, and had even the Kingdom’s failures forced upon him.

That’s why the people forgave the Royal Family, allowing the princess’ achievements to win back the trust for the royalty. All of their failures were pushed on a single clown.

Thus, the black-haired boy cannot be formally awarded for anything that he has done. Only the maidens and the boys that are said to have saved the Beastmen Country are going to be officially rewarded. All because of the pretext that they acted under the orders of the Royal Family. As a result, their achievements also become achievements of the Royal family by proxy, earning great praises from the people.

There wasn’t even a single person in the Royal Palace who was aware of the Beastmen Country’s distress. A rescue mission went there without anyone’s knowledge and resolved the situation without anyone learning of it, handing to the Royal Family only the merit itself.

If treated as acting under the Royal Family’s orders then it will save the Kingdom’s face before the Beastemen Country, and it would also soften the blow to the Royal Family’s reputation. For the Kingdom, this is the most ideal plan and the best result.

The margrave’s reputation as a hero also was boosted even higher, as he is being praised alongside the Royal Family.

Nothing but vainglory, with every honor and achievement handed to them by him. And the boy who accomplished all of that is given no honors, instead being ridiculed and despised by the people ignorant of all of this.

The King, who kept objecting to this plan until the very end, had finally given in. This was the only path to protect the Kingdom. In order to protect the Kingdom’s subject he was forced to make this bitter decision.

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The instruments fill the venue with music, and the stage is complete.

In the end, all of this is just an opening to a comedy playing out in the palm of the clown’s (hermit) hand. Even the gorgeous ball is just another stage.