Chapter 244
A knock sounded from behind the door, followed by the servant's voice.
"Mr. Mayor."
"Come in."
Mayor Arnobio was standing with his hands behind his back, quietly gazing at the portrait hanging on the office wall.
It depicted archmages who had ruled the continent in different eras.
The secretary entered, bowed his head, and said, "The disciple of the archmage has accepted the invitation. He will arrive at the banquet hall within an hour."
"I see."
"About what you mentioned earlier..."
"Proceed as planned. I want to see that boy fight."
"Understood."
The secretary bowed his head again and left, closing the door.
Arnobio walked along the office wall. He stopped in front of the portrait of a red-haired mage hanging at the very end.
Looking at that woman's eyes, Arnobio raised one corner of his mouth.
"The eye of the sun... The eye of the sun..."
He took down the portrait from the wall and held it in his hand. Then, as if stroking his hair, he ran his fingers over the painting.
"...It won't be long now."
***
As the carriage stopped at the agreed location, a maidservant approached and opened the door. Then she abruptly asked, "Are you Lord Damian?"
"...Ah, I came at the mayor's invitation."
"I'm so pleased to have the honor of personally guiding Lord Damian. I'll show you the way."
Haley looked at me and shrugged her shoulders once. She had a puzzled expression because there was no greeting for her. But even though I gave her a subtle hint with my eyes, the maidservant didn't say a word to Haley until the end.
We followed the maidservant up a spiral staircase. The servant led the way with a stiff posture, keeping her back straight and her hands on her abdomen.
"Who sent you? Is it the mayor's order?"
"Ah, no. Lady Bastian, Miss Kellerway, Miss Darcy, Lady Orlando, and the Meronia twin ladies are all very interested in Lord Damian, and I've been sent to escort you on their behalf."
"I've never met those people."
"Lord Damian's exploits are already widely known in social circles. Many people witnessed your brave actions at the accident scene. Especially Lady Bastian and Lady Orlando said they wanted to entertain you separately as a reward for saving them by throwing yourself into danger."
"..."
"There's even a nickname for you, 'Prince of the North’, for your marvelous control of elemental magic."
I did save a sailor falling from the sky sailship with Priscilla, but I never threw myself to save any noble ladies. It was a story the noble ladies made up on their own.
Unable to hold back any longer, Haley casually threw in a word, "Aren't there any stories about me?"
The servant trailed off, "Um... There are stories about you too, miss..."
"What are they?"
"I'm sorry. My memory isn't very good, so I can't remember everything."
"It's okay, just tell me."
The servant reluctantly opened her mouth, "They call you... the 'blonde virgin'."
"...?"
"Or sometimes, the 'country girl from the Empire'."
"How much do they know about me to say such things..."
The servant tried to smooth things over with a compliment.
"They usually give such mischievous nicknames to young and beautiful ladies."
"Ha, how amusing."
The end of the spiral staircase, which felt like a long tunnel, came into view. As we opened the door and stepped outside, what we saw before our eyes was the horizon and a bright red sunset.
Due to the intense light...
The servant said with a proud expression, "This is the Sky Garden."
Perhaps because of the high altitude, we could face the sun beyond the horizon directly in this city packed with buildings.
On this top floor where we stood, there was a glass dome and a well-tended garden. The smooth white stone floor, flowerbeds in full bloom, and neatly arranged garden trees.
Beyond the outer balcony, the grand view of southwest Claridium could be seen at a glance. It was a luxurious playground built in a prime location.
The garden was already full of nobles enjoying the banquet with drinks in hand.
"Where is the mayor?"
"He'll come when the meeting is over. Until then, you can enjoy yourselves freely."
The servant smiled brightly and left.
Haley looked around once and said, "The banquet seems to be in full swing even before we arrived."
A noble greedily laughing while keeping three or four women on his shoulders.
From a table screened by flowerbeds, the voice of a man making a ruckus echoed loudly.
"More wine, bring more wine!"
"Come on, it won't wear out just from a little touching."
"Here, sit on my lap."
It was closer to a pleasure party than a dignified noble's banquet.
Middle-aged noble ladies were accompanied by young knights, and young boy servants were washing the feet of some women.
Haley said, "I know this place."
"...?"
"Don't misunderstand. I don't mean I've experienced a place like this. I hate places like this to death."
"This place doesn't suit you at all, Senior."
"This is quite a famous place. Flora's Sky Garden. It's exactly the same as I saw in illustrations. They say an old magic engineer devoted his life to cultivating it. He liked to help poor people, using herbs grown here to aid the poor, and inviting children to teach them art here."
"...Why has a place like that become like this?"
"I don't know."
A nobleman with unfocused eyes staggered past us. It was obvious at a glance that he wasn't in his right mind.
Haley swallowed with a tense face.
Throughout the garden, women with revealing dresses and dark circles under their eyes were wandering around.
"I've never seen such revealing clothes in my life."
"It's my first time too."
A servant approached us with a tray of wine bottles.
Haley, perhaps wanting to relieve tension, habitually snatched a glass. Just as she was about to drink it hurriedly, I reached out and covered her mouth.
"Senior."
Haley looked at me with wide eyes for a moment. Then, as if understanding my intention, she lowered the glass.
"Ah..."
"I think it's better not to eat or drink anything here."
Among those drunk in the corner of the banquet hall, there were some who seemed to be behaving as if under the influence of drugs. At such a pleasure party, one should never accept drinks from strangers. One never knew what kind of drug might be in them. Especially young women like Haley needed to be extra careful.
"Well done. I never knew your stone-faced attitude towards women and ascetic personality would be so reassuring."
"Let's go."
Haley linked her arm with mine and matched her steps with me.
As we crossed the center of the banquet hall, the gazes of several people followed us.
Whispering.
The nobles of Claridium began to chew us up on their plates.
We stopped in front of a plaster statue.
Hair oiled and slicked back. Deep nasolabial folds and a neatly trimmed beard. A small mouth that looked petty. Prominent cheekbones. A middle-aged man who would fit well as a market peddler.
Below the statue was a description of the person. Prophet of Progress. Mayor of Claridium. Arnobio.
"So this is the mayor who invited us."
"Putting his own statue right in the middle of someone else's garden, he must have quite an ego."
"I'm curious about why he invited us here."
My expectation of a light dinner conversation in a peaceful atmosphere now seemed too naive.
Just then, an uninvited guest approached us.
"Ugh, hey, you, you!"
A pot-bellied nobleman grabbed Haley's shoulder. Then he spoke with a twisted tongue, "You... are you a newly brought in entertainer?"
Haley turned around sharply and shook off his arm fiercely.
"Who are you?"
"Cough, cough! Ptooey!"
The man gathered phlegm, spit it into the glass he was holding, and held it out in front of me. It was not meant as an insult, but rather he mistook me for a servant, which was absurd.
"This wench... why is her tongue so long?"
"You're being extremely rude to formally invited guests."
The man staggered, unable to control his drunkenness, and chuckled.
"Bullshit... you, you know who I was just drinking with? That person, you know. You, you, you."
He poked Haley's forehead with his index finger as he continued speaking, "He says he's interested in you. You're pretty... you know. Get rid of this bastard and go entertain Marcus III. For one night's service..."
Unable to bear it any longer, I grabbed the nobleman's collar.
Immediately, the banquet hall began to stir greatly.
"Shut up. One more word and..."
"You bastard, what are you going to do?"
"I'll tear both your mouth and the mouth of the person you serve."
Just as I was about to throw a punch, Priscilla trembled. Soon after, frost began to climb up from my hand to the man's face.
"W-what is this!"
The frost bound the man's neck and mouth.
"Mmph! Mmph!"
He flailed his arms. When I let go of his collar, he scratched at his mouth and hurriedly left somewhere.
It was an ugly sight that was hard to see as upper class.
Are they all the mayor's guests?
Just how much is wrong with this city?
I surveyed the surroundings. All the onlookers were terrified. They tried to distance themselves as if they had encountered a wild beast. They seemed to not want to get involved in this incident. Haley quietly said from behind me, "It looks like we've messed with someone we shouldn't have."
A young man approached my side and made a fuss.
"Magic, it's magic!"
"..."
"Aren't you that hero who saved the sky sailship?"
He spoke loudly as if for all the onlookers to hear. Only then did the gazes looking at us change to be somewhat more favorable.
"That's right. It's unpleasant to be invited as a guest and receive such rude treatment."
"I'm glad to meet you like this. I apologize on behalf of the earlier gentleman for his rudeness."
The man greeted us like that and then continued in a low voice that only we could hear.
"Lady Bastian is waiting for Lord Damian."
***
As we came out to the balcony, a noble lady standing with a servant caught my eye.
She was a middle-aged woman wearing a brown dress with abundant lace and her hair braided in a round shape.
This spacious balcony, wide enough for three or four carriages to pass through, was empty.
All that could be seen was that noble lady and a veiled box taller than a person.
She was leaning on the railing, but turned around when she heard us.
"So you're Lord Damian. The rumors circulating weren't exaggerated."
"I heard you were looking for me."
"It's a good place to have a secret conversation, isn't it?"
"The view is nice. The air is cool too. I'm curious why others don't come out here when it's better than inside."
"They're scared because of that."
Lady Bastian nodded towards the veiled box.
"What is that to make them like that?"
"It's a cage containing a magic creature. It's the new entertainment for Claridium's nobles to summon gladiators to catch magic creatures."
"They're out of their minds."
"You're not so innocent either. You hit the subordinate of the city's number one ruffian, after all."