The Royal Ritual (2): The Snide Noble, the Prince, and Me

It was the day of the royal ritual.

Four thousand soldiers stood in perfect formation, and from the dais, the sight of them gazing at the king and his son must have been fairly magnificent.

This was a large hall in one corner of the royal palace, used for departure ceremonies. King Zeurasia looked over us from the dais and cleared his throat.

"I am pleased that you have gathered for my son Zeland's royal ritual! We depart tomorrow! I have arranged a modest banquet for tonight! Eat your fill, restore your strength, and be ready for tomorrow!"

In response to the king's address, they raised their swords high and stamped their feet twice, making the sound of their footsteps thunder through the hall. Seeing this, the satisfied king descended from the dais, and a buffet-style banquet began.

Though it was called a banquet, we would be departing tomorrow morning, so most of the soldiers went easy on the alcohol and focused on the food. As a result, the dishes vanished from the tables at an incredible rate.

The food kept coming, one dish after another, to keep up with the appetites of four thousand soldiers. The whole scene looked almost like a war.

As I was idly thinking that, I heard someone call, "Roa-sama, Lufa-sama!" It was Prince Zeland, making his way through the crowd in his banquet attire.

"Oh? Prince Zeland? Is it all right for you to be wandering around a place like this?"

"Yes. I don't have to conduct myself properly in public until after the ritual. Father said I could do as I pleased until then."

As he spoke to me, Prince Zeland kept glancing at Lufa.

Today, Lufa had borrowed Lapiria-sama's outfit and dressed up, making her look as cute as a princess from a foreign country.

For this mission, Lufa was supposed to stay behind with Dick under Raiz-sama's supervision, so she technically had no right to attend this gathering. However, she had been specially invited at Prince Zeland's request.

Lufa herself was busy munching away at some meat and was paying Prince Zeland very little attention.

Even so, Prince Zeland looked satisfied, so that was fine by me.

As Prince Zeland and I continued chatting, someone cut into our conversation.

"Well, well, Prince Zeland. It has been a long time."

I looked over to see a man standing there with an utterly bizarre hairstyle. His bangs were curled into a loop over his forehead and fixed in place.

Dentacrus Veloza. He was Duke Sembria's son and one of the unit commanders in the Ninth Knight Order. He was in charge of the Ninth Knight Order's forces for this mission.

Dentacrus had an irritating air about him, starting with his appearance. Since Prince Zeland had unpleasant memories of Duke Sembria, he tried to quietly hide behind me.

"Oh, my! A prince, no less, and you can't even offer a proper greeting? Just as the rumors say... No, my apologies."

He directed an unpleasant, mocking laugh at the prince. That was far too rude even to a prince, wasn't it?

"Hey..."

When I tried to stop Dentacrus, he turned his gaze toward me and looked extremely displeased.

"Whaaat, who are you? Which house do you belong to?"

"I'm not a noble. I'm Roa, a unit commander in the Tenth Knight Order."

"Not a noble? Then why are you speaking to me—a member of the Veloza family—like that? Insolent fool. I'll cut you down!"

Dentacrus shouted so loudly that the soldiers nearby turned to look at us. Once he saw that he had their attention, Dentacrus smirked and pointed at me.

"Yes, this is a good opportunity to make things clear. I, Dentacrus Veloza, will be in charge of this mission. You said your name was Roa, didn't you? You need only obey me. Do exactly as I say. Otherwise... You understand, don't you?"

"What do you mean?"

"What a slow-witted fool. If you oppose the Veloza family, you can forget about having any future at all. That's what I mean."

Wow. When someone threatened you this openly, it was almost refreshing. If he weren't such an idiot, he might even be a big shot. Well, setting that aside...

"No, I can't entrust the mission to a unit commander who doesn't seem capable. And if we're talking about status, Prince Zeland is far above you, yet you don't even know basic manners. So I'm afraid that's impossible."

"What did you say?!"

Since I had neither been intimidated by nor even cared about the name of the Veloza family, Dentacrus shouted with his eyes bulging in astonishment. Then, after thinking for a moment, he asked, "Could you perhaps be a country bumpkin who doesn't even know the Veloza family?"

To be honest, I had only learned about the Veloza family fairly recently. Nobles with little connection to the heroes of the Knight Orders, or who had nothing to do with the war, simply weren't of interest to me.

Besides, threats about my future didn't bother me in the slightest. It wasn't just my future that was in danger; the future of this country was at stake. And "that time" was drawing closer by the moment. I had no time to deal with some foolish noble.

Come to think of it, Raiz-sama had said that if the Veloza family tried anything over this matter, I had permission to crush them thoroughly.

Raiz-sama's permission meant that King Zeurasia had approved it as well. In that case, perhaps I should provoke them as thoroughly as possible.

Having made up my mind, I smiled and told the exasperated Dentacrus,

"I know the Veloza family. You're the declining noble house whose tutors sent to educate the prince were all dismissed just the other day, aren't you?"

The people nearby began murmuring, and I could feel them holding their breath as they listened to our exchange.

"......... Now... what did you just say?" Dentacrus asked in a low voice, his face growing somewhat pale.

"Oh? If I've got the wrong family, I'm sorry. I thought the Veloza family was the one that came groveling for a chance to redeem itself after its recent failure... Was it someone else?"

"You..." Dentacrus's hand touched the hilt of his sword.

While Dentacrus and I exchanged words, Wickhart came to stand beside me and likewise placed his hand on his sword.

"Wouldn't drawing your sword only make your position even worse?" I said, as Dentacrus's face turned from blue to purple.

"What is all this commotion?"

When King Zeurasia came over with Raiz-sama and Lapiria-sama after hearing the commotion,

"...It's nothing," Dentacrus said, glaring at me before walking away.

I couldn't help wondering if I had gone a little too far.

But when I saw the relieved look on Prince Zeland's face, I decided that, well, it was probably fine.