Chapter 37
“Thank you for taking such good care of me.”
“Of course I should. We are comrades-in-arms, aren't we? To be honest, I didn't do much, though. Hahaha!”
“Not at all. You two have such faith in Lord Stephen.”
“I can guarantee my loyalty.”
Stephen smiled.
Then he naturally took the lead.
Unlike Jade, Stephen was no stranger to the palace.
Having lived in the palace for over twenty years, he could find his way to the grand hall where the title conferment ceremony was being held with his eyes closed.
“That is what the Crown Prince needs most right now, isn't it?”
“That's right. So it feels burdensome. I need to break out of this plateau, but it's not easy. I'm getting older, too.”
“Enlightenment arrives suddenly, doesn't it? I think if you keep moving forward one step at a time, you'll eventually arrive where you want to be. You don't always get results proportional to your effort, but that doesn't mean your time was wasted.”
“Perhaps because you're speaking from experience, that really hits home.”
“I work hard as well, you know.”
Jade said cautiously.
He wondered if he had said something unnecessary.
“I know very well how hard you work, Lord Jade. I've learned a great deal from you as well.”
“I'm sorry if I offended you.”
“No, no! Not at all. If anything, I'm grateful. More importantly, shaving has completely changed your look. You look like a whole new man! Why didn't you do it sooner? Haha!”
“It's been a while, so it feels a little strange.”
Jade stroked his chin.
Instead of the prickly sensation, he felt smooth skin.
“You look much better now. Ah, that doesn't mean you were ugly when you had a beard. I just personally prefer how you look now. I think something interesting might happen at the banquet. Hehe! Of course, something interesting would have happened even if you hadn't shaved.”
Stephen grinned slyly.
He wore a lecherous expression, as though he were thinking something indecent.
“Something interesting?”
“Yes. You expect it too, don't you, Lord Jade? As I understand it, you received an astonishing number of invitations the moment you returned to the palace.”
“The same goes for you, Lord Stephen, doesn't it?”
“Oh, I don't have anything like that. I'm a court mage, and it's not as if I was recognized for my abilities.”
Stephen said with an unconcerned expression.
Most people would have shown some bitterness, but he didn't at all.
“I heard you receive quite a lot of marriage proposals, though.”
“That's right. So I've been practically shouting for joy lately. I've never received so much attention from women in my life. I've never even danced with a woman at a party. When I first entered the palace, I practiced dancing really hard, but I still haven't gotten to use it even once.”
“Hahaha.”
-He's such a chatterbox!
Silestin exclaimed at Stephen's incessant talking.
Yet he didn't stop to look at himself.
The words rose to the tip of Jade's tongue, but he barely suppressed them.
“So I'm looking forward to today. I think I might finally get to show off the dancing skills I've been honing all this time.”
“I'll be rooting for you.”
“You practiced too, didn't you, Lord Jade?”
“No.”
“Pardon?”
Stephen wore a blank expression at Jade's forthright denial.
It was no exaggeration to call Jade the star of the title conferment ceremony.
As such, there must be countless noblewomen seeking to ask him for a dance, if only to exchange a few words with him.
But when Jade said he hadn't prepared at all, Stephen was momentarily at a loss for words.
“I learned the basic etiquette in a crash course, but I didn't learn to dance.”
“……You mean you didn't learn it, did you?”
“I didn't have enough time.”
Jade answered with an innocent smile.
Yet Stephen could tell instinctively.
Jade hadn't learned it despite being able to.
“Her Highness the Princess was looking forward to it too…….”
“It couldn't be helped. I simply didn't have time to learn.”
“Since you're an Expert, you could pick it up quickly even now! If you give me just a little time……!”
“We've arrived.”
While they chatted about this and that, they had already reached the entrance to the grand hall.
Yet quite a large number of people had gathered around the entrance.
A considerable number of nobles, men and women alike, were milling around the entrance.
“He's here!”
“He's really young.”
“He doesn't even look thirty.”
The nobles murmured at the sight of Jade and Stephen.
They thought they were whispering quietly enough, but Jade could hear every word.
-As expected, he's attracting a ton of attention!
-The women are looking at him like crazy, too.
Jade pretended not to hear, but the two spirits weren't pretending.
Since ordinary humans couldn't see them in the first place, they openly looked over and chatted about the nobles around them.
“Let's go in.”
“Yes.”
Jade answered as he gently stroked Whid's back.
He was soothing Whid because the creature seemed to be reacting sensitively to the various emotions emanating from so many people.
He was still a cub, after all, and had little patience.
“Have you arrived?”
“It's been a while, Viscount Aus.”
Receiving the gazes of almost everyone, Jade and Stephen entered the grand hall and headed straight to one place.
They approached Viscount Aus Moulton, Viscount Visius, Viscount Andrea, and Baron Tabben.
“If it weren't for the Gold Drake, I might not have recognized you! Hahaha!”
“You look like a completely different man.”
“Thank you.”
Most of them were old enough to be his father, but not one dared treat Jade carelessly.
Though he was a commoner and much younger, Jade was a high-ranking spirit mage capable of contending even with a Master.
Not only was he no ordinary spirit mage, but a spirit swordsman whose swordsmanship was so exceptional that one might mistake him for a peak Sword Expert, so all four treated him with due courtesy.
Regardless of status or age, someone as skilled as Jade deserved this level of treatment.
“How is the atmosphere?”
“Well, it's one round of probing after another. Lots of people are trying to sound me out, too. Just as we expected.”
“I see.”
“Actually, people seem more interested in Lord Jade than in us.”
Aus gave Stephen a sidelong glance before looking at Jade.
Everyone was subtly trying to ask about Jade.
Even though they had surely already investigated him as thoroughly as possible.
“That's only natural. Isn't he the second star of today's title conferment ceremony?”
“Exactly.”
“Of course, the four of you are stars as well.”
“Saying that after the fact doesn't help.”
“Come on, you all know that's true.”
The four men chuckled at Stephen's unabashed reply.
Though he talked like that, Stephen was impossible to dislike.
“His Highness the Crown Prince and Her Highness the Princess are entering!”
The bustling grand hall fell silent in an instant as soft music played.
The nobles' faction—the largest faction—was no exception.
The nobles who had been sneaking glances at Jade, though not openly staring, all turned to look at the entrance.
Soon, Lloyd, Rainy, and Haines appeared, dressed in splendid formal attire unlike their usual clothes.
“Hasn't she grown more beautiful?”
“It does seem so.”
“They say she's receiving an incredible number of marriage proposals.”
“I suppose she would.”
Though Stephen's response was indifferent, he wasn't disappointed.
He had known from the beginning that it wouldn't be easy.
That was why he had even devised a tailored strategy.
“Baron Tabben, step forward.”
“Yes, Your Highness.”
While Stephen was lost in fantasies of his own, the title conferment ceremony began.
Lloyd called for Baron Tabben with an unusually dignified expression.
Then Lloyd recited all his achievements one by one.
Despite the considerable amount he must have memorized, Lloyd continued without the slightest awkwardness.
‘He's really grown.’
Seeing his growth with his own eyes gave Jade a strange feeling.
Seeing the once awkward and shy Crown Prince grow into someone who looked the part somehow filled Jade with pride.
Of course, Lloyd's own efforts mattered most, but Jade thought he might have contributed a little as well.
“Jade.”
“Yes.”
After Baron Tabben, Viscount Visius, Viscount Andrea, Viscount Aus, and Stephen, it was finally Jade's turn.
Yet the atmosphere in the grand hall changed in an instant when his turn came.
Strange gazes settled on Jade.
“From the Great Forest…….”
But neither Jade nor Lloyd paid the slightest attention to it.
No matter how much they stared, the nobles were not the stars of the ceremony.
Therefore, even though Lloyd sensed the changed atmosphere, he recited Jade's achievements without reacting.
“……and therefore, I bestow upon Jade the surname Kang and the rank of marquis.”
“Thank you, Your Highness.”
Clap, clap, clap, clap!
Jade had barely answered from his kneeling position when thunderous applause erupted.
The sound far surpassed the applause when the previous five had been promoted.
“Huh?”
Even Lloyd, who had maintained his composure until then, was startled by the sheer difference in the applause.
It was that tremendous.
“Lady Arrelia.”
Having identified where the applause came from, Jade let out a disbelieving chuckle.
With Arrelia at their head, three hundred war elves were clapping enthusiastically.
The applause was filled with such genuine feeling that Jade gave a small bow.
Whid, who had been sitting quietly beside him, was excitedly clapping along.
-Congratulations, Marquis Jade! And I'll come see you soon!
At that moment, Arrelia's voice reached Jade's ears.
She had conveyed the message to him through a sylph.
“Ahem! Lastly, Haines.”
“Yes, Your Highness.”
After offering a brief greeting, the war elves departed, and at last it was time for the final person.
It was the turn of the old knight who had stood by the two siblings from beginning to end.
Perhaps because of that, the atmosphere changed once again.
Everyone paid their respects to the knight who had remained loyal, ready to face death.
“Congratulations, Marquis Jade.”
“I should be the one congratulating you, Baron Stephen.”
“Heh heh heh!”
Stephen beamed.
Among the five noble ranks—duke, marquis, count, viscount, and baron—he held the lowest, but he was a noble nonetheless.
And it was hereditary rather than a single-generation title, so Stephen grinned like an idiot.
“Are you really that happy?”
“Yes. Even when I became a court mage, I thought my life had been fairly successful. But now I've become a noble too. This whole situation feels like a dream.”
“Like Marquis Haines, you protected the two of them to the very end. You deserve this title, Lord Stephen.”
“I intend to serve the two of them until the day I die. Truly, truly.”
Stephen's gaze changed.
As though he had never been grinning foolishly, he seized Jade's arm with a resolute expression.
Because Jade was holding Whid, Stephen grabbed his arm instead of his hand.
“I intend to repay you too, Marquis.”
“You don't have to.”
“No, I must. If it weren't for you, I wouldn't be alive today either. You're my benefactor as well. If you ever need anything, just say the word. I'll come running, no matter when or where!”
“Ah, yes.”
Jade smiled awkwardly at Stephen's excessive excitement.
Meanwhile, Haines's title conferment concluded, and soft music began playing in the grand hall again.
The title conferment ceremony was followed immediately by the banquet.
Step, step.
With the court mages gathered around Stephen to congratulate him, Jade naturally slipped away and quietly moved to a secluded spot.
He wanted to catch his breath after being hounded by Stephen.
But someone approached him.
A middle-aged man spoke to him, as though he had been waiting for Jade to be alone.
“Congratulations on becoming a marquis.”
“……Duke Caesars.”