WeTried Translations
Translator: Hydrogen B
Editor: Hydrogen B
Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried
Chapter 171: The Red Banquet (10)
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Grand Duke Rivelius, with an unknown man standing a step behind him.
The appearance of the two men at the very end filled the once-quiet banquet hall with whispers once more.
“The Grand Duke... still cuts an imposing figure.”
“I heard he intends to stand with His Majesty Armand at this Grand Assembly?”
“We can’t be certain. Who knows? The Grand Duke may actually be conspiring with the Emperor.”
“More importantly, who is that man behind him? I don’t recognize him.”
“Isn’t he a knight accompanying him as an escort?”
There were nobles from all across the Federation with no ties to central politics, as well as houses that had deliberately declared themselves neutral to avoid getting caught in the crossfire. They exchanged their opinions as quietly as possible.
With the war against the Empire still unresolved, the stance of a Grand Duke who sat on the Council mattered greatly.
The Federation’s kings were no exception.
Philip stared openly at the two men. His gaze initially settled on the Grand Duke, but not for long. Instead, it was instinctively drawn to the man standing behind him.
The man looked back at him without avoiding his gaze.
Philip could be certain.
Black hair. Black eyes. A tall, striking frame. Even that indifferent expression, which revealed not a trace of emotion.
It was him.
The bastard who had not only rejected my proposal, but had also killed every trusted subordinate I had sent to deal with the aftermath in an early evening alley, leaving no trace behind.
For a brief moment, their gazes collided violently.
The man wore neither the sword at his waist nor the black cloak draped over his shoulders, yet he still had the same audacious expression as before. Just like the day he had fearlessly appeared before Philip.
“Is that him?”
“...Yes.”
Sebastian, the King of Selaine standing beside him, asked. Without turning his head, Philip replied in a low voice.
The story that Philip had tried to win over one of the Grand Duke’s knights, only to be humiliated in return, had already spread openly among the moderate nobles.
It was deeply shameful, but he could not hide it. Given the times, they needed to remain wary and prepare for what lay ahead.
Pride would not save anyone’s life.
If that man had dealt with Philip’s trusted subordinates alone and cleaned up the area without leaving a trace, he was an extraordinary expert. Otherwise, other allies must have been waiting nearby.
Either way, there was a high chance he would attend today’s banquet.
Philip’s prediction had been correct.
One of them would die today.
Only one would survive.
“...”
Kyle, standing behind the Grand Duke, did not say a word.
After calmly brushing aside Philip’s piercing gaze, he followed the Grand Duke toward the center of the banquet hall.
There are a lot of people here. I expected it from the moment we entered the palace.
Renavik, Calorf’s capital and the Federation’s greatest city.
The grand banquet hall within its royal palace was easily the largest Kyle had ever seen. The number of people inside was no less impressive. At a glance, there were hundreds.
They were not all ordinary nobles, either.
Knights from the royal knight orders of each Federation nation.
Mages from the Magic Towers.
An Archbishop and high-ranking priests from the Renavik Archdiocese.
And Godfrey, Commander of the Chevaliers, the Council’s knight order, and the Federation’s foremost knight.
“It has been a long time, Grand Duke. Have you been well?”
Adrian stopped before the group of hardline nobles. Godfrey, who had been watching them from the start, greeted him first.
Although he had met Adrian in secret before, he behaved as if this were their first meeting in Renavik.
Many eyes still lingered on them, though they were not as blatant as when Adrian had first entered. Not only the nobles observing from the sidelines, but even the moderate nobles stole glances in their direction while pretending otherwise.
Adrian replied naturally without changing his expression.
“Yes. Thanks to you.”
“Ha ha. Your Grace is not very good at lying. You may say that, but I know you resent us in your heart. Is it not true that the Chevaliers failed to respond properly to the Empire’s invasion?”
“No. This was something that could not be helped. If we must assign blame, it belongs to all of us. Is that not right, Your Majesty Armand?”
“That is true. Sir Godfrey can be strangely stubborn at times.”
“Hmph.”
“It has been five years. Have you been well, Adrian?”
The King of the Kingdom of Valone, a fellow member of the Council alongside Adrian, readily extended his hand.
Adrian took it without hesitation. Armand’s informal manner of address alone showed how close they were.
“I am glad to see that Your Majesty Armand has been well too. And Your Majesty Albert as well.”
“I am glad to see you looking well too, Grand Duke. Is Gilbert well?”
Albert, the King of Rustin, offered a formal greeting.
Adrian answered with a slight nod.
After that, Adrian exchanged greetings with the leading hardline nobles one after another. On the surface, the atmosphere appeared warm, but Kyle knew the truth.
It was all an act.
They had already met once before entering the banquet hall.
“And who might this be...?”
The greetings filled with empty pleasantries were still continuing when one of the broad-built hardline nobles gestured toward Kyle while looking at Adrian.
“Ah, my apologies for the late introduction.”
Only then did Adrian speak in an exaggerated voice.
“This is Kane Abello, my escort knight.”
“Ah, Sir Kane.”
“Yes. He is an Imperial nobleman in exile. House Abello has now vanished, but it was once an old and distinguished family. Whatever else may be said, he is a knight of unquestionable skill and honor. You may trust him.”
“I see. I have never heard of House Abello, but since Your Grace vouches for him, it must certainly have been a noble house of fine lineage. The reason it vanished was...”
“Sadly.”
“Ah.”
The noble who had asked the question looked at Kyle with pity.
Those who had defected from the Empire to the Federation all had the same reason.
They were people whose houses had been destroyed, or nearly wiped out, after resisting the increasingly tyrannical Emperor. They had sought the protection of the Grand Duke, a member of the Federation Council.
That was how the Grand Duke’s principal power base had been formed.
If Kyle were one of them, it would not be strange for him to accompany the Grand Duke.
“My apologies. That was rude of me.”
“It is all right. I do not mind. It is all in the past.”
The broad-built noble bowed his head with a guilty expression.
Kyle accepted the apology with a small shake of his head, though inwardly, the corner of his lips rose in a mocking smile.
It feels like I’m watching a play.
The noble bowing before him had perfectly acted the proper emotions on the surface, but the occasional glances he cast at Kyle could not deceive him.
The others were the same.
Everyone gathered here was the head of one of the greatest houses in Valone or Rustin. There was no way they did not know Kyle’s identity.
The final Commander of the now-disbanded Knights of Ash.
Though Hailen had fallen, its name had not been erased entirely. Four years had passed, but the world still remembered Hailen.
The nobles who showed subtle curiosity toward him, the kings of Valone and Rustin, and even Godfrey, the Commander of the Chevaliers, were no exception.
“His Majesty King Felbric Chergar, sovereign of Calorf and Chairman of the Federation Council, enters!”
At that moment, the doors opened, and an old man entered the banquet hall.
At the appearance of the Chairman, who had arrived last, everyone offered their respects as if on cue.
Accompanied by two knights, the old man quickly crossed the banquet hall. The sound of his footsteps and the clinking scrape of armor rang clearly through the quiet hall.
Felbric Chergar, Chairman of the Council, soon stood atop the platform at the far end of the room.
After sweeping his gaze across the hall once, he opened his tightly shut lips.
* * *
Felbric Chergar’s address was not long.
As soon as he finished speaking, he stepped down from the platform.
That marked the beginning of the banquet in earnest.
“This was much shorter than usual.”
“Given the circumstances, was there any other choice? The war may have entered a lull, but there is no ceasefire.”
By the time all the distinguished guests invited to the banquet had gathered, evening had already fallen. The deep-blue night sky filled the wide windows, while the contrasting glow of the magnificent chandeliers brightly lit the interior.
“I heard many knights died.”
“Don’t even mention it. I heard a large number of Chevaliers stationed at the front could not even be found among the bodies.”
“My goodness.”
“I heard through the grapevine that the eldest son of House Carbo was killed by a wyvern knight.”
“Really?”
“Yes, really. Their only son vanished overnight. It has been devastating for them. Their family has always had a tradition of sending its heirs to join the Chevaliers, you know. He had just completed his tenth year and was preparing to return to the family.”
“What a tragedy. It doesn’t feel like someone else’s problem.”
“The truth is, I also...”
Voices could be heard everywhere.
The banquet hall, filled with hundreds of distinguished guests, was packed with groups gathered together. Normally, they would have been exchanging meaningless small talk and building connections.
As a union of five kingdoms, the people of the Federation rarely had the chance to meet one another except at the grand banquet held every five years.
“What will become of the Federation...?”
Things were different now.
Worried sighs echoed throughout the hall. Not even the gentle violin melodies drifting between the guests or the sweet notes of the wind instruments could lift the mood.
Kyle slipped away from the hardline nobles for a moment and sampled the food laid out on the tables. At the same time, he calmly surveyed his surroundings.
So this is where they weed out the moderates collaborating with the Empire.
“Are you tired?”
At the familiar voice in his ear, Kyle turned to the side.
Adrian had somehow slipped away from the hardline nobles and was approaching him with a glass in one hand.
“No.”
“Is that so?”
“I was only looking around. Though...”
“Though?”
Adrian narrowed his eyes.
Kyle lightly tapped the table in front of him with a finger. A soundproof barrier spread out, and the surrounding noise stopped in an instant.
“How many Imperial spies are in Renavik?”
Adrian frowned at Kyle’s unexpected question. It only lasted a moment before he answered.
“I do not know the exact number, but there should not be many. Did your knight order not capture a considerable number of them?”
“Are there spies within the church as well?”
“What?”
“Over there. The priests in that corner. Many of them are paladins in disguise.”
“What are you...”
“As far as I know, the Archbishop of the Renavik Archdiocese is neutral. Is that not the case?”
The Archbishop of Archandia, the Empire’s capital, had conspired with the Emperor to create Izra’s Thorn, which had been forbidden by the Sacred Treaty.
It would not have been strange if the Archbishop of the Renavik Archdiocese had been bought by the Empire as well.
No one else had noticed, but Kyle, whose instincts were especially sharp, sensed the peculiar unease unique to those who wielded swords from the priests over there.
It was an extremely faint sense of wrongness, one he would not have noticed in the past.
Prisia’s mana had heightened Kyle’s already sensitive senses even further.
He could not simply let it pass.
“The head of the Renavik Archdiocese...”
Adrian muttered with a troubled expression.
Kyle added quietly, “I may be mistaken.”
“No. You may not be. I will look into it.”
“Then I will step outside for a moment.”
“Where?”
“The terrace. These kinds of gatherings are not to my taste, so my head is a little dizzy.”
For a moment, Adrian and Kyle met eyes.
It was only a brief exchange of glances, but it was enough for them to understand each other’s intentions.
“Be careful.”
“Yes. You too.”
Kyle tapped the table again, dismissing the soundproof barrier.
After watching Adrian walk away first, Kyle headed out to the terrace.
Fortunately, there was no one on the terrace. The banquet had only just begun, which was likely why.
Kyle looked alternately through the glass wall at the banquet hall and the garden outside before leaning against the railing.
Despite it being early spring, the night wind still carried a sharp chill.
Kyle stared at the carefully tended garden before him and closed his eyes.
It doesn’t matter if the church of Renavik has been bought by the Empire.
I’ll cut down every threat that could stand in the way of the Empire’s destruction.
No matter who it is.
If Adrian gained control of the Council and rebuilt the North, there would be a real chance of standing against the Empire.
Imagining the future to come, Kyle slowly raised Prisia’s mana.
His senses spread deep into the vast royal palace. He could feel the forces stationed throughout it, as well as the familiar presences of his former comrades moving among them.
The Knights of Ash.
The eight surviving knights.
There was not much time left.
Kyle opened his eyes and looked down at his empty waist as he considered what would soon happen.
Their strength was sufficient.
Once Hermann and Walter arrived, it would begin in earnest.
If I save those who should be saved and kill those who should be killed...
“You were here.”
Kyle had been lost in thought when someone slowly stepped onto the otherwise empty terrace.
He turned around leisurely.
The knight he had seen earlier stopped before him.
Despite his age, he had a sturdy physique. Even without carrying a weapon, there was something extraordinary about the presence he gave off.
Yet his eyes as he looked at Kyle were impossibly complicated. They held interest, curiosity, pity, and guilt as Godfrey finally spoke.
“You are younger than I expected.”
“...”
“Kyle Baldrick. No... Blue Wolf.”
Footnotes:
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