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Chapter 66 - Delegation Representative (2)
Before meeting the King of Cyronian, Ruel and his party had time to change clothes and dress up.
“Our Majesty is so broad-minded that you can make a cough, so it’s alright if you can’t hold it. He knows you’re sick and he knows that he pushed you to attend.”
The King of Cyronian was young.
He had no children as of yet, so he treated Ganien as if he were an older brother.
Anyway that’s how the novel explained the relationship between the two.
This fact did not seem to have changed.
As long as he went along with proper etiquette it would be more than sufficient. Ganien spoke repeatedly.
“Do you have any pain?”
“There is a slight fever, but nothing to worry about.”
Cassion suggested taking painkillers in advance in front of the King and his ministers in case his condition would decline.
—Everything sparkles. There’s something shiny about this body too!
Leo was busy looking around holding the necklace that Jirie gave him with his short legs.
Aris was the only one who was meek and quiet.
Studying him, it seemed that he was holding back what he wanted to say, not necessarily being quiet.
“Is there anything you want to say?”
“Yes!”
Aris recognized that his voice was too loud and hurriedly lowered his volume.
“You can do it well. Don’t be nervous and relax.”
“Yes.”
Aris was more nervous than himself.
His face turned pale.
“Well, we’ll be waiting.”
Cassion and Aris stopped before the door.
They couldn’t go beyond this.
Ruel smiled and went inside with Ganien.
“The Blue Knights Commander, Sir Ganien Croft, escorting Lord Ruel Setiria, who has come from Leponia as their delegation’s representative. Welcome!”
Following the powerful words of the servant, various nobles in the hall and the King sitting in the center focused their attention on Ruel.
Ttak.
The sound of a cane rang first.
The nobles who stood according to their titles looked at Ruel’s attire and spoke in hushed tones of the Noble of Darkness.
‘
Damn it.’
Ruel usually prefered dark colors.
Ruel in the novel also wore dark clothes, so the clothes he brought with him without much meaning were now scrutinized by today’s eyes.
Worried the nobles would put the ‘Noble of Darkness’ nickname in their mouths, Ruel chose the brightest outfit out of his clothes, but it still turned out like this.
‘When I go back to Setiria, I will change everything to white so you can’t talk about ‘Noble of Darkness’ anymore. Certainly.’
Although his stomach began to burn, Ruel walked confidently with a slight smile.
When Ruel was about to bow to the King, the King spoke.
“You don’t have to be polite. Sir Croft, you’re fine, as well.”
“Thank you for your consideration, Your Majesty. My name is Ruel Setiria.”
Ruel, who only bowed his head, looked at the King.
Ruel was one of only six heads of state in Leponia.
There was nothing to lose with slight disrespect.
“You’ve had a hard time getting here, Lord Setiria. First of all, I’d like to thank you from the bottom of my heart for saving the town.”
“I’m flattered. I just did what I had to do as a fellow human being.”
Oh oh. Cheers sprouted across the place.
How can you be so humble, after saving a village in another country.
“Cough, cough.”
Ruel couldn’t resist coughing.
At the same time, he endured the chest pain and concentrated on the King.
“Are you okay?” asked the King, genuinely concerned.
It was a slight cough. It isn’t very deep?
“The Lord of Setiria has been unconscious for two days, and has just woken up today, Your Majesty.”
“Ah
”
The King sighed at Ganien’s words.
He opened his mouth to Ruel rather than resent Ganien for not telling him about it.
“I’m going to end this for today, let’s discuss this issue after the lord’s body is recovered.”
“Your Highness, I’m here on behalf of my country. My country comes before my body’s health to carry out my mission.”
Ruel turned down the King’s consideration and handed the King a luxurious envelope he had kept in his arms.
“This is a personal letter from the King of Leponia.”
When the King received the envelope, Ruel tensed his shoulders.
“I will take this opportunity to clearly state the will of our Leponia.”
The silence was so stifling that you could clearly hear the sound of the crowd swallowing their saliva.
Just because the delegation came, it could not be assured that they would form the alliance unconditionally.
Ruel was astonished to see the result of the King of Leponia’s choice.
“I accept the alliance.”
As his relationship with Ganien changed, the storyline was heading in a completely different direction from the novel.
The fact was uncomfortable, but Ruel was satisfied that the risk of war had been lowered.
The King smiled broadly.
He looked like he wanted to shout for a banquet right away.
“I will take it seriously, thank you for the good news.”
“Personally, I am also very happy to have a good relationship with the Kingdom of Cyronian.”
Ruel looked around the moment he bowed his head.
The reaction of the nobles was mixed.
More than half were happy, but the rest made a meaningful or hardened expression.
The King rose from his seat.
Since Leponia has announced the will for an alliance, staying longer would only be a waste of time.
“Today, treat Lord Setiria, a distinguished guest who has come a long way, with the utmost respect.”
When the word VIP was mentioned, the eyes of the nobles quickly turned into greed.
The King was the first to leave the hall after giving the order.
Ruel inhaled the Breath.
It was a relief that it ended much earlier than expected.
However, while he was considering whether he could rest now, the nobles approached wearing the mask of polite, conversational laughter.
‘It’s annoying just to look at it.’
Ruel closed his eyes tightly and stumbled.
At times like this, pretending to be sick was the best escape.
—Ruel, are you sick again? It’s weird. The dirty stuff is the same.
Ganien hurriedly supported Ruel and showed his momentum.
“You’d better postpone introductions until next time, Lord Setiria is not feeling well.”
Despite the silent pressure not to approach, some of the nobles calmly handed out suggestions.
“Then when you feel better, please visit our County Tyreno.”
“In the future, our Marquis of Neien
”
“Later, we’ll
”
Ruel really felt dizzy because of a series of distinguished family names and proud introductions.
—Well, it’s very noisy. This body has short legs and can’t cover its ears.
‘There are so many aristocrats.’
I already missed Leponia, which has only six noble families.
“Stop it. Isn’t this disrespectful?”
The nobles, who stuck to Ruel with unwieldy voices, turned their eyes to where the voice came from.
From the door came a white-haired man.
He had a built physique not befitting of someone his age, and when his eyes rested on him Ganien’s face quickly hardened.
And suddenly, he straightened, appearing disciplined saluting the man.
“Excuse me, Lord Ruel Setiria. My name is Sien Lupiros.”
‘When you say Sien Lupiros, you mean
Ganien’s teacher, right?’
As well as being a Duke, he was also a General of Cyronian.
Ruel waited to greet him warmly.
Because it was his first time seeing him in person.
‘You look like this.’
One of his favorite characters was Sien.
Ruel glanced at Ganien.
As expected, he was trembling with fear.
His fault seemed to be known.
“I couldn’t attend this meeting due to an urgent matter, so I briefly came to see the face of a precious guest from afar, but witnessed the Lord suffering such disrespect.”
Meeting Sien’s eyes, the nobles trembled like rabbits standing in front of a tiger and quickly greeted him before disappearing.
“I apologize in their stead.”
Sien lowered his head lightly.
Then he called Ganien.
“Ganien.”
“Yes, yes!”
“Lord Setiria looks very tired. What are your two legs for?”
“I, I was about to go!”
“Lord Setiria, I heard that you came here despite your illness because of my disciple. I apologize for being a poor teacher.”
“Cough, cough.”
Ruel made eye contact with Sien after coughing.
The corners of Sien’s mouth slightly went up.
Due to his fierce impression, few people could make eye contact with him.
Ganien had many close friends.
However, this is the first time for a friend to be so often talked about, so Sien was always curious.
He looked as sick as he had heard.
However, he could see rigidity in Ruel’s straight eyes.
“No, I was just wondering what kind of country my close friend lives in, and now I have such a good opportunity, so how can I not catch it?”
“Thank you for saying so. I want to take a long time to talk to you, but it would be rude to continue like this.”
Sien looked at Ganien and nodded toward the door.
“I’ll see you later.”
Ruel promised Sien to meet him next time, supported by Ganien.
“Yes, I’ll wait for that day.”
When he received a definite answer, Ruel thought about which bridge to build with the Duke.
There was nothing bad about being close.
***
It’s already been a day since he came to Cyronian.
After meeting the king, he took a nap to catch his breath for a while, and slept until morning.
Purification seemed to be more of a burden on the body than he thought.
“How long does it take from here to the Ice Castle?”
Ruel was changing his clothes for the parade.
Cassion’s hand stopped.
He thought carefully because he knew very well that Ruel would not bring it up for no reason.
“Do you know where the Ice Castle is?”
“You know, it’s a very unusual place.”
There was a place called ‘Ice Castle’ near the Cyronian Kingdom.
It was built on the highest mountain and was always snowy and cold, and unlike the neutral zone agreed on by the three major countries, it was formed independently.
“It’s not a country, it’s not a village, it’s a strange place maintained only by strange rules.”
The rules were simple.
You are free to enter the Ice Castle, but you must fight with the residents of the Ice Castle.
If you win a fight with a resident of the Ice Castle, you can own the resident, and if you lose, you must become a resident of Ice Castle and obey the person who won.
No one knew why such rules existed or when the Ice Castle formed there.
“Are you going to visit there?”
Cassion moved his hand again, attaching decorations to his clothes.
“It’s a very attractive place, we’ve come all the way to Cyronian, shouldn’t we go see it?”
“Did you forget the rules? Wealth and status have no sway there, there’s no way you don’t know why people avoid it.”
Ruel knew it very well.
There was no stupid King who would go to war for a barren land with nothing to gain.
There was a time when one of the stupider aristocrats challenged the ice castle to grow his prestige.
He was defeated.
According to the rules, he had to become a resident of Ice Castle, but he refused to do so and died.
His family was angry and headed there with the determination to wipe out the barbarians.
However, they were unprepared for the harsh cold and had to come back down, then they requested the royal family to wipe out the barbarians, but was refused.
A worthless piece of land.
A war that is not worth winning.
“So you can’t win?”
Ruel raised his lips provocatively.
At least in his own eyes, the land looked different.
In short, isn’t it the land of money that only needs to be won?
“No way.”
When Cassion said he was confident, Ruel calmly asked what he had to do for the event.
“What should I do during the parade?”
“The speech was canceled, so you can just smile and wave.”
“I’m tired just listening to the schedule.”
Ruel sighed deeply.
“But do you have any other colors? A brighter color?”
“It’s the brightest color you have.”
“This?”
Looking at himself through the mirror, he was in an outfit that would remind anyone of the absence of light.
Chomp. Chomp.
He glanced at Leo at the sound of non-stop snacking.
He had received a lot of snacks this morning because there were rumors he was raising a fox.
‘You’ve grown a bit.’
Leo was not a fox but a spirit, so even though his body grew bigger, he was still light.
—Do you want to eat, Ruel? If it’s Ruel, I can give it to you.
Leo, who had been eating non-stop, finally raised his head.
Cassion’s subtle pressure appeared.
He honestly wanted to eat.
But he didn’t have the confidence to eat without spilling.
The uniform had a long process to put on and he didn’t want to go through it again.
“No, enjoy yourself.”
At Ruel’s answer, Cassion breathed a sigh of relief.
“One meat pie, please.”
“
?”
“Come to think of it, you don’t have to take off your uniform, do you?”
Cassion’s sigh was heard very deeply.