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Translator: Lore_Temple
There are five human countries in the game ‘The Hero’s Party’.
The Kingdom of Alitia, famous for its nightlife and crime activities.
The Kingdom of Prona, famous for its wide granaries and peaceful environment.
The Kingdom of Carta, lined with upright knight families.
The Principality of Polycia where a princess called the Ice Witch exists.
And finally, the Empire which is called the heart of the continent.
The Empire, which is pretty much located at the center of the continent, is also the center of continental trade.
Thanks to which, it is the most developed among all the five countries, it has the most expansive territory, and its national power strong enough to be regularly checked upon by the other three kingdoms together.
Atleast the game settings were as such…
“It’s feels too different in actuality.”
The walls were white and the roofs red, the houses that you can only see back in the Renaissance period spread out widely. The brick-paved street was teeming with people like a market floor.
‘I did had the impression that there was a cultural gap with the other kingdoms in the game but… this is just on a whole different level altogether.’
If we were comparing the cultural level, now I wouldn’t be shocked even if the city guards were carrying around a medieval rifle along with them.
Of course, seeing them with swords around their waist, I knew that this wasn’t the case.
“Hero, what are you looking for? Let’s go.”
Ophelia prompted.
The other two, including her, seemed not to be much impressed by the Imperial Capital’s atmosphere.
Well, they’ve been here quite a few times, so I guess they are now used to it.
I walked after the three heroines.
As we crossed the crowded streets, heading toward the center of the city, the number of people gradually decreased.
Instead, there were a lot more of those well-armed guards patrolling around, and the surrounding buildings also began to look more antique than anything I had seen before.
‘Is it a rich neighborhood perhaps?’
As we were about to enter the antique-styled street, a young guard blocked us.
“Wait, who are you guys? I have never seen your faces before. Those whose identity is not evident cannot enter this place.”
“We are…”
“You moron!”
Before Neria could finish speaking, a thick fist slammed onto the head of the guard blocking us.
The guard who had been hit turned around with a sharp expression on his face, but seeing the person who had hit him, he quickly saluted in surprise.
“Good morning, Captain of the Guards! What are you doing here, sir?”
However, the figure of the Captain of the Guards bowed his head towards us, not paying attention to the young guard.
“The Hero and his companions. Long time no see.”
“It’s been a while, Hex. How are your children?”
“Ha ha, the hairs of those brats have grown bigger these days, other than that nothing much. But thanks to their mischiefs, my brain always remain in trouble, haha.”
“Ha ha, all children are like that. And that’s also what’s cute about them.”
“Yes. Oh, I’m sorry about this fellow. He just joined not long ago, so he still doesn’t know about many things.”
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“Even if you don’t know much. A imperial banquet is being held at the Imperial Palace today, shouldn’t the guards be minimally aware of the Hero and his party members?”
“Indeed a wise word from you, lady Eri. I’ll definitely educate this guy later, ‘properly’!”
The young guard’s complexion turned pale blue on the word ‘educate’.
It seemed to be a very strict hierarchical relationship.
He must have been terrified at the thought of being nicely kneaded up after we left.
‘There was a time like that too.’
Before I was summoned to this another world, I had been called and trained in ‘hell’, I put in quite a lot of effort in order to appear good in the eyes of the army instructor.
That didn’t change the cursed training intensity though.
“Are you going without a carriage? Would you like me to arrange a carriage right now?”
“We just came here after a really long time, so we wanted to take a look around. Don’t worry about it and do what you have to do.”
“Yes, then… goodbye.”
The Captain of the Guards bowed his head once again and withdrew.
—Not forgetting with a devilish face to drag the poor young guard who had stopped us earlier.
We walked down those antique streets and headed to the Imperial Palace.
* * *
The Imperial Social Banquet is one of the most important events for the nobility.
It is the sole opportunity for the nobility of lower ranks to catch the eyes of the nobles of the high ranks, and meanwhile the high ranking aristocrats can certain their allies and in process secure the safety of their territories.
In that sense, the Imperial Social Banquet held in the Imperial Capital is nothing short of a ideal dream place for the nobles.
Not only the five pillars of the Empire, The Five Dukes—but one may also get the chance to meet His Majesty the Emperor himself!
As such, the number of people who are allowed to participate in the Imperial Social Banquet is extremely limited.
High-ranking nobles of the empire, the highly reputable people around the continent, and the royal family of the different Kingdoms—these people make up the composition.
Even the nobles of the other Kingdoms hardly get a chance to attend.
So, there were really few people from the commoner background in such a place—
—The Hero Gis and Hero Cloud. And a few party members of their party.
For the nobles, these muddy bloodlines that should not be even allowed to look at them by nature—were eating, drinking and laughing in the same place as them.
It was naturally completely unacceptable for these high nosed nobles, but… What could they do?
A Hero is chosen by the Holy Sword, the Holy Sword which was crafted by the one and only Supreme Divine, Goddess Iris herself.
The choice of the Holy Sword is the Heaven’s Will itself, and they, the mere mortals, can’t and couldn’t resist.
However, they still could not erase the unpleasant feeling that came from deep inside their heart, that unpleasant feeling which is always directed at the weak.
And the weakest among the commoners participating in this banquet was, Cloud.
“You eat like a savage. Hoho, after all, low bloods cannot change their barbaric ways.”
A young man in a neat suit clicked his tongue. Too loud to be a murmur and too indistinct to be a direct talk. But it was clearly meant to be heard.
The woman next to the young man responded.
“That’s what I was saying. Really, as long as the source is muddy, river cannot be clean.”
Cloud is very handsome. Though he looks skinny and a little frail, but if you focus on his looks alone, there are only a handful few on the whole continent who can compare to him.
However, for women, more for women of nobility, a man’s appearance was not everything.
Origin, character, ability and wealth.
Everything has to be weighed on the scale.
And Cloud had nothing to offer except for his handsome appearance and the trait of being a Hero.
He came from a humble origin, his personality was indecisive, and his abilities as a Hero were a little lack… no, he actually lacked quite a lot in that area as well.
Even though there is a Hero named Gis who comes from the slums of the Kingdom of Alitia here, the target of the nobles’ gossip was only directed on Cloud.
Why?
Because, Gis is strong and Cloud is weak.
Gis has notable achievements, while Cloud doesn’t.
Some even say that the three Heroes can defeat the Demon King even without Cloud’s participation.
“These people…!”
Next to Cloud, Neria bit her lips. Her fists under the table were trembling with force.
It was an insult that they had already experienced a few many times before.
Still, she just couldn’t get used to it. She felt like banging their heads bloody on the floor right away, but she had to put up with it.
Because, she is a commoner as well.
And whatever she does, will all be placed on Cloud’s head.
“Oh my dear, isn’t that low-key bitch looking at us? While covering herself in that pathetic thing which is given a dress’s name? She still dares to present herself in that pathetic excuse of an outfit, huhu.”
This was a woman’s filthy jealous nature.
The first thing a fellow human sees in a person is their appearance.
Even if one covers oneself with a glorious shield with the stamp of nobility, as the possessors of noble blood, they are still humans in the end.
It was natural for a woman to like a handsome man, similarly, it was also perfectly natural to be jealous of the beautiful woman sitting next to him.
And the more superior you are to your dissenter, the easier it is to turn that jealousy into action.
However, it could be said that her timing was not good this chance.
“Oh, my dear. Isn’t it bad manners to insult others so openly? If you did that in our kingdom, you never know when you will be killed.”
A handsome man with blonde hair and bronze skin naturally placed his arm on the woman’s shoulder. She was startled and tried to shake off that arm, but when she found who it extended from, she was left frozen.