Chapter 11.1- Banquet (1)
After discussing things with Gesteine, Raymond and the tower Master walked toward the meeting room.
Two imperial knights tried to catch up, but they stopped them by raising their hands.
The Imperial knights did not insist for a close escort, perhaps because the blue tower master, who is at the level of a Great wizard, was near them.
They arrived at the meeting room. Lisefield was the first to set up a mana barrier in order to stop the conversation from leaking out.
At this time, Raymond thought magic was really convenient.
"Are you going to recruit them all into the Shadow Squad?”
His voice was quite serious. When he confirmed his assumption by nodding his head instead of answering, the face of the tower Master stiffened.
"I don't know if you'll accept Sir Gestein, but if you put all of the survivors of the Knights of the Frosted Shield in Guard, the Duke of the High Mountains won't stand still."
Duke of the High Mountains is the nickname of the previous Lord of Gesteine, also a high-ranking knight, who abandoned the Frost Shield Knights.
Lisefield's comments made sense, but Raymond knew what was going to happen so he was relaxed.
"The Duke will not care about this."
"Is there any reason for you to be sure?"
Seeing that his expression was stiff, Raymond thought he needed to explain it to him a little bit.
"There will be a stir in the north in the near future. The Duke will head to the northern border, focusing solely on that.”
The setting of the "The Fallen Empire" novel would soon lead to the Heifel Empire's border provocation, and the Northern areas would be noisy for some time.
"The Duke can't afford to care about anything else."
Although he is a Duke of the Pilias Empire, the north, where the Heifel Empire border, is a far greater threat.
"I see."
Lisefield did not ask for the source of the information.
Raymond wouldn't answer him honestly even if he asked questions anyway.
And a few days have passed. A lot has changed in the meantime.
Survivors of the Knights of Frosted Shield, which had been verified, were organized into the Shadow Squad.
Some of the Imperial knights returned to the palace and the Shadow Squad filled their places instead.
The list of Imperial knights sent back to the imperial palace was compiled by Alex, he mainly returned those who appeared to be close to the Third Prince based on statements from Gesteine and the Shadow Squad knights.
For Raymond, this was a delightful change as the Third Prince's hands and feet on him were taken down.
"Fifth Prince, we have a banquet today."
Alex came and reported as soon as he woke up at dawn and returned from the tower.
It's already the day of the feast to celebrate the great war victory, so he laughed and finished changing in the bedroom thinking that time went by so quickly.
"The carriage is waiting."
"What about the Master of the Blue tower?"
Raymond asked Alex.
"He's officially invited to the banquet, so he's coming on a different route."
There was a separate door for those who are formally invited to the banquet, not the attendants.
"Then I'll leave the escort to the Shadow Squad.”
"We will escort you safely, Your Highness the Fifth."
Before he knew it, Gesteine raised his voice. Behind him, ten knights were armed with light weapons.
Ten people remained in the Fifth Prince’s palace and the other half followed him.
"Good for you."
"I don't want you to forget me.”
A blonde beauty, wearing a blue robe, appeared behind the carriage.
She held the robe slightly and lifted it up.
"Desia Helly, an Superior-level wizard of the tower. Will join the Fifth Prince's Shadow Squad."
‘High-Ranking wizards, high-ranking knights, and ten finest knights who defended the northern border from the Heifel Empire……. They are too good to escort a scoundrel.’
But it doesn't really matter. Starting today, the stigma of a scoundrel will disappear.
It is said to be falling, but it is a feast to commemorate the Empire's victory in the Great War was Big.
Even after the infiltration that happened inside the Imperial Palace, the banquet began splendidly because the purpose was to announce that the Empire was alive and well.
In addition, a large number of guards were deployed around the banquet hall to prevent the recurrence of unsavory events such as the attack on the Imperial palace.
The nobles, who entered before the emperor and the imperial family, gathered with their own factions or had a chat with each other.
The topics among the nobility were different, but the story of the Fifth Prince was the most talked about.
"I heard he has changed a lot lately.”
"Yes, he's cutting away his drinking and focusing on his mana training."
"Thank God, this is really an Imperial family celebration."