Kapitel 45: Banquet [1]

[Sophie's Pov]

"But... Can't you at least try?"

"Haaa... fine... I'll send him a text, but that's it, okay?"

The golden-haired princess was currently behaving opposite of how what was expected of royalty, currently pouting and nagging me to try and get James to join us at the banquet. Just like with Anna, it was hard to understand just how different Sarah could act as she started to get comfortable with us.

Granted, it was I who had told her to act more relaxed and friendly, but that didn't change the fact that her stupid interest in James was pretty annoying. Then again, who am I to talk? I fell in love with a virtual character in a game... Also, I was pretty sure that she wasn't actually 'in love' with the goblin, at most, it was more akin to youthful curiosity, the product of her wondering about his 'mysterious' ways.

It was hard to get used to just how different the domestic population viewed things in this world. In my eyes, it was clear that he was just a pitiful man suffering from some kind of social anxiety, but in their eyes, he was a dutiful young man who never slacked off, not even making the time to come to the banquet.

I couldn't say that he didn't spend all his time training, because he probably did. Otherwise, there was no way that he would have already learned how to manipulate his element unless he had some kind of awakening like I had. Yes, during my match with Sebastian I had awakened the fire element inside of me, making my stomach always feel a bit warmer than usual.

However, even James must be resting sometimes, like the rest of us, and yet he still chose to stay exiled, barring the times we forcefully sat down at his table for lunch. In my mind, that could only mean that there was something in his mind that hindered him from socializing.

"Thank you, Sophie!"

The girl was beaming when I finally yielded, a huge smile appearing on her face. As much as I found her desire to get to know James more annoying, it was still to my benefit. After all, she was the heroine in the game who Arthur ended up with...

After I quickly sent a short message to James, just asking if he would come, we tried to find a table to occupy.

Looking around, the banquet hall was truly amazing. Although it was placed in the huge main academy building, which pretty much was a castle where the principal lived, the room itself wasn't that big.

However, the wine red and gold decor in the form of banners, carpets, and other ornaments were breathtaking. Golden lions were roaring in the walls, and the wine red filled up all the gaps.

Lots of high round tables were placed around the room, making sure that one could put down their glasses of wine and talk.

Several servers were walking around, holding trays filled with wine, champagne, and an assortment of different fancy foods, all suited to eat with one's hands.

There weren't just students and teachers present in the hall, a lot of the higher nobility had sent someone to represent them, as well as some generals from the royal army. In other words, the military.

And, the most esteemed guest of them all, the king was seated in the innermost part of the hall on a throne, the best position for everyone to see him. On his side, there was an elderly man, the principal of Ainu.

The principal was a slender but healthy-looking old man, having a full set of white hair left on his head. So in my eyes, he must be old, but not as old as Mr. Garcia, who looked like he would croak at any second.

It was evident that he the principal was a man of importance as he could casually talk to the king like they were old buddies, as well as because of his uniform.

The teachers of Ainu were a lot of the time wearing either suits or casual clothes, but here, everyone was wearing their uniforms. The teaching staff of Ainu also had black uniforms with golden embellishments, but there was also a big green star present, differentiating them from the students who had golden stars relative to their year.

The principal, however, wore a white uniform with silver decorations, as well as a big silver moon on his chest.

Interrupting my observations, a red-haired youth came up to me, with a very fake smile on his face.

"Good evening, Ms. Red, and congratulations! You truly bested us all!"

Lifting his glass of champagne, he saluted my achievements but just seeing his face made my stomach turn.

"What do you want, Mike?"

I had no patience to deal with that stupid man right now, and Anna shared my sentiments, "Yeah, shouldn't you be out trying to convince your dad to give you more money? After how you fared in the tournament, it might be good if he sent you an essence of something to help you become stronger."

His face twisted in anger because of the petite woman's sharp words, but he pulled through, getting to the core of why he approached us.

"Well, Ms. Red, I just wanted to tell you that the Denver family would be happy to take you in and help you cultivate your strength. I know what happened in the past was my fault, but I have changed my ways. So, what do you say?"

The Denver house was powerful, immensely so. Their associate guild had plenty of [A]-rank hunters and the guild master, Mike's father, was one of the few existing [S-]-rankers. However, I couldn't care less.

"Piss off! After how you treated me and Arthur, do you think I'm going to ever join a guild that you have ties with? No shot!"

Not caring about sounding polite, I just refused his offer harshly, making sure he knew that there was no space for negotiation.

"Tsk! Fine! But you will regret it! Now that the world has seen what you can do, there is no way for you to survive without help! Let's go, John!" I had barely noticed that John was next to him, his very lackey-like aura hiding him from the world.

As they were walking away, The sweetie that was Sarah worriedly asked me, "Sophie, are you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine. But I could really use something to drink to calm down a bit."

"I'll go get us a glass of red wine then. You want one too, Sarah?"

"Yes please!"

'I can't believe he had the audacity to act like that in front of the princess...'

It was truly extraordinary that he hadn't cared about the fact that Sarah was also standing with us. As he was truly the epitome of a stereotypical haughty noble, with Bellatrix being a close second, I had been thinking that he at least would show proper respect in front of royalty, but that had not been the case.

Before Anna could even bring back the drinks, Sarah couldn't hold back her urge to ask a very important question, at least in her mind... "So... Did you get an answer from James?"

"Haa... Let me check..."

Bringing my watch up, I activated the projection and looked through my messages. Lo and behold, I had actually gotten an answer. A part of me had assumed that the loner would just ignore me and continue doing whatever he was doing in that dungeon of his.

*Sorry, busy. Maybe another time. GL, try not to burn the place down with your upset stomach!*

I felt my temperature rising, and not because I was going to spew fire. He had somehow managed to piss me off with a single message! "Tsk!"

"What is it? Is he not coming...?"

Turning my head down on the pouting princess, I tried my best to keep a relatively neutral face as I lied, "Seems like he is about to have a breakthrough in his training. Sorry, but I don't think he will be able to make it."

A sad smile developed on her face, trying her best to seem unaffected by the bad news, "Is that so... Well, it's great that he has a breakthrough! I just wonder why he seems so desperate to get stronger, isn't he already really strong?"

"Eh? Why are you asking me that? How should I know?"

I hadn't been ready for her sudden question, having no idea where she thought I would have a better grasp on how powerful James was. Thinking about it, I truly had no idea if he was actually weak or strong at all. He had told me that he was weak, but as I hadn't ever seen him fight, there was no way of telling if he was lying or not.

"Oh... I just thought you might know, as you know him best, after all. Or maybe..."

*Ding!*

A small sound came from her smartwatch, and as she checked she dropped our earlier conversation completely, as she for some reason switched to her royalty mode, "Sophie, it appears that my beloved father would like to converse with thou. It might be for the best if we conclude our current discussion so you can make your way there."

The innocent girl was now completely gone, replaced by a proud princess bearing the pressure of representing her country. "Okay...? So where should I go?"

"I'll take you there, follow me please, Ms. Red."

A black-suited man, who was almost as tall as me, had come to get me with his mission being to take me to the king to get rewarded for winning the tournament.

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