Proofreader: Ray
“…Only your esteemed selves can come in and out. And each can only be accompanied by up to four escorts.”
Having finished his part, the messenger of Lupus bowed his head.
He did it to keep his manners, but more so because he couldn’t overcome the heavy air hovering in the tent and the stinging glares directed at him.
“…It was not enough to make us wait for several hours, now you’re limiting the number of people who can enter.”
One of the men sitting at the table murmured.
“Is this the will of Her Highness?”
Calion Oller.
As the eldest son of the Oller family, the de facto ruler of the southern region of the Kingdom of Prona, he revealed his displeasure without filter.
The messenger opened his mouth to say something, but then closed it. For he had been commanded not to answer whatever they asked.
“Looks so.”
And that silence was accepted by Calion as affirmation.
“Haha! It seems that Her Highness, the new Queen, is quite apprehensive of us.”
The name of the man smiling cheerfully adjacent to Lorian was Louis Sentry.
He was the eldest son of Count Sentry, who heralded the eastern region of the Kingdom of Prona.
“It would be more correct to see it as a wiser choice.”
The brown-haired handsome man shook his head.
Lorian Cartar.
The powerful successor to the Kingdom of Carta, and one of the only four Heroes on the continent.
When he spoke, the nobles who had been whispering among themselves all paid attention to him.
Which was enough to show his place in this alliance.
He quietly enjoyed the silence and continued.
“But that doesn’t change it becomes risky for us too, there are too few people you are allowing to enter.”
The ones allowed to enter Lupus were Lorian and his party members, Calion and Lewis, and four of their own escort knights.
“Suppose, I assume there will be very little of that, but if an impure intention begets on the other side, we will be helpless. How is this not different from asking us to deliver ourselves into the tiger’s mouth?”
“…”
“Go back. Go and speak our mind to your master.”
“Understood.”
Just when the messenger, who had lightly bowed, turned his back and was about to leave the tent.
“If there’s no rectification, you better not come back.”
Words Lorian spat out quietly turned into a proverbial dagger and flew at the messenger. The messenger swallowed a mouthful of saliva in cold sweat.
“…I’ll keep that in mind.”
The messenger bowed his head once more toward the inside of the tent and hurried for the castle. After the messenger left, Lorian’s expression, which had been solemnly stiff, turned somewhat lukewarm.
Seeing that, Lewis quickly flattered.
“As expected, those who inherit the lineage of the royal family are different no matter what. There is a candid dignity to your voice. When you said those words to the messenger just now, his face dropped dramatically, haha.”
“I just said what I had to say, it’s unnecessary to bring it up like that.”
Lorian smiled lightly and accepted Lewis’ blatant flattery. Other aristocrats, who had been paying attention to him, began to flatter him in order to get his attention.
The tent, which was freezing until just now, was filled with laughter.
Time passed like that.
‘These people know no shame.’
Lorraine, who was accompanying Lorain soon got tired with the banal fawning.
They were an alliance, there wasn’t a need to stoop so low…
‘Older brother would always listen to it in moderation and make them stop. Why is he liking it so much today?’
Lorraine let out a small sigh as she skillfully received flatteries around her. She should know. That was all for managing image and personal connections.
But it wasn’t just today’s instance that made her think this way.
Lately, Lorian had been more likely to hold a pen than a sword.
He was certain he would inherit the throne, so he slowly worked for the latter.
Solidifying his support base was certainly a good move.
‘But there are priorities.’
Lorraine wasn’t happy with Lorian’s behavior lately.
Because, just like she thought, he played with the pen rather than the sword.
No.
He wasn’t neglecting martial arts either.
He regularly went out to cull monsters, practised every night so that his skills wouldn’t go dull, and recently acquired an incredible set of equipment.
Far from declining, he was much stronger than before.
Then, what was the real reason for Lorraine’s bad mood?
The answer was not difficult.
‘…Even if I ask for sparring, he won’t do it because he’s always busy.’
She felt disgruntled with her older brother, who neglected her with the excuse of being busy.
While a grumpy expression was creeping on Lorraine’s face, the knight guarding the doorway of the tent walked inside. Seeing him enter, Lorian raised his right hand. The nobles shut their mouths as if they had been perfectly silent.
Lorraine propped her gaze over on the knight.
“The Hero Cloud has arrived.”
The knight’s words, more precisely the name of the man he had spoken, stuck in Lorraine’s ears. She opened her eyes wide as if she had been hit in the back of the head with a sledgehammer.
She wasn’t the only one surprised.
The other nobles in the tent, as well as Lorian, were momentarily agitated.
It was not unusual for the leadership from both camps to meet and talk. However, it was strange, the leader of the enemy side was visiting the other camp.
Of course, they were not at war right now.
Though, they didn’t seem far off either.
It required gut and self-confidence.
“He is bold. Great. Please let him in.”
Shortly after the knight left, a man with a crimson flag for hair came inside. His appearance was the most outstanding of the ones in the tent.
Hero Cloud.
In the past, he was an insignificant Hero who was below nondescript, but now he was a man who had literally created a miracle.
All attention was focused on him.
Among them was Lorraine.
‘Cloud…!’
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