Princess Flora held a cup of water in her hand and stared blankly at the stack of scrolls in front of her.
Recently, she felt that she was easily distracted because the figure with the wooden staff kept flashing in front of her eyes. Because of this, the princess couldn't sleep for a few nights.
What was love?
Flora didn't know, and she didn't want to know. She told herself countless times that it wasn't love because she knew that the baron had his own sweetheart.
Although the Elf didn't appear in Sirius, the princess still knew that the baron was different from the nobles in the empire. She thought that the barmaid that she misunderstood was also a person with unsatisfied desires. However, after she left the Sith Court, she couldn't help but investigate the matter. The result made her not know whether to laugh or cry.
The royal intelligence network was indeed powerful. They even managed to find out information about the missions in Karo City, including important information like the Elven Guardian Badge.
The information also included the encounters between Sylvia and many others. At the same time, the princess also understood that the Elf who acted like a normal mercenary but took care of many people was the daughter of the Elven Elder. Her status was not much lower than her own!
As for the barmaid, she didn't know whether to laugh or cry. Now, she really didn't know how to deal with these messy thoughts. Her Royal Highness felt that she had fallen into a swamp, and the more she struggled, the faster she would sink.
She gently rubbed between her eyebrows and tried to get rid of these thoughts. She began to arrange for the banquet tomorrow. For this banquet, it was no less important than today's confrontation in the Elder Council Hall. Politics was like this. It looked calm on the surface, but the undercurrents were surging.
* * *
There were a lot of things happening in the Imperial City, Sirius. One of the more important things was the 'baptism' of Emperor Charnak. However, this matter still needed some time to prepare. At this moment, be it the commoners or the nobles, the focus of attention had already shifted from the princess to the unknown feudal lord — Baron Oditore.
When many people arrived at the banquet hall in Lek District, the noisy chatter suddenly quieted down. However, many people didn't feel it at all. It was as if they had the legendary "Halo of Silence". Many people felt that wherever they went, the noise would instantly disappear.
The reason was naturally because of Yuna and his troll warriors.
Today, the troll warriors wore the same uniform. Madam Vasaki had the tailors of the underground city rush to make these clothes overnight. As the trolls were slender, these clothes were slightly tight-fitting and looked very formal. When the trolls straightened their backs and walked, these clothes made them look more capable and neat. The dark green coat and silver metal leather buckles made them seem to be at the forefront of the "fashion" of Xiliath City. Although it was different, it was not out of the ordinary, and it attracted people to stop and look at them.
The venue of the banquet was extraordinarily large. It was much grander than any of the banquets that he had attended. After all, this was a large-scale banquet that belonged to several classes. As the saying goes, good and bad mixed together, and many people did not let down their guard against the people in the venue.
Princess Flora did not come with Fey. As a member of the royal family, she should be the last to appear.
Fey and his wife were dressed to the nines. He had changed into the dark green ceremonial robe that his wife had carefully tailored. Magic runes flashed, and because he was using a wooden staff, there was an additional sense of vicissitudes. His wife swayed her waist slightly. Her outfit matched Fey's and looked like a couple. Her beautiful and enchanting appearance caused countless nobles to gape, and the noble ladies who thought they were beautiful to go crazy with jealousy.
Salia followed Fey's side obediently, holding his arm lightly. Because Fey looked old, most people thought that Salia was the couple's daughter. At that moment, many people secretly decided that they would go to the door later and introduce their "outstanding" son to Fey.
Yuna and the twelve warriors surrounded Fey and entered the banquet hall. They followed Fey's orders. At that moment, the people in the banquet hall opened up a path for them. Most of them were not interested in talking to anyone, so they went to a corner and leisurely waited for Her Highness to arrive.
There were many nobles and merchants in the banquet hall, but it was obvious that there were more "knights" gathered in this banquet hall.
As if it was intentional, the number of knights in the banquet hall was larger than any other banquet in the past. They were wearing clothes similar to the nobles, but they had short swords on their waists to show that they were different from normal nobles.
"He's the Lord of Oditore?"
"Those trolls can't fool people. Speaking of which, what do you think about the trolls?"
"God of Light above, I think a lot of things are made up."
The knights chatted in twos and threes. They were very careful with their words and words, and they would not say anything that was out of line. However, the most important thing was that the knights could be said to be in the middle of the hierarchy. They knew very little about certain things that happened in the upper echelons, which led to them being easily used by others.
Seeing that Fey and the trolls had entered the banquet hall, the knights' discussion shifted towards them. However, they did not seem to be friendly towards the trolls. The nobles looked at Yuna and the others with disdain. They kept their distance from Fey and the others to show that they had nothing to do with them.
Princess Flora quickly arrived at the banquet hall. However, to the surprise of the nobles and the knights, she did not stop among the nobles at all. Instead, she went straight to the corner of the banquet hall, as if she had specifically come to see Fey.
This situation made some of the people in the banquet hall unhappy. Some of the discussions began to become ear-piercing, but it did not affect Fey who was chatting with the princess.
"Your Highness, today's program is about to begin. Would you like to say a few words of congratulations?"
The host of the banquet was an old viscount. At his age, the only thing he wanted to do was to find a suitable home for his son. Of course, there was no need to think about it. Her Highness was the ideal "home" for his son. As the saying goes, politics and power were achieved through marriage between nobles. It was all too common in the Empire of Saint Reims. However, the princess did not even look at her well-dressed son. This old man in his fifties felt a little helpless.
"My deepest apologies, Viscount Grannin. My throat is not very good during the meeting yesterday, so …"
"Your Highness' health is more important."
Grannin understood what Flora meant. He bowed politely and retreated. He then announced the start of the banquet.
Flora was not here to talk to Fey. She was here to discuss the issue regarding Medusa with Madam Vasaki. So, Fey and Salia were chatting alone in a corner of the banquet hall. Yuna was no longer a bodyguard this time, so he began to walk casually on the side. From time to time, he would ask Fey how to say things in the common tongue.
However, the banquet was destined to not be as peaceful as it seemed. Not long after, a few loud voices suddenly rang out in the noisy banquet hall.
"Who let these barbaric and ignorant bastards in!
O God of Light above! "
Then came the sound of a short sword being unsheathed.
Needless to say, only the "knights" had the right to wear a short sword in the banquet hall. However, their swords were not sharpened. The sound of a short sword being unsheathed sounded more like a provocation than a real one.
The person who spoke seemed to be very angry. However, he was not talking to Fey or the trolls. Instead, he was shouting at a person who seemed to be his comrade. The latter looked around awkwardly. He wanted to say something to warn the knight, but he did not know how to open his mouth.
The nobles who saw the trolls initially stayed far away from them. However, when they saw a knight who dared to shout out what they wanted to say, they slowly came closer. It seemed like they were ready to watch a good show.
The knight who was shouting did not seem to care about the virtues of a knight. He did not stop his sarcasm. Left with no choice, his comrade clenched his teeth and walked up to Fey. It seemed like he was going to explain himself.
"Clady is a little reckless. Lord Baron, we did not mean to offend you and your men."
Humility was one of the virtues of a knight. A knight would never put himself above others.
"It's fine."
Fey lowered his head and took a sip of red wine. He did not speak much.
The knight who spoke seemed to feel that Fey was a little arrogant. He frowned slightly and continued, "However, I think most people have the same opinion about Clady's words. Why did you let these trolls enter the banquet hall? Are they not dangerous?"
This fellow was a little straightforward with his words. He did not beat around the bush like other nobles.
The knight's words were not deliberately belittling. In the eyes of most commoners, trolls were barbaric and ignorant.
"It's them, not them."
Fey corrected the knight's words. He raised his hand and pointed at Yuna, who was standing not far away. "What is barbaric and ignorant?
I can't see anything barbaric or ignorant. If your comrade only judges the character of others based on their appearance, then he is far from being qualified to be a noble knight. "
The knight did not expect such an answer. He was slightly speechless. The knight who was being used as a negative example by Fey seemed to be angry. His expression immediately changed.