Volume 3 Chapter 8: Dinner Party

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Author: 夜州 (Yashu)

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Having finished their visit to the church, the two of them gazed out at the city from the slowly moving carriage.

Compared to other countries, the standards of living in the Kingdom of Esfort were higher, something that could be seen clearly when looking at the city. Shops were lined up everywhere along the streets, and both their owners, who were advertising their stores with voices full of energy, and the shoppers coming and going had smiles on their faces.

Their carriage made its way through all that, and passing through the noble’s district, they arrived at the royal castle.

Hinata was staying at the royal castle as the guest of honour, but Cain had to return to his mansion.

Cain got out of the carriage first, and, taking Hinata’s hand, he helped her get down as well.

Someone watched that with eyes leaking killing intent, which, although he had noticed it, Cain ignored.

“Then, see you in the evening.”

“Yes. Cain-sama, thank you very much for today.”

As he would have to attend the opening of the welcoming dinner party in the evening, Cain hurried home to change. Then, he went to his office and looked through the documents Koran had put there for him. There were two piles of documents, one of which was all letters for meetings about arranged marriages.

“This… I can’t just throw them all away, can I?”

“No, you can’t… you have to at least respond. There are also some from count-ranked nobles and above.”

Cain smiled bitterly at seeing Koran so apologetic.

As his engagements would be announced soon, he had not expected any new ones to come, but seeing the sheer amount of letters that had arrived, he was quite confused.

“My engagements will be announced soon. We’ll respond afterwards. Then, we should be able to convince them…”

“– – doing it that way is a good idea.”

The two of them nodded to each other in agreement, and it was thus decided that they would send the responses later.

It was not the evening yet, but Cain headed to the royal castle for the dinner party.

There was still plenty of time until the dinner party started, but viscounts were lower-ranked nobles, so they had to be there early.

Arriving at, and joining the party later than the higher-ranking nobles was not permitted for Cain as a lower-ranked noble.

Arriving at the royal castle, he looked around the hall a maid had guided him to, and seeing that there were no high-ranked nobles there yet, he breathed a sigh of relief.

The hall only contained barons and other viscounts: lower-ranked nobles. And even though he was the head of a family, at his age, as a child, he stuck out like a sore thumb amongst all the adults.

As such, Cain had no chance of being inconspicuous, and soon enough, the nobles trying to arrange a marriage with him flocked around him.

“Sir Silford, did you read my letter? My daughter is a year younger than you, Sir Silford. She’s growing up to be quite cute and well-mannered, if I may say so myself, so please, do meet her at least onc– –”

“You’re not slipping away, Sir Silford! My daughter was introduced at a party the other day! By all means–”

Hemmed in by the many nobles, Cain answered while being bewildered.

“Regarding that, please wait a little more time. I have to consult with my father about all this…”

Cain, deciding that he wouldn’t be able to refuse with just his own influence, decided to use Garm’s name.

“Margrave Garm, was it… I guess we have no choice then. We look forward to your reply.”

When he used a higher-ranked noble, namely Garm’s name, the lower-ranked nobles had no choice but to withdraw.

The ring of nobles encircling Cain slowly dissipated, and he spent the rest of his time in a corner of the hall.

Then, a little while later, the higher-ranked nobles, starting with the counts, started making their entry.

“Ah, Sir Silford, this is where you were. Earlier– –”

When the counts and marquises, their daughters in tow, found Cain, it turned into the same situation as earlier.

He was the son of a margrave who had made a name for himself with his bravery, and the information about him developing Drintor had also already spread around.

Drintor was a small town of not more than four thousand souls when one counted all the citizens and adventurers, but he had rebuilt the slums, set up offices to help the locals find jobs, which was then followed by a remarkable increase in people there, and finally, the town was most likely going to exceed ten thousand inhabitants in the near future.

The townscape was kept beautiful and orderly, and the main street had been expanded and divided into a road for the carriages to come and go on, and a pavement for the citizens to walk on, which proved very popular. There was now also a modest-sized park in the town, where the children could play with each other.

All of this was thanks to the town plans drawn by Lula, and Cain’s enormous magical power and his ability to use it.

“Cain-sama, please do that too. Then, next– –”

As Lula didn’t hesitate when it had come to the planning of the town, the construction and completion of all the sections of the town had progressed swiftly. Of course, manning the job offices was something the citizens could also do, so Cain had left that to them.

Recalling all of that, he couldn’t just ignore the higher-ranked nobles, so he just answered in a bland manner.

“Ahem.”

A deliberate cough came from behind the higher-rank nobles surrounding Cain.

Noticing that cough, the nobles turned around, only to see Duke Eric standing there.

“I wonder if you should be surrounding Viscount Cain like that. Anyway, I’ve got something I’d like to talk to him about, so I hope you don’t mind if I borrow him for a bit.”

“… Why if it isn’t Duke Eric. Go ahead.”

At the arrival of what could be said to be the highest-ranked nobles of them all, a duke, the other high-ranked nobles went on their merry ways.

As the throng of people had now broken up, Cain was now next to Duke Eric.

As they moved away to a place a little further away, Duke Eric made a face as if he were trying hard not to laugh.

“Cain-kun, you’re quite popular, eh? What are you doing, are you getting a few more wives? I mean, as long as you have Silk, I guess I can close my eyes to a few more though.”

Duke Eric smiled innocently, but Cain immediately refused, saying it was not something to joke about.

“Nono, my bad. You already have, what… three? Indeed any more than that would be a bit…”

Cain, who was not yet a grown-up, could only laugh at the situation that would have been impossible even in his previous life.

“Although if it’s you, Cain-kun, it seems like you’ll probably end up with the Saint-sama too.”

Duke Eric had said it as a joke, but remembering that Hinata had said ‘I wouldn’t mind us having children together,’ Cain had to violently shake his head left to right to get rid of those words from his head.

“Of course that wouldn’t happen. It’s the Saint-sama after all…”

While the two of them were chatting, music announcing the entrance of the royal family filled the hall. Hearing that, the nobles all lined up according to their ranks.

And while not all nobles were present in the royal castle, there were still more than one-hundred of them lined up there. And, making their way past that line were the king and the Saint.

The nobles bowed all at once, Cain too.

“You may be at ease.”

At the king’s words, the nobles all raised their heads.

The Saint joined the line next to the king after stepping up onto a small podium a step higher than the nobles.

“Today, the Saint from the Holy Country of Marineford has come to visit our country. Normally, the Saint does not leave the Holy Country, but this age’s Saint chose our Kingdom of Esfort as her choice of the first foreign country she would visit. Even though there was trouble on the way, she has arrived here without any problems. Therefore, I would like to welcome her today. Saint-sama, the stage is yours.”

At the king’s words, Hinata nodded lightly and stepped forward. Then, she started speaking.

“Everyone of the Kingdom of Esfort, it is nice to meet you. I am this age’s Saint, and I chose your country due to a divine commandment from the gods. Both on my way here, and when I was guided around today, the smiling faces of the citizens gave me the impression that your country truly is nice. The gods are always watching over us all from their world, but you should not be ashamed, and instead make sure to take care of your citizens as nobles, as you have until now. That will be all from me.”

It was quite the proper greeting indeed that one could hardly believe it came from a Saint who was still quite young. The nobles present were all deeply impressed.

Then, the king raised his glass for a toast.

“A toast to the Kingdom of Esfort and the teachings of Marineford. Cheers!”

“““““Cheers!!!!!”””””

The nobles all raised their glasses, joining in.

After that, the higher-ranking nobles all went to greet Hinata.

Through the line of who-knows-how-many higher-ranked nobles, Cain went over to a table laden with food.

Cain spent his time eating snacks there until the lower-ranked nobles started greeting Hinata.

The higher-ranked nobles had finished greeting her after a quarter of an hour, and after making sure that the ones greeting her now were lower-ranked nobles, Cain joined the line.

The line gradually moved forwards, and eventually, it was Cain’s turn.

Hinata was making an expression as if she was already exhausted from greeting all the nobles.

“Saint-sama, I am Cain von Silford Drintor. Your complexion seems a little pale…”

Cain anxiously pointed his index finger at her.

[Heal] [Relax]

Cain cast the two spells at Hinata after each other.

Hinata’s body glowed a little, after which the light then disappeared, as if being absorbed by her.

After the light had gone out, Hinata’s tired face from earlier had gone with it. In fact, her cheeks were now red.

“Cain-sama’s magic is warm and gentle… I’m fine now.”

Hinata looked up and gazed at Cain with blushed cheeks, when a voice came from beside them.

“Heey, Cain. Have you forgotten about me? To ignore your very own king and go instead to the Saint…”

Next to them, the king narrowed his eyes and interrupted, seemingly out of boredom.

“Wha– no, I wasn’t…”

But the king continued his verbal attack at the upset Cain.

“Seriously, you’re just… one after the other… I really need to announce it early, don’t I…”

The king muttered while looking at Hinata’s dyed cheeks from the side.

“Well, that’s it for today. The next person’s waiting, you know.”

The king’s words brought Cain back to himself, and he turned around, only to see the long line of nobles still waiting to greet Hinata.

“Then, if you would excuse me…”

Cain went off to the side, letting the next person in the line step forwards.

After that, Cain ate his dinner in a corner of the hall, talking to acquaintances he had made at his announcement party in his mansion.

They mostly talked about the noble’s version of reversi Cain had been selling after joining forces with the Sarakhan Company.

The dinner party ended peacefully, and after the royal family, as well as Hinata had left the venue, the higher-ranked nobles also started making their ways home.

Cain breathed a sigh of relief that the event had finally ended, and he returned to his mansion in his carriage without anything happening.

In a certain room in the slums of the royal capital, a number of men were having a discussion.

“– –then, I’ll be counting on you tomorrow.”

A hooded man reminded another man facing him.

“We do what we’re paid to. We aren’t the Dark guild for nothing, after all.”

And although his face couldn’t be made out in the dim light, the man sitting in the middle smiled suspiciously as he jingled a bag of coins.

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