CH 180

The day of the performance report meeting had arrived. The meeting was a place to score and rank by summing up how many dungeons each expedition corps had closed during the year. Unlike banquets where even young nobles could participate, the report meetings were only conducted with the emperor, high officials, and corps members. The ceremonial hall for the meeting was originally a place for foreign envoys to be given an audience. Now it was filled with expedition corps that fought alone from all over the lands.

Before the performance report meeting began, the Dark Knights arrived in the hall just in time. The walls of the ceremonial hall were decorated with extravagant patterns of solid marble, giving off a majestic air. The corners were partly ornate with gold, while drawn on the ceiling in a sacred fashion was a scene from the legend of the Seven Heroes and the first emperor, where together they defeated the demon lord.

Right in front of the first emperor’s depiction and closest to the demon lord, there was a silver-haired man donned in black armor, valiantly facing the darkest evil. He was none other than the first grand duke of Nochtentoria. Although he was a man from a thousand years ago, blood didn’t lie; he showed a certain resemblance to Mayer. I stared at the picture on the ceiling for a moment before lowering my head. It wasn’t the time to be distracted. This was the moment I had been waiting so long for, after all, so I struggled to keep the corners of my mouth from lifting in ecstasy.

The ceremonial hall broke into a commotion the moment the people inside spotted the symbolic black uniform and armor of the Dark Knights. Thirty corps members dressed in black, with most having overcome “the wall”. There were even five who held honorary titles. The others in the hall probably felt incredible pressure. As soon as the Dark Knights stepped in, the people of the other corps backed away to make room. Mayer led everyone in, striding across the hall unhindered.

Expedition corps were allocated seats closer to the emperor in proportion to how good their last year’s performance was. Naturally, the Dark Knights got to sit at the forefront. I stood right behind Mayer, hidden by his size until a few people spotted me and began whispering among themselves.

“Gray hair?”

“So those rumors were real? The Dark Knights truly appointed a support mage as their vice-captain?”

“It doesn’t make sense. Why her of all people? Did the great Dark Knight get blackmailed or what?”

“But look at those artifacts. Almost her whole body is covered in them… The one thing we can be sure of is that he favors her.”

They all spoke as quietly as possible, considering the place we were in, but their voices were completely audible to those with high levels. Nevertheless, the experienced members of the Dark Knights ignored those murmurings. In Mayer’s case, he was never one to pay attention to other people making noise, to begin with. On the other hand, the still-young kids in my unit flared up immediately.

Sevi breathed in an undertone, “…They’re so ignorant.”

Even the faces of the prudent Nova and gentle Julieta hardened. Still, the kids swallowed their anger with a huff, knowing what it meant to be in this place. No good would come of causing a scene. It made me feel so proud of them. As for myself, though, I didn’t care one whit as for what the others said. This much was nothing. When I thought of how the members of our corps would take my side, I felt like I could bear even worse insults.

Suddenly, from among the arrow-sharp gazes directed this way, I sensed a particularly pointed stare prodding at me like a pair of daggers. I slowly turned to see who it was and found a familiar and nostalgic face, looking at me with utter disbelief and astonishment. Fabian Ignis. It was a reunion with the Champion who had betrayed me.