Chapter 436 The Celebratory Party I: Entrances



Royal Palace Main Banquet Hall

Capital City Gerfast

Great Western Empire

June 5th

Year 1052

The Royal Palace's main banquet hall had been abuzz with activity ever since daybreak, mainly with the servants and caretakers hurriedly moving about to prepare everything for the evening's party.

And now that the sun had begun setting, the focus of the activity had changed, as prominent nobles and other important guests had all begun to arrive.

The Chamberlains had their work cut out for them as they announced the arrivals of the high nobles, as well as the foreign dignitaries.

At least, one member of each noble family in the Great Western Empire was in attendance, with the majority being the title holders of the families themselves, as few dared to send representatives for such an important ball.

Many young noblemen and women mingled with each other, with some forming new friend groups and connections, while others attempted to familiarize themselves with potential spouses.

Despite the fact that the party had not yet officially begun, the hall was already quite crowded since most of the guests had arrived especially early.

High nobles conversed with the foreign dignitaries that were present, while powerful peak master-level knights stood guard at very short regular intervals from each other.

Auras swept across the room, scanning for any potential abnormalities which were to be dealt with instantly upon discovery.

The Sixth, Seventh and Eighth Swords of the 'Ten Great Swordsmen' were all in attendance, along with many of the Great Western Empire's other grandmaster-level existences.

[Announcing the Arrival of the Representatives of the Great Eastern Empire; Foreign Affairs Minister Parrus, and the Second Star General, His Excellency, Duke Kieran Cooper.]

The whole hall went abuzz the moment the second man's identity was announced.

A 'Seven Star General'!

They were the Great Eastern Empire's equivalents of the Ten Great Swordsmen.

Just when everyone was gaping in shock that such an important personage came over, the Chamberlain announced another arrival that made heads turn once more.

[Announcing the Arrival of the Representatives from the City State of Magic, Kasteblum; Grand Magus, Sir Czac, and Vice Chief Grand Magus Joanna Ritz.]

The hall went wild once more as the duo walked into the hall, with many mages of Kasteblum who were present having their jaws drop in shock as they never expected their Vice Chief Grand Magus to actually come over.

"Oh well, I'm guessing Grand Magus Josey forced her to come."

"Yeah, that's definitely the case."

While the Mages were trying to rationalize the situation, the Chamberlains continued with their announcements.

[Announcing the Arrival of the Representatives from the Beast Kingdom; Beast Keeper, Margravine Selah Herrera, and Her Royal Highness, Malaya Thancreed.]

Silence reigned as the two women calmly walked into the hall. They quickly found their assigned table and took their seats, however, everyone still stared at them both in silence.

This was natural, as one of the two women was royalty, and not just any royalty, but Beast Kingdom Royalty.

Malaya Thancreed, the Fourth Child of 'Beast King' Kolvar Thancreed, one of 'The Five' transcendent level beings of Aidos.

Even the chamberlain who announced her name was trembling slightly as even he did not expect to call out the name of such an esteemed personage.

However, just because he was surprised, did not mean he would stop doing his job, as the repercussions for that were far worse.

[Announcing the Arrival of the Representatives from the Desert Country Tarse; Foreign Affairs Vice Minister, Sir Kamsu, and Warlord Isobel Salib.]

Another powerful Epic level existence casually walked into the room, making her way to her assigned table and chatting up the Beast Keeper seated beside her with a smile.

The Chamberlains called out the names of the representatives from other countries, while the waiters and knights showed them to their seats as they awaited the arrival of the main stars of the party.

And finally, the moment came.

[Announcing the Arrival of the Prime Minister, His Grace Duke Roger Eris, and Her Grace, Duchess Patricia Eris.]

The moment the Ducal couple arrived; all eyes turned towards the door as they could already predict the identities of the people who were going to be arriving after them.

[Announcing the Arrival of the Representatives of the Church of Artemisia, Bishop Amelie Harris, and Paladin, Sir Heinr Harris.]

[Announcing the Arrival of the Fourth Sword of the Empire, Knight Captain, Lord Ralphie Thompson.]

[Announcing the Arrival of the Third Sword of the Empire, His Grace, Duke Charles Cheverton, and Her Grace, the Duchess of Cheverton.]

[Announcing the Arrival of the Second Sword of the Empire, His Grace, the Sword Saint, Luke Bowthe.]

[Announcing the Arrival of the Second Star of the Empire, Her Royal Highness, Princess Laurene Hayes, and Lord Arnold Eris.]

[Announcing the Arrival of the First Star of the Empire, His Royal Highness, Crown Prince Richard Hayes, and Lady Myra Antebellum.]

Right after the Crown Prince and the Princess' arrivals had been announced, the person everyone had been waiting for was finally announced.

[Announcing the Arrival of the Heir of the Eris Dukedom, Young Lord Evan Eris, and Lady Eliza Lane.]

The banquet hall's large double doors opened and the two MVPs walked in, casually chatting with themselves despite all the thousands of eyes that were boring into them from the second they came through the doors.

Whatever they were talking about seemed quite 'important' because it was as if the rest of the world didn't exist to them, and somehow, even the powerful Epic level existences with superhuman hearing in the room could not hear their words.

If only they knew that the young hero was just telling his girlfriend about a new confectionary store that had just opened up and was inviting her on a date.

[Entering, the Sun and Moon of the Great Western Empire, His Royal Majesty, Emperor Rudeus Hayes, Accompanied by Her Royal Majesty, Empress Claudia Hayes.]

All the nobles and foreign guests were all standing as the Emperor and the Empress walked into the hall.

The orchestra conductor waved his baton quickly, increasing the tempo of the music while the instrumentalists put on their best performance yet.

Eventually, the Emperor and the Empress joined their children atop the small elevated platform at the end of the hall, with Rudeus putting down his sceptre and holding out a hand towards the orchestra.

The music slowly died down and eventually stopped, while the chamberlains closed the doors.

[A moment of silence for the souls of the departed.]

All sorts of chatter stopped as the hall went silent for a moment, with no one moving an inch in respect for those who had passed away during the Undead Crisis.

Afterwards, the Emperor gave his official speech, giving his thanks to the representatives from the foreign countries present, along with light praises for all the potential awardees present.

Finally, the party officially commenced, with the Emperor and the Empress opening the dance floor while the orchestra put on a wonderful performance.

Said performance was the first of many others, as the dances continued even after the Royals had returned to their seats, while some nobles immediately moved around to 'socialize' with each other and build connections with the foreign dignitaries present.

Well…at least the ones who seemed approachable.

Very few dared to go over to where people like the Second Seven Star General, or Kolvar's daughter were.

Seeing this, Crown Prince Richard let out a soft chuckle and commented on their attitudes, something that Laurene who was seated beside him concurred with.

His gaze then turned in the direction of the MVPs of the party, Evan and Eliza, who were getting swarmed by various high nobles and a few foreign dignitaries.

"This guy, you can clearly see he's revelling in the feeling of being the centre of attention…"

Richard momentarily had thoughts of messing with Evan for a bit, and as if his father read his thoughts, the man spoke up right after.

"I know you two 'don't get along', but don't start anything today."

"Come on, father. You should tell that to him and not me. He's the one who's more likely to pull bullshit."

"Richard…your words."

Claudia spoke up to reprimand her son while Laurene just silently cast a sound isolation barrier around them to prevent their words from being heard by half of the superhumans in the room.

"What the hell does she even see in him?"

Richard muttered under his breath as he looked at Eliza who had been sticking closely to Evan ever since the day of the Undead Crisis' final battle.

"That's for him to know, and you to probably never find out."

"True...hahaha."

The Crown Prince chuckled lightly when he heard his sister's reply, right before his father tacked in a few extra words.

"Do well to be respectful to the Young Lady he's with as well."

"Obviously. I'm at least capable of basic courtesy."

"Not that, I mean you should speak to her like you would an equal."

"…wait, what?"