CH 47

May discreetly swallowed her saliva as she looked around at the guests filling the party venue.

I hope the mental barrier magic is still intact. It must be, right?

Being in a crowded place for the first time, Mae was nervous. She nervously looked at the bouquet in her hand and asked Floa in a low voice.

“Floa, is the mental barrier magic still holding up?”

It was a question meant to ensure that no one would suspect their gender.

“Yes, it’s still holding up well.”

“Oh, thank goodness.”

May, accompanied by Floa, walked further into the party venue and made eye contact with Iris. As soon as Iris spotted them, she quickly made her way over.

“Baby!”

Iris greeted them with a bright voice. May joyfully responded with a wide smile and ran towards her, embracing her.

“Lady Iris!”

The sight of May hugging Iris left the surrounding people dumbfounded.

“In-incredible!”

“Iris is…!”

Iris recognizing someone!

The onlookers murmured in disbelief. It was hard to believe even when seeing it with their own eyes. Although Hestia might not know, Iris, who never engaged in physical contact, was seen embracing someone for the first time in their lives.

“What, what is this…?”

“What am I witnessing right now…?”

The Nine members were not only surprised but also shocked. Vita glared at the boy embraced by Iris as if she would kill him.

“How dare you hug Lady Iris…!”

Gallay clenched his fist tightly, expressing jealousy and anger.

“You insolent…!”

On the other hand, Clovin smirked with an indifferent expression.

“So, that platinum-haired guy is May Flotina? I didn’t know their relationship was that close.”

Diego silently observed the boy without any reaction.

May was unaware of the attention they were receiving. As always, Iris, who was already beautiful, appeared even more radiant today. May  was focused solely on her, pouring all their attention on her.

Iris’s white and silver mermaid-line dress made her shine.

“Lady Iris, you look incredibly beautiful today. Happy birthday!”

“Thank you for coming. Floa must have told you that I couldn’t invite you personally. I had many concerns because this area is dangerous for you to come.”

“It’s okay because Floa is here. Oh, and this is a gift.”

May handed her the bouquet.

“Since Lady Iris likes flowers, I prepared a bouquet. I was contemplating between roses and fog flowers, but since I gave you roses last year, I chose fog flowers this year.”

With a brighter smile than when receiving any other gift, Iris accepted the bouquet. It was a more radiant smile than when she received 100 dresses from Galley or seven diamonds from Vita.

“Oh my, you’ve prepared all this. Thank you, May.”

Iris lightly kissed May’s cheek. When May giggled, Iris also smiled.

The onlookers who witnessed this scene were once again enveloped in shock.

“I-Iris kissed…?”

“O-our leader kissed a boy…?”

It was truly unbelievable. The cold-hearted Iris, who disliked physical contact and fearlessly confronted demons, was now kissing a boy.

One knight even broke into a cold sweat and drew his sword.

“I-I proclaim that this person is not our beautiful leader! It is a demon that has taken the form of our leader!”

It was a shocking kiss.

However, someone grabbed the knight’s ear and forced him to put the sword away.

“Ah-!”

What grabbed his ear was a golden aura flowing from Cassius’ body.

“What’s the matter? Isn’t it obvious? You call yourself a guardian knight and can’t even differentiate between a demon and a leader?”

“Of course, I can differentiate…! It was just a shocking joke, ouch…!”

“Well, May is undeniably adorable.”

Cassius nodded as if understanding and let go of his ear. The knight touched his flushed ear with both hands and cried.

“So, that man is the demon… Cassius saying he’s cute…”

If Iris was the one who tore off the demon’s mask, then Cassius was the one who made a huge hole in the demon’s body. It was suspicious to hear the word “cute” from someone like him.

“May!”

Cassius called out to May with a loud voice. The person who entered May’s field of vision was dressed up.

“Since it’s a party, you dressed up nicely.”

“Cassius!”

When Cassius opened his arms, May tried to hug him but was stopped by Floa. Floa pressed May against himself with a red aura.

Cassius smiled sadly.

“Anyway, you’re overprotective. It’s frustrating that only I can’t hug you.”

“But you’re a man.”

May pinched Floa’s back of the hand in response.

“Floa…!”

If you keep saying that, it makes me seem like I’m a woman! What if someone finds out?

“You have a mental spell on you, so this much is fine.”

“But still, be careful just in case.”

Some people always kept their hair short and even wore chest compressions to prevent others from finding out that they were women.

In fact, mental spells were difficult to maintain compared to other spells, so they had to be constantly prepared in case the spell was broken.

Moreover, Floa had previously released a mental spell simply because he found it annoying, so they had to be even more cautious.

“I understand.”

Although his response wasn’t satisfactory, May decided to trust him.

“It seems like almost all the invited people are here. Let’s make the announcement now.”

When Iris heard Cassius’ words, she smiled at May.

“May, I’ll be back. Thanks for the bouquet.”

As expected, there was a major announcement!

“Yes, take care.”

May looked at Iris and Cassius, who went up to the circular stage in the center of the banquet hall. On the stage, they were the epitome of divine guardians.

They stood side by side in front of two microphones. Everyone’s attention was now focused on the central stage, and Iris spoke first.

“I’m sure you all know that I don’t often host parties. I only organize them when there’s something official to announce. Today is no exception. I would like to make two announcements.”

Iris emphasized the two announcements by showing her index and middle fingers. This time, Cassius took over the speech.

“One is something that everyone has probably expected, which is the selection of the guardian knight before the end of this year.”

Since the rumor about selecting a guardian knight was already circulating in the social circles, the guests had the same expression on their faces, thinking, “As expected!”

“And the other one is…”

All the guests looked up at Cassius, their ears perked. Cassius smirked and signaled to Iris, who spoke in his place.

“The other announcement is that, for this selection, we also plan to select minors.”

* * *

The banquet hall erupted in commotion.

“Minors?” 

“No way, they’re going to choose kids?”

“Why choose children over capable adults?”

Cassius and Iris kindly explained.

“Even though they are minors, we will only select children who have the ability to exert as much strength as adults. It is to ensure that we do not miss out on talent just because they haven’t reached adulthood.”

“For now, it will be implemented only this year, but if it brings positive results, there is a high possibility of selecting minors in the next knight selection as well.”

While the audience murmured in response to the major announcement, I felt my heart pounding.

Choosing minors.

It was different from the uneasiness I felt when I encountered Jed Blotche. This was anticipation.

If they choose minors, I could also become a knight this year.

Joy filled me, but I knew it was still too early to hold such expectations. Iris had clearly told me that I would join the Order when I became an adult.

Perhaps I won’t be the target of this selection, but the next one.

‘Still, I hope it’s this year…’

I desperately prayed. I endured the past five years with the sole intention of becoming a knight.

‘Please…’

As I prayed fervently, a knight from the terrace suddenly ran towards the center stage, looking terrified.

“Lady Iris, there’s a giant pigling outside!”

“A pigling?”

“Why is there a pigling all of a sudden?”

The guests started moving towards the terrace to see the pigling.

A pigling?

I knew what a pigling was because we had studied demons during class.

A pigling was one of the types of demons, a D-rank demon called a pigling because it resembled a pig with a ring in place of a tail.

It was popular because its meat was more tender and succulent than that of an ordinary pig. It was a demon commonly found in the upper ranks.

I tilted my head in confusion. The pigling’s habitat wouldn’t be here, right?

Iris immediately came down from the stage and went to the terrace.

While everyone’s attention was focused outside, I had a premonition that I should look towards the entrance of the party venue.

And the moment I turned my head, I saw a strikingly handsome man, someone who could be easily noticed even without actively looking for him.

Ah, Jed Blotche is here too.

In front of him stood a man, who seemed to be Virta, eagerly greeting him. Judging from his outgoing nature, he resembled Virta from the original story.

“YpungMaster, have you arrived?”

“What about Lady Iris?”

“I think she went to the terrace to see the pigling.”

“A pigling?”

As he asked, he searched for Iris with his eyes, and our gazes met.

“Yes, she went to the terrace to check on…Master Blotche? Where are you looking…”

“….”

The protagonist of the original story, Jed Blotche.

Even though our eyes met, he did not avoid my gaze. In an instant, I looked away first.

Soon, I heard him muttering.

“Is it magic?”

At his sudden remark, the man in front of him, Virta, looked bewildered.

“Magic? What are you talking about?”

He didn’t answer Virta and walked toward Diego. Virta scratched his head, his hair sticking to his sweaty forehead.

“What’s going on…”