Hio might not have been on the level of this world’s nobility, but he had a fair amount of experience attending banquets himself.
After all, he had been to the imperial banquets said to be the largest and most splendid on the continent several times, and had even attended noble banquets as well.
But who could have known that he would be flung straight into a banquet hall, as if this were supposed to be some kind of trial in the Space of Ordeals?
A spacious hall, food laid out beneath a high ceiling, and people smiling as they raised their wineglasses.
The walls surrounding them on all sides were decorated with patterns symbolizing a nation, but they were ones he had never seen before in his life.
So the first thing that came to mind was, as expected, an illusion or phantasm.
Fortunately, his equipment, such as his staff and hat, remained as it was, so he stirred his mana and secretly cast Cancellation magic.
Cancellation—a spell that could sever the flow of any magical effect in operation and nullify it.
However.
‘It’s… not magic.’
There was nothing to catch on to at all.
To begin with, if it had been magic that could be canceled by Cancellation, Hio’s senses would have detected it long ago.
At the very least, it meant that his mind was not being tampered with through mana.
In other words, this entire thing was a phenomenon no different from reality.
Naturally, it was completely different from how it had been in the game.
In the game, the Space of Ordeals was simply a place where the member of the raid party with the best stats could enter.
It had been that kind of simple place, where one succeeded by continuing to beat down the monsters that came rushing in, all alone.
“Hahaha! Sir Pavlenko! Your performance was magnificent this time as well. If you had not been there, I cannot imagine what would have…”
He had no time to continue thinking deeply.
Starting with this mustached knight who laughed heartily as he spoke to him, everyone around him was looking at Hio and smiling.
Apparently, he seemed to be the star of this banquet.
People called out his name as if they knew Hio well.
“It was incredible!”
“I respect you, Sir Pavlenko!”
“To the great Pavlenko!”
He agonized over what he should say in response, but there was no need.
They excitedly praised him among themselves, then again excitedly laughed among themselves and raised their glasses.
“To him!”
The atmosphere was exactly like a company dinner attended only by men.
In fact, most of those holding glasses were men. And they were all so obviously knights, judging by their presence and the muscles straining their uniforms, that it was almost overwhelming.
That was not the only strange thing.
It was clearly a banquet taking place in a spacious hall, and yet it was shabby.
There was no orchestra playing softly to raise the mood, the food laid out for a banquet was meager, and there were not even many servants or maids coming and going.
“Hahaha! What a joyous day!”
Even so, the heartfelt joy and laughter were things he had never seen in any banquet hall before.
“It’s reassuring to have you holding the line, Sir!”
“Today’s victory will go down in history as a great comeback triumph!”
“Hahaha! I must say, I envy you, Sir Pavlenko!”
Burly men spoke to him one after another.
Hio put on an awkward smile and sipped from the wineglass in his hand.
Filthy, awful-tasting wine.
If he at least pretended to drink this, wouldn’t he be able to buy time to grasp the situation and figure out what to say?
But rendering that effort meaningless, the loud clamor around Hio soon subsided.
“His Highness Leorant Lian de Basterion is entering!”
The doors of the banquet hall opened, and the king made his entrance.
Naturally, silence descended upon the banquet hall that had been so noisy.
“…”
For some reason, it was a slightly uncomfortable silence.
* * *
“Ahem!”
The king, who had appeared on the second-floor terrace of the hall, cleared his throat.
The banquet hall grew utterly quiet.
Everyone’s gaze turned toward the king.
“As this is a joyous day, enjoy yourselves to your hearts’ content, just for today.”
Quiet applause soon broke out.
There were no cheers. Some muttered words about his boundless grace, but, well.
Since it was not sincere, it did not particularly resonate.
The atmosphere became needlessly awkward.
Perhaps it was even more so because there was no orchestra to play grandly and vigorously in time with the king’s appearance.
“Today’s victory is, for our Basterion, and further, for the entire continent…”
Had the king felt it as well?
His voice gradually lost strength, and his gaze, as if it had lost where it was supposed to go, wavered here and there.
The sight was unsightly enough for Hio to feel it clearly, so how much more so must it have been for the knights gathered here?
Not only did he lack charisma to seize the crowd, but his voice and expression lacked confidence, as if he himself had become cowed.
“A bright future… for—no, as part of the process toward…”
His tone was as though he were reading from a textbook.
Perhaps he had forgotten the proclamation he had memorized, for he stammered as he barely managed to continue speaking.
“…and in recognition of the knights’ hard work, also…”
The king’s voice rang out alone in the far-too-quiet banquet hall.
The longer and more clumsily it continued, the stranger the atmosphere grew, and the king’s face, fully aware of the situation, gradually turned red.
Only when the surrounding knights finally lowered their heads deeply did it happen.
“In any case… enjoy the banquet. I shall take my leave now.”
The king roughly wrapped up what he had been saying and quickly left the second-floor terrace as though fleeing.
Even so, the silence that had settled over the banquet hall remained for a while.
Only after a moment, when the knights raised their heads again with small sighs, did the atmosphere begin to relax little by little.
“Haha… The wine is truly delicious.”
“It is so sweet that it hardly suits my palate. Heh heh…”
They did not bring up anything related to the king and instead seemed to be desperately trying to turn the conversation to other topics.
Amidst that, Purnel’s voice, which had been silent until now, rang in his mind.
— I see… That emblem hanging on the wall looked somehow familiar. It was the emblem of the Basterion royal family.
‘Basterion?’
— You don’t know it? In the past, it was very famous as the Kingdom of Knights. At its height, it was a powerful nation that could stand shoulder to shoulder with the Empire.
‘A powerful country comparable to the Empire? This place?’
A shabby banquet that was worse than even a rural noble’s party in the Empire, despite the king personally appearing.
There was not enough food, the wine was cheap, and there was not even gentle music. Was this truly the banquet of such a powerful nation?
— I do not know what is going on either, but it is certain that this is Basterion. That clumsy king earlier said so too, did he not? Basterion.
‘Basterion, Basterion…’
— Is this your first time hearing of it?
‘…Yes. No matter how much I think about it, it’s a name I don’t remember at all.’
Hio had been sincere enough about this world that he had looked up not only existing nations, but even nations of the past through history books.
So he could say it with certainty.
The name Basterion did not exist.
It had not been mentioned even once in any history book.
— Strange. The Kingdom of Knights is not something that should be forgotten so easily.
With those words from Purnel, the conversation could not continue any further.
“Sir Pavlenko. Do not stand there alone, and come join us in conversation! It is a good day, is it not? Hahaha.”
Because the knights had gathered around him again and begun speaking to him.
Whatever the case, the most important thing right now was information. He had to find out as much as possible through conversation with them.
“Of course.”
When Hio approached, many men—no, knights—had already gathered together.
If there was one thing that had changed after the king’s departure, it was that young women were mixed in among them.
There were certainly only a few such women, but once Hio joined the group, the situation changed.
“The star of today, Sir Pavlenko, has arrived!”
“Oh my, then is this the famous mage?”
“Hahaha! Angeli, what are you doing? Come quickly and greet him!”
The older knights began calling over the daughters of their families. Because of that, before long, the surroundings were filled with women of all kinds.
“Hello, Sir Mage. I am Angeli Lortel…”
“It is an honor to meet you. I am from the Balant family…”
“Here! This is our family’s second daughter. What do you think? Is she not truly lovely?”
A noble banquet was a place where the various qualities of each family could be displayed.
All the more so when it was a banquet personally held at the royal castle.
That remained true even if, for whatever reason, it was the banquet of a shabby kingdom.
“My, you are much more handsome than I had heard, Lord Pavlenko.”
Naturally, the young women’s attire was quite alluring, and the fragrance piercing his nose was rather dizzying.
Before he knew it, Hio was surrounded on all sides by such women.
“Heh heh… It is good to be young. Good indeed.”
Those who had succeeded in placing the daughters of their families around Hio smiled contentedly and took a step back.
Those who had not yet succeeded were busy signaling with their eyes for them to somehow squeeze in.
“But I heard Sir Pavlenko is married…”
“What of it? I am merely telling them to have a conversation. Just a conversation. Heh heh heh.”
Amid such a situation, Hio scratched his head in embarrassment.
He could not come to his senses. It was too awkward to know where to place his eyes, so he simply stared at empty air.
“Um… there’s something I’d like to ask…”
“Oh my? Would you like to ask me?”
“I’ll listen to you, Sir Mage.”
“If you feel too burdened, would you like to take a short walk with me? I’ll answer you comfortably.”
The moment he opened his mouth in hopes of gathering information, they only drew closer and pressed against him even more.
They approached from all sides to the point that, if he moved carelessly, he might commit a grave mistake, so Hio’s hands lost any place to go and remained frozen where they were.
Of course, it was not as if he felt bad.
If this ambiguous situation had to be expressed in a single word…
“Oh my. How cute.”
“May I pinch your cheek just once?”
“How is your skin so nice, too?”
Sweet.
“Ha, hahaha… Yes, well, if you really must, then perhaps my left cheek here, just lightly…”
And so the banquet night, without a single note of music, deepened.
* * *
「Trial - ‘Fear of Flames’ has ended.」
“Haaah… Haaah…”
Along with the message, Antipus collapsed spread-eagled onto the floor.
The first thing he checked was his body, including his arms and legs.
Fortunately, he was fine.
He was so perfectly fine that it was as though all the pain right up until the moment his entire body had been engulfed in flames and burning was a lie.
“…Ghk.”
Of course, the pain clearly engraved into his mind still remained and made his body twitch, but in any case, he had done it.
It meant he had overcome this utterly dreadful trial.
“Ghh, heh heh heh.”
Something that was neither sobbing nor laughter flowed out of him on its own.
That was how difficult it had been.
He had expected it to differ somewhat from the Space of Ordeals in the game.
But this was far too much, no matter how he looked at it.
How many hours had he endured inside that blazing pit of fire?
Wasn’t this closer to torture disguised as a trial?
It had been hellishly painful, and thoughts of giving up had come to him by the second.
But he had ultimately overcome it, and the trial had ended.
Antipus was certain.
“Heh heh…”
That he had won.
No matter how much of a Supreme Heavenly Demon that man was, he would not have expected this kind of trial, and he must have either given up while writhing in hellish agony,
or failed to overcome his fear and was still suffering in the trial.
It had to be one of the two.
And so he staggered up from where he had been lying, letting out a laugh of victory.
His body, barely raised. Both arms stretched straight toward the sky, and at the same time, he roared with maniacal laughter, letting out a cry of joy.
“I… I won! Supreme Heavenly Demon! Uwahahaha!”
And then a message appeared before Antipus’s eyes.
「Trial - ‘Fear of Extreme Cold’ has begun.」
“…Huh?”
The trial was not over with just the trial of flames.
He had briefly forgotten because of the dreadful pain and difficulty, but hadn’t it been too short to say he had succeeded in the strategy?
Which meant it was difficult to predict just how many more trials remained ahead.
“…”
His two arms, stretched out powerfully, froze just like that, and bewilderment entered the expression that had been soaked in joy.
And before he could protest, what began to settle over his arms, his skin, and every single pore was cold frost.
The ice flowers of bitter cold began to bloom, using Antipus’s body as nourishment, and his entire body froze from the tips of his toes and fingers while he remained in the same cheering posture.
「Endure and overcome the fear of extreme cold.」
Around Antipus’s body as it froze, the chill of absolute cold spread thickly.
A terrible pain similar to the agony of extreme heat, yet standing at the exact opposite end.
Just before every part of his body, past his arms, legs, torso, and neck, was covered in ice—
The final words Antipus barely managed to utter by moving his frost-covered lips, which would hardly part, were:
“…F*ck.”
A curse filled with utter sincerity.