After splitting up with Maizar, Kyle started looking for Minagi. There were countless things he wanted to ask, such as why she was here, what she was doing, and many more, but she had completely vanished from the banquet hall. The Minagi Kyle knew was humanfolk’s strongest and most skilled assassin. If she was participating in a banquet of these government officials and higher-ups, she had to be plotting something.

I’d like to ask just why exactly she’s here, but..what if it’s because of her job?

If she was here for assassination, then..who? And for what reason? If Kyle found out about that, should he intervene, or let her continue? And, if her target turned out to be him..

“Yo, done talking over there?”

As Kyle was lost in thought, flashing a complicated expression, Seran called out to him with a nonchalant tone. Judging from that, he probably ran away from his conversation with Angela because things became too awkward. As they had known each other for years, Kyle knew that all too well.

“Yeah..What about you, finally freed from that princess? Seemed as if she took a liking to you, right,” Kyle said, remembering Angela’s attitude.

“Guess so. Though she asked me for something.” Seran responded with a somewhat exhausted tone, letting out a sigh.

“Asked you for something? Just what..Uh, is something wrong?”

There, Kyle realized that something about Seran was odd. He didn’t look different, but while carrying food to his mouth, he seemed cautious of his surroundings, and he emitted hostility to a point only Kyle could realize.

“..I just felt a weird gaze, is all.” He looked around, as his face tensed up.

“Officials of the Empire, right?” Kyle lowered his volume while being conscious of the people around them.

Kyle and his group are emissaries from Zilgus, a country that was the Empire’s hypothetical enemy. Together with them being supervised so as they wouldn’t cause any trouble, they were probably watched from afar for any possible suspicious behavior. At the same time, they were with the VIPs of Zilgus, so the fact that they were participating in this banquet was enough to gather attention.

“I get that the guys from the Empire are supervising us and that the others are giving us curious gazes. That’s no problem. It was close to hostility, but not really, and something similar to ill intent, but also not quite..it’s hard to put into words, and I don’t like it.” Seran rubbed his neck, explaining with a displeased tone.

Kyle looked around, this time a lot more cautious than before. The scenery of the banquet hall with random noises and the band gently playing a tune has yet to change. However, Seran, whose senses are sharper than Kyle’s, may have caught on to something else. Minagi’s face popped up in his mind, but he erased that and spoke up.

“We are official visitors here, so if something were to happen to us, they will have to take the responsibility. As long as we don’t do anything weird, we’ll be just fine.”

“It’s easy to mess up something, you know.”

“Don’t jinx it..” Kyle sighed.

“Oh yeah, were you looking for someone just now?” Seran gave up on thinking about it and changed the topic.

“Yeah, did you see a woman like this?” Kyle told Seran the rough appearance of Minagi, and knowing Seran’s gaze for women, he may have seen her around. “She called herself Rona, but..Oi, what’s that weird gaze about?”

Seran’s hand carrying food to his mouth abruptly stopped, and he gave Kyle a gaze of disbelief.

“You got hit on? Think about your own position damn it.”

“I don’t want to hear that from you of all people..That’s not it, I was just..curious about her, I guess?” Unable to confess that she was an assassin, Kyle had to deliver a more awkward explanation.

“Oh, a beauty you’re interested in? Well, maybe you should explain that to her, not me.”

Right as Kyle suffered an awful premonition because of Seran’s words, he turned around and saw Lieze with a bright smile on her face. Naturally, her eyes weren’t smiling, and Kyle immediately knew he messed up.

“Um..since when were you there?”

“Around the time you were passionately looking for a beauty.” She answered, still smiling.

“No, this is a misunderstanding! I am interested in her, but not in that way..Ouch! D-Don’t pull me like this!”

“Yeaaaah, whatever, let’s discuss this in more detail over there.”

Right as Kyle was thinking that Lieze was fairly docile recently, she now grabbed his ear, pulling him with her. After that, Urza joined the two, equally displeased after hearing the details, as well as Shildonia enjoying the scenery, and Kyle was relentlessly lectured about his lack of awareness of hero mentality, which lasted long until the middle of the night.

The following day, the negotiations between the two countries continued with the same parallel lines from the previous day. The Galgan Empire was dead-set on having Zilgus carry the blame, and Zilgus pressed their innocence. The threat of war sadly didn’t work for a larger country like Zilgus, and Kirlen plus Orgis were experienced enough to not be forced by Eldorand’s pressure.

Naturally, red-eared Kyle participated in the vent as well, but there was no room for him to even speak up. If he had known about this, he should have just stayed with Lieze and the others, away from this hellish battlefield. It didn’t end with just the incident at Callan, but they soon brought up the annulled engagement with Princess Milena and Maizar, it was a dirty meeting really. And, this arrowhead was now pointed towards Kyle.

“We’ve confirmed the involvement of demons, but did this man really defeat them?”

One of the vassals of the Empire let out obvious provocation aimed at Kyle.

“I see, there is a chance that Aluzard-dono had dealt with the demons, and then was attacked in a moment of weakness..Or maybe they left him to die after he suffered severe injuries.”

Another vassal agreed, requesting proof that Aluzard had truly died in a fight against the demons.

“We’ve been over this, he is the person who saved Milena-dono, so he possesses the strength needed.” Kirlen immediately jumped to Kyle’s defense.

“No no no, he mentioned that he possessed strength rarely seen in human folk, but simply accepting it without a single doubt is impossible.”

“Indeed, he can say whatever he wants without any proof. Defeating a demon should not be that easy.” Eldorand followed up.

However, since Kyle was sleep-deprived after the long lecture the previous night, and because he thought his job was over, his reaction was belated.

“Oh, so if he can show his strength that could defeat demons, there would be no problem, yes?”

Before Kyle could comment on that, Orgis spoke up. Almost like he had been eagerly waiting for that.

“..That being said, how do we make him prove it?” Eldorand wouldn’t let him take back his words at all.

“In regards to that, don’t we have the perfect opportunity for that? The Great Martial Arts Festival is happening right now. If he could manage to seize victory in that festival..then that would prove his actual skill, yes?”

Orgis was talking about the large Great Martial Arts Festival happening soon to celebrate the founding of the Empire. Many countries have such tournaments, but the Empire offered prize money and other objects, but not only for winners. If you achieve good results, you might even enter government service. As a result of that, hundreds of participants from all over the continent would gather, making it the biggest martial arts festival in the entire world.

“Still, the preliminaries have already started..”

It would be a tournament of 32 people, and the qualifying round was currently being held.

“Oh? The preliminaries would only select 24 fighters, and the others will be chosen by recommendation, and past achievements, yes? A reputable prince like you should be able to add a certain fighter if you wished for it, right?” Orgis grinned, to which Eldorand clicked his tongue.

“..I don’t mind if you recommend him as a representative of Zilgus.” Kirlen saw Eldorand’s expression and added that after Orgis. “Or can someone of the imperial family not even influence the festival to such a small level? Maybe you are afraid that Zilgus will win your own festival?” This time, Orgis was the one provoking.

“..Very well, I will accept that condition.”

Having come this far, Eldorand could not back down, obviously. The Galgan Empire prided itself on possessing the strongest and most extensive military power in all of humanfolk, and this also goes for individual strength. They couldn’t let another country step on their honor when it came to the Martial Arts Festival.

“However, we will also prepare a participant. In the event that this man cannot win the overall tournament, you will take all the blame, yes?”

His words basically meant that now that they’ve reached this point, the people from Zilgus should be prepared for everything.

“Yes, of course. The Kingdom of Zilgus will accept this condition.” Kirlen said with no hesitation.

“Then, let us enjoy the Martial Arts Festival.” Eldorand practically declared this meeting over, as she stood up.

“....Huh?”

Kyle had missed his timing to comment, and by the time he let out a yawn, the meeting had already ended.