“..Your Majesty adores the prince very much.”

“Hmmm. Of course. He is my only son.”

The king, with an evasive cough, looked over at him and whispered quietly.

“So, by the way.. did you see it when you were arriving?”

“I saw it. It was noisy.”

“Right. I don’t know where the rumors came from, but thanks to them, the public’s opinion is very bad. So, by any chance, the prince’s innocence, in front of the citizens..”

“I decline.”

I simply refused.

I knew it would end up like this.

Somehow it actually did.

I didn’t listen to the end part, but the words coming next were obvious anyway. To do what? To guarantee the prince’s innocence in front of those madmen?

This is no less than asking me to climb the guillotine instead.

“Let’s go, guys.”

I motioned towards my teammates.

The three of them came to follow me slowly, examining the king’s and other nobles’ reaction.

“Hero, please stop.”

When I came out through the aristocratic crowd, the knights blocked my way as if they were just waiting for that.

Yeah, it was strange that there were armed knights in the banquet hall in the first place.

“I want to go out.”

“Apologies. We can’t oblige to your words.”

“I want to go out.”

“Apologies.”

They repeated the same words like a machine.

When I was pondering what to do about this, Eri opened her mouth, probably feeling uncomfortable with the knights’ attitude.

“Why? Why are you stopping us from leaving?”

“Our king’s order, my lady. We hope that you, as a daughter of the Duke of Oler will follow suit.”

“Order? What type of order is this?”

Eri frowned deeply.

“Eri, calm down. I’ll see to it.”

When things seemed to be getting worse in many ways, Neria tried to break through the knights who stood in their way.

The knights were pushed back without a hitch as she put strength into her arms and pushed them away.

Level 39, indeed.

The knights of the kingdom who were used to the peace times were no match for the lady who was tempered in dungeons.

‘She does it good.’

Just when I felt proud of seeing the knights being pushed away by a knight of mine. A towering man with a scar on one of his eyes stood in front of Neria.

“..Captain of the Knights.”

The commander of the knight legion.

Seeing him, Neria face’s hardened.

“It’s been a long time. I see, you have grown a lot.”

“Please move away.”

“I’m sorry, but no, it’s an order.”

Neria had no intention of pushing the knight commander away like the rest.

The knight commander was her teacher.

Her hands wouldn’t able to commit such an act on him.

“What are you guys doing? Clear out.”

The knights commander barked orders at the knights who were standing blankly. It was only then that the knights came to their senses and scrambled to pull Neria out. She resisted, but the strength she exerted was nowhere near her true strength.

Seeing this, Eri’s expression changed wildly.

“So you all aren’t going to stop this? You want to force us or what!?”

The jewel at the tip of Eri’s wand brightened.

The chanting must have been already completed in her mind.

She just had to aim and shoot.

Swing!

Seeing the glow of her staff, the knights drew out their swords.

The knight commander said in a low, thick voice.

“Eri Oler, lower down your wand immediately. It is an order.”

“What if I don’t?”

“Again, this is an order. If you do not comply, it will be considered treason. As you know, treason is a felony among felonies. Punishment doesn’t end with you alone. If you don’t want to harm your family, surrender.”

“These bastards..”

Eri sharpened her teeth.

And then she looked at me, asking my opinion on the matter. I, in turn, looked at Ophelia, she was secretly stretching out her hand towards the mace.

‘Oh my gosh..’

I’m carrying walking explosives with me.

I took a deep breath.

“It is the last warning. Lower down your wand..”

“Halt.”

[Strength in Numbers]-!

* * *

The confrontation between Cloud and the knights had turned tense. The staff brightened with a piercing light, and the blades drawn by the knights glinted with sharpness.

It would not be strange for a fight to break out at any moment.

“It is the last warning. Lower down your wand..”

The commander of knights opened his mouth to warn in his characteristic gruff voice, when–

“Halt.”

A cold voice echoed.

[Strength in Numbers]-!

Along with ‘fear’, the mana woven together scattered like mist.

Everyone present in the banquet hall froze and stiffened. The body, crushed by the psychological pressure, ceased movement all together.

No matter how much these knights were feared, they were ultimately but knights of one of the many kingdoms.

Cloud, who had been steadily leveling up, had long surpassed their level. The [Strength in Numbers], without any issue imposed ‘fear’ status on all of them.

Some of them could no longer even look directly at Cloud, they had to bow their heads.

Cloud turned to the King.

“Your Majesty. Since ancient times, a hero is the one who protects the weak from ferocious demons and evils. He holds a sword, not a brush, and it can be seen from actions instead of words. So..”

Don’t make me use my sword.

Cloud spoke in an almost impassive tone, making the king swallow his saliva and barely nod his head.

Cloud confirmed his actions and turned around again to shake off the knights in front of him. They were pushed back more easily than when Neria pushed them away. When the knights were pushed away, the figure of the commander of knights was revealed again.

Cloud asked as he made eye contact with the stiff commander of knights.

“Are you sure you won’t hold resentment for something like this?”

“..Yes.”

“Good luck.”

Cloud smiled and walked out of the palace with his stiff teammates.

* * *

“Hero-sama. The Archbishop is waiting for you.”

“Huh..”

I smirked.

As soon as we came out of the palace, a certain priest appeared, saying that the archbishop was waiting for me and asked me to follow in turn.

Normally, this would have been a minor issue, but with what I had just experienced, it felt very significant.

“I can’t, I need some rest. I’m tired too, we can do this later.”

So, I refused.

I ignored the priest and proceeded to find an inn. The priest then panicked, and came running, blocking my way.

Goodness, do I need to face this repertoire again?

I even turned to look at Ophelia, because the only option I saw to remove this priest out of my way was violence. Feeling my gaze on her, she smiled benevolently and approached the priest.

“Brother. The hero is feeling deeply tired from the arduous journey. I will tell the Archbishop ab–”

“Hero, please listen. This is an invitation from the Archbishop directly to you, the hero.”

“Brother?”

“No matter what, you can’t refuse so harshly, please.”

“Brother??”

The priest kept on begging me to accept the Archbishop’s invitation. He didn’t care for shit what Ophelia was saying standing next to him.

‘Is it okay to ignore the words of the saintess candidate so bluntly?’

Is it?

I looked at Ophelia for the answer.

Ophelia’s smile began to crack.

Doesn’t matter how much understanding Ophelia is, it seems she can’t stand the fact that her subordinate kept ignoring her own words.

Just when I was expecting to end this farce, the priest took a deep breath and looked around cautiously. After confirming that no one extra was there, he carefully pried open his mouth.

“You must come. Hero, this matter is related to you, and important.”

“Important, to me? And exactly what is that?”

“The Archbishop wants to replace the candidacy of saintess.”

The priest said with a lot of weight in his tone.

The moment I heard those words, I was like, ‘Why?’. When I was traveling alone, you were letting it happen quite fine, so why now?

Moreover, why now of all times?

No, is it even possible to change the candidacy of a saintess by an archbishop alone?

“Hiccup.”

A sudden hiccup sound interrupted my thoughts.

I turned my head in the direction of the sound.

Ophelia’s complexion was pale.

“Ophelia? Are you fine-”

“Hiccup.”

Alright, she was not fine.