Chapter Three Hundred and Two: Award Ceremony (Gottfried’s POV)
“The winner of this hunting festival is—Julius Ehlertt!”
The moment Helfried made the announcement, those from the Ehlertt territory who were present raised cheers of joy.
Gottfried watched the fervor from a location away from the crowd, together with Alban and other knights.
“I’m proud that Master Julius is from Ehlertt.”
“Indeed…! It is an honor to serve in the same Order of Knights as him…!”
Alban was openly crying tears of joy with his face buried in his arms without a care in the world. According to Julius’s information, the blame for the abnormal behavior of the monsters was supposed to be pinned on Alban. But Alban was happy all the same; that’s how special the black dragon—the monster that Julius had slain together with Licht—was to the locals.
“If he weren’t the fiancé of Miss Karen, to whom we owe a debt of gratitude, I would have pushed my sister on him as a fifth or even sixth wife.”
When someone muttered this, Alban’s shoulders slumped in dejection.
“Miss Karen would never look kindly on that.”
“From what I heard, Miss Karen refused to even allow Master Julius to take a wife of the lowest rank.”
“Hmm. They say common women are jealous, and it seems she is no exception. Though she doesn’t seem narrow-minded—”
“Watch your tongue when speaking of Miss Karen. She has become a benefactor to me personally as well. Depending on the case, you may have to duel with me.”
At Alban’s warning, the knights hastily straightened their postures.
The medallion the suspected culprit behind the monsters’ abnormal behavior had in his possession was made of scarletite alloy. Only an A-Rank blacksmith could work with such an alloy. Engraved upon such an item was the crest of the Court Viscounty—Alban’s family.
Since it was hard to believe that some A-rank blacksmith would go to the trouble of maliciously using their exceptional skills to forge the Court Viscounty’s crest, there was a high possibility that it was the very medallion created by the A-rank blacksmith founder who established the Court Viscounty.
It was a precious treasure of the family. Alban hadn’t even been aware that it had been stolen at some point. If such an item were found in the possession of someone believed to be the culprit, the Court Viscounty—and Alban—wouldn’t be able to escape suspicion.
Karen judged that this wasn’t done with the Court Viscounty’s involvement and extracted the incriminating medallion from the culprit’s possession.
Gottfried thought this was an overreach of authority, but he had no intention of blaming her. Otherwise, he wouldn’t have involved Karen from the start.
Julius would only approve of everything Karen did, and Helfried was soft with family. Therefore, Karen was now sleeping peacefully without being blamed for the crime of stealing evidence.
“Since we owe her a debt, rather than Miss Karen, we should get her a second or third husband—”
“Ahem.”
Gottfried cut off Alban’s words with a quick clearing of his throat.
Many had witnessed the light from heaven pouring down on the tent, but most misunderstood that the destination of that light was Julius.
However, Gottfried and the knights knew the truth. Therefore, Gottfried corrected Alban’s misunderstanding to avoid confusion:
“The one who’s jealous and narrow-minded is rather Master Julius, you lot. Even at this distance, he could probably hear. If you don’t want to make an enemy of the black dragon slayer, watch your words.”
“Master Julius is a noble, so his awareness must be different from that of the commoner Miss Karen.”
“He should understand the obligations and rights of the strong.”
“No—”
Gottfried tried to continue his words but fell silent and looked toward the award ceremony.
It wasn’t that he heard any sound that caught his attention.
Rather, he simply realized that everything had become eerily quiet.
It was so quiet that, by listening carefully, Gottfried could hear their voices all the way from where he stood.
“Julius, I have no intention of forcing you, of course.”
Helfried was restraining Julius.
Standing before Julius were the senior vassals of the Ehlertt Earldom and their noble daughters.
Even from afar, the young ladies looked on the verge of tears, while the vassals glared in reproach. It was obvious what had happened.
“It seems Master Julius has declined a marriage proposal.”
“In this place…”
Alban’s awkward expression stemmed from the fact that such an act was deeply insulting to the vassals and their daughters.
The marriage proposals were gestures of respect acknowledging Julius’s stature, while the offered young ladies should have added elegance to the celebratory mood.
If he had brushed them aside, it was only natural that the festive atmosphere had fallen silent as if water had been poured on it. If he wanted to decline, there were ways to gently refuse at a later date. Helfried also seemed to be warning Julius about this.
“However, as a member of the Ehlertt Earldom, you must show respect to the offers from vassals who pledge loyalty to us. At least considering it for a moment—”
“If I don’t even momentarily consider marriage to a woman other than Karen, can I not remain a member of the Ehlertt Earldom?”
Julius’s question was heard quite clearly across the distance. There was nothing strange in his tone. It was simply the voice of someone asking a question.
There was no agitation, no anger, no sarcasm.
It wasn’t even a threat.
Depending on the answer to that question, Julius was about to take some action.
It was just a simple question conveying only that—yet even from a distance, Helfried visibly caught his breath and denied Julius’s question:
“—No. For such a trifling matter, you would not cease to be a member of the Ehlertt Earldom. However, I will scold you later.”
“I see. Then, please scold me later, Brother Helfried.”
Julius said this as if relieved.
That relief seemed so genuine that even Gottfried felt a chill down his spine, so Helfried, though not showing it on his face, was probably breaking out in cold sweat.
Julius had probably considered leaving the Ehlertt Earldom. Not so much because he didn’t want to show respect to the senior vassals—but because he didn’t want to show even for an instant that he was interested, in order to protect the pride of the young girls standing before him.
“…Hmm. Miss Karen seems to be an exceptionally possessive woman.”
“Miss Karen is sleeping right now. That has nothing to do with her wishes. It’s Master Julius’s own will.”
While saying this to Alban, Gottfried began to get a headache. He felt as if he were looking at his past self in a mirror.
Julius, who had moved to stand beside the black dragon’s corpse, spoke:
“I defeated the black dragon, but this black dragon was aged. This subjugation doesn’t necessarily indicate that my strength has reached that of Ehlertt’s great founder. However, it should serve as proof of my strength to some extent.”
Regardless of whether the black dragon was aged, there was no way Julius’s proof of strength could be dismissed as merely "to some extent.”
Everyone present was captivated by that proven strength, admired it, and believed it would be dedicated to Ehlertt.
“I offer my entire share of this prey I have won to Alchemist Karen. Therefore, this year’s hunting festival Queen is Karen, correct, Brother?”
“Ah, yes.”
“Good. Actually, I was just told by your secretary that since someone not present cannot be made the hunting festival Queen, I should dedicate my prey to another woman, and I was wondering what to do…”
Helfried’s face was visibly twitching.
Gottfried also considered what Julius would have done if he hadn’t obtained Helfried’s approval.
If told that the winner absolutely had to dedicate his prey to one of the women present, Julius might have stepped down from the winner’s seat and even disposed of the valuable material that was the black dragon—but Gottfried shook his head at this thought.
He wouldn’t have gone so far as to dispose of valuable materials that he could give to Karen.
—In the end, the problem led back to Karen, and Gottfried frowned.
“Unfortunately, Karen was injured as a party member in the black dragon subjugation and could not attend this occasion due to recuperation. I appreciate your consideration of this point, Brother.”
Most of those present probably didn’t believe Julius’s words that Karen was a subjugation member, but everyone behaved themselves and didn’t point it out.
“Not everyone present will participate in the New Year’s festival. So now, I’ll take this opportunity to inform everyone in advance. I plan to announce my engagement to Alchemist Karen at the New Year’s festival—therefore, I want to dedicate everything to her.”
When Julius said this and smiled happily, cheers rose again as if people had just remembered to do so.
It occasionally happened that those about to enter a love marriage became carried away and behaved rudely, so while his earlier breach of etiquette would likely leave a poor impression on the vassals and their daughters, it would not become a serious issue.
Dedicating one’s prey to the woman of one’s affections as a hunting festival participant was also a common practice.
The problem was that Julius’s words sounded as if he were declaring that he would dedicate to Karen, not Ehlertt, both the strength that defeated the black dragon and everything else.
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