Chapter Three Hundred and Seven: New Year’s Festival 3
Just like the previous year, Karen and the rest entered from the central staircase on the second floor. She felt incomparably more at ease than she had that time—whether because she had risen in rank and become a B-rank alchemist, or because she had come to think of not just Julius but all of Ehlertt’s people as truly her own family.
Perhaps because she wasn’t so tense, she could clearly take in the scene around the hall. Or perhaps she was simply reading too much into things, but—
“There’s so much tension…”
Nearly every noble in the Ehlertt territory had been invited to the New Year’s Festival, but not all adventurers were permitted to attend. The adventurers gathered here were, if she recalled correctly, those of C-rank or above, or those holding a position of some standing, along with a few seasoned veterans who, though not necessarily powerful, knew the territorial capital’s dungeon inside and out. In other words, the friction filling this room was a mirror of the broader relationship between the nobles and adventurers of the territory.
Those nobles and adventurers sat on opposite sides of the hall, practically glaring at one another. The atmosphere had been far from pleasant at last year’s festival too, but nothing like this hostile. The adventurers had looked uncomfortable until Karen started boldly stirring things up, but the nobles had largely acted as though it was none of their concern.
This year, however, even the nobles were paying attention to the adventurers—and not in a positive way. As Karen murmured at the sight of the worsening relations between the two sides, Alise leaned in and whispered to her from behind Helfried, who was delivering the New Year’s address:
“It will be all right, Ms. Karen.”
“This is because of what I proposed last year, isn’t it? Because I suggested that the person who had contributed most to the territory that year should be made the face of the festival and painted for the portrait…”
Helfried had agreed to the rule Karen had proposed the previous year. Because of it, the portrait for this year’s New Year’s Festival would almost certainly feature Thor and the Crimson Thunder—for they were the party that had cleared the thirtieth floor of the territorial capital’s dungeon.
From the nobles’ perspective, having an adventurer as the face of the New Year was deeply unwelcome. And from the adventurers’ side, they had little patience for nobles who couldn’t bring themselves to acknowledge what adventurers had achieved.
The whispers from both sides reached Karen’s ears with perfect ease.
“It’s true that thanks to you, we were finally able to remove the former earl’s portrait, which had been displayed at every New Year Festival for years. I tried myself, but you succeeded in changing a bad custom of the Ehlertt family that I never could.”
“Lady Alise…”
Alise was telling her that not only had she done nothing wrong, but she had actually done something good for the Ehlertt family. Back then, Karen had desperately wanted Winfried’s portrait taken down and Julius’s put up in its place. She’d been given the authority to do it, so she had maneuvered things in that direction by sheer force of will. Even now, she didn’t regret it.
Even so, it pained her that her younger brother’s achievements might go uncelebrated because of it.
“We’ve already prepared a solution. Only—well, it may be a little unpleasant for you…”
“…Lady Alise?”
Alise’s eyes flickered sideways. The gesture was slightly comical, which suggested it wasn’t anything truly grave. Even so, being told something might be unpleasant made it impossible not to brace herself.
Karen looked up at her with a guarded squint, and Alise pressed a hand to her cheek, making a helpless face.
“Well, we’ve already obtained permission from the people involved. Or rather… it’s not exactly permission… Anyway, please let me explain myself afterward, all right?”
“Mr. Julius, were you asked to do something again?”
“Not me, Karen.”
Julius denied it immediately. Karen thought of him as too good-natured for his own sake—someone who had spent his life sacrificing himself to be accepted by his family. That was why he had never been able to refuse Helfried when asked. Whether he had ever even thought to refuse was another question.
To Karen, the fact that Julius had gone against Helfried’s wishes at the hunting festival had been a tremendous step forward for him.
He wouldn’t lie to her, she was sure. Karen gave a small nod and surveyed the hall. Whoever had given their permission for whatever this was—who here, besides the Ehlertt family, mattered enough to Karen that it could unsettle her?
Her gaze drifted to the adventurers’ table of honor—to the Crimson Thunder, and to Thor, their leader. He flashed her a broad, beaming smile in return.
…He looked happier than he had in years. So, probably not him?
“— And now, allow me to unveil the portrait that will be displayed at this year’s New Year’s Festival. The portrait of those who distinguished themselves most greatly in Ehlertt this past year.”
At Helfried’s declaration, the atmosphere throughout the hall froze as though every nerve had suddenly tightened. Even so, no objections came from the nobles, apparently out of pride befitting their station. They maintained their composure through sheer reason, their fists clenched tight and trembling beneath the tables.
From the adventurers’ side, however, a few snickering remarks slipped out. Some wore smug grins, while others made exaggerated faces in an attempt to provoke the nobles, behaving in a deliberately crude and confrontational manner. Although the people around them eventually stepped in and stopped them, the adventurers as a whole were not particularly well-behaved, so the nobles’ irritation was understandable. Then again, it was likely the backlash of years of being held down.
For many years running, adventurers had been the ones who cleared the dungeons, and yet they had gone on yielding the honor of those achievements to nobles. Some of them had surely endured the nobles’ mockery for it—in forms less blatant than this.
So it was only natural that the adventurers were excited by the accomplishments of Thor’s party, the same adventurers even if they were outsiders.
“The ones who contributed most to the Ehlertt territory this past year—are these individuals.”
Helfried took hold of the cloth draped over the portrait and drew it aside.
Karen’s mouth fell open.
“The three who slew the black dragon—the S-rank monster that crawled out of a collapsed dungeon, the mortal enemy of the founder of the Ehlertt Earldom, and the very source of the Bloodline Blessing that flows through the veins of our lineage—Julius Ehlertt, Licht Zenkel, and Karen!”
And there it was. Not only Julius and Licht, but between them—standing proud against the backdrop of the defeated black dragon—was Karen, rendered for some inexplicable reason with an extraordinary halo of light blazing behind her.
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