"What's going on?"
Alia heard the commotion and walked over to the balcony rail to look down.
They saw a handsome man in formal clothes break past the servants' blockade and rush into the plaza in front of the hall, heading straight for the main doors of Blue Lake Hall, clearly trying to crash the banquet.
He didn't get far.
A boot shot out of the shadows and slammed straight into his stomach.
"Guh—!"
The man flew backward, hit the ground hard, rolled twice, and was immediately pinned down by the servants who rushed in on him.
"I told you not to force your way in. Why go looking for a beating?"
One of the servants sighed and shook his head.
"Let me go! Let me in!"
"I know Miss Hera!"
"I'm begging you—go get Miss Hera for me, we're in love with each other, we're of one heart!"
Even after getting kicked and coughing blood, the man didn't seem to care about his injuries at all. He just kept hacking and pleading at the same time.
"This is a restricted banquet venue, all the guests here are distinguished. You think you can come and go as you please?"
The guard who'd kicked him snorted coldly.
"Drag him out. Don't disrupt the order here." He gave the command, and the servants moved to haul the man away.
Hearing that he was about to be thrown out after all the trouble he'd gone through to sneak in, the man's pale face went even whiter.
As they dragged him toward the exit, he thrashed with everything he had, squirming like a maddened worm in their grip and screaming at the top of his lungs.
"Hera!!!"
"Hera!!!"
"I'm begging you, come out and see me just once!"
Up on the balcony, Gauss and the others traded looks.
What on earth…?
"That guy's really… committed," Gauss said, not quite sure how to evaluate what he was seeing.
Honestly, he couldn't really understand people who were "deeply in love" like that. In his past life and this one, he'd always been the type to put "career" first.
Love, to him, was a seasoning, not a staple.
"If this were a story, I'd say he's the poor lover being torn away by the girl's father," Alia couldn't help guessing softly, a little heartbroken. "It's kind of pitiful…"
It reminded her of the old romance stories she used to read—two people sincerely in love, forcibly separated because of their difference in family background. Classic trope in any world.
And art always comes from reality.
They weren't the only ones watching. Quite a few guests had stepped out into the garden for fresh air and to sober up; hearing the noise, they all turned to watch.
The man stopped struggling for a breath when his eyes suddenly caught sight of a lady in a pale green gown near the entrance.
He went wild.
With a burst of brute strength that startled even the servants, he tore his arms free.
Like a cornered animal, he lurched toward her, eyes locked on the woman in green.
"Hera! Come with me! Tell them—we love each other!"
His hoarse roar cut straight through the music drifting out from the banquet hall, ringing clearly across half the courtyard.
Every spectator's gaze snapped to the woman being called "Hera".
She'd been standing with several elegantly dressed ladies, half-hiding behind them, hoping not to be seen. She hadn't expected his eyesight to be that good.
In an instant, her expression turned both awkward and faintly ashamed.
Up on the balcony, Gauss frowned slightly as he glanced down.
If he wasn't mistaken, that woman…
Forget it. None of my business.
Seeing she couldn't avoid it, Hera walked forward.
Facing the man's burning, desperate eyes, her own expression cooled.
"Gentlemen, I don't know this man," she said evenly. "Please remove him."
Her words hit him like a thunderbolt. His pupils dilated in disbelief.
"You really mean to deny everything we had?"
The man fumbled into his coat and pulled out a delicate embroidered handkerchief—clearly the sort noblewomen carried—and right in the center was the crest of a merchant house, stitched bright and clear.
Hera's face darkened.
She hadn't expected him to still be carrying that token of status.
So he had come prepared.
Her lips parted, then a flare of anger shot up in her chest.
"You shameless bastard. You still have the nerve to come see me? If my people hadn't uncovered the truth back then, how many women were you planning to keep on the side with my money?"
"And now that you've blown through it all, you come crawling back to cling to me?"
Her cheeks flushed—whether from anger or humiliation was hard to say.
She lifted her leg and drove the heel of her shoe into his side.
Those slender heels stabbed down over and over until blood seeped through his shirt.
Only when she'd vented enough to soothe the bile in her chest did she turn away, refusing to look at his wounded, lovesick eyes.
"Get lost. I'm in love with Sir Gauss now."
"Gauss… heh. In what way am I worse than him?" the man laughed bitterly.
On the balcony, Gauss—who'd been casually leaning on the rail to watch the drama—suddenly froze.
What are you two doing, and why am I getting dragged into it?
"Heehee…" Alia, who had been watching the show right beside him, turned with an absolutely wicked grin.
"Not watching anymore. Boring," Gauss said and stepped away from the railing.
Here he'd thought it was some tragic star-crossed romance. Turns out it was just another messy rich-people scandal.
The pretty boy takes the rich woman's money and then uses it to keep mistresses on the side.
And now he'd somehow gotten name-dropped in the middle of it.
He silently decided that from now on, he'd be keeping his distance from the noble ladies with too much money and too much time.
Just remembering the demure, soft-spoken woman in that green dress raising a glass to him earlier made him shiver.
A young man has to protect himself in this world.
The interlude passed, and the banquet went on.
People had fresh gossip to chew on.
More than a few noble ladies spent the rest of the night combing the hall trying to track down the newly vanished Gauss.
But with Gauss actively avoiding them, normal people had no chance of finding him.
He didn't show himself again until near the end of the evening, just long enough to exchange a few polite words with the town head, the local guildmaster, and some bigwigs—then he slipped out of Blue Lake Hall at speed.
Those who rushed out after him to invite him into their carriages only caught a glimpse of the tail end of his cloak. By the time they reached the garden, the courtyard was empty.
There was no sign of him in the cool night wind.
A little ways outside town, Gauss and his teammates drifted down from the sky and landed on the dirt road.
As long as no one saw him cast anything, there wouldn't be consequences. Technically speaking.
"Never again. I'm done with these things," Gauss muttered, shaking his head.
They called it a celebration feast, but in reality it was just one massive matchmaking mixer.
He'd been the prime cut on the table, and everyone wanted a bite.
And it wasn't as if he'd seen a single woman in there he'd truly want as a wife.
…
The next day.
The various "fun events" adventurers could join on Blue Lake were being held one after another.
Gauss had no interest in any of them.
Those games really were just for entertainment; the prizes were average at best.
He'd already snagged the only title that mattered—the top prize in the hunting competition. That was enough.
No need to hog every spotlight.
Having learned his lesson at last night's banquet, Gauss had no intention of drawing out his stay at Lakeside Town.
He was already getting ready to leave.
Before the banquet ended, he'd already talked with the town head and the guildmaster about collecting his reward.
He'd need to go to Fishsong Town.
As the largest and wealthiest of the five towns, Fishsong Town sponsored most of the prizes.
The so-called "Blessing of the Lake God" ceremony was also held where the Talna River met Blue Lake.
It was a trip he had to make.
Under many watching eyes, Gauss and his party moved quickly through Lakeside Town and out to the fields.
He drew in a long breath of fresh air, and his expression eased into a smile.
Compared to wine, flattery, and crowded halls, open sky and dirt under his boots were far more his style.
He felt that more clearly than ever.
Fishsong Town and Lakeside Town sat at opposite ends of Blue Lake—north and south—and of all five lake towns, they were the farthest apart.
Getting there wasn't something you could do in a single day's travel.
Even with a dragon, Hephaestus' stamina wasn't good enough yet to haul five people all the way there in one flight.
They'd have to fly in stages—take off, land, rest, and maybe kill some monsters on the way.
"Take off!"
With a sweep of crimson wings, the dragon climbed into the sky.
The wilderness below shrank away as Hephaestus banked toward the direction of Fishsong Town.
…
Three days later.
Gauss and the others slid down off the dragon's back.
In the distance, a port town's silhouette had come fully into view.
Fishsong Town.
Strictly speaking, if they hadn't kept stopping, they wouldn't have needed three full days. But whenever Gauss looked down from the sky through the Eagle-Eye Monocle and spotted a decently sized monster nest, he insisted on dropping down to clear it out.
Afterward, they'd have to rest, so their progress slowed somewhat.
Even so, it was still faster than traveling on foot or by normal mount.
That's the natural advantage of a flying mount.
On the side, during these three days, Gauss had grabbed whatever time he could to teach Hephaestus how to pronounce a few more basic elemental syllables.
Electricity, wind, water.
Except for "water," which the dragon was having trouble with, the other two he'd gotten the hang of.
Gauss figured the day Hephaestus started learning actual cantrips wasn't far off.
He planned to expand its vocabulary with a few more simple syllables and then move on to teaching it Firebolt.
With red dragon blood in its veins, Hephaestus showed clear talent with flames.
He hadn't been using dragon-taught fire very long, yet the flames he called out were already stronger than Gauss' own.
That bloodline certainly gave a hefty bonus to fire affinity.
Even if it didn't open its jaws to breathe a full dragon's flame, just summoning a mass of raw flame via dragon speech would be more than enough to roast most low-level monsters.
He dismissed the weary Hephaestus back into the bag to sleep.
The group then mounted their land steeds and rode up the gentle slope toward the busy town crouched at the junction of the Talna River and Blue Lake.
Compared to Lakeside Town's calm and picturesque scenery, Fishsong Town's first impression was bustle and crowding.
A massive stone-and-timber dock stretched out from the shore and far into the wide water.
The forest of masts rising from moored ships was staggering—cargo barges, fishing boats, river traders, all packed in tight.
The town's buildings were taller, too: solid stone and dark timber structures built to withstand the constant damp and the winds off the lake and river.
The streets were choked with people and pack beasts loaded with bulging goods.
"No wonder… Ansel said most of the previous hunting champions came from Fishsong Town."
If not for his appearance as a wild card, this year's title would almost certainly have gone to Fishsong too.
No wonder Fishsong Town was willing to foot the bill for the prize pool. In the end, it was just money circulating back to themselves.
This was where the most adventurers and merchants gathered. Hosting such an event could only bring them profit.
"Right, that Her… Her…" Alia suddenly remembered something.
"Herbert," Gauss supplied.
"Yeah, him. The guy who used to be first. I heard he's from Fishsong Town—the Town Head's son, no less." She slapped her forehead. "We should watch our step, right? Local prince and all that."
"He got his score wiped. He might take it out on us instead—pull some underhanded trick."
"Surely not, right?" Gauss frowned. "And the guild is watching. They wouldn't let them get away with anything too blatant."
"Still, better careful than sorry."
He didn't think a normal person would blame him for what happened—Gauss hadn't done anything to him—but a little wariness never hurt. He decided to keep his guard up.
Pick up the winnings and get out.
Then they could return to their "rural training tour" and push that Total Monster Kill count to 10,000.
He hadn't been in town long when a squad of soldiers in matching dress uniforms appeared ahead of them, lined up in a neat, formal formation.
"Warmest welcome to Sir Gauss, upon his arrival in Fishsong Town!"
"Applause!!"
The crowd lining the street broke into thunderous applause.
…Okay, this was a surprise.
Gauss had been braced for possible petty retaliation.
Instead, the welcome committee was this over-the-top.
…
On a small estate outside Fishsong Town.
A man in bright silver light armor shoved the courtyard gate open with a bang.
"That's enough. I've been confined here for days. I'm going back into town."
He called out toward the outside.
"You can't, young master. The lord gave strict orders. Without his permission, you're not allowed to leave the grounds."
An old voice floated back from not far away.
"And if I insist?"
"The lord said that if you set one foot outside this courtyard, then from that moment on he'll cut you off. No more training resources. Ever."
That stopped Herbert in his tracks.
His expression flickered between fury and fear as he clenched his jaw, but in the end, he did not take another step.
He slammed the gate shut instead.
He knew his father. The man doted on him, yes, but once he'd made up his mind, there was no bending him.
When Herbert was a child, he'd begged and cried for days for a puppy, even though the doctors had warned that his older sister's illness required that she avoid dogs entirely.
In the end, his father had bought the puppy.
Then snapped its neck in front of him.
He'd learned then: when his father got that look on his face, pushing back was a very bad idea.
He knew very well that becoming a level 5 warrior at his age was not just talent and effort. It was the steady stream of resources the family pumped into him from their control of Fishsong's trade.
"Damn it…"
"It was all supposed to be mine…"
A heavy thump sounded as his fist slammed into a table inside the courtyard.
Outside, an old man stared at the courtyard wall with a carefully blank face, as if he could see the young master inside raging in useless frustration.
If even he, the old butler, could see through Herbert's thinking, how could the old lord not?
It wasn't hard to guess what was going on in that hotheaded brain: timing his sulking and scheming, waiting for the very day that Gauss would have to come to Fishsong to collect his prize.
Except… that boy wasn't just any Level 5.
Remembering the lord's repeated warnings, and the envoys from the guild who'd come by to quietly "remind" them—along with the few bits of information they'd shared about Gauss—the old butler knew exactly how serious things were.
What was a local snake next to a dragon from the sky?
The gap between the two was bigger than the gap between man and dog.
In this world, the Adventurers' Guild was one of the most terrifying forces in existence. And a young rising star they'd set their eyes on?
That was definitely not someone a little town lord's son could afford to provoke.
Losing his place in a small local competition was nothing. Offending that sort of man was courting disaster.
The butler murmured under his breath, expression still impassive.
"My poor young master Herbert… just stay in your yard and reflect."
"You have to understand—there are some people in this world you have to bow your head to."
~~~
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