Chapter 384 - Grateful Banquet
When we came to the thanksgiving evening, it exceeded our expectations. I mean, at one point, I even thought Raymond"s words about it being like a banquet were just a ruse to make it easier to lure Fran.
- So it really turned out to be a banquet … - I said.
Fran left my words without comment.
And there was a good reason for that, she for both cheeks absorbed all the variety of dishes that rose in front of her. Although stop, I must say about who was present here besides Fran.
These were the guests of honor, the royal family, and the heads of the clans. Fran, introducing herself to the guests, immediately attracted an avalanche of compliments about her beauty.
After that, they did not hesitate to talk to Mea and Fran, showing off their feats of arms.
Well, there"s nothing to be done, youth. And a beautiful outfit was still not only for Fran, but also for Mea. Contrasting with Fran"s blue and white dress à la Snow White, Mea"s dress was white and red.
Its design was quite bold, with bare shoulders. Considering Mea"s childish figure, her appearance was not s.e.xy, but her sweetness more than made up for this shortcoming.
By the way, at that moment I was in the form of a golden choker around Fran"s neck. Although I thought it would bring back bad memories of the slave collar, she didn’t really want to make any drama out of it. So the choker shape turned out to be a simple and successful solution for me.
Although it was not forbidden to bring weapons, and I could not invent anything, but I could not allow Fran to destroy her cute image by carrying me on her back. I wonder if I look sophisticated enough? Additionally, I decorated myself with small gold rings.
Since being on the neck, I could immediately close with a barrier both the head and the heart of Fran, the choice of this form really turned out to be very competent. Thanks to the work that Aristea had done on me, I was now able to sustain the transformation for much longer. If it doesn’t come to battles, then I’m probably enough for a few hours or something. If the party is really small, then I will stay in choker shape until the very end.
Although the eyes of many of the young guys were still fixed on Fran and Mea, almost all of them left after a short conversation. And the reason is simple - realizing that their interlocutor is stronger, and even evolved, everyone tried to disperse as soon as possible. Love is love, and lunch is on schedule.
Although I could usually understand this from afar, it seems that none of the young people dared to approach us with obscene intentions. The senior officers watched them all, smiling. Perhaps they were amused to look at the troubles of the young.
When the conversations ended, the tables began to fill with a variety of dishes. All of these dishes were truly sumptuous.
And then Fran was in the spotlight. It might sound a little rude, but everyone thought Fran was an uncouth adventurer. But, meanwhile, she showed excellent manners. Although she could be respected, at least for her strength, no one could ever imagine that she was capable of such a thing.
Even Mea was surprised. Although she was taught court etiquette from an early age, even she thought that Fran hardly knew anything about it.
- Fran, this is amazing!
- Yes. Perhaps even prettier than the young lady.
- M, yeah …
Apparently, Mea could eat without breaking any rules of etiquette.
- You can"t lose to her.
- Hmm, you"re right …
Mea nodded in agreement at Queen"s words. Of course, it was a shock for her that she could lose in the etiquette of Fran, who, firstly, is younger than her, and secondly - whatever you look at, simple and uncouth. I felt that Quina was looking at Fran with admiration.
The rest of the half-beasts were also amazed. Of course, in the Land of Half-Beasts, strong heroes are loved, so they did not look down on her before. But when Fran, in a cute dress, began to demonstrate excellent manners, not inferior even to Mea, they definitely began to look at her in a completely different way.
Considering that she was also a heroic person, the admiration with which she was looked at would have envied even the idol singers from my native j.a.pan. Hey, old man, why did you blush like that ?! And you, kid, you are not looking at her well!
Well, what to do, Fran is too charming now. They can"t help themselves but admire her. After all, to become Fran"s partner, you have to be strong enough to be able to support her.
In my opinion, among all those present, only three fell under this description. Everyone else didn"t have a chance.
The first is old General Barberam. It looks like he was one of the commanders during the defense. He was from one of the ten founding clans, the Purple Wind Elephant clan. His height exceeded 3 meters, I even at first took him for a representative of the giant race or something like that. In addition, this growth was complemented by his excellent commanding skills, and he was known as a hero warlord who had seen many battles.
And though now he looks like a gentle, smiling grandfather, in his youth he was a stern warrior known as the "Lord of Destruction."
Perhaps this would correspond to an "A" rank of an adventurer. At least stronger than G.o.dodarf. Given all this, it"s hard to believe that age has weakened him in any way. Although, of course, his physical strength is probably not at the same level as before, but he undoubtedly stands at the head of one of the strongest military forces in the country.
The next strongest was Ligdarf of the White Rhinoceros. He bears the t.i.tle of the head of the clan. Since he is Gwendarf"s father, this meant that he was the younger brother of G.o.dodarf, our opponent in the Martial Arts Tournament.
Does this mean that after G.o.dodarf left his place as head of the family for the service of the King of the Beasts, Ligdarf immediately took his place? It was hard to believe that he was as strong.
Although he was inferior to G.o.dodarf in terms of physical strength, he possessed level 5 wind magic, and his magical energy and stamina were also quite high. Did Ligdarf act wiser by choosing diversified development? After all, the Genus of the White Rhino is obviously famous for its power, and, probably, would have respected someone strong and hardy more.
Naturally, he has evolved. In addition, as a weapon, he wore not a huge ax, like G.o.dodarf, but a hexagonal two-handed mace. He was a big man with not frail muscles and a height of more than two meters, and his club was taller than the average person. Probably, on the battlefield, his figure swinging such a mace should not have a feeble influence on enemies.
But I didn"t know what he would think when he found out that Fran had defeated his older brother. Although I think, since Gwendarf knows about it, then Ligdarf could not help but find out about it … This man remained as calm as Quina, and there was no emotion on his face. Even after meeting him, I still did not understand whether he had sympathy or antipathy towards us.
Finally, our favorite is a man named Lucias Lawrence. The one who bore the name "Lawrence". He did not have many similarities with Linford, outwardly he was a very handsome man.
Given his high level of mastery of earth magic, he was undoubtedly a highly skilled magician. This fact is confirmed by the fact that he is a court magician.
Among his t.i.tles, I did not find a single "villainous", and among his skills there was not one a.s.sociated with evil. As Mea said, he seems to be a really good person.
When we met him, we didn’t have to guess what he thought about us. On the contrary, he was very polite and courteous, it was clear that he had sympathy for us. Okay, don"t raise Fran, please!
As soon as Fran took part in the conversation between Mea and Lucias, the other men quickly went about their business.
But the quiet atmosphere lasted only until new dishes for the banquet were brought. From that moment on, the party turned into a battlefield. Bosses, subordinates, young and old alike began to hunt, fiercely fighting for the right to eat.
And if the first to be served full-fledged dishes with metered portions, then as an addition, they brought huge plates of dishes so that everyone was surely full. At least it seemed to me that this was the case. Or will they continue to bring food until the next banquet? In general, in the best traditions of half-beasts, all of them, without hesitation, simultaneously pounced on food.
And Fran and Mea came out victorious here. Pus.h.i.+ng the hefty men in different directions, they broke into the very first row, collected freshly brought food, and carried them back to their places. Unable to offend little girls, hefty men could only leave the table in tears, seeing their favorite dishes disappear out of sight.
So where did we start … Yes, Fran ate food by both cheeks.
- What is delicious? I asked.
- Uh-huh!
Just please don"t stain your dress!