Banquet of Honors (1)

Located inside a house that has been reserved for such an important event, a grand, intricate hall is viewed inside. Branches of gorgeous chandeliers were attached to the marbled, coved ceiling that matched the liveliness of the place.

Deeper inside decorated, crystal tables which had utensils prepared beforehand were set at various places. From every corner, military personnel and guards were stationed, making the place absolutely safe from harm whether from inside or outside. There's even a huge stage at the front where the awarding would commence.

I took my seat at one of the farthest tables available, far from the main heroes and stars of the day. The guards I've joined for almost five days excused themselves to return to their station.

Even though I didn't need them, the Administration insisted on doing so, along with other invitees to the banquet, saying it was to maintain security as tight as possible.

Traveling through nations usually took a week or so but this time, with the availability of the authorities and standard procedure for important guests, it only took five working days to come here. 

Of course, I could've done this fast for one to three days at most. Not only do we have contacts from different places to ensure our transportation smooth sailing but also we have the Innkeeper.

Even so, we can't keep using his busted powers since he had fully committed them to our real base and to the Underworld. 

Now, five days have gone by without any problems so far. The Administration, the military, the academy, and the churches have done very well to keep everything at peace.

That didn't mean something wasn't going on. According to my men, the Administration has been secretly wiping out the Fiends that have been in cahoots with the people. 

Looks like while the attention of the crowd was divided among the valiant heroes of the disaster, they were also eradicating the problem at hand. Now, their top priority is to wipe these Fiends out of the place.

'Now that's something.'

Looking at my reflection at these tables as my thoughts came to a stop, I've worn proper attire for the banquet. Dark suit and bow tie, black tight pants, and a black shoe dress.

As the entrance of the grand hall opened so did the people who were invited. They were faces I recognized and most I had totally no idea about.

The place became crowded and important figures from different types of official organizations entered sometime later.

The Headmaster of the Academy of the Elites. An Archbishop of the Church Alliances. A Colonel from the Army. 

And lastly, an Inspector General of the Administration, Cayenne Forthringer had entered.

'Hah, now I can rest assured that nothing will happen.'

For a moment, I thought pretty much everyone would ignore my very existence which was pretty much the thing I would like to occur but suddenly, someone called from the side.

"Sergeant Major?"

Glancing at my side, I tilted my head and the same jovial person saluted and exclaimed.

"Reporting on duty, Sergeant Major! It's me, sir."

Looking at the guy wearing a soldier uniform, my memories swiftly worked on their own and replied after a few seconds.

"First Sergeant Lloyd?"

"Yes, sir!"

The guy named Lloyd sat down beside me and expressed a very extreme jolliness which he always did.

"Wow, sir! It's been a while. I tried to find you after the news you quit but all I see is that you are a successful businessman, ahaha" 

As if he was embarrassed, he scratched his head but still, his face was full of delight at the reunion with his superior.

But I guess that isn't the case anymore.

"Anyway, sir. I have been promoted to First Lieutenant! All your platoon has been promoted, even Lucas that hard-headed bastard! I tried searching for you to deliver this with good news but I can just never find you…"

Right, Duke indeed volunteered to participate in the war since he had no choice. Their nation was going to be attacked and every nation was the same.

He had been grouped with this bunch who had no absolute skills and were complete newbies. His skills were top-notch, rising from the rankings while leading a platoon on his own. 

Eventually, their comrades died one by one, and all that was left after the war were two broken men.

"Drop the act." I paused, "And stop trying too hard. You can relax."

Llyod stiffened up, the tip of his eyes appeared teary before smiling weakly, "Ok, sir… And, thank you. Without your teachings, I wouldn't be alive. I tried to be happy about my promotion but there's this feeling that always numbing me…"

He paused, "I was thinking that if I continued being happy, so are the others that are with us throughout those hardest times but… It's too exhausting, sir. I miss fighting everyone, really miss them so much… but without them, we wouldn't be here alive."

"Don't worry about them and worry about yourself. Wouldn't it be funny that they did everything to keep us both alive only for you to die due to depression?" I joked about it with indifference.

Llyod froze before giggling, "Yeah, right. Pff, you are still the same, sir. Your dry jokes never fail to amuse me that maybe the platoon would rise from their grave and crack?"

"And your dark humor is the same as always."

Lloyd laughed so hard as he thumped the table on his front before standing up, saluting at me once again.

"I'll take my leave now, sir. Sadly, I'm here to guard the place. If not, I would enjoyed more of the little reunion we had."

Nodding curtly, the short and blissful conversation came to an end and Llyod waved before wearing a cold expression while moving towards the backstage.

'Classic army. Promoting the people after they died. What's the purpose of the medal of honor when you die?'

It was sickening even though I was viewing everything in Duke's memories, at the same time, it was laughable.

My face grew somber, and the banquet commenced with the important figures from each organization they had sent here standing with each other on the stage.

"Greetings ladies and gentlemen, people watching this from the outside, my name is Cayenne Forthringer. Let's commence the banquet of honors, shall we?"

Now, the banquet is being broadcast. Only this time, there were no shutters from the camera and I was here right in the act.

…

The banquet went boring as expected.

I've read the timetable beforehand and it all started with a few speeches by these powerhouses, saying a lot of sophisticated words that one can make an idiot awe in astonishment.

Right now, the banquet is at the end of awarding the valiant heroes who fought bravely against the Fiends. 

The parents of a student were proud as they watched their sons and daughters on the stage, wearing heroic medals. Military personnel were awarded an honorary medal for leading his platoon against a bunch of Fiends that attacked their base. An administration officer who had been promoted after being awarded the same thing. 

It was sore to my eyes and finally, unable to contain my tiredness of how this event was going, the awarding of valiant heroes had ended.

It's time for a special award.

This special award is only dedicated to selected people who didn't belong to any official organization that attended this banquet.

And that includes me who is just a famous businessman.

"Now, we would like to call—"

Soon, they started calling a bunch of names.

A child with a very petite face stood up once her name was called with her parents on the side proudly cheering their daughter. A young man with a wooden sword came next. An old lady wearing an old gown which was assisted by her family arrived at the stage right after.

After a few more minutes of this ordeal, my name is called.

"Duke Mauberon!"

Leaving my seat behind, I felt the gaze of every human in this grand hall at me. They all have scrutinizing, analyzing, and indifferent looks on their expressions.

But I merely shrugged them off while walking without any care in the world.

"Everyone of you must've known a thing or two about the Mauberon's Travels and Good. The current leader of the company has made the brave decision to dispatch the vehicles that they have across the world to assist civilians to their shelters."

Cayenne paused as she let out a soft smile while I stepped to her front, "Truly deserving the award."

Cayenne was about to put the medal around my neck when I stopped her, grabbed the medal instead, and put it in my pocket.

My eyes darted at the Headmaster, the Archbishop, and the Colonel right beside Cayenne before turning around and facing the grand hall filled with tables and people sitting on them.

They all had weird expressions on their faces as they watched me doing that inappropriate act but I couldn't care less.

'This should be enough.'

This is a message. The implication of my action is that I don't give a fuck about their statuses and positions. Relaying to them I would not be oppressed by their overbearing powers if they tried to make a deal with me and join their factions.

This was only the message.

If they decided to think and used it to make me the bad guy, then I would be the bad guy.

I don't really care.

'So, this is all the people I had to fight, huh.'

Closing my eyes for a moment, I opened them a second later.

'Doesn't matter.'