This was the second time Bloed came to the palace, and he still thought it was a bit too extravagant.
He could not understand how the beastmen could endure having this showy golden pyramid as their palace.
Doing his best to ignore the extravagant structure, Bloed descended from the carriage followed by Liu Ying and Regina.
"Mr. Bloed, Miss Liu Ying, Miss Regina, welcome." A servant received them with a bow and extended his hand towards the entrance of the palace. "Follow me, please."
The group of three nodded.
Tonight, Bloed was wearing a long blue robe with a blue shirt below it. This robe was prepared by the beastmen for tonight's banquet, and Bloed had to admit it fitted pretty well with his blue eyes and blue hair.
He felt a bit uncomfortable with it, though. He had become used to using the human confederation's style of clothing that consisted of shirts and jeans or pants, so now that he was using a robe all of sudden, Bloed felt a bit odd.
Even so, Bloed had been a prince once, so this was not his first time wearing this kind of clothes. Thanks to that, he quickly got used to it.
Liu Ying and Regina were dressed similarly, Liu Ying with a short-sleeved white robe plus a red skirt and Regina with a white dress-like robe plus a golden hairpin that accented her golden eyes.
The two girls were so beautiful that they stole the breath of all the men that saw them. Unfortunately for them, the two girls only showed interest in the young man they were accompanying.
When the three of them entered the palace, a servant announced their entrance loudly.
"Mr. Bloed Norman, Miss Regina Norman, and Miss Liu Ying!"
Immediately, all the gazes in the banquet were directed towards them.
This time, though, the gazes were a bit different than the gazes they received the last time they came to the palace.
Last time, the gazes they received were mostly curious and inquisitive, some even with a bit of hostility.
But this time, the gazes were filled with excitement, recognition, and admiration.
In fact, several beastmen took the initiative to greet them of their own accord, completely different than last time when they were completely isolated.
Bloed even saw several beastmen girls winking at him and blushing slightly when they met his gaze.
At that moment, several people walked through the crowd towards them.
"Captain, you are here!"
Rana, followed by Rhone, and Aya greeted them with a lively smile.
"Guys, you are already here." Bloed greeted back.
"We arrived a bit before you, captain," Rana smirked. She then looked at Liu Ying and grinned. "Ying Ying, you are so beautiful tonight."
Black lines formed on Bloed's forehead. This girl...
"Rana, stop flirting with someone's else girlfriend."
"Why? If you are jealous, I can be your girlfriend as well. I don't mind it."
"But I do." Liu Ying rolled her eyes exasperated. "Rana, stop joking about that. Can't you see that Rhone is about to cry?"
Rana shrugged indifferently, "He can cry if he wants. What does that have to do with me?"
Bloed and Liu Ying looked at each other and shook their heads helplessly.
It was not a secret that Rhone liked Rana. In fact, the batkin could not be more obvious. But for some reason, Rana did not seem to like him.
Bloed thought that their relationship had become closer after they relied on each other to survive Atai's chase, but now it seemed that Rhone still needed to work a lot more.
"You have it hard, friend." Bloed patted the batkin's shoulder, making him smile bitterly.
At that moment, Bloed looked at the last member of the group, Aya.
Tonight, Aya was wearing a black sleeveless dress with a red rose on her chest. She seemed like a child-sized doll that anyone would want to hug.
She was staring at the ground the entire time, not daring to meet Bloed and the others' gazes. Perhaps she was embarrassed due to her clothes.
Smiling softly, Bloed walked towards her.
"Aya, how are you?"
"... T-That is… I'm alright… M-My injuries are mostly healed."
"Is it so? I'm glad." Bloed said sincerely. "Right, you are very beautiful tonight. I'm sure many young men will be smitten by you."
A red cloud appeared on Aya's cheeks. The cloud quickly spread until her ears, making her entire face red.
She was so cute that Bloed wanted to take a bite of her.
Seeing her blushing like a tomato, Rana smirked and snickered.
"It looks like you have a fever, Aya."
*Poof!*
Bloed thought he could see smoke coming from her head.
Unfortunately, Bloed could not enjoy Aya's embarrassed look too much. After all, just that compliment made Regina and Liu Ying look at him vigilantly.
Although to be honest, none of them seemed too much against the cat girl. Perhaps because Aya risked her life to protect Bloed and Liu Ying more than once when Bloed was unconscious.
The group of six continue chatting for a while more, sometimes greeting the nobles that came to greet them.
At some point, Javelin, his fiancée Illina, and Prince Calisto joined their conversation, making it livelier. Even Eve appeared for a short while, although she soon left to greet other nobles.
Thanks to that, Bloed felt that this banquet much less tedious than the ball of last time. Without him noticing, almost two hours passed.
But after two hours, the king finally arrived.
A middle-aged man with blond hair and blue eyes that emitted a sharp gaze. His aura was one of power and authority, worthy of a man above many others.
He was the king of the Great Savannah, Arlen Firstmane.
As soon as he arrived, the entire banquet fell silent.
It was as though a spell had been cast in the entire hall, making everybody held their breaths.
Until–
"Welcome, my subjects." The king spoke.
With these words, the spell was released.
King Arlen Firstmane nodded in satisfaction when he saw the reaction of his subjects. He then looked towards Bloed's group and smiled softly.
"This night, we are here to congratulate the amazing performance of our team during the competition against the Boerner Forest and the Sun Kingdom. Thanks to them, our kingdom managed to get the rights to a deposit of mana ores that rightfully belonged to us. Everybody, please give them an applause."
Instantly, the atmosphere was filled with deafening cheers and claps of congratulations that resounded in the hall.
The applause lasted almost one minute. Only when the king extended his hand to control the situation, the people in the hall stopped clapping.
Next, the king looked at Bloed's group again.
"Mr. Bloed, M. Rhone, Miss Liu Ying, Miss Rana, Miss Aya, come here, please. I want to give you a reward for your amazing performance."