Chapter 49: 49
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Luckily for Blaze, the food at the banquet was not military rations, but a large array of various meats, seafoods, fresh vegetables, and staple foods cooked in a dozen different ways. It was a custom to reward the soldiers coming back alive with good food and drinks every time their province's rotation ended, but having the city's stationed guards cook for the thousands of returning troops was an unreasonable demand, so food and drinks were delivered from every diner and pub in the city for occasions like these.
The grounds outside the guesthouse could only hold up to 2500 troops, while all the remaining ones celebrated at a plaza elsewhere in the city. Regardless, this many participants was enough to make Blaze feel uncomfortable. Because of his bad reputation in towns he previously lived in, he became slightly paranoid about people silently judging him or plotting to do something bad to him whenever he saw large social gatherings like this. The fact that general Denato invited him to come indoors relieved him of that worry, but the thought of sneaking out as soon as possible still lingered on his mind.
Inside the mansion was the general himself, along with all the highest ranking officers directly under his command, as well as those directly under these officers' commands. Counting Blaze, there were a total of 82 people taking part in this indoors banquet tonight.
As the petty officer escorting Blaze opened the door to the dining hall, he was somewhat stunned by the brighter than usual scene. The building was already bright from its white marble interior, and the abundance of gold-lined silverware caused all the light in this hall to reflect everywhere, illuminating just about every nook and cranny.
Somehow, all 81 other attendees had already arrived, and they all turned to look at who had just come in as the door opened. Murmurs uttered through the dining hall, and soon the whole place quieted down as those who recognized Blaze as the one who contributed in the fight against a dragon a month before spread word about his identity to the rest of the crowd. Soon, the idle chatter began again as the nearest officer came over to greet Blaze.
"Good evening. I am Tuha, second in command of the southwestern province's army."
"Hi, I'm Blaze. I… don't think I have any titles to introduce myself as."
"That's fine. We all know who you are already."
Second in combat strength to only general Denato, Tuha was the second most prominent figure in this province, and was regarded as Denato's right-hand man. He was excellent with both the sword and the pen, to the point that the general left most political and administrative duties to him. The only thing he lacked was the ability to formulate and utilize battle tactics, and had it not been for the flawed system in this land favoring combat prowess in times of war, Tuha would have easily been selected as the governor of the southwestern province.
"The general is waiting for you over there."
As Blaze was a noncombatant and unacquainted with Tuha, there wasn't much the two could talk about. Thus, Tuha pointed towards the other side of the dining hall, where the general was standing twenty meters away, surrounded by half a dozen officers.
"Blaze, you made it!"
For no reason in particular, general Denato was rather fond of Blaze. Seeing Blaze fulfilling his promise to come visit for a beer, the general excitedly walked over and greeted him.
"Hey, someone get me two large mugs!"
"Just a small mug would be fine, general…"
"Nonsense! I can't see you every day, so we need to drink as much as possible to celebrate!"
"But I'll be too full to eat any of the food…"
"Just throw up and fill your stomach again!"
"Eh…"
Blaze could not help but wonder if there was something wrong with the general's thought process. He quickly concluded that everyone in this region, including him, was already too abnormal to reason with and figured he might as well go along with the flow.
"Everyone's here, so let's start the feast!"
One century prior, a man from unknown lands began introducing exotic new cuisines and customs to the residents of this world. While such introductions generally conformed with what one would see in a fairy tale or movie at first, the man's eventual exile and current old age made it impossible for him to see the people carry out such practices first hand and correct them for any misunderstandings they had. Thus, as the silver lids were lifted off of the trays of food, one of the most bizarre dinner parties ever officially began.
It was hard to tell whether the residents here didn't understand that party foods were generally not meant to be served in banquets, or if they simply thought serving uncommon tasty dishes was appropriate for such occasions, but the dining tables were lined with dishes that should not have been there in the first place. Fancy feast foods aside, there were trays upon trays of fries, pizzas, deep fried foods, and any other kind of snack one would normally have during a social gathering with friends.
As though not aware that the food they put on their plates was meant to be eaten with their hands, most soldiers placed their plates down on a table to cut their fries and pizza slices with a knife so that they could use a fork or spoon to put such bite-sized pieces in their mouths later. As typical of this pseudo-high class banquet, condiments such as ketchup and mustard were served in sauce boats, making this scene of eating fast-food even stranger.
Not knowing exactly how to act in a setting like this, Blaze was perhaps the only one considered normal for not taking any food, but such normality would only be in the eyes of those in a different world. In this world full of misunderstandings, acting differently from all 81 other people in the dining hall would instead make him an outlier. Thus, he quickly ran over to the officer bringing large mugs of beer and took the one meant for him, so that he could use the fact that both of his hands were now holding onto an abnormally large mug as an excuse for not having a plate of food.
"You really like drinking beer, don't you?"
"Not really, but Suva town had some fantastic beer, so I thought I might be able to enjoy the same taste since this city isn't too far away."
"Well, it's not as fresh since transporting stuff from there takes half a day, but the taste should still be quite similar."
Having successfully passing himself off as someone who loved beer, Blaze managed to avoid attracting the attention of others. As he brought the mug up to his lips, the general quickly told him to wait, and stopped him from drinking the beer.
"Is something wrong?"
"I need to give a toast first."
"A toast?"
To grab the attention of everyone, the general took a wine glass and spoon, then tapped the spoon on the glass a few times. The glass quickly shattered to pieces, but the sound it made was loud enough for everyone to take notice. All the soldiers in the dining hall quieted down and looked towards the general.
"Alright, everyone! We've chatted with each other a lot these past week, so I don't have anything else to say! Let's just have a good time celebrating our success on the battlefield! Cheers!"
Since he was nowhere close to having the skills of a good politician or public speaker, general Denato could not think of any meaningful things to say when giving a toast. Hence, it was better for him to just let everyone enjoy themselves as soon as possible.
"What's everyone doing?"
Blaze asked in confusion when he noticed the attendees picking up wine glasses and shoving them at the glasses others were holding, causing both parties' glasses to shatter.
"Celebrating, of course."
"By breaking glasses?"
"That's the tradition the king passed down to us. We're supposed to smash each other's glasses to wish them good luck or something like that."
"What a strange tradition…"
It was not because their king intentionally passed down bizarre practices, but actually because of his old age preventing him from taking part in formal events or appearing in public, which made it impossible for him to correct the misinterpretations of his teachings. It certainly did not help that these devils had abnormally high physical strength either, as they would have smashed their wine glasses regardless of how gently they clacked them.
The soldiers in the dining hall enjoyed the food and drinks for half an hour, while Blaze kept general Denato company by idly chatting with him during the entire time. He was able to get himself some food without making a fool out of himself after observing and mimicking what others were doing, and he drank so much beer that he felt like his stomach could burst any moment.
After most of the food had been consumed, the attendees all moved towards the adjacent ballroom while some petty officers came into the dining hall to clean up. Blaze wanted to sneak out, but was not able to escape the attention of the general and his subordinates. As a result, he had no choice but to go with the crowd into the ballroom.
The ballroom was a spacious square area that measured about thirty meters on each side, and the floor was very brightly lit even though the chandeliers on the ceiling were ten meters above ground. There were chairs lined up along three of the walls, while the fourth wall had raised ground that acted as a performance stage. A small musician band was already sitting on the stage, ready to perform at any moment. Once the incoming crowd settled down, the band played a soft melody, which gradually transitioned into a lively score in triple meter, perfect for waltzing.
"May I have this dance?"
Tuha came up to Blaze and stretched out his hand, inviting Blaze to dance with him. Unfamiliar with this kind of setting, Blaze did not understand what the lieutenant general was implying.
"Huh?"
"Dance with me."
"I don't know how to dance, sorry…"
"That is fine. Just follow my lead, and don't step on my foot."
Blaze reluctantly held onto the outstretched hand of Tuha, who yanked hard enough that Blaze was forcibly moved to within a few centimeters of the lieutenant general. Blaze felt uncomfortable, but before he could speak up, Tuha had already taken a small step backwards and begun dancing.
The lieutenant general moved his hands and feet gracefully, while Blaze clumsily matched his dancing partner's foot movements. It was quite a miracle that he did not bump into anyone, or step on anyone else's feet. Occasionally, he would feel disturbed as his dance partner held onto his waist and spun him around.
"Shouldn't this kind of thing be done between partners of the opposite gender?"
"What kind of thing?"
"All this body contact and uncomfortably close distance…"
"It is a reasonable tradition that the king passed down to us."
"Did he ever have a preference for other men?"
"What kind of question is that? Of course not."
"Well, I just find what we're doing rather strange…"
"Fine, I'll explain the meaning behind this dance. It is meant to get partners to know each other more."
"The way you phrased that doesn't make it any less weird."
"The ability to avoid stepping on other people's feet indicates how well you understand your partner and your peers."
"My perception of what we're doing still hasn't changed."
"Not only that, you can assess the dexterity and combat skills of others by taking note of the swiftness and elegance of their movement."
"All that from a dance?"
"Yes."
Once again, the king was too old to attend dances in person, and was thus unable to explain how such an activity was only meant for recreation between pairs of opposite gender and carried no deep meaning whatsoever. As a result, what Tuha explained to Blaze was the agreed upon misunderstanding of the locals of what ballroom dancing signified.
Blaze was not fully convinced by what he had just heard, but he could not refute or voice his opinion because he had never in his life taken part in the activities of this evening, and thus had no idea whether the things everyone was doing was right or wrong in the first place.
"And now, you will get to assess a colleague of mine."
"Huh?"
Tuha skillfully moved in a way that prompted Blaze to move closer to another soldier. He then let go of Blaze's hand, resulting in Blaze drifting away from his dance partner. As though this whole dance was carefully choreographed, the soldier Blaze drifted towards had already let go of his partner's hand, clearing the way for Blaze to reach him without colliding into anyone.
The soldier grabbed onto Blaze's hand, then quickly resumed waltzing.
"You're a good dancer."
"I'm just doing my best to match your movements…"
"Well, it's good regardless."
"Thank you."
"Nice to meet you, by the way. I'm Sagib, ranked just a little bit lower than the lieutenant general."
"Nice to meet you, too. My name is Blaze."
"How do you feel about being among all these strangers?"
"A little nervous, actually, since I wouldn't want these people to leave with a bad impression of me. I guess I feel a little uncomfortable, too, but it's hard to talk about it since I don't know anyone…"
"I see. Sometimes I feel the same, really."
"You do?"
"I do. I'm only acquainted with less than half of the people in here, after all."
"Less than half? Even though you're a very high ranking soldier?"
"That's right. We've had a lot of accidents, both on and outside of the battlefield, which led to the death of many of the highest ranking officers. Most of the people here are their replacements, so I'm hardly acquainted with any of them since they haven't been in their positions for long."
"I can understand dying on the battlefield, but what kind of accidents occurred outside of it?"
"Collapsing buildings, drowning in the river, getting caught in gang fights, and so on. These kinds of accidents are unavoidable in a city this big."
"Don't you have patrolling soldiers stationed everywhere to maintain order?"
"Only on the streets with enough foot traffic. It's hard to monitor the whole entire city, after all. Besides, the ongoing war is draining our budget, so the patrolling guards are underpaid and aren't motivated to work hard, either."
"Oh…"
"Well, let's stop talking about this gloomy topic, and switch to another one."
It was certainly strange how most of the soldiers who passed away could lose their lives in such a simple manner, even though they had monstrous strength and could at the very least withstand one or two direct attacks from a dragon (they would, of course, be crippled for the rest of their lives, but such trivial matters should not matter). However, the city's civil authority was underpaid, so they were not motivated enough to investigate such deaths in detail, and the lack of witnesses in the areas where fatal accidents occurred led to whatever the authorities assumed had happened becoming the official account. In most cases, the high ranking officers who passed away reeked of alcohol, so it was certainly not impossible for them to be defenseless and careless.
About half an hour later, Blaze had already changed dance partners half a dozen times and really wanted to get out of this awkward situation. Luckily for him, he noticed about half of the participants in the ballroom going over to the chairs lined along the walls to take a break, and he quickly joined those soldiers. Blaze really wanted to sneak out, but there were too many gazes from all directions to leave unnoticed. Some soldiers sitting near the ballroom entrance made a gesture that seemed like they were inviting someone inside. Not long after, a group of petty officers pushed several wheeled carts inside.
The carts were lined up next to the seats by the left and right walls, effectively turning them into two long tables that were sufficiently far away enough from the dancers to not get in the way. The carts were loaded with an immeasurable amount of alcoholic beverages, and the soldiers who were previously resting on the chairs quickly got up to take a look at the selection of drinks. Blaze had already felt dizzy after drinking too much beer and getting moved around non-stop on the dance floor, but could not prevent himself from getting out of his seat since a nearby soldier had nudged him to come along.
For the next couple hours, the ballroom was filled with loud music and gleeful shouting as the soldiers either danced or drank the night away. The attendees had such physical high strength that wine glasses were unusable since they would easily get shattered, so Blaze considered it a stroke of luck that everyone was using wooden mugs to drink instead. While he was forced to drink on several occasions, he only took small sips, and nobody knew how much he drank since all the mugs were opaque. He did feel a little dizzy because of how strong the wine was, but was fortunately not at the point of collapsing on the floor like several others in the ballroom since the amount he took in was relatively low.
"Travel… hiccup… back safely."
"Thanks."
General Denato had passed out from drinking too much, while lieutenant general Tuha had to go take care of some paperwork, so Sagib escorted Blaze outside instead when the party ended. He was on the verge of passing out and had to hold onto Blaze's shoulder in order to stand up straight, yet somehow he was still able to correctly determine which way to go and speak almost normally.
"My, my, those are… hiccup… some lovely wives you have."
"I'm single."
Amber and Lica were waiting around in the courtyard long after all the soldiers had left the area, and Sagib let go of Blaze after knowing he was now in good hands.
"Haha! Make sure you invite me… hiccup… to your wedding!"
"They're just friends."
Sagib laughed and stumbled as he made his way to a group of soldiers traveling in the same direction waiting nearby. Blaze and the two girls waved at him as they walked out of the premises. This was the final time they would ever see that drunk soldier.
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Luckily for Blaze, the food at the banquet was not military rations, but a large array of various meats, seafoods, fresh vegetables, and staple foods cooked in a dozen different ways. It was a custom to reward the soldiers coming back alive with good food and drinks every time their province's rotation ended, but having the city's stationed guards cook for the thousands of returning troops was an unreasonable demand, so food and drinks were delivered from every diner and pub in the city for occasions like these.
The grounds outside the guesthouse could only hold up to 2500 troops, while all the remaining ones celebrated at a plaza elsewhere in the city. Regardless, this many participants was enough to make Blaze feel uncomfortable. Because of his bad reputation in towns he previously lived in, he became slightly paranoid about people silently judging him or plotting to do something bad to him whenever he saw large social gatherings like this. The fact that general Denato invited him to come indoors relieved him of that worry, but the thought of sneaking out as soon as possible still lingered on his mind.
Inside the mansion was the general himself, along with all the highest ranking officers directly under his command, as well as those directly under these officers' commands. Counting Blaze, there were a total of 82 people taking part in this indoors banquet tonight.
As the petty officer escorting Blaze opened the door to the dining hall, he was somewhat stunned by the brighter than usual scene. The building was already bright from its white marble interior, and the abundance of gold-lined silverware caused all the light in this hall to reflect everywhere, illuminating just about every nook and cranny.
Somehow, all 81 other attendees had already arrived, and they all turned to look at who had just come in as the door opened. Murmurs uttered through the dining hall, and soon the whole place quieted down as those who recognized Blaze as the one who contributed in the fight against a dragon a month before spread word about his identity to the rest of the crowd. Soon, the idle chatter began again as the nearest officer came over to greet Blaze.
"Good evening. I am Tuha, second in command of the southwestern province's army."
"Hi, I'm Blaze. I… don't think I have any titles to introduce myself as."
"That's fine. We all know who you are already."
Second in combat strength to only general Denato, Tuha was the second most prominent figure in this province, and was regarded as Denato's right-hand man. He was excellent with both the sword and the pen, to the point that the general left most political and administrative duties to him. The only thing he lacked was the ability to formulate and utilize battle tactics, and had it not been for the flawed system in this land favoring combat prowess in times of war, Tuha would have easily been selected as the governor of the southwestern province.
"The general is waiting for you over there."
As Blaze was a noncombatant and unacquainted with Tuha, there wasn't much the two could talk about. Thus, Tuha pointed towards the other side of the dining hall, where the general was standing twenty meters away, surrounded by half a dozen officers.
"Blaze, you made it!"
For no reason in particular, general Denato was rather fond of Blaze. Seeing Blaze fulfilling his promise to come visit for a beer, the general excitedly walked over and greeted him.
"Hey, someone get me two large mugs!"
"Just a small mug would be fine, general…"
"Nonsense! I can't see you every day, so we need to drink as much as possible to celebrate!"
"But I'll be too full to eat any of the food…"
"Just throw up and fill your stomach again!"
"Eh…"
Blaze could not help but wonder if there was something wrong with the general's thought process. He quickly concluded that everyone in this region, including him, was already too abnormal to reason with and figured he might as well go along with the flow.
"Everyone's here, so let's start the feast!"
One century prior, a man from unknown lands began introducing exotic new cuisines and customs to the residents of this world. While such introductions generally conformed with what one would see in a fairy tale or movie at first, the man's eventual exile and current old age made it impossible for him to see the people carry out such practices first hand and correct them for any misunderstandings they had. Thus, as the silver lids were lifted off of the trays of food, one of the most bizarre dinner parties ever officially began.
It was hard to tell whether the residents here didn't understand that party foods were generally not meant to be served in banquets, or if they simply thought serving uncommon tasty dishes was appropriate for such occasions, but the dining tables were lined with dishes that should not have been there in the first place. Fancy feast foods aside, there were trays upon trays of fries, pizzas, deep fried foods, and any other kind of snack one would normally have during a social gathering with friends.
As though not aware that the food they put on their plates was meant to be eaten with their hands, most soldiers placed their plates down on a table to cut their fries and pizza slices with a knife so that they could use a fork or spoon to put such bite-sized pieces in their mouths later. As typical of this pseudo-high class banquet, condiments such as ketchup and mustard were served in sauce boats, making this scene of eating fast-food even stranger.
Not knowing exactly how to act in a setting like this, Blaze was perhaps the only one considered normal for not taking any food, but such normality would only be in the eyes of those in a different world. In this world full of misunderstandings, acting differently from all 81 other people in the dining hall would instead make him an outlier. Thus, he quickly ran over to the officer bringing large mugs of beer and took the one meant for him, so that he could use the fact that both of his hands were now holding onto an abnormally large mug as an excuse for not having a plate of food.
"You really like drinking beer, don't you?"
"Not really, but Suva town had some fantastic beer, so I thought I might be able to enjoy the same taste since this city isn't too far away."
"Well, it's not as fresh since transporting stuff from there takes half a day, but the taste should still be quite similar."
Having successfully passing himself off as someone who loved beer, Blaze managed to avoid attracting the attention of others. As he brought the mug up to his lips, the general quickly told him to wait, and stopped him from drinking the beer.
"Is something wrong?"
"I need to give a toast first."
"A toast?"
To grab the attention of everyone, the general took a wine glass and spoon, then tapped the spoon on the glass a few times. The glass quickly shattered to pieces, but the sound it made was loud enough for everyone to take notice. All the soldiers in the dining hall quieted down and looked towards the general.
"Alright, everyone! We've chatted with each other a lot these past week, so I don't have anything else to say! Let's just have a good time celebrating our success on the battlefield! Cheers!"
Since he was nowhere close to having the skills of a good politician or public speaker, general Denato could not think of any meaningful things to say when giving a toast. Hence, it was better for him to just let everyone enjoy themselves as soon as possible.
"What's everyone doing?"
Blaze asked in confusion when he noticed the attendees picking up wine glasses and shoving them at the glasses others were holding, causing both parties' glasses to shatter.
"Celebrating, of course."
"By breaking glasses?"
"That's the tradition the king passed down to us. We're supposed to smash each other's glasses to wish them good luck or something like that."
"What a strange tradition…"
It was not because their king intentionally passed down bizarre practices, but actually because of his old age preventing him from taking part in formal events or appearing in public, which made it impossible for him to correct the misinterpretations of his teachings. It certainly did not help that these devils had abnormally high physical strength either, as they would have smashed their wine glasses regardless of how gently they clacked them.
The soldiers in the dining hall enjoyed the food and drinks for half an hour, while Blaze kept general Denato company by idly chatting with him during the entire time. He was able to get himself some food without making a fool out of himself after observing and mimicking what others were doing, and he drank so much beer that he felt like his stomach could burst any moment.
After most of the food had been consumed, the attendees all moved towards the adjacent ballroom while some petty officers came into the dining hall to clean up. Blaze wanted to sneak out, but was not able to escape the attention of the general and his subordinates. As a result, he had no choice but to go with the crowd into the ballroom.
The ballroom was a spacious square area that measured about thirty meters on each side, and the floor was very brightly lit even though the chandeliers on the ceiling were ten meters above ground. There were chairs lined up along three of the walls, while the fourth wall had raised ground that acted as a performance stage. A small musician band was already sitting on the stage, ready to perform at any moment. Once the incoming crowd settled down, the band played a soft melody, which gradually transitioned into a lively score in triple meter, perfect for waltzing.
"May I have this dance?"
Tuha came up to Blaze and stretched out his hand, inviting Blaze to dance with him. Unfamiliar with this kind of setting, Blaze did not understand what the lieutenant general was implying.
"Huh?"
"Dance with me."
"I don't know how to dance, sorry…"
"That is fine. Just follow my lead, and don't step on my foot."
Blaze reluctantly held onto the outstretched hand of Tuha, who yanked hard enough that Blaze was forcibly moved to within a few centimeters of the lieutenant general. Blaze felt uncomfortable, but before he could speak up, Tuha had already taken a small step backwards and begun dancing.
The lieutenant general moved his hands and feet gracefully, while Blaze clumsily matched his dancing partner's foot movements. It was quite a miracle that he did not bump into anyone, or step on anyone else's feet. Occasionally, he would feel disturbed as his dance partner held onto his waist and spun him around.
"Shouldn't this kind of thing be done between partners of the opposite gender?"
"What kind of thing?"
"All this body contact and uncomfortably close distance…"
"It is a reasonable tradition that the king passed down to us."
"Did he ever have a preference for other men?"
"What kind of question is that? Of course not."
"Well, I just find what we're doing rather strange…"
"Fine, I'll explain the meaning behind this dance. It is meant to get partners to know each other more."
"The way you phrased that doesn't make it any less weird."
"The ability to avoid stepping on other people's feet indicates how well you understand your partner and your peers."
"My perception of what we're doing still hasn't changed."
"Not only that, you can assess the dexterity and combat skills of others by taking note of the swiftness and elegance of their movement."
"All that from a dance?"
"Yes."
Once again, the king was too old to attend dances in person, and was thus unable to explain how such an activity was only meant for recreation between pairs of opposite gender and carried no deep meaning whatsoever. As a result, what Tuha explained to Blaze was the agreed upon misunderstanding of the locals of what ballroom dancing signified.
Blaze was not fully convinced by what he had just heard, but he could not refute or voice his opinion because he had never in his life taken part in the activities of this evening, and thus had no idea whether the things everyone was doing was right or wrong in the first place.
"And now, you will get to assess a colleague of mine."
"Huh?"
Tuha skillfully moved in a way that prompted Blaze to move closer to another soldier. He then let go of Blaze's hand, resulting in Blaze drifting away from his dance partner. As though this whole dance was carefully choreographed, the soldier Blaze drifted towards had already let go of his partner's hand, clearing the way for Blaze to reach him without colliding into anyone.
The soldier grabbed onto Blaze's hand, then quickly resumed waltzing.
"You're a good dancer."
"I'm just doing my best to match your movements…"
"Well, it's good regardless."
"Thank you."
"Nice to meet you, by the way. I'm Sagib, ranked just a little bit lower than the lieutenant general."
"Nice to meet you, too. My name is Blaze."
"How do you feel about being among all these strangers?"
"A little nervous, actually, since I wouldn't want these people to leave with a bad impression of me. I guess I feel a little uncomfortable, too, but it's hard to talk about it since I don't know anyone…"
"I see. Sometimes I feel the same, really."
"You do?"
"I do. I'm only acquainted with less than half of the people in here, after all."
"Less than half? Even though you're a very high ranking soldier?"
"That's right. We've had a lot of accidents, both on and outside of the battlefield, which led to the death of many of the highest ranking officers. Most of the people here are their replacements, so I'm hardly acquainted with any of them since they haven't been in their positions for long."
"I can understand dying on the battlefield, but what kind of accidents occurred outside of it?"
"Collapsing buildings, drowning in the river, getting caught in gang fights, and so on. These kinds of accidents are unavoidable in a city this big."
"Don't you have patrolling soldiers stationed everywhere to maintain order?"
"Only on the streets with enough foot traffic. It's hard to monitor the whole entire city, after all. Besides, the ongoing war is draining our budget, so the patrolling guards are underpaid and aren't motivated to work hard, either."
"Oh…"
"Well, let's stop talking about this gloomy topic, and switch to another one."
It was certainly strange how most of the soldiers who passed away could lose their lives in such a simple manner, even though they had monstrous strength and could at the very least withstand one or two direct attacks from a dragon (they would, of course, be crippled for the rest of their lives, but such trivial matters should not matter). However, the city's civil authority was underpaid, so they were not motivated enough to investigate such deaths in detail, and the lack of witnesses in the areas where fatal accidents occurred led to whatever the authorities assumed had happened becoming the official account. In most cases, the high ranking officers who passed away reeked of alcohol, so it was certainly not impossible for them to be defenseless and careless.
About half an hour later, Blaze had already changed dance partners half a dozen times and really wanted to get out of this awkward situation. Luckily for him, he noticed about half of the participants in the ballroom going over to the chairs lined along the walls to take a break, and he quickly joined those soldiers. Blaze really wanted to sneak out, but there were too many gazes from all directions to leave unnoticed. Some soldiers sitting near the ballroom entrance made a gesture that seemed like they were inviting someone inside. Not long after, a group of petty officers pushed several wheeled carts inside.
The carts were lined up next to the seats by the left and right walls, effectively turning them into two long tables that were sufficiently far away enough from the dancers to not get in the way. The carts were loaded with an immeasurable amount of alcoholic beverages, and the soldiers who were previously resting on the chairs quickly got up to take a look at the selection of drinks. Blaze had already felt dizzy after drinking too much beer and getting moved around non-stop on the dance floor, but could not prevent himself from getting out of his seat since a nearby soldier had nudged him to come along.
For the next couple hours, the ballroom was filled with loud music and gleeful shouting as the soldiers either danced or drank the night away. The attendees had such physical high strength that wine glasses were unusable since they would easily get shattered, so Blaze considered it a stroke of luck that everyone was using wooden mugs to drink instead. While he was forced to drink on several occasions, he only took small sips, and nobody knew how much he drank since all the mugs were opaque. He did feel a little dizzy because of how strong the wine was, but was fortunately not at the point of collapsing on the floor like several others in the ballroom since the amount he took in was relatively low.
"Travel… hiccup… back safely."
"Thanks."
General Denato had passed out from drinking too much, while lieutenant general Tuha had to go take care of some paperwork, so Sagib escorted Blaze outside instead when the party ended. He was on the verge of passing out and had to hold onto Blaze's shoulder in order to stand up straight, yet somehow he was still able to correctly determine which way to go and speak almost normally.
"My, my, those are… hiccup… some lovely wives you have."
"I'm single."
Amber and Lica were waiting around in the courtyard long after all the soldiers had left the area, and Sagib let go of Blaze after knowing he was now in good hands.
"Haha! Make sure you invite me… hiccup… to your wedding!"
"They're just friends."
Sagib laughed and stumbled as he made his way to a group of soldiers traveling in the same direction waiting nearby. Blaze and the two girls waved at him as they walked out of the premises. This was the final time they would ever see that drunk soldier.
Luckily for Blaze, the food at the banquet was not military rations, but a large array of various meats, seafoods, fresh vegetables, and staple foods cooked in a dozen different ways. It was a custom to reward the soldiers coming back alive with good food and drinks every time their province's rotation ended, but having the city's stationed guards cook for the thousands of returning troops was an unreasonable demand, so food and drinks were delivered from every diner and pub in the city for occasions like these.The grounds outside the guesthouse could only hold up to 2500 troops, while all the remaining ones celebrated at a plaza elsewhere in the city. Regardless, this many participants was enough to make Blaze feel uncomfortable. Because of his bad reputation in towns he previously lived in, he became slightly paranoid about people silently judging him or plotting to do something bad to him whenever he saw large social gatherings like this. The fact that general Denato invited him to come indoors relieved him of that worry, but the thought of sneaking out as soon as possible still lingered on his mind.Inside the mansion was the general himself, along with all the highest ranking officers directly under his command, as well as those directly under these officers' commands. Counting Blaze, there were a total of 82 people taking part in this indoors banquet tonight.As the petty officer escorting Blaze opened the door to the dining hall, he was somewhat stunned by the brighter than usual scene. The building was already bright from its white marble interior, and the abundance of gold-lined silverware caused all the light in this hall to reflect everywhere, illuminating just about every nook and cranny.Somehow, all 81 other attendees had already arrived, and they all turned to look at who had just come in as the door opened. Murmurs uttered through the dining hall, and soon the whole place quieted down as those who recognized Blaze as the one who contributed in the fight against a dragon a month before spread word about his identity to the rest of the crowd. Soon, the idle chatter began again as the nearest officer came over to greet Blaze."Good evening. I am Tuha, second in command of the southwestern province's army.""Hi, I'm Blaze. I don't think I have any titles to introduce myself as.""That's fine. We all know who you are already."Second in combat strength to only general Denato, Tuha was the second most prominent figure in this province, and was regarded as Denato's right-hand man. He was excellent with both the sword and the pen, to the point that the general left most political and administrative duties to him. The only thing he lacked was the ability to formulate and utilize battle tactics, and had it not been for the flawed system in this land favoring combat prowess in times of war, Tuha would have easily been selected as the governor of the southwestern province."The general is waiting for you over there."As Blaze was a noncombatant and unacquainted with Tuha, there wasn't much the two could talk about. Thus, Tuha pointed towards the other side of the dining hall, where the general was standing twenty meters away, surrounded by half a dozen officers."Blaze, you made it!"For no reason in particular, general Denato was rather fond of Blaze. Seeing Blaze fulfilling his promise to come visit for a beer, the general excitedly walked over and greeted him."Hey, someone get me two large mugs!""Just a small mug would be fine, general""Nonsense! I can't see you every day, so we need to drink as much as possible to celebrate!""But I'll be too full to eat any of the food""Just throw up and fill your stomach again!""Eh"Blaze could not help but wonder if there was something wrong with the general's thought process. He quickly concluded that everyone in this region, including him, was already too abnormal to reason with and figured he might as well go along with the flow."Everyone's here, so let's start the feast!"One century prior, a man from unknown lands began introducing exotic new cuisines and customs to the residents of this world. While such introductions generally conformed with what one would see in a fairy tale or movie at first, the man's eventual exile and current old age made it impossible for him to see the people carry out such practices first hand and correct them for any misunderstandings they had. Thus, as the silver lids were lifted off of the trays of food, one of the most bizarre dinner parties ever officially began.It was hard to tell whether the residents here didn't understand that party foods were generally not meant to be served in banquets, or if they simply thought serving uncommon tasty dishes was appropriate for such occasions, but the dining tables were lined with dishes that should not have been there in the first place. Fancy feast foods aside, there were trays upon trays of fries, pizzas, deep fried foods, and any other kind of snack one would normally have during a social gathering with friends.As though not aware that the food they put on their plates was meant to be eaten with their hands, most soldiers placed their plates down on a table to cut their fries and pizza slices with a knife so that they could use a fork or spoon to put such bite-sized pieces in their mouths later. As typical of this pseudo-high class banquet, condiments such as ketchup and mustard were served in sauce boats, making this scene of eating fast-food even stranger.Not knowing exactly how to act in a setting like this, Blaze was perhaps the only one considered normal for not taking any food, but such normality would only be in the eyes of those in a different world. In this world full of misunderstandings, acting differently from all 81 other people in the dining hall would instead make him an outlier. Thus, he quickly ran over to the officer bringing large mugs of beer and took the one meant for him, so that he could use the fact that both of his hands were now holding onto an abnormally large mug as an excuse for not having a plate of food."You really like drinking beer, don't you?""Not really, but Suva town had some fantastic beer, so I thought I might be able to enjoy the same taste since this city isn't too far away.""Well, it's not as fresh since transporting stuff from there takes half a day, but the taste should still be quite similar."Having successfully passing himself off as someone who loved beer, Blaze managed to avoid attracting the attention of others. As he brought the mug up to his lips, the general quickly told him to wait, and stopped him from drinking the beer."Is something wrong?""I need to give a toast first.""A toast?"To grab the attention of everyone, the general took a wine glass and spoon, then tapped the spoon on the glass a few times. The glass quickly shattered to pieces, but the sound it made was loud enough for everyone to take notice. All the soldiers in the dining hall quieted down and looked towards the general."Alright, everyone! We've chatted with each other a lot these past week, so I don't have anything else to say! Let's just have a good time celebrating our success on the battlefield! Cheers!"Since he was nowhere close to having the skills of a good politician or public speaker, general Denato could not think of any meaningful things to say when giving a toast. Hence, it was better for him to just let everyone enjoy themselves as soon as possible."What's everyone doing?"Blaze asked in confusion when he noticed the attendees picking up wine glasses and shoving them at the glasses others were holding, causing both parties' glasses to shatter."Celebrating, of course.""By breaking glasses?""That's the tradition the king passed down to us. We're supposed to smash each other's glasses to wish them good luck or something like that.""What a strange tradition"It was not because their king intentionally passed down bizarre practices, but actually because of his old age preventing him from taking part in formal events or appearing in public, which made it impossible for him to correct the misinterpretations of his teachings. It certainly did not help that these devils had abnormally high physical strength either, as they would have smashed their wine glasses regardless of how gently they clacked them.The soldiers in the dining hall enjoyed the food and drinks for half an hour, while Blaze kept general Denato company by idly chatting with him during the entire time. He was able to get himself some food without making a fool out of himself after observing and mimicking what others were doing, and he drank so much beer that he felt like his stomach could burst any moment.After most of the food had been consumed, the attendees all moved towards the adjacent ballroom while some petty officers came into the dining hall to clean up. Blaze wanted to sneak out, but was not able to escape the attention of the general and his subordinates. As a result, he had no choice but to go with the crowd into the ballroom.The ballroom was a spacious square area that measured about thirty meters on each side, and the floor was very brightly lit even though the chandeliers on the ceiling were ten meters above ground. There were chairs lined up along three of the walls, while the fourth wall had raised ground that acted as a performance stage. A small musician band was already sitting on the stage, ready to perform at any moment. Once the incoming crowd settled down, the band played a soft melody, which gradually transitioned into a lively score in triple meter, perfect for waltzing."May I have this dance?"Tuha came up to Blaze and stretched out his hand, inviting Blaze to dance with him. Unfamiliar with this kind of setting, Blaze did not understand what the lieutenant general was implying."Huh?""Dance with me.""I don't know how to dance, sorry""That is fine. Just follow my lead, and don't step on my foot."Blaze reluctantly held onto the outstretched hand of Tuha, who yanked hard enough that Blaze was forcibly moved to within a few centimeters of the lieutenant general. Blaze felt uncomfortable, but before he could speak up, Tuha had already taken a small step backwards and begun dancing.The lieutenant general moved his hands and feet gracefully, while Blaze clumsily matched his dancing partner's foot movements. It was quite a miracle that he did not bump into anyone, or step on anyone else's feet. Occasionally, he would feel disturbed as his dance partner held onto his waist and spun him around."Shouldn't this kind of thing be done between partners of the opposite gender?""What kind of thing?""All this body contact and uncomfortably close distance""It is a reasonable tradition that the king passed down to us.""Did he ever have a preference for other men?""What kind of question is that? Of course not.""Well, I just find what we're doing rather strange""Fine, I'll explain the meaning behind this dance. It is meant to get partners to know each other more.""The way you phrased that doesn't make it any less weird.""The ability to avoid stepping on other people's feet indicates how well you understand your partner and your peers.""My perception of what we're doing still hasn't changed.""Not only that, you can assess the dexterity and combat skills of others by taking note of the swiftness and elegance of their movement.""All that from a dance?""Yes."Once again, the king was too old to attend dances in person, and was thus unable to explain how such an activity was only meant for recreation between pairs of opposite gender and carried no deep meaning whatsoever. As a result, what Tuha explained to Blaze was the agreed upon misunderstanding of the locals of what ballroom dancing signified.Blaze was not fully convinced by what he had just heard, but he could not refute or voice his opinion because he had never in his life taken part in the activities of this evening, and thus had no idea whether the things everyone was doing was right or wrong in the first place."And now, you will get to assess a colleague of mine.""Huh?"Tuha skillfully moved in a way that prompted Blaze to move closer to another soldier. He then let go of Blaze's hand, resulting in Blaze drifting away from his dance partner. As though this whole dance was carefully choreographed, the soldier Blaze drifted towards had already let go of his partner's hand, clearing the way for Blaze to reach him without colliding into anyone.The soldier grabbed onto Blaze's hand, then quickly resumed waltzing."You're a good dancer.""I'm just doing my best to match your movements""Well, it's good regardless.""Thank you.""Nice to meet you, by the way. I'm Sagib, ranked just a little bit lower than the lieutenant general.""Nice to meet you, too. My name is Blaze.""How do you feel about being among all these strangers?""A little nervous, actually, since I wouldn't want these people to leave with a bad impression of me. I guess I feel a little uncomfortable, too, but it's hard to talk about it since I don't know anyone""I see. Sometimes I feel the same, really.""You do?""I do. I'm only acquainted with less than half of the people in here, after all.""Less than half? Even though you're a very high ranking soldier?""That's right. We've had a lot of accidents, both on and outside of the battlefield, which led to the death of many of the highest ranking officers. Most of the people here are their replacements, so I'm hardly acquainted with any of them since they haven't been in their positions for long.""I can understand dying on the battlefield, but what kind of accidents occurred outside of it?""Collapsing buildings, drowning in the river, getting caught in gang fights, and so on. These kinds of accidents are unavoidable in a city this big.""Don't you have patrolling soldiers stationed everywhere to maintain order?""Only on the streets with enough foot traffic. It's hard to monitor the whole entire city, after all. Besides, the ongoing war is draining our budget, so the patrolling guards are underpaid and aren't motivated to work hard, either.""Oh""Well, let's stop talking about this gloomy topic, and switch to another one."It was certainly strange how most of the soldiers who passed away could lose their lives in such a simple manner, even though they had monstrous strength and could at the very least withstand one or two direct attacks from a dragon they would, of course, be crippled for the rest of their lives, but such trivial matters should not matter. However, the city's civil authority was underpaid, so they were not motivated enough to investigate such deaths in detail, and the lack of witnesses in the areas where fatal accidents occurred led to whatever the authorities assumed had happened becoming the official account. In most cases, the high ranking officers who passed away reeked of alcohol, so it was certainly not impossible for them to be defenseless and careless.About half an hour later, Blaze had already changed dance partners half a dozen times and really wanted to get out of this awkward situation. Luckily for him, he noticed about half of the participants in the ballroom going over to the chairs lined along the walls to take a break, and he quickly joined those soldiers. Blaze really wanted to sneak out, but there were too many gazes from all directions to leave unnoticed. Some soldiers sitting near the ballroom entrance made a gesture that seemed like they were inviting someone inside. Not long after, a group of petty officers pushed several wheeled carts inside.The carts were lined up next to the seats by the left and right walls, effectively turning them into two long tables that were sufficiently far away enough from the dancers to not get in the way. The carts were loaded with an immeasurable amount of alcoholic beverages, and the soldiers who were previously resting on the chairs quickly got up to take a look at the selection of drinks. Blaze had already felt dizzy after drinking too much beer and getting moved around non-stop on the dance floor, but could not prevent himself from getting out of his seat since a nearby soldier had nudged him to come along.For the next couple hours, the ballroom was filled with loud music and gleeful shouting as the soldiers either danced or drank the night away. The attendees had such physical high strength that wine glasses were unusable since they would easily get shattered, so Blaze considered it a stroke of luck that everyone was using wooden mugs to drink instead. While he was forced to drink on several occasions, he only took small sips, and nobody knew how much he drank since all the mugs were opaque. He did feel a little dizzy because of how strong the wine was, but was fortunately not at the point of collapsing on the floor like several others in the ballroom since the amount he took in was relatively low."Travel hiccup back safely.""Thanks."General Denato had passed out from drinking too much, while lieutenant general Tuha had to go take care of some paperwork, so Sagib escorted Blaze outside instead when the party ended. He was on the verge of passing out and had to hold onto Blaze's shoulder in order to stand up straight, yet somehow he was still able to correctly determine which way to go and speak almost normally."My, my, those are hiccup some lovely wives you have.""I'm single."Amber and Lica were waiting around in the courtyard long after all the soldiers had left the area, and Sagib let go of Blaze after knowing he was now in good hands."Haha! Make sure you invite me hiccup to your wedding!""They're just friends."Sagib laughed and stumbled as he made his way to a group of soldiers traveling in the same direction waiting nearby. Blaze and the two girls waved at him as they walked out of the premises. This was the final time they would ever see that drunk soldier.
