“The king... That's far too dangerous a thought. Don't say anything even close to that to anyone else.”
His voice hadn't been particularly loud, yet Cassian shot a glance toward the coachman's direction before laying down his warning.
At his persistent, answer-demanding stare, Ollia couldn't hold back a burst of laughter.
“Haha! Cassian, aren't you taking this way too seriously? It's a joke, a joke!”
“...A joke?”
“Yes! And even if I were serious, what means could I possibly have to deal with the king of an entire nation?”
“You do have the means.”
His expression still unrelenting, Cassian sent him a suspicious look.
“I have the means? ...Ahh, don't tell me you mean I should make that king into one of my heroes? That's cruel. I'd never do such a thing.”
What on earth did this man take him for?
After walking such a long and grueling road just to obtain a hero like Cassian Alahon.
As if he'd ever throw away a genuine hero just to deal with a single piece of trash.
When Ollia kept stressing that it was all a joke, Cassian's shoulders finally slumped and he muttered,
“Priest, please go easy on the jokes. It's hard to tell them apart.”
“Hmm, I don't joke very often. I'll have to practice.”
Every time his eyes met Cassian's, Ollia smiled sheepishly to ease the mood.
As if the words had carried no intention, no plan whatsoever.
But to a certain degree, he had meant it.
I really can't get rid of the king, but it's a problem I'd like to solve somehow.
Meibo, a nation eroded by the disaster.
Its capital, which monopolized the country's capable priests, still stood firm, but beyond the capital walls, the land was full of people dying from the disaster.
At this rate, once Ollia drove out the disaster, the only ones left alive in the Kingdom of Meibo would be a tiny privileged class.
The king, the nobles, the talented priests, the wealthy commoners, and the outsiders lucky enough to slip in.
Even those fortunate enough to make it into the capital would end up wandering, unable to put down roots, just like Rora.
It wasn't as though Ollia intended to root out that injustice. He knew his place.
The power of a single priest couldn't change a corrupt society. Still, as always.
Ollia wished for even one more person to survive.
And to make that happen, he needed to free the priests bound to Naria.
Let's think of a method.
Soon they arrived before the castle, proved their identities, and stepped inside.
Cassian moved to head straight for the annex where the knights were staying, but Ollia caught hold of him.
“Did you know there's a banquet the day after tomorrow?”
“A banquet...?”
“The king is throwing a grand banquet to welcome the expedition and to express his gratitude for the purification. All the knights are attending too, of course.”
The country was in this state, and yet he was holding a banquet for the knights of another nation.
Feeling put off, Cassian knit his brows slightly.
“Am I not allowed to skip it?”
“Of course not. Do you mean to disregard the king's goodwill? That said, it should be fine to show your face for a bit and then slip out at the right moment.”
Having grasped Cassian's temperament, Ollia offered him the next-best option. Then he lightly gripped Cassian's wrist.
“I heard they're letting the knights pick out the clothes they'll wear tomorrow. So, about that... would it be all right if I chose your outfit?”
“My outfit?”
“Mm. I want to pick it out for you.”
At the lovely face gazing up at him with a rosy flush, Cassian narrowed his eyes.
“You're not planning to do something weird, are you?”
“Something weird?”
“Like suddenly stripping off my pants, the way you did today.”
Ah, he saw through me.
He'd meant to have the clothes sent separately so the two of them could spend some cozy time alone.
When Ollia clicked his tongue with a look of regret, Cassian shook off the wrist that had been caught.
“No.”
“But the physical satisfaction...!”
“Is plenty. And you should know that doing that sort of thing every chance you get isn't physical satisfaction, it's harassment.”
To reject so firmly an opportunity that anyone else would have leapt at with delight.
Truly, even his ascetic side was charming.
“All right, I won't. But I really do mean it when I say I want to pick out your clothes. Honestly, Cassian, you... your sense for dressing isn't exactly great, is it?”
It was less that his taste was bad and more that he simply had no taste at all, so he always wore plain, unremarkable clothes.
Then again, with a face that dazzling, he stood out no matter what he wore.
Since he'd been invited to the banquet anyway, Ollia's greed wanted to make his hero shine as brilliantly as possible.
He also wanted to enjoy the sight of a splendid Cassian while he had the chance.
“...That's true, I suppose.”
Cassian readily admitted to his own lack of fashion sense.
“I pride myself on having quite a good eye. If you leave it to me, you won't have to go through the trouble of choosing, right?”
“If you promise not to do anything weird, then I'll go along with it.”
“Great, it's a promise!”
Having gotten to indulge his private desires, Ollia happily raised his little finger. After some hesitation, Cassian hooked his own finger over it.
And so time passed, and the day of the banquet arrived.
Held in the late evening, the banquet was an extraordinarily lavish affair, with not only the imperial expedition but the king and queen, their children, and every noble residing in Naria all turning out.
The expedition, made up mostly of skilled commoners or those of slave origin, was overwhelmed by the opulence and could hardly enjoy the banquet at all.
Of course, a few knights bustled about here and there like fish that had found water, working to build friendships, but they were only a minority.
Surveying his knights, Hersta let out a dry chuckle.
“My poor country mice are having a hard time of it.”
When his eyes met the king's off in the distance, he raised his glass and smiled lightly. He only pretended to touch the drink to his lips without actually drinking.
“It's exhausting having to feign enjoyment while mingling at a pigs' party. Don't you agree, Priest Ollia?”
Beside him stood Ollia.
A black tailcoat accented with a deep violet close to the color of his eyes.
The snugly fitted vest, as if to emphasize his slender waist, gave the outfit a refined air.
The overall tones were dark rather than flashy, but precisely because he stood in a banquet hall that was flashy all over, his figure stood out all the more.
“There likely won't be many chances like this on the expeditions ahead, so I hope everyone enjoys it.”
“Look at those country mice, Priest Ollia. Any more enjoyment and the stress will send them to their graves.”
Certainly, even if they tried to dance, they had to dance the nobles' formal dances, and even if they wanted to eat their fill, everyone stood on ceremony and ate sparingly.
Given the knights' usual free-spirited manner, it was understandable that they'd feel out of place.
“I'd say your country mouse is going to be the first to collapse. Shouldn't you go rescue him?”
At that amused, snickering voice, Ollia's gaze naturally turned toward one spot.
Among the countless people, one man gave off an aura that was unmistakably in a class of its own.
The hair swept back only halfway, the white jacket, the tailcoat studded lavishly with golden ornaments. All of it had passed through Ollia's hands.
Cassian kept his expressionless face amid the people surrounding him.
It was less that he was ignoring them and closer to having given up on responding to the endless shower of questions one by one.
Even mixed into the crowd, Cassian was in no way hard to find; Ollia took in the sight of him, glittering as if under a spotlight of his own.
“...Cassian should enjoy the banquet too. I don't intend to be pushy about it.”
In truth, he was full of such intentions.
Since he'd dressed him up so beautifully, he'd expected all eyes to be drawn to him.
After all, when Ollia himself had first seen Cassian all dressed up, he'd been unable to tear his eyes away.
Still, I didn't expect the place to be crawling with people clinging to him so openly like that.
People who are overwhelmingly beautiful or handsome are, if anything, hard to approach. On top of that, Cassian was a taciturn man who gave off a cold air.
Ollia had expected his hero to stroll leisurely through the banquet hall, bathed in people's envious gazes.
Like the fairies flitting over the Lake of Souls.
But the nobles of the Kingdom of Meibo were more forward than he'd thought.
They shyly struck up conversation with the dazzlingly radiant Cassian, and they uncannily saw through the fact that his curt replies came from awkwardness.
Since Cassian couldn't flatly turn away their advances, every last young lady of Naria was gathering at his side.
No, was it only the ladies? A fair number of young lords showed interest in that splendid physique of his as well.
I want to run over there and pull him away right now.
What was he supposed to do if Cassian ended up feeling drawn to someone at this rate?
Reining in eyes that kept threatening to turn venomous, Ollia stiffly tugged up the corners of his mouth.
“...I suppose it's about time I enjoyed the banquet myself.”
“Are you planning to go recite prayers somewhere?”
“Haha, I wouldn't do anything so tactless.”
“Do as you like. I ought to go find a pearl in the filth and leave this stifling place myself.”
Giving Hersta a light bow, Ollia moved off in the opposite direction.
The very reason he couldn't reveal his possessive feelings toward Cassian lay right there.
A man he'd recognized at a glance from the moment he entered the banquet hall.
“Priest Reinon.”
Reinon, who had been staring vacantly into the air with a gloomy face in a corner of the hall, gave a feeble smile at the sight of Ollia.
“Priest Ollia. I'd hoped to stay out of sight as much as possible... If I may make an excuse in advance, coming here wasn't my own will.”
“There's no need to make excuses. I'm a guest who came at His Majesty's invitation myself.”
Reinon seemed to feel ashamed of the very fact that he was in a banquet hall like this.
Ollia gently wrapped his hand around Reinon's arm.
“Why don't the two of us, priests who both struggle to fit in, step aside and have a talk?”
