Chapter 38: Midnight Banquet

"Fuu… fuu… for now, this should do. I’m pretty exhausted…"

"Y-you’re really the one saying that…?!"

"You say you're exhausted, but you're barely even out of breath…!!"

"Why is this king taking down everyone by himself…?!"

Well, if I couldn’t do at least this much, I wouldn’t survive what lies ahead. Without a doubt, the kings of other nations would be far more exhausting to face than all of these people at once.

Honestly, the fact that I’m already winded from something like this just proves I’m still far from strong enough. If something like that incident with Alicia happens again—where she was put on the line—I wouldn’t be able to do anything.

"Still, pushing any further right now wouldn’t be very effective…"

"Hey, this guy was planning to keep going. Is he a monster or what?"

"I get it now—why he’s the king. Even now, he’s probably stronger than anyone in this country."

"I don’t stand a chance…"

There’s no way I’m stronger than everyone in this country. In fact, I still don’t feel like I could fully defeat the Knight Commander. If I could manage even a 30% win rate, that would already be considered good.

To begin with, the knights ended up like this because they tried fighting as a unit against a single opponent—something they weren’t used to. Whenever you attempt something unfamiliar, gaps are bound to appear. I simply exploited those openings and barely managed to hold my ground.

Fighting multiple opponents and fighting a single opponent require completely different approaches to exploiting weaknesses. It’s not that they’re weak.

"Even so… I’m still nowhere near ready to face even a ‘semi’-king-class opponent…"

If they’re being taken down by me, they probably wouldn’t even slow down a true king from another nation. Those people are the real monsters. Even after drawing the Holy Sword and awakening various abilities, I’m still only at the level where I might be able to defeat Shion—the Spear King candidate. If a true king challenged me to a "King’s Duel," I can easily imagine myself losing without putting up a fight.

I need to grow stronger—no, even stronger. I need something to drive me forward—for the sake of—

"Huh?"

I thought I heard something and glanced around, but no one was speaking to me. Was it just my imagination? Or something else?

The small doubt quickly faded. I didn’t have the luxury to worry about voices that might not even exist.

I have to seek more and more power, as if something is pushing me onward—

"I said it’s time to eat—how long are you going to keep muttering to yourself, idiot?"

"Gyah?!"

Just as I was thinking about what comes next, something struck the back of my head, snapping me back to reality. I looked around in confusion and found Hikari standing there, dressed in casual clothes that looked easy to move in.

"We’re doing field camp training again today, right? I went through the trouble of making food, so hurry up and eat."

"Ah—yeah, right. That’s true… huh?"

For some reason, my memory from just a moment ago felt hazy. I know I was thinking about how to get stronger, but everything else—whatever conclusions I was reaching—was unclear.

"Don’t overdo it. Thinking too hard doesn’t guarantee good ideas. Here—since it’s barbecue today, I brought plenty of ingredients. I even dragged Carol out of her room."

"Why do I have to do something like this?! And hey—don’t eat that meat yet!!! It’s nowhere near done!!"

An elf girl stood by the grill, cooking meat over a barbecue pit, surrounded by knights. Her long emerald-green hair was tied back, giving her a different impression than usual.

She looked incredibly beautiful—but something else caught my attention even more.

"That elf looks like a full-on grill master… Though now that I think about it, I always thought elves didn’t eat meat. Is Carol just an exception?"

"Who knows? But if that magic-tool-obsessed maniac counts as a standard elf, then people everywhere would think elves are interesting—but a pain to deal with."

"I can hear you, you rude king and his maid!!! And Hikari, get over here and help me!!!"

Facing a large group of knights, Carol practically shouted. She had a point—it would be more proper for Hikari, as a maid, to help out.

Yes, that’s true, but—

"Hikari… can you actually cook meat properly?"

"Yeah, you just cook it through, right? There’s sauce too, so it’ll be fine even if it gets a little burnt."

"…On second thought, I’ll handle it. Could you prepare the plates instead?"

The problem is, this silver-haired maid—my childhood friend—is catastrophically bad at cooking. If she grills meat, she leaves it over the fire until it’s charred. If she cuts vegetables, everything ends up minced.

On top of that, her sense of taste is extremely tolerant—both high and low—so she can eat almost anything. Combined with her strong physique, she’s never even had an upset stomach. In other words, even if she tasted something questionable, she’d probably just say, “Eh, it’s edible,” and serve it.

Which means cooking is completely out of the question for her. Alicia is currently occupied treating injured knights, so the number of people here who can actually cook is very limited.

"Ugh, fine!!! If you want to eat that badly, I’ll even give you my special sauce—"

"STOP!!! Don’t serve something like that to knights who worked hard!!! And you guys—there are other grills, cook your own food!!!"

The moment Carol pulled out a bottle of sauce while saying something outrageous, I rushed over and grabbed her arm to stop her. Naturally, the knights—who had just lost their chance to eat food made by a (visually ageless) beautiful girl—started protesting.

"You idiots!!! That sauce is made by extracting the umami from poisonous mushrooms and other things!!! Sure, it tastes great—but if you don’t have poison resistance, you’ll be lucky if it only gives you diarrhea!!!"

Hearing my shout, the knights scattered in a panic. Their reaction speed was impressive—honestly, I wish they had shown that kind of speed during training.

Still, I’m just glad no one had to experience the destructive power of that sauce firsthand. If I didn’t have the Holy Sword’s third ability, I’d have been stuck in the bathroom all day.

"Hey, why are you stopping me? It was a perfect experiment. Now my test subjects—my toys—are gone."

"Your true thoughts are slipping out, so maybe try holding back a bit?"

Perhaps because she’s lived so long with little interaction with others, this elf is surprisingly childish for her age.

Even now, she puffed out her cheeks and sulked after I stopped her from spreading her “amazing” sauce. It was cute—but I can’t have all the knights incapacitated tomorrow because of her whims. There’s too much to do.

"Besides, I told you before—only I should eat your cooking, right? You shouldn’t give it to anyone else. Just serve it to me."

"If I hadn’t heard everything you said earlier, that might’ve sounded very misleading."

"He really does say things like that without thinking. But this time, he’s right."

Hikari, now back with meat and vegetables, began preparing them for the grill. She didn’t object—she knows full well how dangerous Carol’s sauce is.

Even with her iron stomach, she’d probably end up bedridden if she ate something made with that poison.

"I don’t get it… it’s so delicious though…"

And that’s exactly the problem.

Swallowing those words, I took a bite of the meat Carol had grilled—and couldn’t help savoring its incredible flavor.