logo

Since then, all special troops have been awarded titles one after another.

Those who attended the title ceremony opened their mouths wide.

“Will all the special forces be named?”

“It’s said they were all raised by the vice head of the Black Knights. She’s amazing, really.”

“Why didn’t the Vice Commander of the Black Knights attend the titling ceremony? Of course, she would have been level 60…”

“You’re late on rumors. She already has a title thanks to the Black Knight’s request for a title from the emperor one step ahead. You must have been stuck in the dungeon for a long time because you don’t know that all the people in the capital know.”

“Wow… It’s so sincere of the Black Knight to pay attention to each title.”

“It’s only been two years since they passed level 60 for one unit, I should do my best.”

I’m not very pleased that my story is on and off people’s lips, but what Fabian was angry about was a small pleasure.

I smiled little by little at Fabian’s face, which was crumpled like crushed mud.

After the title ceremony, the banquet time had arrived.

The Black Knights gathered together and laughed around the special unit that was praised this time.

“Let’s have a drink, my spirit!”

Robur laughed gaily and poured cherry juice into Sevi’s glass. Sevi’s lips remained bumpy.

They had continued to be that way since the title ceremony.

This was so because the title Sevi had come to receive was “Spirit of the Wind.” It was a title that gave him considerable ability, but it was far from what he had hoped for, which was destroyer.

Unhappy with his mercurial title, Sevi stared at the cherry juice placed before him with a miffed expression.

Julieta exhorted Sevi with half the heart of appeasing such Sevi and half the relief of him not becoming a des.

“What’s wrong? It’s a pretty cool title.”

“You got a cool title, Julieta, so you don’t know how I feel.”

Julieta smiled awkwardly at Sevi’s pointed voice.

Julieta’s title was ‘God’s Mace.’ I don’t know if it’s cool or not, but it sure seemed strong.

“Tyrant, God’s Mace, Guillotine, Black Veil… Even Jeanne was praised as “Ice Wall” and everyone looked strong, but why am I Spirit of the Wind?”

Sevi was so frustrated that he gulped down the cherry juice that had been placed in front of him as if the heat had been turned up.

“Yes, yes.”

Julieta immediately filled his empty juice glass with juice.

Robur smiled and added a thin layer.

“Titles, even if it seems like a separate thing, it’s not a big deal. There’s nothing to be called anyway.”

“I hope so… I don’t want to be called Guillotine, no matter how strong I look or am.”

Nova muttered somberly.

It seemed to be a title created thanks to his slaying of monsters’ heads without mercy with an ax, but it seemed strong. To the point that it rivaled my title of Tyrant.

While the special forces and the Black Knights were whispering like this, I felt gazes standing in the distance, looking in our direction and whispering.

To be precise, it was a gaze toward Jeanne.

The owner of the gazes was none other than the Fabian Expedition.

Jeanne still doesn’t seem to notice… I silently glanced at the people who were whispering and looking at Jeanne. Then they hurriedly averted their eyes, coughed, and quickly and casually left.

I stuck out my tongue and turned my head again.

‘It seems so ironic that Jeanne has joined the Black Knights and received a title.’

I took a glance at a corner of the banquet hall where the Fabian Expedition was located. I thought Fabian would be crumpling his face and clouding the surrounding atmosphere.

But my prediction was wrong.

Fabian was nowhere to be found, and Deca’s face was rather gloomy.

‘Did he not attend the banquet because he was so bothered by the fact that Jeanne and the special forces received titles?’

But something was not right to say that.

I beckoned to Sevi. However, how he mistook it, Meyer, who was in the same direction, quickly approached.

“What? You can’t open the bottle? Do you want me to open it for you?”

Then, before he could even hear my answer, he took the moralizing bottle and immediately pulled the corkscrew. With a gleam, my empty cup was filled to the brim with alcohol.

It was not something he had done in a day or two, but his face turned in an all too natural manner.

It wasn’t as if there were no attendants in the banquet hall to pour the alcohol.

Sure enough, the servant, who had unknowingly been taken away from his work, had hardened.

It was a moment when everyone in the banquet hall was glancing at Meyer without him knowing. Everyone was startled and astonished by the scene.

“The Black Knight poured alcohol with his own hands….?”

Despite the crowds, the Black Knights seemed calm as if it was nothing.

Feeling ashamed for no reason, I retorted to Meyer.

“Do you think I always drink?”

“You don’t?”

“…”

I was really surprised to hear Meyer’s words back, and I shut my mouth. There were no words to say when he asked me back like that…

Robur grabbed the bottle and blew the trumpet.

“Is this alcohol suitable for the Vice Commander’s taste? Your Excellency should have raised it up.”

“I drink alcohol as precious as it is and as common as it is, so it’s okay… No, that’s not it.”

When the other person drank on the other side of the room, I almost unintentionally inertially lifted my glass to moisten my mouth.

But now there was something that needed to be resolved first.

“What?”

Meyer bowed his back and whispered quietly in my ear at my attitude of stirring alcohol unlike usual.

“There’s something that’s a little unpleasant. Sevi.”

After putting down the glass, I called Sevi exactly this time. Sevi, who was being teased by other troops, rushed to me as soon as my call fell.

“What’s up?”

“Sevi, I’m sorry that this is during the banquet, but I have a favor to ask of you right now.”

“Just tell me anything.”

Sevi said confidently.

He was very dependable, quite different from when he had complained that he was unhappy with his title.

No matter how much I whispered in his ear in hushed tones, I did not know how the words would leak out just because we were in the banquet hall.

I couldn’t tell him to go after Fabian with impunity, so I hinted at the other side that I was constantly struggling with it.

“Do you remember the person I asked you to do the background check around this time last year?”

That much hint was enough for Sevi, who had been in the dungeon with me all year round.

Sevi, who understood me perfectly, nodded and replied.

“Of course. Trust me.”

Sevi left right away.

The special unit and the Black Knights, who noticed that I had made Sevi work, made a fuss and turned the attention of those around them to themselves.

I also smiled and raised my glass.

“For the endless glory of the Black Knight.”

“…Anyway, you.”

Meyer chuckled and lightly bumped his glass against my glass.

I smiled and finally tipped my glass. My lips moistened and my eyes glistened insistently as I stared at the distorted image of the Fabian expedition through the round glass of the cup.

Fabian challenged dungeons again with the support of Countess Nerus.

Whatever he wanted to do, raising his level was the first thing to do. Having attacked dungeons with clenched teeth, he was soon able to exceed level 60.

However, as if to ridicule Fabian’s efforts, Jun and the special unit easily exceeded level 60.

He had to admit the talent of Jun Karentia in raising expedition members.

Fabian gritted his teeth as he looked at the back of the “special unit” receiving the title, leaving himself behind.

But worse than the feeling of being late, however, was the fact that for a moment they felt like the ‘chosen ones’ in their shining place.

Everything he did felt like a futile struggle, a denial of reality.

Fabian shook his head. His choice was not wrong…

Fabian took advantage of the complicated banquet to meet Countess Nerus.

He said that the dice had already been thrown, but there was still a chance to defeat his opponent.

He could not give up his hopes of trifling expectations until the dice fell to the floor and revealed their eyes.

“Countess Nerus. It’s Fabian Ignis.”

At the sudden visit, Countess Nerus shot back at Fabian, not hiding her annoyance.

“I would have told you not to approach me so noticeably.”

“If you had contacted me first, I wouldn’t have come like this either. Have you prepared what I asked for?”

“Are you interrogating me?”

Countess Nerus snorted dismissively.

However, contrary to that attitude, Countess Nerus was also surprised by the growth of the special unit.

She thought Fabian was in a hurry when he told her that he would take care of things at this debriefing session, but he couldn’t wait much longer. It was fortunate that she had prepared just in case.

Countess Nerus replied matter-of-factly, keeping such true feelings under wraps.

“I never thought you’d doubt my work… I’ve done all the preparation. As long as you don’t grab my ankle.”

“Then this will be perfect.”

Fabian also responded with confidence. Both of them had so much confidence in their own abilities that they distrusted the abilities of others.

Fabian thought of Meyer’s smile as he looked down on him during the title performance ceremony.

Let’s see how long the smile will last. You can only smile for this moment.

Resentment toward Jun, jealousy toward Meyer, and feelings of inferiority… Fabian gave up forgetting his feelings.

He only liked the hope of the wretched joy that would bring them down, as only he would be miserable if he had to find out.