[Translator - Peptobismal]
[Proofreader - Max]
Chapter 44
'Melissa Alencia.'
Seeing her healthy appearance, it seemed she had recovered from the Red Flower Disease with the cure Zeke had given her.
He bowed his head to Melissa.
"I have heard much about Princess Melissa's reputation. I express my sincere gratitude to you for coming to my promotion party. It is an honor to meet you like this."
Although they were compliments that could make one's skin crawl, they were essential in aristocratic society.
It was fortunate that he had hastily learned various phrases from Andrei before coming to the party; otherwise, it would have been difficult to blend in.
Melissa smiled and replied to Zeke's words,
"I am very pleased that the continent's youngest Blue Knight knows of me."
"I have been very interested in the charity work you are doing. People who don't know much about public relief projects may think it's just about giving away what you have, but it's a task that requires attention to every single budget item, isn't it?"
Melissa's expression changed at Zeke's answer.
The mask-like smile broke, and she showed genuine surprise.
Most of the young knights she had met were braggarts filled only with ambition and a thirst for competition.
Even regarding the charity work she was doing, they only heard the superficial details and used it as a conversation starter, without any empathy for the hidden difficulties behind it.
However, Zeke, in his brief words, had pinpointed the difficulties of charity work.
'As Cliff said, he may not be just an ordinary knight.'
"Thank you for recognizing that. I shouldn't take up any more of the party's main attraction's time. It was a pleasure meeting you. Goodbye."
Thinking that she needed to learn more about him, Melissa said goodbye to Zeke and stepped back.
Zeke was exhausted from meeting countless royals, nobles, politicians, and key figures who came to him after Melissa.
'I'd rather go through King Kaisir's hellish training.'
The Draker clan was a knight clan, but they were also deeply involved in the politics of each kingdom.
As they played the role of maintaining balance in the Central Continent, other kingdoms valued their relationship with the Drakers and actively tried to maintain an alliance.
A single clan, yet wielding more influence than any kingdom or empire.
That was the transcendent Draker clan.
Just then, a group of people approached Zeke.
As they approached, the others moved aside.
The atmosphere of the party changed due to these people who came wearing armor instead of formal attire, despite being party guests.
The youthful man at the forefront of the group approached Zeke and offered a greeting in the Imperial style.
"Zeke Draker! The continent's youngest Blue Knight!"
The slightly drunk young man was acting strangely familiar with Zeke.
Wearing a flashy hairstyle and gleaming armor, the young man grinned at Zeke.
"I am Carus Nerba Constantine, the fourth prince of the Great Rom Empire."
The people from the Central Kingdom around them were startled and murmured at the young man's words.
They hadn't expected that the Rom Empire's royalty would attend a personal promotion party.
Zeke, facing Carus, the fourth prince of the Rom Empire, fell into deep thought.
'Why did that damn prince come here?'
Although he didn't know him directly, the person responsible for the desolate state of Atlas he had seen in his past life was Carus, the man standing before him.
Zeke reluctantly greeted Carus.
"Your Highness Carus. Thank you for coming to my promotion party."
Honestly, he didn't even want to exchange words with him.
However, Carus approached Zeke with a friendly attitude.
"Come on, let's go have a drink together. Hey, bring some alcohol quickly. To commemorate the historic first meeting between Carus, the continent's greatest lover of pleasure, and Sir Zeke Draker, who will become the continent's greatest knight, bring the best alcohol!"
At Carus's words, an attendant hurriedly brought glasses of alcohol.
Completely ignoring the surrounding gazes, he forcefully handed a glass to Zeke and made a toast.
"It's alcohol bestowed by the Imperial clan, so drink it all up."
The people around them frowned at Carus's words.
Even if the Drakers existed only as a clan, considering their influence, he shouldn't have been so rude.
People started whispering about Carus's behavior. Zeke drank the alcohol Carus had given him in one gulp.
Carus clapped his hands and cheered.
"Good, good! Zeke! Let's drink until we're both completely drunk today."
Just then, Abel approached from behind Carus.
"Your Highness."
Carus was very pleased to see Abel calling him.
"Oh, Abel. Thank you for inviting me to this delightful gathering. Come and join us for a toast!"
Abel, managing his expression with effort, said to Carus,
"It is a pleasure to see you in good health. I was just about to discuss something with you.
Would you care to join me for a drink and a chat?"
"Hmm, I don't really want to hear about anything troublesome."
"It's a matter that requires Your Highness's valuable opinion."
At those words, Carus finally nodded.
"I can't refuse then. Sir Zeke, let's discuss the epic that praises the legend of the Dragon
Slayer over drinks all night next time!"
Carus walked away, his long cloak fluttering.
Only after he disappeared from the banquet hall did the others breathe a sigh of relief.
Then they lowered their voices and whispered.
"It's truly surprising that the Imperial Prince is like that."
"The Rom Empire itself lacks tradition. That's why the Emperor and the Prince are like that."
"By the way, the Lion Sword's response is truly amazing. To step up and quickly resolve the issue like that."
"Indeed. It seems people don't praise him for nothing."
Zeke was lost in thought as he watched Carus, Abel, and the people from the Siemens clan disappear.
'The Empire's prince, Siemens, and Abel. It seems like they're up to something.'
Zeke's eyes flashed sharply.
***
The promotion party continued for several days.
Parties and banquets were quite important to nobles.
They were an important indicator of a clan's strength that could be shown to others.
It was necessary to treat guests as well as possible, if a banquet was held at all.
As a result, Zeke, the main character of the party, also had to entertain the guests for several days.
Only after the official banquet ended could he finally breathe a sigh of relief.
"Training is a million times easier than holding a banquet."
He threw off his stuffy formal attire.
Then he took out the note he had received from the head of the clan.
"The Draker Treasury."
As befitting a Dragon Slayer clan, countless items collected over a thousand years were stored in the treasury.
Without further ado, Zeke headed straight for Winterkeep, where the Draker Treasury was located.
Perhaps instructions had already been given, because as soon as his identity was confirmed, he was immediately guided to the treasury located underground.
'The temperature is low.'
As he entered the underground area with the guide, Zeke could feel that the temperature had been lowered by magic.
"Please go this way and complete the procedures."
Walking down a narrow corridor, he saw a dozen knights of the clan guarding a huge door.
Zeke went to the desk and completed the procedures.
"Confirmation complete. By order of the head of the clan, you may take one item from the treasury. The inside is quite spacious, so it will take a considerable amount of time to look around everything. Once you leave, you cannot re-enter, so if you wish, you can take auxiliary food, a chamber pot, and bedding inside."
It seemed that there were cases where people stayed inside for days to choose the item they wanted.
Since Zeke had an inventory, he didn't need any of that, so he stated that he was fine as he was.
"Then, we will open the treasury."
The desk attendant pressed a switch, and the huge door of the treasury opened automatically.
Rumble!
As Zeke entered the treasury, the door closed completely behind him.
"Wow, what is all this?"
The treasury was a massive item storage warehouse.
Tens of thousands of items were displayed on large shelves.
Seeing this sight, he understood why people said they stayed here for days to find items.
He knew the treasury was impressive, but he hadn't expected it to be this grand, and he couldn't help but be amazed.
"There's so much that I don't know what's what. I'll have to look through the functions first."
Zeke activated the Dragon Eyes skill.
Information about the items appeared before his eyes.
Overwhelmed by the sheer amount of information, he quickly deactivated Dragon Eyes.
"Damn, I'm going to go cross-eyed at this rate."
He pondered for a moment, then opened the system window.
"System, is there a way to quickly find useful items?"
[Checking available functions as requested by the administrator.]
[Activating system linkage function for intermediate administrators.]
[You can link the Dragon Eyes skill and the minimap function to display items on the map.]
"I don't quite understand what that means, but try it."
[Linking functions.]
Soon, information about the items within Zeke's line of sight started to appear on the open map.
"So this is what the system linkage function is."
It seemed that the items had to be within his sight for their information to be displayed.
Zeke used the Phantom Step to quickly move around every corner of the treasury.
Even so, it took quite a while because the treasury was so vast.
"Whew, this should be enough, right?"
After scanning the inside of the treasury, Zeke changed the minimap to 3D and checked the information of the scanned items.
But there was still too much.
"System, can I categorize and view only the types of items I want?"
[Possible.]
"Good. Then exclude ordinary items without magic functions from the items here."
More than half of the displayed items disappeared.
"Okay, good. Next, erase one-time consumable items as well."
Half of them disappeared again.
"How many items are left?"
[2,832 items.]
"There's still a lot left."
Zeke decided to examine these items one by one.
He used the Phantom Step to move around the treasury and examine the items.
"Why are there so many swords? System, erase the swords that are worse than Bahamut."
Instantly, half of them disappeared.
Zeke looked at the remaining items.
There were no more swords, perhaps because there were none better than Bahamut.
Then, Zeke noticed something strange among the marked items.
"What's this? Why is all the information displayed as question marks?"
Not only was it marked in black on the map, but only "???" was written in the information window.
Zeke went to where the item was located.
It was an uncategorized item storage area, stored in boxes in a corner, not in the usual display area.
Zeke had almost missed this area, but he had quickly looked around, so at least that much was marked.
Only after removing all the stacked storage boxes could Zeke finally see what was inside.
"What could it be?"
Zeke opened the storage box and checked the items inside.
Various miscellaneous items were randomly mixed in the box.
Zeke took them out one by one and examined them.
"Not this, not that either."
Then, something caught Zeke's hand.
"Is this it?"
It was a crude bracelet with a sky-blue gem in the center.
Zeke tilted his head as he looked at the bracelet.
"Why isn't any information showing up even with Dragon Eyes?"
Just then, a message appeared.
[The title 'Heir of Terakan Draker' is activated.]
[You are registered as the heir of the 'Sacred Guardian Stone'.]
[You can summon a guardian beast that matches your soul through the 'Sacred Guardian Stone'.]
[Translator - Peptobismal]
[Proofreader - Max]