It was November the fifth. Since the banquet started at noon, people were already coming in through the teleportation circle in the morning.

There were even people that came several days early. The three nearby duchies, for example. The people that represented these places weren’t qualified to use the teleportation circle, so they had to make their trip ever since they received their invitation. Once they reached Bakong City, they just stayed at an inn until the banquet actually began.

In the very early morning, all the servants in the royal palace changed into their costumes. As the head butler, Burbridge himself changed into a very fine black suit. After he finished making some early arrangements, he waited for Abel to finish breakfast before leading him to the dressing room.

Abel had to get ready as soon as he finished eating. When he was done, he followed Burbridge to the dressing room. The dressing room was one of the rooms that was reserved for just Abel. It was mostly just an empty room, which had full-body mirrors on the walls on two sides. The mirror’s body was made of giant crystals, where the back was sealed to the wall with mercury. Keep in mind that this world didn’t have the technology to make glass, so making mirrors like this was ridiculously expensive.

Inside the first room on the other side, there were countless costumes for both men and women. Most of them were left by the George Family, so Abel planned to throw them all away, but Burbridge convinced him not to. He said that the right costumes were supposed to represent a family’s heritage, and while the history behind them might not be passed down to the generations onward, its symbolic meaning was more than enough to make them stay.

Over the past twenty days, the royal tailors had prepared four costumes for Abel. They were working days and nights for them, but there really wasn’t time to finish all the linings. The most they could do was lace enough jewelry, so it looked high-class enough for the person wearing them.

Abel chose a bright yellow safari jacket for himself. He decided to go with a shouldered cape that had a black base and golden linings for the outside. For his head, he decided to wear the golden crown with a perfect gemstone piece. He was wearing white small gloves made with sheep leather, and he was holding the scepter made with green tourmaline.

Abel was a handsome man about two meters tall. With a uniform tailored for a king, almost everyone felt like bowing down in his presence. Also, it had only been a month since he came back from the great war. He did a good job maintaining his postures as a knight, but occasionally, the murderous aura would still come out of him and shun everyone nearby.

“Great. It’s great!”

When Abel smiled, the overwhelming essence he omitted suddenly disappeared. He realized how intimidating he was being, so he did something about it with his transformation necklace. After that, the royal tailor finally felt the courage to stand up and thank him for his compliment.

Burbridge sent a reminder, “Your Majesty, you’re the king and host of this event. There is no need for you to wait in the hallroom now. You can make your appearance after everyone else has.”

“No!” Abel shook his head at the suggestion, “I can, but no. I don’t know how the other kings did it, but everyone coming is my friend. I need to be there to show them enough generosity.”

Burbridge quickly changed his tune, “Apologies, your Majesty. As a powerful king, you are free to do all things under your own free will.”

When Abel came to the hallroom, he saw Bartoli was waiting outside the door. Bartoli was in her lady-in-waiting costume, but the wizard badge on her chest was a constant reminder that she was to be respected at all times. This way, not only did she serve as someone to maintain the order of this place, the wizards that would come here today would also feel very respected to be welcomed by her.

Bartoli called over, “Bernie Goff of the dwarves just came!”

Bernie was very polite for formal events such as this, “It’s a great honor, Grandmaster Abel. I have come to say my greetings to you.”

Abel smiled at the presence of a close friend, “It’s been so long, Bernie! How’s everything?”

“All good, thanks to you. The grandmaster’s wine has helped to lift our family’s reputation. To thank you for all the help you give, they’ve sent me here to send you gifts.”

“Forget about the gifts!” Abel shook his head, “You know me well enough, don’t you? I don’t care about gifts!”

“Of course you don’t, Grandmaster Abel. You’re not a man interested in money and wealth, so our family has decided to give you one hundred small-sized war puppets this time. Of course, each of them would be equipped with their own consecutive crossbow.”

Abel gave his utmost gratitude, “Thank your father for me. Please, if the Goff family needs something, let me know.”

Bernie said with hesitation, “Actually, there’s a lot we need your help with, but, let’s see, well… Yeah, this is your day today, so we’ll probably do this another time.”

Just when Abel was about to ask more about it, Bartoli’s voice came over from a distance.

“Derek, the eldest prince of the Kingdom of St. Ellis, has arrived!”

Bernie gave a bow, “I’ll stop bothering you now, Grandmaster Abel. Let’s leave the talk for the future.”

“Sure,” Abel returned a bow, “Let’s leave it for some other time.”

Prince Derek gave a bow to Abel, “Good day to you, Grandmaster Abel. I’ve come here on behalf of his Majesty King Ambroses’s behalf.”

Abel returned the bow, “It’s a great honor to see you in person. Thank you so much for your arrival, your highness. Please, send my kindest regard to his Majesty.”

“His Majesty has sent a very humble gift to you, Grandmaster Abel. Here.”

As Prince Derek said that, four leather-armored knights came in and bowed to Abel on one knee.

“They are the griffin knights. From this day on, they will swear their eternal loyalty to your family.”

Abel was very surprised to receive a gift like this. The griffin knight was the strongest soldier type of the Kingdom of St. Ellis. It was the only human soldier type that was trained with the use of flying mounts. If King Ambrose was kind enough to give him his own griffin knight, he must’ve really cherished the help that Abel could potentially offer.

As Abel told the four griffin knights to stand up, he saw that they were all close to becoming head knight commanders. More crucially, when he scanned them with his power of the Will, he could see a lot about their current physical states. They all had suffered several injuries before, and while it’s mostly recovered now, they seemed to have reached their maximum potential already.

From that, Abel kind of understood the reasons that they were chosen to be sent here. As knights who little to no space for growth, they would only grow weaker as time went past. Still, they represented the goodwill of the Kingdom of St. Ellis. They were past their prime, but they were still the only human soldier type that could use flying mounts.

Abel turned to speak to Burbridge, “Have their residence arranged. Also, take care of their mounts.”

“Yes, your Majesty,” Burbridge bowed in reply. Then, he took the four griffin knights away from the hallroom.

Abel thanked Prince Derek again, “I’m very thankful for such generosity. Please, bring back my gratitude and friendship when you return.”

Prince Derek’s eyes kind of swelled when he heard the word “gratitude.” He was the one who picked the four griffin knights as gifts. There were many people who opposed the idea, and without the direct consent of his father, he would’ve never had the chance to hear such words from Abel.

Bartoli’s voice came over again, “His Majesty of the duchy of Thunder, King Absolem has arrived!”

Abel bowed to Prince Derek, “My apologies. I’ll have to say my greetings.”

Prince Derek understood. He knew what happened between the duchy of Thunder and the duchy of Carmel. More specifically, he knew how Abel captured a Wizard and kept him at the Lianty City Wizard Union branch.

The story went like this: while the duchy of Thunder requested Liante City to set the Wizard free, without Abel’s consent, it’d be impossible for the Liante City Wizard Union branch to do so.