“Father. Mother is inviting you to come over.”

I turned around to discover that Rosa of the wood spirits’ Seven Virtues was looking right at me. Her small eyes contained unconcealed longing and tender feelings for me. Her cute face had a sincere smile.

She really was so cute. If it weren’t for the fact that it wasn’t suitable for me to do such a thing in public, I would have already raised her high above my head and then brought out a lollipop.

“And then you’d be treated the same as lolicon Kaid. Is that why you always carry snacks on you? For the purpose of luring young girls? You two really are alike as classmates. Nothing more than fellow perverts.”

Harloys even managed to make a perfect retort with this opportunity. Still, I felt that Kaid’s unseemliness as he drunkenly lay on the ground was so pitiful. There wasn’t even a single nice person around who was willing to drag him away from here?

Amala went over towards Kaid. She really was a nice person, as expected of Margaret’s teacher… erm, why was she stepping on him? She was even stomping viciously on his face? Should I said that it was to be expected of Margaret’s teacher?

And then I could no longer bear to watch…

Hey, hey, hey, be a little more respectable, Kaid. Why was he smiling mysteriously despite being stomped on? I’d never noticed that he had such a preference before!

“Father?”

The cutie Rosa behind me was frowning and pouting as if she was dissatisfied that I had forgotten about her.

Actually, I hadn’t forgotten about her at all. I was actually pretending not to see that my senior Amelia was glaring at me from the corner.

“Cough, cough, Little Rosa, you should try this ice cream. It’s strawberry ice cream with strawberries from Feen. It’s a Bardi specialty. Do you see how that pudgy grandpa… er, pudgy uncle (I almost lowered my own status) is having so much fun eating the strawberry ice cream bars? He’s already on his 15th. Ha, he’s even licking the stick. Is the food at the Cloud Tower really that bad?”

My last complaint was “slightly” loud, so probably “nobody” heard it at all! I then saw to my “surprise” that Aloso’s face instantly became bright red… and then he instantly turned around and continued eating ice cream.

However, he was unable to eat ice cream for long. The next instant, Amala had a severe expression as she went over to the fatty mage who was losing face.

“Hahaha, he actually ran out of the room, and took the remaining five ice cream bars with him before he left, sheesh…”

Seeing how shameless the archmages were acting, I felt like I was really respectable today.

“Roland, how much longer are you going to pretend not to see me?”

However, a familiar voice before me sent chills down my spine. I slowly turned around to see a familiar green color which was emanating such nostalgic anger.

“…Roland, you’d better go see a psychiatrist. You’re becoming more and more like lolicon Kaid.”

“Shut up, silly cat! Otherwise, I’m going to make you transform into a little girl!”

“…You need to make it out of this alive first.”

The silly cat retreated, maybe because she was afraid of losing face in front of her peers. Yet, I only had a bigger headache.

I slowly turned around and put on my well-practiced Holy Knight smile. I scratched my head while managing to say, “Senior, you look so beautiful today.”

It would never be wrong to praise a well-dressed woman for being beautiful. Besides, this was no lie at all.

Amelia wasn’t wearing plain clothing like usual. Today, she was wearing a light purple silken one-piece dress. Her pretty face was covered by a mysterious veil, making her seem serious and mysterious. Her originally naturally curly hair had been straightened and reached her waist.

Unlike the other noblewomen attending this banquet, Amelia didn’t have even one gold accessory on her. She was wearing fresh flowers on her head, a vine around her arm, and a grass circlet around her bare feet, giving her attire a mystical and natural style.

A pair of gold-rimmed eyeglasses helped to reduce her aura, making her stand out slightly less. If it wasn’t for the fact that no ordinary person was attending this banquet, someone probably would have long since tried to flirt with her.

Today, Amelia seemed especially quiet and beautiful, as well as… slightly feminine? If I had to describe her, I would only be able to use the typical phrases such as calling her a Nature Goddess or fairy of the forest.

But right now, this originally quiet fairy of the forest was quite angrily glaring at me in dissatisfaction. However, she then smiled in the very next instant.

“Seeing how your praise is sincere, I’ll forgive you for now.”

Since when had Amelia been so quick to forgive? I asked her to go to the Northlands, but then I skipped out on her, yet she was forgiving me so easily?

“Of course I wouldn’t forgive you so easily. Promise me one thing.”

I paused in surprise, but then silently nodded in agreement. This was more of what I expected. My senior would never be so understanding.

“…Roland, I know several excellent psychiatrists. You really should consult with them.”

“Shut up, silly cat.”

However, Amelia laughed. Unlike before, her smile was rather faint and difficult to understand.

“Come to the Forest of Dreams sometimes whenever you have the free time. Jill’s already said many times ‘Father has other children and doesn’t love us anymore,’ while Samantha’s also been secretly looking at your picture and crying. Don’t look at how those children are independent and speak harsh words. They actually really miss fatherly love. At the very least, you should visit them often.”

Someone was tugging on my shirt. I lowered my head and saw that Rosa had a pitiful expression while trying to withstand her tears.

“I’ll cry if you don’t agree” was a wordless threat more powerful than any other.

I was petrified at that moment…

“Father, responsibility…”

I panicked, truly panicked…

Amelia then straightened my shirt, came close to me, and gently brushed her red lips against my cheek.

Amelia then immediately left together with Rosa. I was left in a completely confused and petrified state… while everyone also pointed at me.

“Roland really is a pervert just like that Kaid. No, Roland is even worse of a scumbag. His child’s already so old, yet he’s still playing around outside!”

‘Auntie, you’re an archmage, yet you really don’t know what a wood spirit is? Could you please not say things that would make the situation worse?’

“My angel Amelia! My eyes!”

That fellow really was actually spitting up blood. It seemed like the legendary “Angelic Amelia Support Club” would be issuing a bounty for my head yet again.

“My hands are burning! Burn this scumbag!”

That was an ice magic archmage. Since when did he learn how to use fireballs? Using fireballs wasn’t even the important part. He should at least try to avoid setting his sleeves on fire.

“Hahaha, Roland, so this has happened to you today as well. You scumbag who always sets pitfalls for me, you deserve what’s happening to you today!”

This was… well, everyone else was only pointing and whispering, while he was openly laughing loudly and losing so much face as a mage. Of course, this was Kaid, who hadn’t changed how foolish he was in the past 100 years.

Kaid was currently shivering because Amala had used a spell to summon rain and snow on him to make him sober up, yet he was still loudly laughing while pointing at me. He didn’t notice how Amala was already so angry that she was rolling up her sleeves right behind him…

I felt that soon, due to all the face that the mages had lost today, Amala would be suppressing all the other silly archmages with her fury and give them a new class that they would be forced to attend—mage diplomatic etiquette class.

“…Amelia seems a bit different today,” I muttered as I watched her leave.

But right after that…

A tall white female elf rushed over and seemed to say something heated to Amelia.

Amelia responded with something that didn’t seem to satisfy the silver-haired Superior Elf. The elf then actually tried to pull on Amelia…

*Boom!*

A large hole appeared in the floor. If I recalled right, this was the first floor, and underneath the floor was solid stone… If that female elf was still in one piece, she was probably buried underground already.

Amelia took back her fist which was smoking as she viciously glared all around her, getting rid of the curious gazes upon her.

“Your Majesty.” A male voice called out from behind me to excitement. I figured that only one person would likely address me like this.

“Lionheart? You’re here?”

I turned around and saw his familiar figure as I expected. The master of the black knights was currently staring at me with an overly passionate gaze.

Behind him was a short middle-aged man with a wretched appearance. I remembered who this man was. He was formerly the First Senator of Xiluo, the human form of the most shameless bone dragon of all, Gricasio.

“Thank you for your hard work. Please eat something here and take a rest.”

I kept feeling like I had forgotten something as I asked the undead to eat… Wait a moment, Xiluo’s representatives were here, so the female elf that had just been smashed underground… could she have been bone dragon queen Gria?

I glanced at the large hole in the floor as well as Amelia who was obviously still quite angry, and considered for two seconds what Gria might have said and the possibility that Amelia might direct her anger towards me. I then decided to wisely forget about Gria.

Xiluo’s undead army had come to Bardi with the identity of the Mist Alliance’s reinforcements. The Mist Alliance had sent reinforcements because of Bardi’s payment.

There were actually two main portions to my previous undead army. One portion was the remainder of the Mist Kingdom, with Bastian and the Red Hunting Hounds as the main forces. After the battle of Hell, most of them had chosen to remain in and guard Hell. The remainder stayed in the Mist Kingdom or chose to reincarnate after the Battle of Hell.

The other portion were my subordinates as Yongye. Harloys, Gricasio, Lionheart, Gria, and the Undead Senators were all examples of such.

They all had their own lives and goals. Although they obeyed me and fought for my cause, they were different from my Red Hunting Hounds who were just like my family and retainers. I could make these undead subordinates of mine sacrifice themselves for my cause, but I would be unable to make them remain in Hell for my cause forever. Most of them had ended up with Xiluo of the Mist Alliance.

Right now, even though only a few Undead Lords had arrived, nobody would understand the enemy better than they would.

Of course, it was also correct to say that they were here to support me and give me face. They would be absolutely necessary in order to achieve my tactical objective.

Lionheart, Gria, and Gricasio were the remaining Undead Lords from Xiluo. But, unlike Lionheart and Gria who were completely loyal to me, Gricasio was definitely the strongest among them, but also the least reliable and trustworthy.

Gricasio would still be alright when fighting a winning battle, but if he met with even the slightest bit of danger, he would either run away or surrender.

Even though he had just arrived, not only did he not greet me, he was hiding in the back while nervously glancing all around him, acting as if he didn’t feel safe because too many powerful individuals were here.

Suddenly, Gricasio’s expression changed as he shouted.

“Impossible! Impossible! Harloys, you, you, you actually… took that step!”

This was yet another unexpected situation. Everyone naturally glanced over at Harloys in the crowd because of Gricasio pointing at her.

Lionheart also looked in that direction and instantly paused in surprise. After a while, he muttered something without realizing it. “Your Majesty?”

His words didn’t contain the respect from before. He was referring to the only status in undead society which would be so venerated.

“Undead Emperor?”

Someone who understood what was going on added that for clarification. At this moment, the archmages who really understood what this meant all inhaled cold breaths. The circle of people that had originally been surrounding Harloys all instinctively backed away from her.

Harloys was also surprised for a moment, but then she condescendingly glanced at her old opponent who used to be ranked higher than her. She smiled proudly at Gricasio.

“Yes, I’m an Undead Emperor now as well. This is the benefit of following the right boss… No, it’s the benefit of warming the bed for the boss every night. Are you envious?”

‘Harloys, I knew that you were quite proud about being able to show off in front of your old opponent, but what did you mean by that last sentence? Why did you intentionally speak it in Amelia’s direction? Aaah, she’s glaring at me! Silly cat, you want to commit indirect murder here!’