The Water Magician

In the end, the delegation ended up staying two nights in the city of Karnak.

The city of Karnak is the largest city in the kingdom area of Twilight Land and serves as the center for trade with the kingdom.

Therefore, it was a blessing that the entire delegation could stay properly at an inn.

As for the captives… Rosalia, who had clearly sided with them, was allowed to stay in a room under supervision.

The others were frozen in ice, stationed in the inn’s courtyard. Of course, Natalia was among them.

Five days after handing over the captives, the delegation finally arrived at the capital of Twilight Land, Thebes.

As they passed through the gates and entered the capital, citizens lined both sides of the main street.

They were there to welcome the delegation from the kingdom.

In their hands, they waved small versions of the Land flag and the kingdom flag, happily cheering.

"What a spectacular sight..."

"Indeed."

Ryo's impression and Abel's impression were probably completely different.

For Ryo, it was, "I never imagined I would see such a common sight from Earth here."

For Abel, it was, "I can't believe they would welcome a delegation from another country so warmly."

In any case, neither of them felt bad about being welcomed.

Right after their arrival, an audience with the grand duke was scheduled.

The chief negotiator of the delegation, Ignis, along with the officials, and Abel and Ryo were to participate.

"Oh, I’m just an adventurer, so I don’t think I need to go…"

"How could you not!? The reason we traveled by carriage all this way was for work like this. The kingdom even prepared formal attire for you, so it’s impossible for you to not go!"

"Ugh..."

Abel explained his reasoning with solid logic.

Ryo, unable to argue back, felt dejected.

As expected, Ryo ended up attending the audience as well.

The audience itself concluded without any incidents.

Since Ignis handled all the responses from their side, Abel and Ryo merely knelt and listened to the grand duke's words.

Ryo's thought was, "He’s Mew’s grandfather, but he doesn’t really look like him."

The audience ceremony went smoothly, and the subsequent welcome banquet was a standing buffet attended by the officials and nobles of Land.

Having never experienced a standing buffet in the kingdom, Ryo found it to be a very nostalgic feeling, reminiscent of his time on Earth.

Well, he didn't actually have any memories of attending a banquet in the kingdom at all.

Led by the chief negotiator Ignis, the officials of the delegation were mingling with the people of Land in various places.

For them, this banquet was also part of their work.

And the only a-rank adventurer, Abel, was surrounded by many of Land's military officers and nobles.

Ryo could see that he was desperately trying to hide his fatigue with a smile.

"Abel, fight on!"

With those outsider-like thoughts, Ryo had taken a position in front of the table laden with food.

He was enjoying the meal.

Normally, Ryo was not a glutton and could get by with just dried meat during busy times, but with such delicious food laid out before him and many participants engrossed in conversation…

No, it wasn't that he was being greedy; he was driven by a sense of righteous indignation to save the food that was being neglected!

Of course, since it was a banquet venue, he had to eat gracefully, and standing.

However, Ryo managed to uphold the extremely challenging combination of "refined gluttony," continuously devouring the food before him.

The sight of this led the nobles of Land to keep their distance, while Ryo continued to eat… such a scene unfolded.

"The adventurers of the kingdom are quite the epicures, aren’t they?"

A woman approached Ryo with a cheerful voice.

At that voice, Ryo turned to the side.

The woman was truly a stunning beauty...

Ryo had the impression that there were many handsome men and beautiful women among the nobles of Land, but the woman before him stood out among the rest.

Yes, she was an unparalleled beauty.

Lacking confidence in his vocabulary, Ryo could think of no other words.