The setting sun sank westward.
Although the main banquet had yet to begin, the early arrival of the two dukes had already made the banquet hall lively beyond compare.
Outside the hall, Logistics Officer Stro and the steward of Mindis Hall, both nursing splitting headaches, checked the lists and counted the carriages and gifts, repeatedly confirming everything with coachmen and attendants speaking in all kinds of accents.
Inside, the personal attendants who had accompanied the guests bustled back and forth without pause. From time to time, their masters' needs and demands sparked arguments with the servants working in the hall.
Gilbert had no choice but to arrange for clowns, dancers, and minstrels to enter early, play music, and serve food and wine, returning the guests' enthusiasm—and keeping them from making trouble out of sheer boredom. Supposedly, quite a few people who had not received invitations and could not enter had also hurried to the scene, hoping to try their luck on this special day.
Marius, meanwhile, coordinated everything with practiced professionalism. He assigned posts, managed the servants, discussed the arrangements with the steward sent by Revival Palace, and dealt with unexpected incidents—such as a minor noble bringing six daughters who were not on the guest list, or moving Jorge, who sprayed spittle as he excitedly chattered to everyone, "Do you know who the famous North Star is?" from the foreign guests' section to the seat reserved for honored elders and veterans.
As the banquet's central figure, Tales could only suffer in silence.
Although he was nominally the master of Mindis Hall and ought to sit upright in the principal seat, calmly awaiting the guests, there were two reasons he could not do so. First, even a king of exalted status would attend today's banquet, so it would be inappropriate for