Chapter II-I:

Great Hero

A month passed by in the blink of an eye. Or at least, it seemed so for poor Carlston. To the dismay of the Queen, she was unable to start any political strife to keep her suitors away.

For the first time in her life, the entirety of the court ganged up and shut down each and every one of her motions that could potentially delay this event. Faction lines and differing political ideologies did not matter, for they all wanted the Queen to get married already.

To quote noble A, B, C, and every other nouveau riche or diplomat: “Just get married already!”

This thinking held especially true for families who had sons or nephews or even overly-qualified employees as long as they were male. If anyone could pin down this Queen, it would bring great prosperity and honour to their house as well as anyone affiliated to them.

As soon as Eilane realized there was no getting out of this, she gave a hard restriction to bring in one hundred men. No more and no less. Carlston, of course, was overjoyed with this. Although this was still a great number and caused no end to his stress, at the very least, this ensured that the lowest rabble would not get in through the front gates. If they could all physically fit through that is…

It was a fine day.

Azure skies so blue, the commoners thought certainly this was a blessed day. Only God’s plan could have allowed for such mild weather and perfect conditions for Her Majesty. Every carriage that travelled across hazardous conditions arrived safely. And every ship that set sail for this nation of Liberny docked in one piece.

Surely, this was the day Queen Eilane Erst would get married.

In the throes of harsh rays and a shaded dirt path, a hooded woman stood among the parading townsfolk to greet the great hero, Mithius.

A couple feet away from her was a storyteller narrating with mock theatrics:

“Only years past, the neighbouring nations were in turmoil due to the unfathomable existence known as the Demon Lord terrorizing the lands. Never leaving the safety of this demonic castle, the cowardly Demon Lord commanded evil creatures to raid and murder innocent civilians in Orlane, H’arkin, and Liberny.”

The bulk of the attacks were in Orlane though. Our great nation of Liberny got attacked maybe… two or three times a year?

“The woes of our citizens were finally heard by God, as a great hero ascended from the chivalric order of knights. Trained from an early age as a paladin, one boy seemingly held limitless strength. He was the one to wield a holy sword which could smite all evil beings in its presence. Mithius saved countless lives wherever he travelled, slowly making his way towards the Demon Lord’s lair. At last, he slayed the source of evil and the nation truly knew peace.”

How exaggerated can you get? We were barely affected.

Liberny was far too inland for the demon army to ever be a threat. Sure, there was strife in the outskirts of the nation. But the previous King set up outposts all across the border and minimized damage. There’s no way anything really powerful would get through the national army’s defenses. Of course, it was still impossible to patrol such a large amount of wilderness perfectly all the time. Due to this, lesser demons would sometimes manage to evade notice and ruin farmland. But that was basically the extent of it.

“Never abandoning a single person in need, songs were sung all across the land detailing his heroic deeds. And now, this great hero has arrived here. Having brought salvation to this nation, there is no doubt Mithius will be rewarded with the hand of our Queen.”

Ruined farmland. Those things ruined farmland. She repeated in her head for good measure. If by salvation, he means we got some extra potatoes that year, then yeah, he really ‘saved’ our booming mashed potatoes business.