William looked in the mirror and smiled. He then turned his body left and right to see if there was something wrong with his attire. Seeing that everything was in place, he struck a cool pose and faced his Mama who was lying on the floor, along with Dia, Thor, and Ragnar.
"What do you think, Mama?" William asked. "Am I handsome, or am I handsome?"
"Meeeeh."
"How about my clothes?"
"Meeeeh."
"Right? Aunt Helen gave these to me before we left Lont."
Ella bleated softly and assured William that his clothes looked good on him.
Dia, who was resting on Ella's head, slithered towards William. She then climbed his body, and coiled up around his neck like she usually did. Thor, and Ragnar on the other hand, barked in order to show their support to their Master.
"I'm sorry, I can't take the three of you to the banquet," William said as he gently rubbed Dia's head before removing her from his neck and placing her back on Ella's head. "Mama, please, look after them for me."
Ella nodded her head in understanding. "Meeeeh."
William knew that it would be a bad idea to bring the three kids to the banquet. Although he was not worried that other people would try to capture them under the watchful eye of the guards in the palace, there might be powerful individuals who would be able to discern their monster breeds.
Were that to happen, he knew he would have just invited trouble to come knocking on his door. Hence, why he decided that it would be best to let them stay under Ella's care.
William looked at the clock hanging on the wall and decided that now was as good a time as any to leave the academy. He waved goodbye to his small family as he walked towards the door.
It was at that moment when a notification from the God Shop arrived and caught William's attention.
------
< God Shop Mail >
"Attention to the Devout Followers of the Gods from the Ten Thousand Temple. Great rewards are waiting for each and everyone of you!
The God of Alchemists has issued a commission that is open to everyone.
He is currently looking for extremely rare and potent ingredients that he will use for his experiments. If any of you are able to acquire the items on our list, please, send a message to me, Mercurius, the Manager of the God Shop, directly.
I will assist you in transporting the materials to the Alchemy God free of charge! However, anyone who sends me troll messages will immediately be banned from using the God Shop for a hundred years.
Here is the list of materials that the Alchemist God is looking for and the rewards associated with them.
----
Spring of Life - 100,000 God Points
Baphomet's Horn - 50,000 God Points
A liter of Empyrean's Blood - 20,000 God Points
Ink of Krakens - 10,000 God Points
-----
William checked the materials listed by the God of Alchemists one by one, in the hope that there was something that he could exchange for God Points. After reading the entire list, the Half-Elf scratched his head because everything that was written there were extremely rare materials.
"Ink of Krakens?" William snorted. "I'd die before I could even approach that thing."
The list was long and there were over a hundred ingredients listed in it. Although he was tempted, there was nothing he could do about it.
WIlliam put the matter of the God of Alchemists to the back of his mind. Right now, he didn't have the time nor the ability to hunt for these materials. For now, he needed to focus his attention on the banquet that was prepared in their honor.
--------
As he walked outside the Solaris dormitory, William noticed that all the members of the Angorian War Sovereign had lined themselves up to welcome him. All of them were mounted on their Hipogriffs.
Conrad and his Wyvern stood beside the Flying Carriage like a bodyguard waiting for the VIP to arrive.
Kenneth, Priscilla, Spencer, and Drake stood near the carriage, and each of them looked amazing in their attire.
Dave stood beside the carriage door and waited for William to step close enough, so that he could open the door for his Commander.
Since they were the main stars of the banquet, all of them would accompany William to show their faces to the nobles and other influential figures of the Hellan Kingdom.
The commoners who were part of the Knight Order, couldn't hold back the grins on their faces. This was a dream come true for them. With the help of their new rank, it would not be difficult to marry into the nobility and enjoy a few luxuries while they were at it.
The students of the Martial Classes that had left during William's invitation meeting couldn't help but regret their decision. They watched this scene from afar with jealousy. However, what was done was done. The only thing they could do now was to wait for another opportunity to hug William's thigh and never let it go again.
When William and the rest of the officers were safely inside the carriage, Dave returned to the coachman's seat and nodded his head to Conrad.
"Let's go." Conrad patted his partner, and the Wyvern flapped its mighty wings to soar to the sky.
The Hippogriffs followed suit and joined their Knight-Captain in a V Formation.
They circled the Martial Class Division once before William's flying carriage joined their ranks. As usual, he was in the center of the formation, protected by an impressive aerial platoon of magical beasts.
"Circle the academy once," William ordered. "Show them how impressive our Knight Order is."
""Yes, Sir!""
With Conrad at the lead, the Angorian War Sovereign paraded around the Hellan Royal Academy before flying towards the palace, leaving sighs of envy and admiration in their wake.
When they arrived near the air space of the palace, three Gryphon Riders appeared to guide them to the special area that was designated for the members of the Angorian War Sovereign.
"To think that I'd be going into the palace like this, it feels like a dream," Drake commented as he looked down from the carriage window.
"Same here," Spencer commented. Even though he didn't like William getting close to his twin sister, he had to admit that the red-headed boy's achievement was very impressive.
William was seated comfortably in his seat with his eyes closed. He was doing his best not to act smug in front of his subordinates. As the Commander of a Knight Order he had to show a refined, elegant, and charismatic side of him to the people in the castle.
Fortunately, Feyright taught him a lot about interacting with nobles and how to act like a VIP during special occasions.
When the carriage had safely landed on the ground, Dave opened the door and allowed the officers to disembark first. Just like they had done during the Knighting ceremony, Kenneth and the others lined up on the side of the carriage and waited for William to step outside.
They were met by the butler of the King as well as over fifty palace maids wearing white clothing. The palace servants simultaneously bowed their heads to show respect to William and his entourage before leading them to the main entrance of the Event Hall of the Palace.
As soon as the name of their Knight Order was announced, all the eyes inside the venue locked onto the handsome Half-Elf. William had an angelic smile on his face that made all the young ladies look at him with great interest.
Some of them were even blushing because William looked so suave in the princely attire that his Aunt Helen had made for him for this very occasion. With the grace of a dancer, and the elegance of a prince, William led his entourage to the special seats that were reserved for them.
Just like most banquets, several tables and chairs were grouped in an orderly fashion. These separated the different factions within the Hellan Kingdom.
William scanned the surroundings and found a few familiar faces among the crowd. Aramis gave him a brief nod before averting his gaze. He was the head of the Southern Faction of the nobles and he had to play his part as one of the pillars that supported the kingdom.
He then looked towards the Western Side of the hall and saw Lawrence raising a wine cup to him. The Old Fox of Griffith was the head of the nobles in the Western Faction of the Kingdom. Ironically, the Duchy of Armstrong, where Spencer and Wendy were born, was also part of this group.
William didn't know anyone from the Northern and Eastern Faction, so he merely gave them a brief glance before shifting his attention to the beautiful young lady who was looking at him shyly from afar.
Wendy was wearing a pink, ruffled, princess-ball-gown dress that made her look like an innocent fairy that had wandered into the human kingdom.
She was seated beside a middle-aged man who was looking at her with gentle eyes.
The man then turned his head to look at William. His gentle gaze became as sharp as a sword as it bored through his body.
William smiled and gave Wendy's father a brief nod before winking at the beautiful lady whose face started to turn red.
"Commander, please, don't ogle my sister," Spencer commented from the side. "Or else, my father will stab you with his sword."
William ignored Spencer's snarky comment and continued to scan the room. His gaze then landed on the brown haired beauty wearing a purple, sleeveless, ball gown dress that was adorned with countless shimmering stars.
Feeling William's stare, Rebecca turned her head to meet his gaze. As if reaching an agreement, both of them simultaneously nodded their heads at each other before averting their gazes.
The Half-Elf had to admit that his Ex-Fiance was indeed a very beautiful girl. If not for the intervention of her mother Agatha, and her Master, Eleanor, the two of them might still be betrothed to each other.
William sighed internally as he tried to remember the outcome of similar "arranged marriages" in the novels that he had read in the past. All of them led to the Main Character having some sort of fall out with his fiance.
There were even cases when the two became enemies and tried to kill each other on various occasions.
William planned on breaking the agreement between his Grandpa and Lawrence after he beat Rebecca in their duel three years from now. He had no intention of forcing someone to marry him.
Wendy saw everything that happened and felt her heart ache. She gave Rebecca a brief glance before lowering her head to look down on her skirt. Her two slender, and delicate, hands rested over her skirt as she tried her best not to ball them into fists.
She felt a bit intimidated by Rebecca because the girl was more beautiful than her. While she was feeling down, a firm and eloquent voice reached her ear.
"My lady, would you give me the honor of dancing with you?"
Wendy raised her head when she heard the familiar voice.
A pair of light-green eyes, that shone like emeralds, looked at her with a gentle gaze. William posed in a gesture of invitation and patiently waited for Wendy's reply.
Ironically, the one who answered William's invitation was not Wendy, but her father, Joaquin Armstrong. The current Duke of the Armstrong Duchy.
"Go on, Wendy," Joaquin commented. "The Knight Commander is asking for a dance. It would be impolite to reject his invitation."
"Y-Yes," Wendy stuttered as she placed her hand over William's.
William smiled and nodded to Joaquin while giving him two thumbs up in his heart. The reason why he approached Wendy was to know what her father thought of him. After hearing Joaquin's comment, William was sure that the latter didn't hate the idea of his daughter having a relationship with him.
As a newly appointed Knight Commander, William had very few allies within the nobility. This short exchange with Wendy's father allowed him to test the waters and have a better grasp of the man's personality.
Everyone was paying close attention to William, and they were surprised when he guided a beautiful girl to the center of the vast hall.
It was still too early and the musicians were still in the midst of tuning their instruments. They were wondering if William was doing this to make a fool of himself.
As they were about to start whispering at each other, a soft, slow, and beautiful tune reverberated inside the vast hall.
Feyright, William's former teacher, and second best friend, stood on an elevated platform and began to sing while playing his lute.
"Tale as old as chime,
Song as old as Lime
Beauty and the Bestie~"