Chapter 21: Chapter Maxi was strolling along the hall while glancing out of the windows when a bright voice addressed her. “It seems you are ready, my lady. I was just on my way to escort you to the dining hall.” She spun around to see Rodrigo, smartly dressed, swinging his spindly legs as he rushed toward her. “The knights have arrived. Let us hurry, my lady. Lord Calypse is waiting.” Maxi followed him downstairs. When they reached the entrance of the dining hall, she heard boisterous voices coming from within. She peered inside without entering. Under the twinkling lights, fifty men sat crammed on either side of a long dining table, and maidservants waited on them. The table was laden with delectable roasts, loaves of bread, goblets of wine, and ripe fruit. Flames blazed golden in the fireplace. Maxi hesitated, unsure that her presence was appropriate at a knights’ banquet. “Is something the matter, my lady?” Rodrigo asked with a hesitant look on his face. When Maxi mustered up the courage to enter, silence fell upon the room. Dozens of pairs of eyes swiveled toward her. Riftan beckoned. “Come here, Maxi.” She snapped out of her daze and walked over to the seat next to him. Maidservants promptly placed small portions of food on her plate. “Some of you haven’t been introduced. This is my wife, Lady Maximilian Calypse.” She anxiously examined the knights’ faces. They wore ambiguous expressions, neither friendly nor hostile. “I trust you’ll treat her with the respect she deserves,” said Riftan, a hint of warning in his tone. Only then did the men begin to extend their half-hearted greetings. Maxi mumbled her thanks in response. After the exchange, the knights resumed their meal while Maxi stared at her food. Riftan half-filled her glass with wine. “Why aren’t you eating? Is the food not to your taste?” “N-No, it’s d-delicious.” “Then eat.” He picked up a drumstick with his bare hands and sank his teeth into it. His table manners were no different from when he had been eating at a makeshift campsite. Riftan finished the generous portion of chicken in no time and reached for another piece. After gulping down wine like water, he urged her to eat with a sharp look. She gaped at his insatiable hunger. He always pressures me to eat... She sliced off a steaming piece of smoked meat and brought it to her mouth. Next, she served herself salad greens to balance the fatty meat and sweet seasoning. Despite her anxiety, the food tasted delicious. The chef of Calypse Castle was plainly far more skilled than the one at Croyso Castle. Riftan, who had been watching her eat, deposited more food onto her plate. “Try some of this. It’s good.” She took a bite. Marinated in a red sauce, the meat had a gamey taste, but it was not inedible. Through narrowed eyes, she surveyed the plates on the table. Most were piled high with meat of unknown origin. As soon as she finished her plate of food, Riftan passed her steamed fowl stuffed with beans and potatoes. “Here, eat this too.” “I c-can’t eat all th-that.” “You’ve barely eaten! Come now, just a bit more.” Maxi scrunched up her face. She had forced herself to eat everything that Riftan had given her, and she now felt nauseous. Unable to endure another bite of the greasy feast, she set her fork down. Riftan frowned. “Even swallows eat more than you do.” “Th-That’s not t-true. I’ve had so m-much...” Riftan snorted. A heap of bones, picked clean, sat on his plate. Even among the knights, he seemed to have an exceptional appetite. She really did eat like a bird in comparison. “H-How much is e-enough?” Maxi sighed. Riftan glanced at her with his mouth full. He gulped down the food before answering her matter-of-factly. “You should eat a whole chicken, at least.” “I don’t th-think... most women c-can eat that m-much...” “I know one woman who did.” Maxi winced. Who was the woman he was referring to? Was he fond of women with big appetites? Most men wanted healthy children from healthy wives. She looked down at her own thin body. Squeezing her eyes shut, she pushed more food into her mouth, drawing a smile from Riftan. “Try eating more and more each day. You’re too frail.” She nodded with a piece of bread in her mouth. Riftan began drinking with the older knight sitting next to him. Sipping her wine, she studied their faces. There were new faces in the hall that she did not recognize from the journey. The center of the table was occupied by younger knights drinking and laughing raucously, while at the far end were youths who had seen no more than sixteen summers. At the head of the table, two knights in their forties or fifties offered Riftan glass after glass of wine. Maxi continued to sip her wine, intrigued by their conversation. The progress of the squires’ training, the year’s crop yields and mine output, increased sightings of certain monsters, the efficacy of various weapons... She had never had the chance to learn about such matters. Riftan was engrossed in conversation with the senior knights when the youngest of the knights-in-training sprang up from his seat. “Sir Riftan! Is it true that in the final battle in the Lexos Mountains, you cut through Dragon’s Breath with your blade aura?” Everyone stopped talking to look at the young man. Unruffled by the stares of the senior knights, the silver-haired squire continued to chatter away. “They say the flames of Dragon’s Breath can blow off the tops of mountains! It’s the most powerful magic in the natural world. How were you able to cut through that with a sword?” “My blade aura just so happens to be special,” answered Riftan, plainly irritated. “Our captain’s sword can absorb any magic that it encounters,” interjected a knight who had been filling a large tankard with ale. “The stronger the opponent’s magic, the stronger his sword becomes.” Maxi recognized the speaker as Hebaron Nirtha, one of the knights who had traveled with them to Anatol. “Well, even without such unique attributes, our captain is an excellent swordsman! He put that pompous commander of the Osiriyan Temple Knights in his place!” “He’s the commander, not captain,” Ursuline Ricaydo, the blond knight, pointed out. “When will you fix those mercenary habits of yours?” Hebaron snorted loudly. “Captain, commander, it’s all the same to me! Don’t lecture me on useless distinctions.” The silver-haired youth who had been watching the quarrel began to shout with renewed excitement. “Is it true, then, that Sir Riftan dueled Sir Kuahel Leon of the Temple Knights? Why hasn’t such a marvelous tale been told?” “It was not the time to brag about the two greatest knights dueling each other,” Ricaydo said sharply. “The Dragon Campaign was right before us. The campaign’s high command silenced rumors about the duel, fearing that Sir Kuahel’s defeat would demoralize the Temple Knights in the alliance. One duel can always lead to another among hot-blooded knights. We were there to hunt a dragon, not to fight in a tourney.” ... “S-Still, it was a duel between the two strongest knights in the continent! It’s a pity that no one has heard of it. It must have been a duel to eclipse all other duels!” “Slaying the dragon was more than enough,” Riftan said drily. “I don’t need any more exploits to my name. And it wasn’t an official duel. We were preparing for the Dragon Campaign, so neither of us showed our true skills. As for the dragon, my contribution was greater than his solely because of my sword’s ability to absorb magic, not because of my swordsmanship.” “It’s not like you to be so modest,” quipped a young knight who was munching on an apple by the fireplace. “A victory’s a victory. You both agreed to duel under limited conditions, and you won fair and square.” The squires’ eager eyes were trained on the speaker. “Sir Gabel! Please tell us more about the duel!” Gabel Lachzion shrugged. “You’d rather hear about that instead of the campaign?” “No! You must tell us about the dragon, too!” The knight chuckled at the youths’ enthusiasm. Maxi, too, was listening intently. She had heard the bards sing at her father’s banquets about the knights’ heroic deeds, but she had never heard the stories straight from a knight’s mouth. Gabel guzzled a tankard of golden ale to quench his thirst before recounting the campaign’s early days, beginning with a vivid account of a battle against ogres and trolls. By the time his account reached the struggle against three basilisks in the valley leading into the Lexos Mountains, Maxi was just as enthralled as the bright-eyed squires. The monsters she had encountered in person had been terrifying, but she was captivated by the creatures in Gabel’s eloquent narration. As she silently marveled at his talent for storytelling, she felt something touch her neck. ...