Anagin Chronicles

Chapter 106

There were quite complicated reasons why Anagin went out of his way to tell the old king about Irida’s contributions.For the record, “complicated” didn’t mean important—it just meant there were various reasons.

The first reason was simply that he didn’t like it.

Why should someone who wasn’t even at the scene criticize someone who was there, no matter what the circumstances? By what right?

If anyone was going to curse, it should be the people who had actually been present. That would at least make sense.

The second reason was that, in Anagin’s view, Irida had done her share of work.

She had used her blessing of the wind to assist his movement and had helped fan the flames higher—she had contributed in her own way.

Of course, she had worked less than he had, but what mattered was that she had worked at all.

The third reason was that he felt sorry for the situation Irida was in.

There had been a few people like that back in his hometown. The kind who were crushed under their parents at home, tormented by strange guilt and an inferiority complex. Unfortunately, a few of them had been Anagin’s friends.

He simply couldn’t understand it. It wasn’t that parents weren’t important, but why endure treatment that was unfair to that extent? Honestly… from the outside, it just looked pathetic.

Seeing something pathetic irritated him, and Anagin hated being irritated.

For those reasons, he defended Irida.

If it had been up to his temper, he would have slapped the walking corpse sitting on the throne, but it wasn’t worth escalating things that far.

Considering why he had come here and the journey ahead, he compromised by speaking in her defense. Besides, it felt inappropriate to beat someone else’s parent in their own house.

In any case, for all those reasons, Anagin maintained proper courtesy while defending Irida, presented his gift, and wrapped things up smoothly.

Of course, explaining all that point by point would have taken far too long, tedious, and pedantic.

So Anagin simply summed it up with one word: friend.

The word “friend” was short, intuitive, easy to remember, and required no complicated explanation.

You could say he was persuading through feeling.

Perhaps that thinking wasn’t wrong, because Irida, who had grabbed him to demand why he had helped her, no longer pressed the issue.

And that wasn’t all.

“You can stay here. It’s a guest room.”

Irida personally led Anagin to the room he would be staying in.

Anagin looked around.

“Oh, it’s spacious. Four people could stay here.”

By “four people,” he meant Anagin, Sphinx, Kori, and Pais.

Ponytail, standing beside him, asked,

“What about me?”

“Go check the barn.”

“This isn’t a room for four people. It’s a room for one.”

“Huh?!”

Ponytail cried out in shock.

One person was supposed to use this huge room?

“Sphinx, Kori, and Pais will each get their own rooms, too. Kori and Pais can share, right?”

“Ah, yes! That would actually be better!”

Kori spoke up eagerly, expressing her thanks.

After seeing Thyreos apologize and witnessing how she had been treated coldly by her father, it seemed her wariness toward Irida had crumbled once more.

Irida, perhaps grateful for Kori’s attitude, gave a small smile.

After smiling, she continued her explanation.

“As I said, each person will be provided one room, so just use it as your own while you’re here.”

Anagin looked around the guest room again.

It had the same rough and wild atmosphere as Chiron Tower, yet there was refinement and wealth woven into it.

Something he had learned from living at Chiron Tower.

Because of that, he could tell this was no ordinary good room.

Especially considering that the royal palace was crowded with guests due to the Groom Tournament, this was more than generous.

“Don’t worry about that. Your gift is worth that much. My father doesn’t show kindness without reason.”

“Oh, really?”

As if waiting for his chance, Ponytail chimed in smugly.

“I told you. The White Deer is a very precious beast that only appears in legends. Do you regret it now?”

“If I asked for it back, would I get it?”

Anagin asked, looking at Irida.

Irida, knowing he was joking, answered accordingly.

“Of course not. How could you take back something you’ve given?”

“Ah, what a waste. Sphinx, you should’ve stopped me. Apologize to me.”

“Brother, can I hit you once?”

“No. I don’t like pain.”

“Instead, I’ll give you something else.”

Irida naturally stepped in and instructed the attendants to bring new clothes and accessories.

Not only for Anagin, but for Sphinx, Kori, Pais, and even Ponytail.

“I’m not trying to show off or belittle you, but this is the royal palace, and with the Groom Tournament going on, quite a few high-ranking nobles are here. It would be better to change into these.”

“Oh, thanks.”

Seeing Anagin accept it so readily and express his gratitude, Irida looked surprised.

She knew she shouldn’t judge people based on preconceptions, but she had expected Anagin to twist it sarcastically or take it the wrong way.

But that was a misunderstanding.

“Why? I like nice clothes too.”

“...You do?”

“Of course. You can tell just by how I change into new clothes every day.”

“Ah…”

“I like nice clothes. I like delicious food and wine too. And of course, I prefer a big house.”

Irida received that as if she were hearing it for the first time.

She knew he had a big appetite, but that was a trait of Gigants, and as for changing clothes often… she hadn’t paid much attention.

She had vaguely assumed Anagin was someone far removed from luxury.

But that wasn’t the case.

She felt slightly embarrassed.

For a warrior and a hunter, keen eyesight and observation were essential.

“By the way, how do you wear this? Do you know?”

Anagin examined the clothes Irida had given him and asked Ponytail.

He liked expensive clothes, but he had never actually worn any, so he didn’t know how.

“Asking a question that isn't even a question... Of course, I don't know.”

“Weren't you born with a silver spoon?”

“I may have been born with a silver spoon, but I was kicked out of the house. Otherwise, do you think I’d have survived by pickpocketing and living off women?”

“...”

Anagin had nothing to say in response to such flawless logic.

There was no room for rebuttal.

Irida watched the two fools and wondered whether she should help, but the issue resolved itself quickly.

Thyreos, now changed into his own clothes, arrived.

He must have heard them talking from afar, because he offered to help them get dressed.

“Ah, thanks. By the way, what about Tramachus and Lynceus?”

“Lynceus was summoned by the priests and left, and Tramachus went to meet his maternal uncle and cousins with Lord Meleager.”

“Those people actually came too?”

Irida openly showed her displeasure.

Though the details were unclear, it was obvious they weren’t on good terms.

Only belatedly did Irida realize Anagin and the others were beside her, and she quickly composed her expression.

“Ahem! Ahem! Then I’ll leave the two of them to you. Please take care of it. I’ll show Sphinx and the others.”

“Got it. Leave it to me.”

Irida left with Sphinx and the siblings, Kori and Pais.

Naturally, only three dark-haired men remained in Anagin’s room.

Well, not that it was a problem.

“It’s only complicated on purpose. There’s nothing difficult about it. Look.”

Thyreos showed them how to wear the clothes.

As he said, it wasn’t difficult, and soon the two of them, Ponytail included, were dressing themselves.

They put them on so easily that Thyreos looked slightly flustered instead.

It wasn’t a lie that it was tricky, but most people fumbled a few times out of nervousness.

After changing, Anagin followed Thyreos outside.

Outside stood Sphinx, Kori, and Pais, all dressed in their new clothes.

Ah, for reference, Sphinx hadn’t removed her original hooded cloak—she had simply draped the new fabric over it.

It seemed she didn’t want to take the cloak off.

“That was fast.”

“The same to you.”

“Sphinx already knew how to put hers on. So thanks to that, well…”

“It was similar here. I showed them once, and they wore it just like that.”

Irida looked at them with curiosity.

Though she was a princess, she was also a practitioner, and she had invited practitioners from commoner backgrounds several times before. Surprisingly, most of them struggled with small things like this—putting on formal clothes.

Then again, thinking about it, such occasions probably never came in the lives of commoners, so perhaps it wasn’t such a small matter.

In that sense, this was rather unusual.

Still, she decided not to dwell on it.

There were more important things to do.

“Come on, follow me. I’ll show you around the royal palace while we have time.”

* * *

As they stepped outside the royal palace, a bustling scene unfolded before them, filled with countless people moving about.

The palace attendants and workers hurried busily without exception, and although the number of guards was more than double the usual, their vigilance was even stricter than before.

The reason for such tight security was the palace gates, which were currently open at all times.

They had been opened for the guests participating in the Groom Tournament, as well as for the delivery workers bringing in food and various supplies to serve those guests.

In short, the royal palace was completely exposed.

It was no different from when Anagin had first set foot inside.

‘Still, I thought it would calm down a bit with time, but it’s just as chaotic.’

Anagin muttered inwardly, now fully understanding just how grand an event this so-called Groom Tournament was.

He had heard the explanation before, but hearing about it and seeing it in person were clearly two different things.

“Ugh…!”

Pais grew dizzy from the overwhelming crowd.

He had wandered quite a bit while working as a traveling merchant with his grandfather, but even taking that into account, he had never been somewhere this crowded.

“Let’s keep moving. It’s worse if you stand still.”

Speaking from experience, Irida guided Anagin’s group together with Thyreos.

“If you just follow this path, you won’t get lost. Just keep following the big trees.”

“This is the royal garden. Normally, it’s quiet and not nearly this crowded.”

“These are the soldiers’ and servants’ quarters. Everyone’s busy.”

“And this is the training grounds…”

Following her advice and continuing to move, Pais’s dizziness gradually subsided. Before long, he seemed to grow absorbed in the excitement of touring the palace, focusing intently on Irida’s explanations.

Well, considering it was his first time visiting a royal palace, it would have been stranger if he hadn’t found it interesting.

Of course, this was Anagin’s first time visiting a palace as well, so he found it interesting in his own way. But unlike the two youngsters, he wasn’t only looking at the palace itself.

He also observed the people moving about within it.

And as a result, naturally…

“They say the Groom Tournament will officially resume tomorrow.”

“Then the princess has returned?”

“That’s right. I heard she came back today. Good thing, too—at least it’s starting up again.”

“Starting up? What do you mean? It barely began before she left her seat. It’s practically starting from scratch.”

…he was able to overhear the conversations of the guests who had gathered in the palace.

Given the reason for their assembly, most of the topics revolved either around the Groom Tournament or Atalanta.

Of course, even if the topic was the same, the tone and direction of the conversations varied.

Some simply exchanged recent news or voiced light complaints.

“Who do you think it’ll be? The groom.”

“Hard to say. There are many strong candidates—though in another sense, not that many…”

“Well, in my opinion…”

“I disagree. If you look at the betting odds currently circulating, the most promising one is…”

Some debated the eventual winner of the Groom Tournament and placed wagers.

“It’s not something to view lightly. On a small scale, it’s just about choosing a husband. But on a larger scale, it’s about deciding the next king of the Kingdom of Arcadia. It’s something we need to watch closely.”