Chapter 358 - 358 - That Year at Lv.4, Standing Like a Mook

"Ahem. Since everyone's here, let's get this meeting started."

"Mr. Hart, Miss d'Arc, Miss Marbleheart, please take your seats."

Seeing the low hum of murmuring start to creep back into the room because of Leon's arrival, Royman couldn't take it anymore and spoke up to keep things in line. If he didn't put a stop to it now, who knew where this crowd of, in his eyes, "lawless" troublemakers would drag the conversation?

And then, would this meeting even happen at all?

No, the meeting itself wasn't what mattered most. What mattered was that he, the Guild Master, couldn't afford to lose face.

Leon went along with Royman's prompting readily enough.

"Shh! That pig is working hard to project some authority."

"Let's humor him..."

"Uh..."

Tsubaki shrugged.

"You just got here, so you wouldn't know. At every meeting we've ever had, nobody's ever given him any face except the youngsters like Finn, Alise, and Asfi. Take a look at Allen. Earlier he was literally sitting on the table."

At that, Jeanne and Rose exchanged a glance, getting a rough sense of how things worked in this room.

As for Leon, being the new player, he figured he should rein himself in a little.

So he decided to give this fat pig some face.

Besides, it cost him nothing.

After exchanging a couple more quiet words with Tsubaki, he calmly led Jeanne and Rose over to the reserved empty seats and sat down.

"Ahem. Now then, the meeting will officially begin."

Seeing the room finally fall quiet again, a faint, barely perceptible look of satisfaction flickered in Royman's eyes. He composed his face once more, recovering the dignified posture of a man presiding over a meeting.

"First, before we move on to the formal agenda, allow me to do one thing together with all of you."

As he spoke, Royman heaved his round body up out of the wide chair with some effort.

"Let us, together, offer our respect and prayers to the Orario we so deeply love, to all the citizens of this city, and especially to those who were injured in the recent terrorist attack..."

"It was, without question, an evil, dark act of brutality, born of chaos, trampling on order and justice..."

"And yet it took place during the sacred Christmas festival!"

Bang!

At this point, Royman slammed the table several times in fury.

"Those fanatics who worship evil gods are even calling this attack the 'Blood-Red Christmas'!"

"What a terrible, what an awful thing!"

"Cruel beyond words! Despicable beyond measure!"

He was so worked up his features nearly knotted together, which lent this impassioned speech a faintly comical air.

"Whew..."

He caught his breath, pulled out a handkerchief and wiped the sweat from his forehead, took a deep breath, and forced his expression back to something solemn.

"Let us observe a moment of silence for all the victims, and pray for the swift recovery of the wounded!"

As his words fell, everyone, Leon included, reined in their emotions and rose solemnly for the moment of silence.

...

"The silence is concluded."

Chairs scraped back as the crowd took their seats again, and Royman continued his speech:

"As some of you may know, several of the wounded are in quite serious condition. Therefore..."

"To all of you here representing the Familias behind you, we must unite to stand against the forces of evil..."

"Namely, that radical, chaos-chasing, evil-god-worshipping Evilus!"

At this point he surveyed the room again, both displaying his authority as Guild Master and, it seemed, emphasizing his "control" over the agenda.

Of course, that may have been nothing more than his own wishful thinking.

"In light of this, this meeting is both a year-end gathering and a post-war debriefing."

"And this is as good a moment as any. Allow me to introduce the new faces joining us..."

Before he had even finished, everyone had already turned in unspoken agreement toward Leon and the other two seated near the door.

"In the attack codenamed 'Blood-Red Christmas,' the one whose performance stood out most, of the Demeter Familia..."

"Captain, the Shadow of Sorcery, Mr. Leon Hart."

Leon rose and acknowledged the room. Then...

Clap clap clap!

"Vice-captain, the Holy Maiden, Miss Jeanne d'Arc."

Clap clap clap!

"Vice-captain, the Pure White Shield, Rose Marbleheart."

Clap clap clap!

After the applause carried on for a moment, Royman raised a hand and pressed down for quiet.

"Everyone seated here personally lived through this battle. So the many contributions the Demeter Familia made during Evilus's indiscriminate attack are surely something you all witnessed firsthand."

"Which means no one should dispute this iron-clad fact."

Royman paused briefly, his gaze sweeping the room.

Finn, fingers laced together beneath his nose, nodded with a smile.

"Indeed. Not just myself. Loki and Riveria both spoke very highly of the Demeter Familia's performance in this operation."

"That's right, I saw it with my own eyes! Mr. Leon turned the entire Adventurers' Plaza into a 'winter wonderland'!"

"Pfft..."

Watching Alise throw her hand high in the air, all bright-eyed and forthright, the young Asfi couldn't hold back and burst out laughing.

Beside her, Lyra hurriedly tugged Alise's sleeve, shooting her look after look.

"?"

Alise looked utterly baffled.

Lyra glanced at the "fat pig," whose face had abruptly darkened as he glared their way with an ugly look, and rubbed her forehead helplessly, dropping her voice.

"Alise, you really have a knack for bringing up exactly the wrong thing. Never mind that Leon broke the city's unwritten rules by casting wide-area annihilation magic inside the walls... just the massive damage he did to the Adventurers' Plaza and the surrounding buildings. How do you think Royman's feeling right now?"

As she spoke, under the table she rubbed her thumb and forefinger together at Alise.

She'd spelled it out this far. If Alise still didn't get it, she'd have no choice but to just say it outright...

"Huh?"

Alise scratched the back of her head, and seeing Royman's bloodshot eyes and the way he was huffing like an ox, she hastily sat back down with a sheepish look, putting on a posture of sitting bolt upright and staring straight ahead...

Everyone: "..."

...Lady Astraea, your Familia's captain... seems to be... a bit...

A few people who'd had that thought quietly glanced over at the captain of the Freya Familia, then at Lyra and at Hedin seated beside Ottar, and promptly shut their mouths.

Right. Who said a captain had to be both brilliant and brave like the Braver?

Couldn't they just be the one who hits the hardest?

...

His rhythm broken by Alise, Royman drew several deep breaths in a row.

Once he'd gotten his emotions under control, he drew himself up again and looked around...

Seeing everyone nodding in agreement, a smile finally surfaced on that perpetually tense, round face.

At that, Leon rose at the right moment, bowed to the room, and said with a modest smile:

"We just got lucky. We only did what needed to be done."

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