Your Majesty, Dinner Is Ready. – Chapter 204 – The Grand Gathering of Interracial Harmony – Total Chaos (5)

Author: Cireng

Chapter 204 – The Grand Gathering of Interracial Harmony – Total Chaos (5)

Somewhere in Floskere.

“It’s over now, Mek.”

Jerix, in the form of a Tiger Beastman, pointed his axe forward.

“……”

Mek, occupying the body of his friend Huztis, breathed heavily as he slowly looked around.

Arms and legs lay scattered everywhere.

The Mage Tower golems he had recruited as his companions were strewn across the battlefield, every one of their limbs smashed to pieces.

“To use golems as your expedition members… constructs with such faint egos that they’re unaffected by Chaos Disturbance Field, yet still capable of perfectly following their programmed orders. A rather excellent strategy.”

“…Thank you for the compliment.”

Mek answered while barely managing to stop the bleeding from his severed right arm.

The battle had already been decided. Knowing that better than anyone, Mek showed not the slightest intention of resisting.

He merely stared back coldly.

“Are you resentful?”

“What an obvious question. Do you have any idea how the son who was beaten senseless… for merely trying to stop his father from committing an obvious wrong… feels?”

He deliberately emphasized the word son.

As though he wished to speak not as a tribal chief and a tribesman, but as father and son.

Crunch.

But the Goblin Chieftain coldly swung his axe, severing Mek’s remaining left arm.

He met the resentful gaze of the tribesman… who didn’t even scream… without looking away.

“I don’t. And for now… I mustn’t.”

“…Are you truly determined to go down in history… as the most foolish Goblin Chieftain ever recorded?”

“To have one’s name remembered throughout history. What greater honor could there be… for a creature destined to be swept away by the relentless flow of time?”

Snap.

Jerix removed the bracelet from the severed left arm. With that, the Sage Expedition had been annihilated.

Meanwhile, Jerix’s Invincible Expedition still retained five surviving members, excluding the one who had already been eliminated earlier.

“Sir Jerix. Shall we immediately begin searching for the next moderate expedition?”

The Green Orc explorer, having collected all the bracelets, asked quietly.

“…Yes.”

Jerix nodded, turning his back.

At that moment…

Fwoooooosh!

Suddenly, his consciousness blurred, accompanied by the sensation that the entire world had been shaken.

He was unconscious for only an instant.

The moment Jerix awoke, he immediately sensed the change and frowned.

‘…I’ve returned to my original body.’

Not exactly as before, however.

His body had become small and unimpressive, like any ordinary Goblin.

And unlike before… when the words of his future daughter-in-law constantly lingered in his ears and shook his resolve… his mind no longer wavered in the slightest.

Body and mind had exchanged places.

“What in the world…?”

“No! My magnificent body!”

“Wh-What??”

The same changes had occurred among his companions.

Except for Melsion, the Tiger Beastman knight, whose body had become even larger, every one of them now appeared noticeably weaker than before.

“Oh…?”

Judging by appearances, Mek himself hadn’t visibly changed.

He looked around in confusion for a moment… then smiled.

“Well… this unexpectedly gives me an even better opportunity.”

Snap.

The moment Mek lightly snapped his fingers, the shattered fragments of every broken golem began glowing simultaneously.

Then, they formed a gigantic magic circle across the ground.

“The truth is… these golems reveal their real purpose… only after they’re destroyed.”

“…Chief…My body feels heavy.”

“Yes! You noticed immediately!”

Clap. Clap.

Pretending to be delighted, Mek applauded.

“Room of Deception.”

Hummmmmm—!

Activated by its trigger phrase, the magic circle shone even brighter, forming an enormous square room made of translucent light.

It encompassed the entire surrounding area.

“Inside this room… everything fast becomes slow, and everything slow becomes fast. The Human Chronomancy mages I befriended in District Two… went to considerable lengths to help me.”

“……”

Jerix raised a hand, attempting to destroy the room itself.

Mek grinned.

“Don’t waste your strength. The walls are made from time itself. No matter how strong you are… destroying time with brute force… will require considerable effort.

“…The arrogant Humans of the Mage Tower… actually provided such high-tier magic… for your sake?”

“They did.”

“Ah. And right on cue… the reinforcements I called earlier have arrived.”

Soon, another expedition rapidly approached from a distance.

The Unity Expedition. The explorers directly under the Chairman.

“Even if they arrive… they still won’t be able to defeat me.”

“Well… Even with Room of Deception… bringing down the Chief would indeed be difficult. But… this tournament is decided by removing bracelets, isn’t it?”

“……”

“Kihihihit!”

Laughing loudly, Mek pointed directly at Jerix.

“Prepare Yourself… to fall… from Jerix the Invincible… to simply Jerix.”

***

At the same time.

Near World Tree Number Two.

“……”

Adrian, captain of the Night Noble Expedition, was drenched in cold sweat.

“Hoh….”

The sole surviving member of the Hyena Expedition, whose other five members had already been eliminated, let out a quiet gasp of admiration.

Meanwhile, the explorers of the Night Noble Expedition stared with wide eyes.

“…Wh-What is that?”

Three pairs of arms, eight legs, Eyeballs covering its entire body, Blade-like wings growing from its back, its entire body is coated in frost, and blood continuously erupts from countless places.

A monster.

“My appearance seems to have changed a little.”

The monster, Pierre, spoke calmly.

“…A little?”

“You’ve all changed considerably yourselves.”

Just as he said, Adrian and his three surviving companions had lost their elegant appearances. Instead, they had all become chubby-cheeked little children.

One horrifying monster. Versus four children.

“…Run!”

Though hardly dignified, Adrian made the sensible decision.

Immediately, he flapped his blood-red wings and fled.

Toward the palace upon the Great Lake, where the King of the Meterdegus Kingdom… whom they absolutely had to meet to fulfill the labyrinth’s completion conditions… was hiding.

“You wish to play hide-and-seek?”

Pierre’s mouth split wide, nearly reaching his ears.

“Heh… Hehehe…. How delightful!”

***

After collecting Neuamshi’s body, we returned to the surface.

The battle had already ended.

“You’ve become cooler.”

Standing near the entrance to the house, Fafnir spoke casually.

[Absurd — Cooler? Which part???]

“So Neuamshi elevated the rank of his unique domain. It seems body and mind have roughly switched places.”

Without even looking at my face, the Dragonblood arrived at a perfectly accurate conclusion.

If Bartimir specialized in knowledge, and Pierre in senses, then wisdom had always been Fafnir’s defining attribute.

With the aid of his Traits, he may already have reached the realm of transcendence.

“The Blank Soldiers… are soldiers who erased their minds to resist Chaos Disturbance Field. If body and mind have now exchanged places… then they’re all useless.”

“Every answer is correct. As your reward… shall I kiss you on the cheek?”

Only after speaking did Butterfly Karr’s face suddenly flash through my mind… the one who’d stolen Assassin Karr’s lips.

He’d actually kissed me just to toy with me.

Honestly, I couldn’t help respecting him a little. If my memories had been intact, I’d probably have done it first.

“We’ll move once that’s finished.”

Following the Dragonblood’s gaze, I saw one of the Valterium Empire’s Mind Dominators being torn apart alive by the Fafnir Expedition.

“Ah… Ugh….”

Perhaps because a mage’s powerful mental world was reflected in this state, he still hadn’t died, despite sixty percent of his body already having been eaten away.

“…Sir Karr. Why hasn’t the Fafnir Expedition’s appearance changed at all?”

Astrimia… who finally possessed her own body instead of that dreadful leftover Half-Elf body… leaned toward me and whispered.

“Even Sir Brightfeather… whose body and mind weren’t very different… became slightly smaller… and his hair color grew more complex if you look closely.”

“The members of the Fafnir Expedition… must have achieved perfect harmony between body and mind.”

“…Liar. That’s not it.”

“Shh.”

“Hmph.”

Poke.

A slender finger jabbed into my side.

“Whatever are you doing?”

“I’ve always wanted to try this at least once… but I was too busy acting as captain.”

“Then enjoy yourself now.”

“Yes!”

Poke. Poke. Poke.

Astrimia happily poked both sides of my waist.

Then…

“Captain.”

A black-haired swordsman spoke.

Crackle!

A beauty magnificent enough to excite Su’eje Himself.

Pendrick’s already handsome appearance had become even brighter, even more radiant.

“Pendriiick!”

Astrimia immediately ran over, throwing herself into her lover’s arms.

“Hm? Asmi?”

“Mm! How do I look?”

“…Well. You’re pretty.”

What was that strangely ambiguous reaction?

“Golden Crow.”

After his expedition had finished eating, Fafnir spoke again.

“Shall we go escort the King now? If we complete the objective… your expedition will gain fifty points. That’ll put you at eighty. No… eighty-three. Since you’ve already taken one of our bracelets.”

“If that happens… unless Sir Jerix’s expedition obtains at least twenty-eight bracelets… our victory is practically guaranteed.”

“That’s not quite low enough to become complacent. If necessary… your expedition can simply take every bracelet from ours.”

“Then overtaking us would become nearly impossible. Very well.”

Everything proceeded smoothly.

Plans. Decisions. Everything flowed naturally, like a powerful river.

Only when working alongside a member of House Lee could one experience such overwhelming satisfaction and fulfillment.

‘…Dance?’

Suddenly, that place filled with far too many butterflies resurfaced in my mind.

Could it be that even my unconscious enjoyment of dancing had all been part of Butterfly Karr’s design?

My thoughts had been far too tangled ever since earlier.

Fortunately, there was a simple way to clear away distracting thoughts.

“I’ll head out first.”

I took out my flying equipment from the subspace of my Spirit Platform and equipped it.

Fafnir narrowed one eye.

“Why?”

“Because… Sir Jerix and the hardliner expeditions might have prepared a trap. Or… the Empire’s Mind Dominators might have set mental Mysteries around the palace. Or….”

After awkwardly searching for excuses, I simply gave up and answered honestly.

“I just want to push my body beyond its limits. Ah… Since body and mind have switched… I suppose I should say… I want to push my mind beyond its limits.”

“……”

“I wonder… what kind of destiny awaits me? If possible… I’d love to be captured by the Valterium Empire… and subjected to all kinds of humiliation. Or… being thoroughly beaten by Sir Jerix wouldn’t be bad either.”

Fafnir silently looked over my companions.

Each wore an awkward, rather complicated expression.

“…I think I understand. In that case… I’ll come with you. If there truly is a trap… it may be wiser for us to travel separately.”

The Dragonblood’s characteristically small wings fluttered.

“…Um… Karr?”

As I prepared to take flight, Marlin carefully spoke.

“Are You… still feeling troubled?”

“No.”

“Ah, I see.”

Marlin, who’d become innocent like a child, accepted my answer immediately.

Astrimia spoke in her place.

“Normally… You would’ve joked your way through that. But instead… You’re trying to brush it aside.”

“As expected… just like Your appearance… Your intelligence has also–”

“Don’t try to distract me by complimenting my beauty!”

The beautiful swordsman, standing arm-in-arm with the beautiful Elf, continued his lover’s thought.

“Is it because… of the true nature you revealed while dealing with that Werewolf earlier?”

Flap.

Without answering, I slowly rose into the air.

“Sir Karr.”

Astrimia met my eyes.

“To be perfectly honest… I don’t think you need to be so heartbroken. The side of yourself you usually show us… wasn’t exactly worthy of admiration either.”

“T-That’s right…. I wasn’t disappointed at all.”

“Mmm! Karr was always weird!”

“……”

Only then, amidst the embarrassingly sincere encouragement pouring from my companions, was I finally able to erase the hateful face of the second child from my thoughts.

“Thank you… for your honest words.”

After all, no one lives alone.

Now, I had people beside me who shared my convictions.

“As thanks… would you like to admire my apple-like beautiful butt for three whole minutes?”

“…No!!”

Marlin instantly refused.

Pendrick exchanged glances with Astrimia, smirking.

Brightfeather covered his mouth, his shoulders shaking with laughter.

“Anyway… I’ll head out first. The rest of you… Please wait at the location I’ll tell you.”

Winning the Grand Gathering of Interracial Harmony and stopping Jerix.

It was finally time to enter the last stage toward accomplishing both goals.

“Everyone… don’t be late catching up.”