Reincarnated Hero System

Rose Castle Banquet Hall

Royal Palace, Gerfast

GWE

November 23rd

Year 1054

The Rose Banquet Hall of the Royal Palace’s Rose Castle was resplendent with the splendour befitting Princess Laurene’s grand birthday ball.

The air was filled with the soft hum of polite conversation and laughter, the tinkling of crystal glasses, and the gentle strains of classical music played by an ensemble tucked away in a corner.

Nobles in their finest attire mingled gracefully, their rich silks and satins shimmering under the glow of the magnificent chandeliers that hung from the vaulted ceilings.

Debutantes clustered in small groups, their eyes bright with excitement as they chatted animatedly about the latest fashions and courtly gossip, their laughter like the chime of delicate bells.

Suddenly, the chamberlain standing at the grand entrance of the hall raised his staff to command attention, and with a voice trained to carry through the expansive hall, he announced.

[Entering! His Lordship, Count Bourne, Evan Eris, ‘Hero’ and Heir Apparent to the Duchy of Eris, accompanied by Honorary Countess, Eliza Lane.]

All eyes turned towards the entrance where Evan and Eliza walked in, the epitome of elegance.

Evan was dressed in a crisp black mess dress uniform, adorned with miniature medals and accoutrements. A red rose lapel pin added a touch of colour to his attire, symbolizing his appreciation for the evening’s floral theme.

Beside him, Eliza was a vision of beauty in a rose-red dress that flowed like liquid fire, accentuating her every movement. Her blonde hair was styled in a sophisticated half-updo, adorned with a red rose in her hair fascinator that complemented her gown perfectly.

As they moved forward, the crowd parted reverently, with nobles bowing their heads in respect. Conversations ceased as eyes followed the couple, captivated by their presence.

Evan’s commanding demeanour and Eliza’s enchanting grace seemed to cast a spell over the gathering, enhancing the already magical atmosphere of the evening.

Some nobles, however, were more concerned with other matters, like the fact that Eliza was addressed as ‘Honorary Countess’.

Last they heard, it was supposed to be ‘Honorary Viscountess’, so they were confused as to when it was upgraded.

◇　◇　◇

“Countess? You got a rank upgrade?”

“Laurene didn’t tell you?”

“She most certainly did not.”

Evan replied to Eliza who seemed surprised that he was unaware of her title change. Perhaps she had wanted to laugh at the surprised expression he’d surely have, forgetting he could not enter the Banquet Hall after her.

“Well, you’re a Count so the Emperor thought it’d be prudent to upgrade mine as well.”

“Lifetime peerages and Honorary titles aren’t the same things, though?”

“They’ve both got ‘Count’ in them so it’s all good.”

Eliza’s reply made Evan chuckle a bit, but then she proceeded to follow it up with words that shocked Evan.

“Besides, I couldn’t really care for an Honorary Noble title in the GWE.”

Her words made Evan freeze for a split second, as the way she spoke made it seem like an Honorary Noble title in a world power like the GWE wasn’t worth much in her eyes.

This was something people could kill for, as the GWE was a Major World power with influence reaching even the slightly isolated Dark Continent.

‘Vathax, huh?’

Evan thought of Eliza’s hometown, Verdalight City of Vathax.

Vathax was undisputedly the most low-key Major World Power on Aidos, as a lot of people didn’t even know they were on that level.

But they were indeed on that level.

Even Hegemons like the GWE, GEE, Utraria Republic, Kasteblum and even Tarse would double-think their decisions whenever Vathax was involved.

But due to their low-key nature, besides the people of nations around them in the south-eastern part of the Alpha continent, not many knew about them or their ruling classes.

They operated on a Council System and not a Monarchy, Democracy or Dictatorship.

This Council consisted of Five Families and they were the Supreme powers in Vathax. The five of them were equally powerful and kept each other in check.

Besides those Five Families who formed the ruling council, the country was mostly a Meritocracy.

Their Meritocracy, however, was not the main point here.

The main point was that one of the Members of the Five-Man Council was named ‘Matthias Laneford’, and he was the Patriarch of the Laneford Clan.

‘And the one who’s definitely Eliza’s father.’

If Vathax was to be converted to a Monarchy, then Eliza would either be on the level of Laurne’s status as a Princess or Evan’s status as a Duke’s son.

So an ‘Honorary Countess’ wasn’t worth much in her eyes.

However, people did not know Eliza was from Vathax. Only those who were aware of the country’s system and were also suspicious as to where a powerful life manipulator like Eliza popped out from would be able to figure it out since the girl’s identity wasn’t too widely known.

Or rather, the names and faces of the children of the Councilmen of Vathax were not publicized much. And in Eliza’s case, her family took this to the next level as they didn’t want it getting out that she was the wielder of the ‘Child of Life’ skill.

Trying to investigate Eliza would end up with one drawing blanks, as ‘Eliza Lane’ simply didn’t exist before the time when Evan had met her in Luka, over three years ago.

If Evan didn’t know about the Laneford family’s dynamics beforehand, then he’d be as lost as those guys.

In fact, Evan also didn’t connect Eliza to the Lanefords until he heard her address George Kaur as ‘Uncle’.

‘George is Matthais’ brother-in-law, after all.’

Nevertheless, there was still a reason why Evan had been so dumbfounded by this discovery, and that reason was tied to why Eliza’s family did NOT want her existence publicized and why they didn’t tell her about her ‘Child of Life’ skill.

In the end, trying to keep her hidden was what made her grow fed up and sneak out of Verdalight and run to the GWE in the first place!

If that hadn’t happened, she wouldn’t have met Evan, so her Uncle and Grandfather could only blame themselves for causing the chain of events that led to their dearest Niece/granddaughter dating Evan.

It should also be noted that her mother laughed her ass off when she saw how displeased they were at the news of Eliza being in a relationship.

P.S: Her mother was in FULL support of her.

Coming back to the party, the other top dogs of the Empire showed up one after the other after Evan and Eliza.

Marquis Antebellum, Duke Cheverton, Sir Luke, Duke Eris and then the Royal Family started with Prince Richard, then the Emperor and Empress.

Normally, no one was supposed to be announced after the two Monarchs, but as this was Laurene’s birthday, an exception was made.

The anticipation in the Rose Banquet Hall reached a crescendo as the chamberlain once again took his place at the grand entrance. With an air of solemnity and pride, he raised his staff to capture the attention of the assembled guests.

The soft murmur of conversations quickly hushed into expectant silence.

[Entering! The Second Star of the Great Western Empire, Her Highness, Princess Laurene Hayes of the Royal House, accompanied by His Lordship, Count Arnold Eris of the Duchy of Eris.]

The entrance doors swung open, revealing Laurene and Arnold, the crowd collectively gasping at the sight.

Laurene was resplendent in a breath-taking blue rose-patterned dress, the delicate petals woven into the fabric creating an ethereal effect as she moved. Her gown, a cascade of rich blue hues, shimmered with every step she took, the intricate embroidery catching the light and reflecting it in a dazzling display.

Her hair, elegantly styled, was adorned with a matching rose hair ornament that mirrored Eliza’s, binding the two together in a subtle yet powerful statement of friendship.

Laurene turned in Eliza’s direction and gave a smile which the Blonde young woman returned, and this little interaction caught the attention of the nobles who noticed the similar hair ornaments.

Another similarity they noticed, was the rose lapel pin on Arnold’s chest, fitting perfectly in his mess dress uniform that made him look every bit the noble counterpart.

The orchestral music swelled in welcome, the notes cascading like a waterfall through the hall.

His confident stride and the gentle, protective hand he held Laurene with did not go undetected as well.

As they entered, the guests bowed deeply, paying homage to their Princess while Laurene acknowledged them with practised warm smiles. Like so, the two made their way over to the Monarchs of the Empire and bowed.

Laurene gave a short ‘Thank-you’ speech and the Orchestra began the performance for the first dance, with Laurene and Arnold taking the floor.

The Hall seemed to hold its breath; every eye drawn to the regal pair. The blue roses of Laurene’s dress appeared to bloom in the soft glow of the chandeliers as she and Arnold danced.

With that over, they vacated the floor to give way for the debutantes of the evening. The first thing Laurene did after her dance, was to go meet up with Eliza and she had some of the Royal Family’s contracted cameramen take pictures of both of them with their matching fascinators.

Watching this from the side, Evan and Arnold sighed and shook their heads in synchrony.

Evan walked up to Laurene after they were done with their little photo shoot and spoke.

“Sup—Ah! Sorry.”

The boy bowed lightly and spoke with a polite tone that did not suit him at all.

“I pay my homage to the Star of the Empire, may the light of the sun shine on you eternally.”

“Stop, Evan. I’m cringing already.”

Laurene withheld the urge to facepalm as doing so would ruin her make-up, and Evan chuckled lightly in response.

“Happy Birthday once again.

I got you a gift, and unlike a certain someone’s gift, it does not have a spring-loaded fist in it. But for safe measure, make sure to keep it right in front of your face when you open it.”

Clearly, Evan hadn’t forgotten about Laurene’s little ‘surprise’ from last year.

“Um…is it a GWE custom to give spring-loaded fists as gifts?”

A very familiar voice spoke up from behind them, and in her shock, Laurene nearly dropped the glass she had just picked up as she turned around to see someone she didn’t expect.

“David?!”

“Thancreed? Yeah, that’s me.”

The sight of the young Lion Beastman was not one Laurene had expected since they had a talk about him being busy due to a flood in the Beast Kingdom recently.

In fact, his presence here was a pleasant surprise and from the impish grin Laurene on Evan’s face in the corner of her vision, it was a planned one.