Today was the day.
King's Day had officially arrived, and the streets were already buzzing with people while stalls lined the roads, selling food, drinks, and celebratory trinkets.
I went to the dining hall early that morning to eat my breakfast.
The tension I felt towards today's main event didn't make me feel that hungry, but I had to eat at least something.
The maids managed to finish my suit in time and would bring it to my room before the start of Azazel's speech.
Needless to say, but I was quite curious what kind of suit they would make me wear.
When I arrived at the dining hall, I saw that Mr. Luzel was hard at work redecorating the room.
I walked up to him and asked if I could help.
"May I help?"
It was only then that he noticed me and, surprised, almost fell off the stool he was standing on.
"Oh, Mr. Ikitayashi. I did not notice you were here."
"Sorry."
Mr. Luzel hopped off his stool and dusted off his apron.
"I appreciate your offer, however this is something us workers need to do ourselves. Out of courtesy, I cannot request the help of our guests."
"Why not? It would be rude of me to just stand here and let you do all the hard work."
I took some of the garlands strewn across the main table, grabbed a stool, and started hanging them around the room.
Mr. Luzel probably noticed that it was futile to change my mind, so instead he picked up where he left off.
With our powers combined, the two of us finished decorating the room in no time.
"You have my sincerest gratitude, Mr. Ikitayashi."
"No problem."
And just as I said that, my stomach started growling.
Both of us looked surprised at each other.
"That's right. All that work made me forget that I hadn't eaten breakfast yet."
"Then allow me to prepare some for you right away, as a thank you for lending me a helping hand."
He quickly entered the kitchen to prepare my meal and came back with a plate filled with delicious-looking food.
Visibly exhausted, he sat down on the chair beside me.
At that moment, I couldn't help myself but ask him something that had been on my mind for a while.
"Say Mr. Luzel, this question may seem weird, but why are you so nice to me? Even when we first met, while all the others clearly despised me, you did not treat me like I was some sort of pest. Why?"
He hung back in his chair and stared at the ceiling.
"Mr. Ikitayashi, I have been alive for more than sixty years. And in those years, I met a lot of different people. Good, bad, honest, deceitful, you name it. I came to realize that you cannot judge a book just simply by its cover or its description. Only when you start to read its contents, can you form your own opinions about it."
"Even when the last Wanderer who came here hurt everyone so much, you say you didn't have any preconception towards me?"
He shook his head.
"Not even a little. That one apple is rotten does not mean the entire harvest is. Such simple-mindedness, all it does is give people an excuse to focus their feelings on something else."
For a moment, I was completely speechless.
I took a bite of my meal before I was able to form a proper response.
"Thank you, Mr. Luzel. I am truly blessed to have met you, Kia, and everyone else here. Speaking of, where is she?"
It wasn't that unusual for her to arrive later than me. That said, seeing how much time had passed since I got here, I did get slightly curious where she could be.
Of course, the reason for her absence was rather obvious - or judging by Mr. Luzel's tone of voice, it should have been.
"Miss Kia is getting ready for His Majesty's speech this afternoon."
"Getting ready? In what way?"
He slowly stood up from his chair and responded:
"I could tell you, but believe me when I say it is better to see it for yourself."
And with that, he returned to the kitchen.
Having finished my breakfast, I went back to my room.
When I got back, I noticed that my suit had been delivered.
It was a black tuxedo with silver and white accents.
Alongside that, it came with: a tie, a pair of socks and shoes, and a pair of underpants.
After I put the whole thing on, I realized that I practically looked like an enlarged penguin.
To make matters worse, I was also troubled by a great sense of unfamiliar discomfort.
For five minutes straight, I stood looking in the bathroom mirror, figuring out if I put everything on alright.
In the end, I concluded there was no way of knowing until someone else saw me.
Azazel would be giving his speech in the throne room.
He only invited a handful of people: town majors, tycoons, and people of standing - in short, all the important folk.
Yet, when I arrived at the main hall, I was surprised to find it almost entirely filled with guests.
The room had been rearranged to fit the special guests' needs.
Several tables were placed at each side, topped with food and drinks.
One of them was even carrying a chocolate fountain.
Alongside the tables, many seats had been arranged as well.
The speech would begin in half an hour, so I made my way to the quietest corner of the room and settled in one of the seats there.
Looking around, I noticed how much more established and refined everyone else looked compared to me.
These were all people with important titles or an abundant amount of money, who had come all this way to listen to their king.
And sitting between them was me.
I kept scouting the crowd, when my eyes suddenly stopped on two suspicious characters.
Both were dressed quite elegantly, yet their faces were obscured by white masquerade masks.
Normally this wouldn't be very weird, were it not that they were the only people wearing one.
One of them was significantly shorter than the other, making me almost believe that they were a child.
However, children were not allowed at this event, so I quickly gave up on that thought and apologised to them in spirit.
And while I couldn't tell who they were, the taller one did seem somewhat familiar.
But no one else seemed to question their attendance, so maybe I was just being overly judgmental.
I turned my head away for one second and by the time I looked back, the two people had mysteriously disappeared.
"Who were they?" I whispered to myself.