Fifteen minutes later three extraordinarily beautiful women and my humble, normal looking self walked down the hallways towards the inner parts of the palace. Stares and embarrassed glances were focused on us as servants and nobles alike could not help but stare at our little group.

I did not mind and placed a polite smile on my lips. Seeing how my previous attitude had led to more trouble than good I had decided to thoroughly change my approach. Since I now had Princess Maira who could provide me with information and serve as a counterweight in the court I could play nice and have an amicable relationship with the king.

Of course, this would require me to make some sacrifices in order to amend that very relationship.

Maira behaved in her usual serene and noble fashion, a striking difference compared to the crying and defenseless girl a few hours ago. There was no more sign of hate or loathing in her expression as she looked at me and instead there were even slight signs of affection.

Duh, that girl was a scarily good actor!

I was sure that if she ever had the chance, she would immediately pounce on me and rip me to shreds.

Ilea and Riina on the other hand behaved like the typical nervous country bumkins who had by accident entered the royal palace. Their curious but fearful glances were really cute and allowed them to captivate the hearts of the various nobles who were openly observing their every movement.

I just hoped that these nobles knew how to restrain themselves, otherwise I would have to face even more trouble.

We reached the banquet hall and walked through the grand portal that was the entrance. Immediately the sounds of classical music, chatter and delighted laughter reached my ears. There was a wonderful smell of food in the air and all around stood nobles and noblewomen dressed in extravagant and surely expensive clothes.

It was just how you would expect a feudal banquet to look like.

I looked down on my own clothes. It was still the set of clothes I had been wearing when I had first appeared in this world. A little bit shabby, but not too bad. Still I should get myself some proper clothes tomorrow.

As soon as we entered the banquet the nobles began swarming around me, throwing curious glances at me and my pair of non-human slaves. Questions began to bombard me, and I had to politely answer a lot of bullshit.

I did my best to be as friendly and polite as possible, resulting in more and more nobles engaging into casual small talk with me. They all wanted to get close to the hero of their country. Either to use my (currently non-existent) influence to build up their own power, or because they genuinely worried about the fate of the kingdom.

Seeking to improve my battered reputation I entertained them and used the chance to gather some further information on the state of the kingdom. The whole thing was very successful with Maira keeping away any potential trouble makers.

I had ordered her to help me avoid problems if it was within her power after all.

Ilea and Riina were also a popular sight with the nobles and knights admiring their beauty and the polar opposites that they were. The noblewomen on the other hand seemed to keep away and looked jealous of all the attention the two received.

Everything was well until the king came onto the stage.

“THE KING HAS ARRIVED”, a servant shouted as soon as the elderly man entered the hall. Immediately all chatter stopped, and all eyes focused on the impressive figure of the elderly, but still well-built king of this country. The nobles performed a small bow and I followed suit.

The king, who had been observing me all the time since he had entered the hall, seemed very delighted about that little detail.

“You may proceed.”, he said with his mighty voice, before beginning to walk into my direction. The chatter continued, but most of the nobles around me began to excuse themselves and flee the scene. It seemed like these were the nobles that had planned to use me against the royal house. Peaceful and flourishing my ass. There was always internal strife in these sorts of feudal kingdoms!

When the king finally reached my location, I once again performed a small bow towards him.

“Your majesty”, all of this was a little humiliating to the twenty-first century me, but I had to bear with it.

Once again, the king was VERY happy about my sudden change in attitude towards him.

“I see you have already settled yourself.”, he threw a glance at Riina and Ilia and nodded approvingly.

I smiled, it seemed like this king could also appreciate some beautiful girls.

“I bought them on a whim. Though I really have to thank Sir Mellen for showing me the city and helping me with finding my way around this new world.”, on the note I felt it was necessary to mention that prick. After all he had been useful.

“I am glad that he could prove himself useful. From now on he shall be your personal guard.”, oh god. That fired back nicely. I doubt my dear Sir always-sullen will be happy about this too.

“Thank you for your grace.”

After having to bow for about ten times and feeling thoroughly defeated the king finally left and went to entertain the other nobles. At least he was visibly friendlier towards me and even promised to make sure that I would receive adequate funding from the kingdom.

Our relationship was still a little strained, but I managed to get on his good side again.

Now that the king had left, the nobles once again appeared by my side, though only a portion of them. I guess my display of obedience had driven away the more rebellious nobles leaving only the pro royal faction.

I chatted a little more, ate some of the food and after about two hours I was ready to leave the banquet together with Maira and the other two girls.

Sadly, trouble seemed to follow me around. Just as I was about to call Ilea and Riina a loud voice echoed through the hall.

“WHAT DO THESE DISGUSTING DEMIHUMANS DO HERE?”, a disgusting female voice rang in my ears and I felt the trouble coming.

“What is the matter?”, I quickly walked over to the area where Riina and Ilea were standing. There I found the two girls covering in fear while the first princess (the ugly one) was making a fuss.

“Who allowed these disgusting slaves into our palace? I CANNOT stand this!”

Oh no, it is retarded…. That was the first thought that came to my mind. Not only was Maira’s sister ugly as hell, she was also stupid.

“They have come with me.”, I said with a calm and friendly voice. The princess stared at me and for a moment she didn’t know what to say. Well it was only for a moment though.

“How dare you bring them into my presence, these demihumans should not be allowed to be mingle with us humans. You should be punished by my father for this atrocity. Someone should just kill these disgusting bugs already.”, she already hated me for calling her ugly when I first saw her, so she used this chance to make trouble for me.

I resisted my urges and looked around to understand the situation. Some of the nobles clearly agreed with the screwed-up view of the first princess, some seemed quite offended while others did not care at all.

Racism hm… Well I did expect this when I saw the amount of non-human slaves at the market.

“Could you please shut up?”, I said with a cold voice.

The princess, who had been in the process of unleashing another verbal assault, stared at me in shock. No one would usually dare to speak to her like this.

“You dare to insult royalty?”, her voice quivered and I could feel the cold gaze of the king on my back.

“I serve the king, not some princess.”, I said with a haughty voice. This was the best response that I could think of and it seemed to work.

“Furthermore, you should not forget who I am. I am the hero who is tasked to protect this kingdom. If I bring my girls to this banquet who are you to shout at me? Are you going to fight the demons in the north? Are you going to risk your life in endless battles? Insulting my slaves is the same as insulting their master.

WHO are YOU that you dare to insult me and my property?”, my loud voice echoed all over the quiet hall. The king had already retracted his gaze and payed no attention, meaning that he had given his silent approval. The nobles on the other hand began to nod.

My words had been correct. I was the hero who had been send by the gods. A mere princess of a country could not even begin to compare in terms of importance. Even the nobles who shared the princess’ racist views had to support me now.

The princess’ face began to turn red as she realized that her father did not support her and that she had lost the support of the nobles . Harrumphing loudly, she angrily turned around and walked away. Compared to Maira she was truly just mediocre. In fact, she was more like a little child who felt offended and was making a fuss over nothing than a grown woman with considerable influence in a country.

My two cute slaves covered behind me and had chosen to keep close to me now. Defending the two of them from that evil little bitch had proven helpful in making them trust me a little more. At least that princess had some sort of use.

I looked towards the king and performed a bow.

“I shall excuse myself now. This day has been very exhausting for me.”

The elderly king nodded calmly and proceeded to ignore me again.

My party of four left the hall and returned to my chambers. While we had been away someone had prepared a couple sets of clothing for me, Maira and the girls and hung them into the wardrobe. Sadly, this person had not thought of preparing a few more beds for the rising population in my quarters.

Before going to rest I had one last question for Maira though.

“How come you had clothes prepared in my room when you shouldn’t have been able to predict that I would behave the way I did leading to you coming to live with me.”, I had some ideas about this, but I wanted to hear the truth from her.

A difficult expression appeared on her face and while she seemed unwilling to respond the restrictions that I had placed on her forced her to answer and say the truth.

“No matter who the hero would be, I planned to use him to avoid a political marriage with our neighbor kingdom.”, she admitted hesitantly.

“I thought so.”, I said with a nod.

“Well I guess you accomplished your goal. No king is gonna marry a slave after all, is he?”, a grin appeared on my face as I teased her. I wondered if it was too harsh though...

She began to pout and walked away.

“By the way, since there is only one bed I will sleep of the couch and you girls can share the bed.”, at least once I had to play the good guy.

“Of course, you will!”, came the short and heartless response from Maira who signed Riina and Ilea to join her in the bedroom. Then the door was closed shut and I was left alone in the expansive living room.

I sighed and shook my head. Fantasies couldn’t become reality after all. I laid down onto the couch and closed my eyes. Finally, the first day of my arrival in the other world had come to an end.