Chapter 79 - - 79: The Reward Ceremony

Chapter 79: Chapter - 79: The Reward Ceremony

*Could it be that I have taken the heroine’s place in this incident?*

I shove away my distracting thoughts and decided to focus on the current event.

We were eventually guided inside.

The palace interior was considerably more ornate than the academy, with polished stone floors, tall columns, elaborate chandeliers, and walls decorated with paintings and insignias representing the history of the Ripon royal family.

I didn’t spend too much time looking around.

There would be plenty of opportunities to do that if I ever had a reason to return.

The ceremony itself was held in a large formal hall.

Several officials were already waiting there, along with members of the royal family and other guests.

We were guided to our designated positions.

The students who had participated directly in the defense of the academy stood in rows.

I noticed that the arrangement had clearly been organized according to rank and contribution.

And Princess Kajol was also present.

That did not surprise me as much as it might have before the attack.

Kajol had actively participated in the battle against the terrorists, and unlike most of the students, she had not merely been caught in the middle of the incident. She had actually fought against the attackers and contributed to stopping them, so naturally she deserved recognition for what she had done.

However, there was another matter that made her situation somewhat different from ours.

She was a princess of the Keshan Kingdom.

That meant the royal court could not simply give her a reward and consider the matter settled.

At least, that was my assumption.

I had no idea what arrangements had actually been made between the two kingdoms, but from what I understood about politics, simply handing a foreign princess an artifact or some valuable magical item after she had nearly been killed while helping Aurora Kingdom’s people would probably not be enough.

There was the matter of diplomacy, after all.

If a foreign royal were injured or endangered while staying within another kingdom’s territory, the host kingdom would naturally bear some responsibility, particularly if the incident involved an organized attack against the kingdom itself. Even if Kajol had participated willingly, Keshan’s royal family would still have every reason to demand an explanation.

So, while I did not know what had actually happened behind closed doors, I suspected that Aurora Kingdom had already paid some form of compensation to Keshan.

*Not like it has anything to do with me*

Eventually, the doors at the far end of the hall opened.

The atmosphere immediately became more orderly as King Edward Ripon entered.

He was accompanied by several members of the royal court, and once he reached the front of the hall, everyone bowed.

I followed the others.

"Rise."

His voice carried clearly through the hall.

King Edward looked over the gathered students and staff for several moments before beginning his speech.

He spoke about the attack on the academy, the danger faced by the students and faculty, and the importance of the people who had acted when the academy’s defenses were breached.

It was not particularly long.

That was probably for the best.

A ceremony like this could easily become tedious if the king decided to give an hour-long speech about courage and duty.

Instead, he kept the speech relatively concise before moving on to the actual rewards.

The first few names were called.

For the students, the rewards varied according to their contribution.

Ray received a high-grade mana recovery bracelet that could automatically accelerate his mana regeneration after sustaining heavy expenditure.

Luna was given a set of rare magical crystals suitable for strengthening her attribute-based spells.

Jin Curzon received a finely crafted defensive shield capable of reinforcing its wielder’s physical abilities with magic.

Jasmine was awarded an enchanted communication crystal that could connect to designated academy and royal channels from considerable distances, which was apparently considered particularly useful for someone serving as student council president.

*Or wife of a future duke?*

They are clearly favoring her because of her engagement to the heir of Duchess of Ellor.

Ralf’s reward was somewhat more substantial.

He received some high-quality spatial crystals along with a treasure that increases mental strength.

Considering his performance during the attack, it was not particularly surprising.

His spatial magic had been extremely useful for moving students and teachers away from danger, and the royal court clearly understood the value of that contribution.

Ralf accepted the reward with a calm expression, although I could tell he was pleased.

Then came Elena’s name.

And mine.

The official announcing the reward paused before saying both names together.

"Kai Shen and Elena Mizo."

I glanced toward Elena.

She looked at me with the same slight confusion I felt. We stepped forward together.

King Edward looked at the two of us.

"You have both demonstrated considerable courage during the attack on the academy, and your actions contributed directly to the safety of the students and faculty."

His gaze shifted between us.

"For your contribution, the royal court has decided to bestow upon you a joint reward."

An official stepped forward carrying a small, elegant case.

I had expected something tangible. Perhaps an artifact or maybe a pair of magical weapons.

Instead, the official opened the case and revealed a beautifully engraved card.

The king continued.

"You are hereby granted premium VIP access to the Royal Auction being held next week."

I blinked.

The Royal Auction?

The official continued explaining the details.

The pass granted us access to one of the premium balconies reserved for distinguished guests, with enough space to comfortably accommodate four to six people.

In addition, the two of us were being given an initial credit of forty thousand gold coins to spend at the auction.

For several seconds, I simply stared at the cards.

Then I understood.

This was not actually a strange reward.

It was probably one of the most useful rewards they could have given us.

The Royal Auction was, as its name suggests, it is the largest auction house in the kingdom, and it was known for bringing together rare magical artifacts, precious materials, high-grade weapons, unusual monster cores, ancient books, and other treasures that could rarely be found through ordinary merchants.

Even obtaining a normal admission pass was difficult for lower nobles.

The Shen family could probably arrange for me to obtain a regular pass without too much trouble, but that did not mean they could simply walk into the premium balcony section whenever they wanted.

The premium areas were usually pre-reserved for the kingdom’s highest-ranking nobles, wealthy merchants, influential families, and royal guests.

And then there was the forty-thousand-gold credit.

That was the part that made the reward considerably more valuable.

Forty thousand gold was not simply pocket money.

Depending on what was available at the auction, it could be exchanged for several valuable magical treasures, a particularly high-quality artifact, rare materials, or something else that could potentially be much more useful than a single predetermined royal gift.

I glanced toward Elena.

She seemed to have reached the same conclusion.

Her eyes were fixed on the reward with an expression that held considerably more interest than before.

The royal court had actually chosen well.

For two students from noble families, giving us a random decorative artifact might have looked impressive during the ceremony but would not necessarily have been particularly useful.

Instead, they had essentially given us permission to choose our own rewards.

"Thank you, Your Majesty," I said.

Elena bowed beside me "We are honored."

King Edward nodded "Use the opportunity well."

We accepted the pass and returned to our positions.

As I walked back beside Elena, she quietly leaned closer "This is a good reward."

"I agree."

"I thought they would give us some kind of artifact. But this is better."

"Probably." I glanced at the pass again "Especially with forty thousand credit."

Elena nodded.

"We should look through the auction catalogue before going."

"Definitely."

There was no reason to waste the opportunity by arriving without knowing what was being sold.

I could already think of several things worth searching for.

Rare water attribute materials would naturally be useful to me, but the auction might also contain things that could help with my magic research, mental strength, or perhaps even something completely unexpected.

And Elena had her own needs.

If we were allowed to choose what we purchased, there was no reason to settle for something merely because it looked impressive.

The ceremony continued after that.

A few more rewards were given to the students and the staff who had played important roles during the attack, including financial compensation, academy privileges, magical equipment, and other items selected according to their respective contributions.

Nothing particularly unexpected happened.

The entire process proceeded smoothly from beginning to end.

Eventually, King Edward gave a short closing statement thanking everyone once again for their contribution and emphasizing that the kingdom would continue strengthening security around the capital.

Once the ceremony officially ended, we bowed once more before the king was guided out of the hall.

As we stepped into the palace corridor, the atmosphere became noticeably more relaxed.

We continued walking toward the palace exit. Outside, several carriages were already waiting.

But exiting from another exit, I also saw another familiar figure. It was Elena’s mother.

"Good afternoon." I greeted her.

"Good afternoon and congratulations" She replied with a smile "I hope you are happy with the reward you received."

Elena tells her about the royal auction’s pass but she was not particularly surprised as if she expected it.

Well come to think of it, was she having a meeting with someone in the palace since she came out from another entrance.

It seems that aunt Adelia noticed my puzzled expressions as she says "I had a meeting with her majesty, the queen."

Oh right, I had heard from mother that the queen was their peer.

"Well more importantly, use this reward properly and study about the possible things you can buy in the auction." Her next words threw me a little off "Don’t treat it just as another chance for going to a date."

"Mother, We know that" Elena immediately replied with angry expressions, but her anger seems a little fake as if she is just trying to cover her embarrassment with it.

After that we said bye to each other as we headed for our carriages.

I climbed into the Shen family’s carriage and settled into my seat.

The reward ceremony was over and now I have a rather more interesting problem to think about. What exactly was worth buying at the Royal Auction with this reward?