"What? Have you two known each other before?" the king said with a surprised look.
Benjamin came back to his senses with a strange expression: "No... I just met him once by chance, and I didn't know at the time that Mr. Aldrich was the president of the Master Freemasonry."
How could he imagine it
Just walking there casually, I bumped into the president. It was a coincidence. As a result, he actually invited the president over to the king's dinner party that night.
At that moment, he even wondered, was this really just a coincidence
He looked at Aldrich's intriguing smile and suddenly felt that this was really not something the old mage had planned before
"Your Majesty, please forgive my recklessness." Aldrich said slowly, "I am very interested in this rising star in the mage world, so I had a few chats with him in advance this afternoon."
"I see. Since you all already know each other, it saves me the trouble of introducing you." The king laughed a few times and said.
Benjamin shook his head helplessly.
Sure enough, it was planned in advance...
However, he was still a little surprised that he actually attracted the attention of the president of the Master Freemasonry
Didn't Tony say before that people in the Master Freemasonry don't discuss Benjamin very much now, as if his name has become a forbidden word. However, most of the bad things Master Finch said behind his back reached the ears of the president.
Thinking about it this way, the current scene is really a bit subtle.
"Okay, Mr. President, you already know each other, and next is this one." The king waved his hand and pointed to another middle-aged man sitting at the dining table, "This is General Barritt, guarding me. A hero of the country."
When Benjamin heard this, he immediately turned his attention to the general again: "General Barritt, I am Benjamin. Nice to meet you."
Barritt didn't seem to be very talkative, so he nodded as a greeting.
"These two are the extra guests I invited." The king smiled, and finally looked at a woman of similar age beside him and said, "Finally, this is it, my beautiful wife."
The queen smiled, looking restrained and decent: "I'll make you laugh."
Benjamin could only continue to nod and said, "I have met Her Royal Highness the Queen."
After saying that, he couldn't help but look around the entire large dining table. There were only a few people who came to the dinner party, but the little princess was not seen.
But...the posture of these people alone is already amazing enough.
Benjamin also felt a little confused.
The king, the queen, some level of wizard leader, and the military representatives of the entire country. Such a huge lineup, but sitting here eating with him, a foreign mage - he had a feeling that something was about to happen.
He didn't understand what the king's intention was in introducing him to these people so enthusiastically.
Are you...wanting to recruit him
Therefore, with this thought in mind and a casual chat with the king, Benjamin found an opportunity to give away the prepared red wine. When the atmosphere at the entire table was good, he sighed seemingly casually:
"I am just a young mage who has just arrived in Freden. I never expected to meet so many big shots."
As the king ordered the servants to start serving the dishes, he laughed a few times and said, "Master Benjamin, you underestimate yourself. You can have such strength at a young age. In the future, you are likely to grow into a very great person. !”
… Is this why dinner parties exist
Then why do you need to call military representatives
Benjamin was still confused.
"Thank you for the compliment, Your Majesty. However, there are thousands of talented people in the world, but I am the only one who has won His Majesty's favor. This really makes me a little scared."
"No, you don't understand." The king picked up the wine glass, took a sip, and said slowly, "Over the years, Master Aldrich and I have paid close attention to Freden's mage world. There are many mediocre people, who can really stand out. But there are very few people. We are all worried that when Master Aldrich gets a little older, who will be able to support the entire Freden mage community?"
… All right.
When Benjamin heard this, he felt like he didn't know how to speak.
He had no choice but to pretend to be stupid and drink.
It seems that the rulers all have similar ideas, and they all want to tightly tie useful people to their own countries. It's just that the queen's methods and attitude are tougher, but Freden's king prefers to play the emotional card.
"Master Benjamin, let me tell you that Frieden was established less than ten years ago and everything seems stable. But you came from Ikol, so you should know what kind of person my sister is." However, The king seemed to have started talking, and couldn't help but continue, "I don't know what means she used, but those mages are firmly in her hands."
"Now, she is just afraid of the threat from the Kingdom of Hori and is afraid of being attacked from both sides, so she puts on a peace gesture. But one day, she will be the first to provoke a war among the three kingdoms. By then, I will not I hope my country will fall under her iron heel."
The atmosphere in the restaurant, which was originally quite relaxed, suddenly became a little heavy under the king's words.
"Your Majesty, I will defend Frieden's territory to the death. There will never be a day when that woman sets foot on it!" Suddenly, General Barritt, who had been silent, stood up, knelt on one knee in front of the king, and said decisively.
The king was stunned, and suddenly laughed at himself, and said: "Look, what did I say? Get up quickly, general. This is just a private dinner. We will not talk about state affairs. I just hope that you can have a good time tonight."
As he spoke, he helped General Barritt up and sat back in his seat.
The servants had almost finished serving the dishes, so, at the king's signal, everyone began to eat, and the atmosphere relaxed slightly.
Benjamin was also relieved because the king asked him questions much less frequently.
They were probably all talking about things like "How was your life in Ikol", "How did you embark on the path of magic", "What's your impression of Frieden", etc., a kind of chatting atmosphere.
Therefore, Benjamin took out the answers he had prepared long ago and answered them one by one. From time to time, he told some jokes to liven up the atmosphere. The so-called King's Dinner is actually similar to a social dinner.
During this process, Master Aldrich often spoke and talked about things about Master Freemasonry. Although most of them were trivial anecdotes, as Benjamin listened to them, he gradually learned some things that he had never known before.
For example, although the Master Freemasonry covers the two countries of Freden and Carites, their influence on Carites is actually very weak. The mages in that country are all kinds of hidden gods, hiding in the mountains, rarely even leaving the door, let alone condensing into a force.
For this reason, they did not look down upon Carites in their speech, and felt that the country ruled by the eldest prince was just a weakling hiding in the shadow of the second prince and the little princess, and was not something to be afraid of.
Suddenly, Benjamin immediately thought of the letter sent by the church to the Kingdom of Carites.
No wonder the eldest prince wanted to join the church.
Thinking of this, Benjamin also hesitated whether to tell the king about this. However, after thinking about it, he still didn't say anything. After all, he couldn't explain the source of the news - he had long since decided to keep it completely secret that he was from the Kingdom of Hori, and no one would tell it.
Moreover, if he really said it, it would be equivalent to completely surrendering to Freden. He doesn't want to get involved in the struggle between these three countries yet.
Therefore, as the king said, "Don't talk about state affairs." Since it is just a dinner party, just treat it as if he has met a few awesome people, and don't think too much about other things.
In this way, with a relaxed atmosphere, a few hours later, the dinner party gradually came to an end.