Chapter : 26

  Ken picked up a tiny cracker and stared at it. "Are you kidding me?" he mumbled out loud. "Why do rich people eat such tiny food? I need a magnifying glass just to see this cheese. I am going to have to eat fifty of these just to feel anything in my stomach."

  Ken grabbed a large, fancy silver plate and started piling it high. He didn't care about the swan shapes. He just wanted calories. He scooped up dozens of tiny sandwiches, a handful of weird purple grapes, and three small cakes that looked like they were made of gold dust.

  While he was chewing on a tiny sandwich, he turned his back to the table and casually observed the room. His sleepy eyes scanned the two hundred servants. He wasn't just looking at them; his sharp, unfazed mind was analyzing the room.

  "Lots of high-level mana in here," Ken noted internally. "The guy with the blue hair over there is definitely a water mage. The big guy with the giant axe is a physical enhancement user. They are all strong, but they are all showing off. They want everyone to know how scary they are."

  But as Ken kept looking, he noticed something very interesting. Out of the two hundred people in the room, almost all of them were nobles, rich kids, or famous warriors.

  However, there were exactly five people who did not fit in. Five people who did not have that shiny, arrogant "rich kid glow." They were commoners. People from normal, everyday families who had somehow managed to get selected for the Succession War.

  Ken was one of them. He looked down at his own cheap, messy suit and his crooked tie. "Yep, definitely a commoner," he thought happily.

  He looked around to find the other four.

  On the far side of the room, he spotted two of them. They were wearing suits that looked like they had been rented from a cheap store. They were standing right on the edge of a group of very wealthy nobles. The two commoners were trying incredibly hard to fit in. They were holding their wine glasses tightly, sweating, and laughing way too loudly at everything the nobles said.

  "Yikes," Ken thought, cringing slightly. "They look so uncomfortable. Trying to act like a rich snob looks like a massive amount of work. I am getting tired just watching them fake those smiles."

  Ken turned his head and looked in the completely opposite direction. Tucked away in the farthest, darkest corner of the room, far away from the loud music and the arrogant knights, stood the last two commoners.

  They looked completely out of place, and they knew it. One was a very skinny boy who looked like a strong gust of wind might knock him over. He was nervously chewing on his thumbnail. Standing next to him was a very big, tall guy. But despite his size, the big guy was slouching forward, trying to make himself look smaller so nobody would look at him.

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  They did not have wine glasses. They did not have fancy armor. They just looked like two normal guys who had accidentally wandered into the wrong party and were too scared to ask for directions to the exit.

  A genuine, lazy smile spread across Ken's face.

  "Perfect," Ken thought, taking another bite of a tiny cake. "My kind of people. People who just want to hide in a corner and be left alone. I think I just found my new best friends for the day."

  Balancing his massive mountain of tiny food on his silver plate, Ken completely ignored the glaring eyes of the rich nobles he walked past. He shuffled his feet, let his shoulders drop into his usual lazy slouch, and slowly made his way across the grand room toward the quiet corner. It was time to start the Commoner Alliance.

  ----

  Ken walked right up to the corner where the skinny boy and the big guy were hiding. They both jumped slightly when he approached. They looked at Ken’s totally messy uniform, his wildly untucked shirt, and the giant mountain of ridiculous mini-sandwiches on his plate.

  Ken stopped in front of them, chewing happily. He swallowed, wiped his mouth with the back of his hand, and gave them a completely goofy, relaxed smile.

  "Hey," Ken said, his voice casual and friendly. "I'm Ken. Do you guys happen to know if these little green things are pickles or some kind of weird magic slug? Because I just ate three of them, and I really hope they were pickles."

  The skinny boy stared at Ken for a second, totally caught off guard by the weird question. Then, a small, relieved laugh escaped his mouth. The heavy tension in his shoulders seemed to drop immediately. He realized Ken was not a snobby noble coming over to make fun of them.

  "I... I think they are cucumbers," the skinny boy said, smiling back. He wiped his sweaty palms on his pants and held out a hand. "I'm Love. It is nice to meet you, Ken."

  Ken shifted his plate to one hand and shook Love's hand. "Cucumbers! That makes sense. Good to know I am not eating slugs today. That would have ruined my whole afternoon."

  Love chuckled again and pointed his thumb at the giant standing next to him. The big guy was tall and wide, with thick arms, but he had a very gentle, quiet face. "And this is Neil," Love introduced him. "We were just talking about how completely terrifying this place is. We feel like we are going to get stepped on."

  Neil gave Ken a slow, heavy nod. "Hello, Ken," Neil said. His voice was deep, but very soft. "You are from the 13th Unit, right? We saw you walk in with the Princess. You are very brave to wear your tie like that in front of all these nobles."

  Ken looked down at his crooked tie and laughed loudly. "Brave? No way. I am just really bad at tying knots! Plus, if I look like a total mess, none of these shiny rich people will ask me to do any chores for them. It is a highly advanced survival strategy. You guys should try it."

  Love and Neil both laughed at that. It felt good to laugh in a room full of people who took themselves way too seriously. They instantly felt a connection with Ken. In a sea of absolute crazy, power-hungry maniacs, the three of them were the only normal people there.

  Ken leaned against the wall next to Neil and offered them his plate of food. "Want a tiny swan cheese bread? They taste like nothing, but if you eat twenty of them, you start to feel full."

  "Thanks," Love said, taking a small sandwich. "I am a servant for the 18th Prince. I only got picked because I have a very specific tracking magic, but honestly, I am terrified. My Prince yells at me if I breathe too loudly."