Thanks to a method that felt almost like cheating—renting out the entire Assembly Hall—we were able to watch the ceremony from the comfort of indoor seats.
I had been worried about attracting attention, but apparently, the windows of the building functioned like one-way mirrors. No one could see in from the outside, meaning there was no need to worry about being spotted.
The square below was packed to the brim, a sea of people that spoke to the immense level of anticipation for this year’s event.
"Oh, look, Kaito-san. There's a gorilla."
"Huh? Oh, you’re right, that is Megiddo-san... though he really does stand out."
"Well, he is massive, for one thing-ssu."
I had heard beforehand that Megiddo-san, who had deep ties with the Hydra Kingdom, and Lilliwood-san, who was representing the Six Kings, would be attending. Since Megiddo-san was there in his well-known form as the War King—a towering figure over ten meters tall—he was incredibly easy to spot.
Assuming that the area around him must be the VIP section, I took a closer look. I soon found several other familiar faces in the crowd: Lilliwood-san, Pandora-san, Iris-san, Flare-san, and Zex-san were all in attendance.
"Oh, so Iris-san and Zex-san are there, too."
"The founding festival in the Kingdom of Sinfonia was an exception; usually, Executives attend on behalf of the Six Kings themselves. See? Our side sent Pandora, didn't we-ssu?"
"Ah, right. Now that you mention it, that makes sense..."
"Technically, these festivals celebrate the founding of the three nations of the Human Realm. As long as they maintain friendly ties, it's expected for representatives from each of the Six Kings’ factions to attend."
"Even though they’re called Executives, it isn't always the highest-ranking ones like the Seven Princesses or the Five War Generals. Sometimes ordinary Executives participate instead."
Hapty-san and Noel-san added their own explanations as I nodded along to Alice’s words. It was exactly as they said; unless there were very specific circumstances, it was unlikely a faction would skip sending a representative entirely.
Isis-san hadn't had subordinates until recently, so she used to either attend in person or send no one at all. Now that her faction was established, it seemed Iris-san had been chosen to participate in her stead.
Looking closer, I even saw people dressed in priestly vestments, so it seemed the Gods had their own representatives in attendance as well.
Beyond the faction representatives, I could see monarchs from other countries, like Ryze-san and Chris-san, along with celebrities like Falce-san scattered here and there.
"I bet the country would have loved to invite Kaito as an official guest, too."
"That is almost certainly the case. Even if you were there, the commoners would probably just assume you were an associate of one of the Six Kings, but Kaito-san’s name is very well known among the nobility and those in high-ranking positions."
While I wasn't particularly famous among the general public, I was apparently well-recognized by the nobility and the high-ranking members of each faction. In that sense, I probably was exactly the kind of person they would want to invite.
However, I had already spent my time running stalls in the Kingdom of Sinfonia and the Arclesia Empire. To be honest, I wasn't fond of stiff, formal occasions, so I didn't feel any real desire to participate as an official guest even if I were asked.
Still... if Ryze-san, Chris-san, or Laguna-san personally asked me to attend, I felt like I would end up saying yes out of gratitude for everything they had done for me.
"For your information, Alice-chan and the others have been firmly deterring them, so you won’t be getting any invitations-ssu. Well, we're only stopping them from sending the invite in the first place... if Kaito-san said you wanted to go, they’d welcome you with open arms, though-ssu."
"I see. Sitting in those VIP seats would be a bit much, so I'm actually glad you're preventing that. You’ve really saved me. But besides you, Alice... who are the 'others'?"
"That would be the terrifying God who carved trauma into the hearts of most of the nobility in the Human Realm-ssu. Honestly, they’re far more afraid of her than they are of Alice-chan, so no weird invitations ever reach you, Kaito-san."
"...Ah."
She really was dangerous. If someone ignored her warning, she would likely be even more merciless than Alice. Knowing her, she had probably scared them half to death during the warning stage alone.
Still, considering her actions were the reason I was spared from those awkward invitations, I couldn't bring myself to criticize her too harshly. I wished she’d go a little easier on them, but... that was likely asking for the impossible.