Rising of the Caped Baldy

Chapter 9: A duel with a fool

"Shield hero!" Saitama turned to the youthful voice that called him by his title. Or maybe it was a job label? The boy wore low-level guard attire, defining him to be fresh out of training. "Sir, Shield hero!" He came closer, running as fast as he could. Raphtalia had noticed him too. She kept her hand near her scabbard in case there were any issues with the guard. 

When the boy arrived in front of Saitama and his companion, he bent over to rest his body on his knees. Saitama let the boy catch his breath, he had nothing else to do. The boy finally rose to his full height, which wasn't impressive at all, he smiled at Saitama and Raphtalia.

"Do you need something?" Saitama awkwardly asked the kid. The boy quickly straightened up before falling into a deep bow.

"Thank you so much for saving me, sir Shield hero. And my home!" He kept his bent posture as he continued to speak. "I'm sorry for not being able to help you save my village!" He was slowly running out of breath. "And I'm sorry for not stopping my captain from bombarding you and your companion!" Saitama was slowly getting tired of this. "Thank you so much! You saved everyone! Even my little..." Saitama's mind started to wander.

'Geez, does this kid know how to calm down?' Saitama mentally sighed. 'I guess he was almost killed just now and his home was almost completely destroyed.' Saitama glanced down at the kid that was still naming everyone he saved, some of them were even just wanderers that Raphtalia saved. 'But could he breathe for a second? He looks like he's turning blue... oh, he is.' 

Saitama flicked the boy's forehead causing him to bring his body upright. He was still reeling from the surprise of being flicked. "Hey, don't forget to breathe. I don't want your unconsciousness to be blamed on me." Saitama lightly scolded. The guard's face turned beet red before bowing once more.

"My apologies!" He shouted. Saitama was about to flick his forehead again when he pulled out a parchment. "I was also tasked with delivering this message" He stood straight again and cleared his throat. "There will be a banquet to celebrate the victory over the wave. You have been asked to attend in the royal castle." The boy smiled at Saitama and Raphtalia.

"Oh, thanks, I guess." Saitama took the paper from the guard. The guard's features got brighter. He bowed one more time before running back towards Lute village. 

Saitama looked down at the paper. It was true, he was requested to attend a banquet. A banquet for defeating the wave. A banquet where the other heroes and their party members, that probably all hate him, will be attending. But most importantly, a banquet and banquets have free food. Free food.

Raphtalia smiled at the childish personality of the guard. Perhaps they weren't all that bad. But it still might not be a good idea to go to a place with people that might want to hurt master Saitama. "I think we should-" She was about to propose traveling towards Faubrey in search of ways for them--her--to get stronger but she stopped herself when she saw her master starting to drool. 

"Let's go! There's a party waiting for us!" Saitama started jogging towards the castle, leaving Raphtalia behind with a cloud of dust.

"W-Wait for me!" She shouted at him, trying to keep up.

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"Heroes!" The king of Melromarc, king Aultcray, announced to the people attending his fantastic celebration. "I appreciate the efforts of your journey!" He raised his cup high with a grand smile, excitement flushing his features. "We received little damage compared to last time. Even I cannot hide my surprise about it!" He raised both his arms to address everyone in the room. "Tonight, we feast! Enjoy yourselves to the fullest!" He took a large gulp of his wine-filled goblet as the party-goers began to have at it with what there was.