Radiant Era - Chapter 43

Chapter 43 The Family’s Night Banquet

Enzo helplessly watched as the others took their places. Blackbeard sat on the tiger-shaped throne while Lin Qi sat cross-legged on the tail of Blackbeard’s throne. Tie Chui and Tu Dao were both rough fellows, and Blackbeard also wasn’t some courteous person, so no one moved a bench or anything for him. In the end, Enzo decided to move one of the big oaken chairs next to a dining table by himself up the platform with difficulty. He sat next to the pair of father and son and chatted with them.

When he moved the big oaken chair, Enzo realized just how heavy it was. Weighing several hundred kilograms, the big chair carved out from one whole chunk of oak was already quite heavy. What made it even heavier was the three centimeter-thick iron underneath the chairs. Lin Qi’s ancestors added them to prevent wear and tear caused by friction.

So the weight of one big chair was equal to three to four hundred kilograms. Only after exerting a lot of strength did Enzo manage to move the chair.

Tie Chui and Tu Dao could have effortlessly moved it for him. Unfortunately for Enzo, they merely laughed heartily and teasingly at the top of their lungs as he painstakingly moved the chair. Blackbeard and Lin Qi laughed even more unrestrainedly, until their eyes narrowed into slits. Feeling like the number one idiot, Enzo’s face reddened. ’Why did I even follow Lin Qi here?’

This whole family, no matter how he looked at them, weren’t ordinary people!

Blackbeard was going to run for Mayor and in the future, also intended to be the Province Magistrate. His actual target was the annual administrative funds and tax revenues! A bandit was a bandit indeed. It was truly hard to imagine, after Blackbeard becomes a Province Magistrate of the empire, how he would plunder the province.

Perhaps even the servants of the Black Tiger Family could suddenly change their identity and reorganize into a group of imperial army men. At that time, would the helpless Dragon Cavalry and Copper Hats become like these men who committed murder and arson for Lin Qi’s family? While breaking into houses and plundering, they would loudly shout, “In the name of the imperial family!”

When he thought of such a terrifying scenario, Enzo’s hair couldn’t help but stand on end.

‘Truly too stimulating, bursting with too much energy.’ If Old Man Blackbeard really acquired an aristocratic title, he could also establish himself above the royal court in the future. ‘That would certainly be too interesting.’ It was hard to imagine if someone like him were to become an Imperial Minister, how the empire would change.

The cluttering sound of cooking utensils could be heard from outside. Even stronger were the fragrances of spices and meats wafting in the air. Lin Qi’s family servants were preparing a welcoming banquet. Coincidentally, the day of Lin Qi’s return fell on the ‘Kitchen God Festival’. The customs of the West Continent dictated the offering of sacrifices to the Kitchen God on this big day. During the festival, the whole family, young and old, all had to get together and eat and drink to their hearts’ content.

This was also the beginning of the ‘enduring winter’ for the people of the continent. From today onwards, blizzards from the Odin Ice Origin in the north would wreak havoc in the greater part of the continent. Enduring this endless winter, common people would rarely come out, and everyone would be nestled at home. For families who had even a little wealth, the Kitchen God Festival also represented the beginning of a series of banquets during winter.

After all, an endless winter didn’t have any good diversions. Other than eating and drinking to their hearts’ content at home, what else could they do?

Temporarily putting aside the matter of running for Mayor, Blackbeard attentively asked Lin Qi about the things he had done during the past three years. Blackbeard had his own medium of information: Cripple Shop would usually send some information on Lin Qi back to Dunerk every few days. But Lin Qi had a lot of things that even Cripple was incapable of finding out, so Blackbeard asked about Lin Qi’s experiences during the last three years regardless of their importance.

Lin Qi ignored his father’s questions. Instead, the contents of his every sentence focused on being very ‘poor’, very ‘unlucky’, with ‘no money to spend’, and having ‘a shortage of money’. Because of Lin Qi’s words, Blackbeard’s whole face turned purplish-black. With smoke shooting out from his nose, he very much felt like striking Lin Qi to the floor with his palm, then ruthlessly trampling on him with both of his feet.

Just as the father and son, plus Enzo, ran out of topics to talk about, the banquet preparation was just about finished.

Because it was the first time in three years that the family’s young master Lin Qi returned home, this year, his family’s Kitchen God Festival feast was particularly grand. Not to mention other food and drink, just the main course was already 30 roasted sheep!  They were completely roasted all over until they were golden. Their fat unceasingly dripped down, and they were sprinkled with a large amount of spices and seasonings from the East!

This kind of roasted sheep, in Borali’s top taverns, could reach an extremely high price of two hundred gold coins each. The sheep itself was not so expensive. What made it so costly were the spices — spices transported from the East that traveled several tens of thousands kilometers to arrive at the West Continent and were worth dozens of gold coins a handful! Such precious ingredients were sprinkled on the roasted sheeps!

In addition to roasted sheep, there were also big chunks of fat and tender beef steaks, roasted geese, and roasted chickens lying neatly on a pure silver platter. Charmingly young roasted pigs were propped up with forks, neatly arranged in a row as if they were walking in a line.

In addition to this, there were also various kinds of rare birds.

The aristocratic families of the empire especially liked various kinds of rare and precious water birds, such as Black Swans, White Swans, Green-Headed Duck, Skylarks, and so on. At the family banquet, there were at least forty different kinds of water birds served on the dining table. The fragrance was so strong that it nearly accumulated into visible, thin fog.

Several hundred ferocious-looking men with huge figures attended the banquet. These men were all the elders of the Black Tiger Family who were qualified to attend. There were still ten smaller banquet halls at other places. Everyone else in the ancestral house, including the part-time workers, female servants, and so on were feasting to their hearts’ content there.

One banquet had more than three thousand people attending. Such a scale could nearly be comparable to the state banquet held in the Victory Palace by the emperor.

Moreover, this still didn’t include everyone, because while everyone else was feasting, there were still at least several hundred capable men on duty at every sentry post outside the ancestral house. To describe this ancestral house that belonged to Lin Qi’s family as a dangerous spot wasn’t wrong at all.

After Blackbeard ceremoniously chanted a prayer offering sacrifices to the Kitchen God one time, he raised his huge, gold wine cup and declared the start of the banquet.

The several hundred huge men inside the hall raised their wine cups and cheered in unison, “Long live Old Man Blackbeard!” before shouting once more, “Welcome home, young master!” Following the cheers, these men drained the fine wine inside their wine cups one after another.

Among these men, ten prominently robust beastmen of pure bloodline especially drew people’s attention. At other places in the West Continent, beastmen had kill on sight order on them. But in this ancestral house, the beastmen and humans intimately forced one another to drink alcohol. Practically as harmonious as a family, everyone ate and drank to his heart’s content together.

Carrying a barrel of wine in each arm, Lin Qi along with Enzo, whom he had brought with him,  toasted to each elder of the family. Uncle so-and-so… Aunt so-and-so… all the elders were the type to have bodies with scars all over and ferocious faces, but once they saw Lin Qi, without exception, they showed benevolent smiles.

The elders merely required Lin Qi to drink a small mouthful, but as for Enzo, they had no mercy and one after another, unrestrainedly poured a big bowl for him each time.

As a result, less than fifteen minutes after the start of the banquet, Enzo already collapsed and lost consciousness.

One hour later, Lin Qi was also intoxicated and then followed suit.

Blackbeard shook his head, then carried his son out of the banquet hall.