Arthur 4 : The return of the prince

Chapter 24

It was half an hour since Arthur and his family had joined the world of minimoys. The whole village was seated in the central square. We could see the big row of tables lined up around the rock of the ancients. Prosciutto, the village chef, kept giving his instructions to his assistants who ran in all directions to bring such dish to such table.

But it is an order that Prosciutto had to take care of personally, and not any since it carried the royal seal on it. Nevertheless, this did not discourage him; on the contrary he seemed to rejoice. For once he had enough time to prepare his culinary works, as he used to call his dishes. In addition, a surprise guest wanted to celebrate the return of the prince from the first kingdom, so he had to adapt to the changing situation.

"Is everything ready?" he asked his team, visibly eager to bring his dishes to the royal table.

"Yes, we can go," replied one of his crew after checking.

"All right, let’s go then, come on hurry up..." ordered Prosciutto, inviting the rest of his group to follow him. Without further delay, he entered the central square, towards the great royal table, situated outside the circular row of tables which occupied the whole square. Thirteen people sat on this table. King Sifrat of Matradoy was in the centre and to his left were Rose, Armand, Daisy, Miro, Mino and Gwidalia. To his right, we could see Arthur, Selenia, Betamèche, Eldarion, Darkos and finally Max, the famous surprise guest.

"Well, Prosciutto, you amaze me. You brought our order much earlier than expected despite the disappointment." congratulated the King.

"It can be said that people always have this unfortunate tendency to arrive late. When I was told that a surprise guest, I was on the verge of a nervous breakdown!" ronchonna Prosciutto who never misses an opportunity to complain. This response brought the Kolomassai.

"Hey, cook, I’m not responsible for it if people tell me at the last minute that your prince is back. Because I too wanna see your handsome prince again." he added with as much casualness and calmness as usual. " Then, don’t come and say that I don’t help ya, please." He added pointing at Jack who was serving Jack-Fire to anyone who wanted it.

Prosciutto made a grimace when he saw the green and burning mixture pouring into the glass of a minimoy. Obviously, he was not a fan of Jack-Fire.

"Yes, nevermind... here's your plates. " he concludes by a snap of his fingers to his team to put the dishes on their table. When they had finished, they went back to their kitchen before Sifrat got up and began his speech:

"Dear people, I propose to make a toast for two people. A toast to the prince who, on his first visit to our lands, saved us all from M the Evil and threats we had hardly suspected of. This hero who won the heart of my daughter now filled with happiness following the definitive return of her beloved. So I ask you to raise a toast for your prince, Arthur the Hero! " Sifrat declared, raising his arms at the end.

"LONG LIVE ARTHUR, THE HERO!" cried the people of Minimoy, full of happiness, raising their glass and their mug while others applauded him. The concerned stood up smiling and greeted the minimoys with a gesture of his hand. Beside him, Selenia also stood up and went to put a kiss on the cheek of her prince. He gave it back to her before tying his hand with that of Selenia and whispering something in her ear, which made the princess laugh softly.

"I also propose to raise your glasses for the one who allowed us this reunion. He who has voluntarily set aside his personal quest to enable us to bring our prince back among us and who has performed other miracles for our people. I also ask you to raise your glasses for the autarch Eldarion!" he swung his arms at the nyrilorn.

"LONG LIVE ELDARION, THE GHOST OF BATILGA!" The people of Minimoy cried once more, the cheers rose again and the glasses were raised again to the announcement of the name of Eldarion. The autarch stood up and humbly tilted his head towards the central square, one hand on the heart and the second behind the back.