Winfred looked at his two new guests. Verner was just like in the game, spitting the exact same image like his younger sister. They were often called twins even though Verner was older than Vivien. Verner's bodyguard is an old man with long gray hair tied neatly, marine-colored eyes, and the same rapier sword as Ben.
"Brother Ethan! Come sit here! It's fine right, Older Brother?"
"Well, well. I don't mind, Charlotte. But I'm curious, why are you here, Ethan?"
"Ah, about that. I accompanied Verner to look for Miss Vivien and finally found her. By the way, why are you all here?"
"Allow me to explain the short version from the beginning, Your Highness Ethan."
Vivien then repeated what Winfred had said from beginning to the last topic about the expansion of the universe.
The newly arrived guests reacted in various ways, from Charlotte, who was startled and covered her mouth with her hand. Erick, who smiled broadly and nodded his head, then Ethan and Verner, who thought deeply with their arms crossed and their chin resting on their hands.
"Winfred, can you continue your story? For some reason, it piqued my interest."
"Actually, I came here just to look for my sister Vivien. But there's no harm in stopping for a moment and listening to your story, as His Highness Ethan just said."
Winfred swallowed hard as he saw his audience growing. He had only intended to break the awkward silence between Evan, Vivien, and Ben by sharing some surface knowledge about the universe. Seeing that Evan is not leaving, it seemed that he was also curious about the rest of the story.
"Since when did this become a storytelling group...?"
Winfred sighed deeply and smiled slightly at his audience, then continued his story about outer space.
"Very well then. I shall continue. What do you think about the sun?"
"All of a sudden? Hmm...very hot, I think?"
"Older Brother, the sun isn't just hot! It might be big too!"
"If we use your analogy that our world Rea is as big as a small leaf, maybe the sun is as big as a tree?"
Erick, Charlotte, and Ethan expressed their respective opinions, while Evan, Vivien, and Verner remained silent, deep in thought.
"Master Evan, how hot do you think the sun is in outer space?"
"Hm? Ah...maybe more than a Grandmaster-rank Fire spell? Considering that spells of that level are often described as being as hot as the sun. Why, kid?"
"Hmm… Good point, everyone. According to popular theory, the sun is enormous! It's about 100 times bigger than our world! Not only that, but with that size, the sun could hold millions of worlds similar to ours!"
"No way!"
"Heh..."
Charlotte was shocked, Erick smiled broadly. The audience gasped at Winfred's story, then he continued.
"Now about the heat of the sun. Perhaps you all think the same as Master Evan, that the sun is more or less the same as a Grandmaster-rank Fire spell. Let me tell you, even spells at that level are not similar at all to the whole sun, it is only similar to the surface of the sun!"
"What!? So the sun is hotter, kid!?"
"That's right, Master Evan. Roughly speaking, even if everyone in the world cast Grandmaster-rank Fire spells, it still wouldn't match the core of the sun!"
Winfred's revelation left everyone there speechless. Even Verner and Vivien, who usually wore plain expressions, were shocked. Evan himself seemed struck by Winfred's answer.
"Hahaha! Interesting! Isn't that right, my siblings?"
"Unbelievable! Even all those Grandmaster-rank spells couldn't match the core of the sun...?"
"That's... very interesting."
Ethan looked at Winfred with curiosity, while Erick laughed freely and Charlotte held her head in confusion.
"Then let's move on to a lighter topic. Out there, there is a place called the Milky Way. It is said that this place has... several unique 'worlds'."
Winfred looked around at his audience enthusiastically. He regretted not bringing a blackboard and chalk to aid his story.
"What's the matter, kid? Seems like you're having trouble?"
"Ah, no, Master Evan. I just regret not having a blackboard to assist my story..."
"Aha! Do you need a blackboard? You should have said so earlier!"
Erick responded to Winfred's predicament and instructed one of his fully-armored guards to hand something over. The first prince held something and reached deep into the object he was holding.
"That's-! A Dimensional Bag!"
Winfred couldn't believe that one of the rarest items in the world was right in front of him. Although it looked like an ordinary bag, it was extremely valuable and sought after by everyone. Winfred then calmed himself down, realizing that it was only natural for someone like an imperial prince to have it.
Erick then pulled out a medium-sized blackboard and handed it to Winfred.
"This one? With chalk too. Now continue your story!"
"Pardon me for the inconvenience... Thank you, Your Highness."
"Why would a prince carry a blackboard and chalk in his Dimensional Bag...?"
Winfred dismissed his inner thoughts and continued his story.
"Continuing my story, there are several 'worlds' that are quite popular in that place. I will list these worlds from smallest to largest."
Winfred then drew a crude sketch of the planets he knew. The audience was quite enthusiastic about Winfred's story and drawings.
"Let's start with the smallest, Mercury. This "world" is famous for its rocks and extreme temperatures."
"Next is Venus, similar to Mercury but worse, this world is even hotter. This is Mars, which is said to have once been as fertile as our world, but now it is nothing but endless barren plains, earning it the nickname The Red 'World'."
"Uranus, composed of water and ice, is extremely cold, even colder than Frosthale. Then there is Neptune, which is similar to the other worlds, but it consists of gas and water and is known to be very cold."
"This is Saturn, a world made of smoke. Do you see the small dots surrounding it? Those are rocks in large numbers. And lastly, Jupiter. The largest world made of smoke, it is said that if someone were to fall here, they would not be able to return safely."
Evan, who was sitting next to Winfred, looked closely at the crude sketch, while the other audience did the same. Some came closer to see the picture, and some came closer
"I have a question. If that world is as dangerous as you say, how can its inhabitants survive?"
"Good question, Mister Verner. The answer to your question is... that world is completely uninhabited."
"Huh? How is that possible?"
"As I explained earlier, Your Highness Ethan, the conditions and environment such as temperatures of that 'world' are not suitable for sustaining life, so it has been left empty until now."
"Hmm... imagine the natural resources that could be obtained in those places... there must be a lot of them..."
"Hahaha... it might be right, Your Highness Erick..."
Winfred smiled at Erick's opinion, which seemed more interested in the natural resources on the planet he mentioned. Seeing that the mood had improved, Winfred continued his story.
"Ahem. You might think that out there it's completely safe, that there are no obstacles... that no one is competing with you to take the natural resources in those worlds... but you are gravely mistaken!"
Winfred stamped his foot with a serious expression. Evan and Erick raised their eyebrows, Charlotte and Vivien swallowed hard, while Verner and Ethan just wore blank but curious expressions.
"Out there... in the silent darkness... There is something even more dangerous than the Demon King... something that is feared by all inhabitants of the universe because, to this day, no one has found a way to destroy it for good!"
"Tha- that thing... is it a living creature?"
"Absolutely not, Your Highness Charlotte!"
Charlotte visibly startled. She was quite shocked and unconsciously held her brother Erick's arm. The young prince just smiled and asked Winfred to continue the story. Before that, Winfred erased the rough sketch of the planets and drew the topic he was going to talk about.
"That thing... is called Black Hole! It devours everything and leaves nothing behind, not even stars, worlds, or the sun itself!"
"Devour the sun!? You're joking, kid!"
"I'm not joking, Master Evan! A black hole is an object in the universe that devours and destroys everything without leaving a trace!"
"How can this black hole destroy everything? By exploding objects?"
"Not like that, Your Highness Ethan. Do you see this circular object?"
The audience looked closely at the disk pointed out by Winfred in his picture.
"This is called an Accretion Disk. Once anything enters that area, it will be difficult to escape and will be continuously pulled in until the object approaches the core of the Black Hole!"
"And then?"
"Total destruction, Miss Vivien! Not even an inch or a piece of anything that has been 'eaten' by the Black Hole will remain!"
Vivien and Ethan were stunned to hear Winfred's words. The other audience were also shocked to learn that there was such a dangerous object out there.
"You may be wondering why a black hole can devour everything. The answer is because this celestial object has an unimaginable weight that allows it to destroy the space around it."
"What do you mean, kid?"
"It is estimated that a black hole is 100 times heavier than the sun! Let me clarify, a black hole can devour anything, even light! That's right, even if everyone in the world attacked a black hole with Grandmaster-rank Light spells, it would just devour those spells like snacks, and there's a chance it would actually make the black hole grow even larger!"
Winfred drew the sun next to the black hole and wrote the number 100. His exaggerated explanation of the effects of the Grandmaster-rank Light spell earlier left everyone there speechless.
"What would happen if a human got too close to a black hole?"
"Good question, Miss Vivien. Hmmm...do you have a rope, Your Highness Erick?"
"Hm? Wait a moment. Like this?"
"This is enough, thank you, Your Highness."
Winfred lowered the blackboard beneath his feet and accepted the rope from Erick, showing it to the audience around him.
"As I explained earlier, when something approaches a black hole, especially in the accretion disk, it will be difficult to escape, but there is still a chance to escape the black hole's gravitational pull."
"However, if a human being passes through the accretion disk and approaches this point, called the Event Horizon, it will be impossible for them to return, and their body will be stretched out like this rope. This process is called Spaghettification!"
Winfred pulled hard on the rope as if it were a human being being pulled into a black hole.
"That thing isn't going anywhere, right? It's just staying in one place?"
"Hehehe, not quite so, Mister Verner. In fact, some reports say that there are variants of black holes that drift aimlessly through space, destroying everything in their path indiscriminately. Oh yes, the image on this blackboard is a black hole as seen from the side. Here's the fun part: what if we looked at a black hole from the front?"
Winfred erased all the images on the board, then drew thin lines in random spirals.
"Done! This is what a black hole looks like when observed from the front!"
"Huh? There's nothing there! Just some blurry white lines!"
"If a black hole even swallows light... that means it's invisible...?"
"Very good, Master Evan! A black hole is almost invisible because it also swallows the light around it and leaves very little light, as shown in the picture. It is not an exaggeration to call a black hole a perfect assassin!"
"About Spaghetti-ification? What happens next if a human goes deeper after the Spaghettification process?"
"Hmmm...to be honest, I don't know either, Your Highness Erick."
"What do you mean?"
"After crossing the Event Horizon and entering the black hole, we will encounter what is known as the Singularity. At that point, space and time and all the laws of the universe become chaotic and disordered!"
"I-impossible..."
Vivien was astonished and showed an expression of disbelief on her face, as did everyone else present. To wrap up, Winfred teased his audience once more.
"There are several myths behind black holes. Some sources say that black holes are actually dimensional gateways to other universes, while others argue that if we manage to pass through a black hole, we will travel through time to the future and the past."
"You talk nonsense, kid..."
"Ahaha...who knows? From the beginning, I said to consider my words as the ramblings of a child. Isn't that right, Master Evan?"
"Hmph."
The audience in the gazebo remained silent and pensive after hearing everything Winfred had said. Before he could close the storytelling session, someone approached the gazebo.
"Excuse me, ladies and gentlemen. I apologize for interrupting your time. Master Evan, Young Master Winfred. Lord Victor is looking for both of you. If you don't mind, please follow me."
Sebastian came to the gazebo to deliver the news. Winfred's expression immediately brightened upon receiving unexpected "help" from his father and Sebastian.
"Perfect timing!"
It didn't take long for Evan and Winfred to say goodbye to their audience in the gazebo. On the way back to the party hall, Winfred was truly relieved that he hadn't made any fatal mistakes in the gazebo earlier.
And so, Ardyn and Gerdan's acceptance party ended merrily and smoothly until the very end.