As the "so called" dancer, I first meet the nobleman before leaving for the castle; not before once again taking a potion made by Finlif. He had a saddened look in his eyes, so I presume that Sierra talk him down from going ballistic on the potion making. I am gonna have to thank her later. Since Bell Haruna said not to worry about clothing, I decided not to, as I ended up wearing my casual wear as I was escorted by the maids to the nobleman Mercusys. He was sitting in his office which twice as large as our guest rooms; and those were about the size of large hotel rooms. It also held a large work desk, as well as a nice fire place, run, and a dog by his side as he sat down by the fire. Basic noble behavior.
Looking quite youthful, about around his twenties, he had a short brown beard, and longer brown hair that was slicked back with gell. He sad by the fire, with a pipe in his mouth and a magic orb upon a table that seemingly transmitted not only voice, but also pictures, like a tv. He chucked quite a bit in mused at the spectacle. I was curious, but it was at an angle that I couldn't see. I reckoned that it was being used like a T.V. I wonder, is this convergent evolution of magic's counterpart to magic or....is it the Domain Lord's cause once again.
As I ended up contemplating about that, the maid ended up interrupting both my and the Baron Mercusys' like of thinking.
"E-excuse me, lord Mercusys?"
"What is it, maid." he didn't even say her name, not to mention his attitude, which was quite punctual.
"Our guest, the 2nd dancer delegated by your household."
Wait? Don't they know I am an assassin? Well, guess I'll just play along. I ended up bowing. "It is an honor to be in your presence."
"Flattery will get you no where. Results are what matter. And right now, you have no results." He ended up turning to the maid. "Are you sure the other dancer lady can't show up. I'll pay her double."
"Sorry sir, we can't. She's already left for the day."
"That's a pity." He ended up turning to sharply look at me. "Now then girl. You will dance. And if you fail, you'll be fired and I will ruin your record."
"Of course, sir." I agreed with a subterfuge reluctance.
"Good!" He ended up clapping his hands, to which many maids ended up popping in. "Get this commoner cleaned up. I can't have my household's delegate looking like a pig."
"Yes sir." The said in unison, before grabbing me before pushing me out of the room. They continued to practically carry me onto the baths, then the personal changing room, to which they immediately dressed me up.
"Hey!" I complained. This wasn't the only time along this long, yet brief journey. Though most of it was drowned up by basically being flogged, as well as suffocated by the constant usage of towels and wind magic. After finally being able to see, I could finally see what I was wearing, which only resulted in my pouting: "Why this blue, why not yellow?"
The maid amongst the other decided to explain. She seemed to be the endest one of the few, being at least a 60 year old human. "This blue, is the noble shade of blue that belongs to the Mercusys household, bestowed by the king 100 years ago during the war between the new Demon Lord, as a commemoration and badge of our servitude to the throne. Although you but a temporary guess of the Mercusys household, consider this your uniform, as with our maid outfits."
Uniform? The uniforms that they were wearing were normal. The person why tailored them had no immoral intentions behind it. As for this, it was long blue, with a slit on the left leg for ease of movement. Additionally, I was prompted in heals, which worried me. Belle said that we would do heals later for practice. Currently, the only practice I had was my boots, , but their heal was only half an inch at best, which was an excellent way of creating leverage when running. As for the heals.....it would be as if they were almost on max when it comes to being at track blocks.
After they release me for me to follow them to the noble carriage, it shocked me as to find that I was in the same carriage as Mercusys himself whom seemed to also be slightly more surprised, wearing a coat-tailored ensemble.
"To the maids could spruce up an unkept girl such as yourself. Now you are not as unsightly as before."
"Thank you?"
"Do you mind telling me your name?"
"L-Liliana." I was about to say my regular name, but I caught myself.
"Garbage name." He shunned. Although it was made up, it really agitated me nonetheless.
I ended up seeing the sky gradually become orange through the glass windows. Yep, this world had glass. Or at least something reminiscent of it. I'm sure that it is called something fantastical, like the 'magic stone of partial invisibility', but glass is far more simpler to remember.
The carriage stopped, to which we got out. The chauffeur, ended up holding my hand as I ended up stepping out. If I got out without a second's thought, I might of dripped and fallen flat on my face. If I was too cautious, then it would look weird. I'm sure nobles don't want to automatically see someone dismounting from a carriage into a flip. Even my common sense understood at least that.
Looking around, it seems that most of everywhere was vacant. "Excuse me, sir Baron Mercusys?"
"What it is?" He sighed, as he got out of the carriage himself. "And just call me Baron Mercusys."
"Why is there little to no one here?" He asked.
"Well, they are still managing things. As one of the main parties assisting with this 6 day ball, it is my duty to help organize some aspects of fit."
Looking up, I ended up finding that we were indeed at the castle- the capital's and the nations presiding castle belonging to the monarchy of this nation. But, that spurred another question. As we were walking alongside one another, with me walking slightly behind, I ended up asking. "Why is it that nobles are hosting inside..the kings castle?"
"You really don't know higher-class way of life. Of course you don't, you're a commoner." He began to begrudgingly explain. "This is known as the Nobility Contribution Banquet. It is a banquet to pay blessings to the monarchy for their kindness and benevolence; and to ensure that ties with the King and the Nobility remain quite strong."
"So, the King allows Nobles to manage the banquet to enable the Nobility Contribution"
"It isn't a contribution otherwise. The King has everything a noble has and more. To give him such frugal gifts when he can get something better could be considered disrespectful. And so, we do this."
Makes sense. If it was me, and I had already a good item compared to the one I got, I would end up gratefully accepting the gift. It's simple really, just like item rng in video games, sometimes you get something worse. But to discard it and not use it makes no sense. So, at the very least, I would just redeem it for money. As for the King, as everything will more than likely be less than what is already had, this could be seen as automatically disrespectful, so nobles will have to be careful when doing that. However, this goes into the King's nature himself, as he isn't forcing nobles to sacrifice to him so wastefully as to maintain their strengths. He definitely isn't stupid.
"Since I told you everything, can you...please stop talking from here on out. You're here to dance. Nothing more, and nothing less."
And to save your life, but since that is nothing more than dancing, guess your life is pretty worthless. I'm sure he would of heard me if I mumbled. I decided to comply. After all, I am just another working.
As we walking into castle, there was quite a lot of stairs to walk up, and to walk down. I struggled not to fall in the heals, as this wasn't part of the training. But once we got inside, I gasped at the spectacle. It was quite a large room. About the size of two basketball courts, and two stories tall. It had walls with white large cylinder support beams that were embed in the walls, looking like semi-cylinders, with the polished wooden floor as shiny as any marble flooring, and a iridescently bejeweled chandeliers, that glimmered with an illumination spell. And to think we would hold. I ended up finding that most of everything was set up.
Although it was large, it wasn't vacant or absent, as it was already filled with tables on the sides, with a grandiosely long table that already began to have food prepped. The chefs were all managing food. I ended up spotting Finlif in his elven form also helping. It seemed that he got here before me. Perhaps that goes for the rest as well, though I didn't see them. The band of bards in the corner with instruments,since I was basically going to work with them, I decided to pardon myself form Mercurys, to which he was gladly to accept. I silently cursed him before meeting with the bards.
"Oh, hi. I'm....."
"The Dancer for today, right? Belle told us as she was passing by." He didn't seem frustrated or upset that I was new. "We'll be sure to play all of the songs you know, so you can get the rhythm. I'm Uven, by the way."
Talk about nice. They all treated me quite normal, and we even ended up conversing. I was actually quite surprised that I could somewhat hold a conversation with them, there was some terminology that I didn't understand. Some band terminology I did, due to Belle's tutelage, and mutual knowledge on adventurer's guild, as bards are quite affluent in the guilds as useful supports. Making foes fall asleep, inspiring comrades with music to buff them, or even act as a translator for other language. If I had a party, I might just want one of these people on it.
I would of happily wanted to stay with them and direct my attention. However, the had to play introductory music for the incoming nobles into the ballroom as to lighten the atmospheres. As for I, alongside a few maids, acted as a greeter for most of the incoming nobles. "Why?" Well....
"Hey, Liliana..." Mercursys ordered. "The door greeter is unfortunately sick. Do that."
"But, I don't know how to do that?"
He scoffed. "You don't know how to smile, and greet people?"
"Fine, I'll do it." I can understand why people want him dead. Why am I even helping out an Asshole.
"Since he's a noble, he is paying top dollar. Some of that will be heading your way..." I could remember Sierra say to me. Perhaps that was the reason why I actually complied. Still if being a door greeter, which I am sure pays poorly in general, and I am basically being paid greatly, for that, then that is awesome. Then again, also having to perform dances....and making sure no one ends up slaying a noble which could upset the very noble community if done, probably makes the pay cheap at best.
As a door greeter, I would end up shaking hands, bowing, and curtsying for many nobles. There was so many, that I doubt that I would end up learning the noble family trees even if I tried. Though, there wasn't a few people here that I would of expected. Gabriel and Damien and Circe's father, both being nobility I'm sure would be here. But to not be here is quite surprising. They must be doing something important.
However, the most worrisome person to see here was...
"Oh my, pardon me for saying, but I feel as if I know you from somewhere." Viviola scrutinized.
"I...have one of those faces." I excused. Perhaps she'll just shake the feeling off.
"And the way you speak, it's exotic, and am I getting a hit of elven dialect?"
Shoot! She's onto me. Lumiya, calm down, you just have to play it off. "Sorry, this may be saddening, but as a commoner, I was an orphan, the only people who took care of me were one of the nuns from a nearby church, and elven lady of the clergy. She taught me how to read and write, so perhaps its a nice habit I picked from her. I don't mean to offend."
"No, I'm sorry for bringing it up." She apologized. It seemed my story has clogged up traffic, to which Viviola saw before farewelling me as she entered the ballroom, to talk to other elven diplomats. I was relieved that that little story was enough to distract her enough in her feelings. Though, I am a bit guilty that I had to lie to her so blatantly. But, I guess since I am playing a new character as of now, it would be much easier to live by establishing a canonical background story right off the bat.
It was about an hour until all of the guests were here. Once everything was settled and all of our guests were in, they conversed with one another, as well as obtaining some of the light snacks laid out on the banquet table, to which they all ended up conversing for about 1 more hour. I'm sure that most nobles, although they may have magical items to see one another, that isn't their goto for casual talk. I'm sure people "call" each other for only important matters, so to have to casual banquet where business and politics are not to be worried about is quite a nice atmosphere. Even the elven diplomats alongside Viviola seemed to also get a chance to enjoy the festivities.
As for what I did, I awkwardly was around. I was told by the bards that the dancing would commence in an hour, with my dancing pivoting that into fruition, so all I got the chance to do was idly sit by at a lonely table, while a small plate with some delicacies. Not to be as much as a pig as I was at the party at the end of the rookie tournament, I was a bit more restrictive, but I at least had to do something to distract myself.
But, I didn't get what I wished, as many noble men would end up coming over to chat. But I could tell that they were checking me out. It seemed that most of them were young noble men, as who I was, "Lilana" was at that age. The traffic towards me varied. There were some boys who argued amongst themselves, as well as some flattery on my end, additionally, there boys who were hoisted away from me by their territorial noble girlfriends, who glared at me before talking away their boyfriends. It was in that balance, before, once again, no one talked to me, as they didn't want to upset other nobles. I was surprised that I was getting that attention on this level, nobility-wise.
That interactions was enough to pass time, it was my time to do my job. I ended up warming up a bit, before being introduced by the announcer of this ball, which was also a noble. He intruded the band as well as me, before it commenced, to which I began to dance along the music. The music, for this time, was picked as to symbolize the beginning of relationships, and the struggles to even start them in the first place. Honestly I don't really know, as Belle would often fangirl about songs that she lied and this was one of those , but because of this, and her scrambled thought her thoughts. But I was at least able to piece together that much. It used the violin as the key instrument to emphasize that feeling.
Dancing along the music, I wended up swaying to the beat as I continued to step, like a battle technique. It was because of that symbolism that I was able to define what I needed to do and when. Still, I wasn't the best, and I made a few mistakes here and there. But, it was enough, no, not the mistakes, but for the performance, as everyone enjoyed it and thus ended up resulting in dancing to commence. Everyone began to partner up. Even I, was no acception, as I was passed along to many people as a dance partner, to which held further conversations with everyone.
Once that was finished a few hours passed, it was night, and things started to close down, to which Mercursys ended up leaving, alongside me.
Since I was on observation duty to make sure nothing slipped by, such as a knife, or even magic, I made sure to discreetly check on him ever once and awhile. To which I ended up seeing something. For his ballroom life, he ended up conversing with many people, and especially a girl, whom had dark blue hair, regular chest, and wore a blue dress. They seemed to of enjoyed their company together. It was the first time where I say him that energetic, or that happy.
Oooh, he definitely loves her...
"Did you have fun?" I asked.
"A noble is beyond such a simple description." He retorted before walking at a bit of a faster pace. I'm sure he seemed a bit embarrassed. We rode him in the carriage, as for our other assassins, they too ended up riding back to the mansion as well.
After we all met, we ended up going over everything with one another, once again, soundproofing the room, just to make sure. It was mainly on how everything handled, as well as if we would end up informing the other group of assassins on watch duty on any adjustments to the positioning, as to further ensure safety. All and all, it seemed that there wasn't any suspicious activity, which Sierra reassured that since it was the 2nd day, it wasn't enough days to pass to get everyone off guard. There were some guards, I saw as well, as it seemed that they dutiful stood guard, which begged the question as to how the opposing party would get in the first place, to which Sierra ended up explaining: "It's simple really, there were already there."