Here's how the rest of the party went:
All the people either came inside or went home, during that time it was already night so many soldiers protected their families while walking back to the village a bit aways from here. None of them were too injured or exhausted to be on full alert once I distributed some mana potions I'd made. The ones Adoray made were disgusting, so I just had to add some flavors to it. I hoped it didn't affect how well its recovery process was and worked.
The soldiers were marching all happily and expending lots of energy after that for some reason. Their family members were exasperated that their sons and daughters were bouncy and constantly looking around.
"Can't help it," one boy shrugged, armor clinking a bit, "I have sooooo much energy that I don't see how I'll go to bed tonight!"
Listening to that, I spoke to the people next to me as they walked off. "Next time, I won't put so much mana in them..."
"You put your mana in them? All of them?"
"Well, yeah? Otherwise I would've been in the kitchen for days to make those. It only took a few minutes to whip those up."
"A few minutes, she says..."
"No, the important thing is the days part," I countered to Thérèse. "I was worrying if it would be affected by the lack of fermenting time, but I guess not."
"Whatever," the maid shook her head. "Let's get inside. There's a party to get to."
After that, there was a cake that the cooks made and a few presents going around, people running around and calling out in the night because they knew they had nothing to worry about with me constantly running and checking the barrier. I remembered that we never used the arena in the forest because it got intense with Mother raring to go and everything, so I decided to deconstruct the one we used and leave that one after making sure it wouldn't deteriorate for at least a few months.
From Chord and Louise, I received another flower chain. This one was even more decorated with the gardener's precious magnolias, so to preserve it I put a fresh coat of hardened mana over it sturdy enough so it wouldn't break even if a crane fell on it. That made it sparkle and everything, so the girls were entertained just rubbing their fingers on it and watching it. I placed it on Louise's head and she looked like a fairy princess.
They went off playing, Hera and Adri dead in bed because of mana exhaustion. I saved them some cake for later, then just went back to the small party. Since the cooks had made a big cake, I made whoever was there take a slice and even then there was still a layer left big enough for me to wrap my arms around.
"How did you guys make this?"
"Magic."
That phrase would've meant to be a childish tease to baffle someone in my other world, now it was literal.
I shrugged and then just went on with the party, cheering for whoever dared to step up and play an instrument of some sort since we were in the main hall, filled with maids and cooks and whatever you call male maids. It was like a party for nobility, with everyone around and having fun. Except, they were not nobility.
Who was I to care?
I just had fun and played with Milo, who was walking more steadily these days after reaching one and almost a half years of age. I led him around carefully, everyone sure not to step on him. His white hair was down to his shoulders by now since his mother let no one cut it. He was a little angel with his clothing, something that absolutely symboled "son of a duke."
We couldn't let him wear what we do, the clothing of peasants. We chose to be this way, so we are. Louise was glad to be rid of her dresses, so we let her take up the custom clothing of us de Libellule children.
As I led him around, we made our way to the front of the room where I saw a piano. It was covered up, a deep gray tarp over it because of the taboo about black. Yeah, you still can't use black anywhere or talk about anything in relation to Demons openly, if it isn't related to the war, anywhere. Even the maids' and butlers' uniforms were just a very dark gray, I learned after a while.
But, curious, I walked over to the piano. I pulled off the cover a bit and saw that it was quite dusty, left alone to waste away with age. I'd noticed it before, wondered why no one wheeled it away, until I saw that it was without wheels. In fact, it was stationary. Earth magic was used to create it, I saw, and it was melded with the floor.
I had three thoughts on this.
The first was, whoever made this, including the strings, was a genius.
The second thing is, I want to meet the maker.
The third thing is, this is bad. If something ever happens in this mansion, there will be no way to move it out of harm or something. If there's a fire, unless there is a mage who can move it, it's stuck. There aren't many mages capable of moving such a heavy thing with enough precision that it wouldn't break, since most mages around here were either life or battle based.
I stroked the keys, Milo tugging on my shirt and calling me Nee-san.
I told him to call me by my name since people would get curious as to what it meant. Nonetheless, he kept at it until I threatened to tell his mother that he was a pretty boy. For sure, it would stick if I did that. Then they would start treating him like a girl, which he would hate, since his beliefs were that of old times. His old family taught him the ways of a "perfect life," with a mother and father and two children, maybe a dog or cat, and that's all. He should protect his younger sibling and look up to the older one in whatever order he may be born, and be someone "normal."
To be called a girl was a plain insult and most definitely not normal to this almost nine year old boy. In reality, we acted like our ages because he was still treated like a baby, restarting life and being remolded in his beliefs. He didn't have enough time to grow into a strong personality back in Japan.
So, he refrained and only called me Nee-san one out of ten times. Well, it was an improvement.
"Nee-san, I don't think you should touch that. My mom tells me not to touch other people's stuff."
I really wanted to play, since I knew how, but it wouldn't be a good idea to break out some skills all of a sudden. Even Margaret didn't know how to play and she was a noble daughter, so who could I blame the knowledge of this on?
"Okay then," I sighed. "I guess I'll have to come back later."
"It must've been someone's," Milo looked at me with those pretty, round gray eyes, and I had to look away.
"Alright, alright, I'll ask for permission next time," I rolled my eyes and placed the cover back over it.
Oh no, I went off track...okay then, to wrap up! The birthday party!
Mother decided to give me the present of...
...
Let's leave that for another time. For the rest of the family it was good, for me, I was surely to be impaled by some more trees in the future.
Father gave me a bunch of rare books that came from who-knows-where, which would later lead to me holing myself up in my room for days as I ate orange flavored tictacs I made from memory and mana. Of course, they couldn't substitute food and dissipated once I sucked them dry.
Sadness. It was true I would never have authentic sushi again from Japan, but tictacs...that's just sad.
Anthem didn't really have much to give, he had barely any paycheck since he was just an apprentice for now. When he first came here, he had no technique to his fighting so that they had to redo it from scratch. I guess that's what happens when you're a farm boy forced to become a bandit.
So, there became a bracelet of small wood weaving on my wrist that was flexible and easy to take off. I was trying to figure out how he made the pattern since there was no tie off, just an endless circle of wood.
"I picked up a little magic along the way," he said while scratching his head embarrassedly.
I just stared at it and said, "Teach me the spell later." I mean, so could probably do the same thing, but...I love magic. It's like my unborn child, so sweet and silent...
"Of course she only wants the spell," Mother rolled her eyes.
"That's what the books are for," Father sighed.
"Hey wait," I snapped my head up and looked at Father. "Are those books, by any chance Olei Latrun books?"
"Since he's your favorite, I worked some connections to get them," Father nodded. "I couldn't figure out anything else to get."
"The types with the blank pages at the back of the book?!"
Mother and Father looked at each other, quizzical, then nodded.
I gaped and my shoulders drooped. "I...what am I doing here right now? I should be reading!"
The crowd laughed as I thanked Anthem, then took off.
I didn't get very far before Mother caught me with wind magic and Father secured me in his arms so I wouldn't run away.
"But the books!" I squirmed, not really thinking about how much strength I put into it. "The books are calling me!"
"They'll be there, where we left them, after the party," Father was unpleased by how much I was squishing his face, trying to get away. "Besides, it may be your day but it's also your mother's. Be courteous and stay till the end!"
I stopped struggling, suddenly tired.
"Yes, Father..." I looked over to Mother, who was on the other side of the room by now because someone had called her out.
I went over and started talking with her, and then decided I could in fact join in. Three hours later, mental tire kicked in and I fell asleep just like the rest of the children, on the couch in some corner.
Mother was having a grand time since she got to celebrate her shared birthday with her daughter who was not comatose, swinging me around and dancing to some music someone started playing. All sorts of instruments were brought out, but no one touched the piano. No one made a single move towards it, they acted as if it wasn't there.
Is it a taboo? Was I lucky I didn't touch it? Was there some sort of story behind it?
It obviously belonged to this mansion, and from what I could tell it had been out of commission for only a few years, before Mother's time. Father's been here all his life, so his parents could've used it. But neither of them seemed like the musical type, so I guess that narrowed it down to-
Oh sh*t.
Father's first wife, Elizabeth. That was probably her piano.
Thank you, Milo, for saving me from that.
I was brought to my room after passing out, and the party continued until five in the morning. The last bit of food had been consumed, since no one here was trying to starve themselves like certain beauty-consumed noble ladies, and the men weren't afraid to indulge in delicacies. The cleanup had also taken place during that time, so when I woke up the next morning it was like nothing had ever happened.
Life went on.
...things would get a lot more hectic from here. Goodbye, my simple (ish) childhood.
It was great while it lasted.