Vol 2: Chapter 12
Honestly speaking, it was like another world.
I knew that the Earl’s mansion was very expensive, and I also knew that the young lady’s dress was incredibly expensive.
When it is only that, I feel amazed, but when the space is dominated by wealth and luxury, it gets pretty overwhelming.
「From House Earl Doyle, Lady Juliet arrives!」
「From House Earl Remy, Lord Lyca arrives!」
「From House Earl Bullion, Lady Alice arrives!」
A polished marble staircase led up to the entrance of the mansion. And it was constantly in a shiny state, as servants wiped it with a mop-like thing each time one person walked up.
Next to the double door with a gold handle, a servant with a good tenor voice announced the arrival of the nobles. It must be hard for him because he has to do it 22 times.
Unlike Lady Eva, the other lady was dressed in a super gaudy dress and jewelries, and accompanied by an escort donning dazzling metal armor – made me think if it was fitted with LED or something.
When I thought that there were 20 more sets like this, I felt “yikes” instead of “amazing”.
On a side note, I had never really cared about the status of equipment until now, but after hearing about the armor magic from Maxim-san, I continuously observed every equipment with 【World Ruler】.
(They don’t have weapons, but as for the armor…「Brightness Enhancement」?「Dirt Removal」? Are they dumb?)
Rather, I’m glad they didn’t actually have a built-in LED. I guess, magically induced brightness would be the LED in this world… and it even consumes low mana.
「I am counting on you, Reiji.」
「I will do my best.」
Maxim-san called out to me as I was thinking about LEDs to escape reality. I was the only escort without armor, and on top of that, I was lower in both age and height than the rest, so I replied strongly to reassure myself.
Entering was not in order of arrival, but the person in charge of announcements called out one by one.
「Watch your step, my lady.」
「Yes. Let’s go, Reiji.」
「………」
「What’s wrong?」
「No, it’s nothing.」
I was a little surprised by the young lady back to her confident self. And then, I climbed up the stairs right behind the young lady. As I passed by, it was quickly wiped with the mop-like thing. This almost feels as if I am dirty and the floor needs to be cleaned.
「F…… From House Earl Sillys, Lady Eva arrives!」
When the announcer saw the young lady and tried to announce her arrival, he was a moment late. The reason was because he laid eyes on her.
I understand. I understand you very well. If the young lady appeared before me all dressed up with makeup, I’m sure I would scream. In fact, I would like to praise him for still keeping a straight mind.
I’m not sure if “House Sillys” has any special power, but the noisy mansion suddenly became quiet.
There was a small space after passing through the entrance, connected straight to the venue of the banquet. They checked for weapons in that small space, but of course, I didn’t have any.
(…There seems to be skill inhibition magic cast.)
But it was a strange sensation. It seems that only a certain amount of skills were inhibited, and the rest were okay. For example, my 【World Ruler】 was fine, but skills such as 【Physical Strength Enhancement】 were disabled.
I see… so it’s possible to limit the use of certain skills in this way.
Perhaps combat type skills were inhibited, but on the other hand, skills which were necessary for the servants in the venue to work are unaffected.
(Leaving aside 【World Ruler】, which no one else can use, unique skills such as 【Shadow King】 can still be used, right? Well, I suppose not much can be done about unknown skills.)
A man wearing the Knights Order uniform – unfortunately he wasn’t one of the people whose room I cleaned – looked at me and frankly asked, “Are you okay going in without an armor?” so I immediately answered “Yes,” and entered the banquet hall with the young lady.
(Wow…)
The ceiling was high and a huge chandelier hung from the centre. It was about the size of two cars.
8 smaller chandeliers hung around the huge chandelier… I said “smaller”, but it was still exceptionally big.
There were 4 round tables placed under the smaller chandeliers, and I’m not sure if it is intended to be the dance floor, but nothing was placed under the huge chandelier.
The hall was divided according to the color of the marble floor. The floor at the center of the hall was a blue circle… wait, blue marble doesn’t exist, right? That spot seems to be made of a different stone.
Nonetheless, the reason I didn’t look around restlessly even when in this sort of place is, I was strictly warned by the chief maid and the chief butler, to the point where I think they might prepare a voodoo doll if I messed up. I don’t even dare turn my head around.
In fact, children of nobles and escorts, who were already seated, have been fixed on us.
「—That’s the lady of House Sillys.」
「—Wow, cute.」
「—Doesn’t that dress look plain? Mine is better, right?」
I heard those conversations circulating. Most of them were leaning towards, “the daughter of the Cold-Blooded Lord is here.”
I heard various things due to【Hearing Enhancement】, but whether the young lady couldn’t hear them, or maybe she had a steel mind that could ignore the annoying looks people gave her, the young lady proceeded smoothly, as the servant guided the way.
I observed the people at every table as we passed through. There were elves, dwarves, and beastmen. It was indeed a nation that accepted all races.
The table at the very back had 6 seats.
As the young lady took the first seat, there were 5 other vacant seats.
Ohhh, I see… This is the “important people arrive at the end” custom, huh?
「From House Border Earl Mule, Lady Mira arrives!」
A girl with dark brown hair in an updo hairstyle and freckles around her eyes appeared. She should be able to remove it with makeup, I thought, but【World Ruler】whispered to me, “That girl has no makeup.” Thank you for the information I don’t need!
Her silver-colored dress, which hides most of her skin, looked to be of an older design compared to the other ladies, but I didn’t hear even a single whisper of ridicule.
The reason?
Because an incredible escort followed after her. A berserker-like escort wearing a gray bear pelt on his head. Is that really necessary? Is it a “border” appeal kind of thing?
By the way, the Sillys family seems to have the highest status among the Earl houses. The young lady was called to enter last among the Earls, after all.
While the Border Earl is also an Earl, they have a territory near the border and are allowed to have an army. The reason being the border is full of dangers. Therefore, they have a higher status than Earl — however, they are not involved in central politics.
Lady Mira walked toward the table in the back, and suddenly stopped when she saw the young lady.
「Hyu~~~~」
…What is it now?
「C-C-Cu-Cu-Cute-Cu–」
「Calm down, Mira. You can say hello later.」
「Hyai…」
Lady Mira sat down on the drawn chair with an absentminded look, staring at the young lady all the while.
I don’t know what kind of protein shakes the Berserker escort consumes to develop that body with bulging muscles, but his eyes, looking over Lady Mira, was calm.
「From House Marquis Phrase, Lady Charlotte arrives!」
This time, the hall became heated up with a different atmosphere. A young lady with long strawberry blonde ringlet hair appeared. Dressed in a frilly dress, and wearing heavy makeup that was too mismatched for her young face, she brought along a cool-looking handsome escort with light blue hair – this man looks like he was rented for his looks – to the table.
「…Wow!」
The cool-guy escort’s eyes widened at the sight of the young lady. However, in contrast, Lady Charlotte turned a line of hostility towards the young lady, and then to Lady Mira.
「Ara, you’re still wearing unfashionable clothes.」
「Cu-Cute~…」
However, Lady Mira was still looking at the young lady with an absentminded look.
「………」
Lady Charlotte trembled, as she was completely ignored, but she turned away her face with an “Hmph!”, and took her seat.
「From House Duke Ebene, Lord Ethan arrives!」
Oh, it’s the Duke’s house with blood ties to the Holy King, I thought, and looked that way, but I was taken aback.
Lord Ethan’s amber-colored fluffy perm hair was intricately woven into several strands and hung down over his left temple. The strands were also adorned with beads made of gems.
He wore ceremonial clothes resembling a tailcoat, and you can see a misanga made of multi-colored threads on his wrist.
And the escort behind Lord Ethan – a woman who was equipped with armor, but was smaller than everyone else, even slightly smaller than myself. Her long hair tied behind her back, was the same amber-colored as Lord Ethan. Her short cloak, wrapped around the neck, was garnished with colorful embroidery.
「…A halfling?」
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