BXBX NOVEL Chapter 68: Chapter 66: Breeze of Normalcy
"How did it go, young master?" Keith interjected, leaning on my chair.
"It was fun."
"Really? Would I have won?"
"Hm... You would\'ve laid him flat."
"Do you want me to get rid of the corpse?" Keith asked. I guess he was happy I said he would win.
That said. I didn\'t want anyone here seeing that corpse.
"Don\'t bother," I shrugged and waited for Lily to finish her first aid. My healing slave really was capable, she was getting rid of the burns completely. It wouldn\'t be possible to regenerate the destroyed bone and flesh right away, but a bandage and some opera gloves would get rid of it well.
"I can hear your thoughts, young master."
"Oh? So you can mind read while healing someone?"
"T-that\'s not what I meant..." She puffed her cheeks and turned away. "Stop thinking of me as your \'healing slave\' already."
"It\'s a form of trust, darling. I know I can go all out and leave myself to you."
"Tsk..." Lily clicked her tongue and looked down at my hand, her output increased slightly. She got annoyed whenever I had her heal me.
"But she\'s also as easy as ever, huh?"
"Tell me about it."
"HEY! I am still in this room!"
See, easy.
Keith and I shared a laugh while Lily puffed her cheeks again. Right then, the door to my room swung open and another maid stepped in.
Immediately, Keith pulled out his sword and stepped in front of us.
"Alright, calm down—"
"—MOVE!"
Maria knocked the ready and set Keith off the ground with a swing of her hand and rushed next to me, a trail of smoke left in her wake.
She grabbed my hands and stared at me with a teary face. The tears were enough to make even me, who couldn\'t see her face, look away from guilt.
"Y-youngng mashterrr... Howwww! Whish bashturd! sniff..." Maria sniffled. And then her eyes turned cold. "I\'ll kill him!"
Lily flinched. What pressure.
Sighing, I wiped away Maria\'s tears with my fingers.
"It\'s ok. I already did that."
"As expected of the young master! Amazing as always!"
"Argh.. when did she become normal...?" Keith muttered from the side, but shut up when Maria glared at him again.
She stood up and looked me up and down.
"You best change, young master."
"Is that so? Get me something white then, and some opera gloves as well."
"Right away!"
Maria smiled happily and turned away.
Not that late from seven, Lily was done with her first aid, and off I went.
***
"Entering! Lord of the City of Apollon, Lord Eugene Hall!"
My name was announced and I entered the banquet that Ban Ket had prepared.
Women and men in suits and gowns walked around the place with wines in their left hand and food in the right. Some danced to the quintet playing in the side while others engaged in talk under the yellow-golden lights of the place.
The red carpet underneath and the blue clothes draped over all the tables filled with confectionaries and delicacies many won\'t get to lay their eyes on even once were all ignored by the haughty nobles. I didn\'t recognize anyone, not like I knew anyone here in the first place.
I walked over to the pyramid of glasses and took out the center-most pinot without knocking anything else over.
Wasn\'t this supposed to be done with champagne and not wine?
Well, I didn\'t mind the specifics as long as there was alcohol.
As I moved away and was about to sip on the wine, a voice came from next to me.
"Sir, I believe you aren\'t fifteen yet?"
I stopped.
Right, people under 15 couldn\'t drink. After drinking once with Maria and having all that fun today, I seemed to have unconsciously reached out for the alcohol.
I kept the glass down and turned to my guest.
"That is the case, I almost forgot."
"Quite humorous. You\'re truly not like the other nobles here, sir."
I raised my brow at his words.
This man clad in a blue suit with a black tie was saying some pretty something bold around all those \'nobles\' of his.
"I assume you aren\'t one?" I asked.
"That is correct, I am just a filthy adventurer who happened to be in the place and was invited by the lord."
Adventurer.
"You must be quite the amazing man. Don\'t call yourself filthy like that, it\'s fine to have some more confidence."
"Pfft..." the man stifled a laugh. He picked up the wine glass that I had left down and gulped down a large sip.
"Aah... Sir, you would get along very well with adventurers."
"Is that so? If all adventurers are like you then they must be quite the friendly bunch."
"Oh, I am an exception. They are all crazy and wild, something tells me that\'s your type."
"You\'re observant," I said. At that time, a servant walked over with more glasses of wine in his hands. I took a glass from him and raised it toward my pleasant adventurer friend.
"Eugene Hall."
The man clinked his glass with mine and smiled.
"Call me Kai, a pleasure, Eugene."
Wow, dropping the sir already. I was liking the guy more and more.
"Pleasure\'s mine, Kai."
"That wound fresh?"
I raised my brow.
I was wearing layers of bandages underneath my gloves, no one should have noticed so easily.
"Truly observant. Got it just an hour back."
"Must\'ve been quite intense," he said.
"Crowds."
"Haha! Come, Eugene. I\'ll treat you to some lobster to cheer you up."
"Nah, we\'ll split the bill 50-50."
Kai and I laughed and moved toward the food. The two of us indulged in the high-quality food as we shared stories.
From tales of diving deep into mysterious dungeons and bringing out ancient relics to being blessed with godly items and even working in a war as a prince\'s guard. Kai had done all kinds of things imaginable. His tales of being a fake pirate in the sky islands and visiting the underwater tomb before being kicked out immediately brought me tons of laughter.
The main stars of the day, the Hall family, entered the place and the event proceeded well.
I also met with lady Sophia and a few of her girlfriends. They took a rather good liking to myself and Kai, who didn\'t look like an old man but was still charming.
Apparently, his long white hair tied in a ponytail and the green eyes on his calm yet sharp face along with my otherworldly beauty made us look like a pair of flowers waiting to be gobbled walking around to some of the unmarried old ladies.
Creepy.
Kai and I didn\'t forget to make a good joke of them amongst ourselves, though.
I soon ran out of tales and incidents and just let him speak of his adventurers. The man brought normalcy into my day that I didn\'t see coming.
"Lord Eugene," one of the servants came up to me. "It is about time for you to play."
"Ah! Right," I said and stood up from my seat. "Kai, I\'ll be right back."
"Make it a show Eugene! I\'ll give you a large applause."
"You better," I said and walked away.
I sat in front of the piano and the lights were dimmed.
Now, I couldn\'t play the Swan Lake Theme that my dearest sister (lol) had played. I couldn\'t make her look like an amateur.
I raised my hands and played a different song.
From the first note to the last, all eyes were focused on me, while mine were focused on the piano.
With a hole in one of my hands, I hadn\'t a choice but to play something simple yet pleasant, and it seemed to have worked.
A performance that didn\'t overshadow any note played by my sister earlier today, one that moved all the nobles to applause.
I gave them a bow and mixed in with the crowds again.
By the time I reached my previous seat, my new friend was already gone.
Under my plate was a piece of paper.
A flyer for the adventurer\'s guild.
Not bad.
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A/N: A special Author\'s Note to show off the first fanart we have received! A beautiful traditional work of Maria done by @JxN216! She looks seriously beautiful, how do you do it? How? It\'s attached to the paragraph comments here! I am super stoked to see this!