Touch of Fate

Chapter 157: A Duke's Address

Mike had barely finished his frantic copying when the carriage came to a halt outside of their destination. With a sigh of relief, he shoved everything back into the extradimensional sack and flexed his cramping hands.

It had taken the entire trip, but he was able to jot down the basics of Scrivening, along with some tips to improving the finished outcome of the process. He was lucky that a large section of the book had been dedicated to bridging the gap between Scrivening and other similar forms of crafting.

Apparently, there was a difference between it and Inscription, the process of temporarily adding magic to objects through mana-infused runes. Both skills were in turn classified as separate from Artifice, which was a blanket term for the creation of magic items using the same kind of runic language. Quite frankly, the distinction seemed arbitrary, but Mike figured that the system must have a reason for it. Although, it probably just like messing with people.

A footman opened the door, and assisted them down onto a literal red carpet, which led up a set of stairs to a palatial mansion. A small army of servants were attending to a long stream of elegantly dressed guests. The entire affair smacked of wealth and opulence.

"Are we in the right place?" Mike asked as the joined the queue. "I thought this was supposed to be a small gathering."

"I think this was a foregone conclusion once House Vamith's main family got involved." Sera replied drily. "They probably want to use the event as a means of reassuring their vassals of the house's stability. This is all a show, meant to tell the other nobles that everything is as it should be."

Brenden snorted in disdain, drawing looks of irritation from a pair of passing footmen.

"I suppose it's too late to back out now." Mike grumbled to himself, while taking the lead.

They eventually passed through the front doors of the mansion and were directed into a ballroom. Here, various noble guests were mingling in small pockets while servants darted between them, delivering refreshments. Three crystal chandeliers hung above the gathering, with light emitting crystals providing the illumination. A group of musicians had set up in one corner, and were currently playing a soft, soothing tune which was often drowned out by the sounds of conversation and laughter from the guests.

Not wanting to block traffic, they moved off to one side, although Brenden made sure to grab a glass of a fizzy alcoholic beverage from one of the servers. Taking a swig, he made an appreciative noise.

"Good?" Mike asked.

"Tastes expensive." Was the only response he received.

[So, is it good?]

Over the noise of the gathering, Mike heard the sound of rapidly approaching footsteps. He turned to face their owner, only to suffer a heavy blow as a small child slammed into his midsection.

"Mike! You made it! Is Audra here with you?" Elaine asked with clear excitement.

Taking a second to regain his breath, Mike gently lowered the girl back to the floor. "She is, but maybe the middle of the ballroom isn't the best place to bring her out."

"Awww" The ducal heir complained. Mike could see Broderick winding through the crowd towards them, a look of embarrassment on his face.

"Tell you what. Once things calm down, we'll find some time to let you play with her." He offered with a smile.

"Yay! Let's do it after dinner. There will be plenty of time then."

"Elaine! You know better than to run off like that. It's rude to our guests." Broderick scolded while walking up.

"They don't care about me. They're just here for father." Elaine pouted.

The older brother sighed. "I know you don't like this kind of thing, but do you think you could try to bear with it? For me?"

"Fine." Came the reluctant reply.

With a tired smile, Broderick greeted the group. "I'm glad you made it."

"Glad to be here." Mike returned. "Although, I don't think this quite qualifies as a 'small gathering' anymore."

The other man sagged slightly, "I am sorry about that. Once the main house got involved, they completely took over. We're lucky it was on such short notice, otherwise it would have been a much bigger affair."

"Now there's a thought." Brenden commented between bites. He'd somehow gotten hold of a tray of tiny sandwiches.

"What are you doing?!" Sera hissed at him. "You're embarrassing us."

"If they didn't want us to eat it, they wouldn't be bringing it around." He replied smugly.

"You're only supposed to take one!"

Mike reassured Broderick. "It's not a problem, just a little surprising."

Glancing over at his feuding companions, he continued, "I apologize in advance if we end up embarrassing you in some manner. So, what's on the agenda? I'm a little unfamiliar with how these things work."

"First, we have the social hour where the guests are encouraged to mingle here until everyone important has arrived, at which point we will be directed to the dining hall for the meal. I believe the Duke has a speech planned for it. Afterwards, there will be dancing here in the ballroom, a troupe of bards putting on a play in the theater, and the gardens will be opened for strolling and the occasional duel."

[So, pretty much the same as in my old world, minus that last bit.]

"Who waiting?" Tal asked.

"I'm sorry?" Broderick shot Mike a confused look.

"She means, who are we waiting for?" He translated.

"Ah. Well, I believe the majority of our guests have arrived, but we won't start until the highest ranking gets here-"

"Now announcing Prince Matthew Almir and Princess Andrea Almir!" A voice called from the entrance. Mike spotted the twins at the head of a large party of followers.

"Huh, I'm surprised they would show up to something like this, considering what happened the day before yesterday." Mike commented once the hubbub had died down.

"Well, I'm sure they have their reasons." Broderick added neutrally.

"The reasons being that House Vamith is the most powerful supporter of the Third Prince's faction, and snubbing the Duke in a public manner would be costly." Sera quickly whispered to Mike, before having her attention pulled away by Brenden again. The beastman had swapped his tray of sandwiches for one filled with glasses of wine, and was sampling the lot of them.

Mike left them to their ensuing argument. "So, I take we should start heading to the dining room?"

"That would be the case. If you head through that door over there and give the staff member your name, they'll point you to your seats." Broderick pointed it out, before looking at his sister. "Elaine, why don't we go say hello to your cousins?"

"OK. Oh! I bet Andrea will want to see Audra! Can we bring her too?" She asked Mike.

He hesitated for a second, wondering if that might not be an issue, but eventually nodded his acceptance. "If she wants to, that's fine."

"Alright!" Elaine exclaimed before taking off, pulling her brother along behind her.

Chuckling at the sight, Mike led the group out of the ballroom and into the dining hall. It was a similarly vast room, but filled with round tables set with elegant and expensive looking plates and cutlery. A raised platform sat on one end of the room, and on it was a long, rectangular table. Evidently, this is where the Duke and his guests of honor sat.

The butler manning the door quickly checked a roster before pointing them towards a table off to one side. They moved over to it and sat down.

"Welp, I'm screwed." Mike muttered. He was looking over the confusing arrangement of silverware in front of him, thoroughly lost.

It must have shown, since Sera took the opportunity to walk them through each of the items, and their intended uses. Although Mike was surprised to find out the fork bent at an almost 90 degree angle was indeed meant to be a back scratcher, most of the utensils made sense once explained.

Eventually, the rest of the guests settled in, and a grey haired and bearded man stood up from his position at the head of the table on the raised platform. This prompted a similar response from everyone else in the room.

The man spoke in a deep baritone. "Honored guests, I thank you for joining us for the festivities. We are gathered here today to celebrate the rescue of two young woman who had fallen prey to despicable kidnappers. The first was my own daughter, Elaine, captured by cowardly bandits while walking in the markets. Fortunately, she was able to escape with the assistance of a group of adventurers."

This announcement sparked a round of applause from the crowd.

"Assistance? Didn't we stop her from getting kidnapped in the first place?" Brenden whispered indignantly, before being hushed by Sera.

"We of House Vamith rejoiced in her safe return, and yet it was not even a week before another incident occurred. Princess Andrea, my dear niece, was captured by a group of Tennundians led by the traitor Wendel."

A round of angry muttering met this new announcement.

"Fortune once again prevailed for the people of Almir, as a hero rose to the challenge, and freed her from the clutches of that diabolical madman. A lone Dragonknight, no doubt acting in the cause of justice, rode forth and shattered the Tennundian troops, eliminated their pet monsters, and recaptured the stolen airship Wendel used for his plot, freeing Princess Andrea in the process. An accomplishment worthy of that vaunted order, and yet he asked for nothing in return. He was content to have seen the wicked defeated, and our princess's flower of innocence preserved."

"Please tell me you didn't actually say that?" Brenden asked quietly.

"Of course not. Can't you see they are using it for propaganda?" Mike hissed back.

"Quiet, both of you! He's not done yet." Sera broke in.

"That man represents the epitome of knightly virtue, a true noble in spirit. Although he asked us to not reward him for his heroism, I hope he will not begrudge me the privilege of honoring him with a toast." He paused to raise his glass, a move that was once again mirrored by the rest of the room. "To the Dragonknight. May the gods illuminate his path."

[That's another custom that seems to come from my old world. I can't imagine this being a coincidence. Could it be the work of other reincarnators?] Mike thought to himself while taking a drink from his glass of red wine.

Unfortunately, it was overly sweet. He'd noticed that the wine palates of the people here tended to be a bit unrefined. Of course, they made up for it with the wide variety of alcoholic beverages they had available.

The Duke finished his glass before he finished his speech. "Now, I have been told that my chef has outdone himself tonight with his signature main course, braised Mirithian Venison. I hope you all enjoy."

Once he'd taken his seat, everyone else followed suite. This seemed to signal the start of the meal proper, as the musicians started up once more, filling the air with a light and playful melody. Servants began wheeling out the first round of food on covered platters.

Brenden grinned, "Finally! This is the part I've been waiting for."

Mike nodded his agreement. He'd essentially skipped lunch, so the thought of food had been weighing heavily on his mind for a while. His mouth was already salivating at the thought of Mirithain Venison, even though he had no clue what that might consist of.