Of course, after I presented my gift to Thomas, it was the time for the invited merts to give theirs. Most of it was some sort of artwork done by supposedly famous artists, but I didn’t know any of them, so they meant nothing to me. They did look alright, I guess.

  And basically as soon as all of the guests had given their present to Thomas, the maids began bringing in food. And that led to a slight surprise for me.

  Instead of the ‘cssic’ blue dress with an apro, the maids were now wearing full on victorian-style maid outfits, clearly made based on that painting of Laura I handed Paulina a while back. The strange part was, that this m, they were still in their arbs, so they must have ged while we were handing the presents to Thomas.

  … but some of them were in the hall with drinks, and they had the old maid uniform on, so when did they? … Maid magic. That has to be it. Is there a ‘maid’ skill? I know Jenna didn’t have it when I saw her status, so probably not, but it might be ara skill or something, and she just didn’t have it yet. Maybe I should ask an older maid like Aneesa about that.

  Wait. I have that option as well.

  (Laura, do you know about a maid skill?) I asked.

  (There is no such skill, outside a single report. It appears there was once a unique skill called ‘Greatest Maid’, but I do not know what that skill could do.) Laura answered.

  Oh. So ra skill called Maid or anything. But there was a unique skill. Iing. That must have been one hell of a maid.

  Anyway, back to the food. Most of it was retively normal, but everyone's head turned when a rge tray carried by four maids, including Ria, was brought into the room. On it was a small dragon, which had been whole roasted. Well small is retive. Even with it being a baby dragon and all, Harpie's Pet Baby Dragon was almost as rge as an orbsp;

  Oh, and Ria also had on one of those new victorian-style maid outfits. It does look good ohe bd white maid outfit looks good with her silver hair.

  As the maids were setting the tray down at the ter of the table, an older maid in a slightly different looking maid outfit addressed the room.

  “Dear Ladies alemen, the food has been served.” She began. “At the ter of the table, we have a real whole roasted baby dragon, provided to us by the new noble, Lord Brian Wood. It has been…”

  As the maid kept speaking about both the dragon I supplied, as well as other foods oables, I noticed that a baron I’d not spoken to was taking assertive steps towards Ria, who was still standing in attentioo where they had just set down the dragon.

  Now as to why I didn’t talk with the maerday, well, he wasn’t at our backyard lun and while he was there for dinner, I cked the ce to speak with him at that time. And it's not like I’ve been going out of my way to speak with the other nobles, it just kind of ended up happening.

  “What is this bitch doing here?” He loudly spoke over the head maid, who was still expining the foods oable. “Has the Sawyer family fallen so low that they have to hire monsters?”

  After he said that, everyone in the hall quieted and turo look at him. I took that as my que and quickly began making my way to Ria’s side, just in case this is more than just a verbal assault.

  “My lord, do you have a problem with one of our maids?” The head maid, yes I’m going to call her that until someone proves me wrong, asked the noble.

  Oh, I guess I should tell you how I know he is a hat is simple, really. He gave his present to Thomas while barons were doing so, so he is also a baron. Baron Bloggs to be specific. The one who gave that throwaway bao a sixty-year-old Earl.

  “Of course I do.” Bloggs told the head maid. “This bitch is a blood sug monster.” He stated.

  “And in what way is that a problem?” I cut in.

  “What? Didn’t you hear what I just said? She is a freaking blood sucker. A of the demon lord.” Bloggs said.

  “The demon lord is dead, in case you didn’t know.” I reminded him. “And the Goddess fave the vampires, as well as all of the other races made by the demon lord. So do tell, why is her being a dhampir a problem?”

  “And why are you defending her? You lucky upstart.” He quipped.

  “Because she happens to be my sve.” I admitted. “And as such, I won’t allow you to say another bad word about her.”

  “You? An upstart taking in a blood sucker. Fits you perfectly.”

  “Why, thank you. I am somewhat fond of them.” I said to ter his attempt at making fun of me. I also turned my head to take a quick look at Lua.

  “... well, if she is yours, then you go ahead and pay for the horse she killed.” Bloggs said, after staying quiet for a sed.

  “Horse? I don’t recall hearing about Ria killing your horse. Would you be so kind as to remind me when this happened?” I asked.

  “Hmph. You own her and don’t even know her crimes? This is why I hate upstarts.” Bloggs muttered, before speaking up again. “It would have been a little over two years ago. Don’t tell me you took her in without even knowing that?”

  As he said that, I noticed that Ria was somewhat trying to hide behind my back, holding her arms on my left shoulder.

  “Oh, that. Yes. I know of it.” I admitted. I’m detly sure Agatha mentiohat. “In that case, I don’t mind paying. How much would you value said horse at?” I asked.

  I really don’t mind paying a bit of moo make him shut up, and solving flicts like this with just money might even make me more liked by the other nobles. Or they might think I’m an easy target to scam, but in this case, there is a legitimate reason for me to pay him. Had I lost something valuable to someoh no money, only to run into them again, and them being the sve of someone rich, I might ask for money from their owner as well.

  … okay, the current me wouldn’t, but the past me would have. I don’t have moroubles any more.

  “It was 300 gold.” Bloggs said, boasting a little. As he said that, I heard a few reas across the room.

  Three-hundred, huh. Sounds like a lot for a horse, but that could be true. … I wonder, if I ask the expert, will he answer me? I think I should try.

  “Lord Kramer.” I said, as I turo face the vist who had given two horses as a gift to Thomas. “ I admittedly don’t know much about the prices of horses, so does that price sound correct to you?”

  Now while I didn’t have too much time with it, I did speak with Lord Kramer a bit yesterday. His family, and the town he rules, is a well known pce for horse breeding. And while his family specializes in war horses, there are others that breed regur carriage horses in his town, so he should be familiar with horse prices.

  “It is just a bit of a high price for a war horse.” He casually said. “But a regur carriage horse would be only around 60 to 80 gold. And a cheap one half of that.”

  “Hmph.” The baron in fro out a disgruntled sound. “Well, it just so happeo be a war horse.”

  “I see…” Yeah. Why do I feel like that is a lie? Let’s firm it then. “Larner. I believe you would have dealt with the aftermath of this i, correct? you firm if the horse was a war horse?” I asked Mateo. I heard that the knights escorted Ria back to the vilge, so he should definitely know about it.

  “It was just a regur carriage horse. Well bred, but nothing that special.” Mateo answered my question, so I turned my gaze back to the baron, who was now visibly sweating.

  “Besides,” Mateo kept going, only to be interrupted by Thomas himself.

  “We gave you a horse to repce the one you lost, didn’t we?” The Earl asked, as he got up from his seat.

  Yeah. I thought as much. They wouldn’t just leave something like that unsolved. That is not the kind of person Thomas is.

  “The dhampirs living in that vilge might be dangerous when they are hungry, but they are also our only source of the valuable blood lilies.” Thomas kept on going. “And while it is unfortunate what happe that time, if you were still holding a grudge, you should have spoken to me about it. Sir Brian has nothing to do with what happened back then.”

  “No. He does have a point. Ria is the oo bme, and as her owner, part of that bme falls on my shoulders.” I admitted. “So to make up for the sins of my servant, I will be paying you. Three hundred gold, right? Here you go.” I said, as I began piling up gold s on the floor between us.

  I was taking the s out of my ste, while putting them in stacks of ten s each. Ten stacks wide, three deep, for a total of 300 gold s.

  “There you are. I believe with this, you have nothio say about Ria, or dhampirs as a whole? I’ve paid you for the damage they’ve caused you, correct?” I asked.

  “...” After a while of just staring at the s, baron Bloggs kicked the stacks over and walked off, as he huffed: “You think I’d take your charity.”

  We all followed him with our eyes until he was fully out of the room. After he was, I took all of the s from the floor and pced them bato my ste.

  “I apologize for the distra.” I said, as I bowed to Thomas.

  “I accept your apology.” Thomas said. “Now then, I believe our food has been served, so let us thank the Goddess for our meal a.”

  Thomas brought us ba track, so we were able to start our lun.

  The lunch was quite amazing. Just the array of foods was awe inspiring, but the terpiebsp; dragon was really the… well, the main dish. Even with he the small dragon had been, it was the first food the party ran out of. To the point where the nobles were almost fighting over the st bits. Holy speaking, I could make another one by myself right now, but let’s not. There were still plenty of other foods avaible.

  As the lunch went on, I of course spoke with plenty of the nobles, as well as the merts. The nobles were mainly ied in the sword I gifted, as well as the new fabrics, but the merts wao know more about the maginy packs. Luckily, I had a few in my ste, so I could show them off. I did get a question for the price, but I just told them that Christina is in charge of their distribution, as she is the dungeon master. There was also the issue with prices, because while I had already ‘sold’ some of the maginy packs, we didn’t really yet know how easily adventurers could get them out of the dungeon. Sure I could get them without too many issues, but I don’t want to have to do everything.

  After the maids cleared the tables, both of food and moved them out of the hall, it was time for what I’ve both been dreading and looking forward to. … okay, that might be a bit much. I’m not dreading this, but I just hope I live up to everyone’s expectations. I don’t want to be Alice. Sorry, Alice. I know you aren’t that bad at dang.

  But yes, it was iime for dang. The orchestra, well more of a band, as it only had 15 members, were doing the final checks on their instruments. I guess it still is an orchestra, just a small one.

  As they annouhat it would be time for the first dance, I turo Lua.

  “My dy, may I have this dance?” I asked her, as I bowed in front of her, while holding out my right hand.

  “Yes. Of course.” Lua answered, as she took my hand.

  We joihe others on the floor and soon, the first dance began.

  “... Brian, thank you…” Lua said, as we were dang.

  “No problem. But what did I do?” I asked.

  “You know, for standing up for Ria. And for us. Dhampirs.” Lua said.

  “Hey, some slightly ht noble is nothing pared to an A-rank monster, you know. I’d fight a dragon for you. For either of you. Or for the people you love. And the people I hold dear.” I told her.

  “... yes. I know you would…” Lua said. “I love you. …do you think … you could say it as well?”

  “I … I… I’ll try.”

  “No.” Lua said softly. “Don’t try. Just do. Like you always do.”

  “... alright. I … I l-love y-you.” I said, with my voice shaking uhe pressure of those words.

  “Agaier, this time.” Lua demanded.

  “I … love you.” I said, a bit more forcefully, but still, the weight of those words felt like it was crushing me.

  “... thank you…” Lua said. “You should say that every day from now on. Until it is easy for you.”

  “... I’ll … do my best.” I almost said I’ll try, but I think that was the better answer.

  As the song came to an end, Lua signaled for us to walk to the side, instead of staying for the dance.

  “You should go dah Alice.” She told me, as she removed her hand from mine. “She didn’t take part in the first dance, and I don’t think she will dah anyone, if you don’t dah her at least once.”

  “... are you sure? I feel like that is wrong. I should only dah you.”

  “That is your Monarch's order. You’d better do it.” Lua teased.

  “As you wish, my love.” I said, before I even realized what I had just let slip.

  “you…” Lua muttered, as her face flushed red. “You ’t just… go. You won’t make it in time if you don’t.” She said as she pushed me towards where Alice was standing.

  I just did as ordered and walked over to Alibsp;

  Then, with a slight bow and my hand out I asked: “My dy, may I have this dance?”

  “B-Brian? A- a dance? … yes!” After seemingly taking a sed, Alice excitedly took my hand and I walked with her back to the dance floor.

  We took our stances, but just as the orchestra was about to start the song.

  ROAR!

  A massive roar shook the ey.

  nro_8