Chapter 57
It felt like a different world, honestly.
Of course, I knew that the count's mansion was an incredibly expensive place, and I also knew that my lady's dress had cost an unbelievable amount.
The problem was that seeing one of these things by itself only elicited a reaction like, "Wow, that's amazing"... but when they gathered in groups...
"Juliet-sama, daughter of Count Dwell, has arrived!"
"Luca-sama, son of Count Remy, has arrived!"
"Alice-sama, daughter of Count Brion, has arrived!"
The stairs leading to the mansion's entrance were polished marble, and servants quickly wiped them with something like mops every time someone passed, keeping them sparkling clean at all times.
Beside the double doors with their golden handles, a servant with an excellent tenor voice announced each arrival. He had to do it twenty-two times, so he had my sympathy.
Young ladies decked out in glittering jewelry unlike my lady's, along with guards wearing armor that shone so dazzlingly—perhaps they even had LEDs installed—entered the mansion together.
When I realized there were still twenty more sets of these to come, I found myself backing away with a feeling of, "This is bad..." rather than, "Wow, that's amazing."
I hadn't paid much attention to equipment stats before, but after asking Maxim-san about equipment magic, I'd started examining them closely with 【All Creation】.
(They aren't carrying weapons, but the armor has... "Shine Enhancement"? "Dirt Removal"? Are you stupid?)
If anything, I was relieved that it didn't have "LED Built-In." LEDs are magical illumination, right...? And they're low-power, too. It's unbelievable.
"I'll leave the rest to you, Reiji."
"Yes, understood."
Maxim-san spoke to me while I was escaping reality by thinking about LEDs, so I gave him a vigorous nod. I seemed to be the only escort not wearing armor, and I was also a head shorter and considerably younger than everyone else, so I had to give a suitably forceful reply.
People were not admitted in the order they arrived; an usher came to call each person individually.
"My lady, please watch your step."
"Yes. Let's go, Reiji."
"..."
"What is it?"
"Nothing."
Slightly taken aback by my lady's air of having gotten over something, I climbed the stairs directly behind her. The servants wiped the steps with a quick swish after I passed... In its own way, that felt like being told, "You're filthy."
"Lady Eva of House Slyries has arrived!"
The announcer—Tenor-san—raised his voice when he saw my lady, but there was a momentary pause at the sight of her.
I understood. I really did. If my lady suddenly appeared in front of me with her makeup on and dressed up, I might have screamed too. If anything, I wanted to praise him for holding it in so well.
Perhaps the words "House Slyries" possessed some special power, because the chatter filling the mansion suddenly fell silent.
There was a tiny space just inside the entrance, which led directly into the banquet hall. Weapons were inspected in that little space, though of course I wasn't carrying anything.
(...Magic that nullifies Talents is active.)
It was a strange sensation, though. It seemed that only certain Talents had been nullified while the rest were fine... For example, 【All Creation】 still worked, but something like 【Strength Enhancement】 felt as though it had been disabled.
So you can selectively prevent Talents from being used like this.
They had disabled combat-related Talents while leaving available the Talents the servants needed to work inside the hall.
(Still, no one else could use 【All Creation】 anyway, but special ones like 【Shadow King Magic Swordsmanship】 can still be used... Well, there's nothing to be done about Talents I don't know about.)
Someone wearing the Holy King Knights' uniform—unfortunately, it wasn't the person whose room I'd gone to clean—looked at me in puzzlement. But when he bluntly asked, "Are you going in that outfit?" I immediately answered, "Yes," and entered the banquet hall with my lady.
(Oh...)
The ceiling was high, with a gigantic chandelier hanging from it. It was far larger than anything that might appear in a mystery about a wealthy man being murdered... It had to be about the size of two cars, didn't it?
Eight smaller chandeliers hung around the central one... Though I called them "small," they were still more than big enough.
Four round tables had been set beneath the smaller chandeliers, while the space beneath the enormous central chandelier was empty, as though it were meant for dancing.
The marble floor was divided into sections by the color of the stone, and a huge blue circle had been laid out in the center... Actually, there isn't any blue marble, is there? That part is made of a different stone.
The head maid and head butler had warned me so relentlessly not to look around in a place like this that they might as well have been hammering me into a straw doll for a midnight curse ritual. I didn't let my gaze wander.
If anything, it was the noble children and their escorts who were already seated that stared fixedly at us.
"—That must be the Slyries family's..."
"—Wow, she's cute."
"—Isn't that dress rather plain? Mine is superior, isn't it?"
I wondered how exactly word about my lady had spread.
No, if anything, I suppose they were thinking, "The Cold-Blooded Lord's daughter is here."
I could hear all sorts of things thanks to 【Enhanced Hearing】, but perhaps my lady couldn't hear them—or perhaps she possessed a steel mentality that let her ignore bothersome stares. She glided along behind the usher without a care.
As I observed the people at each table while passing by, I saw elves, dwarves, and beastfolk. This really was a nation that welcomed many races.
The table at the very back had six seats.
My lady sat down first, leaving five seats empty.
Aha, I see? This is one of those "important people arrive last" things, isn't it?
"Mira-sama, daughter of Margrave Mule, has arrived!"
A girl with subdued brown hair swept up appeared. She had freckles around her eyes, which makeup should have been able to hide, but 【All Creation】 whispered to me that she wasn't wearing any. Thanks for the useless information!
Her silver dress concealed most of her skin and seemed old-fashioned in design compared with the other young ladies' dresses, but I couldn't hear even the faintest whisper mocking it.
Why?
Because she came with something formidable: a guard. A berserker-like man wearing a gray bear pelt over his head had come with her. Did she really need that? Was this some kind of "frontier" flex?
Incidentally, House Slyries seemed to have the highest standing among the count's houses. I'd been told that my lady would be the last count's daughter to enter.
Though a margrave was technically a count, margraves had territory on the frontier and were permitted to maintain armies there, because the frontier was full of danger. That gave them higher standing than ordinary counts—though they were barred from central politics.
Mira-sama reached the table at the back, saw my lady, and stopped dead.
"Hiiieeeee—"
...What was that just now?
"C-c-c-cute! C-cute, cute..."
"Calm down, Mira. You can greet her afterward."
"Yeees..."
With a dazed look on her face, Mira-sama sat in the chair that had been pulled out for her, all the while continuing to stare at my lady.
The guard's body was so massively muscled that I wondered what kind of protein he had to drink to get that way, but his gaze as he looked at Mira-sama was gentle.
"Charlotte-sama, daughter of Marquess Fraise, has arrived!"
This time, the commotion was for a different reason. A genuine young noblewoman appeared, with long strawberry-blond hair styled into vertical curls. She wore a dress covered in ruffles upon ruffles, had applied makeup far too heavy for her childish face, and was accompanied to the table by a languid, handsome guard with light-blue hair who looked as though he had been hired for his face.
"...Wow."
The handsome guard's eyes widened when he saw my lady. In contrast, Charlotte-sama directed a deeply hostile stare at my lady, then shifted it to Mira-sama.
"My, my, what an unfashionably plain dress you're wearing, as always."
"C-cute... so cuuute..."
But Mira-sama was still gazing dreamily at my lady.
"..."
Charlotte-sama trembled after having her barb completely ignored, but then she turned her face away with a "Hmph!" and sat down.
"Etan-sama, son of Duke Ebene, has arrived!"
Oh, a ducal house descended from the Holy King, I thought as I looked over—and then I froze.
Etan-sama's permed, candy-colored hair was fluffy, with some strands intricately braided and hanging down by his left temple. Those braids included beads made of gemstones.
His clothes were formal, like a tailcoat, but the item visible around his wrist was a friendship bracelet made from threads of many different colors.
The guard behind Etan-sama was a woman who, despite wearing armor, was smaller than any of the other guards—she was even slightly shorter than me. Her long, candy-colored hair, the same color as Etan-sama's, was tied back. A short cloak wrapped all the way around her neck and reached her waist, decorated with colorful embroidery.
"...A halfling?"