Preparations for the Banquet

This impromptu, smaller banquet lasted until around two in the afternoon.

The footmen began clearing away the remnants of the feast, while nobles gathered to chat idly, making their way out of the Palace of Palbourg.

Albert bid farewell to a noble he had been conversing with, then turned his head just in time to see Fú Nī Yà standing glumly to one side.

He considered approaching her to inquire what was amiss, but after a moment of hesitation, he let out a wry chuckle and abandoned the idea.

Presently, he and Fú Nī Yà were still at odds.

In Albert’s long-held worldview, slaves were the private property of their masters, to be disposed of as their owners wished; the barbarian race was inherently crude, and killing them was no different than slaughtering animals; commoners, he believed, were born to dedicate everything to their liege lords, for all they possessed was bestowed upon them by their lord.

He simply could not fathom why Fú Nī Yà had lost her temper with him so fiercely a week prior.

Even in his previous life, while the common citizenry had indeed shaken the foundation of the nobility’s status, it had merely been a tremor.

Those petty commoners who rose to power still championed aristocratic culture, their greatest ambition in life remaining the attainment of noble status.

Besides, it had clearly been barbarians he was disparaging at the time; what cause did she have to be angry?

Albert wished to mend his relationship with the young woman, yet he was at a loss as to how to begin.

Stepping out of the palace, Jo was already waiting with the carriage.

Fú Nī Yà, however, had departed earlier with the old butler and others in a more modest carriage, returning to the estate ahead of time, as a grand dinner party was to be held there that evening.

This dinner party promised to be far grander than the banquet held earlier at the palace, for it marked Albert’s first such event since becoming a noble, and simultaneously served as a farewell dinner before his departure from Saint Mir City.

Tomorrow, Albert would be heading north to Lusitania to assume his duties as a lord.

The dinner party was scheduled to commence at six in the evening, with invitations primarily extended to Albert’s peers, those under thirty years of age.

Albert boarded the carriage, setting off for the estate.

Meanwhile, back at the estate, Fú Nī Yà and the others had already begun their bustling preparations.

Though she had attended the investiture ceremony as a guest that afternoon, for the evening’s banquet, she was to serve as a maid.

After all, by any measure, she was Albert’s officially employed maid.

The work that needed doing would, in due course, be done.

However, unlike the other maids, she possessed magical abilities.

“Multiple Mage Hands!”

Multiple Mage Hands, a Second-Ring Force-Field skill, served as an upgraded version of the Zero-Ring spell ‘Move Object’ and a further advancement of the First-Ring spell ‘Mage Hand’.

Its effect allowed the user to manipulate minute forces within space, forming multiple hand-shaped force fields to move objects.

The ultimate form of this spell was the Seventh-Ring spell ‘Arcane Hand’, capable of conjuring a pair of ten-meter-long energy arms to aid in combat, with a visual effect reminiscent of a certain ‘Susanoo’ (TL Note: A powerful, humanoid avatar made of chakra from the Japanese manga/anime series ‘Naruto’) from an anime in his previous life.

Under Fú Nī Yà’s command, several candles, each as thick as a forearm, floated mid-air before being gently inserted into the wall-mounted sconces.

Given that the banquet was to be held at night, candles were, naturally, indispensable.

“Thank you so much, Miss Fú Nī Yà!”

A young maid, similarly attired in a maid’s uniform, stood nearby and bowed to Fú Nī Yà with an excited expression.

Tiny, star-like glints even sparkled in her eyes.

Over the past month, Fú Nī Yà had utterly captivated the hearts of the estate’s footmen and maids alike.

After all, who wouldn’t be charmed by a beautiful, approachable young woman with elegant manners, who was always willing to help others with her magic?

Moreover, even though she wore a maid’s uniform and was nominally an estate maid, none of the household staff truly regarded her as such.

Pray tell, what maid in any household was so intimately acquainted with her master?

What’s more, Fú Nī Yà was an elf.

In the Holy Lohiris Empire, and indeed across all human kingdoms, elves were held in the highest esteem.

This admiration extended to the elves themselves, as well as their art, language, and customs.

Half-elves differed slightly from full-blooded elves, as they were almost invariably born from human nobles who had smuggled elven slaves.

Consequently, nobles harbored no such reverence for half-elves, treating them instead with a kind of possessive affection, much like cherished playthings.

However, ordinary folk had never encountered either elves or half-elves firsthand, and their knowledge of elven tales was purely anecdotal, leaving them unable to discern the subtle distinctions between the two.

Thus, the footmen and maids of the estate all regarded Fú Nī Yà as a true elf, even weaving a romantic tale of their prince falling in love with an elven princess and eloping with her.

As for her status as a maid? Could a young couple not indulge in a bit of playful role-reversal!?

Indeed, the quarrel between Fú Nī Yà and Albert last week had been spun into a story among them, suggesting that the elven princess, having been away from her homeland for too long, had grown homesick and thus vented her frustrations upon their prince.

Of all this, the young woman remained blissfully unaware.

“It’s nothing, just a small favor…”

Fú Nī Yà shook her head with a smile.

Immediately after, the old butler’s voice echoed from the second floor.

“Miss Fú Nī Yà, could you come and lend a hand?”

“Is there something you need, Butler Wǎ ěr?”

Fú Nī Yà inquired as she ascended to the second floor.

“Yes, I need your help moving some items.”

“Oh.”

As she walked, Fú Nī Yà nodded upon hearing the old butler’s words, then couldn’t help but grimace and rub her stomach.

Thanks to that accursed corset, she hadn’t eaten nearly enough at noon.

And now, so much more work awaited her…

Sighing, Fú Nī Yà arrived at the second-floor corridor.

Besides the old butler, several elegantly dressed strangers stood there.

She learned from the old butler that these individuals comprised a symphony orchestra specially hired for the evening’s banquet.

Fú Nī Yà’s task was to help carry some of the larger instruments up to the second floor.

After all, Albert’s estate was not particularly large, and the first floor was reserved for the nobles to dine and dance.

Squeezing in a symphony orchestra there would simply not provide enough space, so they could only be positioned to play in the second-floor corridor.

Understanding the situation, Fú Nī Yà nodded and inquired.

“Where are these instruments?”

“Just outside the door.”

“Bring them all into the first floor, indoors.”

“Very well.”

The old butler instructed, then directed a footman beside him to lead others in the task.

Moving the instruments from the first floor to the second was the troublesome part; bringing them from outside into the first floor was relatively simple.

Before long, all the instruments had been brought inside.

At this moment, the orchestra members looked utterly bewildered, unable to comprehend how Fú Nī Yà intended to get the instruments upstairs.

‘One, two, three, four, five…’

Fú Nī Yà counted the exact number of instruments downstairs, then tallied the orchestra members currently standing on the second floor.

‘One, two, three, four… Why are there fewer instruments than people? Hmm… Right, instruments like violins don’t really need help being moved.’

Fú Nī Yà murmured to herself, then crooked a finger at one of the orchestra members.

“You, come here.”

“Me?”

“Indeed, you.”

The person approached Fú Nī Yà, a look of confusion on their face.

Fú Nī Yà placed her hand on their shoulder.

The person gazed at Fú Nī Yà’s captivating beauty, then felt the touch on their shoulder, their heartbeat involuntarily quickening.

Before they could indulge in further fantasies, Fú Nī Yà exclaimed loudly.

“Off you go~”

The person vanished instantly, replaced by a grand piano that had moments ago been downstairs.

Everyone watched the scene unfold with wide, astonished eyes.

This was the Second-Ring spell, [Spatial Displacement], which allowed the user to swap the spatial locations of two objects within their line of sight.

During Master Valentin’s previous sparring match with Fú Nī Yà, this was precisely the magic she had used to pull a shadow creature in front of him, effectively taking the blow in his stead.

Having dealt with one, Fú Nī Yà crooked her finger at another person.

“You, come here.”

“Alright!”

That person exclaimed loudly, walking towards Fú Nī Yà with a mixture of excitement and a hint of shyness.

After all, this was magic!

And it looked so thrilling.

The person’s face flushed crimson as they clenched their fists, causing Fú Nī Yà to involuntarily let a faint smile grace her lips before she placed her hand on their arm.

“Bye-bye~”

No sooner had the words left her lips than the item in Fú Nī Yà’s hand transformed into a half-human-sized harp.

Handing the harp to a nearby footman, Fú Nī Yà had barely lifted her hand before another person eagerly scurried over.

“Me, me! Let me do it!”

“…”

‘Is it really that appealing?’

The young woman couldn’t help but muse inwardly.

Following several more identical operations, all the large instruments that would ordinarily require multiple people to move were finally transferred to the second floor.

Bidding farewell to the old butler, Fú Nī Yà returned to the first-floor hall to assist further.

Albert, too, had by then returned to the estate and retreated to his bedroom to change his attire.

The evening’s banquet, unlike the midday ceremony, leaned more towards a private affair, thus requiring lighter and more casual attire.

At the very least, that silver wig—hideously ugly, itch-inducing, yet inexplicably popular among a certain crowd—simply had to be removed.

As dusk gradually settled, the grand hall, thanks to everyone’s diligent efforts, became impeccably clean and brightly lit.

Three twenty-meter-long tables were arranged parallel to each other in the center, meticulously set with various dinnerware.

All the candles were lit, and augmented by numerous mirrors placed in the corners, the entire hall shone as brightly as if it were midday.

Fú Nī Yà returned to the large bathhouse she had first visited, took a quick bath to wash away the dust accumulated from her afternoon’s work, then changed into a fresh maid’s uniform and returned to the hall.

The others, too, had tidied themselves, awaiting the imminent arrival of their guests.

The first to arrive was Aila, accompanied by Mitchell, who consistently followed behind her.

This was somewhat unconventional, as custom dictated that guests of lower rank typically arrived first.

However, given Aila’s relationship with Albert, it was unlikely anyone would raise an objection to her early arrival.

Upon seeing Aila and Mitchell approach, the servant tasked with greeting and announcing guests at the hall’s entrance quickly cleared their throat and raised their voice.

Even a task such as announcing guests was imbued with numerous intricacies.

For guests of ordinary standing, such as wealthy merchants without titles or minor nobles like barons and viscounts, their names would be announced in a voice audible only to the arriving guest and those immediately nearby, so as not to disturb the conversations already underway within.

Moving up the social ladder, for figures like church bishops or counts and marquesses, the announcer would slightly elevate their voice, ensuring guests inside were aware of the arrival without feeling startled.

However, for arrivals of such stature as Aila, a Grand Commander wielding an entire knight order, or a powerful minister like a duke, the announcer would respectfully stand rigid, clear their throat, and declare their presence in a booming, chant-like tone, as if fearful that anyone might fail to hear.

“Grand Commander of the Swan Knights, Her Imperial Highness, Princess Aila, and Father Mitchell of the Swan Knights, arrive!”