Gregory went to talk to some noblemen to get a feel of the situation. I was eying the table with various seafood. It looked delicious but nobody was touching the food yet and I didn't want to be the first one. Suddenly I found myself surrounded by 3 young noblemen. I guess it’s time for my act.
“Good morning milady, can I have your name?” Ugh, so posh, let me do my best posh impersonation. Good day, my name is Ag… Shit! I didn't think this through! I need a name! What is a good female name?!
“I apologize, I did not catch that.”
“Psst hey look at how hot she is.” Ahum, I’m sorry gentlemen, I thought I saw something in the corner of my eye, excuse me for being unclear, my name is Agnès Oures, with who do I have the pleasure of speaking to?
“Wow, she sounds well-mannered! Ehum, I mean my name is Olivier Eggart Nej” Olivier was a short man with big eyes and had glasses on that looked too big for his head.
“Norbert Ungas Bertov” Norbert was tall and skinny, he had an air of confidence and had unusual red hair.
“Werner Tillman Fotey” Werner looked like background character #24, he even had bangs covering his eyes so besides that there was nothing that made him stand out.
I chuckled. Are these guys for real, did their parents realize they named their sons OEN, NUB, and WTF? Do you mind if I drop the formalities, to be honest, it is a royal pain in the derriere to talk like this.
“Oh, we don't mind, so, are you alone here?” Hmm, I wonder… are you going to keep me company?
“Oh, if you don't mind!”
“Psst, hey Norbert look at her boobs!” These idiots think I can't hear them, not that this matters. Hmm, I’m wondering how the seafood tastes but I don’t want to be the first one to take some food.
“Oh, let’s get some for you then!” The 3 idiots went to grab some food for me and I sat down and looked around. It didn't seem like the idiots were drawing much attention. I tried to eavesdrop on some conversations but there was too much chatter. The idiots brought me some food. I put up my best smile. Thank you! They were smitten. I might be a guy myself but damn are we simple.
“So, the Oures family, eh? I never heard about them.” I twitched. Damn, are they on to me?
“Maybe it is a very small family, just think about it if they have a daughter as hot as her then we surely would have known.” Ehehe, yeah, we’re quite small, we might get kicked out of the nobility status because we are small and relatively poor. That is why I’m hoping to make some useful connections here.
“Oooh! Is there anything you’re interested in?!”
“Hey back off Olivier! I saw her first!” Oh, please don't fight over me, I’m just a poor noble girl, I’m sure there are noblewomen here more suited for you guys.
“O, nono you’re the prettiest one here right guys?”
“Yeh!” Right, time to sink my claws into these guys and get what I want. Oh, how nice, I’m just curious about something but I might get into trouble and I can't bring shame to my family, what do I do? I started sobbing a bit.
“Ooh don’t worry! We will help you!”
“Yeah, we won't tell anyone!” I can't! I can't get you guys, kind guys, who I just met, I can't drag you into this! I got up and dramatically ran away.
“Agnès wait!”
“Guys let's help her!” While running away and pretending to be crying my eye caught Gregory’s and he rolled his eyes. I was standing in a corner quite out of sight of the individuals that I identified guards.
“Wait! We can help! I might not be from a very influential family but Norbert is!” So, NUB is the less noob out of these guys, how ironic.
“I will do my best to help you.” You see an acquaintance of mine got into trouble and got sent to Event Horizon, but the allegations are false! He got framed. And I tried to figure out where it was but I didn't have the resources to find out where it was and how to save him. I owe him my life! I can't let him rot in there! I put up my best tears.
“Please don't cry, your face looks prettier when you smile.” Ugh, I need to control my expression but that was so cheesy. I don’t think I butchered my expression because the guys were still falling for my act.
“Hmm, Event Horizon, eh? That is tricky. Fortunately, I know where it is, it is in the south-western part of Igrini close to the border past the Aurelia mountain range on the Empty Plain, it’s quite far from here, and it takes about a week to get there.“ Really? Thank you! I grabbed his hand with both my hands.
Why is it so hard to find though?
“Uhh, I don’t know, I just know that only noblemen and the royal family know about it because only individuals who have wronged the royal family or the nobles go there, the common folk doesn't know about it and aren't supposed to. So, my family isn’t seen as nobles anymore… I should have known…
“Look what you did Norbert! It’s fine maybe if uhm you would marry me your family will rise up!”
“Werner! Stop being a creep, you’re taking advantage of her!” I’m sorry for being such a mess and thank you. I don't want to drag your family down. I’m fine.
“But maybe we could help!” I’m sorry, I don't want to drag you down with me, I’m going to save my brother and accept the consequences it has for my family, I don’t want you to be involved!
“Ugh, you have a point…”
“Is there really no other way?” I don’t know… I don’t have any information to make a choice here…
“Give me a second! My dad always carries his journal with him, it has various important details and events written in it, he always told me I could look into it if I needed guidance, maybe it has something useful!” Norbert ran off to possibly deliver a very useful journal to me. I ate the seafood these idiots brought me. Norbert came back with the journal.
“Let’s see...” Can I take a look? I’m a fast reader. I threw in a bit of charm and easily got the journal. It smelled like old paper and it was quite heavy. Luckily it was easy to find what I needed in no time with my Elgards eyes. I flipped through the pages and archived everything. I love being a nine-tailed spirit fox.
There is no other way I can get my brother back but there were some details that could make this easier for me and methods where our punishment will become less severe. This was a lie because it only had procedures and nothing all too interesting for us but I can’t really tell them what I’m looking for.
“Whoa, you must be super smart! That was fast!”
“I see... So not much help, was it?” Oh no! You were a lot of help! I wouldn't be able to save my younger brother if it wasn't for you! My older brother would be delighted to know this!
“Wait you have an older brother?” The guys started to become uncomfortable and started to look around. Yeah, he must be somewhere here! I’m going to look for him!
“Ehh ok” I managed to break free from these helpful guys. I tried to look for Gregory but he was nowhere to be found.
Ah well, I walked around and tried to get some food from another table but some creep approached me.
“Hey, are you alone here?” I looked around and spotted someone who would be an easy target. I spotted a necklace on him which said ‘Vido’ Who wears a necklace with his own name? I ran at this Vido guy and locked my arm with his. No! I’m with Vido!
“Wait what? Who are you?”
“Vido? Who is this woman!?”
A wide woman waddled over to us.
“Elizabeth! I don't know!” Vido? It’s me! Agnès did you forget me already? After we had fun last week?
“I knew it! You were cheating!” Wait, Vido? Who is this piggie? Are you cheating on me? I thought you said you loved slim chicks with big boobs. Vido started sweating and the creep backed off.
“I... I don’t know who you are and what you’re talking about!” But you didn't stop looking at my cleavage since I locked arms with you!
“Vido! Explain yourself!” Yes, Vido! Explain yourself! Who is this homewrecker?
“Me? Homewrecker? It is you who is a homewrecker! I’m his wife!” I acted shocked.
His... his wife? I looked at Vido in horror.
You told me you were single and that I was the only one for you! I ran away and faked my tears. I left chaos behind.
I did manage to snatch some food from the table I was interested in. Luckily this place was big so it was quite easy to avoid the people I just encountered. I looked around and nobody was paying attention to me so I altered my appearance a bit and shifted the color of my dress to dark blue. I saw some well-dressed noble girls approaching me.
“Oh hey, you must be from a poor family, I have never seen you at events like this.”
“Her face is pretty but her dress is atrocious.” I’m sorry I don't want to waste your time; I will remove myself so that you 2 have this food for yourself. I wanted to leave but my arm got grabbed.
“Excuse me, did you just call us fat?” Huh? I said no such thing.
“You did! You said you would leave all the food on this table to us, do we look like we could eat all of this?” I don’t see how those are correlated, you can eat all the food on this table and not be fat.
“You are full of shit!” I can give a demonstration. I sat at the table in my most ladylike manner and in my most ladylike way, I ate all the food from the table in 15 minutes. I wiped my mouth with style and stood up. I demonstrated my flat belly.
A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.
See, I’m not fat, yet. I ate all the food on this table, which means they are not correlated. The 2 were looking at me like I was crazy.
Well then excuse me!
“Hey hold it there bitch! You can’t make fun of us and just leave!” Do you want me to make fun of you and stay?
“Yes, wait no! Don’t you dare make fun of us!” Ok, I won’t then, bye!
“Hey, I said hold it!” Ugh, what do you want? I dodged a slap.
Are you done? I dodged another slap.
“Hey stand still!” I dodged a slap by pushing a chair into the bitch that tried to slap me which caused her to miss. She made an ugly fall that drew attention. Be careful what you wish for.
“You are dead!”
“Excuse me, ladies, what is going on here?”
“Ahh prince Nesho!” The chick that didn't trip ran at a moderately handsome but short man with blonde hair. He looked like a shorter and male version of Ella. I guess this is her big little brother.
“This bitch is making fun of us!” Yeah! She is making fun of us! I said as I pointed to the chick that tripped. Small guy raised his eyebrow.
“I did see how you 2 harassed her when she was just relaxing at this table alone. It is clear that you 2 instigated this.”
“That is not true! She called us over and insulted us! Telling us we’re fat for wanting the whole table for ourselves.”
“But I saw her eating all the food on the table by herself.” Just give up ladies, you’re not going to fool him just come clean and confess.
“Wha! Why you!” She shot a fireball at me which I caught with the cup I was holding and put it out by covering the cup with my hand to make the fire die.
“Whoa!” Somehow a lot of people saw that and were amazed by this simple feat. I really need to learn what is common sense for humans… The security royal guard came and escorted the women away. Thank you for your help.
“I haven't seen you around, where are you from?” Oh, happens a lot, I’m from a very small and unimportant noble family, don't mind me.
“Hmm, can I ask you something?” Uhh, I’m a bit busy
“On this party?” I may or may not have made some enemies here.
“Hmm, you are quite attractive, I can see why many women are jealous of you.” Uhm, that was not what I meant but I will take the compliment.
“You seem a bit more down to earth than most other noblewomen of your age, are you perhaps interested in meeting my little sister and talking to her? She has been quite depressed since she returned home.” Oh, you have a sister? She must be quite… I looked down at him. Short…
“My sister is also blunt like you, I hope you will get along.” I guess I’m visiting Ella. I don't know if this is a good thing or a bad thing. And where the hell is Gregory?! I got led through some corridors and I looked around with my Elgards eyes. There was one assassin in the palace and a lot of royal guards especially around Ella’s room. Short stuff knocked on the door.
“Shania, I have someone you might like to talk to”
“Go away! I want to be alone!”
“I leave it to you.” How selfish! I stepped inside. Short stuff closed the door and left me behind in this room. This room was enormous. It could almost fit a small house.
“Go away!” Now now, Ella Reviha, is this how you talk to a friend? She looked up.
“How do you know that name? Who are you?” Let me introduce myself, I’m Agnès Oures. I showed her my tails.
“Agnis? What are you doing here? And why are you so… pretty…?” Well, this and that happened and we’re planning to rescue Raishin. I would like to rescue you too but… I looked around with my Elgards eyes.
I don't think that’s gonna happen sorry. Ella started to cry.
“I’m so sorry, I didn't mean to cause you all this trouble.” She cried in my arms. Listen here, we got into this ourselves and we accepted it, moreover, we have gone through rougher times than this. After we rescue Raishin, we will find a way to meet up with you and tell you about our adventures. We need you to be strong. You are the future of this country, make sure that whatever happened here dies when you come into power. Ella wiped her tears.
“Thank you. Did you come alone?” I came with Greg but that idiot probably got lost somewhere.
“Is he also…” Oh no, he is his normal male self, how do you like these boobs?
“They are… impressive… so what did you come to do here?” I came to find out how and what about Event Horizon.
“What?! They sent my poor Raishin to Event Horizon?! Absolutely unacceptable!” She tried to stand up but I sat her down.
Before you go give your parents hell can you tell me what you know about it? Ella told me what she knew about Event Horizon. Most of it matched what I knew from that Journal. Also, that various strong wardens make that place their home. Basically, getting in is easy but just like a black hole, once you get in you will be devoured and never get out. Well, this sucks but we don't have a choice. She also gave me a small amulet.
“When you get in deep trouble, show this to any of the higher-ups, hopefully, they will let you through. Please don't forget! It could save your life, please save Raishin for me.” Don't worry about us, you just focus on becoming the best queen this kingdom has ever seen.
“I will do my best… I need to travel the country for that though.” Have you ever learned [shadow clone]?
“No, I have not.” I checked the area, and nothing funky. I dropped a 5 layered illusion on the room and pulled Ella into a pocket dimension.
“What is this?” Time flow’s differently here, I’m going to teach you [Shadow clone] and [Shadow swap]. I can only teach you the basics because to get really good at it you need to use them a lot. You can then escape and leave a shadow clone behind and swap places with it when you need to be present here because someone does a serious check-up on you or something. I gave her a crash course on how the skills worked and how to activate them. She learned fast and after 10 hours she got good enough at it that she could practice by herself. Shadow swap went messy but that was also good enough. We got out and I removed the illusion layers.
Only 5 minutes passed here so don't worry, maybe you should sleep, it might sound rude but you look like a mess and that training didn't help.
“Thank you, please be careful! Event Horizon is a perilous place!” We will. I left Ella’s room and I saw short stuff in the distance. He brought me to the party hall while doing some small talk. I told him she went to sleep which seemed to please him since she hadn't slept since she got here. He extended an invitation for me to come over more often to talk to Ella but I politely decline because honestly, I don’t have the time for that. I got led back to the party hall and noticed that there was a hard-to-notice barrier around it. It seemed to hinder the formation of magic circles.
I guess that’s why that random chick’s [Fireball] was so weak. It forces you to either fail the magic skill or have to severely weaken it to still make it go through. I guess that makes sense, the royal family is in this hall too. Some noble guys were dancing with noble women. Yikes I have to stay away from that, I can’t dance. I saw some men lock onto me. Right, time to show off my magic tool!
Well, they are not locking on to me with magic but who knows maybe this will work. I moved and activated it. It seemed to work just with sight. I found a spot where I probably wouldn’t be spotted easily. I was standing behind a pillar and peeking into the hall. I know it’s a party but I hate crowds and people in general. The food looks good though, I just don't want to get ambushed and made fun of on the dance floor.
Nobody seemed to be looking at me so I used [Turning Leaf] and kept swapping the fake pearls of my necklace with food on the table a bit further up. I was limited to snacks because it would be obvious if a plate with food suddenly disappeared. I was clearing out a table with desserts. I first started with cookies but I discovered that these chocolate pastries filled with whipped cream were quite good. I got carried away and didn't notice someone approaching.
“Hey there young lady, aren’t you going to join the other nobles in the party?” I turned around still stuffing my face with some of the pastries in my hand. I chewed till my month was empty while sizing up this tall chunky guy with blonde curly hair that seemed to be balding.
Oh, pardon my rudeness, your highness, ehh why are you talking to a low-status noble like me? I slowly continued finishing my desserts and licked my fingers and cleaned my hand and mouth with a handkerchief.
“Quite the appetite you have there, I got curious about why you seem to be hiding.” I don’t feel comfortable with all these nobles, you see my family is so low in status that we aren’t even regarded as nobles. Have you ever heard about the Oures family? I’m sure we are so unimportant that they aren’t even in your records…
“Oh… I have indeed never heard about that name, hmm I can’t relate but I can understand that this is uncomfortable, how about you have a chat with me and my wife? I heard from my son that you helped out my daughter.” Ugh, I don’t really want to deal with the royal family. I looked into the hall, to deal with the nobles or the royal family. Why can’t people just leave me alone? Uhh, I don’t want to waste your time.
“Nonsense! My wife wants to thank you!” He put his hand on my back and led me toward their VIP area. I felt very uncomfortable and this king dude talked a bit to the queen. Now that I see her up close, she looks like a more mature Ella. She could pass for Ella’s older sister. Short stuff was here too and some other people that looked like strong royal guards.
“Agnès Oures right? I heard that you helped my daughter and that your family has disappeared from nobility. I know the names of all the noble families and I have to admit, I have never heard of your family, are you sure you are of nobility?” Unfortunately, I don’t think our family qualifies for nobility anymore, I can leave if this is a problem. I don’t want to disrespect anyone here. I’m really hoping my bullshitting will get me out safely.
“Well, I value family more than anything and since you helped my daughter more than any of us could I would prefer you to stay.” Uhh, ok… I really need to work on my escape plans. And where is Gregory?!
-Yoo, where the fuck are you?!- -I think I took the wrong turn somewhere. –
- So, you’re lost… again… I’ll link my eyes up with you so you can find your way here. I need to get out of here! - -Thanks- I linked my vision with him and relaxed. I just have to wait this out.
“So Agnès, what do you think of the state of the country?” For some reason, I piqued the interest of the queen.
Note to self: avoid royalty in the future. Well, if I can be honest, it’s a mess, the capital is a mess and shady characters have been lurking around everywhere for quite some time. Those are probably just the tip of the iceberg.
“Hmm, yeah, I would have loved to work on these problems but a certain someone kept me asleep and busy with unimportant issues! I only learned about Shania’s disappearance 2 weeks ago!” She gave an angry look at the king and her son. They seemed to become quite uncomfortable. So, you are not in touch with what happens in the country?
“Unfortunately, not, my husband is currently in power but he only knows how to wage war so he needs my assistance, but lately he has been putting me to sleep or sending me on diplomatic trips all the time to get me out of the palace. You aren’t cheating on me, are you?”
“O… of course not! Right?!” Short stuff nodded and so did the royal guards, something sounds fishy, as if they were hiding something from the queen. Hmm, anyways Ella, I mean Shania just needs some time alone, I know you might be worried about her but she just needs time.
“Do you perchance know her? She surely didn't sit still in those 3 weeks she was gone.” I looked at short stuff and the king, they seemed very uncomfortable. I think it’s time to act maliciously and pretend I don’t know what is going on here. 3 weeks? Oh no my queen, I met her almost a year ago and I have been with her ever since, but unfortunately several days ago she got roughly extracted from her life in the city by some assassins and royal guards. My little half-brother who was with her got caught in this chaos and got sent to Event Horizon. I put on my best sobbing act.
We didn’t know that she was the princess, we only learned about it at that moment, please my queen, can you save my brother Raishin?! He is too dumb to go to Event Horizon! The queen looked empathic, approached me, and grabbed my hands.
“I’m so sorry you had to go through this, unfortunately, he falls outside our jurisdiction the moment he gets collected by the wardens. I will see what I can do for you but I can't promise anything.” She got up and looked at the king.
“You lied to me again Ignatius, Shania was missing for over a year?! Is that why you kept me weak and asleep for so long?! You are in big trouble!”
”Noo, honey! I can explain! She is lying! Guards! Capture her!!” Ugh, the king is doubling down, I thought he was a nice person. I got something out of my pocket dimension, it was a copy of a document. This document was signed by Shania and it was the document of Raishin’s admittance to the adventurer’s Association. Whenever a new person gets a recommendation to join, they have to put their signature down to confirm that they recommended the newbie.
I handed this over to the queen before running from the guards.
“Ignatius! This document is authentic! Look at the date!” Gregory arrived just in time. It was hard running in this dress. He seemed to realize that I yet again caused chaos and used [Blackout]. It is a racial skill so he had no issues using it. All the light in the room went out and he grabbed me and shadow melded to the edge of the capital. From there I teleported both of us back to Ainahs.
I am convinced that your middle name is “Chaos”. Hmm, Agnès Chaos Oures, nah, that doesn't sound good.
What? You know what? I don’t think I want to know… Gregory told me about what he went through during the party and what information he found.