The young man didn't have to wait long to see Zoe reappear before his eyes with a scroll rolled up in her little hand. Taking the scroll, Apolo opened it, and a look of disgust, which he couldn't hide, formed on his face as he read the long sequence of instructions, much more complex than he had imagined. In fact, the young man was certain that his family didn't have such a complex protocol, not even for bidding farewell to the fallen in combat. Despite this, Apolo did his best not to disappoint Zoe and began to memorize the instructions indicated by his butler as if his life depended on it.
When Apolo finally looked up from the sheet with the steps to follow at the party, the party had already begun, and all the participants were heading to some free space amidst the plant-filled furniture to start dancing with their respective partners. It truly seemed like no servant had the desire or intention to arrange the room, so the space for dancing among the furniture was very limited, and one had to find a hiding place among the plants to dance, despite the immense size of the room. In reality, it was all the fault of the young noble who had ordered: "Celebrate wherever you want, but don't move a single piece of furniture in the rooms".
Unfortunately, Zoe took the order too literally, so she literally hadn't moved a single piece of furniture, and the table had been set up with supply barrels and improvised planks made from the wood used to heat the fireplaces. However, for a party of fewer than 30 people, the makeshift table worked quite well.
While the servants prepared to kickstart the party, Zoe searched for a box containing some dusty crystals slightly larger than those used for trading. Initially, these larger crystals were used to play some music tunes and illuminate the room according to the music's rhythm, so they were widely used at empire parties. The reason these larger crystals were dusty, and some even had cracks, was that Apolo had bought them in a batch of second-hand items that he often purchased to fill the house's furniture. In reality, the young noble had never used them and had no idea when he had acquired them.
—Turn off the lights!— Zoe ordered the servants, causing them to rush to touch a crystal near the wall that served as the mastermind to control the rest of the crystals illuminating the room. After noticing that the room was completely dark, Zoe knew it was time to start the party.
—Play classical music that's usually heard at important parties— Zoe instructed the crystals as if they could hear her, while she touched them with her fingers. Immediately, the crystals in the box began to glow and take flight to scatter throughout the dark room, displaying a degree of their own intelligence.
Once the crystals settled on the ceiling, they began to play a rather melancholic and depressing song. Meanwhile, the crystals began to shine, illuminating the room with a candle-like yellowish light. However, this didn't last long, as some crystals began to show clear signs of malfunction, causing a chain reaction in all the room's crystals. This malfunction turned the room's light into a soft red, and the crystals started blinking randomly. The music played by the crystals became slower, almost as if it were in slow motion, and from time to time, the crystals mixed the song with others they had stored, making the music quite disturbing to the point of inducing fear.
Unaware that the crystals were malfunctioning and blaming the song for these changes, Zoe proceeded to touch the crystals that hadn't flown away and were still in the box. These were clearly different, with a noticeable color mix of blue and red. They had another function: to adjust the room's temperature. Since it was an exceptionally warm night, the weather was suffocating, and Zoe thought it was a good idea to bring these crystals to make the atmosphere a bit more comfortable.
—Don't be lazy: Work and make the room cooler!— Zoe ordered, pushing the crystals, as if they were actually sleeping and not inanimate objects. Immediately, they began to emit a faint glow and spread throughout the room. Although there were a few more of these crystals, there still weren't enough to cover the entire room. Smartly, the crystals decided to position themselves near the people in the hall, confirming that the crystals could think or at least had some degree of artificial intelligence.
Once they had settled in the places they had chosen, the dual-color crystals began to emit a faint blueish glow, cooling the room. But it didn't take long for one of the crystals to start flickering violently, causing the rest of the crystals to join in the flickering. This malfunction led to the crystals emitting a soft red glow, as a white, thick mist began to emanate from the crystals, gradually filling the floor of the gigantic room.
As Apolo watched all the servants arranging themselves among the furniture, seeking a space to dance with their partners, he tucked the instructions paper into a hidden pocket in his toga and proceeded to look for Mateo, who was waiting for him in front of some tomato plants.
—Don't you think it's rather ridiculous that they make us dance with each other?—Mateo asked, looking around at the scene, somewhat disturbed by the dark and depressing music the nobles of the capital were listening to. In a matter of seconds, this room had turned into a scene of horror, and its vast emptiness did nothing to improve the atmosphere.
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—No, it's crucial to do so. Think positively: at least we're all men, so there's no reason to feel any shame—Apolo replied, noting that all the men had been forced to dance with other men because he didn't have a single female servant in his household. While there was always a black sheep at every party, in this case, the only servant who wasn't dancing with another man was the one who showed some signs of possibly being infected with blue plague and was currently dancing with Zoe, who was immune to the disease.
—I suppose. How does one even dance at these events?—Mateo asked, still feeling embarrassed.
—Do you really think I know how to dance? We come from a family that celebrates by burning entire villages, not a family of dancers. I wasn't even aware they played this type of music in the capital. It feels like we're at a funeral!—Apolo replied, looking at Zoe through the fog, trying to mimic her clumsy movements—Do what the Green Gururi does; she's the only one who really knows the protocol followed by the capital's nobles.
—I guess the key to making this dance work is to drink until everyone forgets they have to keep dancing—Mateo said ironically as he wiped the sweat from his face and picked up a pitcher from the long table to drink from while copying the rather complex dance moves.
—And of all the social events, you'd better get used to drinking until you drop...—Apolo commented, following his "cousin's" advice and accompanying him to get a pitcher from the table—As a bastard, it will be challenging for you to access a good budget. So, you'd better start looking for someone to place you within the Ministry of Magic. I can't help you there; I was never one to expand my network of contacts.
—I suppose. I hope to make friends quickly—Mateo replied, reminding himself that the emperor would never grant a bastard a mansion like the one Apolo had, given that Apolo was the brother of the future king of the Black Forest.
—Friends? Don't ever forget that this is just a game: the game of mages!—Apolo replied, wiping the sweat from his body as he gave his "cousin" an intense look, noticing how all the servants at the party were trying to perform the overly complex dance—You've been playing this game for almost two years now. Just be sure never to forget about those condemned to the imperial family tree and the "decorated" furniture in my chamber, and you'll do fine. In this game, there are few winners, many who disappear, too many who die, and it's full of cowards who got tired of playing it. The best position of all is the one occupied by the passive observer, hidden like a rat, waiting for someone to drop the cheese and avoiding the evil cat.
—The game of mages...—Mateo murmured reflectively, thinking about all the atrocities Apolo had committed so far to achieve his wild objectives. He knew that if he wanted to live like any noble in this empire, the atrocities he would have to commit would probably be much greater than those of his "cousin".
The party continued, even though no one at this party knew how to dance, except for Zoe. Nevertheless, all the servants knew they had to dance, or at least the way Apolo was glaring at them indicated that it was a rather serious order. Those who stopped dancing seemed like they would be sleeping with the dead in the dungeon if they didn't resume dancing. This led all the servants to try to copy Apolo's movements, even though he was terrible at dancing. To make matters worse, the young noble was copying Zoe's moves, who was also a terrible dancer. Consequently, the dance became something utterly ridiculous to behold. Everyone could see each other's awkward movements, so the servants watched with amazement as it seemed like, for some reason, everyone in the room had forgotten how to move an arm or support a foot correctly.
Their movements were forced, slow, and quite awkward, but somehow, due to the absurdity of the situation and the fact that Apolo had arranged an open bar for everyone, more than one slightly tipsy servant released a amused smile or a chuckle as they tried to copy the incredibly complex dance moves.
Zoe's dance moves were so exotic that it would seem like the green fetus was inventing them on the spot because she couldn't remember them. And the truth was, that's exactly what was happening: Zoe didn't know how to dance!
The Gururi hadn't been to a party in decades, and her previous master wasn't exactly someone who organized many parties. So, somewhat nervously, Zoe was trying to remember what the steps of a formal dance were like. However, to Zoe's delight, it seemed like she was succeeding, as everyone in the room was dancing exactly like her.
If Zoe touched her nose, everyone in the room touched their nose. If she spun around, everyone in the room spun just as she had, even if she gave her dance partner a pat on the behind, all the servants joined in and proceeded to give her dance partner a smack on the rear end. Zoe was truly cracking up at the scene. The Gururi didn't remember parties being so much fun, although she also didn't remember so clearly that the music was so dark and depressing, or if there used to be fog at these kinds of parties.
But what mattered in Zoe's mind was that everyone seemed to be having a blast at the party she had organized: Everyone seemed enchanted by the dance and enjoyed the drinks she had bought, enjoyed them so much that they seemed to be drinking alcohol as if they were dying of thirst. Although the truth was that the servants were indeed parched, as the dual-colored crystals were turning the massive room into a sauna. Despite this, Zoe didn't perceive temperature like humans, and since she didn't understand the issue, she couldn't grasp that the fog was bothering all the servants, and to make matters worse, the crystals didn't seem to have any intention of stopping the rise in room temperature.