I had come to this party to form connections and hopefully get access to some corpses. I now questioned the wisdom of that decision. Nobles were exhausting. I had no interest in fashion, or gossip. And my knowledge of politics was limited. I had no opinion on trade laws. I was interested in Ilestria’s movements, but most people had no information, just speculation.

As the party progressed, it became time to hand over the presents. Most people brought jewellery, dresses or pieces of art. Eventually it was our turn.

We had wrapped the Iron Beak. I handed it to Valeria. “Happy birthday! This present is from the four of us.”

Florence started whispering. I didn't quite hear what she was saying but she was probably criticising the fact that we only had one present.

“Thank you” Valeria said, and opened her present. Then she blinked as she stared at an Iron Beak.

“This is one of our Iron Beaks!” Cassie said, proudly. “They are undead chickens that can explode your enemies!”

“It… it explodes?” Valeria asked.

“Only when ordered to. There is a small bomb inside.” I pointed at the bomb inside the ribcage. “I have commanded this Iron Beak to follow your orders.”

“We had great success with them during our camping trip.” Helena added.

The whispering had stopped by now. Everyone was just staring at our undead.

“You could remove the bomb, if you want to, but it should be quite secure. We never had an accidental explosion.” Skadi said.

“You are gifting her a bomb! That is outrageous!” Florence shouted.

“We are gifting her a weapon. Not an uncommon gift for someone attending the Royal Military Academy.” Helena said.

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“And our gift is personally crafted.” I added.

“Ah, thank you.” Valeria said. She seemed unsure what to do with the chicken in her hand. She put it down, then she tried a command. “Hop.”

The chicken hopped.

“Stop.”

The chicken stopped.

“It is certainly unique, thank you again.” Valeria said, now looking slightly more pleased.

Florence was still fuming but she realised that shouting did nothing. She was back to whispering.

The gift giving continued, then the servants brought in a giant cake and started serving slices of it. I regrouped with my friends as we ate some cake.

I noticed that a lot of people were interested in the Iron Beak. Valeria seemed rather happy showing it off.

“I told you an Iron Beak was a good idea.” Cassie said.

“I’m still not sure how I feel about gifting undead. Let’s not make it a habit.” I said.

“You have enough mana. With your core you won’t even notice a few chickens.” Helena pointed out.

“You should gift a lot of people Iron Beaks. Then tell them all at once to explode. After that, you invade with your undead army and seize power.” Skadi said, with a straight face.

“You should gift some to the Ilestrian nobles.” Cassie added.

“Umm…” I started to realize something. “Do you think she will see it as a threat? I had not really thought about the implications. Since I do have control, I could use it to attack her…”

“There are a lot of ways how she could interpret it. She seems happy, so we should not worry too much. She could see it as a gesture to show that we stand behind her. I would not be surprised if she shows it off, pretending you are close now.” Helena said.

“At least she is a lot more pleasant than Leo. Ugh. I don’t think I could stand to go out with him, even for corpses. He is just so pushy…” I complained.

“He is even worse in private. He is used to getting his way and his family does not respect women a lot.” Helena said.

“Since I am not a noble, most people here are not interested in me. I just stayed near the buffet and enjoyed the food and drinks.” Skadi said.

“She was hiding.” Cassie accused her.

“And you are jealous, because she succeeded?” I asked.

“Yes!” Cassie confirmed. “I thought I had escaped such parties when I joined the academy.”

“At least now you can tell your mother that you attended the birthday party of Valeria Barkworth.” I said.

Cassie groaned. “She would immediately ask if I met any men.”

“GRRRRRRR”

I immediately started to form a water shield as I heard the growling. It came from Nyx but I could not see a threat.

As I looked around, I saw that some people had tensed, preparing for an attack, while others just looked confused.

I approached Nyx, who was sitting inside her box, and staring at something inside her box.

“What is wrong with your pet? Lost control?” Florence mocked me. I ignored her.

Once I was there, I saw the problem. Nyx was growling at a piece of food. Food that somehow ended up in her box. The snack consisted of some toasted bread with smoked fish and a creamy sauce. The problem was the fish. It touched the box, which was made of frozen blood. And the blood was turning green.