“For a lady, your table sure is full huh?” Unable to speak, I only nodded in reply before continuing to guzz down plateful after plateful of meat, which the girl sitting in front of me seemed to take offense at- hey lady, it’s not the meat’s fault it’s here on the plate okay? It’s everyone else’s, it just gets eaten, “and so much meat, what makes you think that eating that much all at once is such a good idea, I do not know” she added with a shake of her head.

Her expression twisted into something ugly, “and… can you eat more slowly? It’s unlady-like for you to stuff food after food into your mouth without time in between, you should be more dainty,”

I reached out a hand to Capscaria and started waving it, nodding, she grabbed one of my shakes- strawberry, neat, - and I took it before draining it into my mouth and washing everything down my throat. I wiped my mouth and released a satisfied sigh, goddess I love eating without consequences, “if you have problems with it, then leave,”

“Neophyte-”

I cut Capscaria off, look, I get it, the girl is your sister’s friend but sadly, she isn’t mine. “And for the record, I need to eat this fast or else everything will just go cold and bland.” I crossed my arms defensively, “And also, it’s not like I’ll get fat, I literally need to eat this much in order to keep up with my physical needs so…”

“Then it’s all about you?” She snorted and daintily wiped her lips with a white napkin, there wasn’t even anything there! What did she wipe? The bullshit that’s stuck to her mouth? “How selfish,”

I resisted the urge to roll my eyes, how the fuck do these guys always find a reason to attack me verbally? Is their brain working overtime to find everyone’s flaws? Of all things? If so then, what the fuck? I stared at her, speechless, well I guess I do have something to say-

“You do realize that I’m basically doing this so that I have energy to not only help the people of Everlast, but also to one day fight the Demons right?” Hold back the sarcastic retort and be reasonable, like the girl in front of me because I knew that she bit back a less polite retort just now, knew it.

… but at least nothing about fighting Demons came out of her mouth and instead what she said was, “and with how… barbaric you are in your actions, do you really believe that I think highly of your bold words? Helping citizens? By what? Making things worse? Destroying houses?” She snorted, “ohoho- but the Demons, oh the Demons- you'd do well fighting them, won’t you, barbarian?”

“God you're a bitch,” her eyes widened, see now she’s gonna start spreading what I said around- this is why I hate cursing in front of girls like her- welp- might as well continue, no turning back now, “do you get off on this? I mean- I get it, you know? Everyone has their preferences and getting wet by talking down on others is probably arousing for you,”

“How crude!” She raised her voice, “what do you take me for-”

“OH-hOH- oH! hOW CwUdE!” I said sarcastically before grabbing another plate of meat, "fuck off, I'm trying to eat here,”

Standing up, the uh, what's her name again? - anyways, she said, “You will regret this,” before stomping off to annoy some other unfortunate girl or guy attending the ball- I would say I pity them but I'd rather not, or else she’d feel me saying it and come back here to start pestering me again.

“That wasn't a good idea,” a red faced Capscaria said right next to me, “d-do you really think that she would jsut let go of he-her g-gradges?”

“No?” I said, turning to her, I grabbed the wine bottle from her hand, “and you should stop drinking,” she's been drinking wine for as long as I was eating and let me see… ah, right, I only have a quarter of meat left.

And what even is a Gradge? Why would the girl not let go of it?

I shook my head when Capscaria tried to grab the wine, “You're going to die of alcohol poisoning if you continue like this,”

“I won't!” She vehemently refuted, raising her voice and standing up before saying, she stomped her foot and I saw her body tremble, “l-look at me! I am fine-”

With a feat of speed, I grabbed her before she could fall, “there, there,” I patted her back before bringing the two of us back to the table, I plopped her to her seat before fixing mine, which had unfortunately fallen when I suddenly stood up to save her just now, “Are you still fine? Caps? Maybe take a break?”

She giggled, “heh, Caps. Eehe-” I smiled, which turned into a frown when she turned to me and gave me a defiant stare, “Nho. Nu breaks-”

“Okay-” I grabbed the waiter walking to the two of us and shoved the wine into his hands, “take that somewhere else,” he nodded, left, and I was free to face Capscaria again, “look, you're drunk so you should take a breather and just… I don't know, sit there or something?”

“Ai ham nhot dunk!” Sighing, I rubbed the top of her head to placate her, hoping that it’ll calm her down somewhat. Is it odd that she leaned into my touch? Yes. Do I care? Eh… sort of.

Capscaria had a quivering smile on her face as she rubbed her head on my hand with closed eyes, “this feels good,”

“It does, doesn't it?” After pushing a few empty plates away from her side of the table, I proceeded to push her head down onto the now free space, “now, how about you lie there and I'll continue rubbing your head like this okay?”

“Y-yesh.”

“Good girl.”

She giggled, “th-that's me! Your good little girl,”

“Yeah…” I trailed off uncomfortably, and what perfect timing- her older sister came to the table with the woman I told to politely leave just now tailing behind her, and just as Capscaria said that too!

I tried to save face, “Capscaria's fine,” I said, “just… a little bit drunk, that's all.”

Either she didn't care about my “flirtiness” with her married sister just now or was just willingly ignoring it, either way the girl in front of me left all of that out and simply said-

“Is she now?” Nalera, the… 2nd? 3rd? Eldest daughter of house Tequi- which if I'm right, specializes in business and stuff, so definitely an influential house, - didn’t look convinced and stared at me with her eyes narrowed into suspicion.

She crossed her arms across her chest in a way that emphasized her bust, “and why, do tell, did she get herself drunk? She doesn't do this, so as her sister, I demand to know what would break her innocent habits and turn her into this slurring whore.”

You’re the whore. You stupid bitch- I thought as I looked away from her cleavage, “well, Pearl abandoned her so she thought that being self-destructive would fix all her problems,”

“Oh, and you did not tell her to do so? To be “self destructive”?” She accused.

“No?” I replied, “what makes you think that? She was the one who kept asking for wine- yeah I guess I am a little bit at fault for leaving her alone but-”

“So you do admit it!”

“- It’s because I didn't want to stop her,” I stared at the girl behind Nalera, her name, I think I remember it now, it should be… Zayn? I think? “And again, shut the fuck up.” I said to her politely.

“See? I told you her mouth is crass- the bitch thinks that she's so high and mighty just because she earned herself a Pledge,” she huffed and I silently called her a hypocrite, so it's fine if she says bitch but it's not when I do it? “And anyone would be able to reach her levels of power should they possess the same Pledge, including you Nalera,”

Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

Nelera rolled her eyes yet kept her head even, which meant that the only one who saw her do it was me, evidence for this is the smug smirk that was still plastered on Zayn's face which… if they can keep the same expression without changing it throughout entire conversations, isn’t that proof of them being more plastic than flesh? Why aren’t they being studied? I’m sure the eggheads would just love to learn how to harness their natural hardiness.

“First off,” I grabbed another plate of meat, “Pledges are all given equal in power,” I started eating, “and swhechond,” I smiled when their faces scrunched up into distaste, “yhur bhoth vhitches.”

“A princess acting like some barbarian,” Nalera said with a scowl, “disgusting, come on, let us go. I’ll tell father about Capscaria’s debauchery later.”

Zayn followed after her silently and I was able to eat in peace-

FOR A GOOD 2 SECONDS before another bastard came up to me and this time, the guy had the audacity to pull the chair in front of me and place himself on top of it, I looked up before proceeding to look down when I realized that it was just the lowest ranking member of House Whirlia- he's a starting character too, with low base stats and the type of party member that you ditch for someone better halfway through the game.

Useless. Not worth my time. At all.

Capscaria, the NPC sitting right next to me, has more uses than the guy.

“Hello, Neophyte,” from the corner of my eye, I spotted his derisive smirk, “you do realize who you just offended correct?”

“Uhuh.” I drank another mouthful of shake, “and? What about them?”

“Might I tell you that house Tequi has a lot of influence across the city due to their myriad of businesses?”

I nodded and continued stuffing myself.

“My point is, dear Neo,” I visibly rolled my eyes at his attempt at being chivalrous, “Whirlia can help you stave off the rolls of advertisements that'll your name later this week-”

I threw a piece of bone to his forehead and gave him a dry stare, “what?” I raised an eyebrow, “Whirlia is below Everlast.” I pointed out, “you dipshit.”

“Yes but you do not have your father's or the royal court's support-”

“And I'm still a Pledge Bearing Everlast despite that.” His dumbass looked befuddled, “what? You think dear old daddy is just gonna let people sully the Everlast name? Course not,” I finished my shake, “now fuck off, I need to finish my meal before it gets cold.”

“How crude,” he stood up while shaking his head, “and also, it is a wonder where your body hides all of that food in,”

It burns it down immediately after I eat it, obviously, that’s because a Pledge Bearer's body is efficient but I've been waiting to say this so- “it hides it up your ass,”

He walked away fuming and I continued to eat while thinking that Politics fucking sucks. Seriously, what's the point of all this? Doesn’t everyone have anything better to do than mind other people’s business? Like I don’t know? MIND THEIR OWN?

But hey, with him gone and the word of my “barbarism” and “crudeness” spreading across the venue, I at least managed to finish my food before someone else came and this time around, their presence was a surprise, even for me-

“Zath?” I asked the woman wearing an owl mask while wearing the azure dress I gave her earlier this afternoon- and what's with that mask?! That's such a bad disguise! What is wrong with her?! I held back a giggle but then turned serious once I realized just who she might be here for, “Inferno's not here, and even if he is, I don’t think the guy’s a good fit for you Zath.”

“I am not here for him,” she replied, “also I am not Zath, you may call me, Nia.”

She flourished a supposedly masculine bow that bent her body halfway while moving both her hands to the right, oh- Oh I know what that gesture meant and I would love to dance with her, but I want to playfully mock her first. A friend doing this is genuinely rare so-

I made a show of rolling my eyes, “genius, absolutely genius,” I chuckled, which turned into a fit of laughter, “really? Nia?”

She stayed silent so I decided to take her invitation and held out my hand, her light-blue gloves met my whites before she pulled me up from my chair and with a smooth smile, she said, “you look stunning, mistress,”

She ignored my earlier jab at her chosen nickname but I’m not gonna give up! “Call me, Phyte.” I said with a smirk and flinched when something stepped on my foot. “Hey!”

“You look absolutely gorgeous, Neo.”

I smirked, “what? Straight to nicknames already? At least buy me dinner first,”

“You stuffed yourself like a pig,” she said dryly, breaking character.

I laughed, “uhuh? And? I'm still thin!”

“Stop trying to make me jealous,” Zath- Nia pouted.

“Jealous? Whaaa- pfft. You're already perfect in my eyes Nia, why would I want to make you jealous of my super efficient body?” I wiggled my eyebrows.

“Efficient, you say?” I nodded.

“Of course! I mean I can go all night long if the need arises-” I stopped when Nia suddenly started to giggle, which then started to heighten, “Nia?” She didn't respond and just kept giggling until she was bent over laughing-

“This must be some sort of cosmic joke.” I heard her say.

"Well, no matter,” Nia straightened herself and lightly lifted her mask, then a hand carrying a white handkerchief went up and wiped the corners of her eyes, once done, she fixed her mask, faced me and with another bow, she once again held out her hand, this time around though, she decided to be vocal with her intentions, “would you care for a dance, my lady?”

Now, by this time, the two of us were already somewhere around the center of the ballroom, where other socialites were gathered in preparation for the slow dance that is scheduled in a few minutes- and since Nia already giggled her heart out just now, that meant that we already have gotten the attention of a few people and when they saw me, well, they thought that I was here looking for a dance so some bachelors walked over to me but when Zath- sorry, Nia said that she wanted to dance with me, well…

“You like girls, Neophyte?” A confused Pearl to my left- who had around 3 Noble guys circling around her like little seagulls waiting for food, - asked with a genuinely confused tone, “I thought… you were just some sort of workaholic but… this… makes sense… too… I… guess?.. Sorry- I need to go.” She finished weakly.

I watched Pearl move away from us before facing Nia with a smirk, I took her hand, stopping every other guy from approaching, “I would love to,”

And if it just so happens to be that the dance started the moment that I grabbed Nia’s slender hand then… that’s just a coincidence, isn’t it?

The music started slow, a smooth crescendo, one that slowly rose as the different nobles started to find partners for the night, bit by bit, more instruments got added, first a violin, then a flute, followed by the soft chimes of a ukelele, which was overpowered by the two prior instruments, turning into nothing more than a supporting sound.

Nia started to circle and I followed after her, moving opposite to her, where as she raised her foot to the right, I moved by raising one foot to the left before then pulling my body towards that direction, the two of us circled each other twice before she raised her hand, her fingers interlocked with mine before her other hand found my waist.

I smiled and played along, raising my hand and putting it on her shoulder- which she glared at before gesturing to her own waist with her eyes. So that’s how she wants to play it?

“So, tell me, mistress, what do you prefer your partner to do in this situation?” She asked as my hand finally found her hips, we were in an odd dancing position, suffice to say but honestly, why not? Nia’s probably having fun-

I focused back on her and saw her staring at me curiously, “mistress?”

“Uhm.” I paused, thinking, what kind of things did I enjoy doing while ballroom dancing? “Well… I’ve always enjoyed it whenever I spun you around,” I answered.

“Very well,” Nia’s reply was quick and her actions even quicker; she raised her hand above her head before smoothly sliding her index finger into the gaps between mine.

Nia nodded, an invitation-

I obliged and put some force into my other hand and pushed, making her spin followed by a giggle, I allowed her to spin once before I locked our hands again and grabbed her waist, “thank you, Nia,”

“No, thank you-” She replied just as the walls of the ballroom went down to reveal a lush garden full of orange dots- no, Phoenix Butterflies. “Huh,” Nia murmured, “I could’ve sworn that they would’ve only brought down the walls after the first song,”

“It has already finished, my lady,” a passing noble said to us before dancing away.

I giggled, “well, you heard him!” I slowed my steps, and so did Nia, “now, I think I wanna appreciate the view for a while instead of dance, wouldn’t you say it’s beautiful, Nia?”

She leaned in, “you know, the funny thing is, here, when someone says that the Garden is beautiful-”

“It’s a confession!” I finished her sentence for her. I completely forgot about that! This was high noble society damn it! Not some Japanese RPG game so I thought complimenting the damn thing was natural- “Oh my god- I’m so sorry-”

You know, I don’t know if she was just playing along with my “confession” but for some reason, Zathania decided to kiss me on the lips.

And what’s even more confusing is that I… reciprocated.

Huh.