Chapter 22

Ekaterina's birthday party officially began with a banquet, with the delicious aroma of the various dishes tempting the lower-ranking nobles to gluttony.

The high-quality wine made in the Dranalian lands brought by the maids gradually overwhelmed the senses of those with a weak tolerance, forcing them to regretfully put down their glasses before doing something foolish that would greatly humiliate them in high society.

It was customary for any noble's daughter's birthday party to begin with a banquet, one of which was to give them time to adjust to the presence of a large group of people in a relatively unfamiliar space from above before having to interact with them. Another was that, no matter what birthday party it was, it was apparently perceived as rude to have to give the birthday girl gifts as soon as she arrived, as it was almost the same as telling them that her arrival was only to bring them things or something.

Personally, as someone who lived in Japan, Ekaterina was quite accustomed to large crowds, so she was relatively calm in such a small environment. Furthermore, at school, she, like Kazuto, was always surrounded by a large number of students during physical education classes. She even had to give a speech to her classmates, something that can cause a lot of pressure.

She wasn't as overwhelmed by this as other young women her age might be.

It could also be because of the disdain for pompous humans I feel coming from Drupi that I am so calm… or perhaps it would be better to say, amused.

The little girl felt like the star of the event with a slight smile, holding back the urge to lovingly pet her pet while looking intently at her guests.

All the nobles gathered for this younger Dranalian princess's birthday party enjoyed this unique style called "Buffet" as they briefly socialized amongst themselves and the Dranalian vassals, chatting with some excitement about the novelty of this style and how some wanted to replicate it at their own parties later, with the clear and pleasant clinking of two glasses faintly resonating between two or more nobles who were getting along well, at least outwardly.

Although the Duchesses were more reserved in that aspect since they did not want to imitate something that Mireia did out of pride (Although it is said that it was her daughter Ekaterina's idea), they were not very reticent to take part in this curious style while hiding their smiles with the fans and even seriously considered going to parties that have "Buffet" in their theme, since they noticed that it was better to interact with each other that way.

Many of the nobles present also showed some curiosity toward the Dranalian elven and beastmen subordinates at the party, as their races were more common in the North than in the rest of the Hazar Empire. There was no obvious discrimination or anything of the sort among those present, as these races have been allies of humanity for centuries. That said, who knows what lay behind their smiling masks?

All aristocrats were trained to try to hide their intentions and emotions, so you will never easily know what they are thinking if they are good at what they do, only being able to read between the lines of their intentions from their subconscious gestures and words, and even that could be an elaborate trap so be careful.

You'd be lucky to find a pathetic noble who couldn't even handle the basics of most social interactions among aristocrats. However, such failures on the part of a noble are too rare to rely on luck.

As for the young women who had come to this party with their parents, many of them gossiped about the beautiful dress Ekaterina was wearing and how it enhanced her beauty, wishing similar dresses were made for them with excitement on their faces as they occasionally glanced in her direction.

On the other hand, many of the young men commented on how beautiful the princess was, and many of them tried to imagine how beautiful she would become later. Some of them, with a certain status in their family name, even aspired to marry Ekaterina in the future, thinking that such a beautiful lady from a duchy was the most suitable match for them.

None of them considered the possibility of the princess marrying a prince or something like that since the relationship with the imperial family was not the most ideal, so many of them trusted in their chances of courting Ekaterina in the future, when they were in the Academy.

If Astaroth heard those things, he would surely kill them with his evil gaze.

However, as was customary at such events, Ekaterina remained seated on her throne as she watched the Nobles alongside Drupi with her hands clasped in her lap.

At these kinds of parties, even before being able to socialize appropriately with nobles of their own age, the birthday girls had to sit with dignity and elegance on the throne to watch the Nobles enjoying a brief banquet… so that it wouldn't be too obvious.

It was one of the main reasons why these celebrations began with a banquet, the purpose of which was to allow the birthday girls to recall the knowledge about each of the guests that was imposed on them before the party so as not to make mistakes, using the descriptions of the various aristocrats, whether they were northern vassals or not, who attended their special day, in order to be able to recognize their identities and not make mistakes when addressing them.

It is hoped that by the time everyone has finished eating and interacting with each other and it is time to personally bring out the gifts each invited noble will present to the birthday girl, Ekaterina will be able to identify each of them without them having to formally introduce themselves to her, demonstrating her ability to recall important information such as the identities of other nobles and her skill in recognizing them from secondhand information.

Many noble girls in their debut and their personal maids did their best to remember their faces, names, titles, and occupations, as these could also become important in the future. As for why personal maids like Jessica would also have to participate in this, it was because, as a noble's personal maids, they had been trained to serve as the contact book for their lovers in human form.

Ekaterina had no idea if this would ever be of any use, but she did what she had to do diligently. She didn't want to humiliate herself on her own birthday, even though it seemed normal to not recognize a stranger invited to her own party, even if they shouted it at her every time they entered.

Fortunately, the evil system can help me with this.

<Stop calling me that or I won't help you>

I'll think about it…

<…>

Of course... it turns out Ekaterina was cheating a bit, unlike other noblewomen. After all, what good would having the ID function do her if she didn't use it to achieve her goals?

Ekaterina's golden eyes seemed to glow whenever mana flowed into them, her gaze subtly locking onto a particular noble to identify them with the power of the system, gaining valuable information about that person such as their name, occupation, and rank.

While it didn't display information like your unique abilities and powers, it did display relatively useful information like your age, your hometown, public tastes (basically what the general public knows you like, which is rarely useful with in-game capture objectives), and even your ethnicity.

Wow... Count Adrian is a descendant of the Apana family... Who would have thought it? Although his muscular build and his bushy, well-trimmed beard, which reminds me of a jolly hunter's, had something to say, if I'm honest...

He thought, his eyes blinking weakly in surprise.

The Apana were a group of human tribes who lived near the northern mountains and were adept at climbing them, among many other things. For a Count to have a relationship with these people, whom others would call primitive, spoke volumes about the actions of his ancestors. Incidentally, Ekaterina knew about them from a rather cute Capture Objective that male players loved.

Regardless, Ekaterina continued to gather information on each of the guests through the system, using her Arcane Art of Body Strengthening to enhance her brain power so that nothing would be easily forgotten. She was literally recording as much information as possible into her mind using the power of magic... I mean, the arcane arts, inscribing that data as if she were writing it in stone.

Each of these aristocrats, to a greater or lesser extent, wore clothes and accessories that seemed to emphasize their nobility, if their refined gestures and postures alone weren't further proof of their origins and lineage. Gold brooches with beautifully polished gems, solid silver earrings, exquisite embroidery...

Everything about them was a symbol of opulence and the glow of wealth.

But of course, most of the luxury items each and every one of them was wearing couldn't even beat the rug under their feet.

Ekaterina was astonished every time she recalled how she learned that her father had casually ordered his subordinates to make this rug from the high-quality hide of a Behemoth. In fact, she almost fainted from fright, along with her master.

How could they not know, knowing what kind of monster that was?

In HAD, a Behemoth was a powerful monster that a player and their NPC party could face in rocky or desert areas that could only be explored with a high WER (World Exploration Rank) of 63, and its earth-type magical abilities, according to the Lore, were absurd enough to threaten a small village guarded by well-armed knights.

Aside from being monstrously large, as its name suggests, it was deceptively cute and looked like a cross between a pig and an elephant with large black eyes... but, as its power and size make clear, it was not to be underestimated at all. Its physical defense, in particular, was a nightmare.

Naturally, the materials that could be obtained from such a high-ranking monster were very valuable, and each of them cost a small fortune even for an earl.

And yet... his father was using the skin of such a creature to make a rug... Who does that!?

While a Behemoth's hide is not only pink, but also beautiful and soft to the touch despite its natural toughness, it was simply too absurd to use such a high-value material in something like a rug.

First of all, a high-quality Behemoth skin is extremely rare in any market on the Fredonia continent due to it being the body part that took the most damage from battles against a Behemoth, the excuse being that it was one of the least pumped materials when players hunted it in the game, but here it was an established reality.

Secondly, Behemoth hide was an excellent material for crafting powerful, high-ranking items. In fact, many of the scrolls with powerful combat magic that Arthur and the heroine would craft in the game were made from Behemoth hide. According to lore, it had excellent mana conduction, which increased its resistance to spellcasting, making it a necessary material for reusable scrolls.

And third, Behemoth hide was most useful when used to create armor and maybe boots if you wanted something fancy, not rugs.

It was a complete waste of materials to use the Behemoth hide in that way. What's worse is that his mother went further and hired wizards to use magic on that very rug, giving it various enchantment-like effects.

Ekaterina was sure that not even the other dukes would have done anything like that, since she had "met" them while playing as the heroine, and none of them had ever done anything like that in the game. Was it because she was no longer sick? Her parents decided to throw a more sumptuous party than the noble guests knew... They even magically enchanted the ice statue of a brave Drupi to prevent it from melting until the end of the evening!

By the way, the way mages cast these magical enchantments is quite inefficient, as they're only temporary. After all, they were technically like the buffs that support NPCs or the player themselves cast on their companions.

She couldn't deny that the buffs they gave the carpet were very helpful, truth be told. For anyone walking on the large circular carpet, fatigue would be significantly reduced by 90%, easily making it possible for even fat men like Marquis Dubian to stand for hours without noticing a loss of stamina. Not only that, there were buffs that lessened the strain on the muscles, preventing them from aching from being in a certain position for too long, something Ekaterina herself was quite grateful for if she had to be honest.

Furthermore, people felt very relaxed standing on it, as if they couldn't feel any strong negative emotions or anything like that. He thought there might be nobles who would complain about having to stand most of the time, but it was as if they had no problem with the arrangement. On the other hand, he noticed how a bit of wine fell on the floor by mistake and magically disappeared a few seconds later...

It must be the power of buffs like {Fatigue Reduction III}, {Muscle Damage Reduction II}, and {Status Immunity I}. They're very useful buffs, and it's great that in this world you can enchant items with them, even if it's just temporarily... Though I don't know anything about the buff that keeps the carpet clean, since the game didn't need something like that...

It was one of the differences this world had with the game she knew. Once again, Ekaterina was surprised to learn that buffs could be temporarily imbued into items when she first heard about it, and she saw the usefulness of such a thing...

I mean, in other games you could improve or enhance items using magic, but in Heroes and Dragons... It seemed ridiculous considering how the magic system worked. Still, it's amazing, I can imagine so many things I could do with it.

…but still, no matter how you looked at it, these charms were a total waste of money just to keep the carpet clean or for the comfort of guests until the end of the party… even if your parents were filthy rich, there was still a need for moderation.

Instead of saying that the nobles were amazing for using such expensive materials for decorations and spending large sums on temporary enchantments, the player inside his soul was shouting "What a waste!" with righteous anger resonating off the walls of his heart.

Sometimes my parents' extravagance drives me crazy... What a useless magic service! This is a scam, a blatant scam by unscrupulous magicians!

<Nobles always spend a lot of money on temporary things like that, there's no need to make a mental fuss>

Scam!

<…>

The system wisely decided to remain silent.

In any case, Ekaterina sincerely hoped she could soon begin researching the creation of permanent magic scrolls and enchantments once and for all. She'd have to talk to Arthur about that...

Shaking her head slightly to clear away unnecessary thoughts, Ekaterina turned her gaze towards her new capture target.

A young nobleman who, over the years, would develop a passionate interest in blacksmithing due to his interesting encounter with an old blacksmith. A man forced to live under the rules of the nobility without being able to indulge his passion, constantly pressured by his insufficient skills—at least according to others, compared to his younger brother…

A boy who would become the most legendary Master Blacksmith for his incredible talent and unique power he was born with, if only he were allowed to use an iron hammer freely, instead of being forced to train in paths he had no talent in according to his vision, and where his heart was not set at all.

He was the eldest son but he was not the heir, but his brother, and even so they would not let him go free, having to live like any other noble despite the fact that his inferior position had already been established since he was 10 years old.

That was Lunay Shirren von Jaktom, the son of the wizard duke Obrein.

And Ekaterina had to approach him for the sake of the mission.

He was a pitiful boy, and yet she had to help him, not for the love of her heart, but for the good of the world and a mission.

Something was wrong and she knew what it was.

But, anyway, she had something to do, and she would do it. Of course, she had no idea that, just before the banquet was completely over and the servants had to bring the nobles their saved gifts so they could be delivered to Ekaterina, the Duchy of Dranalian would receive a visit from unexpected visitors.