Herad stood up from his seat gracefully as he prepared himself to speak.
"Now that we have finished our meals, it is now the much awaited time! My dear noble brother, will now be receiving the gifts we have kindly prepared for his special day! And to start it off, I will be presenting a message through a piece of poetry that I have stumbled upon when I have traveled together with these group of adventurers by the West border of Anemoly."
"To travel is to be blind.
Blind of the things one never knew,
And blind of the things one shouldn't know.
Blind to the disruptions that one's journey may cause,
And blind to the blessings that one's journey may give.
Blind to the future on whether there will be a tomorrow,
And blind to the past that one might forget his sorrow."
Galen grinned while clapping lightly. Then, Herad grabbed unto a small pouch by his hip but then, he stopped when he recalled something. He looked at Professor Gnarly for permission to use his spatial pouch, and Professor Gnarly nodded in agreement.
"Spatial Magic embedded in an object is allowed. The magic doesn't come from the user but instead, in an object as a medium, hence it does not apply towards the rule."
Professor Gnarly waved his hand, making everything on the table, the used utensils, the wine glasses, the wine, and ornaments, disappear. Then, he chanted some unintelligible words which made the table wider and also made Inna and the rest move backwards on their chairs.
Herad smiled as he stood up on the widened table, treating it as a makeshift stage. Then, he once again reached for his spatial pouch. It was a brown dirty pouch similar to Professor Gnarly's but Herad's pouch was noticeably smaller. Nevertheless, it still functioned perfectly as a spatial pouch as Herad took out some armor, garments, and shoes.
Inna furrowed her brows as she tried to make sense with what was happening.
Poetry? Does she have to prepare some poetry too?
Inna wracked her brain for any great poetry she could recall but she realized that her brain was empty.
Should she just do the 'roses are red' poem?
Roses are red,
Violets are blue,
He's an asshole,
And Herad's one too.
She mentally snickered to herself as she watched Herad wear the things he took out. When the last armor has been attached to his body, Inna realized that it actually looked like it was some sort of costume he prepared. He had few armor on top of his robes that glistened whenever the light hits it. The shoes he wore matched his outfit too, along with the long headband he tied to her forehead. Then, he reached in his pouch again to take out two wooden daggers. He raised his arm as he spoke.
"This present that I will be offering towards my dear noble brother would be a fighter's dance I learned from the same adventurers. The song that will accompany this dance would be the song, 'A Bamboo on Stormy Winds' and I hope my dear noble brother would appreciate it."
Professor Gnarly snapped, and suddenly, music began to reverberate around the room. It was a fast paced music, with trumpets blaring and drums being played rhythmically.
Then, Herad began to move along with the music, his daggers flowing along with his arms as he imitated a man fighting with an opponent. But his movements were unexpectedly not harsh nor rigid, instead they were flowy and rhythmic that it oddly fits with the music's tempo and beat. When Herad's performance ended, Galen stood up and clapped heavily. They with a hearty laugh, he praised his friend.
"Wonderful! Wonderful! Such a great present to give! It truly shows the struggles you've experienced when you traveled with these adventurers."
Inna tried to prevent her eyes from furrowing as she stared at Herad in confusion.
What struggles?
He simply looked like he was fighting air.
And the air was actually winning.
But Inna didn't have time to dwell too much into it. That's because she is now trying to prevent an accident from happening.
Back when Galen was congratulating him, Herad made his exit as he walked over to Drona's side. He was about to go down the table when he 'accidentally' stumbled. He slipped off the table and his foot was about to land into Drona's foot. And from the speed of which his foot fell, Drona would most likely have a fracture on her foot.
But the moment that she noticed the uncanny way of how Herad tumbled over nothing, Inna launched off her chair and ran in front of Drona. Due to her fast reflexes, Drona was pushed back and in her place was Inna, whose foot was stomped on by Herad. They landed on a heap on the ground by Drona's side as they groaned in pain.
Inna saw a crack of irritation in Herad's surprised facade as she tried to endure the stinging pain on her toes. Then, there were two loud sounds of a harisen hitting flesh as everyone tried to reel in what just occurred. Herad and Inna were struck with the fan due to misbehavior and acting out of character.
An Empress shouldn't protect anyone less authoritative than her.
Professor Gnarly glared at Herad but he kept his silence as he humph-ed. Then, he looked at Inna with a blank stare as he tried to see how these students would resolve this.
"Empress!"
Drona was finally able to collect herself as she checked on Inna. She looked at her injured foot and sighed in relief when she saw no blood. She was about to use healing magic, hovering her hand over the injured foot, when Inna grabbed her hand tightly.
"This Empress is quite alright. There is no need to use such magic."
Inna laughed slightly as she wobbly stood up.
Drona knew that her foot wasn't 'alright' at all, but seeing Inna's look of warning, she knew that Inna was trying hard to make her remember the rule about no usage of magic. Drona sighed as she decided to just let it be.
Meanwhile, Herad gritted his teeth as he stood up as well. He casted an irritated look at Galen for less than a second before his face resumed its apologetic facade. Then, he bowed respectfully towards Inna as he begged her.
"Dear Empress! This subordinate is terribly sorry for making you experience such a horrific and painful one! This subordinate would like to beg for our benevolent and magnanimous Empress to find it deep in her heart to grant this lowly subordinate pardon for his misdemeanor."
Inna wanted to sneer at Herad's facade but knowing that she's almost going to fail if she ever makes a single more mistake, she decided to just sneer at him inside her mind.