[Translator: Dawn]
[Proofreader: Karane]
"Now, tell me. Where am I from, and what emblem do I have?"
"Yes, milady. You are from the Arianne family which is from the beautiful city of the west, 'Periph'. The emblem of your family represents abundance and fertility."
"And the title you received as a knight, and your name is?"
"As a flower that bloomed for the eternal well-being of the young lady in the Arianne family, I was awarded the title of Knight of Flowers. My name is Maxim."
"Okay, you passed."
We were having a struggling conversation for two hours in front of the giant door. Khea, who turned into 'Arianne Marie' the moment Russell walked out the door, was staring at me as if she was about to devour me.
We found the luggage with our Master's seal stamped placed in front of the door, and several sheets of parchment from the luggage had detailed descriptions of our roles and settings.
"We just got 25 Ormachon tokens and 7,000 gold."
Khea started to rummage through the luggage sitting on the floor cross-legged. She was reigning over my head before I knew it.
"I don't think we have to play our roles in this room…"
" How dare you!"
She had completely turned into a noblewoman. However, there was no way for me to tell if this was a joke or not, so I had no choice but to go with her pace.
Basically, this was a role play that had to be done in order to complete the mission, so I already figured that she wasn't joking around.
I had to make sure to play my role as well as I could since things had come to this situation.
But what is this uncomfortable feeling? And what was the meaning of the strange smile she gave at the end of her words?
"The item that we have to win in a bid for is 'the musical score consisted of Eulicine's Rhapsody No.7 to No.14'. The person who put this up for the bid is from the 'Ballonne family', which is famous among the shady families."
"Milady, can a musical score become a weapon?"
She changed her posture and sat down, trimming the hair that was lying around her neck.
"The Ballonne family is connected to numerous criminal groups out there. The items they register are packaged with the fancy word called auction, and the one that receives the item has already been decided beforehand."
Marie, pulling her hair back to skillfully tie a ponytail, stared at me piercingly.
"Our mission is probably not just about winning the score in the bid."
"I would imagine the main objective is to annihilate the group that was to take the item."
She nodded at my words.
"Not half bad."
She murmured as she was going through the leftover luggage, not being able to say it while looking at my face. Then, she found a red box from the luggage and held it in her hand.
And on that box,
[ Sometimes the thorns hidden under the bright petals are sharper than any other sword.
– Robin – ]
There was a note from the master.
Then she opened the box, and inside, a black dress fluttering in the slightest breeze was flaunting an elegant figure.
"Now then, Maxim. Read the letter that our Master has sent you personally and carry out our mission. Keep in mind, this is our mission."
"Understood, milady."
I could tell that she said the first part as Marie and the last part as Khea.
She went into a different room after, and I carefully opened up the letter which the master had sent to only me.
[ Mose, your mission is to serve and protect your master, Marie, in any situation, no matter what. ]
After checking the short scribed letter, I immediately threw the letter into a bonfire in the hallway for it to burn.
Then some time had passed while I had thought about the role that was given to me and the door to the room which Marie was in opened up.
And at the black roses walking out of the room, my eyes and my mouth grew as big as they got.
The black dress lit up with silver sparkles, as Khea moved, like dragon scales, like the Milky Way in the night sky.
However, even that light was lost by Khea's formidable appearance.
It felt as if I had a world-famous beauty star in real life in front of me.
I was thinking why she didn't look this attractive when she was wearing those leather armors, but I remembered the saying 'clothes make the person' and nodded to myself in agreement.
"What are you waiting for? Hurry up and put your armor on!"
The complete change in her tone of voice, as if she had practiced her intonation more in the room, made me jump up from my seat without even realizing it.
After putting on the armor, we got out of 'The Place Where Flames Rest', while keeping a certain distance from Khea, wearing an elegant dress, and carefully going down the stairs.
The buildings on the 84th floor were all different and complex in terms of their styles as if they were modeled after the famous architectures from various cities.
When Marie showed up in the middle of the street with a huge crowd, they split in half to open up the way for her.
Watching the scene from behind was truly spectacular.
"Maxim?"
"Yes, milady?"
"We're on our way to participate in a social gathering, so keep your nerves."
"Understood, milady."
***
Reaper Scans
[Translator – Dawn]
[Proofreader – Karane]
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***
The letter she received from the master must have been a longer letter than the one I received. She seemed to be following the instructions from the letter like a machine.
The 90th floor, which we arrived at a frightening speed on the elevators ran on floating crystals arranged on every floor, was so luxurious and extravagant that it could not be compared to the 84th floor.
One of the buildings had its pillars made entirely out of gold, and names I never heard of were written on the floors with gold and jewels.
The place we arrived at by following the road with giant jewels encrusted in it was the largest building on the 90th floor. The harmonious sound of music tickled my ears when we walked inside.
There were countless guards standing at the door, however, anyone who saw Marie didn't dare to step in front of her to halt her.
Even I would've thought that she was a very high-class noble if I were to see her in this appearance for the first time.
Soon, a middle-aged man in a very elegant long coat greeted Marie.
"Welcome. Could you please tell me the name of your family?"
"It is Arianne, from the city of Periph."
The middle-aged man who heard Marie's answer called himself the guide and led us inside.
He whispered to a younger man who was wearing the same long coat as him as he carefully opened up the giant door, and the younger man spoke in a loud voice to his broach that was on his chest.
"The lady of the Arianne family from the city of Periph is coming in."
His voice gently spread through the room like an echo on the mountains, which slowly began to fill the entire building.
Marie entered the room with everyone in the building focusing their attention on her.
It felt as if I was going into the building using her as my shield. I couldn't even imagine the burden she was holding while walking through with everyone's eyes focused on her.
Loud voices of exclamation started to burst out from everywhere in the room.
They were admirations caused by her beauty.
But soon, the uncomfortable murmurs of those who recognized her ears longer than humans and shorter than those of elves started to rise from here and there.
Inside the building was a huge hall like a ballroom. The floor of the hall had a rich and soft color as if it had been made entirely with jade, giving the impression that I was floating on the clouds.
And on the backside, there was an orchestra of around twenty people who were playing their instruments in front of a crystal, and tables and seats covered by dark shadows were evenly arranged around it.
But after a moment, a woman in a white dress with golden earrings the size of half her face approached us with a strange smile and said,
"Welcome, the young lady of the Arianne family. If it's not too much of a hassle, would you be okay with sitting with us?"
This woman with strangely sharp eyes gave a very scary impression. At her request, Marie took her hand in a rather plausible voice and bowed her body slightly.
As I watched Marie led by her hands, I was able to hear the derisions following her from around.
After arriving at her seat, Marie carefully laid herself on the blue couch as wide as the sea.
She sat down with slightly awkward body movement as if it was her first time encountering such a couch, and the five women who were sitting around the table were smiling slightly.
Behind them, around two men in armor hid in the shadows with swords around their waists. They had to be their knights.
I carefully posed behind Marie as they did, while busily rolling my eyes in my helmet.
"I welcome the Ari-ak family."
"Pfft, sis!"
Soon, the short-haired blonde woman sitting on the other side began to speak with a funny accent, and the plump blonde woman next to her patted her on the shoulder and laughed.
"Ah, my apologies. I thought it'd be the polite thing to do to speak in Periph dialect."
The blonde woman with short hair shook her head in a funny way and frowned one of her eyes. The other four women started to laugh out loud at this.
"Anyways, I heard that the grapes raised in Periph are as juicy as the waterfall of Adramal, and as ripe as the jewel of nights, Yorodd. Is the Arianne family also running a vineyard in Periph?"
The woman who invited us over to this table asked Marie. Marie calmly opened up to speak.
"Yes, our family runs a vineyard."
The opponent swung her giant earrings attached to her ear and raised her upper body in response.
"Mhm?"
The woman with short red hair, who sat on the other side of the woman, who showed a bitter reaction after asking her question, frowned and said,
"To think that just a mere grape could earn you the title of nobility, it's like a parvenu in a dirty mine."
The other four women sitting around the table burst out laughing.
Then the short haired woman said again,
"Our family, Akazit, has a long history as a royal enchantress that infuses power with magic and objects. The Arianne family definitely needs to put in more effort."
The woman with giant earring continued,
"Yep, this isn't a place you can attend just because you have a lot of money."
The four others started to chime in on her statement. They began to humiliate Marie in an instant and their actions began to grow out of control.
Some even walked out of the tables and looked at Marie with an eerie smile, as if they had come to find a new side dish to add on their gossiping session, snooping around.
And there the decisive blow occurred. The woman with her short hair, smirking in a very unpleasant manner, emptying the wine glass in her hand, and said
"Anyways, how did our lady here end up being a half-elf?"
The woman in red hair continued,
"I can't even imagine how it would feel to look like the 'slaves' on sale on the lowest floor of Bing Caravan, right?"
The woman with the giant earrings said also,
"I can tell that the head of the Arianne family is truly promiscuous. If that was me, I would've gotten out of this room as fast I could with my eyes on the ground."
And threw the final blow.
Even the crowd that gathered in the back started to openly cheer for her.
I quickly turned to see how Marie was doing. However, I couldn't see her back from where I was standing.
A moment later,
The woman with giant earrings sitting next to Marie tilted her head slightly.
"Oh my, does our lady from the Arianne family not know how to wear a choker properly?"
Every woman at the table turned to look at Marie's neck.
Then the woman in red hair said as she shook her head,
"My goodness! She wore her choker upside down, how embarrassing, I can't stand it!"
And started laughing out loud. Soon, a short-haired woman across from Marie turned her back and pointed.
And a knight in a full set of armor appeared from her shade.
"Could you please go fix her outfit for me? It's a real sore to my eyes."
The knight started to walk towards Marie with a serpentine smile after hearing her command.
The ladies around the table started to make excited faces.
And so,
His hands,
Were slowly approaching Marie's nape.
And I also moved at the same time.
I firmly grabbed his wrist heading towards in Marie's direction,
And lightly applied a little strength to my grip.
Then his wrist along with his iron gauntlet were crushed.
"Eek, Gaaah!"
The knight started to roll on the ground in pain after a short shriek, and glared at me as if he wanted to kill me.
"Who do you think you're reaching your hand to!"
I shouted in a growling voice with my teeth gritted, and he grabbed his wrist and slowly backed away in fear.
And the moment I hurriedly checked Marie's face,
I realized that I had nothing to worry about at all.
She had a smile on her face.
A more evil smile than from the women sitting around the table.
"My, my. Are all the knights from Akazit family made of garbage slaves like this one?"
"Wh-what?!"
The short haired woman blushed up instantly in embarrassment.
The crowd around cooled down in an instant.
"Well, I was wondering how great of a family you had since you were talking all big, but it seems that your family is not that great at all."
"Y-you little mutt…!"
The woman wearing large earrings sitting next to Marie spoke harsh words as she grinded her teeth, and the woman sitting across from her stopped her.
"Foolish bitches. This noblewoman whose presence you are in, plans to solve this situation by faithfully and honorably obeying the laws of the nobles for the insults you have presented."
The women sitting around the table started to busily look at each other.
At this Marie,
"Maxim, my knight."
Called my name, and I quickly kneeled on one knee and bowed my head in front of her.
"Yes, milady."
"I, Marie of the Arianne family, have received an indelible insult from the Akazit family. Therefore, I plan on restoring my reputation through challenging them to a 'duel' between the knights from each family. Maxim, are you prepared?"
She was not taken aback by any means.
The ones I should pity were the five women sitting around the table over there.
I was angrier than her at the obscene insults that filled this hall towards Marie, so I shouted out with an involuntary smile on my face.
"I am the Knight of Flowers from the Arianne family, Maxim! I shall fight for our family's honor!"
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