Bright manor was a surprisingly small, yet lavish place.
The gardens that lead to the manor are full of greenery, yet, one could see almost all the plants in the gardens are functional in one way or another.
There are fruit trees full of foliage. They were cut and made to look pretty, but they serve half as decoration, half as food source.
The hedges are full of lavender, which is currently in bloom.
Sure, they could be called ornamental plants, but this variety is a special honey producing kind, which is full of nectar.
The bees buzzed around the bushes, yet, the main walkway is free of insects.
The principal of the town school trudged the walk way dejectedly in his best suit.
He is thinking over the excuses he could make to the lord so that he could mitigate the effect of two students taking up skills before attending royal academy.
At present, the school principal's only saving grace is that he had never discussed the performance of students in front of the lord beforehand.
The students who left, Rina and Edam, both of them are students he planned to mention to the Lord Bright as a way of acquiring more funds.
Rina was a never before seen prodigy in runic arrays. At least, in their little country school. Even if she had the lowest magic index among all the children, how much does it take to create a runic array ? How long will its function be ? so, he planned to recommend her to the alchemy department of the royal academy specifically.
Fortunately, the principal did not know, Rina is just one percent short of eidetic memory. She is a walking talking spell library. Had he known that, the principal would rather have skipped the dinner at Bright's manner for the fear of the lord executing him.
Edam, on the other hand, is half dyslexic. Half dyslexia, because he just could not understand alphabets and numbers no matter what. On the other hand, he could talk in runes and magical language of elvish if need be. His magical index is the highest ever recorded in the school till now.
It is also fortunate the principal did not know that Edam's magic came straight from his Demon father. In that case, he must lose both his position and head for harboring a half demon.
Yet, he doesn't know all these.
At present, he is cursing both of his wayward students for their stubbornness in choosing zero level skills, and for skipping away without submitting the royal academy admission form.
He looked at the homeroom teacher beside him and warned lightly.
" Do not speak nonsense at the Bright manor. We could lose our heads for speaking out the wrong words. " The principal warned the teacher beside him.
The teacher, who was of morose disposition, clammed up even more hearing the principal's words.
In the first place, it was not his turn to come to the mansion.
He disliked all things to do with the aristocratic circle.
' Every bit as hateful and pretentious as ever. ' the teacher thought in his head, as he looked at the bright's door.
The butler greeted the teachers, and led them to the parlor.
Lord Henry Bright was standing at the entrance. He is dressed in bright scarlet army uniform, all of his medals and epaulet's out in full display. He is a man of six foot two, with a burly physique. He had a tummy, that's neither large, nor small, and a mustache to rival a walrus.
" Welcome ! Welcome, my dear guests. Your bright work has always been in my eyes. Except for you, no one else could accomplish the mission of enlightening ignorant little lambs of Bright territory, so that one day they could have the honor of knowing a royal grace and noble education. Come in ! For this night, celebrate the presence of our distinguished guests from afar with good food and great wine ! Come ! Come ! " Lord Bright greeted the principal and his party flamboyantly.
The non-existent teacher reduced his presence even more.
" You have the best Bright territory has to offer in front of you. No need to be shy, no need to be shy ! " he added.
Both of them thanked their host. Then they randomly picked up glasses of wine, along with the canape's being served by waiters moving around.
The principal was quite nervous, thus, his excessive appreciation for all the food served in Bright manner.
On the other hand, the teacher was quite natural in showing off his appetite, for most of these are food he would not want to splurge on.
The crackers are decorated with whipped goat cheese, filled with Beluga caviar glistening like black pearls on a field of snow, topped off with a basil leaf cut in the form of a tree. They were served on sterling silver platters, on gold leaf shaped plates.
One swish of the plate is enough to show the glint of gold, and in its cutesy little handle, a small sparkle was radiating white light, showing off this little gold plate is inscribed with a tracking charm.
Ergo, none present could steal them. Perfect sort of wealth to show off.
The teacher finished his appreciation of the little details. In the time he was dissecting the gold plate, the principal had finished off five different kinds of finger food, and there's a growing pile of little plates beside them, as if the table was growing a golden tree.
The entire room was as big as a tennis court and half.
The floor is perfectly polished black marble, and the walls are off-white gilded with gold. The ceiling is pure white, with tens of chandeliers hanging from it, on brass chains. The white ceiling reflected all the light on to the floor, while the floor reflected none back.
On one side of the wall, curtains are pulled back from the french windows, showing off the hedges of many flowers unique to Bohemia, forming a beautiful picture. One set of doors were open, the light gauze curtains fluttered lightly as the breeze came in.
While the teacher ignored the principal, and finished his appreciation of the hall, the principal had finished eating ten more canapes.
There's the little basket that had a round torta filled with cream cheese topped off with a slice of salmon and sage aioli, and the little wooden stand that held pigs in the blanket. Yet another had a fruit tart of the smallest size decorated with cranberries and dragon fruit, yet another had a little pizzelini with sauced beef.
The principal is always a bit greedy for food, but never like this, and never in this amount.
The teacher wondered what the problem was.
Sure, two of their students vanished without turning in the admission forms, but it's not like they are the champions or never before seen prodigies. The teacher himself came from the royal academy. He will bet all of his fingers and toes that the students that they missed won't even enter into the top fifty percentile of the royal academy.
Why is he so worried ?
The teacher decided to not care about the principal for the time being. After all, he is the boss, and there's no point getting hated by his boss for telling him ' Calm down, you idiot! You are being too obvious. '
Instead, the teacher turned his eyes to the brightly lit staircase in the back of the room. Just in time, Lord Bright strode and stood right on the third step of the red carpet covered staircase.
" Attention! Attention ! Tonight, we gather here, to celebrate the virgin voyage of brightest students Ruchiya Territory has to offer the kingdom this year. You have worked hard all this year. You have achieved brilliant results to show for it. Today, it is time to stop, and appreciate all that we have accomplished thus far. Now, without further ado, let's welcome our most beloved guests of tonight. My daughter, Elora Bright, and her companions. " Lord Bright said, extending a hand to the back.
The hall was filled with applause.
If one looked carefully, one could see the stiff smiles on more than five people who served as knights under Lord Bright. Their daughters are not maids of Elora Bright. Yet, with a single word, Lord Bright had reduced them to someone incomparable in status to Elora Bright. They are here to scout for a son in law. Ideally, the host would introduce each and every young lady as she comes down the stairs.
The lords are only slightly miffed, but their wives ~ that's a whole different ball game.
However, at that moment, a hush fell on the entire congregation.
Lady Elora Bright, dressed in a princess gown of shimmering emerald, the sweetheart neckline lined with a lace of diamonds appeared in the center of the staircase. The neckline extended on to the hands, exposing her collar bone, but not her shoulder in a line of pleats, which opened up to form bell shaped half hands. Her figure may not be voluptuous, but all the places that should be fat are fat, all the places that should be thin are thin. She has a willowy figure.
The dress moved with its own air flow as Elora took a step.
A single large teardrop shaped garnet was on her heck, connected to a line of squarish emeralds, surrounded by the smallest crystals. The diamonds are studded on the teardrop garnet, all over, with a white gold mesh. The gold work is so fine, it took an eagle eye to see it. It looked like a piece of night sky hung on Elora's neck.
On top of that, Elora herself shines with a halo.
The gold of her hair is set off all the more in the candle light.
The emerald of her eyes is set off with the emerald of her dress, making them sparkle like two jewels.
Her skin is like the smoothest butter. Her eyes and brows are set off with the slightest hint of gold dust, making it look like her eyes are lined with light itself. It made her eyes pop out clearly, and her eyebrows shimmer like gold when she turned. Her lips are painted with the faintest pink of rose buds, making them look like one wants to take a bite into them immediately. All of this is set in a perfectly oval face.
The men stood there bewitched, while the women looked at her in fascination.
It is like the world has come to a stand still at the sight of her beauty.