Chapter 41: Greetings

After our performance, the banquet started in full.

The guests started enjoying the dishes and the wine, as various groups formed naturally. People were no longer that stiff nor were their mouths, further loosening up with each progressive glass they drank.

In a single sentence, things got boisterous, finally giving this banquet, a banquet-like atmosphere.

But unfortunately, enjoying wasn't written in my fate, as I was dragged off to 'greet the guests'.

And as simple as this three-word task, 'greet the guests' sounded like, it wasn't.

It was a pain. A real pain.

I literally had to go and greet all the higher nobles above the Count rank, a pain indeed...

But I had to do it regardless, so following the hierarchy we started with the Dukes.

With the Imperial couple handling the political situation, the various factions of the Empire were in a balance.

A fragile balance.

That could break at any moment.

And don't misinterpret the word 'balance'.

Balance didn't mean peace or agreement, it simply meant that the factions were not pulling any big moves.

Something that would change in the next few years.

By the way, the Emperor used Demon's presence quite masterfully, using them as an external threat to knit up any political gap. But that only delayed the inevitable, as of right now, cracks started forming between the factions, as each faction pursed their own interests.

And when they did so, a conflict of interests naturally happened.

With neither party backing down, the conflicts continued to evolve, forming the current situation where two of the four factions were directly opposing each other.

And it wasn't a simple conflict over a single topic or subject, be it the stance in war, the treatment of superior and inferior bloodlines, magic user supremacy, or even the prices of resources, after a single clash of interests, all compromises were broken as more and more things just kept piling up making the situation much more tense and complicated.

And now, I stood in front of the leader of such an hard headed faction.

'Thankfully, our faction is neutral.'

I thought as I greeted.

"Greetings Duke Anais, hope you are enjoying the banquet."

"Greetings to you too Rayne, you sure have grown into a fine young man, far better than my little punk there, don't you think so too, Reynold?"

Cybil Anais, the magus dubbed as the Creator, said as he turned the question back to my father who was accompanying me.

With a light chuckle,

"Haha, you surely know how to jest Cybil."

My father replied, before falling silent.

"Haha, as taciturn as always, are we?"

"You know we have to greet others, don't you?"

"Excuses, excuses. You don't need to act so unfamiliar, you know?

How about we have a man-to-man chat, just like the good old days?"

As soon as he said those words, I suddenly felt a chill, it was as if the temperature around us dropped dangerously.

A feeling of dread, unlike anything I felt before overwhelmed me the next instant.

I snapped my head towards the Earl, only to find him staring at the other Magus with the same expression as always, but his betrayed his state. Those bottomless pits of blue were so filled with madness that it almost leaked out of them. They were crazy, they were mad, and most importantly they were hungry, it felt like they couldn't wait to swallow the man whole.

Facing those eyes, the one to back down was the Creator.

"You still get serious at every little thing, don't you?"

He said, before turning his head towards me,

"Anyways, I am glad that you woke up Rayne, be healthy now. Ah, Eden was upset that you missed his Ceremony, be sure to talk to him after you are done."

"Surely."

I replied curtly, before I grabbed the Earl's hand.

'Let's go, okay?'

I mouthed, as he turned towards me, before dragging him the hell out of there.

'There seems to be some dark history between them...'

'Fuck, it's only the first guest and I'm already exhausted.'

'At this rate, I don't even know if I will survive the whole process.'

-Huuuuuuu

'Let's get this over with.'

***

'Ugh, that was exhausting.'

I leaned on the railing of the balcony, as I lamented.

Feeling the cold wintery winds on my skin, I felt much better.

The process of greeting continued for an hour, and by the end of it I was totally exhausted, both mentally and physically.

'All thanks to my demonic father.'

I grumbled.

And not without reason.

Just take what happened when greeting Duke Arsenio.

As soon as I greeted the Duke, the nutjob erupted with immense magical pressure which was more than enough to crush me, as he 'tested' me.

Of course, I wasn't afraid, I had my Magus ranked father beside me for a reason.

Like a perfect example of a Father, the Earl completely blocked the pressure.

Feeling grateful, I was about to thank him...

But what he did next made me add that demonic in his name.

'That bastard let in just enough pressure to push me to my limits.'

So, during the whole time I greeted him, I had to endure the pressure, keep my expression in-check, and make fucking small talk with that brawny Duke!

Fuck!

And what was even more infuriating was that, all those nobles who saw this happen didn't move an inch to help me, rather their brain found this way to 'test' me, rather interesting.

And that fucked me.

One noble after another, I had to endure the magical pressure from various different magic users who were atleast A rank, with each magic user's mana having different characteristics and attributes, I had to continuously adjust mana to find the best way to counter it.

And most importantly, I had to do this for one hour straight!!

I was so drained that I felt like fainting any minute.

'Can that demon of a father imagine how tough that was!!'.

"Calling your own father, a demon, surely isn't the most appropriate way to address him, is it?"

"Like I give two fucks about that."

I replied instinctively.

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Before abruptly stopping.

"Oh, you are quite vulgar, aren't you?"

'I am not alone.'

My body suddenly felt like it weighted a ton, as with movements similar to a stiff robot, I turned around.

"...!"

And gasped.

The guest was so unexpected, that I couldn't help but do so.

With snow white hair reaching her knees, a simple white one-piece dress, and those mysterious blood red eyes.

There was no way to mistake her identity, but I was so shocked that I still couldn't believe it.

Believe that the Empress, Adeline Von Grey Jurgen Alexis was standing right behind me.

But when she didn't disappear even after blinking several times, I knew, that she was really here.

Bowing down, I tried to greet her.

Yes, tried.

"I greet-"

"Stop."

Because, I was stopped mid-way.

"Greet this, greet that, you have been doing this for the past two hours, and you are clearly tired of it, so why bother."

"Not like you actually respect me or anything."

"I respect-"

-Slap

A resounding slap, that broke both my jaw and cheek at the same time, while sending several of my teeth flying hit me.

Followed by a soothing voice.

"Oops! That hit too hard. Anyways, I told you to not bother, right?

So, why is a parasite defying me?"

The Empress said, before her voice turned deep,

"Do you want to die?"

-Thud

-Crack

It was just for a moment, maybe less than a single moment, that the pressure of the Empress leaked out. But just that single moment was enough to crack almost all my bones and stick me to the ground like a broken rag doll.

Broken ribs, crushed bones and punctured heart, no matter what, I was dead.

Or so a normal person would think, but-

-Snap

Not me, especially when the other person is her.

With a snap of her fingers, the whole world became colourless, became still, before time itself flew backwards.

My body stood up, my bones got fixed, my teeth flew back in, before my jaw finally fixed itself.

-Gasp

-Gasp

-Cough

-Cough

I gasped quite harshly, choking on empty air as I broke into a coughing fit.

It was only after a while that my coughing stopped and I managed to control myself, while continuing to gasp.

"Better now?"

And the voice asked as soon as I did.

'Better my ass!!'

I thought, while-

"Do I have to answer without lying?"

Was what I asked, this time in advance, as I didn't want to have another 'time travel'.

"Oh! You catch up quite quickly."

The Empress raised an eyebrow, before waving her hand.

"Yes, you are supposed to answer honestly."

Spontaneously, a chair, a table, and a tea set, were created in front of her, all of them sharing the same white color as that of her hair.

With an eyebrow still raised she sat on the chair as she cocked her head sideways.

"So, what is it, feeling better?"

"No, I am not."

"Hmm, thought so. Now, sit."

'Then why did you even ask!?'

I wanted to shout out loud, but somehow, even with several veins popping on my head I endured, and sat down.

"I asked because I wanted to, any problem?"

"Many."

"Keep them to yourself. I am not here to solve the problems of an old man."

She picked up the teacup, and in a disregarding tone spoke.

"Rather just spit it out, why are you possessing my subjects' body."

"Eh? I'm what!?"

"Hmmm?"

"You don't know?"

"Emm? I don't know, what?"

For the first time her eyes showed a hint of interest, a small ripple, that made her say,

"You don't know you are a parasite?"

A word at a time.

"A parasite? No, I don't think I am...?"

"Rather, what is a parasite?"

At my question, the Empress who was staring at me with her now shining red eyes, leaned back into her chair, before mumbling,

"Fuck, did I find a monster?"

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