I peeked behind them to see a really obnoxiously big carriage pulled by six white horses sitting in front of the manor. Surrounding it were fully armed guards riding on their own horses and an entire group of servants as well.
“Ahem, I asked if you are Aster?” The middle aged man repeated, looking quite snobbish as he did so.
I sighed internally, “Yes I am. Could I help you?”
He sneered at me, “Of course you can. You can start by welcoming us into your house.”
I acted confused, “I’m sorry, but who are you? I do not believe you are invited to this party?”
“Tch, as expected of the lower nobles to not even bother educating their own children about the basics of nobility. Makes me wonder just how low the standard has dropped for people like this to even get inducted into nobility.”
What’s with these nobles and not introducing themselves? They really see it as the other person’s job to remember their names and titles huh?
The silence stretched for a good long minute as I stood at the doorway while these two also remained where they were while staring at me.
After a while the middle aged guy spoke up again, “Well?”
I tilted my head, “Well what?”
“Well aren’t you going to let us in?”
“Umm… As I said, I don’t think I invited you? The space I have is limited and so is the food so having more people than planned is a little difficult for me.”
That was a lie of course. As if Mother or the servants of our house would even allow something as ridiculous as running out of food to serve the guests. What’s more, there’s definitely enough space for them as well but I really don’t like this guy’s attitude.
“Then just kick a few of the others already inside out! I’m a much more important guest than any of them!”
“I’m sorry, but I’m not going to do that.”
“What?! Do you really don’t know who I am?! Do you not see this crest?!”
The middle aged man gestured towards the crest that was emblazoned on the side of his carriage, the image being what appears to be an axe with its handle stuck in a stone.
“I see it… But I really don’t know who you are…”
He made a low growling sound before turning to the boy, “Son! Are you really sure she is the special class student who learned eight different magic skills? How can someone as clueless as she is be as capable as that?!”
The boy whom I still do not know the name of poked his fingers together, “It’s… It’s true, father! The student council themselves confirmed it as her challenge! And… And she even managed to bend a metal bar easily too! I saw it with my own eyes!”
“Tch… So she’s just completely clueless in the noble circles I see. Well then listen well, girl! I am Duke Pem of the Cildragon House! This is my son, Ton! Do you know who we are now?”
It took quite a bit of my willpower to not show any reaction to their names… I think I understand a little of why they did not want to introduce themselves because their own names sound really ridiculous…
“Sorry, but this is the first time I’ve heard of you…”
Both the father and son stared at me like I’ve grown a second head.
“Mistress, they are known to be one of the oldest families within the Lecharouc Kingdom. Although in recent years, they have not been showing much achievements so the Royal Family is starting to doubt if they were needed or not,” Katsuki whispered, my personal maid having appeared out of nowhere from behind me.
Ah… I see now.
Because they haven’t been achieving much, this guy was hoping that he could get me into his family to claim my achievements as part of his family’s and make themselves look more important than they actually are.
They did not manage to hear what Katsuki said but they must have assumed that she was explaining to me about who they were since they started acting arrogant again.
“Now that you know who we are, you should be welcoming us in if you know what’s good for you, don’t you?” The father asked with his arms crossed in front of his chest.
Ugh… What do I have to do to get them to leave? I doubt using force is an option… Is it?
Yeah, I don’t think forcefully kicking a Duke out of your house would be a good idea… But I really don’t want to let them come in though…
Just as I was thinking about what I could say to turn them away, a male Mahun came running towards the duo.
“Du… Duke Cildragon!! Your… Your mansion!! It’s on fire!!”
“WHAT?! WHAT HAPPENED?!!” The older man screamed.
All of us turned towards the upper district and sure enough, there was a large plume of smoke coming from that direction.
“We don’t know Milord! But the… The entire right wing has already been burned down!”
“What are my mages doing?!! This isn’t the time to be attending some stupid birthday party! Hurry back to the mansion now!!”
He pulled his son by the arm and dragged him back to the carriage, the driver already whipping the horses into motion to turn back towards the city.
Just as sudden as they had came, the entire group left without another word, leaving behind the man who told them about the fire.
While the newcomer looked panicked when delivering the news, he suddenly relaxed after the Duke had gone out of sight, which was already weird.
“Can I help you?” I asked him, wondering why he was still standing there.
He turned to me with a smile, “Oh, it’s me, Young Mistress.”
Muttering a spell, his form changed into Mary’s and the Trasif did a curtsy as though she had just finished putting on a performance.
“I hope that was to your satisfaction, Young Mistress?” She asked.
I gasped, “Did you set his house on fire for this?”
“Oh my? I do not know what Young Mistress is talking about. Was I not here the entire time? I do not know whose house was on fire at all, besides, the me here is not Mary~”
She chanted the spell again and she changed into her form as Lina.
As expected of Mary, how reliable~
Somehow I believe she had already expected this Duke to show up and had already prepared countermeasures to get him to leave ahead of time.
“Ara, ara? Are we expecting any more guests, my little one?” Mother asked, appearing at the doorway.
“Unn… I think there are still a few more, Mommy.”𝗈𝒱𝑙xt.𝐜𝒪𝓶
“Ufufufu~ In that case, leave it to Mary and Katsuki to welcome them, you should be inside with your friends~ Come along now~”
I turned to the two maids in question, “Ohhh~ Can I leave it to you two?”
Both of them bowed to me, “Of course, please leave it to us, Mistress.”
I followed Mother back inside where the rest of my friends were already enjoying the party that was already underway.
There was a variety of food and drinks all laid out on several tables and most of my friends were gathered inside the dining room to enjoy it.
Since most of them were not nobles, this would be the first time for them to attend a party like this and quite a lot of them were gushing over the food they were tasting.
“Sister Aster!!” Odeta waved, being the first one to spot me.
I made my way towards her, “Hello Odeta~ How are you liking the party so far?”
“Wahaha! As expected of sister Aster’s family! All the food tastes great!!”
“Ehehe~ I’m happy to see that you’re enjoying yourself~”
“Here, I saved these for you!”
Odeta took out some cookies which I immediately took from her and started nibbling on.
Ahhhh~ Chocolate chip cookies~ They’re so good~
Om nom nom nom~
Unnn? Ahh… I already finished them… That’s a shame… If only they were bigger, then I could enjoy them a bit more…
“La… Lady Aster! You… You can have these cookies too!”
I looked up to see one of my classmates from my Iatromancy class offering me another chocolate chip cookie with both hands.
Yay!! Another cookie! Nom~
And just as I finished that one…
“Big sister Aster! Have some marshmallows too!”
Oh~ This time it’s my classmate from my Pyromancy class~ And marshmallows! I’m definitely not going to say no to that!
“Lady Aster! Here’s some chocolate!”
“Big sister Aster! I have chocolate here too!”
“Here’s some strawberries dipped in chocolate!”
“Sister Aster can have my marshmallows too!”
“Ah, not fair!! Take my candies, big sister Aster!”
“Ahhh! Don’t leave me out! Lady Aster can take my pudding!”
Oh my, oh my! What’s gotten into everyone? Is it because it’s my birthday? Ahhh~ All of you are treating me so well! There’s so many sweets! Ahhh!! So much chocolate!! So many puddings!! So many sweets!!
Everytime I finish eating one thing, I’ll get something else fed to me!
This is the best birthday ever!!