"I think this is a little pretentious to wear for something like dinner isn't it?" I asked Zath as she pulled on the strings of my corset, as per request, the bones were light, giving me literal breathing room because my lungs aren't getting crushed to death by the damn thing. And in exchange, I didn't look like a normal high class lady or something.
"You say that all the time," Zath replied while tying the strings to the sides of the corset, in the mirror, I could see that her face was concentrated as she made sure that each one didn't intersect and give me back problems, "and what's more, this time this actually-" I smiled as her expression twisted into one of effort while pulling on a set of strings to tie them together, I cheered her on silently until she was done, "- is validated because you have visitors,"
Zath stepped away from me to grab my dress for the night.
"Really?" I asked as I twisted my body around to get a better look at myself, despite its relative looseness to the typical noble fashion sense, with the corset on, my hourglass figure looked even more pronounced.
My shoulder length silver hair whipped back and forth as I moved my neck for a better view, and me, being the easily distracted smartass that I am, saw my hair move around and decided that it was a good idea to start a small dance by moving my hips back and forth.
Zath cleared her throat in the background and I stopped, stared at my pink face- which I would never get tired of looking at. Gorgeous. I'd kiss me. - and I met my own eyes, "you know," I started, "it's kind of weird that I'm not allowed to act like that,"
"Like what? A common street whore?" Zath said with no small amount of disdain and I had to give her a look of chastisement, she didn't meet my eyes but she did add her opinion, "mistress, you know that you're above that, please act like it, even when you don't want to,"
"Yeah, yeah," I waved my maid off, "it's not like I'm actually gonna be a whore or anything like that,"
"I will make sure that you do not end up as such," Zath retorted resolutely and I let it go, seeing as this is one of those things that the girl wouldn't budge to no matter how hard I try to convince her that I don't really care about it- then again, it's not like her saying stuff like that is abnormal, she is a high born and was raised in a noble family, much like every other maid working on the castle, because dear old Dad wouldn't have anything less.
Also, every Royal considers it an insult to hire from the lower- eh, lowerer classes, so that's why they hire the late sons and daughters of Nobles instead, after all, these guys wouldn't be able to inherit anything, so why not work in the royal castle instead?
"You're dazing off again," Zath's hands clasped both my shoulders and I frowned, "what is it that you are thinking about this time?" She asked as her hands went down my back, she paused, "wait, were you considering our conversation just now?"
"No?" I replied quickly and her hands resumed moving across my body, I know that she's just taking my measurements and all that but it's during times like these that I really feel like she's flirting with me, and the words that come out of her mouth every time she does this don't help either, "Zath," I asked, "aren't you weirded out by how touchy we get?"
"Of course not," my personal maid replied, "we used to hug as children remember? We even slept together? I feel like we crossed each other's personal boundaries several times already Neo."
Yeah… that sounds like it's one of those 'childhood friends' shit that you can usually see on shonen manga, what's next? She's gonna reveal to me that she was a boy all along? A reverse situation of the 'my friend was actually a girl?!' trope that usually happens there?
Because that would be creepy!
I had to make sure, "Zath are you a boy?"
"You've seen me naked, mistress,"
"Yeah that counts," I shrugged and flinched when my maid pinched my neck, "hey!"
"You shouldn't joke like that," she scolded, "now raise your hands, I'm putting on your dress," I did so and waited for more than a minute because Zath had to re-adjust my dress to match my corset before attaching it to the hooks of my changing room, then finally, after what felt like forever, my dress slowly came down from the ceiling and covered me, I took it upon myself to adjust my arms so that they fall into the sleeves but after that, the dress was on my body and I just let Zath work.
The maid adjusted the ribbons on my back, tying them up into a beautiful bow before fixing the rest of the dress, then she made sure that everything is straight- "We should be done," she said as she patted some parts of the dress.
Zath walked away from me when all was said and done, "and might I say, you look gorgeous, ohn, mistress," she said fancily.
I rolled my eyes, "stop it," I smiled, which she returned, "okay, so, I trust your words that I look good," Zath nodded, "but I also need to check for myself,"
"Be my guess, Neo," my maid took a step back and her black and white uniform disappeared from the reflection so that I can look at myself in all my glory.
The dress was colored in a slightly darker shade of yellow with a large black line across the stomach, separating the top and bottom- the actual dress, the bottom, had floral patterns on it, little white daisies that took up most of the space available there.
While my torso, or my top, was filled with tiny frills, which covered my chest like a curtain. In total, there are three lines of these frills running across the front of my chest while my back is open space, showing skin.
"I do look nhice," I said with a fancy voice of my own, "Dahlin, Zath-" I giggled when my maid did, "sorry, too much?"
"You sound like your sisters." She replied.
"That's both a compliment and an insult, you know that right?" I asked.
"Of course I do," Zath nodded shamelessly.
Sadly, we didn't have any more time for banter so the moment that our conversation started to lull, Zath and I went out of the changing room and back into my bedroom proper, where a wrinkled butler was waiting, the guy- who for the life of me I couldn't remember the name of, - nodded at me and said, "you look stunning mistress Neophyte,"
I smiled, "thank you," I curtsied a bow and then turned to Zath, "It's all thanks to my personal maid, she helped me pick the dress after all,"
The butler nodded, "then I give her my compliments as well," yay! I turned to her, you hear that Zath?!
"Now, let us be off, your father and his guests are waiting and you are the only one who isn't present on the table,"
I had the gall to put on a sheepish smile and rub the back of my head, saying, "sorry, I uh, took a while to change,"
"It is fine," the butler replied as if it was rehearsed.
And so, all three of us walked until we reached a set of double doors after which, the butler opened it and waited right next to the wall for me to pass, he tried to stop my personal maid from entering the dining hall but I shook my head at him.
After that, Zath and I passed through the doors and into the lavishly decorated dining hall of our castle, whereas my maid proceeded to join all the others in serving my family and their guests' food, I found myself sitting at a long ass table right next to Bismuth.
The seating on the table was arranged in a way that valued an individual's political position and power, with the King, his wife, and his concubines to our right, my lower ranking, to be married off siblings to our left, and me and the rest of the Pledge Bearers strictly in the middle.
Meanwhile, those who had good political value were sitting a little ways off to our right- just below the king, - and included among my older, non-pledge bearing family members were our guests.
I kept my face straight as I walked and observed the guests with my eyes alone, their red and black clothes and their bright yellow hair told me that they came from house Eruptia, a military house full of Pledge Bearers who mainly use Fire based Light Techniques.
Satisfied with my impromptu spying session, I pried my eyes away from them and focused on my internal reserve of Light, even though my reserve is already one of the largest in Everlast City, it was still growing larger with each passing day, and it's all thanks to this body's prodigious affinity for Light as well as my in-game knowledge on how to use and utilize it.
I looked around my fellow Pledge Bearers, spotting a few from the Eruptia family, most were guys, no surprise there, and much like the rest of my peers, none of them really talked to me, or even anyone else for that matter.
All of them, being military trained, kept their back straight and their faces stoic while waiting for the food to arrive, even then, I think that was just Eruptia showing an example.
It didn't really hurt anyone nor was it rude for us Pledge Bearers to start a conversation with someone during dinner, they just don't, I will though- and I wanted to start by talking to Bismuth, I don't know how well he's doing since we argued earlier but I hope that his mindset is good enough to talk to me.
"Hello," I greeted with a nod and Bis nodded back, I took a seat and… we didn't talk to each other, not one of us continued the conversation. Welp, guess our argument earlier is still in his mind, sucks to be him, I already moved on from it-
"Neophyte," The King, Igneous Sear Everlast, also known as my father called my name.
Realizing my mistake, I stood up and bowed to the king before apologizing, "I'm- I am sorry for being late, father," I waited for his approval.
"You may take a seat, daughter," so I did.
And fortunately for me, the awkward atmosphere from that exchange just now didn't last, one of the guests- a balding, middle-aged man with a pot belly and trimmed glasses, I think he's the brother of one of their patriarch's concubine, - started talking, "so this is the rumored Redeemer?" He asked with clear curiosity in his voice.
I stared at him and met his eyes, his soft gaze with my glare, was he hinting at something? People like him usually would when they use that title, "I never thought that you'd be able to get a Pledge in all honesty, the Great Goddess sees some Light in you then, that's a lot of expectation to bear, I am sorry,"
Fucker sounded like a robot.
I wanted to snap at him, to tell him that he sounded like a priest and ask if he likes to play and fiddle with- I smiled, "don't be, the Goddess sought to redeem me so I am trying my best to not only reach her expectations, but also go beyond it,"
"Everyone knows you already have, sweetie," I would've thought of that as sarcasm if it wasn't for the speaker; my eldest sister, Amber Lenora Everlast, the kindest of all of us, said with a genuine smile you can't find anyone sitting at the table adopting.
She turned to face me, "all the citizens of Everlast see the efforts that you are putting into working towards a better world, from saving our citizens to helping them grow crops with your proficiency and skill in using Light to donating to the poor, everyone sees your efforts."
"... I really just want to help," I said after a pregnant pause, "thank you for seeing my efforts, Amber,"
"You are welcome, and as I said, what you are doing isn't in vain, sister." she replied.
I hope so.
Someone to my front cleared their throat and I turned to see one of the guests, this time a fellow Pledge Bearer as well as one of the game's canon characters, Inferno, looking at me, I locked eyes with him and he smiled in a way that made him look even better, "it is nice to finally sit down and talk with you, Neophyte,"
I politely nodded, "I feel the same way, Inferno." I smiled, "it's a pleasure,"
"The pleasure is all mine, my lady,"
In the corner of my eye, I caught Zath staring at me and I gave her a small wave, she waved back before continuing her duties and I focused on Inferno again- really, calling the guy 'good-looking' would be an understatement because by all means, the guy in front of me can be an actor and a model with his looks alone, hell, his face will probably carry him to stardom even when he doesn't know how to act.
Then there's the three-piece suit that made him look even better from the way it wrapped tightly around his muscular body; a red tux with golden edges on the collar and a pair of black and white undershirts, emblazoned on the right side of the tux is their family crest- a volcano spewing lava.
"You're staring awfully long at him, Neo," I heard Amber say and I held back a scoff, yeah right the guy's just a kid in my eyes, and I'd rather not compete for his love with the rest of his fangirls, or the other noble girls for that matter, they can keep him.
"I think I find him fascinating," But since this is all politics, I needed to play along and "admitted" to her observations, "especially since I've heard stories of his exploits, would you care for a battle? Dear Inferno?"
A small smile tugged on his lips, "is it the usual bet? My dear Neo?"
To my left, I heard the sound of stomping and a yelp of pain- hm. Guess my sisters were stomping each other's foot again.
I ignored the sound- as did everyone else really, - and continued playing along, theatrics, that was oddly important in noble society, "I suppose so," I narrowed my eyes, that has been a thing ever since I decided to fight back against my first suitor hasn't it? People fighting me for my hand in marriage.
My would be opponent fixed his bright orange hair and locked his red eyes with my grays, "Then I would want to fight you later on the ball so that everyone may know that I have finally taken your hand and conquered your heart,"
"You won't," I replied bluntly.
"Then, that is a bet, my gem," Ah god, why is it so cheesy?! It took every ounce of my will to not furrow my eyebrows at what he just said-
"Ah?" I turned to my father, he was looking at me and… was most likely talking just now, wasn't he?
"Let me repeat myself, Neophyte," Igneous stared me down, "you should find a man suitable for marriage and engagement," I resisted the urge to roll my eyes.
What man? I'm technically thirty years old! I'm not some pedo old man! You think I like these children?!
"I have played along with your little games up until now but it is best that you get married and sire a powerful child to continue the fight against the Demons, you have such a big responsibility, you cannot neglect it in favor of your little games."
I huffed a lungful of air and my "father" narrowed his eyes, "no." I said bluntly, "if you wish for me to continue the fight, then I will do so, personally." I growled out.
"Neophyte-" now it was "mom's" turn but I cut her off.
"No." I repeated simply, "I will either go to Pledge Academy and train there-" and hopefully find the second Player character, assuming that they exist, "- or I don't marry at all, you wish for me to fight the Demons? Then I will do it! Not some non-existent child!"
Igneous sighed, "where did I go wrong? Falya?" He asked his wife who merely shrugged, "very well," he said, "but I expect you to be at the top of the Academy or else I'm gonna cut everything off and force you to marry."
Holding back a sigh, I violently pushed myself off the table and smirked when everyone winced at the sound of my chair scraping against the floor, I called my Pledge and after a moment of hesitation, arched my blade towards my neck-
"What is wrong with you, sister?" Bismuth said with shaking hands, the hilt of his Pledge was between his fingers while his blade was directly above my neck, drawing blood, courtesy of his sword being double edged.
"I would rather die." I ignored Bismuth and continued with my act. I still silently thanked him though.
Laughter broke the ensuing silence and we all turned to Inferno, "you would perfectly fit the role of the wife of Eruptia's future patriarch, Neophyte,"
"Bold words," I said, keeping up my anger, though a bit of it was genuine, what an arrogant little shit, "you're still young and a lot of your peers and competition are as talented as you, you aren't the future head of your house."
"Yet." Inferno argued with a confident smirk, "but genuinely I would love to duel you later at the Ball."
Right. The Ball. I need to wear a dress again don't I?
I sighed and recalled my Pledge and took my seat again at the table, grabbing a napkin, I wiped the blood off my neck and closed my eyes, I was a bit aggressive just now, I can admit that much, and antagonizing a large, influential house probably isn't a good idea either, "Inferno, truth be told, I do not think you are a bad man, I have worked with you in quenching wildfires on the forests below Everlast after all," I opened my eyes again and saw the boy staring at me with an unreadable expression, "but I'm just not interested, sorry."
"Don't be," he said, "I just hope that I'd get your attention through our fight, and… acknowledge the bet," He sounded formal at least.
