Chapter 231: Evening Party Riot (1)
When we got dressed by Gina and went out of the mansion, Hilda and Chris were just about to bring the carriage out from the back. It wasn’t the one Lieselotte and the others had been using all the way from the Harlasia Kingdom, but the earl’s carriage bearing the Rowell’s family crest.
The black-coated carriage had minimal decorations, which somehow gave it a more prestigious feel. It was large enough for about six people and seemed to be pulled by two horses. The horses tied to it were Weiss and Apao as they were apparently the best in terms of physique and appearance.
By the way, since the journey began, the carriage had been kept clean by Chris’s water spiritual arts, and there wasn’t a single dirty spot on it. However, there must have been many small scratches. I was very curious about how they had been fixed. If this could be applied to the wagons stolen from bandits or the carriages involved in Decius’s trade agreements, it would be helpful.
“Heh? You all look quite suited to it, don’t you think, Chris?”
“Yes, indeed, Miss Hilda. All four of them look completely transformed.”
Hilda and Chris, upon seeing the four of us, said this with amused smiles. However, I didn’t take their comments at face value. The reason was that… we ourselves didn’t think so.
“Don’t be ridiculous, young ladies. It’s only Decius who’s really pulling it off.”
“Yes, that’s right. Bolts looks fitting too, but… Tigar and I definitely don’t.”
“Exactly, damn it!”
Decius who was a soldier of the empire and someone of considerable standing, suited the role very well. And Bolts who had been the son of a wealthy merchant before becoming a slave also seemed accustomed to such attire.
However, the problem lay with Tigar and me. Tigar, though handsome, had too much of a wild look to him, and I, with my menacing eyes and the lower half of my face hidden behind an iron mask, could hardly pass for a knight. We looked more like well-off mercenaries trying to dress above our standing.
No matter how nobly we tried to appear, it seemed impossible to erase the scent of violence. Perhaps it was because I had never been free from battle since the moment of my birth? It was not something I had chosen, but it certainly was a deep-seated consequence.
After completing the carriage preparations under Hilda and Chris’s directions, the two of them returned to the mansion to announce that everything was ready. After a while, Lieselotte’s great-aunt, clad in the same mourning attire as when we first met her, and a dressed-up Lieselotte appeared.
“Everyone’s gathered, I see.”
Lieselotte wore a light blue dress that was elegant and suited her pure look well. She seemed to have applied makeup, but it was just light face powder and lipstick. It appears that natural beauty does not require heavy makeup to stand out.
Behind her stood Lappy and Leo. The two of them underwent a far greater transformation than us. Both Lappy and Leo had handsome features. Dressed in fine clothes and with their hair neatly groomed with scented oil, they looked nothing less than attendants to a noble family. No one would guess that they were actually guards.
“Young lady, please allow me.”
“Oh, thank you.”
The performance as servants had already begun, with Leo opening the carriage door, Lappy assisting the lady, and Lieselotte with boarding. To those unaware of the circumstances, it would have looked like a young servant girl, hardly of age, was earnestly fulfilling her role.
Once the two nobles had boarded, the two guards followed them inside. Then, after Lappy also climbed into the carriage, Leo ascended to the coachman’s seat. It appeared that a male servant was not permitted to enter the carriage, which was the women’s garden.
“Hey, you’re doing quite a job as a servant.”
“Heh, of course… wait! Don’t touch my head, Dad! My hairstyle will get messed up! I’ll be the one getting scolded!?”
Perhaps proud of his son’s brisk performance as a servant, Tigar praised Leo while attempting to pat his head. Although Leo initially blushed at the compliment, he quickly dodged when Tigar tried to touch his head.
After all the effort to slick back his hair with scented oil, having it messed up was the last thing he wanted. It must have been Gina, Hilda, or Chris who had styled his hair. If it got ruined, he would need to ask them to fix it again, which I think was something he clearly wanted to avoid… the way Tigar looked at his right hand, which had cut through the air, with an indescribable expression on his face was somehow melancholic.
“Shall we depart now?”
“Certainly, my lady.”
With the command to depart from inside the carriage, Leo manipulated the reins. The carriage began to move slowly, not exactly following his lead. Indeed, it wasn’t Leo who was controlling the carriage. Apao who was also a demon like us, was thinking for himself and pulling the carriage.
Apao had been taught the route to the destination, and he also possessed judgment skills comparable to humans. Even for Leo, who had never handled a carriage, just sitting there made him appear to be fulfilling his role as a coachman.
“Brurur?”
“Hihiiin.”
However, it was Weiss who keenly sensed that the driver was not functioning properly. Used to receiving clear instructions through the reins on a regular basis, Weiss felt only anxiety with the reins moving in a confusing and unclear manner, neither signaling to move forward nor to stop.
Sensing Weiss’s apparent anxiety, Apao nuzzled his head close to her, neighing as if to reassure her that everything was alright. Though I couldn’t understand the language of horses, this alone seemed to calm Weiss down. Apao had Likely conveyed that she just needed to follow his lead. Weiss rubbed her head gently against Apao’s neck and started walking forward, focusing ahead.
“It’s time for us to go.”
“Right on.”
As the carriage began to move, we started walking around it to provide protection. We could have ridden horses, but that would have been too conspicuous. Besides, it’s almost unthinkable to race a carriage through the city streets. For these two reasons, we decided to proceed on foot.
As we had confidently expected, Apao seemed to remember the route perfectly. Neither Leo nor we got lost or panicked. When encountering other carriages at intersections, Apao showed consideration by stopping to let them pass without causing our carriage to jolt. Despite his typically childish behavior, Apao was surprisingly thoughtful.
While Apao was doing his best, Leo who was riding in the coachman’s sea seemed a bit too relaxed. He didn’t move the reins at all during the journey and kept blinking sleepily. Given that he would need to be alert for the evening’s event, his father Tigar watched him with a bitter smile.
“Is this the place?”
“Yes, that’s right.”
“Wow, what a huge mansion. And so flashy too.”
After a while, we arrived at the mansion’s venue. Though it was said to be another earl’s house, like the Rowell family’s, this mansion was strikingly different. The Rowell family’s mansion had an old-fashioned charm and despite a magnificent stable, the estate was quite small.
However, as Tigar had mentioned this mansion was incomparably larger. Its walls were freshly painted, resembling something brand new, and the grand gate was adorned with intricate carvings. The garden boasted vibrant, blossoming flowers, and several dynamic stone statues were strategically placed throughout.
Certainly, it was a residence befitting a noble who spared no expense, yet we weren’t particularly overwhelmed. The reason for this was simple: we were familiar with even larger estates.
We came from the Empire, the strongest and largest nation on the continent. Although we were typically stationed in barracks, there were times when we moved to positions overlooking the imperial capital before a campaign. With the vision of a demon, one could see the mansions within the capital, and we had seen many that were much larger than this one.
As for me, I had the experience of being kept in an even larger mansion. While I found the garden purely beautiful, it didn’t impress me. In fact, the mansion’s decorations were so extravagant that they almost seemed vulgar. Tigar’s murmurs contained more disbelief than admiration, and it seemed he shared my sentiments.
“Excuse me. Is this the carriage of Lord Rowell?”
“Yes, it is.”
“Please allow me to guide you. This way, please.”
“Then we will take our leave here. Enjoy the evening party.”
“Thank you.”
Our accompaniment ended here at this gate. We were not permitted to enter beyond this point. As planned, we bowed our heads in farewell as the carriage departed.
Lieselotte’s great-aunt, the carriage’s owner, offered us a brief insincere word of thanks from within the carriage. It seemed that we were seen as nuisances clinging to her beloved grand-niece and were regarded with suspicion, especially after Gina had previously assessed our abilities.
Once the carriage had entered the mansion, we immediately sprang into action. For now, Decius and I, and then Tigar and Bolts will patrol the area around the mansion.
“It’s efficient to divide by strength, but it’s embarrassing for a former soldier to be considered the weakest.”
“Few can compete with a demon in combat. Besides, if we consider unorthodox methods, you would rank quite high.”
The reason for this pairing was to evenly distribute combat strength in case we encountered any thieves. Objectively, the strongest pairing with the weakest, which naturally resulted in my teaming up with Decius, made perfect sense.
Decius mocked himself with those words, but I cast a doubtful glance at him. The reason being that Decius had always excelled in ambush and surprise attacks and he was more skilled than anyone else with the new weapons called guns. Whether it was a sneak attack using traps or sniping from distances that were impossible to perceive in battles that required any means necessary, Decius was among the strongest in our group.
Incidentally, considering the possibility of being recognized, we left the gun back at the campsite. Therefore, he couldn’t fully demonstrate his true abilities. That was the sole reason he was paired with me.
“Heh, just kidding. But it’s true that I can’t match your keen senses. I’ll leave the scouting to you.”
“Alright, leave it to me.”
And so we began our duty of guarding the evening party. We optimistically thought nothing would happen. At this moment, both Decius and I were unaware of the major incident that would unfold that night.
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