Chapter 176 Meeting A Schoolmate

"Enjoy the party, Mistress," Katsuki bowed as she saw me off at the entrance of the ballroom.

Several other nobles were already here and they were looking at my direction with a mixture of awe and envy.

Obviously they were looking at Katsuki since they recognised her maid uniform that outed her as a maid of the Nilm family. I didn't realise this until just now but apparently every maid from my family wears a very specifically designed headdress and those in the know would recognise it.

I have yet to figure out what was so special about it though, since I was more concerned about the sweets I'm about to partake.

And since only prominent nobles could hire maids from our family, Katsuki's presence was already putting me ahead of everyone else around here, even if no one knew who I was.

I had, of course, asked Mother what family I should claim to be from should someone ask me but Mother assured me that I could simply claim that it was a secret and refuse to answer.

At first I was doubtful that they would even let me in without me giving some sort of name but I see why Mother was so sure they would let me in without any problem.

Giving Katsuki a wave, I made my way into the ballroom without anyone trying to stop me while I ignored all the stares I was receiving.

The ballroom itself was quite spectacularly decorated and there's even a live band playing music in the background.

An area was set aside for what I presume to be a dance floor where couples could waltz in tune with the music. There was even a balcony at the back that allowed guests to go outside and watch the sea under the night sky.

Already, most of the nobles there were engaged in conversation and were chatting with each other animatedly. This seems more like a social event where the participants were merely there to socialise and enjoy the evening dancing with a partner, most likely to make business connections too.

Of course, I was not interested in any of that since my sights were immediately locked onto the tables that were placed in the centre of the room.

Rows upon rows of delicacies that I have never seen before were lined up next to each other. There were cakes, cookies, sweets, puddings and various other different kinds of dessert arranged there.

Mother was definitely not kidding when she said that this guy loves his sweets.

I immediately went towards the buffet tables and filled up my plate with at least one of every kind of sweet there was on the table, my mouth already watering at the sight of all the sugary goodness in my hands.

Once my plate was sufficiently piled up, I took a bite out of one of the cakes, enjoying the sweetness that filled up my mouth as I let myself be transported into sugar heaven where everything was made up of sweets.

Ahhhh~ So perfect~ It feels like I've submerged myself in a chocolate bath~

And I was in the midst of such a nice feeling when a voice suddenly came from behind me.

"Well met, my lady~ Please pardon my interruption."

I turned around to see a rather well dressed Mahun young man with swept back brown hair standing behind me with a slight bow of his head. He wasn't wearing the uniforms of the staff here so he should be noble who was also attending this ball like myself.

Swallowing the cake currently in my mouth, I nodded at him with as much dignity as I could retain, "Well met, is there anything you need from me?"

"Yes, my lady. I could not help but be enthralled by your beauty and I wish to ask if you would honour me with a dance?"

I looked towards the dance floor and I realised that several people were already waltzing around over there.

Huh… Last I checked, everyone was still busy talking to each other… Just how long was I standing here munching on these delicious treats?

Putting that aside though… This guy is trying to pull me away from my sweets! I still have so many treats I've yet to taste! Who do you think you are trying to get me to abandon all this just for some stupid dance? Are dances desserts? I didn't think so.

I scrunched up my face at him, "Sorry, I'm not interested. You'll have to find someone else."

With that said, I turned my attention away from him and went back to eating my sweets~

"E… Eh? Did you… Did you reject me?" The guy asked before I could bring the slice of cake to my mouth.

I sighed and turned back to him, "Yes, I did. Was I not clear the first time?"

"Do you… Do you not know who I am?"

"No, no. Do you even know who I am?" I shot back at him.

That caused him to pause and he looked me up and down as though trying to see if he knew me.

I took that chance to do a quick look with my [Screened].

[Name: Alan Victor

Title: Heir of the Victor Family, Aerialla Academy Lehcarouc Kingdom Branch Special Class Student, Earl's Son, Magic Nut

Race: Mahun

Gender: Male

Current Mood: Curious

Stats:

54 Strength

35 Dexterity

46 Endurance

60 Magic

​ Skills:

Leadership(Tier 2), Noble Etiquette (Tier 2), Riding Proficiency (Tier 1), Martial Skill-(Sword Proficiency (Tier 2), Spear Proficiency (Tier 2))

Magic Skills:

Electromancy (Tier 1), Hydromancy (Tier 1), Pyromancy (Tier 1)]

Oh… So I'm guessing he's the son of the Earl who was hosting this party? I'm also surprised to learn that he's my school mate and a special class student to boot as well.

He suddenly gasped, "Oh! Oh by the Gods! You're Aster! Special class student from the first year, am I right? I didn't know you were a noble! My sincerest apologies! I truly did not recognise you since you look so different than when you're at school!"

He stretched out his palm and I touched it, feeling a little bewildered by his sudden change in attitude.

He then gestured to himself, "I am Alan! Heir of house Victor! Thank you for coming to my Father's party! Do forgive me for my excitement but I have to say, I really look up to you! To think you are already able to use so many disciplines of magic as a first year, it truly is impressive! Could I ask what your favourite type of magic is? Or maybe, your favourite spell?"

I blinked a few times before deciding to hunour him, "I like them all."

"Ah! That's why you can learn so many of them at once! Of course, of course! If you pick a favourite, you will concentrate more on one and ignore the others, that makes sense! Ahaha, if I were to tell my friends that a final year student like myself was receiving lessons from you, they wouldn't even believe me! Oh! What do you think about Electromancy?"

"It's pretty useful. It can be used to enhance your physical abilities and also be used as an elemental attack as well, making it quite versatile."

He gasped, "I know right?! There are people out there who only use it for one or the other, can you believe that?!"

That surprised me, "Eh? Why? You're already learning the magic, so why not use it for both?"

"This is something I wonder as well. But I guess in order to use the physical enhancement, you would at least need to at least be physically fit to a degree and some people can't be bothered to do that. And for the people who only use it for the physical enhancements, they don't have the patience to learn the magical part of the spells since they'd rather train their physical skills."

"Hmm... I guess it's a matter of specialising rather than generalising?"

Alan nodded, "I can understand that at least. But for myself, I think it's better that you are at least proficient in several things rather than specialising in just one."

I shook my head, "No, no. You also need to remember that some of them do not have the luxury of spreading out their focus either. In order to be ahead of their competition, they need to be one of the best in their fields."

"Ah, I understand. The problems of the commoners, I never actually thought of it that way. Are you really sure you're only a first year in the school, Aster?"

I shrugged before taking another bite of my cake, still feeling a little surprised by his sudden change of attitude. I'm guessing that's where his 'Magic Nut' title came from since he really likes magic.

"Oh! You like sweets huh? My family really likes sweets too! Father always relies on the Sieger Trading Company to help source for all the best delicacies around the World. Why, I believe the captain of this ship has a very specific store of various sweets in the ship that she would--"

I almost dropped my plate of dessert as I reached out to grab his shoulder, "Hold on right there… You're telling me there's actual patisseries on this ship?!"

He was a little surprised but answered me nevertheless, "Umm… Those were rumours though, because she also likes sweets… I believe there's hidden stores like that around but I have yet to find a--"

I did not listen to the rest of his words as I had already ran out of the ballroom to look for that lying Nekomata, not forgetting to bring my plate of dessert along as well and eating them as I ran.

You told me there weren't any! Turns out you just want to hoard them for yourself!!

I'll find you and I'll get you to spill out the location of those sweets!!