A New Star Chapter 92 (Patreon)

That left us with the banquet the next day, which was more than it sounded like at an initial glance. This wasn’t a simple meal in the evening, or a bit of light dancing in the late afternoon, this was an all day affair that started sometime in the mid-morning (nobles never started something before brunch; taking breakfast with others was seen as something for family and intimates), and lasted until late into the night, likely after midnight. It primarily meant a lot of standing around and looking both pretty and interested in the inane topics of conversation, but it also meant navigating the politics, eating what the host provided, and dancing the appropriate dances. I was, thankfully, given a certain level of reprieve as I was not a legal adult yet, but I was also the daughter of the two most powerful people in the country and at the point where I was starting to become a known quantity, so there were still certain expectations.

My main goal for the day was to navigate the event without tearing anyone’s head off and while monitoring my two prodigies, though I was much more worried about Francesca than I was Cain. Nobody seemed interested in the big boy still, but, as often happened with nobles, the novelty and strange nature of Francesca’s demonstrated abilities had them swarming like flies. I wasn’t all that worried overall, especially since I needed people with dedication. Cain was the real prize, even if nobody else realized it, and he was already extremely interested in my offer. The fact he hadn’t displayed anything that had really interested the others and came from a very minor background had the rest of the place almost entirely ignoring him, though his stature and frame made blocking him out entirely difficult.

There were plenty of places to go to have quiet side conversations as well, as the grand banquet for this year’s coming of age ceremony was being hosted in the Little Palace, which was actually the old royal family living quarters. It was on the east side of the capital and had been converted close to a century ago to a place for receiving dignitaries and important social functions, though there were still functional bedrooms where guests could stay. Only those honored by the royal family, which really translated as representatives from the other nations, could stay in the Little Palace, though I had no desire to do any such thing. Most others preferred the comfort and security of their own estates, but someone like Cain, or even Francesca, would likely be wowed by an offer to spend the night there. There wasn’t any real harm in it, not from my view, though I honestly doubted either was going to warrant an invite. Not before I got my hands on them and molded them into something far greater than what they currently were.

The one part of the evening that I hated and mostly avoided was the politicking; people gathering in corners and alcoves and whispering together, people talking behind their hands and spreading gossip. It was all the same, no matter where one went; I had commanded an interstellar polity with technology and body refinement developments that would have beggared belief to these simple rubes, and I had people gossiping and politicking and scheming all the time. It was a natural part of not just being human, or the human condition, but being any kind of higher order being that experienced emotion alongside their thoughts. In my last life, I had commanded multiple different species and peoples, and in this life I had interacted with many new species and peoples, and they all gossiped and played political games. It was as natural to most, especially those raised in wealth and privilege, as it was to eat or to breathe.

The evening wasn’t a total bust in that regard, however, as I did get a chance to talk to the representative of the eastern empire. A little conversation that had been arranged by a certain Count that the diplomat knew well; apparently, the Count’s reputation preceded him in the East like light before the sun. Considering how he had practically been a second father to the main they considered their greatest emperor, and had been a staunch defender of the empire his entire life, it was little wonder he was treated with such respect, even beyond the fact that he was an illustrious Y-ranker. The conversation I had was brief, but just being introduced as the Count’s latest protege and work in progress had the envoy’s interest, and I was able to inquire about a number of things that one could only really learn firsthand. Reports and the newspapers were all well and good, but talking to a person who was actually living in an area, or through a certain event or action, always teased out details that one might not expect.

After my conversation with the envoy, I circled the room, though staying to the edges. I was mainly scouting who else was there, both the nobles and the newly minted adults. Many were minor nobility like Cain and Francesca, though Cain was about as minor as it got that still got to participate in the ceremony. It seemed that baby booms happened in waves, which wasn’t at all that surprising, and many nobles, the more important ones, had had children around the time my parents were first conceiving. This meant that there were very few noble children from upper houses, even the houses of counts, let alone dukes and marquises, that were coming of age around now or in the next couple years. Certainly Thomas, my eldest sibling, was old enough to have kids of his own by now, being thirty-four and a prime bachelor, but the politics of his marriage was dragging on and frustrating my parents to no end. Wasn’t any of my business, but lesser nobles than my brother that had been born around the same time were now in their thirties or late twenties, many of them with young children. It meant I was in a bit of a gap; not in the same generation as Thomas and Tiffany, but not quite young enough to be an older member of the generation their children would be occupying.

That was just fine by me, anyway, as I wasn’t really going to fit in with any generation, regardless of age or resources. I think another reason Thomas had taken to the capital and ‘managing our affairs’ therein, at least as he called it, was that he was a bit put out by both myself and Marianne. Thomas wasn’t an evil man, certainly, but he did possess certain character flaws, and Marianne’s strange and fantastical abilities, combined with my overwhelming power that put me firmly in the prodigy category, even with my extenuating circumstances, I think made him a little upset. Easier to stick to a city a couple hundred miles away and his own affairs, and it partially got him off the leash when my parents rarely visited or concerned themselves with what he, and the capital, were up to.

Thinking about Thomas wasn’t going to lead to anything productive, however, and I redirected my attention back to the people at the ball. Few of them I knew, at least personally, but the Count and I had gone over the information of the nobility. Not just ‘our’ nobility, either, but the nobles and movers and shakers of all five of the nations. It was easy enough to recognize the envoys that were present at the celebration; the men from Tabaern wore armor even a formal occasion and a lot of it was leather and simple steel. The men from the eastern empire, other than having a resemblance to the Count in their stature and slightly patrician facial features, also wore a lot of white and blue, with the emblem of the empire emblazoned proudly on the two guards’ surcoats. The merchants of Salere had sent a small trade delegation, or what they considered small; forty wagons had rolled into the city two days before the even started and set up shop on the north side. Lester informed me that not all their dealings were strictly above board, either, which was quite valuable information to have and a good reason to continue expanding my network. The merchants wore fine silks in layers, died in the rich sea foam green and turquoise that represented the endless coasts of their country.

Lastly, but certainly not the least among the gathering, the western empire, Kradonia, had sent one of their princesses to the event. She was young, though not quite as young as I was, and I got the distinct impression that she was being prepared to handle these kinds of duties in the future. A wise ruler in the kind of baroque, medieval system that many of the countries still employed at their heart would use their family well; a princess like this could easily represent crown and country in any negotiation, with enough authority to sign deals and make offers, but still kept at enough distance that her agreement could be hastily disputed by the emperor or empress if she went too far. The young lady was tall, with very pale skin and dark red hair, a shade I would have said was not natural for a human in my last life, but affinities and bloodlines threw a lot of that out the window. She was, of course, stunningly beautiful, and moved with an easy grace that many didn’t pick up on, but I could recognize the training, combined with the experience of real battle, that influenced her movements.

It was interesting to meet a number of the movers and shakers, the envoys, and a small smattering of the others who had just officially become adults, but there was nobody else there that really knocked my socks off. The princess did wow me a bit, but that was a combination of different factors, and it wouldn’t really be appropriate for me to do any more right now than the polite greeting and short conversation I had already engaged in. In terms of searching for other candidates I might snatch up, this batch was both rather thin, and had already been fairly well picked over by other houses and powerful institutions. Despite my status, I wasn’t necessarily the most prestigious offer some might get; there were many, even noble children, who dreamed of serving in the Royal Guard or other such institutions that would be over the moon, or one of the moons, at being recruited into such an organization.

After the banquet had passed, dragging on far too long for my taste, and a few of the others, we were all dismissed to our own devices. I had, as I had mentioned before, chosen to stay at the Count’s residence, and it was there, after breakfast the next morning, that I entertained my guests. Lester was present while the twins were not, off on some mission of skulduggery that I was unaware of, but it was Lester that usually gave them their marching orders, so as long as they were being useful. I was in the parlor, going over information on the envoys with Lester, as he had gathered much that was not said in polite company, when the first of my guests arrived. I was a bit surprised when the Count’s butler brought Francesca in, as I had thought she was going to be the slightly harder fish to reel in, but it seemed she had been more eager than I had thought.

“Francesca,” I said, giving her a nod from where I sat while Lester stood and gave a short bow. The forms and protocols were rather strict, but we all followed them to the letter, at least until the person was a member of the group. Lester and the twins didn’t engage in all that bowing and saluting shit when it was just us, and we would train that out of Francesca and Cain too, but it was the appropriate reaction for now.

“Alexandra,” she said, using my first name, but I had invited her to appear here and to speak, so it didn’t break the forms of formality.

“I take it you’re still interested in what we discussed,” I asked, quirking an eyebrow.

“Very much so,” she said, glancing between myself and Lester.

“This is Knight Errant Lester,” I said, introducing the two, with Lester giving another, smaller bow. “He acts as my second and my eyes and ears in the capital. If you are to sign up for the elite team I am building, you will be working closely together with him and likely taking orders, at least initially, from him. This will not pose a problem, I should hope?”

“That’s more than fine,” Francesca said. “Do you have a contract prepared?”

“Quite eager, are we?” I asked, frowning just slightly and examining the slightly older girl.

“Apologies, but the incessant demands of the other houses and organizations has me frustrated,” Francesca said with a sigh. “I hope to just be done with this, as long as the details aren’t too much of a disadvantage. I think even a few years of service for the household of the Grand Duke would top anything else I could be involved in at the moment.”

“Yes, I can understand the frustration,” I said, giving Lester a nod. He grabbed one of the prepared documents, a simple contract that explained our group, though it kept that part a bit vague, and explained roles and responsibilities for Francesca. It also covered both expectations of members, which was something that not everyone included in such contracts, and the compensation structure, which was quite generous. I could tell Francesca agreed with that last assessment, given how her eyes widened when she got to the section I would have labeled as ‘benefits’ in my last life.

“Is this pay structure…correct?” she asked after a moment.

“You will be expected to perform,” I replied simply. “If your performance is up to standard, than the benefits you receive from the group should match the effort of contribution.”

“This is…a lot,” she said, reading through the documents a second time.

“You are under no obligation to sign right now, or at all. I would understand if you needed time to review the document and consult with others, your family in particular,” I said.

“Oh no, that’s not what I meant,” she said, taking up a pen and firmly signing her name on the last page. There was a pulse of mana as the contract was completed and everything was set, and Francesca sat back with sigh. “So, what’s my first assignment.”

“Your first assignment is to move to the other chair and wait, as we are still expecting company,” I said with a small smile, indicating she move to a chair to the side. It was just a moment later the butler signaled me again, though he had a bit of a strange look on his face which made me frown.

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