19 Sketchy Nobles

Inside the party. Lots of food and drinks. Many nobles just mingling with each other. I went to the table filled, and got myself a drink. I stayed by the side looking for Theo. Since he's the only noble I'm aware of. As I was looking around, I hadn't noticed but a person had approached me and spoke to me.

"Hello, can you hear me?" the girl asks

I turn around to see the girl, I was shocked. I quickly looked around to see if Domotraus was nearby, but I couldn't seem to find him.

"Who are you?" I ask, clearly aware of who she is.

"You don't know me?" she responds

She was Mary, the village elder's daughter from where we were framed.

"How are you here?" I ask

"Simple enough. I escaped the fire of course" she responds

I don't remember much about her, so I just looked at her appearance to see if anything seemed off about her. Honestly, she seemed like the real Mary I met from the village. I'm feeling pretty uneasy with her being here.

"We've met before this, I think you remember" she says

I have no clue what she's talking about. I don't remember meeting her before this. Last time I saw her was in the village. I blinked and for a quick second, she has a dark aura and that purple robe. I remember now! Before I arrived in Zlatan through Greater Teleportation, I met her in the park with corpses. My eyes widened a bit before I blinked. After the blink she's back to her original outfit. I stumbled back and regained balanced.

"What are you?" I ask

"We'll talk again soon" she replies

I get tapped in the back, I turn to see who it was. It was Domotraus

"What are you doing? Focus on the mission" Domotraus says

I turned around planning to bring Mary along, but she's gone. She was no where to be seen. I turn back to Domotraus.

"Hello, Athel you there?" Dom asks

"Yeah, I'm here I'm just starting to see things" I reply

Domotraus gets my drink and puts it on the table.

"Clearly, you've had too much of whatever is in this" he says

"I know what I saw" I reply

"Let's talk about that later, now do you see anything suspicious?" he asks

I look around to see find anything suspicious. To my surprise, I did find something suspicious. A noble with a white, and red tunic. I'm not sure if I saw it correctly, but I think I saw like a dark suspicious looking aura for just a quick second.

"I think I'm onto something. I'm gonna investigate" I say

Domotraus gives me a nod, and takes a drinks. He casually drinks it and mingles with a female noble while checking up on me once a while. I moved up to the noble with the red and white tunic, then looked around again. I saw a glimpse of it. I followed again. I checked behind me to see if Domotraus was nearby, but he wasn't. He's most likely lurking nearby where I can't see him so I'm just gonna put some faith in him that he'll show up. I continued moving and I reached to the spot where I saw the dark aura. Again I looked around, and caught a glimpse of it going downstairs. I realized I was already outside in the balcony, less nobles here. I stayed on the balcony watching where it went. I watched the dark aura move and it was surrounding a noble in black noble tunic. I watched that person move away from the party to meet a female noble. I could tell it was a girl even in the dark, because of how much jewelry she has on her. I crouched hiding on the balcony hoping I wouldn't be spotted, but they didn't find me out anyway. I was too far for them too notice, and for me to hear whatever they're talking about. I think I should go down to hear them better. Yeah, I should do that!

I walked down the stairs and I tripped. It wasn't intentional, I juts somehow tripped. Falling down the stairs, I have a taste of each step and then the ground. I looked up, and the both of them had noticed me. Mission failed, I've been caught. The guy walks up to me with a silver knife. He points it at my neck.

"Who are you, what do you want?" he asks

I didn't wanna risk getting killed here by this guy with the dark aura. So I just acted drunk, hopefully they buy my act.

"Ooooh what's this? Shiny..." I say

I try to blink and made a face impression of a drunk guy.

"I think he's had too much to drink" the noble girl says

"Ah! There you are Athony!" Domotraus shouts going down the stairs

The noble guy hides his silver knife back and helps me up.

"This your friend?" he asks Domotraus

"Yeah, I'm sorry for any inconvenience he has caused. He just got ahead of himself and drunk too much" Domotraus says

"Well he better be careful here, watch over your friend. He fell from the stairs" the noble replied

"Yes, thank you" Domotraus says bringing me back up to the balcony.

"What do you think you're doing goofing around?" he scolds me

"I wasn't goofing around! I was just eavesdropping on them cause the noble guy looked sus. But I tripped while going down, didn't notice that the step was that deep" I reply

"Athel, you're such an idiot" he says

I look down from the balcony again and I see the guy, making intense contact with the girl. They were.... eating... each other. But what surprised me the most was that, upon their mouth to mouth contact, the aura was slowly growing on her. This must be a way to transfer corruption among the nobles, pretty intriguing not gonna lie.

"So what are the others up to?" I ask

"I have no idea also, we're just sticking to Seph's plan. Also why are you watching them make out?" he replies

"I'm not watching them make out, I'm watching him transfer dark energy to her" I answer back

"I don't know man, you're one weird guy" he coldly says

"You'll see, I know something is up with the two" I reply back

We both went to the ballroom where the nobles where dancing there. The girls in beautiful gowns, and the men in luxurious jackets with hose. I continue looking around, and I found Theo sipping on tea with Kurt. I continue to look around and for once, I felt so relieved seeing a familiar face. It's Edengeld! In the party! I immediately tapped Domotraus to get his attention.

"What?" he asks

"Look there, it's Edengeld. Maybe she can help us" I say

"Where?"

"Side of the ballroom, sitting on a chair" I answer

"Yeah I see her, but don't you think she might just be someone else?" he asks

"Only one way to find out" I reply back

I approach her, and before I could get even close I get intercepted by a familiar face.

"You have a weird look in your face, what do you want?" Lucas asks

"It's been a while Lucas" I reply

"You know me?" he asks

At this point, I have no clue if drows have bad memories cause I don't know how he does not know me.

"How do you not know me?" I ask back

"I've never seen you before" he replies

"I'm Athelstan" I say softly to him

"You? Funny, you resemble nothing like him" he replies

Ahhh, I think I remember now. It's the makeup kit that Domotraus placed on me, he made me look like an entirely new person, that's some weird skill he got well it's really surprising how this weird makeup on me got The Lucas to convince I was someone else.

"I can prove I'm Athelstan" I say

"Go ahead" he says

"We fought that weird orc guy and you just left us afterwards" I say

"I- how do you look like this?" he looks confused

"You should see Domotraus, he's a whole new person" I say

"Right.." he replies

"Anyways, I see Edengeld is doing fine. I'd like a word with her" I demand

"Hmph, I'll inform her right away" he says

"Thank you for your cooperation, Sir Lucas"