Banquet I

Relief filled my heart as I stepped off the carriage. My tongue was sore and my body completely exhausted from servicing the ladies. The past two hours had scarred me completely.

The only positive of the experience was that I had leveled up my skill, [Cunnilingus], to level 3 and gained the [Blowjob] skill. The latter skill was not something I particularly wanted, but it did no harm to have it in my repertoire. Thinking of how I got the skill, I couldn't help but shudder, that was not a fun experience. Unfortunately, sometimes you have to live with what you're given.

I followed three steps behind my mistress, which the servant etiquette rules defined, as we walked forward to the mansion doors.

The estate was huge, spreading further than I could see. We had already passed through two gates in the carriage to arrive at this centre mansion.

The carriage had been pulled up right to the doors of the building, avoiding everything else. Behind us were smaller houses, training grounds, and gardens from what I could see.

I walked through the doors and entered the main hall. The room was massive, able to hold a few hundred tables, and the amount of guests was staggering. There were at least a thousand people here, but it was not like I could count them all.

The moment we entered, I could feel all the eyes in the room turn towards us, some filled with curiosity and others filled with displeasure or fear. More accurately, they were all staring at the person in front of me, the Demon Lord of Lust herself.

For her part, my mistress was unconcerned by the attention as she strode forward confidently, her back straight and her steps long, not even acknowledging a single person. No one bothered to approach her, dissuaded by the powerful aura she was emitting.

I was awed by my mistress, her presence near me felt like a crushing boulder. Even when she had been angry with me, I had never seen her like this. She must have been doing this on purpose to show her strength.

We continued walking forward, my mistress in the front, her demon knights on each side, and me walking all alone in the back. I could feel a few attentive gazes fall on me for a few seconds, but most seemed to dismiss me. After a short walk, my mistress halted at the front of the hall.

As I stepped in line behind her, I looked up at the young woman who sat on her golden throne and found myself staring in surprise.

Only a blind man could describe the woman in front of me as beautiful. Her entire appearance seemed fake, from her overused make-up to her golden hair that looked suspiciously like a wig. Even if her face wasn't completely ugly, the few traces of beauty were wiped away by the permanent twisted grin plastered on her face.

She wore a glamorous black dress that would have looked gorgeous on most women, but it clearly did not fit her at all, emphasizing her lacking chest and scrawny torso.

Her ugly appearance truly shocked me as I was so used to seeing beautiful woman all the time. Despite her appearance being the complete opposite of my mistress, her aura felt the exact same and I could immediately tell who this was.

The Demon Lord of Envy, Invidia Dormer.

From what I knew of her, she was the youngest demon lord, and also currently the weakest of the seven, although her strength had been rising rapidly of late. She had only been a demon lord for sixty years and her power was already similar to the other three demons lords who had been around for four hundred years. Only Greed, Sloth and Pride were not her match.

I also knew she was not someone most people could afford to offend. Most of the other demon lords held dismissive attitudes to the affairs of mortals, only concerned with important matters or things they were interested with.

My mistress for example was obsessed with beautiful women and sex, but was unconcerned with almost everything else. Thus, it was difficult to offend her, unless you stole her woman.

However, the Demon Lord of Envy was the different. She was angered easily, even towards people who did her no wrong. Just being more beautiful than her would make you her enemy. Her jealousy was unrivalled.

Standing beside her was another person who I assumed was her right hand man, known as the Burned Man. The name was quite fitting, his entire body covered in burns, from his face to his feet. He stood emotionless to the side, not even taking a glance at us.

"Oh, if isn't Miss Lilith. Welcome to my estate, it has been so long since you last came." The voice coming from the throne was polite on the surface but if you listened closely, you could easily notice the words were full of loathing.

"Ah~ it has been a couple decades since I last came here, hasn't it?" Lilith asked with a gentle smile, completely ignoring the undertones in Invidia's words.

"It is just unfortunate that you are always unavailable whenever I host my banquets, and you are always busy so you never host any of your own." The woman on the throne let out a sigh.

"Yes, it takes a lot of work to look as good as I do."

I noticed Invidia's left eye twitch, as her expression almost cracked. One thing that was drilled into me during the past three days was to never discuss appearances around her. It was the one thing that would easily set her off and yet my mistress did just that.

But the Demon Lord of Envy wouldn't make a scene at her own banquet. "Oh, you're such a busy woman and you still made time to come here today. I am honoured."

"Don't be. I was just hungry."

For a second, I thought Invidia would explode and a fight would break out so I silently took a few steps back. I didn't want to be caught in the crossfire as I doubt I would survive a single hit.

But instead, she just smiled at my mistress, not reacting at all, and told us to go take a seat. I felt something off about her words, but I didn't have time to think about it before we left to our table.

Well, it wasn't really my table as only the three others got to sit. I was forced to stand behind my mistress like a maid. As I didn't have to actually do anything, I was more of a decoration than a servant.

I stood silently, as many people approached our table and began to chat with the three woman sitting at the table. Well, only the two demon knights actually socialized while my mistress remained silent, too arrogant to even open her mouth.

During the hour before the food was served, my mistress only deigned to talk to two people, both people I instantly recognized despite never having seen them before.

One was a massive orc, who stood almost twice as tall as me and had arms thicker than my waist. His black armour did not suit the banquet, but I didn't believe anyone had the courage to tell the Demon Lord of Gluttony to change his attire.

He did not talk much, only giving a perfunctory greeting and didn't so much as glance my way. Most likely, he came here for the food and only gave greetings to the few important people that stood as his equals, not bothering with anyone else.

The other person was an odd, young girl with green hair accompanied by fairy wings on her back. Her chubby cheeks were quite cute, giving you the urge to pinch them. She was dressed in a frilly, green dress that could be worn by any normal child, and she gave off an aura of innocence. Had I not been briefed beforehand on her appearance, I would never have believed she was the Demon Lord of Wrath.

Her personality was also similar to a child's. She even gave me a hug and asked if I wanted to be her friend. I didn't dare refuse, there were stories of what she could do when she was angry, so now I was the friend of a demon lord.

*******

After an hour of standing obediently, the food was served. The plates looked absolutely delicious, especially the grilled fish which made me drool from hunger, but as a mere servant I was not allowed to eat any of it.

This was pure torture!

The three women ate plate after plate as I stared on an envy, my stomach rumbling while they filled theirs to the brim. Couldn't they take pity on this starving kitty?

After another hour of doing nothing but stand in decoration, I was finally relieved of service to go eat in the servant's quarters. I restrained my smile as I did my best to walk, my feet sore from not moving in the heels for so long.

Suddenly though, I crashed into a hard wall and almost fell down onto my butt. Fortunately, I was able to stabilize myself and avoided making a fool of myself.

Where did this wall come from? I had been watching where I was going but this obstacle appeared out of nowhere.

I looked up at the culprit, ready to accuse him of not looking where he was going, but when I saw his face I could only pale in fright.

Did I have to be so unlucky?

Glaring down at me was a face scarred in burns, an appearance so ugly it was frightening. The left side of his face was charred black, covering even one of his eyes, so you could not even tell the original appearance. The rest of his face was slightly better, the skin burnt red with some blisters scattered across.

This was the Burned Man, the right hand of the Demon Lord of Envy.

Was my luck really this awful? I just had to run into this guy. This man's temper was even worse than his mistress' and completely unpredictable, to the point where he had burned countless people alive, and many just for amusement. Some days he would be as cold as a statue and utterly ruthless, other days his temper would flare to the extreme.

But instead of doing anything at all, he just glanced at me, his eyes squinted in thought. For my part, I stood stiff, not daring to move.

A few seconds passed before I realized he wasn't going to do anything but state at me. I supposed he wasn't furious with me, or at the very least would not harm me.

Stuck in an awkward situation, I quickly did a curtsy. "My apologies, mister."

I glanced up at his face, but his expression was still cold and uninterested. After a moment he tore his gaze off me and walked away.

Letting out a sigh of relief, I quickly made my way to the servant's quarters before I could accidentally offend another big shot. Although he likely would not have killed me, he still could have had me punished in some way or made a fuss with my mistress. The Burned Man was not someone whose actions could be predicted.

That time had been a little too close. Fortunately, he did not care enough to bother me.

But his gaze had been strange. Why was he staring at me so intently? He wasn't attracted to my beauty, was he?

Something felt off about his gaze, but I could not tell exactly what.

In fact, it wasn't just his weird attitude that gave me a bad feeling, it was also the attitude of Invidia and Lilith that made me nervous. Why did my mistress come to this banquet? Why did the Demon Lord of Envy barely react to my mistress' attitude, despite her terrible temper? She is not someone who would let small grievances go, even if it another demon lord.

I had no idea what the two demon lords planned, but I did have a hunch that this banquet might not end quietly. I only hoped they would not involve me in their schemes.