Chapter 22

A/N: Hi, school is starting up again so I can only post around 1 chapter per 2 days. Otherwise we get shitshows like chapter 20 (2 chapters ago) that are just rushed and don't make much sense. I don't think I have the time nor energy to post one chapter a day when school is open, during holidays I'll try to bump it up if I can. Can't make any promises though. Enjoy this chapter though!

For the next twenty or so minutes, Lillian started talking to me in a more comfortable way. If I ever said something she wasn't too happy with she'd smack me on the head. She also asked me questions on stuff I had learned, she would always praise me even if I got it wrong. Of course I got these wrong on purpose if they weren't something I had learnt. I didn't know why she'd ask about things I hadn't learnt, she already what I was learning and when because she always asked our instructor.

She would pat my head and praise me for trying every single time, i always made a 'sad' and 'pitiful' face. She was smiling each time I did that though, did she enjoy the chance to pat my head? Is it like the satisfaction a warrior feels after beating a strong opponent or something? Well, I think that she's opening up a bit more to me, she's given up on maintaining the noblewomans posture.

She even laid her head on my lap, I've got a feeling that she's just done to me what she wanted to be done to her. I started stroking her head and the effects were immediate, she went beat red and hid her face with her hands.

We simply sat in silence, she seemingly enjoyed being spoiled by me.

'I'm rather lucky aren't I? She felt guilt over the incident even though it had nothing to do with her. I suppose it's a trait of people who are compassionate, they tend to blame themselves over such things. They are such utterly illogical beings.'

"Why don't we go back to the house now Reinhardt? It's already 8pm, your birthday is in a few days isn't it? I've prepared something for you, but try not to get to excited okay?"

She got up and grasped my face before kissing my forehead.

'Her hands, they feel a bit coarse. Why would noblewomans hands be coarse? What on earth has this child been up to.'

Dismissing my thoughts we headed back home and went to bed almost straight away, the next three days flew by. We were figuring out who would and wouldn't be invited.

Apparently requests for small parties weren't uncommon among young nobles. Although most of the time, people opted to create parties as large as possible, to show off and to create more connections. But I was fine in terms of connections to nobles, my parents had many connections.

Despite that, I wanted a larger party, there were rumours of me having been in a battlefield before. And I wanted to confirm those rumours, I wad fairly of an assassin targeting me. They weren't uncommon, such pests existed in each and every era. They were likely from opposing nations, I didn't know which nation they would be from.

But I was likely a threat, although to them I wouldn't be as dangerous as the Princess. Now you might be wondering as to why I'd purposefully show off when I could just have a knight with me. Well, it's to close my distance with the Princess, she's smart. Way too smart and I'll be using her IQ against her.

I was wearing a white shirt similar to the one I had worn to battle. It was adorned with gold, it was tucked into my trousers. I was wearing a rather luxurious white blazer. We wore a lot of white, it was kind of our thing.

I honestly preferred plain, black clothes though. But I can't really wear a black t-shirt and a pair of black jeans to my own birthday party. I headed down to the main hall. The main fall was fairly far away from my room, it was to keep everything away from our rooms. It was obviously down stairs, I walked past the entrance, through the hall way and into the hall. Many nobles were already there, many children were also present.

The hall was huge, there were tables laid neatly around the room. Servants were walking with circular trays filled with drinks and other food stuffs. There were tables filled with food spread out throughout the entire venue. Many people could be seen laughing and clinking wine glasses.

I sat followed Lucas to the very front of the hall. There were were stairs on either side of what looked to be a stage of sorts, we climbed up the stairs. I held on to the railings and looked over the venue, I then felt the Mana around him change, I looked at him, I sensed that he was enhancing his vocal cords, throat and his spine along some other muscles and bones.

"Ahem. Can I please get everyone's attention attention the next few minutes?"

He spoke with a voice that held authority yet was welcoming , his voice tore through conversations as the entire venue came to a crashing silence.

"As you all know, today is my son's birthday, today marks the eighth birthday of Reinhardt Avalon. Allow me to thank you all for coming, please enjoy yourselves to your hearts contents!"

With that picked up a wine glass that was brought to him by a servant with a smile on his face.

The adults raised their wine glasses with smiles on their faces and cheered, then they all drank the wine.

"Reinhardt, go and talk to the other children, you should probably try and make some friends. This is your debut into noble society as well as your party. Normally your debut is your your actual debut, but it's not like you could avoid going Angelica's birthday for something as meager as it interfering with your debut. But that's beside the point, what I'm trying to say is that now is the time to make a proper impression on people. As of now, most people think that you're some sort of battle maniac. They've heard the rumours of you slaying over 20 knights on your first battle, and you beat up that brat from the Aries house. So, try and make yourself seem a bit more more compassionate."

'Wait? They view me as a battle maniac?'

Then I realised something, my common sense was extremely warped when compared to their ideals. I did indeed kill over 20 knights on that battle, but to me, 20 lives is worth as much as a bag of rice. In their eyes, a child who hasn't been a mage for even a year has slaughtered 20 knights on his first battle, so in their eyes, I'm like the Devil incarnate...