[42.3] The Magical World Hosts its First Rager

I looked between Cyrus and Felix, "Who else was coming?"

They both shrugged.

Felix looked at his butler, "Can you see who it is?"

The butler gave him a nod and went to the door to open it.

Standing in the doorway was a good-looking man with wild long, reddish blonde hair and a hoard of women behind him who grinned at us cockily. He pushed the butler aside and stepped inside.

He hugged both Felix and Cyrus, "Ah! Look who it is! My darling cousin and my second half-cousin!"

I watched as Cyrus's expression immediately soured while Felix's smile turned vacant. Cyrus pushed him off, "What are you doing here Nicholas?"

He ignored them and stepped over to me with a grin that instantly made me feel sick to my stomach. He grabbed my hand and bent down to give it a kiss. He smirked at me, "And who is this beautiful lady?"

I gave a hiss and pulled my hand back as if I had been touched by acid.

Cyrus stepped in front of me with a murderous expression, "Don't touch her!"

Nicholas blinked in surprise and gave me one glance. Then a look of understanding passed over his face, "Oooh. This is your girl."

I felt Cyrus flinch slightly, "A-Ah… Well-"

I wrapped my arms around Cyrus and peeked out from behind his back, "That's right. So don't touch me!"

A large grin crossed his face and he reached out to tussle Cyrus's hair, "Ohoho! I can't believe my darling little cousin actually committed to someone! I honestly thought he would be alone forever."

Cyrus pushed his hands away in irritation, "What are you even doing here?"

Nicholas responded nonchalantly, "I got an invitation that you were hosting a party for all of the contestants. There were no limits on how many people you could bring with you, so I made sure to invite all the beautiful girls in the capital… You can thank me later."

Cyrus's expression twitched, "...Stop touching me."

One of the girls behind Nicholas giggled, "Wow! You two are really close. It's so cute!"

I watched as Cyrus's face twitched even more, but he didn't say a word.

Nicholas tossed his hair with a charming smile, "We grew up beside each other. Even though he moved to the dorms, nothing can shake our familial bonds."

"What a joke." Surprisingly, this time it was Felix that spoke up. Unlike Cyrus, he didn't try to hide the fact that he was irritated.

However, Nicholas was so dense he didn't even realize that Felix said it because he was irritated. He pulled him into a hug, "Don't feel left out, my darling half-cousin. I love you just the same even if you're only half related to me."

Felix pursed his lips and mumbled to himself, "Why do you feel like it's necessary to remind me of our half relation every time you see me?"

Nicholas ignored his muttering and started walking past us into the main ballroom, "Whoa! Look at all this! We are going to have a ton of fun here tonight."

I watched as more and more people walked in behind Nicholas. Each one gave us polite greetings as they followed him into the ballroom.

Cyrus stared at the crowd with a scowl, "Hm. I wonder where they got the invitation from."

Cyrus and Felix both looked at me accusingly.

I held up my hands innocently, "It wasn't me! I swear! I only told Zephyr and Hazel!"

Zephyr popped up from nowhere and interrupted with a smug smile, "It was me! I invited everyone."

We all glared at him, "..."

I shouted, "Why would you do that!?"

He shrugged, "I figured you three needed help inviting people. I know the golden-haired brat wouldn't invite anyone and I know Felix would make it too formal. Reika isn't popular, so I had to step in. I invited a bunch of people and Hazel is handing out masquerade masks so everyone can give in to their temptations without fear of consequences."

I cracked my knuckles, "Looks like I need to beat some sense into you."

Zephyr quickly scampered off, "You can thank me later!!"

Cyrus let out a sigh, "We are in trouble, aren't we?"

Felix tried not to cry, "My servants are all going to quit."

I put my arms around both of them, "Don't be pessimistic! Let's consider this an opportunity to make friends!!"

The atmosphere quickly went from being stiff and formal to a party full of rambunctious, drunk, young adults. They all were laughing and falling over themselves, but no one seemed to judge.

Cyrus stared at the rowdy group, "This isn't what I had in mind when you suggested a party."

Felix started panicking, "W-What is going on!? What is happening?! I have never seen any party like this, not even in the red-light district!"

I pursed my lips, "This is what you call a rager."

Felix looked at me, "A rager!? What is that?"

"It's the name of a party that gets a bit too out of hand. There's going to be a lot of broken things tonight…"

Felix covered his face with his hands, "My servants are definitely going to quit!"

I tilted my head, "But I don't understand… What is the purpose of wearing masquerade masks? I can still tell who is who."

Cyrus shrugged, "I think it just gives them the excuse to do whatever they want. After tonight, they will pretend like anything they did today never happened."

"Reika! Reika, Reika!" A drunken girl pushed through the crowd and grabbed my hand. She hiccuped, "Co-Come on!"

She started pulling me and away from Cyrus and Felix. I shouted, "What what what?!"

She pulled me to another group and nudged me forward, "Do *hiccup* Do the thing!"

I stared at her in confusion, "Do what thing?"

She twirled her hands, "T-The little smoke thing that you did to Prince Cyrus's Uncle!"

My eyes lit up in understanding, "Oh! I know what you mean."

I rubbed my hands together and held out my palms to reveal a small flame person with smoke coming off. It jumped off of my hands and onto the girl who laughed obnoxiously, "Look look look! I told you it doesn't burn you!"

Another spoke up, "No way! I want to try it!!"

I had the flame person jump onto his hands and do a little dance. The entire group was laughing so loudly, more people came over to see what the commotion was about. Before long, there was a crowd gathering and clambering to get a turn as well.

Priscilla pushed to the front of the crowd and screeched, "I-I can do that too!"

I pushed her out of my face, "Why are you trying to compete with me!?"

"Because you're my opponent!! You may have defeated me in the first competition, but I'm not going to let you defeat me at this!!"

I pointed at Cyrus, "He's your opponent in the competition!! Not me!"

Cyrus sipped on his glass of wine and raised an eyebrow.

Priscilla ignored me, "So come on! Watch this!"

She held out her palms with an intense stare as she swayed from the influence of alcohol. Eventually, a small rose popped up from her palm.

I laughed, "You can't even create a small smoke person. Why are you trying to compete with me? You have a different attribute than mine."

Her face turned red, "Then let's spar!!!"

I pushed past her and walked away, "Not interested."

She followed after me, "Are you scared you're going to lose?! Hmm!?"

I rolled my eyes, "I literally don't care."

She continued to antagonize me, "Come on! Fight me!"

"Leave me alone!"

She tripped over her feet and fell against me. We both tumbled to the ground and I landed roughly on my back. I cried out, "Ow!"

Priscilla landed on top of me and let out a groan. I tried to push her off, but she was too heavy.

"Oi! Get off of me!"

She lifted her head which was turning green, "I… I don't think I can."

My face went pale, "DON'T YOU DARE PUKE ON ME!"

I quickly pushed her off and rolled along the floor to avoid the eventual disaster. She hurriedly crawled to a nearby plant and leaned forward. I closed my eyes and covered my ears, "GROSS!"

She collapsed by the plant and wiped at her mouth, "Ugh… I don't feel good…"

I rolled my eyes and stood up, "That's what happens when you drink too much."

She went to stand up but fell back down. Her eyes swirled, "Whoa… Everything is spinning…"

I let out a sigh and went to her side to help her stand up. I looked around for a servant to take her to a spare room, but they were all running around clearly in distress. They could barely keep up with cleaning and putting out more food and drinks.

I pursed my lips, "I guess I will have to take you there myself."

I carried her down the hallway, but I could barely keep holding her up.

It's like carrying around deadweight!

I let out a groan, "Oi! Prissy! Help me out a little! You're way too heavy!"

She let out a whimper, "Y-You're heavier…"

"Ugh! Seriously?! You're trying to argue over that now?!"

"You say you're strong… So stop complaining…"

"I didn't say I was physically strong! I can barely run for more than a few seconds!!"

She burst out into laughter, "HAHA! Why are you so lame!?"

My eyebrow twitched in irritation, "Oi! I'm helping you out here!"

She continued to giggle, "Why are you so short too?"

I snapped, "I will have you know that I didn't even use my body until I was 5! I had delayed muscle development and strength!"

She was already falling asleep, "Hmm… Unfortunate…"

I brought her into the room and threw her on her back. She didn't move and closed her eyes with a groan, "It's still spinning…"

I let out a sigh and moved her to her side. I shoved a pillow in her arms, "Don't fall asleep on your back. You could die."

She hugged the pillow tightly, "Mmmmmn…"