Politics and Annoyance

Around the small table, the four group members sat facing each other. Cylas had placed the invitation on the table for the others to see and had explained what the Guildmaster had said.

"The King wants to invite us to a party huh?" Lucius asked, looking at the invitation in his hands. Putting the invitation back on the table he sighed, his face showed resignation.

"I suppose we should go then."

"I'd rather not waste my time pleasing nobles. I'll pass." Vasuki stated his expression giving away his disinterest in the whole ordeal.

"Aw don't be like that, if I have to go it's only makes sense that I should force you to go as well."

"What? What kind of logic is that?"

"Akara, Cylas? How about you two, are you both up for it?" Lucius asked, looking at them both.

"Though I'd rather not, it'd be rude to decline an invitation from the City King. If you're going, I'd be more than glad to accompany you." she responded, smiling at Lucius.

"I want to go myself; it'd be a good chance for me to learn about these types of occasions." Cylas responded.

Throughout their conversation Cylas had weighed whether it was worth it to go to the City King's party. It was clear he didn't have enough knowledge, and going to the party was the perfect chance to try and figure out the answers to some of his questions. The more he learned about the world the more he could find out about the various threats residing in it.

He didn't have much interest in the politics either, but it wasn't something he could ignore. In the future he needed everything he could get to stop the enemy to come, he wasn't sure his own strength would ever be enough.

"Alright then, Vasuki are you sure you don't want to come? You could always stay at the inn by yourself if you don't want to." Lucius said, joking with Vasuki.

"... I'll go...But you realize they only invited us to gain favor? This celebration is nothing but a sham." Vasuki stated with annoyance on his face. He clearly wasn't a fan of dealing with Nobles.

"Haha, but if they're throwing such a nice party it'd be a waste to not attend it ourselves, it's also a good chance for Cylas to socialize a bit as well." Lucius smiled brightly, looking at the group.

Ignoring Lucius's remark, Cylas didn't share the same sentiment as Lucius, but either way it didn't change the fact that they both were going to the celebration.

"Just don't embarrass us, you have an annoying tendency so say what comes to mind before thinking about it." Vasuki said, calling Lucius out.

"I agree." Cylas inserted, often in the past Lucius had embarrassed him in public, Cylas was just glad that he wasn't the only one who had to say it.

Looking at Cylas and Vasuki, Lucius was clearly shocked to hear that they agreed.

"He's just really honest, it's an endearing quality." Akara said, putting what Vasuki had said into nicer words.

Looking over at Akara Lucius face showed even more shock than before.

"I do not say everything that comes to my mind! Cylas, I never told anyone about the first time you sparred with Doran and you cried all day after he hit you once, or the time when you were late to a session and..."

"S..Stop!!" Cylas exclaimed, his face turning red from embarrassment.

Looking at Cylas a tight smile spread across Lucis's face.

"Oh I'm sorry, all these embarrassing memories just came to mind and I couldn't help but too say them."

Looking up Cylas looked at Lucius's face with disbelief, his own face still bright red.

"You jerk."

Switching his gaze over Lucius looked over at Vasuki, his eerie smile remaining unchanging, glued tightly onto his face.

"Oh my, another memory just came to mind."

Looking between Lucius and Akara, Vasuki's face began to pale. Obviously concerned he switched his pose leaning forward.

"H..Hey, no hard feelings, right?"

"Of course not." Lucius responded, his tight smile still there.

…

After spouting a few of Vasuki's embarrassing memories the life had left Vasuki's face. Cylas felt bad looking at him, but he didn't risk stopping Lucius, he had too much on him. Beside Lucius, Akara laughed wiping away a tear from her eyes. Once Lucius finished with Vasuki, he turned his head looking over at the laughing Akara.

"Huh?" she said seeing Lucius's face looking at her.

"You're joking right?" Akara asked, a small amount of panic beginning to spread across her face.

Shaking his head, the same tight smile remained spread across Lucius's face.

…

Once Lucius was finished embarrassing everyone the tight smile went away and his usual smile took its place. Around him the three party members all were dead, their embarrassing moments exposed.

"Wow, I feel like a weight has been lifted off my shoulders." he announced, stretching his arms.

"I suppose that's enough of a distraction, some of us will need to get formal clothing for the celebration."

Breaking out of his daze, Cylas looked at Lucius, with confusion spreading across his face. The only parties he had been to never required different clothing.

"We can't just wear our gear there?" Cylas asked.

Hearing Cylas' question, Lucius burst out laughing.

"Haha, why would you wear your gear to a celebration? You'll need a suit."

'A suit?'

Cylas had never attended a party other than the one's adventurers sometimes had at the Inn. Thinking about it Cylas had never even worn a suit before.

"Are we at least allowed to bring our weapons?"

Beside Cylas, Vasuki chuckled, his expression showing clear disbelief.

"Do you think those weak nobles trust adventurer's enough to let them attend with weapons?"

"No, I guess not." Cylas responded.

He didn't know much about the relationship between the Guild and the Alliance, he figured that they were on good terms though. He didn't think about how the Nobles might feel threatened by the Guild's influence.

"Nobles, Kings, Queens, they're all the same, all they care about is what you can do for them and how much power they can gain. The only reason they invited us is to try and recruit us again." Vasuki went on, his hatred for royalty was clear to see.

"Anyways, the point is you'll need to get the right clothing, you shouldn't have to talk much so there's no need for you to learn their manners or anything like that." Lucius quickly interjected, stopping Vasuki from continuing his rant.

"We'll all be there so there's nothing to worry about, some nobles can be high-strung but usually they'll just try to gain our favor." Akara mentioned.

Cylas wasn't worried in the first place, he just didn't know what to expect when going there. After hearing them explain everything, Cylas wasn't sure the party was a good place to gather the information he was looking for anymore.

"The Celebration seems like a waste of time after all doesn't it?" Cylas asked, originally, he planned on asking about relations and possible threats to humanity, but it seemed it would be better to just bother the Guildmaster again.

"Aw, don't be like that, you need some socialization. Other than us do you have any other friends?" Lucius asked not holding back.

'Did he have any other friends?...'

No, he never had socialized much other than with the people at the Inn, but they generally never stayed long.

"Eiran?" Cylas asked.

"Why are you asking me? Just take the party as a learning experience, it'll help you learn more about people."

Cylas didn't think he was bad at dealing with people, but if Lucius wanted him to go there was little he could do to change his mind.

"Alright, when should we go to get the clothes?"

"Now."

"Now?"

"There's no better time than the present." Lucius replied smiling.

"Didn't we come here to look at the quest?" Vasuki asked, he clearly was still bitter about what Lucius had done.

"We got one, so let's get going!" Lucius responded getting up, signaling for the group to follow.

The rest of the party relented, following him out the doors of the guild.

****

Leading the way through the streets, Lucius finally arrived at a large expensive looking tailor. Looking around the streets Cylas felt like he had been here before.

"This is by the Church isn't it?" Cylas asked.

"Yes, the Church is a few blocks away from here." Akara replied.

"Now, I'm pretty sure the only one who hasn't been here before is Cylas, would you mind helping him pick something out Akara?" Lucius asked.

"I already have a dress, so I don't mind." Akara replied.

"Alright we'll split up and meet back up at the entrance once we have our clothing picked out. Be warned it's more on the expensive side." Lucius continued walking into the store without looking behind him.

Following him Vasuki went in glancing back at the two of them.

"Let's go then." Akara said walking with Cylas into the store.