The party ends

Yeah right, 'she doesn't know how to react'. I was surprised at the time to see mother so... Expressive. Oh don't get me wrong, she shows her emotion like anybody, but she's always in control. As far as I know, she never lost her temper or got angry at guests for example. But here, I could almost FEEL the annoyance and the anger directed to both Father and Rias.

And no wonder she was annoyed. With Rias temper, how on earth didn't father saw fit to tell her beforehand. Not surprising though, father as a pretty low EQ... And IQ. He's a pretty mediocre devil after all if you put the family fortune and prestige aside. When he doesn't consult mother, he just screw things up. But he keeps insisting on making deals or stuff like that occasionally. I guess he wants to prove to mother he's not dumb or something. Sadly, the results often spoke for themselves, and not in his favour.

As for why she feels that way toward Rias ? Captain obvious are you there, we need your help ?

In the end Lord Phenex, his wife and daughter, Father and mother, Brother and his shitty wife, AND Riser and Rias went somewhere else to 'calm down'.

Basically, I was left alone to entertain the guests and calm the rumours already starting. It also mean I was the highest authority temporarily, kinda. So I went to work, FOR THE FAMILY... Yeah, right.

I decided to have some fun instead and stopped mingling with my peer and went straight to the bigger players. I did my best to look mature and redirected most conversation toward my living paintings and toward the fact it was extremely hard to make, and would only be done for the BEST pillar houses. After all, it was a rare commodity, I was going to sell it to some LOWER houses. Very soon there was a small bidding war between the various lords and lady to know who will have the honour of being my first commission.

What a bunch of gullible and vain piggy banks. In the end the Lord Glasya-Labolas won and I would be visiting his house in the very near future to paint him.

In the end the attention of everyone was redirected toward me and soon I was talking about the fact I was proficient in rune magic after being taught by a young Asgardian genius and queen Frigga herself afterward.

Since I had kinda used Göndul presence to shield me when I smacked down Diodora, I though about doing something nice for her. So I introduced Rossweisse to all the important Lords after telling them about her incredible talent in arithmancy (the art of creating magic circle and crest via calculations) and the fact I was almost certain she was going to become Frigga's aid in the future. I of course accompanied her. I was not going to send her to the wolves without help.

I did see Göndul looking pleased with my move and following silently.

I also caught a glimpse of the various heirs that seemed incredulous over the fact I had smoothly become the centre of attention. Funny since some of them were desperate to be included with the 'true' players and were making pathetic attempts at being included.

At some point I saw Sona with a resolute look, and could guess she would try to join us too. And since I liked her a bit I decided to help a bit. As soon as she was in range I made it look like I was waiting for her and started mentioning her impressive analytical mind, as well as the fact she had actually won a chess game against lord Ajuka. Who actually confirmed it good naturally.

Since she had some brain, she using the little help to keep in the group, not making waves, but at least being acknowledge, which was already a victory in some way.

Because of my actions, the party took a completely different turn. Instead of being a youth gathering supervised by adults, it became a test to see which heir was good enough to mingle with the big guys. And I was more or less the boss, since the house was mine during the absence of the rest of my family.

I also used the opportunity to praise a few metalworkers of Asgard by showing some of the enchanted accessories gifted to me, and which I was 'luckily' wearing. It led to commercial discussions and trade agreements being mentioned to Göndul. Once again, I 'luckily' new what Asgard would like, and the various pricing, helping Rossweisse and her grandmother more than they anticipated. Almost as if I was expecting something like that... Almost. Soon after that, to the bewilderment and joy of Serafall, some lords were talking to her asking what was needed to hasten the process of procuring Asgardian goods.

With that and me helping Sona, I knew I scored more cookie points.

Lastly, I may or may not have hypothetically possibly implied that Rias was gorgeous ans powerful, but wasn't really the sharpest one in the bunch, and that her laziness was so praiseworthy that she could be nicknamed Rias the sloth princess. Of course, I will forever deny that.

In the end, it took my parents and the Phenex around an hour before coming back. And the sour faces on various individuals was all I needed to know to confirm it didn't go as father expected.

There was no more announcement, but soon the party started to die as the night was going strong. I also decided to accompany the various guest to the door once they decided it was time to leave. In the end, I was pretty sure I had made a good impression on the young and the old, got several patrons for my paintings, helped Asgard to make trade agreement and got goodwill from various friends, and saw Rias world crumble on itself.

It was a good party overall.