Chapter 033 – Surprise Party “Lute, where are we going?”
Whenever she was called over for a tea party, the Centaur Karen Bishop would usually head for Ojousama’s room in the second floor.
But this time I was guiding her towards the first floor dining hall.
That’s why she was wondering and asked me about it.
“The great dining hall. Everyone is already waiting there.”
“Everyone?”
She heard my reply and tilted her head.
Before she could ask another question, we reached the doors of the dining hall.
I knocked and called out.
“I’ve brought Karen-sama”
I had Karen stand in front of the door, and it slowly opened—
“”Karen-chan, happy birthday!””
“!?”
With a soft popping sound, Karen’s body was showered with confetti and tape made of cloth.
Karen flinched hearing a sound she had never heard before.
Then there was the sound of an uproarious applause.
In the dining hall there were Chrisse-ojousama, master, madam, and the servants of the Vlad house.
There was also the three-eyed Barnie Bloomfield.
Also the Lamia (half-snake) Muir Head.
Also finally, there were maids that Barnie and Muir brought along to help, they were all giving a grand applause.
The walls of the dining hall were decorated with multicolored string flowers.
Then there was a banner with the words [Happy 11th Birthday, Karen-chan] written on it in Demon Language.
While Karen was still trying to grasp the situation, Ojousama stepped up to her, holding a bouquet.
[Karen-chan, happy birthday]
“C, Chrisse!?”
Karen was once again surprised because Ojou-sama, who supposedly could not go out of her room because of being bullied, was now here in front of her eyes.
As she took the bouquet, she finally realized that this gathering is a surprise birthday party for her.
Karen burst into tears, looking as if a dam just broke.
“C, Chrisse is such a good friend, to go so far as going out of your room just to celebrate my birthday! Everyone, thank you! I have such really good friends!”
[………]
All of Karen’s childhood friends in the hall, including Ojousama looked at each other.
Last time, the other two had found out when they met to prepare for the birthday party that Ojousama was able to go out of her room. Of course, they also knew that she didn’t go out specifically for Karen.
But no one had the heart to deny.
They only smiled awkwardly, but Karen, who was being moved to tears, took no notice.
As soon as she went inside the hall, she immediately received presents.
“The first one’s from me, okay”
The three-eyed Barnie presented her present.
It’s about the size of a 5 kg sack of rice.
“It’s a magic-imbued piggybank. It’s absolutely impossible to open until you reach a set amount of money, so do your best in filling it, okay.”
“Thank you, Barnie. I’ll use it with great care.”
It was quite the appropriate present from a money-changer’s daughter.
[Next is me.]
Ojousama handed over a small box tightly wrapped in cloth on the palm of her hands.
[They’re just earrings, but I’ll be glad if you happily accept them.]
“Thank you Chrisse. I won’t be able to wear them everyday, but I’ll use them for parties or important days.”
“The last one’s from me. I’ll be happy if you could use them together with Chrisse’s present.”
A maid the Lamia Muir brought along had the present.
Hers was the only one that was not wrapped, and was spread out right there for all to see.
The present she prepared was a lavish dress that made you wonder whether they used too much lace.
It was pink in color, with white lace sewed on it like whipped cream.
Rather than a party dress, it would be called in my previous life as sweet lolita fashion.
Karen was speechless at Muir’s present at first, then her face turned red.
“M, Muir! What’s with this frilly, fluttery dress! Don’t you think it doesn’t suit this strict warrior me!”
“Not at all. It’ll be fine, it reeeally suits Karen.”
“You’re still teasing me again!”
Karen, with her face red, got angry.
But ojousama and three-eyed Barnie backed Muir.
“That’s not it at all, Karen-chan has a pretty face and a nice figure, so you’ll look good in it”
[The earrings I gave were simple, but I think they strike a good balance with that dress. Please wear them and show us next time.]
“Well, but, um…”
The two seriously insisted that she would look good in it.
Therefore Karen who wanted to deny it found it hard to respond.
Karen threw a clumsy smile at Muir.
“T, thanks Muir. I’ll keep it carefully so it doesn’t get dirty.”
“I’m glad you liked it. Wear it the next time we have a tea party, kay”
“W, well that’s if I feel like it, eh. Ahahahaha.”
“Fufufufufu…..”
The two continued their give and take quietly.
Once they finished fighting, the band that master and the others prepared started playing.
Accompanied by the music, the ojousamas got started on the food.
The food was gathered and prepared by the three families.
Muir’s Lamia family brought a seafood dinner.
Barnie’s three-eyed clan brought meat.
Ojousama’s side were responsible for other dishes that were simple to pick up (in j.a.pan they would be called something like hors d’œuvres).
Also the head chef Malcolm-san went all out and prepared a mountain of desserts that the Demon Race would like.
Cakes and cookies were a matter of course.
The snacks I made—Giant pudding made in the shape of a ball, mille crèpe with the crèpes cut into hearts, potato chips and a lot of other kinds of snacks were also prepared.
The ojousamas, master, madam, and the maids from the Lamia and Three-eyed families happily feasted on them all.
We the servants of the Vlad house hosting the event were working at the kitchen or going around delivering drinks.
It was not much trouble since there were only few partic.i.p.ants.
The head butler Merry-san put all his mind into the work.
Karen asked a question while eating the giant pudding that had been cut up.
“But, what exactly is that popping sound and the small pieces of cloth and string at the door?”
[Those were party toys called [Crackers] that Lute-oniichan made]
“Crackers?”
I made them with permission from master for the opening of the party.
The paper in this world were expensive and doesn’t have the stiffness so I subst.i.tuted them with wood.
I put in leftover cloth, cut into fine pieces, and string into the wooden tubes like a kaleidoscope.
When the string is pulled, the contents would fly out thanks to the powder that was put inside.
I never thought my gun-making skills would be useful to this extent.
When I finished my explanations, Karen became lost in thought.
“What an interesting device…. Couldn’t we use it to make a new kind of weapon?”
“Hey hey, what is the birthday girl pondering about. Your family work can wait until after the party”
“S, sorry.”
[But actually, it seems a magic weapon like that already exists. I think it’s called an AK-47 if I’m not mistaken]
Ojousama replied using the mini blackboard.
Her friends turned their gazes towards me.
……this is not a good time to talk about the AK-47, right?
It’s already too late for any excuses, so I gave a straight answer.
“It’s a magic device that uses explosion magic to propel a small metal slug to kill or wound the enemy.”
“Something like that exists? This is the first time I’ve heard of it. Is it a common weapon in the Fairy Human Continent?”
Belonging to a family whose business is in developing and producing weapons, Karen was interested.
I had no obligation to answer honestly, so I dodged the question.
“Normally people have no knowledge of it. It seems to be an unusual weapon. Even when I was in the Fairy Human Continent I only heard of it in pa.s.sing.”
“Where in the Fairy Human Continent did you hear of it? Did you hear about anything else?”
“Hey Karen-chan, didn’t Muir-chan just tell you off?”
Barnie held back Karen’s barrage of questions.
“You’re the guest of honor for tonight so eat up, eat up. This cake’s really good you know.”
“S, sorry. It’s surely sweet and tasty.”
Eating the cake Barnie recommended, Karen broke into a smile.
I made my escape after making sure she’s too occupied to start questioning me again.
As I escaped toward the walls, Merry-san ran past me towards master in a state of panic.
Merry-san whispered something to him, who was sitting in a sofa together with madam, eating mille crèpe.
“!?”
I felt an overwhelming pressure, despite being in the opposite wall from him.
Even the musicians became frightened and stopped their hands.
Ojousama’s friends also turned their heads, wondering what happened.
Only one person out of everyone there, madam, was able to reproach master while drinking scented tea.
“Darling, do calm down a little. Magic power is leaking out of your whole body.”
“…… Hahahahaha! Sorry, sorry! I was a little careless there.”
“Good grief, your carelessness is unbecoming of your appearance.”
The two laughed happily with each other, not minding their surroundings.
With the right timing, master cleared his throat.
“Well, I beg your pardon. There’s a bit of an internal matter so I became distracted.”
The feeling of oppression that I felt for the first time.
That is surely the pressure of the A-ranked magician master being seriously angry.
But what [Internal Matter] could make him so seriously angry?
Master spoke carefreely, as if talking about tomorrow’s weather.
“It seems that my brothers are gearing up for another war.”
Master’s brothers!
Immediately the faces of the unbalanced combo of Pylkkänen and Ravio floated into my mind.
Once upon a time, they made up an excuse to go to war against master in order to seize his belongings.
The enemy, the vampire house, numbered 1000 people, 50 among them are magicians.
Opposing them are the Vlad house who can only field 50 people beginning with master and madam. However the result was the Vlads’ complete victory.
That was obvious. Master is an A-rank mage—that is the domain of monsters that only a handful of talented people can reach with great effort.
Once master and his men trampled all their enemies flat and defeated the baka-brothers, the brothers immediately apologized.
Master only smiled and forgave them at their request, without asking for money or any demands other than their apology.
“My brothers did something embarra.s.sing, starting a fight even though it’s my family and my daughters’ friends’ fun time… Even though they’re my brothers, I need to teach them a lesson.”
Though his tone of voice was calm and he was smiling as he said that, I could feel his muscles bulging underneath his fancy clothes.
“That’s right isn’t it. We went too easy on them last time. This time we should be more strict, right, darling?”
Madam was agreeing with what master said.
Madam, too, was firing off a suffocating intent to kill even while dressed in her fine clothes.
“Therefore I must ask for your pardon, Bishop-san, to pour cold water on your long-awaited party. I will make it up to you sometime.”
“I thank you for your concern, Lord Count. But there is no need to worry, it can’t be helped since it’s a family conflict. Honestly, I had fun this time. I will also certainly show you my grat.i.tude in the near future”
Karen politely bowed her head in thanks.
“So, should we disperse now?”
“Right. It can’t be helped since it’s a family affair, we should go back so we don’t hold them back”
The Lamia Muir and 3-eyed Barnie disinterestedly started packing, unsurprised with the attack, not to mention that it was by the main family.
Those two as well knew that the main family once declared war once in the past, so maybe that’s why they’re so indifferent about it.
The head maid Mercè-san whispered to me, who was making an incredulous face.
(Lute is a human, so you may not be familiar with it, but for the Demon Race it’s a matter of manners to [not speak out regarding family wars]. The Demon Race has more varied families than the other 4 races, right? Families had their own customs and differences of habit so by tacit understanding it is agreed that others shouldn’t interfere with it)
I see.
So that’s why no one asked about the circ.u.mstances or whether they needed any help.
“Mercè, Lute, you two please see off ojousama’s guests. Afterwards, take ojousama to her room baa~”
The head butler Merry-san who suddenly was next to me started laying down the orders.
We responded and started moving.
Merry-san left to convey the orders to the other servants.
In order to prepare for the war with the brothers—
———————
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Next update is in December 22nd, 21:00