Chapter 7: Meeting the NobilityThe Month of Noel, Day 15, Year 681 of the Second Holy Calendar

  Following the baptismal ceremony, Dominic was escorted out of the room and into a changing room. There was to be a banquet after this, celebrating and allowing Dominic to meet the nobility adequately, and for that meeting, he had to get changed as he was still in his bathrobe. Eliana accompanied him. He would have preferred Luce as he had some things he wanted to talk to her about, but he decided there was no helping it as they had to keep up a public appearance of Eliana being a baptismal mother.

  Sophie and Jane, we're actually the ones to help him get dressed in the outfit that had been selected and brought to the temple ahead of time. His other retainers sat around in the room and watched. “There's definitely going to be some adjustment to having so many people around me at all times.” Dominic thought with a sigh. One of the reasons he had invited Oswald Coldheart was that he suspected he was close to Queen Veronica. It was just too suspicious that he had always stayed as a vice governor unless he had some other reason not to pursue power it only made sense that he was actually following secret orders from the queen. But now that he'd met her, he was seriously regretting his decision to allow a spy to be close to him at all times, who was going to be nothing but trouble.

  He also felt pressure from today's meeting, a strange sense of something being off. “I guess I need to confirm this,” Dominic sighed. “Mother, I have a question.”

  Eliana was admiring his appearance in the mirror and was caught off guard by the question, “What do you want to ask dear?”

  “Why did you become my baptismal mother,” Dominic locked eyes with her in the mirror.

  There was a moment of silence before she finally answered, “I did it for the status and honor.” She apparently decided honesty was best at this moment.

  “Why the militant faction? Is it because the Neivuls are always closer to the militant faction? But then you could be more valued in the traditionalist faction since they're currently cking a lot of members, especially members with connections to the military.”

  “Because the militant faction is going to win,” Eliana said in a tone of absolute confidence as if she was more troubled by the conversation than the question.

  “The militant faction will win,” and some of his doubts cleared up that the militant faction would win. A majority of the nobility sided with them. The neutral faction also hated the traditionalist faction and would only side with them if Nora and Dominic proved to be incompetent. This was unlikely as both had received discipline and training fit for royalty from an early age. Even if the traditionalist faction managed to get the Grastide Nobles on their side, securing victory would have been challenging. Although Dominic may have been a rookie to politics, he understood one thing, and that was the most crucial reason the militant faction would win, and that was that power came from the barrel of a gun, or, in this case, the power came from the tip of a spear and the militant faction had the army. But something was still nagging at him, something that was wrong with the situation, but he couldn't put his finger on it.

  Eliana carried on as if nothing had happened, ignoring that a 6-year-old had just asked her about her political opinion. Dominic was grateful for this. Although he didn't act like a normal 6-year-old most of the time, he at least tried not to act like someone with adult insight as he was worried about being viewed as strange or peculiar. Humans have always ostracized those they had found different from themselves, and it was a part of human nature. Even though people of the modern world often like to cim that they are morally superior to other people, they still ostracize people based on weirdness or found other reasons to divide themselves into groups, so in most cases, your group matters more than the individual. This is why Dominic intentionally downpyed his maturity to not be viewed as strange.

  They dressed him in the same outfit that Luce had procured from the merchant, who had promised him the right to purchase weapons. Sophie and Jane seemed to have some sort of rivalry going as they gred at each other. Eliana also began grumbling about Luce's fashion choices and how she wished she had summoned the merchant to get him fitted for a new outfit herself, just loud enough for Dominic to hear. He decided to take the safe route and just ignore all of this completely, at least until someone actually tried something.

  After he finished changing, they left the temple entirely through the back gate and entered the Citadel. Dominic hadn't been able to explore the grounds of the Citadel despite having lived there his entire life, and he'd only gotten a brief glimpse of them after his awakening. Now that he got a good look at them, you can only think of them as a public park with many sidewalks lined with trees and patches of grass and flowers. In between these were various government buildings guarded by a high perimeter wall. “It's another projection of Bck power,” he thought.

  A massive fortress that towered over the entire city, like the Bastille in Paris, and had all of the government buildings located within it, as were the temple and the Royal Knights, a unit of knights selected for their quality and loyalty to the crown. Because all government buildings were located in it, all power flowed from the Citadel, which was controlled by the Royal House of bck absolutely. It was just another reminder of the sheer lengths his ancestors had gone to establish the power of the Royal Family firmly.

  To get to the pace, they had to travel from one side of the Citadel to the other. The Royal Banquet Hall was located on the outside, with one set of massive windows facing the flower garden. The windows were a gift from the Kingdom of Triton after the first battle of Hayden's Ford. The Kingdom of Triton was a major producer of gss, including stained gss and gssware, which was considered the finest in the entirety of the Western continent and even the rest of the human race.

  Dominic entered from the front door. He was obviously the st to arrive, as everyone else had just traveled from the temple to the banquet hall. When he entered the hall through the open doors, all eyes immediately moved to him, and he felt the same sense of pressure he had during the ceremony, but he just casually pushed it off like before.

  He noticed Nora surrounded by a rge group of other children. When she noticed him, she started walking over, followed by the group. “Congratutions on your Awakening and baptism, Flick.”

  “Thank you, and happy birthday, elder sister.” In this world, addressing one's elder siblings is complicated because you should respect your elders within the same family. You were supposed to address them as either Lord/dy sister/brother when on formal occasions, Elder sister/brother if you had a closer retionship, or big sister/brother when you had a very close retionship. Having a very close retionship with Nora, Dominic commonly just addressed her as a big sister. He still found it a little bit embarrassing, given that he was a 20-something-year-old mentally. Something interesting about this world's nguage was that titles were gender-neutral. There weren't separate titles for king and queen. Instead, there was a title for ruler and consort, both of which were gender-neutral.

  Nora frowned before responding, “Happy birthday.” Both Dominic and Nora's birthdays were on the 15th, and they were separated by only 2 years, making their age difference precisely 2 years. Since Noel's birthday and festival were also supposedly on the 15th, people had already started spreading rumors that the two of them were favored by Noel and treating them as divine omens. Of course, if you counted all of the major and hundreds of minor deities, then basically everyone's birthday was on some Festival day.

  “There are some people I would like you to meet, flick,” Nora gestured at the crowd of children around her. Dominic recognized the bck hair and green eyes of the Tallwoods and the blonde hair and red eyes of the Cornelias. “This is Angelica Cornelia, her older brother Pierce, and her younger sister Elia.” The three gestured, and all had red eyes and golden hair. Angelica appeared to be strong-willed and close to his sister judging by the atmosphere between them, Pierce was a bit more separate although equally strong-willed well, and Elia appeared to be a shy girl although she was only 6 years old. He actually knew their father, Charles, as he had become the new Major General of the first division, which had been stationed in the Royal Capital ever since the Golden Stallions invasion. Because Luce was treated as the de facto faction leader, he often visited along with his wife, who is the de facto second in command of the militant faction.

  It was actually kind of funny that the two Leaders of the militant faction weren't military officers at all. Instead, they were just their wives. But it made sense, as the entire militant faction was bluntly speaking a bunch of muscle heads. To lead a political faction, you needed at least a little bit of political cunning.

  After they completed their typical Noble greetings to each other, Nora continued introducing the group. Judging by the st names, there were a lot of them, essentially all of the children of the militant faction, at least to a certain level of status. But none of them really caught Dominic's attention.

  Before Nora could finish introducing all of her followers, another group of children approached them, led by two blonde-haired Golden Eye children. When Dominic turn to look at them Nora who was in the middle of introducing another one of her companions, followed Dominic's gaze, when she saw the two approaching them she practically growled, “Antonia.” She moved to stay protectively in front of Dominic.

  “Dear cousin, would you allow me to meet with my cousin Dominic?” The girl who spoke with golden hair and golden eyes looked remarkably simir to Nora in many ways, although she had a more feminine face. Poking his head out behind her was a boy around Dominic's age who looked simir to him except a little bit more masculine, which annoyed him as Dominic was already worrying he was going to grow up to be feminine. Dominic scoffed mentally at him for hiding behind his sister until he realized he was doing the same thing.

  “Absolutely not. I already warned you to stay away,” Nora spat, immediately hostile.

  Antonia gred back, sparks flying between them, “I just want to meet my dear younger cousin, younger cousin.” Antonia was technically two months older than Nora; thus, traditionally, Nora would have to respect her. Realizing that the situation wasn't good and that Nora wouldn't back down likely resulted in a fight or a faux pas. Dominic stepped out from behind his sister.

  “It's good to meet you. I presume you're my cousin Antonia. I've heard a lot about you.” Antonia gnced at him, and Dominic immediately saw the thinly veiled hatred and disdain in her eyes. So he smiled gently at her as if he didn't notice her hostility.

  “Yes, I am your cousin, Antonia. I hope we can get along and lead the kingdom into its future as members of the Royal Family.”

  “I hope we can get along as well and lead the kingdom to future prosperity and glory.”

  “Of course, If you ever need any guidance or assistance, just know that I'm always there as your Elder.” Transtion: “I'll be leading the future of the kingdom, and you'll be my subordinate.”

  Nora picked up on this, too, and snorted. “You talk a big game for someone who's never beaten me once,”

  Antonia's eyebrows twitched “Well, I just came over here to introduce myself and to introduce Anton to you.” She shoved the boy in front of her under Nora's gaze, he immediately started trembling. It looks like genuine fear in his eyes. Dominic wondered what exactly is sister had done to him to make him so terrified.

  “I see you're the same as ever, Anton why don't you try going a backbone,” Nora mocked loudly. There were a number of snickers from Nora's followers, and Dominic noticed that there was a clear distinction in the children on one side were Antonia's followers, and on the other was Nora's, as if there was some unspoken rule about getting close to each other, in fact, Nora and Antonia were the closest together in terms of sheer proximity.

  Of course, after Noah's mocking and the snickers, Anton only shivered more. Nora took a step forward. She towered over both of them before saying she was about to say something when someone called out. “Dominic, Nora, how have you been?” Both groups of children turned to see Valerius walking towards them accompanied by his own Entourage.

  “Does everyone have to go around constantly accompanied by their friends? Is that some sort of custom here?” Dominic thought.

  Valerius walked forward, and when he spotted Anton and Antonia, he frowned, “If it isn't my niece, I hope you haven't gotten into another scuffle with Nora.”

  Antonia stared at him with even more disdain than she had looked at Dominic. “It's not I who start the scuffles, uncle,” she said, "Uncle,” as if she were forcing herself to say something unpleasant.

  “Well, children will always be getting into pointless scuffles. I was like that with your father, you know.”

  “What a completely irresponsible parent,” Dominic thought, and not for the first time.

  “Well, I'll take my leave now,” Antonia said, turned on her heel, and stormed off, followed by her ckeys and her little brother.

  “What did she even come here for?” Dominic asked Nora.

  “How should I understand the thoughts of fools?” Nora said in a sage tone. Dominic couldn't help but ugh, as she was completely serious. She looked at him curiously as if she didn't understand why he was ughing. He saw Valerius snickering from the corner of his eye, but the rest of the children looked horrified.

  “Anyway, did you have something you needed from me? " he asked the still-snickering Valerius, who proceeded to look at him the same way he had looked at him six years ago like he was looking at an injured animal.

  “Do I need a reason to congratute my son on his baptism and awakening? You can formally join Society now and use Magic, which is worth at least a pat on the back.” Saying that, he proceeded to pat Dominic on the back before strolling off confidently.

  “What did he even come here for?” Dominic asked no one in particur.

  “How should I understand the thoughts of fools?” Nora responded in a wise tone of voice.

  Nora started pointing out the various Nobles of the Kingdom, which was Dominic's way of finally putting a lot of names to faces that he'd heard of before. For example, Charles Magenta, prime minister in one of the two Dukes of the Kingdom, his great uncle, the minister of finances Bruno Bck, and his grandfather by marriage, Howard Towers, the emperor. He was staring directly at Dominic. Howard stared at him like you were trying to bore a hole in the side of his head. When Nora pointed him out, she noticed that he was staring at him and stepped between his line of sight. Just like his grandchildren, he was surrounded by a clique of noblemen who were clearly a part of the traditionalist faction. He looked a lot like them, with blonde hair going gray and a slender physique. But the most striking thing about him was undoubtedly his eyes. Unlike the bck golden eyes, which seemed to suck you in, his eyes were steel gray and would cut you like a knife.

  Dominic hummed in curiosity. He didn't know what he'd done to make Howard Towers so angry about him, although maybe it was just existing. From Howard's perspective, Dominic and Nora were nothing more than the children of his wife's bastard son, only to be adopted by his wife and now be his adoptive children. Dominic just hoped that he wouldn't have to call the man father, although he had no intention of calling Veronica mother even though he was now her adopted son.

  “What did you do to piss him off, Flick?” Nora asked with a forward brow.

  “Does he not act like that with you?” Dominic asked, genuinely curious.

  She Shrugged. “He just ignores me most of the time.”

  Dominic fell into thought, but he didn't have long before a horde of Nobles began approaching. Nobles would never do something as undignified as lining up, and they also had to wait for status to deal with this problem. They would sit around and wait for the highest-ranking people to get their opportunity, and if they chose to pass on it, the next highest-ranking person would approach. After members of the royal family came and went, Howard Towers passed on his opportunity, and it came to the two Dukes. But only one of them took up the opportunity.

  Michael Bck had three sons: Dietrich, Francis, and Frederick. Despite being Dietrich's younger brother, Francis inherited the position of patriarch and founded the kingdom of bck when he did so, he granted his elder brother the title of Duke. Although Dietrich was now deceased, the title continued to be passed on to his descendants, making the Dietrich Bcks one of only two branch families of the Bcks that existed.

  The current Duke, also confusingly named Dietrich, approached him. Unlike his first cousins, who only had a vague resembnce to the Bck family, Dietrich had the bck hair and golden eyes of the bck family. He was a bit shorter than Valerius, but otherwise, the family resembnce was striking. It was to the extent that Dominic seriously had to wonder if the Bck family only had one face type in the game settings.

  “It's nice to meet you, Your Highness. My name is Dietrich Bck.” Dietrich Bck's influence in power had declined over the years. The first Duke Dietrich had been a general but had died on the battlefield, and his descendants had been unable to carry his legacy and unable to maintain his fortune. Because of this, they were left in debt and generally just ckluster. They maintained their hereditary title of Duke, which did Grant them a certain amount of status and power, but comparing them to the Magentas was just insulting. Knowing all this, Dominic wasn't surprised when Dietrich started talking about Dominic putting in a good word to get him a loan from the Neivuls.

  200 families have been granted titles upon the founding of the Kingdom. Nobles not granted titles were known as registered Nobles. The difference between titled and registered nobles was primarily ceremonial. However, title Nobles had longer histories and, therefore, tended to have more hereditary wealth, while registered Nobles tended to be involved in commerce and had considerably newer money. Especially since registered Nobles could lose their titles well, titled Nobles generally couldn't unless they broke the w. Of course, just having Duke's title didn't mean that Dietrich had power, it just meant he got privileges like the right to talk to Dominic first at his baptism.

  Because of this complicated retionship, it was totally normal for a Marques house like Neivul to have more wealth and power than a ducal house. Even many registered noble families, such as Luce's parent's house, had far more wealth than the average title Noble. This complicated the power retionships between the Nobles as there was the title, and then there was actual power and wealth. The title gave you ceremonial authority that couldn't be superseded by power and wealth. But power and wealth gave you well real power and wealth.

  After managing to show away Dietrich, more and more Nobles came to talk to him, starting with the title of nobility, and the flood never stopped. Dominic was forced to stand there for 2 hours greeting and talking to various Nobles entirely by himself as Nora had wandered off at some point. He saw Valerius Luce and Eliana's gnces of pity and worry, but none came over to help. He had some resentment about that, but at the end of the day, this was a challenge that he had to overcome. He had to greet all of the Nobles even if they didn't really talk about anything important; just because he talked to them and showed that he had the proper mannerisms and courtesies of a royal was important.

  “And so the wheel keeps on turning,” Dominic murmured as he was forced to listen to a particurly dull speech from a baron.