The Millers
The day before the festival begins, the auction at house Olbrecht will commence.
Since it is not the yearly auction that happens between summer and fall, not many nobles will attend as last time. But the numbers will never go lower than half.
As a noble, they take pride from their wealth and the amount of expensive decorations in their houses to prove their 'blood' as nobles.
This especially works for the Vanederians. As nobles that lives in the strongest country in the continent, one must show their prestige to the masses.
(Note: Vanederians are the citizens of Vanifi)
No matter how small it may be, they take pride in it all. Etiquette, the number of knights, the number of houses and mansions, connections, jewelries, influence and authority.
The victory banquet for the celebration of subduing Chejada is being done in the middle of the winter festival. Because of this, nobles will have to spend more money to garner the attention of others.
High ranking nobles will host parties as they use their 'status' to gather people while the lower ranking nobles will have to dress as attractively as possible to be the highlight in the party.
What's more, there is no such thing as valentines in this world. Instead, people would hunt animals and present it onto the ones they are eyeing as a formal gesture that someone want to court someone when it is winter or falls
Because of this, this winter may be the busiest season for Vanifi for the next century.
This gives an even more reason why the nobles are hastily making preparations with a smile on their faces. If their smile were to waver, it will be criticize and negative comments will rain down on them.
"Ahahaha!"
Seriously, watching them act like this is so entertaining.
Thanks to Almas, I can see what he sees and hear what he hears. The range of telepathy has also increased.
-Master, do not forget my meal later, okay?
'I know! Don't worry, I will give it to you before midnight'
Cooking human organs is not the problem.
The problem is that Almas can't enter the temple. Almas is still young but that doesn't change the fact that he is a spirit. Only a high ranking magician or another spirit can interfere a spirit's movements.
And yet he is being restricted to enter the temple. Most likely some sort of barrier is around the place.
It can't be the future magician since he is still young to learn something so high leveled. If it is a spirit then there must be a contractor.
Based on the recent events, it must be the transmigrator that has influence over the temple.
I wonder how they got a spirit? Perhaps, there was another spirit egg and they hatched it. Other than that, I don't think a normal human would be able to get associated with a spirit.
It would be great if Almas can also put a barrier but it is not like he can do everything.
...
Days passed by and the first day of the festival has arrived.
"My lady, a messenger from Olbrecht county has arrived. This is the letter, my lady"
"Thank you, Monica"
In the letter, the count was overjoyed that the ticket that I put up for auction was sold at a high price. The buyer was none other than the first son of baron Olbrecht, Julius Olbrecht.
Julius who's engaged to Aubrey Miller, Charles older sister, wanted to gift her the ticket since Aubrey always wanted to cook delicious dishes.
As the heir of the five pillars of the empire, Julius has enough connections to know how outstanding my cooking is based on their standards.
Knowing that there is a ticket for his lover to learn something that she wants, obviously, he will get it no matter what.
And because of this ticket, I will have connections with two of the five pillars in Vanifi.
I never thought that my hobby for cooking would come in handy like this.
"John"
"Yes, my lady?"
"Make some preparations. We will go to the Miller's mansion tomorrow"
"With extra thick fur coat?"
"Yes"
The next day we went to the Miller's mansion. Normally, I would be going to the Olbrechts' but Julius Olbrecht asked me to go to the Millers instead so that his fiance won't have to travel under the cold weather.
"Is it cold, my lady?"
"No, John. Everything is okay. It is actually cozy here"
The extra, extra thick fur coat was so fluffy that it looked like a huge blanket. Thanks to it, the journey to the Millers was very comfortable.
...
"Baroness Emond, it is an honor for us to have you here"
"Please, marchioness Miller, I am not that great for it to be an honor"
"You are humble as the rumors said"
Rumors?
"There are rumors about your kindness about how you check the imperial knights' health for free every week"
I am getting paid for that though.
"It is also said that you put up the cooking ticket for auction so that the money will be transferred to the orphanages back in Loate"
That never happened though... Oh, I see. It's that bitch's work. How underhanded of her to use her subjects so that she can raise my reputation here in Vanifi. Although there are certain merits by doing that, empress Lucia sure likes to do things her own ways.
"Mother, I don't think this is a good place to talk"
Marchioness Claire Miller's daughter, Aubrey Miller whispered.
"Oh, how rude of me. Come in, baroness. Let us have a good warm cup of tea first"
We went in and I saw that the Miller's mansion was comparable to the Emond's mansion in the capital.
The number of expensive portraits, vases and other decoration is pretty much equal. The only difference is that their mansion is twice the size of Emond's mansion.
As expected from one of the five pillars of Vanifi.