A New Year

The year's about to be over. Tomorrow—or to be exact, 6 hours from now—the Alumerian Calendar will enter the 288th Year of the 3rd Era, which means Rosaline and I are about to become 11-years-old.

Every worker and servant in the manor was constantly busy, even me! Being ordered to bring this to there, do this and that, place that to here, there's just so much stuff to do.

The year almost ending wasn't the only reason why everyone was so busy. Another reason was that the Montampes household will be the one to host the new year's ball for the kingdom's high society this year, which will serve as Rosaline's debut into noble society.

Speaking of which, after her cute apology performance, she started taking her classes seriously. Strangely, I felt proud when I saw her change in attitude. Seems that seeing me break my spine was enough of a push to make her grow as a person.

And so, for the past 2 months, Rosaline has started to slowly become refined and lady-like—at least on the outside. She's still the hyperactive tomboy that I've come to know. She just learned the on and off switch between her real personality and her noble persona.

I've been working hard for the past 2 months as well. Between Weiss' regular dodging training and the sparring with Arch, I'd say I've improved. A lot actually.

I mentioned before that I could only perform Aura weapon imbuing for about 4 to 5 seconds before dispersing. Now my limit is 55 seconds!

Studying the notebook that contained various stuff about the human body helped quite a lot. Memorizing the different muscles, organs, blood vessels, and other stuff to improve the efficiency of Aura was hard, but worth it.

My Aura reserves have increased quite a bit and my control over Aura has improved as well. Aura control training was pretty much just channeling Aura into various blood vessels repetitively while avoiding the Aura from leaking onto a different path.

I'm still at the Neophyte Stage of course. I'm still far from reaching the Chromatic Stage, but I will get there.

Right now, I'm running around the ballroom of the manor, fulfilling various tasks that Weiss imposed on me. The task I'm doing right now is helping set up the tables in the ballroom.

"Luka! Put that table here!" A worker called out to me who was carrying a big round table. With the usage of Aura, lifting a table was no big deal.

I went to where the worker pointed and laid the table there. Almost immediately, the worker from earlier and a bunch of other people covered the table with a white cloth, placed chairs around it, and placed various tableware on the table like forks, spoons, plates, etc.

This routine continued for a while. I carried tables, placed them where they should be placed, then a bunch of workers and servants finish the table with great efficiency. Makes me wonder if they're robots or something.

3 hours later, everything's been furnished. The ballroom was huge, the tables are all set, the hired orchestra was already on the corner stage. Everything's perfect. Just in time, because there were already carriages outside. The nobles that would attend the ball are already here.

I left the ballroom and made my way to Rosaline's room.

I knocked on the door and waited for a reply.

"Come in!"

Opening the door, I entered and saw Rosaline and a couple of maids inside including Rachel. Rosaline was wearing a silver-white dress that had golden laces. It matched her hair and eyes. The maids bowed (except for Rachel) then left the room.

"Hehe! How do I look, Luka?" Rosaline asked while she twirled, showing off her dress.

"Like an idiot," I replied with a smug grin.

"Hmph! Why won't you say I'm cute? You know I am." Rosaline crossed her arms.

"I'll call you cute when the day comes that you've memorized the name of the person who spread the Agronan faith in the Hedal Kingdom at the end of the 2nd Era. Do you?" My smug grin grew bigger.

"Huek...!! Fine... you jerk."

I hit her where it hurt. She may have started taking her classes seriously, but she still sucked at actually studying, especially hard to memorize names.

The answer to the question I gave to Rosaline is a man named Acquillious de Lematorionin Quezetokal. Yeah, it's a long and weird name, makes me wonder how I even memorized that. Seems that my brain in this life is great for studying!

The Agronan faith, by the way, is a religion dedicated to the God of War and Battles—Agronus. Haven't met any that followed that faith, but I've heard that they are... difficult people to work with. Reminds me of a certain girl... oh wait right she's right in front of me.

"C'mon let's go. The guests are already here and the star of the show can't be late."

"Okay!"

I walked back to the ballroom with Rosaline in tow. A butler wearing similar clothes as mine was waiting at the door to the ballroom.

"So, are you gonna announce Rosaline's arrival to everyone?" I asked the butler.

"Yes, this New Year's Ball will serve as Lady Rosaline's debut into noble society. It is only proper that her arrival be announced to the guests." The butler answered with elegance. I could never copy that tone of voice.

"Alright then! Rosaline, you may enter."

Rosaline nodded.

One the count of three, the butler and I opened the double doors. Rosaline walked right through with steady footsteps and an air of nobility. She flipped her switch.

"Her Lady Rosaline von Montampes, daughter of His Grace Duke von Montampes enters!!" An announcing voice echoed through the ballroom.