"Mister Palder, In what regard should I refer to you? Are you a Master of Ceremonies... or"[Neidr] Neidr's smile twisted as he asked,

"A guardsman?" [Neidr] Palder's eyes widened and he looked over to him and squinted his eyes seemingly unable to remember him. Regardless, he said,

"A Master of Ceremonies, a master of Ceremonies, most assuredly, sir."[Palder]

"Oh, how come? What happened to your strapping armor?" [Neidr] Palder started picking at his fingernails and Neidr turned his head to the side and asked,

"Surely, you didn't get fired..."[Neidr] Palder's head shot towards Neidr and he gritted his teeth and said,

"Please don't mention this. I don't know who you are sir, but I'll be better this time. I swear."[Palder] Neidr eyelids lifted a little and he smirked, the kid seemed uncomfortable, so he through out a guess... Who knew he'd be right?

"Of course of course, everyone deserves second chances, don't you agree?" [Neidr] Palder nodded emphatically as his expression relaxed.

"But." [Neidr] Neidr watched as Palder's face scrunched up in worry again, and it took all he had to keep a straight face.

"Shouldn't the employers know who they are hiring? I think that's only fair."[Neidr] Palder's eyes were wattery as he hurridly requested,

"Please don't tell them Sir!"[Palder] Neidr rolled his eyes internally

'As if I could tell them, I have no clue what you did.'

"Mmmm, this is difficult for me. Wouldn't it be beneficial to me to help out the organizers? I think they would be greatly relieved to know the truth." [Neidr]

"Sir, I don't have much, but I know alot about Rotham. I can be your guide whenever you want." [Palder]

"This is equivalent?" [Neidr] Palder's face was painted with dread, and Neidr decided to stop bullying the poor kid.

"Don't worry, If you help me out with a favor every now and then, I'll keep your secret for you."[Neidr] Palder's expression lit up and he asked with some uncertainty in his voice,

"Really?"[Palder] Neidr nodded graciously and said,

"What is your address?" [Neidr] Palder cocked his head, but responded nonetheless. After receiving the information. Neidr nodded and slapped Palder on the shoulder saying,

"Keep up the good work."[Neidr] With nary another word, he walked away and ascended the stairs.

Once upstairs, Neidr looked around for an isolated location to sit. Although, the first floor was rather vacant. The second floor was filled with tables and chairs of the finest craftsmanship, sitting upon a carpet mixing the colors of maroon and dark blue. The lighting up here was adequate. It was not dark, but it did not give off the bright feeling of the marble downstairs. The walls and ceilings were black. Although there were some people sitting down dining, the vast majority of the area was empty. Neidr slowly and methodically found the most isolated locations. There were several booths in the back. Neidr made sure to see if there were any reservations. Satisfied, he sat down with his back to the wall shielded by the booth opposite to him from most people's views. Despite that, sitting in the corner, he had full view of the entering stairs of one side. If he saw something dangerous coming from there he could easily hide behind the booth. His view of the other staircase was obstructed, but They could not by any means sneak up on him.

Neidr nodded at his choice of location, it felt relatively safe. Regardless, Neidr shuffled one of his hands into a wide trouser pocked that held a knife. He softly gripped its hilt and gazed at the people in the hall. Waiting here alone was rather boring, so he took the opportunity to gaze at the various people throughout the second floor. Thrity minutes of observations and hearing the ringing voice of Palder announcing guests, Palder shouted again.

"Azalea Cerns! Daughter of The Iron Duke! Vassel of his Imperial Highness! Entering!"[Palder] Neidr had mixed emotions. He was happy she was finally here, the faster they could settle their business, the faster he could get out of here. Observing these people had long thrown him into boredom. On the other hand, she was the whole reason he had to be here. Why couldn't she just go to the dorms?

'Ah, right, Noble heiress and all.' Neidr nodded to himself and slowly stood up. His location was perfect for defense, but really bad for allowing someone to find him. He made his way to the balcony and looked down to see stoneface graciously greeting each and every noble standing below. His lack of doing so would probably harm his reputation, but he didn't care so much as long as no one wanted to kill him for it. If they did, they were probably crazy anyway. He wasn't too interested it witnessing stoneface's cunning diplomacy, so he shrugged his shoulder and headed back to his booth. All he could say was that he tried. Now, it was up to her to find him.

Sitting back down, Neidr started to focus himself on using the trickle method. Well, in truth, he never stopped. The trickle method had to be put into practice constantly. Otherwise, it would become a poor version of the mana bursting method. Using this method had become second nature to him over this week of training. Hell, he could even do it in his sleep. It's a good thing, too. Those first few days of sleepless nights were hellish.

Neidr had been getting better and better at only expelling fresh mana. This practice had actually made it easier to manipulate the mana within his body in general too. Pushing, pulling and squeezing it was strangely satisfying to him. After another thirty minutes, stoneface made her way to Neidr's booth saying icily,

"Do you even know how to greet your charge? Do you even know how to sprout relationships with your peers? Why are you hiding in the corner? Do you think this is a good representation for a servent of House Cerns? I heard you went straight to talking to the Master of Ceremonies whilst ignoring the Nobles greetings. Are you insane?" [Azalea] Neidr face didn't change at all during her tirade, staring at her blankly. When it seemed as though she was finally finished, Neidr gesture to the chair opposite him and said,

"Please sit my lady." [Neidr] If Azalea wasn't so self-disciplined, she might have started tearing out here hair. She was sick and tired of dealing with this sort of behavior from her sister, so when she heard what happened she decided to nip the problem in the bud. What was worse though, is he actually didn't come to greet her. HE WAS HER VASSAL. Did he have any idea how noble society worked? Azalea calmed herself down thinking he was a noble from the sticks. She would just have to patiently teach him. So, after her discussion with the nobles she looked for him.

and looked for him.

and looked for him.

It took her twenty minutes just to find him. It was like he was trying to hide from her! Azalea was fuming, but she didn't let it break her. She admonished him seriously, hoping to correct this errant behavior.

THEN

HE

IGNORED

HER