The lights from the dazzling glass chandeliers reflected off Armin's glasses, blinding his eyes momentarily as his wandering mind snapped out of his daze, instinctively raising an arm to obstruct the light before walking away.
He took a sip of the wine in his glass before handing the almost-filled glass back to the wandering waiters in the hall.
Taking a glance around him, all he could see were noble demons and demonesses, dressed in their finest attires as they engaged in frivolous conversations with one another.
These were all the highest-ranked nobles present in Radiance City and they were currently all gathered in the largest hall located inside the Emerald palace after being invited by the Demon Lord herself.
This was a rather impromptu dinner party as he had only received the invite only a few days ago. Normally an invitation would be sent a couple of weeks in advance. Moreover, this was the first party the Jaxith family had hosted themselves since the war began almost a year ago.
That was rather understandable, as most of the family's budget went towards the war efforts. Despite their territory advantage, against the combined might of three families, it was taking the Jaxith family everything they had to survive much less push their enemies back.
Nobles ― huh.
Armin forced himself to smile while smoothing out his clothes.
This was only the third time he had participated in a noble's party like this. Or rather, perhaps he should say he had never participated in a dinner party like this.
Of course, this was expected of a dinner party organized by the Jaxith Family ― the sheer decadence of this event outshone the ones he had previously attended.
Which made him wonder, where the funds for this party had come from. It seems they had even gone all out for this occasion.
The nobles here were also of higher status and their former attire seemed almost too extravagant to comprehend. In comparison, while his outfit was of pretty high quality, its design was rather plain when compared to everyone else.
The reason he was dressed so simply was because he whad never been one to care for such things untill recently. However, this disparity now made him feel out of place and ostracized by his fellow ranked nobles as a sense of anxiety slowly gripped his heart even though he normally wouldn't care for such things.
The demoness in their fancy dresses all had smiles on their faces as they conversed with other noble demons while they avoided him, so were those smiles mocking him for his plain attire? Or was it because of his awkward and gloomy appearance?
Armin could not help but think that way, even without any basis for such assumptions.
He couldn't help but feel as though everyone here was mocking him, looking down on him simply because he had the lowest magic potential of any ranked noble in the region.
'This is why I despise this sort of social gathering.'
Although Armin was of a relatively high noble family, coming from a viscount family which held a considerable amount of influence within the Floato region and a relatively large domain. Unlike his late father and younger brother, he was cursed with an abysmal magic potential for an ordinary demon much less a noble one.
Unlike the 5th Princess who had what others consider a low magic potential for royalty, her potential was actually rather high in comparison to other ranked nobles who were usually around the ranges of Tier 3-4.
Her having Tier 3 Advanced potential was just a little below average for ranked nobles. While his magic potential, on the other hand, was barely up to the Basic level of the 2nd Tier, which practically made him comparable to mere lesser demons.
Nowadays there were even lesser demons that surpassed him so how could he call himself a noble viscount?
He had learned the hard way just how vicious the demon society could be, especially with kids who possess little to no filter. Hence why he had never enjoyed any sociable gathering like this.
His tragic experience caused him great anxiety which led to him not being a very sociable person and holding little interest in noble culture or etiquette.
Hence why Armin would usually refuse any invitations to events such as this in the past. Choosing to focus solely on his hobbies and handling everything that has to do with paperwork.
Basically, he had handed over his birthright to his much more talented younger brother before he could be disowned and stayed out of the public eye while proving himself useful behind the scenes. Only able to stand the stress and insults by drowning himself in his rather questionable hobbies.
However, everything had changed only a few months ago when his father led their troops to aid in the war and defend one of the boarding domains closest to theirs, taking his younger brother with him as his official heir.
What was supposed to be an easy win due to the disparity in both sides' forces, ended up being a complete annihilation thanks to a pincer attack from the enemy's allies. Resulting in the death of his father and younger brother, plus the 500 demons that had accompanied him.
If he could hand over control of his family's estate to his uncle he would have. Unfortunately, Armin was the only pureblood left in his family.
In the end, Armin was forced to reclaim his birthright and take over his family's domain as its head and unfortunately, such a heavy responsibility required him to attend events like this if he didn't want his family to become a laughingstock in noble society any more than they already were.
His low magic potential, lack of social life, and odd facial appearance had already made him a target for gossip amongst the demonesses' tea parties so he could not afford to drag his family's name through the mud any longer.
Or at least that was what he was told by his grandfather, the previous head of the Heartrail family.
In just under two months he had been appointed head, Armin has been forced to participate in three of such events including this one. He couldn't understand why powerful nobles such as these would often waste their time on meaningless activities like these.
What was the point of throwing such luxurious parties each week regardless of the reasons? Demons were supposed to be creatures of pure desires yet everywhere he looked were pretentious brats that have gotten soft due to the political state of the current era.
To think, even in the midst of a war, they would still find reasons to throw extravagant parties like this one. What was the point of having such a large dinner party over the arrival of an unknown emissary from another ruling class family?
"How bothersome—"
Just as the words of disdain left his mouth in a silent whisper, a male voice called out to him in a rather friendly tone. Naturally, Armin who should not have any friends was taken aback for a second, turning around to observe the person that had called out to him.
"Oh... Earl Korver. It's a pleasure meeting you here today. Thank you for hosting me last time."
"Oh, don't mention it, don't mention it. Us outcasts have to look after each other right?"
"Umm... Right..."
The one that called out to him and was heading over was the fourth son of the Korver family and its current master, Earl Saleo Korver.
Armin considered this man to be one of the luckiest men alive. Born as the fourth son of an Earl household, his only options in life would've been to become a knight for another noble family or be cast out and become a commoner.
However, Saleo ended up taking over as the new head of the Korver family after his entire family had died fighting in the war. Despite that, Saleo possesses a decent magic potential as such Armin could not consider them the same, but he couldn't say that out loud.
"I have to admit, I didn't expect to see you here. Perhaps you're starting to understand just how great noble parties are, right?"
"Urr... No, that's not..."
"I'll be hosting another dinner party a few nights from now, you're invited to come."
Completely disregarding Armin's quiet mumblings, he proceeded to offer him an invite as he walked over to Armin's side with his rather refined noble lady in tow. Armin wasn't sure if this was his wife or concubine but he really didn't care.
While one could say she had a pretty face, they were so covered in makeup that Armin wasn't sure if she would even look the same underneath all that. She gave Armin a disgusted look as though he was forcing her to come closer to him as she walked over to cling onto Saleo's arm.
'Worthless bitch.'
Armin cursed in his mind but was too scared to say it out loud. It wasn't as though he asked her to come closer to him so why was she giving him such a nasty attitude.
He didn't even like Saleo that much as he considered him an absolute idiot that did nothing but waste his family's wealth on lavish party's, so why was he forced to tolerate such nonsense.
Standing next to Armin, Saleo was about to speak when a male voice suddenly rang through the hall and to Armin's delight, cut Saleo short.
"Welcome all, Demons and Demonesses! I present to you the leader of the envoys from the Darknar family, The Lightning General, Lady Rain Darknar.
At this moment, the orchestra in the main hall put down their instruments, and the cheerful mood in the air also subsided.
From the sound, the emcee had just announced the stars of this sudden banquet.
"Lady Rain is one of the Six Great Generals of the newly founded Darknar Family and the wife to the Darknar family's Demon Lord, holding a position equivalent to a Grand Elder. Lady Rain will grace us alone tonight."
At that statement, Armin heard the soft female voice from beside Saleo question, " She came alone?" Immediately a Saleo frowned and scolded, "Be quiet."
Armin was a little surprised by this. Was this a normal reaction when speaking about a common diplomat from another family? Armin hadn't even heard of this so-called Darknar family.
All he knew was the Darknar region so he was a little surprised a family was using the name of the Demon king and not having the wrath of the entire demon continent come down upon them.
Yet, not only had that not happened but even the ancient Jaxith family that were usually not keen on allying with any of the Great Five and remained loyal to the late Demon king to a fault, were welcoming an diplomat from such a family with as much respect as they could offer.
Does this mean the Jaxith family approves of the new Darknar family and recognizes their Demon Lord as the next Demon King or was this simply a ruse to get closer to the false family before they struck? If it was the latter then Armin could understand the reasoning behind this but if it was the former...
'Has the Jaxith family sank so low? This might be a good time to rethink the Heartrail family's allegiance.'
Still, Armin couldn't figure out anything without any information to go off on so he simply just had to wait and see how things progressed for now.
With the Jaxith family being surrounded on all fronts by enemies and having disregarded the Great Five's authority, it was a miracle they had even been allowed to send their purebloods to any Magic Academies but there was no way they could gain any help from any of the Great Five in this instance without giving up everything they valued and believed in.
So reaching out to this false Darknar family may have been a last desperate attempt to stay relevant. If that's the case then, there was no longer any hope for the Jaxith family in his opinion.
'Let's just preserve this to the end for now.'
Wondering what kind of person this emissary would be, Armin glanced at the door, where the master of ceremonies stood.
"Then, please welcome the leader of the envoys, Lady Rain!"
When the large arched doors opened, the entire hall fell silent.
There stood a goddess-like woman. Her perfect features were prettier than even the highest-ranked demoness he had ever seen. Hers was a beauty that was impossible for mere mortals to obtain. It was as though they had just witnessed the descent of a true deity.
Her clothes were also other-worldly as well. It was as though it had been handcrafted by the gods themselves. Her light purple dress was accented with golden hair ornaments which matched the golden bracelet on her arm she gently kept playing with. Her reflection in the magical lights above made it seem as though she was glowing.
However, despite the entire hall being brought to silence by her appearance, Armin was completely focused on only a single detail about the envoy.
'A—a... d-dark elf? The leader of the envoy is a Dark Elf. Amazing!'
Armin's fingers trembled as his heart began to beat faster than it had ever beat before and the blood flowed straight to his head.
"We are glad you could join us today, Lady Rain."
The Demon Lord of the Jaxith family, Keyrille Mayz Jaxith rose from her throne to welcome Rain.
"Your Grace, I am honored by your generosity ."
Armin's eyes were completely glued to the Emissary's long and pointed ears as they subtly twitched when she spoke. He could only see the corner of her face but when she smiled, his entire world seems to come to a stop as all forms of logic and reasoning disappeared from his mind.
'She's beautiful. I can barely hold myself back, I must have her.'