## Chapter 127 – The Chaotic Social Gathering (1)
Everyone was enjoying the social gathering, save for a few.
Despite the various incidents unfolding, the heart of the social gathering shone brightly, like a radiant jewel.
Countless young academy students reveled in their youth, laughing and chatting, taking a special break from their studies and training to soothe their weary minds and bodies.
They enjoyed the endless spectacles befitting the name of a social gathering, indulged in delicious food while worrying about their diets, and sometimes, even felt the stirrings of tender emotions.
In that last sense, two people could be said to be enjoying the social gathering the most, spending a delightful time at its center as both performers and audience.
“Okay, watch closely?
If you do this like so…!!
Ta-dah!! It’s gone!!”
Lucas, who had spread out a table in the center of the hall and was deftly shuffling several small paper cards, glanced around at his friends surrounding him before performing a magic trick, making the card in his hand disappear as if by magic.
“Ah-ha!! Ah-ha-ha!! What was that!!”
“Ah, where did it go? I can’t see it?”
“Look at him pretending he can’t see it with gritted teeth. Hehe!”
But no matter how much he showed his palms and pretended the card was invisible, a part of the card peeking out from between his fingers betrayed him, resulting in an unexpected slapstick comedy show.
Whether it should be called brazen or artful, Lucas, after being caught trying to hide the card, eventually crumpled it up, shoved it roughly into his mouth, chewed it, pretended to swallow it, and then produced the exact same card from his hand again.
“Wowwww!!”
“Alright, alright, something was strange, but it was just your imagination.
Since everyone’s feeling strange, how about a flower from Carla’s dress, ta-dah!!”
“What!!”
“Giggle!!”
“How about a flower like this?
I’ll give it to you, Carla.”
As if riding the momentum, Lucas quickly moved his hand towards Carla’s shoulder, gently pulling as if grabbing something, and when a pure white flower emerged, everyone burst into laughter, surprised.
“Oooooh~”
As Lucas handed the flower to Carla with a bright smile, Carla, whose eyes had become sparkling at some point, blushed shyly and gently reached out to receive the flower.
Everyone around, sensing the ticklish atmosphere as if they were advertising, ‘I’m in love,’ subtly sent playful jeers and giggled.
The ticklish atmosphere lingered for too long, and Lucas, feeling awkward, scolded those around him without meaning it.
“Ahem!! Everyone be quiet!!
We can’t move on to the next act!! Silence!! Silence!!
Unfortunately, the magic show hosted directly by the owner ends here!!
But the next act will surely be interesting for you all too!!
You have no idea how hard it was to prepare this, haha!!”
And as he mentioned the next act he had prepared, the crowd looked at Lucas with expectant eyes.
“Next up are specialties from our neighboring country, Barmhausen!!
And sights imported from Chaoxing!! Aren’t you excited?”
“Hoo-hoo!!”
“Yeah!!”
Among the cheering crowd, Carla was showing great anticipation.
And behind them, naturally, were a few people who had been watching the scene from the back rows.
They were Serkov’s gang and Vivian’s group.
“It’s interesting, but a bit boring, isn’t it?
How long are we going to keep watching?
Why don’t we just go back to the room and screw?”
“Keep it down, Aurora.
Honestly, that was awesome.
Do you know how he did that just now?”
“I don’t know either?
Seeing how flexible his fingers are, he must be good at foreplay.
I should aim for him next time…”
Aurora, who didn’t find the magic very interesting, rested her chin on her hand and grumbled to Serkov, while Serkov, surprisingly captivated by the magic, was trying to imitate the movements, wiggling his clumsy hands.
“Like this… like this…”
“No, turn your hand over, like this…?”
And as Verdi, who was watching Serkov next to him, grabbed Serkov’s hand and adjusted his posture as she had seen, Aurora, glaring at the scene as if it were an eyesore, let out a small sigh and turned the conversation to someone else on the other side.
“So, I sold your drugs, right? Where’s my dick?”
Seeing Aurora, who was looking for a dick like the perfect slut she was, Vivian wore a small smile and tried to appease her.
More than half of the week-long social gathering had already passed, and in two days, the social gathering would be over.
Vivian, confident that everything would go smoothly according to her plan, was waiting leisurely for the right moment, soothing Aurora.
“Yeah. Just wait a little longer.
He’ll be here soon anyway.
You can go wild then.
I won’t steal that from you.”
Of course, since Aurora had already received money from Serkov, ignoring her after the deal was done would have been an option.
But Vivian, not wanting to ruin the bigger picture she had in mind, aimed to buy time by gently appeasing her like a child, waiting for the optimal timing.
‘I do feel sorry for her though…’
Thinking of Aurora’s face, flushed with frustration because Laniere had been squeezing the men dry like lab rats for the past few days, experimenting with this and that, and her turn hadn’t even come yet, it was probably understandable.
Laniere, who seemed to be just as much of a sex monster as Aurora, had squeezed all four men, including Serkov, dry in 10 seconds each, turning them into something like jerky, which even scared her.
And then there was Verdi’s empty gaze next to her man, who couldn’t even stand up straight, as she suppressed her aroused body alone.
‘She can’t even feel anything with a human man anyway…
Wouldn’t it be pointless to do something like that?’
“Now, I’ll introduce them!! Please come out!!”
While Vivian was lost in thought, thinking that she should give Laniere a hint today for the sake of the stable progress of her plan, she heard Lucas’s shout from a short distance away.
Soon, servants carrying large tables and various items emerged from the back of the social gathering hall.
“Wow… what is that…?”
“Oh…”
At first, she thought they were bringing out more food, but Vivian, turning her head absentmindedly at the sound of commotion around her, saw it.
The first thing that caught her eye was the numerous mechanical devices.
They had brought items from Barmhausen and were setting up a display as if they were planning an exhibition.
“……”
As a human who had lived in the Groden Kingdom until now, she was momentarily captivated.
Of course, since the Groden Kingdom was located in the center of the human-inhabited area, many cultures came and went, and she herself had encountered Barmhausen’s culture in the form of a mechanical longsword.
But when she encountered those artifacts, which felt more essential and sophisticated than what she usually saw, her cunning human curiosity couldn’t help but turn her gaze towards them.
Mechanical dolls and armor resembling humans or animals, and other mechanical devices that she didn’t know the purpose of but looked very elaborate.
‘It must have cost a lot to get those…’
Whether they had really bought them or simply rented them, Vivian briefly clicked her tongue at the sight of how much money they must have spent, and then her eyes fell on Lucas, who was standing in front of the exhibits with an awkward smile.
“But you know, I have something to say.
I only know the names of those things, but I don’t really know what they are.
In that sense, I’d appreciate it if some friends from Barmhausen could tell us a bit about them?”
“Peter, go out there!!”
“Ugh!! How embarrassing!!”
But perhaps because it was awkward to take the spotlight, the other students from Barmhausen hesitated.
“Carla!! Carla!! Or you!!”
“Huh…? Me…?”
“Come to think of it, isn’t your brother Antonio Sterben?!
He double-majored in Smithing!!”
“Oh!! Really? That Antonio senior?
Carla, can you introduce me to your brother? Miss!!”
“Should I introduce her to my senior?
Or do you want to go out there?”
“Eek!! Don’t say creepy things!!
Alright!! I’ll go!!”
Eventually, Carla, pushed out by her friends’ playful prodding, ended up standing next to Lucas, who was smiling brightly, and then, suddenly realizing that fact, her face turned red.
“Ah… this is just a clock…
In Groden, you measure time with the resonance of magic, right?
But in Barmhausen, we calculate the cycle with the rotation of gears?
So if you look inside, you’ll see elaborate parts…”
Carla, who had been fanning her face, stood next to Lucas, who was picking up the items on the table one by one and showing them around, and began to introduce the items one by one, as expected of someone from the homeland.
And as Carla slipped her hand into the arm of something that looked like partial armor, standing upright as if it were hanging on an armor stand, the students’ gazes focused.
“This is… hydraulic plate armor… hmm…
So… it’s armor that moves with the power of hydraulic vapor?
Depending on my movements, hydraulic pressure is applied to the pistons attached here…
If the hydraulic pressure weakens, the joints extend, and if it strengthens, they contract…
Hmm… it’s hard to explain easily. I’ll just try it once.
I saw my brother use it last time… if I do this…!!”
As Carla manipulated something with her hand inside the armor, the armor began to move with a hiss and a puff of thick smoke.
“Like this?”
“Owaaaaaah!!”
The girls who were watching the scene, as if Carla’s arm had been replaced with armor, exclaimed in wonder at discovering a new artifact, and the boys, as always, cheered with expressions that said they absolutely couldn’t stand it.
Although it didn’t move as perfectly naturally as a human arm, the mechanical arm showed quite decent movement, even if it was mechanical.
As Carla lightly lifted heavy-looking iron machines next to her with it, only exclamations poured out from the surroundings.
Of course, in Groden, it was possible to strengthen the human body through magic, but that required considerable effort and training.
It was only natural to feel amazed that there was an item that even an untrained person could use if they learned a little.
After showing a demonstration by a skilled assistant, Carla returned the armor to its original position and began to introduce the mechanical doll next to it.
“This is… hmm… I’ve only heard about it…
I heard it’s used on the front lines.
It’s called an Autodrone, and it’s an iron doll that fights monsters on its own without a person?”
“There’s such a thing?
It doesn’t need a person?”
“Yeah… we don’t see them often though…
Just a moment…? I’ll try turning it on…
If you know the operating principle of a machine, you can handle it to some extent…”
Carla, who had encountered many strange things thanks to her brother, who was interested in smithing and machines, slowly walked around the Autodrone, examining it closely.
And the students, looking at the scene with excited expressions, waited in anticipation of what new artifact they would see.
Before long, as Carla fiddled with something a few times, the Autodrone, which had been trembling with the sound of a small, delicate mechanical device turning, caused exclamations to flow from the students’ mouths.
“Did you see? It moved, didn’t it!?”
“Isn’t there actually a person inside?”
“It said there wasn’t, you idiot.
What did you even hear?”
But perhaps things don’t always go smoothly.
“Huh…? What’s wrong…?”
“What, is it broken?”
“Did you touch it wrong?”
As the Autodrone trembled for a moment and then slumped to the ground as if it had run out of power, Carla’s voice rose in panic.
“Ah!! What do I do!!”
“Wait, wait!! Don’t panic!!
Actually, I heard it was an antique when I got it!!
It might not work because it’s broken!!
It’s not your fault, it’s okay, Carla.”
Instead, Lucas stepped forward, calmed Carla down, and clapped his hands as he approached the Autodrone, which was slumped like a doll with its strings cut.
Perhaps thinking that a smooth progress was impossible, Lucas swallowed his slight embarrassment and tried to proceed with the next order, and sounds of regret were heard.
“It’s a shame, it might have been the highlight of Barmhausen.
If I have the chance next time, I’ll introduce it again then.
But there are still other things left…!! Please come in!!”
“Oooooh…”
