Chapter 3270: The Opera House Afternoon Tea Party

Xia De put checkmarks next to "Analysis of Spacetime Chaos Theory," "Introduction to Advanced Maze Applications," and "Enhancement of Composite Color Moonlight Spellcraft," and crossed out "The Thousand-Faced Shapeshifter"—he had no intention of continuing to refine his shapeshifting. Then, tilting his head, he asked toward the washroom:

"Miss Jia Lin Na, what do you think of the course 'Introduction to Sword-Fighting Magic'?"

What this course taught was less about spellcraft and more about "swordsmanship." But it wasn't the kind of swordsmanship ordinary people could use; it was a supernatural swordsmanship similar to the "Sword Dance: Loop" that the demon used in the mountains on Sunday nights.

Xia De had already learned quite a bit about this type of swordsmanship from the 【Night Watcher】 heritage and from Sister Daifulin. However, he had only ever used it to channel the power of moonlight, so he hadn't systematically converted them into his own miracles.

"Introduction to Sword-Fighting Magic" was an unpopular elective. After all, in the era of the Sixth Era, ring mages' miracles and spellcraft combined both melee and ranged capabilities. Very few ring mages specifically used swordsmanship. Even those who possessed moonlight-type spiritual weapons like the "Moonlight Greatsword" from a low level rarely went out of their way to learn sword-fighting magic.

So Miss Larsen was quite envious of this pure-blooded little elf who grew up with unicorns since she was a child. She had a childhood, girlhood, and adolescence that countless people envied, and it seemed that she still had a life that most people envied after growing up now.

"Outdated stuff. If you want to learn it, there's no need to go to class. Go find Megan and Audrey and have them help you open the Council's study. The Council isn't lacking in such outdated things. Just take those ancient materials and ask Sister Daifulin to guide you. The Sister is a very good teacher; she absolutely won't keep anything from you."

The Duchess gave a very valuable suggestion, so Xia De crossed out this final course as well.

The tea party Miss Jia Lin Na invited Xia De to attend in the afternoon wasn't a particularly important social event. It included Wang Hou Diana and several noblewomen from duke and marquis families gathering to drink tea and watch a play; it was a means for the royal family and various noble houses to maintain their relationships.

Sometimes young people were brought along so that the younger generation could get to know each other, which could also serve the purpose of matchmaking. Of course, Xia De wasn't being brought by Miss Jia Lin Na for matchmaking. According to what Dorothy said when she left in the morning, the Duchess simply wanted to show him off.

And it was clearly Lei Qianya who had taken over the body:

"If I could take you out, I would show you off like that too."

After having lunch at home and lingering on the sofa for a while, the maids had the carriage ready by 1:30, and Miss Jia Lin Na finally took Xia De out.

The afternoon tea party was held in the VIP lounge of the "Tobesk Grand Opera House." Wang Hou Diana, as the host, had arrived earlier than Xia De and Miss Jia Lin Na. The winter afternoon sunlight spilled onto the golden window frames and the porcelain teapot on the walnut round table; even the air in the room had a scent of mixed mint and jasmine.

Exquisite porcelain with blue and red patterns filled the tabletop, and when the silver teaspoons tapped the edges of the silver cake plates, they emitted an elegant and rhythmic musical tone.

Miss Jia Lin Na was dressed in a light purple silk long dress, holding an ivory fan, smiling and greeting people she knew—everyone here knew her well. As for Xia De, who was being held by the arm by Miss Jia Lin Na, everyone here actually knew him too.

The play on the small stage had already begun. The guests were seated around the tea tables, their dress hems layered like waves, while girls in black and white maid dresses moved through the scent of honey cakes and black tea like butterflies.

Since the messy events of the summer of 1853 ended, Tobesk hadn't seen any other major events in two years. The City of Steam was relatively peaceful amidst the tide of world change, and this was another tranquil afternoon.

Miss Jia Lin Na sat beside Wang Hou Diana, and Xia De followed and sat near Miss Jia Lin Na.

Since they were in the VIP lounge of the opera house, a performance was naturally taking place on the stage in front. But this wasn't a formal opera performance; it was a light comedy that generally "couldn't make it to the big stage."

At this moment, what Xia De was watching was a segment of the classic love story "Travels of the Horse-Seeking" performed with the identities of the male and female leads swapped. Originally, it should have been a young groom pursuing a noble lady longing for freedom, but now it had turned into a girl from the groom's family passionately pursuing the youngest son of a noble family.

The humor brought about by the shift in status caused laughter to erupt from the audience from time to time. Of course, amidst the laughter, there was no shortage of noblewomen privately discussing oil paintings, antiques, gossip news, and so on. Because war was approaching, even in such a tea party, there was no lack of discussion about war topics.

Of course, none of this had anything to do with Xia De. He just drank black tea with sliced lemon and watched the performance. Miss Jia Lin Na, meanwhile, chatted with Wang Hou Diana and the noblewomen at the table about various things, occasionally dragging Xia De into it, making him say a few words like "Yes" or "I think so too"—it was clear she was showing him off.

However, Xia De didn't feel that Miss Jia Lin Na doing this was childish; on the contrary, he felt it was quite interesting.

Quite a few young people had indeed come, but they didn't have the qualifications to sit at the same table as Wang Hou Diana. Xia De noticed someone playing Luo De cards in the corner, and he thought of his own plan to have a game with Elder Harald and see what kind of surprises the old man's deck from the foot of the snowy mountains would hold. Unfortunately, he had never found a suitable time.

Although the light comedy on stage couldn't possibly become part of a formal performance, it was clear the actors were still very serious. Of course, besides their professionalism, this also had to do with the status of the audience below.

As for the original work of this play, the content of "a poor groom pursuing a noble lady," no one would bring it up to mock the relationship between Xia De and Miss Jia Lin Na. Miss Jia Lin Na's "high position and great power" was no joke.

Thus, the idle Xia De let his thoughts drift in the scent of black tea and syrup, and then he remembered the "Travels of the Horse-Seeking" performed in those non-compliant "underground theaters," which sometimes added erotic content to attract the audience, such as having the sturdy groom and the noble lady in the stables, on horseback, in the meadows...

【If you really feel idle, then how about finding something to do?】

"Her" voice was even more pleasant than the soft singing of the "groom's girl" on stage at that moment.

"What thing?"

【An abnormal element reaction has appeared in the rear, and the form of that power is very similar to 'Pink Magic.'】

Xia De kept his expression unchanged, continuing to watch the performance on stage without turning his head to look back. The element fluctuation was extremely weak, so even he had to rely on "Her" to perceive it. Also because of this reason, although there were definitely church ring mages protecting Wang Hou Diana, they shouldn't have noticed those element traces yet.

"Pink Magic" was, to a certain extent, quite famous. Xia De could naturally guess what the appearance of this power meant. He guessed that it was probably some ordinary person attending this tea party who had obtained a strange alchemical item from somewhere, or had just seen some strange incantations in a book, and was relying on the power to try to do something bad.

To be honest, Xia De didn't really need to get involved in this level of matter, but since he was truly bored at the moment, he didn't mind seeing what kind of "Pink Magic" the other party was using. Although he hadn't learned much, from a certain perspective, the Outsider who possessed the "Original Text" could also be considered a master in this regard.

So Xia De said he was going to the washroom and stood up to leave the place temporarily.

The departure of the only man at the table made the noblewomen's topics become a bit bolder. Everyone at the table was someone who could be trusted, and everyone was definitely related within three generations.

This kind of relatively private afternoon tea party among noblewomen did indeed sometimes discuss "private topics," but because of Miss Jia Lin Na's previous "orientation issues," such topics were generally avoided when discussing her. But this time, there was no need to avoid her.

Of course, although in the eyes of the Outsider this era was both conservative and open, the social etiquette of the upper class was still known for being conservative and strict. Publicly discussing certain topics would be seen as vulgar or even depraved, but this didn't affect the ladies discussing them in an obscure way, especially when everyone was very concerned and interested in a certain topic—just like now.

"Duchess Miss Jia Lin Na, I heard you didn't spend the Year-End Festival at Yodel Palace this year, is that right?"

The topic indeed focused on Miss Jia Lin Na Cavendish, and the latter also answered with a smile:

"Yes."

As she said this, she looked at Wang Hou Diana, and the Wang Hou, who was elegantly holding her teacup, supplemented for her:

"Miss Jia Lin Na spent the festival at the knight's house in St. Deran Square this year. We are all very happy for her."

The snake skin that should have been far away in Tobesk automatically appeared beside her the moment she witnessed the snake. After that snake skin emitted golden light and floated above her right shoulder, the white-haired girl who followed panting, just felt that the starlight at this moment was like a spotlight on the stage, hitting Emilia's body.

Everyone raised their teacups to congratulate the Duchess. Seeing that she didn't mind discussing this topic, the ladies at the table continued the topic further. Everyone first talked about the housing prices around St. Deran Square for a few sentences, and then talked about how the knight might be even wealthier than ordinary minor nobles after inheriting the property.

Afterwards, they talked about how Miss Jia Lin Na seemed to have been arranging for maids to go to the knight's house to take care of him, so the topic drifted to women's discussion on men's clothing choices, and most ladies felt that men's aesthetics were truly hopeless.

And after going such a big circle, the topic finally turned to what they really wanted to know:

"Miss Jia Lin Na, your complexion has been truly good recently. The quality of your night's rest is very good, isn't it?"

This topic didn't involve "St. Deran Square" or the "knight." It looked like a normal greeting, but in fact, with the knight being discussed just now, this question was very pointed.

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 3271 =====