10 A Banque

"Oh! So in English, Bonjour is Hello or good morning, Bonne après-midi is Good afternoon, and Bonsoir is Good Evening! How exhilarating! I'm learning!" Casimir's eyes were glistening in delight as he gripped the French to English dictionary in his hands.

"Good morning, Noir!" Casimir shouted and patted the big cat's head.

"Judging from the way this word is used, I'm guessing Good means Bien!" Casimir said to himself aloud and, to prove his theory, he immediately flipped the pages to look for the aforementioned words. "Aha! I was right! I'm so smart!"

"Wouldn't it be great if everyone was as smart as me? Then no one would be stupid!" Casimir proudly grinned to himself and said. "The whole world would benefit! Right, Noir?"

In reply, the big cat just licked his face affectionately.

"Ah! Stop! You're ruining my hair!"

Cat's tongue really does feel like sandpaper!

Speaking of his hair, after seeing Mr. Malfoy on that one fateful day, Casimir decided that he would not have his hair cut anymore.

Well, unless his hair gets too long to handle.

So, right now, his hair reached to his chin. It was not considered short but, not long either. Most of the time, he would just tie the top half of his hair in a messy bun and let the bottom half flow freely.

Some of the maids, after seeing his messy bun, offered to cut his hair but, were outright refused so, they just went with offering to fix his bun which, he agreed to... Most of the time.

...

Casimir walked towards the manor from the stables at the back, picking the stray pieces of hay which had stuck determinedly to his clothes.

Just like that, Casimir entered the manor, his hair filled with straws of hay that were sticking out of it, his face having dust marks, and his clothes had tufts of fur from Noir.

Hmm? What's happening here?

As he was walking towards his room, he began to realize that the servants in the manor were much busier than normal.

"Young master!!!" Suddenly, there was a horrified scream coming from somewhere to his left and, as he looked towards that direction, he saw a tired yet, petrified looking Alphonse.

Huh? Why does he look like that? Casimir looked behind and around him to see if there were any monsters there that could have terrified Alphonse. Hmm? There's none.

"Young master!!! You're... You're!!!" Alphonse charged towards Casimir. "How can you be so dirty on this day?!!"

After that, Casimir was dragged to his room and into the bathroom by Alphonse without being able to do anything.

"Please take a bath and clean yourself properly. I'll be preparing your attire as you do so, young master." Alphonse said while directing Casimir to the bathroom. "Please remember to not take too much time in there. The guests will start arriving soon."

"Wait! Wait!" Casimir shouted right before Alphonse was about to close the bathroom door shut. "First, you need to tell me why I need to get dressed up. What's with today anyways?! Everyone seems so busy doing stuff!"

"What do you mean, young master?' Alphonse questioned back. "Today is the 13th of September! Your birthday!"

"So please stop these jokes and take a bath." The door was directly shut right at his face.

Inside the bathroom, Casimir was staring blankly at his reflection on the mirror.

Wow... I look horrid. He commented to himself as he tried to brush off the straws of hay that were sticking out from his hair.

After a few moments, Casimir sent a grin to his reflection, having already removed the hay and other unknown particles that were hiding in his hair.

Alright! Next comes the moment that I dread everyday... Bath time.

It was not that Casimir didn't like bathing. He actually liked it, in fact. It was just that, he would have to face that unexplored territory during bath time.

Having already taken off his garments, Casimir submerged himself in his bathtub which was filled with water and scented oils, courtesy of Alphonse. He then began to tentatively scrub his whole body, his face turning paler by the second.

...I'll have to face it sooner or later... Casimir thought to himself grimly. Might as well just get on with it. And with that, he reached towards the forbidden place.

Oh my Melecrit!!! It's a worm!!!

...

Some time later, Casimir was walking around the ballroom of the manor which he didn't even know existed till this day.

Well, how was he to know of its existence when the room was situated underground?!

The only entrance and exit to the place was a huge willow tree in the front gardens and the only way you would know that without anyone telling you was if you had somehow walked right into the tree!

Who the heck designed this place?!

Although he was having an internal rant inside his head, Casimir still managed to maintain an unwavering smile on his face as he greeted the guests one by one, following behind his father as he introduced them to him.

"Ah, Mr.Fontaine! So nice to see you arrive!" Mr. Proulx exclaimed as he smiled amiably and shook the hand of a slightly pudgy man. "Mr. Proulx! It's good to see you again!" The man replied, equally as amiable.

"I've heard you've succeeded in your trades with the Italians?" Mr. Proulx asked, looking as if he had just mentioned it casually.

"Haha! Indeed! Indeed!" Mr. Fontaine laughed jovially, although, to Casimir, it sounded quite strained for some reason. "Your information network surely does work quick!"

"Haha! It's just alright!" It was clearly a harmonious conversation but, why does Casimir see imaginary swords flying around these two men?

Ah... The world of nobles is truly complicated...

It seems that Casimir had once again forgotten that he was now part of that complicated noble world.

Suddenly, two more guests arrived to the banquet.

At first, Casimir thought that they were just two guests who belonged to the noble or upper-class of the wizard community of France like most of the people here but, after looking closer, Casimir realized that he actually knew one of them.

Hey! Isn't that Mr. Proulx's pen-pal, Mr. Malfoy? Oh! And he seems to have brought a kid with him!

I'm going to have so much fun tonight!