Chapter 217 - Charity Ball (1)

"Do you have any weapons?" I asked Luke as he began to choose our outfits for the ball.

There was no way I was going to that ball tonight without any weapons. After encountering a deficiency of mana while trapped inside a den of monsters, I realized the importance of possessing a physical weapon. Without any hesitation, Luke passed me several sharp daggers that resembled his sword that he could conquer at will.

The golden Roselia family crest was stamped onto the middle of the handle, showing the owner quite easily. Luke never let me touch anything like swords or daggers before. I guessed my recent closeness to death had changed his mind. However, my brilliant dress uncomfortably remained the same.

It was a white princess dress that could be almost mistaken as a wedding dress. Its puffy layers made me frown in response. Why couldn't he ever choose a simple dress? At this rate, I would have to secretly have to rip out some of its layers.

"The cloth is special. It's spelled to defend against certain attacks," Luke explained.

Oh. Then who cared if it was a little uncomfortable? The many layers were there for protection. I started to admire the designers of this dress for their innovative thinking. We needed more dresses that could fend against attacks. Luke pulled out a pair of black leather boots that also acted as shields.

I could definitely sense the change in Luke as both of our outfits were perfectly spelled to defend against irregular attacks. Underneath my skirt, I had a tight ribbon which attached the daggers to each of my legs. It was interesting to figure out Luke's blazer was also spelled to be almost mana-proof like a bullet-proof vest.

When we arrived at the teleportation gate, I knowingly smiled, noticing the faint feeling of mana also covering their clothes. Everyone was thinking the same thing as we got ready to teleport to Luke's mansion. I stepped into the teleportation to soon find myself in another one of Luke's grand mansions the next time I blinked.

The servants had already prepared everything for us as all the food, decorations and venue was like the mansions in social week. The floors sparkled to the point they were polished to make people slip if they weren't careful in how they walked. A perfect counter for monsters if they managed to barge in!

I smiled as the decorations were pointy enough to be perfect to also use as weapons. I made sure to mention to Luke last night to include as many sharp objects as he could. The carved roses had slick petals while the utensils were glimmering from its sharp edges. For the first time, I didn't mind wearing pointy heels, they would be great to use when the daggers became useless!

I was determined to get through this night safely. Each group could only invite ten partners since all twenty would attend both charity banquets and decide which group to donate to. The group who got the most donations would get half the amount of points from the value of the donations while the other group would get close to none.

I smiled while going through everyone who was coming last night. It was obvious that everyone that Luke invited from the neutral and his own fraction would choose our group. It was likely going to be a tie as Charles invited mostly people from our rival fraction. But we were more prepared in case an attack occurred from monsters.

"What an interesting theme," Yulee looked at the decorations.

Yulee and Jules were the first couple to arrive. It was expected they came here first to help us bring a good atmosphere to the banquet.

"It is," Ben came with Alice.

I shrugged like it couldn't be helped. We had to do whatever it took for us to live. Ben carefully nodded his head in response, knowing the true reason why we had so many metallic decorations. For him, it was just yesterday when we asked him if we could blow up his teleportation gate. I guessed not even Yulee and Jules knew about it.

"I heard what happened," Belle relaxed a bit when she entered the hall with Lucius.

"That's why we're prepared," I stopped talking when Luke elbowed me.

I volunteered to greet the guests at the entrance to keep a lookout for any monsters in the process. It was basically the same position when we were inside the hover car to get to Luke's mansion. After spending several days together in the same room, trying to run for our lives, it brought everyone a new sense of solidarity.

When my eyes twinkled from discovering the person behind them, everyone turned around. Only Jules knew the true meeting from my smile. Oili walked towards the entrance with his partner after they stepped out of the hover car. He was probably invited by Charles since they were in the same fraction.

"Rika?" Oili stepped back in surprise.

"What's wrong?" His partner whispered inside his ear.

Just as I figured out Oili came from the Whaise family yesterday, Oili never knew I was engaged to Luke. It was an unspoken rule that politics and whatnot were not mentioned while we did our club activities together. We already had enough stress from it in our daily lives.

"Let us introduce ourselves," Luke pretended he was seeing him for the first time.