"It's about time," Judge muttered, finally closing the watch and putting it back in his pocket.
Suddenly, a servant at the door clapped his hands and everyone stopped what they were doing and turned their attention to him. The whole place went dark as all of the chandeliers were turned off, the only source of light was the blue moonlight that the high glass panes let in and the luminary that was patched onto the pillars on the walls.
The door opened with a dramatic flourish as the royal family entered and the light returned. The King, followed by the Queen, and three children behind them. Renald wore a cream tailcoat with a black vest and shirt.
Raphael wore a deep ruby gown with a black bodice tied back neatly with golden threads. Stein, on the other hand, wore a royal blue tailcoat with a matching vest and pants. He had a few accessories on the shirt that made the otherwise plain shirt more elaborate.
Judge was about to enter, but he needed to wait for the king and his grandfather to finish their speeches. The king climbed the steps to the second floor to address the gathering, and the Queen and the others stayed down.
A butler stood on the center platform between the two stairs that lead to the second floor, he one hand on the marble railing and used the other to snap, the snap echoed throughout the gigantic hall.
"Now," His voice was loud, as if he spoke through a mic, "The king would speak, glory to the empire." He stepped to the side and bowed with his hand on the sword on his waist.
Erec stepped forward in his red regal attire, "I..." His voice was deep and domineering, "Erec rex Eldris, formerly congratulate the youngest scion of the great Drakonis family, the family that has been the face of the dragons even before Aetus Nova. Judge, son of Drakonis on his fourth birthday."
The audience all gave light clapping, unlike the tavern, there was no cheering or loud noises. The king stepped back to let the head of the house take center stage. Gereon stepped forward, he wore a black tailcoat.
"How many months has it been lads?" Gereon was not the one to speak formally, and he was famous without it. "My eldest granddaughter's tenth birthday was just two months ago, and it is already the next birthday of my youngest grandson. Time sure flies fast."
After a brief speech and easing the audience, Gereon clapped lightly two times. The light, once again, went out. But the blue moonlight, instead of being spread through the room, focused on a grand door that stood atop a small flight of stairs.
The door opened inwards revealing a figure clad in a navy blue Tuxedo, his long red hair was let loose in a wolf style haircut. Judge descended down, this was the time when he had to show off his ethercraft.
Judge, as a soon to be mastermind, did not want to attract any attention towards him. So he decided to show off an ethercraft that was not ordinary or too attention grabbing. If he went with the ordinary, people are gonna ask where the genius went, and that was a pain to deal with.
With a deep breath, Judge solidified the air underneath where his foot was headed. The crowd clapped lightly at his little performance, as if he was a magician doing tricks for them. The claps, of course, were a formality.
Walking on air did not take up much ether, but the principle was said to be complicated, so not many dragons know how to do it. Judge had learned the principle from Lucifer via script writing.
But his shows did not end there, if it did, it would be too ordinary. He summoned many tiny clusters of fire and injected them with ether, then he covered them with ice and quickly sent them through portals he made before they melted.
He then conjured up another ice ball and blew on it for effects. Mist spread throughout the hall as the clusters of fire made tiny eruptions. It was a medieval equivalent of a fireworks display, but indoors.
Judge descended from the air and stood on the platform, he clapped twice and the lights returned. He bowed with one hand on his chest and the other lifted in the air. He rose again to the avid clapping of many.
The show was not too ordinary, and was definitely not a show off when it came to speaking in dragon terms. He had put on a show that was expected of a genius, and now he could focus his attention on other matters.
Judge joined up with Stein and Raphael after an exhausting talk with the nobles, neither of the parties wanted to talk to each other, but it would be rude otherwise. If he had put on a much better ethercraft display, they would all be still flocking to him.
"Must be exhausting huh?" Stein asked, "Lucky I did not have to go through that on my birthday."
"Me neither, why did you have to put on such a show?" Raphael asked after gulping down a mouthful of cake.
"You guys have to do that on your tenth birthday, but it's much earlier when it comes to dragons." Judge took a piece of cake from the table while trying not to be too horrified by the vine that was being served by a maid next to him.
"Hey no fair... I am a dragon too!" Stein imitated a dragon's breathing. He had no care for his surroundings or the people staring at him, thinking 'He might be our ruler one day right?'
"Stop it Stein you are embarrassing us." Judge turned around, covering his face as if he did not know Stein to begin with.
"Aww, C'mon Judge, Take it easy will ya"
"Yeah." Raphael agreed with Judge, she also turned around and covered her face like she did not even know him.
"Not you too Raphael!"
As the children were having their time, Renald, the first prince, approached them. He was a person whom Judge despised to his core, a drunkard who is also a big slut. He was also easily manipulated by his so-called 'friends'.
But still, Judge was not the type to hate someone just because they were a bad talk in all of the social circles. He hated Renald because he was too hard to manipulate, Judge had only one conclusion on how people perceive him as being easily manipulated by friends.
'He is deliberately acting',
but Judge did not know why.