God Of Crafting

Knowing not the local customs and etiquette beyond the few short lessons Chihiro found the time to give me, all I could do was follow in his steps, always keeping myself just a few feet away from the man's back.

Initially, I thought the open hostility the locals of this place revealed without any qualms would soon cease, turning into a general agreement to just ignore my existence. Sadly, this was nothing more than my hopeful delusion, as people's curious stares only continued to grow in number and intensity as we moved up the massive stairs toward the main building's entrance.

The situation only changed once we finally got inside, only for the maids and butlers of this place to instantly invade our personal space, quickly separating our small group of three before leading each one of us in a different direction.

Before I could even open my mouth in an attempt to protest, I was seated out in the far-off corner of the main hall, with Chihiro getting seated at the very end of the main table, and Claire ending up pretty much all the way amidst the seats of honor.

"Today, we celebrate!"

As soon as the butler pressed down on my shoulders, pushing me down to sit on the chair, everyone in the hall stood up and turned their heads to a small stage, where a man in the most elaborate robe out of them all cleared his throat before opening his arms up and revealing a big, welcoming smile.

"For not only has our precious granddaughter returned to the fold, but a lesser son of the clan has also finally proved his mettle and rejoined the ranks of proper humans!"

Hearing this speech, all I could do was hold my breath while staring wide-eyed at the man.

Back in the modern world, if anyone were to reverse this speech and low-key insult all the cultivators the way this man just insulted the mortals, their life would be officially over.

Not only would the netizens rip the man's reputation to shreds, but official protests from the cultivators' embassy would soon follow, putting the offender on a quick hate-speech trial before fining his ass to infinity.

Here, however, the man's speech only ever received some small nods, making it seem as if everyone in the massive hall couldn't agree more with what was just said.

'This place really is a lot worse than I thought it would be,' I thought, taking in a deep breath before slowly exhaling it away, using the experience to calm down.

'There's no point in letting them rile you up. If they want to be stupid and biased, let them. Who are you to teach them to know better?'

Just the opening of the man's welcome speech was enough to make my thoughts spin, rendering me unable to properly follow whatever he said next.

As a result, before I could even notice, everyone suddenly reached towards the tables, picking their glasses up and raising them toward the ceiling.

"And to that, we shall drink!" everyone chanted in unison, pushing their crystals just a little bit higher before dropping them down to the level of their heads and throwing it back, taking in the full dose of whatever was inside all in one go.

Not wanting to be the one man left out of the process—more in terms of avoiding attention than over some sort of personal insecurity—I grabbed the glass and, only a short moment late, copied everyone, swallowing the drink all in one go.

'Hmm?'

The concoction burned my throat a bit, making it seem as if it was some sort of fancy alcohol… But no, the sensations soon vanished, replaced by the soothing feeling all over the burned parts of my throat, before a wave of pleasant energy struck my head, only to dissipate right the next moment. Discover more stories at empire

Looking down at the glass, I fell into the trap of my own thoughts, taking a moment to seriously consider the drink's taste and effects, only to raise my eyes… And realize that, for some reason, everyone was looking right at me, with clear looks of amused anticipation on their faces.

"Hmm?" I looked around, happily allowing myself to, for once, let my face stay true to what was going on in my heart, and just look around with an impassive, unimpressed look on my face.

Still, the whole crowd of like two hundred people anticipated some sort of response, even if there was no question asked of me.

'Don't look,' I told myself, right as I nearly raised my eyes to search for Claire or Chihiro in hope of getting some sort of hint.

But no.

Even something that small could be taken and used to validate whatever stupid misconception they had about the mortals from the modern world.

And so, operating pretty much blind, I took another look at the glass, shrugged lightly, and then put it away, only to then defiantly raise my eyes and, with the same unimpressed look on my face, look right back at the crowd.

For a moment, the whole hall turned silent…

"Mwahahahaha! Didn't I tell you?!" A sudden laugh erupted far out, from pretty high up the main table, as a beautiful woman in the strength of her years giggled without the slightest care in the world, accompanied by an old, gray-haired man laughing to the woman's tune.

In the end, it was the woman who calmed her amusement first, shaking her head before standing up and turning directly toward me.n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

"I apologize for all the discourtesy this court slighted you with, young man," she apologized and even went as far as to bow her head down a little.

Normally, I wouldn't care in the slightest.

But in this place, to bow one's head, even if only a little?

I gulped my saliva down.

In here, even something as small as a slight bow of a head was actually quite the big deal!

"There's no need to apologize for an offense when none was taken," I courtly replied.

As much as those people disgusted me, I knew better than to speak lightly right in their midst, especially when my words were bound to affect Chihiro and Claire's situation.

"Still, thank you for your kind words," I then replied, lowering my head as I did while making sure I did so deeper than the woman's bow.

"Not only can he withstand all of this pleasure, he can remain all courtly?" the old man laughed out again, only to slam his hand against the table, all to the open discontent of the big shots sitting all around the old man's place. "Splendid!"

The man laughed for one more second… Only to suddenly turn all serious, all hints of amusement leaving his face as he looked around the other guests with a grim, angry look on his face.

"This young man is someone whom my granddaughter fancies! How dare you try to seat him with the servants?!" he roared while slowly rising from his seat and casting his furious glance across the other VIPs, before turning it toward me… No, the people sitting around me.

The next thing I saw, this old man already pulled out a fancily decorated sword twice his size before slamming its tip right into the precious, polished-marble floor of the hall.

"Unless you want your heads to roll, you shall rectify this insult right now!"