System Programmer Chapter 42: Royal Birthday Party

A few months ago, back when Catherine hadn't summoned Joshua yet.

The King's birthday was a national holiday. The capital was bustling with life as festivities were organized all over the city. Business was thriving as people were buying food from various stands and drinks were being poured everywhere. Obviously, every noble family was present as well and had to partake in the official proceedings.

A traditional ceremony was being held inside the palace. The King was sitting in the center of the room, his heir Prince Joachim standing next to him. In order to reaffirm their loyalty and to wish for the King's well-being for the coming year, each noble family had their youngest member bring their gift forward along with a blue iris. Summoner families were the highliest ranked amongst the nobility so it was normal they would initiate the ritual.

Catherine wasn't at ease doing this as she had a pretty bad opinion of the King. There were several reasons for that. His poor leadership is one of the reasons the war broke out a few years back and even after the treaty was signed, he continued to make questionable decisions. Still, her father was extremely loyal to the royal family even if disagreed on several points with the current ruler. As for Catherine, she had learned a long time ago to remain stoic during royal proceedings.

Catherine was the first to go. She took a deep breath and stepped forward carrying her family's gift. For the occasion, she was wearing an elegant red dress. Arriving in front of the king, she knelt. He gave her a sign to stand and she handed him the gift. He thanked her, a smile on his face yet she felt it was merely pasted on his face. On the other hand, Prince Joachim had an expression that looked much more genuine.

Catherine was well aware of his feelings for her and while she had a much better opinion of him than his father, she didn't love him. Considering her desire for change, the thought had crossed her mind to accept his advances. After all, being the future queen would certainly help her realize her ambition. And yet, she rejected the idea. Maybe she was being judgemental as he looked a lot like a younger version of his father so he might turn out to be just like him in the end but that wasn't the only reason. Someone once told her that you're never served better than by yourself.

In the coming months, she would finally acquire her spirit. It was impossible to know beforehand what kind of creature would be summoned, but a conjured spirit was always the perfect match for the Invoker. Considering her desires, she expected her Guardian to be a serious figure with a strong sense of justice. Yes, that would be the perfect match, she thought.

The origin of the summoner's ritual had been long lost, hence it was unknown why only a few families in each country had such abilities. Even amongst the five families of Cestor having summoner abilities, it wasn't rare to only have one or two children per generation being born with the required abilities. When a child is born in one of those clans, an old ritual is held to see if the newborn has been gifted with the ability to summon spirits or not. Those that do will be trained from young ago by the current head of the family, whether the child is their own or a distant cousin and will be raised as a potential leader of the clan. Catherine's parents could consider themselves lucky as their three children were talented.

While each clan had their own military might, they all had their specialty. The Lippi clan was the one with the strongest army and Catherine's father was one of the most respected generals in the country. With rumors of another war breaking out soon, he was spending more time away from home as the King often required his presence. As the King accepted her present, Catherine sighed silently while thinking about this. The previous war had claimed many members from the Lippi clan and her father had sustained a grave injury back then. He recovered eventually but had to lie in bed for half a year. Her business done, she bowed and returned to her seat.

She crossed paths with her cousin Vera Praal. Always cheerful, Vera winked at her as she brought her gift to the King. Catherine smiled back at her and sat down. The Praal family were mostly researchers. The three people currently capable of crafting runes in the country had ties to them, some more direct than others. Other than that, they also helped research ancient history, as well as maintain the Royal Archives.

Next came the proud Edward Blaise. His family was the one who was the closest to the Royal family as several of their members were part of the royal guard. Since Edward was the future leader of his family, he would probably soon be assigned as a personal bodyguard to Prince Joachim.

Normally, Jacques Root was next on the list but he didn't appear when it was his turn. As people's curious gaze turned in his direction… they realized he had fallen asleep, as usual. Catherine quickly put her hand in front of her mouth as she couldn't contain her laughter. It wasn't widespread, but Catherine was aware his family consisted mostly of spies. How that sleepyhead could spy on anyone was beyond her comprehension. Someone next to Jacques shook him awake and he quickly ran up with his gift. The King gave him a somewhat severe look but Jacques' expression remained shameless.

The last summoner to step forward was Joseph Trime. Catherine didn't know Joseph very well, they had only met on a few occasions and they never really had a conversation together. His family consisted mostly of healers which she found ironic considering Joseph looked extremely pale, almost as if he was a walking corpse.

The other minor nobles then brought their presents one by one. Once it was finally done, the King threw all the iris' he had received in the air, signaling the start of the party. Everyone moved to the inner yard of the palace were a large buffet had been prepared. Music was playing and soon people started to dance.

Catherine was trying to remain discreet, however, It didn't take long for Joachim to invite her, which she could hardly refuse. The pair drew quite the attention of members of the court and soon a lot of whispers were circulating about a plausible relation between the two. After the dance, Catherine feared a lot of people would want to invite her, but luckily her sister came to the rescue. Miranda had always been a much more open person than Catherine so she was quite popular in the royal court and soon various gentlemen were waiting in line for the opportunity to dance with her, allowing Catherine a moment of respite as she slipped away in a hallway, hoping to find a quiet room to relax a moment.

She kept walking forward for a few minutes. She was somewhat confused, the place wasn't that big. No matter how long she was moving forward, she wasn't able to reach the end. She was getting a bit nervous and opened a random door, revealing a small storage room. She closed it and opened another door, however, she got confused as she was met with the same room she had just closed. She was starting to panic a bit. Was someone assaulting her with an illusion? At that moment, she began to hear footsteps. They were faint at first but were gradually growing louder. Catherine considered hiding in one of the storage rooms, but whoever was responsible for this probably knew her position. She, therefore, conjured some water which circulated around her and waited for the person behind this to arrive. Soon, a cloaked figure appeared in her figure of vision.

"Who goes there?" she yelled, about to attack.

"Whoa! Slow down, Catherine! I'm not your enemy!" the figure responded.

The figure lowered its revealed, revealing Jacques' face.

"Jacques, what's going on here? Did you create this illusion?" she replied, still keeping her guard up.

"Read this, it should become clear," he answered, throwing a piece of paper at her.

Catherine caught the paper and took a look at it. She tried to read what was on there, but somehow, it appeared to be jibberish. Her head started to hurt a bit. She was sure the text was there but was unable to make any sense from it. She looked at Jacques with a confused expression.

"Don't you know? People can't read while they are dreaming," he said, smiling.

Chapter end