Chapter 70: Capital’s First Night
The Royal Palace made the auction house look like a provincial market.
Dominic stepped out of the carriage into a courtyard of white stone and silver filigree, the palace rising before him in tier upon tier of impossible architecture, spires that caught the moonlight and scattered it, floating lanterns that drifted on invisible currents, archways carved with the history of an empire that had stood for a thousand years. Guards in ceremonial armor flanked the entrance, their halberds inlaid with gold, their expressions as blank as the marble beneath their feet.
Claire was waiting at the base of the steps. She’d changed from her auction house livery into a gown of deep grey, professional but elegant, and she fell into step beside Dominic without preamble.
"The receiving line will announce you. Titles matter here. So use them."
"What titles?"
"The ones you’ve earned." She glanced at him. "Grand Trials runner-up. Consignor of the SSS+ mana core. Sponsored adventurer under Frank Castle’s seal. The herald will say them all. Just don’t flinch or act awkward."
"I don’t flinch."
Claire’s mouth twitched. "We’ll see."
They climbed the steps. Florence walked at Dominic’s left shoulder, her dark crimson jacket replaced by a gown of the same shade, still sharp, still dangerous, but unmistakably formal. Theresa moved at his right in midnight blue, Astrielle’s Promise draped over her shoulders, the gold trim catching the light like captured fire. The Moon’s Whisper pendant hung at her throat.
The doors swung open.
Light. Sound. A ballroom that stretched into shadow, chandeliers burning with mana-flame, nobles in silk and jewels turning to look at the new arrival. The herald’s voice cut through the noise.
"Lord Dominic Kane of Caldmore. Grand Trials runner-up. Consignor of the SSS+ mana core. Sponsored adventurer under the seal of House Castle."
The room went still. Every eye in the ballroom found him at once, and the weight of a hundred calculations pressed down like a physical force.
Florence let out a low breath. "Well. They know your name now."
"Everyone here knows everyone’s name," Claire said quietly. "The question is whether they’ll remember it tomorrow."
The system fired.
```
[New Quest: Capital’s First Night]
[Objective: Establish your presence within the capital’s upper society.]
[Progress: 0/3 meaningful social interactions]
[Hidden Objective: ???]
[Reward: 200 GT Tokens]
[Bonus: Determine the anonymous bidder’s identity.]
[Bonus Reward: 100 GT Tokens]
[Note: The capital is watching. Some want to see you rise. Most want to see you fall.]
```
A second notification followed before Dominic could close the first.
```
[New Quest: The Capital Has Teeth]
[Objective: Identify one individual whose presence exceeds your current understanding of power.]
[Reward: 150 GT Tokens]
[Bonus: Determine their affiliation without directly asking.]
[Bonus Reward: 75 GT Tokens]
[Note: The capital is older than the empire. Some things here were here before the Crown.]
```
Dominic closed both panels. The ball was already a battlefield.
Claire guided them through the crowd with the practiced efficiency of someone who’d spent years navigating capital politics. She identified people as they passed, her voice low enough that only Dominic, Florence, and Theresa could hear.
"Lady Vex, at the center of the room. She’s already established her position, the Collegium mages around her are a buffer."
Dominic glanced. Vex stood in a pool of cold authority, her silver hair like a frozen waterfall, her pale eyes scanning the room with the detachment of someone who’d already calculated every threat and dismissed most of them.
"Lord Cassian Morne, near the eastern windows. S-ranked, military house, losing influence for a decade. The woman beside him is his daughter, Lady Rhea Morne. She’s the reason the house still matters. Sharp mind, sharper tongue."
Morne was drinking. His daughter stood beside him with the posture of a soldier on parade, her eyes moving across the room with the same evaluating focus as Florence’s. She caught Dominic looking and held his gaze for a long moment before returning to her father’s side.
"House Ashwick. New money. Industrial. They’ve bought their way into rooms like this in the last year, but they’re still not welcome in the inner circles. The patriarch, the one with the merchant’s smile, is named Oren Ashwick. He’ll want to meet you. He needs allies."
Oren Ashwick was watching Dominic with open calculation, his expression warm in a way that didn’t reach his eyes. He raised his glass in a small salute.
"House Vancourt. Old money. Rivals to Harwick for three generations. The young man near the western arch is Elias Vancourt, the heir. He’s been watching you since you arrived."
Elias Vancourt was young, mid-twenties, sharp-featured, with the easy confidence of someone who’d never had to prove anything. He caught Dominic’s eye and smiled.
"And the Crown’s representative," Claire said, her voice dropping even further. "Seated in the raised alcove, half-hidden by curtains. I don’t know their name. No one does."
Dominic looked. The alcove was draped in shadow, but he could make out a figure seated within, still, patient, watching. He couldn’t sense their power. That should have been reassuring. It wasn’t.
"The royal family doesn’t send representatives to these events," Claire continued. "Not usually. Their presence tonight is significant."
"Because of the core?"
"Because of you." She turned to face him. "The Crown is curious. That’s either very good or very bad."
SYSTEM PROGRESS: 0/3 MEANINGFUL SOCIAL INTERACTIONS
Elias Vancourt found him first.
He approached with a glass of wine in each hand and offered one to Dominic with the ease of a man who’d done this a thousand times. "Lord Kane. The man who made Hector Harwick walk out of his own auction. The capital hasn’t stopped talking about it."
"The capital has a short attention span."
"The capital has a long memory. It just pretends otherwise." Elias smiled. "My family has been watching House Harwick for years. What you did tonight, forcing that bow, or rather, forcing him to refuse it, that’ll follow him for a decade."
"It wasn’t personal."
"I’m sure." Elias’s smile sharpened. "But House Vancourt is interested in people who can hurt Harwick without flinching. If you ever want to discuss what that might look like, our doors are open."
He handed Dominic a small card, an invitation, elegant but understated. Then he paused, as if considering something.
"Word of advice, Lord Kane. Hector Harwick isn’t in this room, but his influence is. The questions people ask you tonight, where the core came from, how you acquired it, who your companions really are, those aren’t curiosity. They’re prods. Someone’s testing the edges of your story."
"I know, but thank you nonetheless."
"Good. Then I’m sure you’ll handle yourself well." Elias raised his glass in a small salute and melted back into the crowd.
SYSTEM PROGRESS: 1/3
The whisper campaign started subtly.
A noblewoman, elegant and smiling, asked about the core’s "unverified origin." A guild official wondered aloud how an adventurer of Dominic’s rank had survived the tenth floor.
And then an older man, silver-haired and dressed in the muted colors of a house that had once been powerful, said, "The Kane name was thought dead. How... fitting that it returns to the capital carrying gold." He let the words hang. "Though I recall the last time the Kanes made noise here, it ended rather poorly."
The smile never left his face. The insult was in the memory.
A young lord expressed admiration for his companions, then asked where exactly they’d come from, since their magical signatures didn’t match any registered academy.
Different voices. Different faces. Same question underneath: How did you get here?
Florence noticed first. "They’re being too polite," she murmured. "This many strangers don’t just happen to ask the same questions."
Theresa’s eyes tracked the room. "These people are proxies. They’re testing how you respond."
"Then let’s give them something to remember."
Dominic’s chance came minutes later. An older nobleman, silver-haired, smug, clearly affiliated with Harwick, approached him near the center of the ballroom, close enough that others could hear.
"Lord Kane. Surely you understand the capital’s curiosity. An E-rank adventurer, four months ago. Now you’re selling SSS+ cores and attending royal balls. It’s quite a... trajectory. Some might wonder if there’s more to the story."
The room quieted. Conversations faltered. Heads turned. This was the moment, the first public test of Dominic’s composure.
Dominic smiled. It wasn’t a pleasant smile.
"I understand curiosity perfectly. I too am curious about a lot of things as well." He paused. "For instance, I’m curious why House Harwick filed a fraudulent claim against my core, knowing it would be dismissed. I’m curious why they registered a bidder for an item they claimed to have no interest in. I’m curious why their steward has been asking about me in the lower city since I arrived."
He let the silence stretch.
"But I suppose we all have questions we’d rather not answer in public."
The nobleman’s face went pale. Several people nearby suddenly found the floor fascinating. Someone laughed, a sharp, surprised sound. Elias Vancourt raised his glass in salute from across the room.
The nobleman opened his mouth, closed it, and retreated.
SYSTEM PROGRESS: 2/3
The approach came from behind.
Dominic felt it first through the bond, both Florence and Theresa tensed simultaneously, their attention snapping toward the same point. The presence was familiar. The void he’d sensed at the gate, then again at the auction house. Hidden power, carefully concealed, but impossible to miss once you knew what to look for.
A woman stepped out of the crowd.
She was dressed simply, dark grey, almost severe—but the fabric was of a quality that made the surrounding silks look cheap. Her hair was black, pulled back in a tight braid. Her eyes were the color of old bronze, and they assessed Dominic with the same cold precision he’d come to expect from apex predators.
"Lord Kane," she said. Her voice was low, unhurried. "We haven’t been introduced. I bought your core."
"You’re the anonymous bidder."
"I preferred to remain anonymous until I saw you in person. Now I think it’s better that you know who you sold to." She tilted her head slightly. "I am Vora, of the Eidolon."
The name meant nothing to Dominic. But Claire, standing a few steps away, had gone very still. Even the nearby nobles were glancing away, as if the name itself was something to avoid.
"You cost me three hundred thousand gold tonight," Vora continued. "Driving Harwick out of the bidding. It was well played. Expensive, but well played."
"You still bought the core."
"I did." A small smile touched her lips. "I would have paid more. Consider the three hundred thousand an investment in seeing Hector Harwick humiliated."
"Why does the Eidolon care about Harwick?"
Vora’s smile faded. "Eidolon cares about the tenth floor. The core is a piece of it. There are other pieces in your possession." She paused. "We should speak privately. Soon. But not here. The Crown is watching, and I’ve said too much already."
She turned and walked away, melting into the crowd without another word.
The system pinged.
```
[Bonus Objective Complete: Determine the anonymous bidder’s identity.]
[Reward: 100 GT Tokens]
[Current GT Tokens: 1,880]
[Warning: The third remains unidentified.]
```
Then a second, shorter notification appeared, faint and almost reluctant:
```
[Warning: Vora’s identity is not fixed.]
```
Dominic stared at it. The panel flickered, as if the System wasn’t sure it should have said anything. He looked after Vora, but she was already gone, absorbed into the glittering crowd.
Not fixed. What did that mean? A disguise? A shapeshifter? Something else entirely?
He didn’t have time to dwell. The third notification was already waiting.
SYSTEM PROGRESS: 3/3
```
[Quest Complete: Capital’s First Night]
[Reward: 200 GT Tokens]
[Hidden Objective: Pending]
[Current GT Tokens: 2,080]
```