Chapter 3
The Banquet
Alfred entered the room and the confidence he had piled up vanished as soon as the eyes of at least 20 people landed on him. He felt judged and panicked they knew about him but their gazes shifted away uninterested. There were more than 30 alphas in this room, it surprised him because Alexander told him there were only 30 participants who were chosen to come but he guessed the others might be reporters.
He looked around to find Alexander somewhere in the crowd and indeed he was talking to someone who looked like a reporter with her big camera hanging around her neck and a piece of notebook in her hand.
The room was large with equally large windows. Chandeliers were hanging from above and the walls were painted in gold while he felt very much out of place. He watched the other alphas stand and corrected his posture and mimicked them with one hand behind his back.
A servant walked up to him with drinks on a silver plate. They all sparkled in gold and Alfred took one, curious to taste something new but when he sipped it he immediately spat it out in disgust.
"You don't like alcohol, huh?"
Alfred turned his head to an alpha his height but with brown hair and shook his head. "It's disgusting."
The alpha chuckled and came closer to him. "I'm actually glad I'm not the only one from CL5, although I think I saw some others too but not so many."
"Sounds like we need to stick together," Alfred said playful. "I'm Alan by the way." Alfred reached out his hand.
"I'm Jake." Jake shook his hand.
"You've got the same name as my brother!" Alfred smiled widely.
"What a coincidence!" Jake laughed and his eyes landed on Alfred's hand. "You have a metal hand?" he said excitedly.
Alfred wiggled with his left fingers. "It's my full arm actually and it's copper. I made it myself."
Jake took his hand impressed and examined it. "You can even move it? You're really skilled for a number 5."
Alfred wasn't sure how much the people on Card Level 5 knew about the mechanical systems but hoped it wouldn't get him in trouble.
"Very fascinating." Another alpha walked up to them, his hair short and wavy and his eyes a piercing ice blue. Alfred knew whatever he would say, it would be as arrogant as his presence and his number 8 on the neck. "Do you think your skill in mechanics can help you to become King?"
"Um, excuse me?" Alfred said and smiled, trying to stay polite.
"I'm just curious. It's hard to picture someone of your, well, status to be in a place like this."
"The Prince chose me. Are you questioning the Prince's decision?"
He ignored the question and wrinkled up his nose. "You have an interesting accent. It sounds so shrill and sloppy."
"Thanks, it's very unique in my town," Alfred said and just smiled.
A rather disgusted look crossed the alphas face and he turned around and went away.
"What an asshole," Alfred muttered. He noticed that most people seemed to have a different accent than him, even Jake and Toris. Probably because his accent was more common in the subcity than in the real town above. Another thing Alfred had to change about himself to fit in.
"We're probably gonna face a lot of discrimination here," Jake said.
"Nothing changed then," Alfred joked.
Three knocks halled through the room and everyone got quiet. A short man stood in the very front and announced the Prince. Out of the door beside him came a figure in white-blue clothes and walked on to a small platform laid out for him. Alfred couldn't see his face from the distance, he looked very blurry but he could hear him.
"Welcome to the palace Ligones. I'm honored to finally meet all of you in person and witness the remarkable things you have to offer. As long as you're here, please, enjoy your stay although one of you will stay longer."
The alphas laughed and Alfred just thought that his voice didn't sound bad, attractive even but he threw that thought away after all, the Prince was a spoiled rich kid, probably like the alpha who commented on his accent. Alfred didn't anticipate meeting him.
The Prince led them to another room just outside the ballroom with a long table and just as high ceilings and windows but with a red carpet instead of a wooden floor as Alfred noted. The table was beautifully decorated with blue and violet flowers and in the middle of the table stood a large swan made out of ice in the moment of flying up.
Cards on the table indicated where he had to sit and luckily it was beside Jake. Jake noted how far away they are from the Prince and that the nobles sat all close to him. That didn't surprise Alfred.
They all sat down and Alfred tried to hold back his wide eyes when the servants would give him food and drinks and take everything away. It was so strange for him not to do anything and just sit and wait.
There were round robots driving and following the servants, carrying a plate on their head. They were bronze and some of them would carry bottles with various drinks or take dirty dishes away which the servant would place on them. Alfred thought they were cute, and wobbled around like little children. When they came to him and Jake, the robot was carrying bottles and the servant asked which drink they would prefer to which Alfred pointed to a bottle and almost smashed it over.
The servant was surprisingly kind and the drink he got was very sweet. He liked it very much and sipped on it while waiting for the first dish which was a soup.
"This tastes so.. strange, what kind of soup is that?" Alfred asked as he slurped on a milky broth.
Jake took the menu card in front of him and read. "It's turtle soup."
"What? This sounds horrible. But it tastes so good," Alfred said and laughed.
Alfred never knew there were so many things he could do wrong just by sitting and eating. His elbows would accidentally clank against the silverware and Jake had to gesture to him to leave his elbows down. The amount of spoons, forks and knives overstrained him and he would just take any he liked not knowing there's a right way. The meals were so good, he swallowed it too fast which gave him annoyed looks by the other alphas.
"I never thought I would ever feel so... sated."
"Is this too much for you?" Jake laughed.
"How much can a person eat?" Alfred leaned back and put his hands on his stomach, feeling full and tired. He never would have thought that his stomach would hurt because he ate too much.
Jake took the menu card again. "There are three more dishes to come."
"Three more?"
"These are small dishes. How can you already be full?" Jake asked and placed the card back.
"I guess I'm not used to this amount. I could feed an entire army with this," Alfred said and Jake looked at him which made Alfred think he said something that might expose him. "Or just my snobbish boss."
Jake laughed and so did Alfred until they noticed people staring at them and someone cleared their throat. "I think we were a little too loud."
"Is that bad?" Alfred asked.
"It's our first impression to the Prince."
"Right." Alfred somehow forgot why he was here and that he wanted to stay quiet. He looked over to the Prince but saw nothing but a blurry face. "We want to make a good first impression."
The servants came and placed them their next dish which Jake explained was a sorbet. Alfred had no idea what it meant and just ate it. It was in a small long beaker which he held with his copper hand and he choked on something he thought was a fruit but ended up being something spicy.
He couldn't stop coughing and felt his hot blood rush into his head when he was not able to take a breath. Jake started to clap against his back but that wasn't helping him. A servant came and brought him water but when he wanted to reach it, he noticed his hand stuck around the beaker, and took the glass of water with his right hand instead.
He tried to shake the beaker off his hand and drank the water at the same. While drinking he coughed and accidentally spat water on the table and himself. The servant quickly took some napkins and wiped but Alfred tried to take the napkins too and told him he can do that himself but the servant insisted to do it instead all while Alfred's gaze would flicker to his hand around the beaker and try to shake it off.
"Alan, the Prince is looking," Jake whispered.
Alfred didn't hear that, his hand annoyed him and he went into his mechanic of the arm at the wrist and loosened it by pulling on black wires. He shook once more, a little too hard and the beaker slipped out of his grip and hit a female servant walking behind him. She cried out when it hit her head and Alfred swiftly stood up to apologize. He didn't notice the serving robot behind him that followed her and stood up too harshly and pushed the serving robot away against another servant's knees.
The collision let the robot fall over with all the bottles and when it hit the floor, something sharp flew out of the robot and straight through the ice swan. The ice swan crumbled and fell into little pieces all over the table and the floor.
All eyes were on him and his plan had failed. At least his coughing stopped.
-
Alfred was frustrated with himself and the situation. He walked around the garden behind the palace, not wanting to go back to his room in case he would run into any of his fellow competitors in the building. It was his first day and he already failed, the Prince would surely kick him out after destroying the ice swan and disturbing the banquet. He kicked a stone in front of him and noticed a big tree. The path went around it like a circle and a single white bench stood underneath it. He sat down on the bench and leaned his head back to calm himself down, upon looking up he noticed fruits hanging around.
They were white with a purple tip that stretched out just a little and as big as an apple. He'd never seen a fruit like that before and it was quite interesting for a broadleaf tree to have any fruits at this time of the year. There were so many new things he learned today that he never had experienced before and before he would die, he would like to know more.
He stood up and climbed up the bench, looking for a way to get to the fruit. The branches were thin but strong enough to hold him as he climbed up, sadly he couldn't reach the fruit and there were no other branches for him to climb up except the one where the fruit was hanging on. He stretched and grabbed the branch but the fruit was hanging further away and he started to shake it to get it down. The other branches that were connected to this one shook as well, but he was only focused on the one he was holding.
"It's forbidden to pick on those flowers."
Alfred stopped, looked down and saw someone standing. The man's face was blurry from this distance but he recognized the white and blue attire and slowly panicked before one of the supposed fruits fell down on Alfred's head, bringing him out of the state of panic.
Carefully he went down again and chuckled. "I'm sorry. I was just curious about those fruits."
"These are flowers," he said.
Alfred looked back at the tree and then down at the fruit that fell on his head. It made more sense that they're flowers. He looked back at the omega in front of him who was still a little blurry but this time he was able to make out some facial features in the dark garden and recognized the number 10 on his neck, the number of royals.
"I'm very sorry for ruining the banquet, Your Highness," Alfred said to Prince Arthur.
"It was quite unexpected."
"Am I in trouble now?" Alfred asked and his eyes would constantly avoid the Prince's face.
"You are Alan Taylor, is that correct?" Alfred nodded to the Prince's question. "Don't worry, you're not in trouble. I understand that a banquet must have been a new experience for you. You must have been nervous."
Alfred chuckled and scratched the back of his head, shocked how calm the Prince was about this. He expected him to look down upon him like every other noble would do. "It didn't go as planned."
"What did you plan?"
"Making a good impression." Alfred scrunched up his face and looked away at his failed attempt of laying low.
"You certainly made an impression," the omega said. "It's better than none and you still have time to prove yourself."
"I do?"
"Of course. You can try to impress me this month and show me your worth," he said.
"Thank you." Alfred felt relieved and smiled, the pressure in his chest loosen up.
"You don't look like your photos," the Prince said and his chest tightened again.
"Uh, well, hah, I hear that a lot." He chuckled and waved with his hand. "It's some kind of telegraphic-"
Alfred was cut off when they heard someone shout for the Prince. Arthur turned around and cursed under the breath, quiet enough for Alfred not to understand what he said.
"Be quiet and hide," he whispered to Alfred and went behind a bare-branched bush and Alfred followed him.
"Who are we hiding from?" he asked, crouching behind the Prince.
"Just the Jack," Arthur explained simply and hushed Alfred when they heard someone walk by and shout for him again.
They stayed in their position until the Jack was gone. They straightened up again and Arthur was so close to Alfred when he turned around that it startled both of them and Alfred quickly stepped back.
"W-why were you running away?" he asked after clearing his throat.
"I was just hiding," he said and looked back where the Jack had gone. "I'm not allowed to be alone but I needed some space after the banquet. And now I think we need to separate. It was a pleasure meeting you Mr. Taylor."
"The pleasure is all mine," Alfred said and smiled. "But, um, can you tell me how I get back into my building, please." It wasn't probably the right choice or polite to ask the Prince for directions but he was lost in that garden and no one but him was here.
A surprised look brushed over Arthur's face. "Follow me."
Arthur led him back to the palace and they ended up in the foyer with the big clock. Two white stairwells forming two half circles went down from their floor to the main hall with a massive double front door. Above the front door was a clock out of stained glass in white and blue and in the middle of the clock a blue rose. White pillars carved like dragons were standing at the door and going up to the clock, and looked like the dragons were trying to climb the wall. Alfred only realized now that the end of the staircase railing was also carved into a dragons with four limbs, two wings and six horns.
He couldn't look away from the clock and the dragons climbing up the wall, and quiet whispers echoed in his head until Arthur snapped him out of it.
"They are beautiful, right?" he asked.
"They are," Alfred smiled. "You have a lot of dragons here."
"They are the national animal of Spades, although they don't exist." Both looked at the pillars. "They are animals from fairytales but some claim that all stories no matter how absurd they are real."
"Do you believe in them?" Alfred asked but before Arthur could answer they heard the Jack again.
"Go left, the second left then right and forward until the glass corridor," Arthur told Alfred but the alpha hesitated.
"What about you?" he asked and got a somewhat clear vision of the Prince's face when he turned to him. His thick brows were scrunched together and his green eyes had a mean and snobbish look to them.
"If the Jack is going to catch us together you will be in trouble."
Alfred nodded and said a quick thank you before running down the stairs and around the corner but he stopped when he heard Arthur getting caught.
"How many times should I tell you, if you want to be alone just go to your room." Alfred heard the man saying.
"I can't take a walk in my room," the Prince talked back.
Alfred decided to save the Prince and let him have his walk. He walked back again pretending to walk in on them in their conversation.
"Uh, I'm sorry," he said to get the Jack's attention and the short alpha turned his gaze to him from above. "I think I'm lost, can you tell me where the candidates building is?"
The Jack explained him sharp and quick and turned his attention back to the Prince who still stood there.
"The second right and then left, I got it!" he pointed out in the opposite direction.
"No," the Jack said and explained it to him once more but Alfred kept on saying the wrong directions and the Jack began to talk more slowly to which Arthur walked backwards and out of his sight.
Alfred grinned when the Jack turned back and the Prince was gone. He quickly fled, too and was relieved to know how much time he had to find the magical item and that he could try to impress the Prince in case he needed to stay longer.