Mage? Spell Engineer!.

Chapter 468 The Handsome Guy at the Dance
The focus of small constituency reform is on other states, but the core of success or failure lies in the Kingdom of Marin and the imperial capital.

The heart of the empire is in a state of unstable heartbeat.

Unrest, attacks, and some bold people trying to emulate the old Valuwana. The news lost its luster, and the people went from pride and pride to suspicion and anxiety. The upper-class hatred subsided a little, but the politicians' mutual attacks began to reveal the horrific and ugly events to the people.

"Upholding fairness and justice" was not the original intention. It was nothing more than trying to use righteousness and public indignation to drag political opponents into the water, just like a pillow fight. When you hit the opponent hard, the gorgeous silk pillowcase will be damaged, revealing the dirty filling.

If we have to attribute all the problems to someone, it is simply that His Majesty the Emperor's life has come to an end.

If there was anyone in the imperial capital who would be grateful for this situation with mixed feelings, besides His Royal Highness the Crown Prince, Richard could be counted as one of them. Because His Majesty the Emperor was ill, according to custom, the nobles could not hold festive activities until he recovered or the next emperor began to hold public banquets.

So an event that troubles him can be postponed
"Tonight's ball will feature the youngest daughter of the Grand Duke of Württemberg, the second daughter of the Marquis of the Palatinate, and the only daughter of the Grand Duke of Bomya. These are their portraits, don't confuse the names." Richard's father tossed over three gold pendants, and when he opened them, he should be able to see the girls' miniature busts.

The mother examined her son’s “appearance” and said: “Agnes is your cousin who likes painting and humanistic philosophy. You should talk to her more.

"As for Bomya, my God, there are too many barbarians there. I'm afraid even the court there has been tainted with barbarian habits. It's not like a country that produces dignified and civilized ladies. You just need to be polite to the only daughter of Grand Duke Crocker, Richard."

"But she's very beautiful, okay? I mean let the child choose for herself." The father's words made the mother angry for a while, but at least he showed limited openness.

Today's dance party has an important task - to arrange a blind date for Richard. All the female guests are aristocrats who match his family. If there is no bold boy, Princess Amelia of the Kingdom of Byrne might have appeared on the dance floor.

After Richard returned, his parents quickly realized that they had to try to produce a good next generation of the family while their beloved son was still at home, although Richard insisted on the view he had learned from the academy: magical talent would not be inherited stably.

"Even if our Richard is not a spellcaster, he has excellent bloodline!" In the past, this was mostly said to evaluate Richard's eldest brother. However, this time when he returned home, his eldest brother was nowhere to be found, and when he asked his parents and servants, they were all vague.

Then what awaited him was a ball for blind date. As the news of reform had spread throughout the empire, and the rumors of the succession of the throne intensified, the nobles began to circle around the capital in the name of socializing. This gave Richard's family convenience.

Although we can't have a wedding right away, we can still date and develop feelings first, and then raise grandchildren.

The lights in the castle hall of the manor were turned on. In order to demonstrate its strength, all the light sources came from magic, and pointy-eared elves were invited to play music for the dance floor. The guests who came were either rich or noble.

The guests came in one by one, and Richard took his mother's hand to greet them one by one. Everyone who came praised him as a young talent with a bright future.

Richard was wearing a military uniform, a cape and medals that symbolized the mage. The mage regiment was dressed like this when they first assembled on the battlefield, and then suffered heavy losses from the artillery shells of the Valois. Richard couldn't help but think that the castle of this manor had lost its defensive function. Even the enemy's medium-sized field artillery could blow open the main gate, and continuous shelling of the side towers could cause them to collapse.
And the hall is full of high-value targets. No, maybe it's devalued now, even more so after the electoral district reform.
In addition to him, there were many people wearing military uniforms, gathering in groups on the edge of the dance floor, drinking and smoking without scruples, and addressing each other with their military ranks. In the past, such vulgar people would never appear in the halls of great nobles. They were just insignificant little nobles, or even just unpopular little sons.

However, as the empire deployed its military power, even the former Grand Dukes and Earls were willing to lower their status and speak to these people cordially. What enhanced their value was the huge Imperial Army.

If you simply understand the Imperial Army as an armed force, you are totally wrong. It has its own schools, priorities that are constantly established in the war, and behind it are giant companies that seek profits from arms, as well as thousands of small landowners who have retired from the army, and a system of mages accompanying the army. At the beginning of the war, the armed forces of the Grand Dukes were reorganized by the Imperial Capital because they were not good at defending the territory, so that the Southern Army of the Empire was completely incorporated into the war machine dominated by the Kingdom of Marin.

As a result, these young officers entered the imperial court. Their military uniforms and solemn temperament could both frighten people and attract the hearts of the girls in the empire. This trend in choosing a partner was also due to the empire's propaganda machine.

But Richard knew what his mother was thinking. Those officers existed to set off him: among those officers with higher ranks, none were as young as him, none with lower ranks had as bright a future as him, and Richard put it bluntly: none of those sitting or standing were as handsome as him!
This is easily proven by the ladies' expressions that they wanted to look more but were too embarrassed to do so.

Finally, the last guests arrived. Grand Duke Crocker of Bomya himself was not present, but his wife and daughter entered the ball.

As expected, their clothes were different from others. The lady wore a red dress that was too bright, and the daughter wore a long dress with geometric patterns and contrasting colors, which made her look particularly lively, but not solemn. Neither the mother nor the daughter's dresses were suitable for this occasion.

Richard's mother raised her eyebrows, obviously thinking that this was a barbaric behavior.

The girl looked up, staring at Richard with her big eyes. After a moment of silence, she spoke: "I didn't expect your painter to be honest and not over-beautify."

"Libus!" her mother scolded.

Next, Richard turned into a tool according to the process and invited the girls to dance in the order specified by their parents. He also paid special attention to his cousin as his mother said.

She stammered and tried to chat with Richard, but Richard couldn't follow her at all. Knowing that the family of the most popular pastoral painter in the imperial capital was really making things difficult for him.

Richard's reaction frustrated his cousin, but the Imperial Army Colonel did not feel sorry and mechanically found the last mission target.

"I'm not going! I'm not full yet!" Libby said bluntly, with icing sugar hanging on the corners of her mouth.

"Okay." Richard turned around and left as if he had been pardoned.

"Wait a minute!" The woman said anxiously: "According to the novel, you should say this: Reject me? Woman, you have successfully aroused my interest!" Her lines were very fluent and full of intonation, with a strange and shameful magic.

This forced Richard to turn around and ask: "Where did you see the novel?"

"The most popular serial novel in the Kingdom of Bain, "The Tyrannical Wizard Falls in Love with Me", has been published in a single volume! And it's signed by the author, Martin!"

Richard saw the other party take out the novel in public from a place that was not clearly stated.

(End of this chapter)