Chapter 580: Socializing Practice

The party was attended by many, as Eris was undoubtedly the most popular of Celestina’s three Disciples with the widest range of friends.

Everyone, from close family members to the old man she regularly bought fish from at the market, had gathered in the ’small’ garden behind Disciples House, the nickname for the residence where Lucas, Eris, and Christina were staying in the Balfour Manor.

Celestina had thought about using the main garden, where Christina had her 16th birthday banquet, but for tonight’s purposes, that felt a bit excessive.

In fact, even a party of this size, with some 400 or so guests, seemed like a bit much for such a small achievement, but there was a good reason for it, one that had nothing to do with Eris’ breakthrough.

Originally, Eris hadn’t been thinking of hosting a celebration at all. A nice dinner at home with her closest family members, Master, and a few others, would have been plenty, but when Christina brought up the idea of allowing their newest houseguest to experience a little fun while also getting a bit of socializing practice in, Eris had immediately agreed.

From there, things spiralled out of control, as they so often do, and a small party had turned into a big party; though, considering it hadn’t exploded into a grand banquet was progress.

Sort of.

Right now, said little guest was being escorted around by Christina, as the princess was still the only one she had fully opened up to.

Holding Elly’s hand firmly, Christina asked the young girl she had rescued from that burnt-out village in the Darr Kingdom gently, "How are you holding up?"

"I’m..." Elly started, then stopped and lowered her head, "I’m fine..."

"Are you sure?" Christina whispered quietly, "If it’s too much, we can always go back."

"No!" Elly shook her head vigorously before seemingly thinking she had made a mistake and shrinking back again, "I mean, I’m fine. Really."

"It’s alright," Christina quickly comforted, "You didn’t do anything wrong. If you want to stay, we can stay. If you want to leave, we can leave."

"I..." Elly seemed torn.

Since she woke up in the Balfour Family Manor’s infirmary next to a wounded Christina, the young girl had gone from lashing out and fighting with everyone around her to extremely withdrawn.

Perhaps her circumstances from before her village was destroyed, being bullied and isolated by most people, had already given Elly something of a wary, anti-social personality, but after the attack which had taken her home and family from her, the instinct to curl up and protect herself had clearly become much, much stronger.

As for why she and her father were always shunned, that apparently had something to do with their lineage.

When Christina showed Celestina the Aura Concealing Cloak she had found Elly wearing, the General had frowned deeply as she recognized it as an item normally used by members of the Rockwell Kingdom’s military.

If this was an ’heriloom’ from Elly’s family, it could very well be the case that a soldier from the Rockwell Kingdom had... done something ’untoward’ during the last great war.

In no way was that Elly’s or her parents’ fault, as they were several generations removed from the incident, but such things rarely mattered when it came to matters of identity and bloodline.

Having figured this out only made everyone involved on the Rockwell Kingdom side more determined to take care of Elly, as now they also felt a sense of guilt towards her.

Regardless of that unfortunate reality, for many days following the incident, the only person Elly would even speak to was Christina, which, when the princess was well enough to leave the infirmary, had naturally meant the little girl had moved into Disciples House.

Several others from the younger generation had tried to befriend the little girl, but even Lucas and Eris, both of whom had very different approaches but were equally good at interacting with others, had failed initially.

Naturally, neither of them had given up.

Eris, with her bubbly personality and endless positivity, had eventually managed to coax Elly into talking to her. She even got a smile everyone once in a while, but those were rare.

Lucas, on the other hand, had tried taking a more logical approach. He had looked for things Elly was interested in, or wanted to do, and had then found ways to help her achieve those things, which had earned him some good-will from the girl who now saw him as caring and reliable.

At Lucas, Tina, and Eris’ request, the other, younger kids in the house had all also made a special effort to reach out to their new housemate.

Toby and Mabel always invited her to their lessons and to play, while Jack, Jane, and Jeremy had shared many treats with her that they got from their older siblings, the bakery trio Jake, Jenny, and Jessie.

Baker Jerry clearly had a thing for the letter J when it came to naming his kids. It wasn’t that he couldn’t think up other names... really.

Being surrounded by friendly kids her age, kind older siblings, and caring adults had certainly helped ease Elly’s trauma, but watching helplessly as everyone you ever knew was brutally murdered wasn’t something you just ’get over’ in a month.

Still, for a number of reasons, Christina and everyone else in Disciples House felt it was about time they started introducing Elly to a broader environment.

Tonight’s party was meant to do that in as gentle a manner as possible, where despite the crowds being a bit big, Elly was under no obligation to interact with anyone if she didn’t want to.

Whether this would work or not, remained to be seen.

.....

One very important reason for pushing Elly a bit harder to socialize was that Christina would soon be deploying again with the Raging River Legion on a mission to the northern border of the kingdom.

The First Regiment Third Battalion, which Christina was temporarily assigned to, was being sent to join the impending operation against the mysterious enemy organization’s smuggling efforts.

Technically, the mission site was outside Celestina and the Raging River Legion’s jurisdiction, instead being firmly under the control of the Roth Duke Family; however, as one of the few units which had first-hand experience dealing with the enemy’s main combat forces, the Third Battalion was being sent to assist.

Their role was more akin to military advisors or consultants, but after the chaotic events of that day, Christina knew better than to assume they wouldn’t see combat during their deployment.

That, however, meant she would be away from Misty City for several months, possibly not even returning before the end of the year.

Needless to say, it wouldn’t be good if Elly’s main support was to suddenly vanish before she managed to adapt to her new surroundings.

Elly also understood that everyone was trying to help her acclimatize, and not wanting to disappoint their expectations, especially those of her new big sister, she really tried hard to interact with people at the party, but sometimes, trying hard wasn’t enough.

Being surrounded by so many unfamiliar faces, even though all of them were smiling and being kind to her, was causing quite a bit of strain on Elly’s fragile mental state.

So, after just an hour, barely half-way through dinner, Elly couldn’t take it anymore and asked if she could be excused.

"Of course," Christina and Eris, both of whom had made a special point to accompany Elly tonight, comforted before Tina took her hand and led her back to the house.

Once they were alone, away from the crowds, however, Elly suddenly turned to Christina and asked, "Big Sister, are you leaving?"