Willem waited patiently while Kinsey cleaned up his appearance. First she cut his hair until it was only shoulder length, and then she trimmed the facial hair that had been growing for the last three months. Though her movements were stiff and a little awkward, she was extremely determined to have him look his best for the banquet. Once she was done, she lifted a mirror to Willem for his approval.

"It looks good, you have done well Kinsey. Lay the clothes onto the bed and make sure the carriage is ready to go, since we cannot teleport into the royal palace." The fact that Willem could not teleport into the palace was a lie, but he never bothered to explain why to Kinsey. He knew the guards and royalty would mind if an eighteen year old came and went as he pleased. Though he did not care much about what they thought, having to deal with the One True King seemed like a hassle. Willem grabbed a towel and began to pat himself dry. Kinsey stared at his toned body for a few seconds before nodding and laying the clothes on the bed. After she was done she went to the teleportation array and activated it.

Willem walked around the private sanctum for a bit before clothing himself. He studied the itinerary and memorized the order of events. First was a meet and greet with all the nobles. Second a formal speech from the King. Third a speech from the guest of honor. Fourth was the beginning of the feast. Fifth was dancing and sixth was a display of power from the Grand Mages, lastly ending in a closing statement by the King. All in all it was going to be an orderly and boring affair. Willem looked longingly at the alchemy set sitting on his desk, gave a sigh, and began to dress.

Kinsey had picked out for him a white robe to contrast his black hair, with a green inlay and green emerald bracers to accentuate his eyes. The boots and cowl were made from black panther hide, which gave him a peculiar feeling. He looked like a noble, but gave the air of a refined scholar. Awkwardly, he gathered whatever necessities he required before activating the teleportation array. When he arrived, Kinsey was waiting on the other side giving orders to ten staff members when all of them stopped and stared. What appeared before them was a young man of eighteen, giving off a royal aura. He shifted his gaze over the staff who had stopped to gawk, and they looked down in embarrassment. A black rug had been rolled out, leading to the caravan.

Willem took Kinsey's arm as the staff lined up awaiting orders. Kinsey waved them away, saying that they could take the night off. She then motioned a maid to open the door to the carriage and Willem entered in behind Kinsey. Once they took their seats, the carriage began to move to its destination. The driver of the carriage elegantly guided the horses toward the palace entrance. Willem took out a wooden box, which he passed to Kinsey. She took the box and opened it, revealing a beautiful red dress.

Before she could inquire, Willem spoke. "You cannot wear what you've been attending with to a royal banquet unless you wish to offend those there. Put on the dress quickly before we arrive at our destination."

Her gaze did not shift from the beautiful red silk dress. She quietly and slowly undressed under the watchful eye of her Master. Though she was now well beyond marrying age, and her body had developed quite well, she was yet untouched by a man and retained an air of chastity. Though she would not be staying that way for much longer.

She quickly disrobed and unfolded the silk dress. She slipped into the dress and buttoned up, blushing the entire time. Her beautiful crimson hair matched the dress perfectly, and her red complexion only made it more fitting. She once again sat down and Willem pulled out a small wooden box from his spatial spell. She again opened the wood box and found inside a bracelet made of jade and a ruby ring. Each piece of jewelry would cost anywhere from two hundred to three hundred gold. Just one of these could feed a family for many years if they rationed properly.

Kinsey placed the ring on her finger and the jade bracelet on her slender wrist. Her heart beat uncontrollably, both at the thought of the jewelry and because she was heading to the royal palace with the guest of honor. Never in her life had she pictured herself in such a fanciful encounter, she dared not dream of such a thing in her previous life. Once she had told her Father of a dream where she was taken away by a beautiful prince, and he quickly reminded her that she would never amount to anything. Now his head did not even properly fit on his body as they shifted in his unmarked grave.

Soon they arrived at the Royal Palace and the door to the carriage opened. Crowds were lined up behind the gate, peering in at the individuals arriving. Kinsey stepped forward from the carriage and lifted her hand guidingly for her Master. Willem took her small hand and made his way out of the carriage into the full view of the crowd. Many of the onlookers gasped and some fainted, causing them to be stepped on as others pushed forward to see who had arrived. Willem paid them no attention, and instead locked arms with Kinsey, before heading down the long red carpet into the palace. Kinsey waved off the carriage, and both the maid and driver left hurriedly. Willem looked at the other arriving guests, and they looked back at him quizzically. They did not know he was the guest of honor, and so they assumed he was a small noble trying to sneak into the event. They gave him no face and instead scoffed as they walked by.

A grin formed on Willem's face, as he lined up by the entrance. Behind him a few nobles were snickering to themselves while waiting for the moment when Willem would be caught by the guards and sent away. The moment never came, for as soon as he said his name the guards stiffened and welcomed the guest of honor. After confirming his identity with the golden talisman, three guards led him in personally and announced his presence to the nobles whom had come in so far. The noble that earlier scoffed at him looked at the ground embarrassingly and dared not approach him now. However, even with his head down, Willem knew exactly who he was and instead went to him directly. He offered his greetings to the noble and asked him what was so funny earlier that he could not even offer greetings to the young boy. Though Willem pretended to look genuinely interested, the longer the pause of the noble the more he seemed to lose interest.

The noble began to stutter and Willem, not one to miss an opportunity looked at him angrily. "If you do not wish to tell me, then that is fine, but do not waste my time."

The noble offered his apologies and walked away with his head down. Other nobles walked to Willem and offered their greetings. Some housewives came by to talk about marriage proposal, others were curious as to why he was the guest of honor. His only response to both of these questions was "we shall see." This caused the housewives nose to crinkle in dissatisfaction, and they walked away with their heads held high. Though Kinsey did her best to steer the conversation, Willem had no interest in these boring social interactions and began to eye the food hungrily. Soon, all the nobles had arrived and had been mingling for a while. The King finally arrived, and with a grand wave the room fell quiet.

"Esteemed guests and fellow nobles, we have gathered tonight in this banquet for a celebration. This celebration is for a young man of eighteen, who has transcended the limits of his body and has become the first Grand Mage of his generation. Though his temperament is... unrefined, his abilities and skill are equal to my own. Without further ado, please give warm applause to our guest of honor, Grandia."

As the speech ended, Willem slipped through the darkness of his shadow seamlessly and appeared beside the King. The fluidity of his actions caused the nobles to gasp and clap even harder than when they heard the news of a eighteen year old Grand Mage. He raised his hand slowly, and the applause died down.

"Thank you all for the warm welcome. In my studies, I have come to know that humans in fact have a long history in this world. Longer than I could have ever imagined, many of our lineages have lived for hundreds of thousand of years. Fighting and Surviving is in our blood and bones, and I speak the truth when I say it had been ingrained in us to fight our oppressors. My power may be vast, but it is as the King says, unrefined. This state we are living in now is short compared to those of our enemies. Yet we cannot hold back for fear of retaliation. The age of Humans has just begun!"

Willem bowed slightly, cupped his hands and slipped again into the shadows, effortlessly revealing himself beside Kinsey. She affectionately held his arm, pressing her breasts up against him.

The King and all the nobles clapped excitedly, seemingly roused by the words of the young boy. The King again raised his hand and spoke.

"Let the feast begin!"

The nobles walked to the next room over and took their seats where they had asked to be placed. The King sat at the head of the table in the middle, and Willem and Kinsey sat to his right. On the king's left, sat his wife and two children. His wife was beautiful, if a little pale, and gave off a slight air of sickness. Her lips quivered slightly, and her hands shook but she did her best to maintain her appearance. Willem's guess was that she only had another year before this sickness took her.

The children excitedly stared at Willem and Kinsey. The older brother was sixteen, and could not help but glance at Kinsey every chance he got. Though there was a disparity in age, that did not seem to deter him in the slightest. His disheveled hair and childish face made him look younger than he actually was, which bothered him greatly. The younger daughter was the exact opposite, her prim posture and borderline excessive makeup made her look to be around fifteen or sixteen when in fact she was only twelve. She openly stared at Willem longingly, until her Mother pointed out how rude she was being to the guest of honor. She quickly straightened up and began to cut her food, only picking at the fat of the prepared ham and daintily eating.

Once the feast had entered its fourth course, the nobles began to decline their meals. Willem was not a regular at such lavish parties, and ate every meal until it was gone, not knowing that he was only meant to take a bite or two before moving onto the next meal. Kinsey silently smacked her hand to her head, completely forgetting that Willem had no knowledge when it came to these events. This kind of blunder was unforgivable, Master had entrusted her to not make him look a fool and yet she forgot such an important fact. She quietly slipped her fingers along his arm to get his attention and whispered something into his ear. Willem placed the fork he had previously been using onto the table and motioned for the food to be taken away.

The entire event did not go unnoticed by the King, who thought that everything that was happening with Willem was incredibly funny. Though he dressed as a noble, he did not act like one. In fact he had no problems putting some of the other stuffy nobles in their place. This was essential to the King, as he noticed the nobles were getting incredibly selfish and overbearing. Though he could directly suppress them with his own strength, Willem had stepped in and taught them how to act.

Once the feast had reached its ninth plate, the nobles waited patiently for the King to announce for everyone to go to the ball room. It was not long before the King stood up from his chair and gestured for the gathering to make their way to the next room over, where a quartet had already begun playing. Immediately, both Kinsey, and Willem were asked by multiple different people to be dancing partners. Willem hesitated, then watched as other nobles danced. He took all the information in, and danced with some of the women while imitating the moves he had just learned.

Though Kinsey was dancing with the Prince, her eyes focused solely on Willem. She watched as he studied the feet of the other nobles, and after a few seconds began to mingle with the crowd. She lost sight of him, but upon searching inside herself she found the string that connected her soul to his, and she sighed gently. Though the Prince danced well, he could not make Kinsey turn her head from Willem. In his heart, he sighed deeply, such a beautiful woman should be by his side.

"Madam Kinsey, will you not join with me instead of Willem? Though I realize he is a Grand Mage, my own magical studies have progressed quite far, soon I will reach the level of Grand Mage as well. Furthermore, I believe as a Prince I have no shortcomings in deserving your hand." Each word spoke was bolstered by self confidence, as if he was sure there was no reason for him to be rejected.

Kinsey did not even answer him, nor pay any attention to his words. They might as well have been spoken to a deaf person, for all the good they did. She stared where she last saw Willem, and as if deciding something in her heart, let go of the Prince's hands. She rushed toward the gathering of people in search of Willem, to the dismay of the Prince. He was soon crowded by women, and although he enjoyed their company, in his heart he could only think of the bitter feeling he felt toward Willem. As a Prince, there had never been a time where he wanted something and could not attain it, which made him slightly sour when Kinsey openly ignored him.

Kinsey rushed toward the crowd, doing her best not to shove anyone while heading toward where she believed Willem to be. After a few minutes of wading through nobles, she eventually found him performing the waltz with the young Princess. She waited until the dance finished, and as the Princess bowed, Willem bowed in return. Willem saw Kinsey off to the side, her face red with jealousy. Though he enjoyed teasing her, he decided that tonight in order for there to be no problems with his experimentation, he would forgo teasing her. He beckoned her over, and joined her hand in hand while they danced together. He stepped closer to her and pulled her body against his. Her breasts pressed against his chest, and a warm fuzzy feeling washed over Kinsey's body as they danced.

If she had no feelings of intimacy toward Willem, she would have suspected that he had cast a warmth spell on her, because as her body moved against his she felt herself getting hotter and hotter. She thought about it for a while, but nothing came of it. Knowing how she felt about him, she came to an understanding that her body craved Willem now and there was little she could do about it. She lovingly rested her head against his neck and continued to dance.

Little did she know he actually did cast a warmth spell, with her as his intended target.

Willem had recently studied the population controlling methods within the kingdom, specifically that some animals were denied mates while they were in 'heat'. He thought the heat that animals went through was the same as the heat generated by warmth, and tested it on Kinsey.

Though fundamentally wrong, the experiment did still work out in his favor.

His understanding of the minor spells was already at the point where he did not have to chant to cast them. Though major spells were fundamentally different, and he knew he could not cast major spells, he still had the capabilities to master minor spells.

As they danced through the night, time had passed quickly under the tight embrace and it was time for the Grand Mages to begin displaying their skills.