Bariton watched the candles float past as the break finally calmed both himself and his party members. He walked towards the next musical score, allowing Judine to pick the next one. The two agreed on one thing for certain; leave the sins some members had experience dealing with for last.

  Judine led the five towards a certain musical score that raised a few flags, but also t’was the last one they hadn’t met. Bariton had no clue what sin this one could be, but it was between three options.

  Judine clearly had the same idea. This sin was either Envy, Lust, or Sloth. The slow tune of the score gave him a few hints however; this would likely be Sloth, which meant the tall man he dealt with alongside Shammus was likely Envy; leaving Lust as the one Clara and Judine had left with.

  And now, the slow composition was slowly dragging the party towards them, and Bariton could feel it get harder and harder to reach them as the opposing force finally was reached. It was a person laying upon some stairs that led to nowhere within this ballroom, and the slower speed of dancing around them…

  Seemed quite hypnotic, if Bariton was being honest. The bard kept staying awake, and stared at the sin laying upon the stairs, they looked quite odd, with how they moved. The movements were sluggish, but were still too fast to perceive.

  They felt too uncontrolled, and the person laying down raised; a mixture of speed and sluggishness, causing Bariton to flinch back at the movement. The humanoid figure staring down at him was wearing a typical Noble’s outfit, almost mirroring the Adventuring Academy’s uniform, with inverted coloration.

  But their eyes were empty in want, empty in wish, and empty in reaction. The person staring at the party looked distant, almost akin to a teenager being dragged along by their family. They didn’t speak either, even after Clara’s first attempt to reach out.

  “Hello, would you happen to be one of the Seven Sins?” Clara’s voice reached out with a certain determination behind it, one that wasn’t quite missing, but was amplified after they attained legendary abilities.

  But there was no response, the eyes simply glanced over Clara now. They rolled in the head, and Bariton felt… dejected. Until he blinked and faced this foe. Clara seemed turned away from effort, but Bariton couldn’t just be turned around like this.

  “So, you probably are, huh?” Bariton felt some rage build into him, and he understood Judine to a heightened degree now that this sin was effecting his allies and not just himself. “Then leave. You clearly don’t wanna talk with us.”

  Bariton held himself down with everything he had; tensing every muscle in his body to prevent himself from launching himself at this sin, and the soulless eyes simply blinked in response, and then…

  They were gone. Bariton felt his usual determination refuel his heart, and Pallad took a breath of relief. All that was left to meet was the two sins they had few clues as to which was which, and now…

  Judine was already walking towards the taller man, but Bariton catches her by the sleeve of her dress, and she stopped to turn to face the bard. “We should let Pallad choose!” Bariton turns to face Pallad, allowing a flourish of his arms to draw his party’s attention to the paladin.

  Judine looked confused for a moment, and so Bariton explained his reasoning. Clara looked confused as well, which allowed Bariton more of a reason if asked later. “Well, y’see, you two already met the womanly Sin…” And Bariton left their minds to fill the rest in.

  And so Pallad got to choose. He stopped for a second and had drawn his hammer. “Well, I don’t quite have a preference so…” He led the party in a spot equidistant between the two sins, and the tall man clearly visible over the crowd had been staring.

  “Why not just spin my hammer and whichever side the hammerhead lands upon is the one we go to?” Pallad’s idea was simple… and genuinely grand. Bariton applauded his idea, and his party seemed just as commendable with some of them nodding along.

  Pallad placed his warhammer on his finger, and spun it after it was balanced using a simple Aeromancy spell. It spun for what felt like ages, the two sins awaiting the decision with bated breath as well.

  When the hammer fell, it landed with such a large force it cracked the wood it landed upon, but it was in the direction of the womanly sin Clara and Judine had both dealt with before. Pallad gripped the hammer and effortlessly pulled it from the earth, and then walked on before anyone else had processed the results fully.

  Bariton followed closely behind, and the rest of the party followed as quickly as they could as well, and then they met her. “Well, isn’t it nice to see you two again!” She strode past Pallad and Bariton in an instant and stepped up to face Clara and Judine. “I’m shocked that you arrived so quickly to me, so who’s idea was it to see me?”

  The party were quick to point to the man who led them there with his genius ploy of just gambling, Pallad. The sin nodded and quickly stepped around him. Her eyes flared with a distant emotion, potentially hunger, but she showed no other reaction.

  “Hm, definitely a strong one aren’t you?” Her voice held a cadence it hadn’t just a moment before, and a strong sense of perfume… Bariton felt more urged to act then ever before, in a vile way at that.

  He ignored who the target of such a deep Lust was for, before speaking up. “And I presume you are Lust?” His bold assumption seemed to take her off guard with the step back, and the lust died down within his soul.

  “Yes,” her target switched quickly as she stepped away from Pallad who looked thankful that she was pulled away from him and now towards Bariton who now understood the nervousness. “You sure have a strong head on your shoulders hm?”

  Bariton knew the look in her eyes from the many monsters he’d slain, and the last time he saw it as well. The eyes of a predator staring upon a new prey that had caught her eye, and Bariton’s legs couldn’t help but shake.

  Of all the people to save him, he wasn’t expecting Shammus to simply lightly tap her on the shoulder. “Now it is certainly a pleasure to meet you,” his words quickly stuttered to an end as he caught the eye contact with the woman, or maybe the Bard behind her?

  Bariton couldn’t tell too easily which of the two caused the blush. But Judine joined Shammus’s explanation. “Indeed it is nice to meet you, however you must be busy, no? The other sins are far too busy to talk with us outside of just playing around a little bit.”

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  The sin frowned ever so slightly, but then she smiled slightly. “Of course, it was a pleasure to meet the heroes of this generation… Definitely much kinder than the ones of the First! ‘Till we meet again!~”

  Her voice had the same cadence it had in the first moment, and when she vanished, the final one sauntered over. The personal body of this creature was something many could envy, but it also looked just so horrible to live as.

  The height was enough to have to duck under even the grandiose archways of a cathedral, designed to allow even a banner to fly on the way out. The face was beautiful, but not pretty enough to cause issues with others, to cause taken women to commit adultery.

  It was a perfect balance, and this body had all the traits Bariton wish he held, but he saw the unfavorable traits all the same. “Hello you five.” The sin spoke softly, as though fearful that it’d be stolen.

  The soft voice was responded with Clara, “Hello, what sin may you represent?” Clara’s voice was similarly soft, as though she were talking with a patient. The face of the tall man scrunched up in a scowl that swiftly merged back into a smile.

  “I am Envy, the one that covets the others.” The smile felt fake with those words, it reached the eyes the same way a sculpture’s carving had done so. It was too perfect, the minor imperfections of a person’s grin weren’t present. The wrinkles besides the eyes were too symmetrical, there was no other way to explain it.

  The bard’s eyes squinted to keep up the analysis, but when he felt the shadows pull at him he decided against it. Bariton looked away from the analysis and the new sin’s eyes clearly scanning his face all the same.

  Envy finished his analysis when Bariton looked away, and looked upon the others. “I wish I could spare the same amount of time the others had, but I don’t believe I may… Wrath would rather you five get to actually enjoy the party.”

  The smile they painted upon their own face was one of sadness, one of sorrow. It wanted to partake, yet it held itself back. And then the final symphony died out, leaving only five songs playing over the noise of the crowd.

  The symphonies intermingled, and Bariton stopped just to enjoy the sound of his party deciding on what to do. Judine and Clara were thinking of going to see the charcuterie board set up by Gluttony once more, while Pallad was talking of learning ancient slow dancing from Shammus.

  Bariton decided to throw in the dice, and go teach some of these noble bastards how to properly play cards. Bariton walked up to a table with well dressed men and women of all ages, at least those who are old enough to drink, and asked the game being played.

  T’was a simplistic game of black jack, and the bets were… Obscenely low. Bariton asked the dealer to deal him in, and awaited to see the cards laying upon the table before checking the others first card up.

  And there he saw he had the advantage. Slyly checking the card beneath to see his current card pairing, an Ace of Spades and a 9 of Hearts. Seriously, a 20? This is both the greatest and the worst.

  Thankfully for the bard, the Ace was well, his Ace in his sleeve, as the hidden card. The other guys had definitely interesting cards. The dealer themselves had a 4 of Spades, and the others had a 3 of Diamonds, a 2 of Clubs, a King of Spades, and the final one had a 9 of Diamonds.

  Bariton was calculating the risk, to see if going after another card was worth it. It could be another Ace, but that’s quite a risk to go from a 20 to a 10 score. The person with the King hit, and they didn’t bust just yet…

  So their other card is probably a 2. Definitely not a 3 or an Ace, with that 8 of Spades. But that means a tie… Bariton double tapped the table, and let the card slide in. And he smiled as luck shined upon the bard once more. An Ace of Hearts laid atop the pile, and the Bard had won with a miraculous 21.

  Now, he did know full well that it was proper etiquette, and he may be kicked from the table for this act, but he decided to hide it. It was bad, he knew it to be such. And he couldn’t raise his 50 chip bet anymore than he could beforehand.

  He also knew full well that it didn’t matter that he was beating the others… But it also stole an Ace from the deck, or few. The others stood, and the one who reached 20 had done the same.

  The dealer’s turn to play came around, with the 4 of Spades revealing a King beneath. Since Bariton had a 21, it was only a play against the other hands, but since someone else had a twenty…

  Bariton had to hold down a laugh as he took his chips, and the other betters lost so humiliatingly. The dealer got an Ace immediately, totalling 15 to not bust. Then a 3. Then as the guy with the 20 nudged the other person besides them the dealer got another 3.

  Bariton walked away the only winner from that table, and he simply gave his chips to the other players. He stepped aside to the other tables where similar games were being played, as he built up confidence for his final play of the night…

  ******

  “Really?” Shammus stopped when Pallad made the suggestion. He had confusion painted all over his face, but Pallad wasn’t going to stop at just some confusion. “I’m unsure if it changed in the thousand years since the war…”

  “Yes,” Pallad agreed that this could be net zero, or even a waste of time. But the paladin was certain there was some way they could benefit. Both of them. “However, if it did change; or even if it didn’t, we’d know something new, no? And you won’t be embarrassed with Bariton later tonight when you two dance.”

  Shammus immediately straightened up when Pallad mentioned Bariton, and he couldn’t help but let out a light chuckle. “So, after you teach me the ancient slow dances, why not I teach you the modern versions?”

  “Hm…” Shammus stopped with Pallad’s offer. “Fine, I’ll teach you even if I don’t personally enjoy teaching others…” Pallad stopped with that detail. He almost opened his mouth to tell Shammus he doesn’t have to teach or anything if he hadn’t wanted to, but Shammus was already walking.

  “Hey, wait!” Shammus didn’t stop even as Pallad called out to him to halt him, but he walks over to a nice and open location, slamming his cane down with an amount of force to make an audible sound, one enough to cause people to move out of the way.

  “Alright, so you wish to learn the ancient slow dances, yes?” Shammus’s voice wasn’t filled with bitterness, but rather a buried joy, one that he refused to show for some unknown reason. With Pallad’s nod, he felt Shammus grab onto him and lead him out to the dance floor.

  “Then follow my lead, at least for now. Once you got one or two down, I’d like you to teach me the modern ones.” Pallad nodded once more and felt his body get led through a dance strange to him. Shammus knew this one really well, and before he could ask any questions, the dance was being engraved into his mind.

  ******

  Clara and Judine were quick to move along, however they did hold a want to get along with some of the guests. Especially a certain guest someone told the party about, one in a bird mask. And now she was curious. Of course, her curiosity would get to be sated as she stepped forward.

  Clara and Judine were making very small talk on their abilities on their way to the food areas, this ballroom being so absurdly sized and it seemingly changing constantly in layout, even adding new ones…

  Judine was unsure the area she was contained within, or where floor 51 took place. This place clearly had more effort placed into it then other floors, that was certain. She looked upon the foodtable, and clearly she wouldn’t need to stay curious for long.

  Clara recognized them first, and even pointed them out. “Oh, there’s the bird masked person!” Judine’s eyes snapped to where Clara was facing, and there she was right. A bird masked patron sipping on a martini at the bar.

  They noticed Clara and Judine looking upon them, and simply raised their own glass in an effort to invite them. Judine looked over at Clara, unsure how much of her apprehension was showing, but Clara nodded and the two sauntered their way over.