Little Nova

The Sky Tower of the Tagore Family is the tallest building in Tarsonis City, with over 150 floors, even shorter than the Kuxinis Sky Tower. The Sky Tower of the Mengsk Family is but a sapling at the feet of Giant compared to it.

This magnificent Sky Tower was Tarsonis's first tall building, originally constructed from the colonial Mothership that carried the ancestors of the Terrans to this place. Rumor has it that the main engine of the colonial Mothership is still buried beneath the Tagore Sky Tower, pumping fuel and electricity like the heart of the dragon Tarsonis.

"Hold your head high, Jim. Don't think of yourself as some ignorant country bumpkin. Be confident."

Augustus stood before the bronze doors of the Tagore Sky Tower, speaking to Jim Raynor, who was about to follow him into the red-carpeted Tagore Bird Hall.

There were about twenty private guards, armed Marines, and uniformed registration staff at the entrance.

"No, I'm very confident." Raynor repeatedly adjusted the position of his expensive white silk tie, but he still felt that the rented tuxedo was a bit too small. No matter what others said, in Raynor's eyes, he looked like a fat penguin.

Because Augustus was suddenly informed that he could only bring one officer from the Heaven's Devils to the banquet, Raynor, who held the rank of corporal, became that lucky person.

"But this damn dress is suffocating me," Raynor complained.

Augustus and Raynor were supposed to be wearing military uniforms with medals on their chests and sashes today, but the Tagore Family butler told them that the lady of the house did not want to see a group of soldiers at her birthday banquet, so they had to dress like nobles to be seated.

Not only Augustus's Heaven's Devils, but also many noble officers and generals who shone in the Guild Wars will be invited. Images of them appearing alongside members of the Old Families will appear in major newspapers and on the IAA Holographic Projection screen on the day of the event.

Perhaps Augustus guessed that the scene would be modified in post-production, such as by using some simple technical means to dress them in military uniforms.

"Why don't you let that 'tailor' make some alterations?" Augustus laughed heartily as he walked forward.

"What? You really want to see my belly button showing?" Raynor followed Augustus indignantly.

Augustus presented with an ornately decorated invitation and, after undergoing a series of security checks including a retinal scan, was allowed to enter the magnificent hall.

To demonstrate their aristocratic status and distinguish themselves from the nouveau riche, the Tagore Family continued to adhere to the court etiquette and elaborate rituals of the French court from the 17th to 19th centuries, which Raynor found incomprehensible.

The Tagore Sky Tower is as magnificent as a palace, with walls and pillars inlaid with gold, stone and jade, huge oil paintings and crystal chandeliers hanging from the ceiling, and wide corridors leading to more rooms. Artworks cast in gold and silver and mirrors are displayed on both sides, shimmering in the light of countless candles.

The guests here were all dressed in formal attire, with the women in luxurious and elaborate clothing. Their long, floor-length gowns were held up by servants, resembling the folded tail feathers of a peacock. These noblewomen were reserved, elegant, and beautiful, with features perfectly proportioned to the golden ratio, skin as white and smooth as milk, and graceful figures.

"Thank goodness that scoundrel Tychus didn't come, or he would definitely be stripping naked and dancing here," Raynor said thankfully.

"Tychus wouldn't do something so outrageous; he would definitely behave like an English gentleman, if he's been trained that way," Augustus.

There were far more servants than the Tagore Family's distinguished guests; hundreds, even thousands, stood or moved with elegant steps through the vast corridors and halls. These servants all possessed outstanding looks and figures, wore well-tailored uniforms, and were neither frivolous nor impetuous in their words and actions.

"I've heard that the homes of great nobles are filled with mechanical servants. They're just like people," Raynor whispered to Augustus.

"This is obviously a real person." Augustus walked slowly on the red carpet, the rented black tailcoat fitting him perfectly, as if it had been tailor-made.

"The most illustrious and oldest Old Families all employ servants, not machines. Only the newly rich, who have made their fortunes through peripheral trade and speculation, use cheap machine servants because they cannot find competent stewards and servants." Augustus said, smiling at a noblewoman who was looking at him. She immediately blushed.

"The main banquet hall is on the top floor; we'll take the magnetic elevator."

"The girl smiled at me." Raynor smiled too.

"Perhaps you should talk to her a bit more." Augustus tugged at Raynor to keep him from jumping up. They spoke softly, as if they were admiring her rather than pointing at the crowd.

"My mother told me that men who have affairs are all dung." Raynor shook his head almost imperceptibly.

"Take you for example." Augustus turned a corner and walked to the elevator. A small number of people were waiting here, because only the Old Families and nobles who had business dealings or kinship ties with the Tagore Family could go to the top floor.

"My intuition tells me you're the kind of person who is like that. People in our town always say that nobles have very chaotic private lives. Various families are forcibly united by political marriages, so the husbands and wives don't love each other. As long as they can ensure the genes and bloodline of their offspring, nobles will even seek pleasure with servants and vagrants," Raynor whispered.

"Do you think the Mengsk Family is like that?" Augustus, somewhat displeased.

"Of course not. But the old folks are always right," Raynor said, shaking his head.

While waiting for the elevator, Augustus noticed that the nobles of Tarsonis paid more attention to their family crests and appearance than the nobles of Korhal IV. Every piece of clothing they wore was made of exquisite materials, and no two evening gowns or long dresses were exactly alike. Some of them had children with them, and the children were dressed like princesses or princes.

In this era of rapid technological advancement, the aesthetic sense of the nobility seems to remain stuck in the past.

"Once you get to the top floor, try to speak as little as possible, otherwise those people will think you're ill-mannered," Augustus advised Raynor.

"I'll try to eat as much as I can," Raynor replied.

As Augustus boarded the elevator, a noble family followed them. Augustus spoke politely with the head of the family for a while and learned that they came from the eastern continent of Tarsonis and that their family business mainly operated high-energy gas and oil refineries.

Upon learning that Augustus from Korhal IV, the middle-aged man opposite him with an elegant mustache simply smiled. When Augustus revealed his surname, Mengsk, the man took a couple of small steps back, creating some distance, and gave an awkward smile.

Seeing his appearance, Augustus not surprised, but simply smiled and wished him good health.

The elevator ascended smoothly with a vibration as faint as a mosquito's buzz. As the elevator doors slowly opened, Augustus saw the deep blue sky of Tarsonis and the evening clouds, with glittering shooting stars occasionally streaking across the sky—spaceships entering the atmosphere from geosynchronous orbit.

The dome atop the Tagore Sky Tower is the sky itself, with arched walls carved with flowers, and dining tables made from the now-extinct wood of Taradorn. Shining silverware holds a variety of exotic fruits and French cuisine prepared with expensive ingredients, the rich aromas emanating from the precious spices of Chau Sara.

There were several hundred nobles here. The men dressed much more simply, while the ladies and young women did their best to make themselves the center of attention.

Nearly half an hour before the banquet was to begin, representatives of the minor and middle nobility chatted amongst themselves, while the Old Families sat in their seats like emperors, calmly conversing with their partners or rivals.

As soon as they stepped off the elevator, the nobleman Augustus immediately ran away, as if he were afraid that Augustus might snap his neck at any moment.

Augustus didn't seem to care much; he and Raynor went straight to their seats.

The main character of the banquet, today's birthday celebrant, 140-year-old Andrea Tagore, had not yet arrived. Servants regularly replaced the cups and plates on the table with new ones, even though the guests had not drunk a drop or touched a dish.

Raynor felt a surge of anger, but he restrained himself well. If it were Harnack, he would probably have grabbed a nobleman by the tie and demanded to know why the people of Shiloh were still starving while they were enjoying themselves.

While Augustus awaited the arrival of the main figures at the banquet, several young girls gathered together in the seats of the Old Families suddenly began to whisper among themselves, while the boys cast hostile and jealous glances their way.

Augustus Mengsk, not yet nineteen, was already famous throughout half of the Terran Confederacy. He was touted as a hero, the most outstanding of the current generation of the Old Families. A documentary about Augustus and the Heaven's Devils had been airing for two weeks, and he was idolized by many young people.

There are rumors that UNN Films is even considering making a movie, but the actors might not be the same person, and nobody knows how the screenwriter will write it.

"Jim, look who's that?" But Augustus only saw a burly man in a white tuxedo. "Edmond Duke, and the man next to him is probably his brother."

The tuxedo looked completely out of place on Duke. Despite the designer's best efforts, he still looked more like a strong silverback gorilla than a humble and polite nobleman.

"I knew that bastard would come," Raynor said, glancing at Duke was chatting with another nobleman. "Just watch, I bet he's going to make a fool of himself today."

After a brief commotion, several noble girls from the Old Families rose from their seats and walked toward Augustus.

"Are you Augustus Mengsk, the man who killed a thousand Kel-Morian?" The first to speak was a girl with long, dark brown hair, which, like many girls there, was styled in a high bun rather than loosely.

"I am Augustus Mengsk, but I have not killed that many people," Augustus said, standing up.

"Really?" The noblewoman looked to be no more than seventeen or eighteen years old, wearing a dark blue low-cut evening gown that exposed her shoulders and back. The gown accentuated her shapely hips and breasts, making them quite eye-catching.

"And what about your stories of single-handedly capturing an entire Kel-Morian Labor Auxiliary, shooting down an enemy commander from two thousand yards away, and descending from the sky with the Heaven's Devils to save thousands?"

"We usually call this artistic embellishment and polishing," Augustus said with a smile.

"You must be Clara Annabella Terra, the eldest daughter of the Terra Family. I have long heard of your beauty."

Clara blushed slightly as she addressed him, for she was indeed very beautiful. But Augustus knew that noble ladies of this age, unless truly born with natural beauty, had almost certainly undergone some form of facial laser correction surgery.

"I am Linno de Abbenwells." A noblewoman pushed past Clara, her long, light-gold, wavy hair shimmering like gold in the gradually brightening lights. "Sir, may I invite you to my home?"

"I think so," Augustus was about to agree when another girl leaned in and said, "The parties at De Alban Wells are always going on, Mr. Augustus, we can take a private yacht to Olsen."

"Oh! Damn it! Why did I have to come to this place?" Raynor grabbed a plate of sliced flatbread strawberries from his plate and chewed them up badly.

Raynor discovered that Augustus's handsome appearance and the cool, aloof demeanor of a soldier were fatally attractive to girls his age. And Augustus always seemed to have a natural talent for winning people over, while Raynor was much less adept at it.

Many of the officers who attended the banquet came from minor noble families, or were not handsome and were older; only Augustus both young and charming.

More noble ladies gathered around Augustus. The bright-eyed, white-toothed young girls, with their musky perfume, kept him busy, and before he knew it, he had accepted many invitations.

When some impatient young noblemen stood up and tried to approach Augustus, he realized that being too popular might not be a good thing.

As he looked at Raynor, the malevolent Heaven's Devils gave him a thumbs-up, but it didn't seem like encouragement.

Just as Lisa Cassidy Augustus, the Heaven's Devils seemed to want Augustus marry a wealthy noblewoman so he could inherit her fortune and thus fund the Revolutionary Army.

very nice.

"Girls, go back to your seats. Clara, you should set a good example." At this moment, a noblewoman in a blue evening gown helped Augustus. Although they seemed to want to say a few more words to Augustus, the girls sighed and returned to their seats.

When Augustus looked at the noblewoman, he noticed a small child hiding behind her wide dress. A little girl with a golden ponytail peeked out from behind her mother's dress, glanced at him with her light green eyes, and then shrank back inside.

"Augustus, heir to the Khammonsk family." Annabella Terra, with her tanned skin and perfect hourglass figure, lingered on Augustus, seemingly quite interested in him.

"After Andrea's birthday party, perhaps we can find a café for a coffee. It'll be just the two of us."

What kind of slang is this?

Augustus, of course, had no idea that Annabella Terra, the matriarch of the Terra Family in her thirties, enjoyed keeping young lovers because such men often offered more exciting and stimulating experiences.

At this moment, little Nova poked her head out again, her cute little nose wrinkling as she revealed a disdainful expression, and a black line seemed to be shrouded her smooth forehead.

When Augustus noticed her, they simply stared at each other.

Beep--

Thanks to Matter Decay, Lin Zhongkong, Qi Xingping, Four Seasons' Expression, Qi Xingping, eleldtir, Book Friend 20171120192334209, and Fruit Encyclopedia for their monthly tickets!