Chapter 92 October 3, 2022
Chapter 92 – Celebration Party (2)
It was a banquet that was being held to celebrate the arrival of Sören’s new professors.
As I entered the banquet hall on time for the appointment, everyone’s gazes flew towards me like arrows as if they had been waiting for me.
‘There are a lot of people, I see.’
I was confused for a moment because all the gazes that were heading toward me were filled with burdensome attention, but I kept my natural expression and headed inside.
More than that, when it came to banquet halls, didn’t they have to perform in order to maintain a delicate atmosphere? Why were they staying still?
‘Has the banquet not started yet?’
With that in mind, I approached one side of the walls and stood while leaning my back against it to see the banquet hall as widely as possible.
In an instant, the stopped time began to flow again.
The people who’d been talking to each other continued their conversations, and someone else rolled their eyes and burst into laughter as they were seemingly having fun.
However, beneath such behavior, there was a lot of pretense that was difficult to hide.
On the contrary, I could even feel the illusion that the pretense was flowing outside and spreading around like a black fog.
‘Everyone is watching someone else, not their conversational partners.’
Most seemed to be watching me especially.
If I said it like that, it might seem like I was a delusional person with an excessive self-consciousness for some reason, but there was no way that I, who was sensitive to such gazes, would not notice it.
Most of the people were squinting or blatantly staring at me.
I was able to fully guess the reason why.
‘It’s called a celebration banquet party, but this banquet hall itself is actually some kind of place to do social networking.’
Sören’s new professor…
It had been proven that the new professors were young and had excellent magical skills, so they must have thought that it would be good to build some relationships, even a little bit.
In the end, as if proving that my expectation wasn’t wrong, the people who had only been staring at each other began to move one by one.
“Oh. Lady Selena. Nice to meet you. My name is Congressman Charles.”
“Are you Professor Merilda? My name is Walt Miller, the director of the potion manufacturing company. Are you probably interested in it?”
“Oh, my gosh. Count Chris Benimore. You’re really handsome, just like the rumors.”
I checked the face of each person who’d gathered in that banquet hall.
They were all rich and glamorous people.
Councilors, noblemen, wealthy businessmen etc.
‘All of them are Sören sponsors, I see.’
Sören needed a huge budget for its operation.
Magic studies, teaching materials, special materials, all kinds of infrastructure, etc.
Considering the cost of raising a wizard, the amount of money that an academy used to foster many elite wizards every year was bound to be astronomical.
Wouldn’t it be enough to make one’s jaw drop just by looking at my first salary as a new professor?
Such a large amount of money was spent only for the monthly salary of a single new professor.
Considering other miscellaneous expenses, it was hard to imagine the detailed amount.
‘It’s hard for Sören to cover that money on its own.’
Sören was not an international bank, and money could not be printed and distributed like a factory there.
In order to spend a huge amount of money, there was inevitably no choice but to receive external support.
And people who are amazingly good at sniffing opportunities are everywhere.
A person who needed money…
People who had a lot of money but wanted to gain something else…
It was that banquet hall where the transactions between both of them were exquisitely interlocked like puzzle pieces and trades between the two bloomed.
‘Sören belongs to the Empire, but its finances are the reason why it doesn’t purely belong to the Empire.’
All kinds of countries were involved in Sören’s investment.
Not only the Exileon Empire, but also Delica, Queoden, Utah, Bretus, Fatima Dynasty, etc.
…Even big capitalists who had no borders and didn’t belong to any countries.
It was no wonder they wanted to make a stamp on the talented people who might gain fame in the future.
That banquet was some kind of annual event that was held every year to the point that nobody even asked why it was helf anymore.
It was a place to make connections under the pretext of celebrating the newly appointed professors.
As I watched their desires wriggling, someone came toward me.
“Nice to meet you. Are you Professor Ludger Chelysie?”
I answered while slightly nodding my head.
“Yes. That’s true.”
“Nice to meet you. My name is Count Deckers, one of Sören’s sponsors.”
I was wondering why they hadn’t been moving, had they been seizing an opportunity?
When Count Deckers first stepped up, the people who had only been taking glances at me began to move one by one.
Because it was hard for the first person to step up, but it was easy to follow that someone.
I wasn’t happy with that.
‘What should I do with this? If I just let them be, all kinds of flies are going to flock here.’
The reason I’d gone there was not just to have a rubbish conversation in a formal way with people whom I had no acquaintance with.
I’d gone there with the thought of finding the First Order of the Black Dawn Society who was hidden in the banquet hall.
The process had to be natural and I didn’t want to be disturbed by anyone, but the plan got tangled up from the start with people sticking to me.
After that happened, I had no choice but to take a bit of a strong action.
“I’m sorry…”
I spoke firmly to Count Deckers, who’d spoke to me after catching a heavy mood.
“I don’t feel like having a conversation with anyone right now.”
“Uh, what?”
“I’m saying that I would be grateful if you could stay away for a while.”
It was a blatant statement that I was unwilling to have him approach me.
As I narrowed my eyes while saying it, Count Deckers gulped and nodded hastily.
“Uh, um. I-I should do that. I’m sorry. I consumed your time uselessly. Ho, hoho!”
I’m glad he was a person who was quick to notice.
And the same went for the people around him.
“Ahehem.”
“Ahem.”
When Count Deckers stepped back, unable to do anything, the people who were watching the atmosphere from the places quite far from him coughed and stepped back as well.
They were obviously people who were lower in rank than Count Deckers.
Since Count Deckers couldn’t say anything, they’d been immediately discouraged, thinking that they wouldn’t even be able to speak to me.
‘I think the first reshuffle is over.’
If there was a problem, I thought it was that there were many people who hadn’t given up yet.
I didn’t know exactly who Count Deckers was, but considering his position, he must have been in the middle ranks among those gathered at the banquet hall.
The fact that there were people who didn’t give up on showing me persistent gazes when such a person had stepped back proved that their rank was naturally higher than his.
‘It’s clear that they are quite bothersome human beings.’
I didn’t welcome such people stepping forward and trying to speak with me.
As I was thinking about how to solve that problem, I saw a woman with pink hair and a pink dress.
Professor Selena…
She was confused by the blatant approach of a young man.
‘Hm. Perhaps…’
I took my back off the wall and walked towards Professor Selena.
Some people saw me moving and looked at me with curious gazes.
I ignored them easily.
Someone plucked up their courage to talk to me in the middle of the way, but I blocked all of their actions with a light hand wave.
“Miss Selena, how about having a drink over there in this nice atmosphere? I know a good place.”
“He-hehehe. I’m sorry. I don’t really like such an unfamiliar place…”
“Ey. Why are you rejecting it? It’s a difficult place for ordinary people to go to, though?”
“N-no well that’s…”
“Stop it.”
When I stepped up and spoke, the person who was teasing Professor Selena looked at me.
“Who is this again?”
He distorted his face with annoyance as he thought he was disturbed.
I stared at him without words and looked at his expression.
‘He’s in his late twenties.’ He wore a garment that looked luxurious along with fancy adornments. He had poor posture as he leaned on one foot and didn’t stand properly. He had defiant eyes that were full of pride.
And I looked at his surroundings…
‘All the guys who were aiming for Professor Selena have stepped back.’
Although she was a commoner, Professor Selena was capable enough to become a professor in Sören at a young age.
Besides, she was a striking beauty and had a good personality, so she must have seemed quite fascinating for those who were looking for connections.
On the contrary, it would be easier to approach her because she was not a noble but a commoner, but there was only one reason why the rest of them stepped back when that young man had stepped forward.
‘It seems like he’s a young master with a pretty high status.’
He was also from such a good family that even the decent small and medium-ranked aristocrats couldn’t chirp at.
But…
That had nothing to do with me.
“It’s bad manners for a woman who’s in trouble.”
“Oh, so who are you to say that?”
At that time, Professor Selena looked back at me as she opened her eyes wide.
“Professor Ludger!”
“Ludger? What? Who is he?”
Even though she’d said my name, he couldn’t recognize me?
When I saw that he sincerely said that and didn’t do it on purpose to sound me out, I was also extremely puzzled.
It was the moment when I was concerned about if I should introduce myself as a newly appointed professor…
Among the crowd, a man who looked old hurriedly approached the man in front of me and whispered something in his ear.
He wore a dress that matched the dress code of this party, but I could feel it…
The man who was whispering to him… He was a wizard.
Apparently, he was telling that man who I was.
“Well. So what?”
However, the man’s reaction far exceeded my expectations.
“Ludger Chelysie? Well, he’s a newly appointed professor, but what does that have to do with me?”
“Th-that’s…”
“Oi. You, Ludger or whatever.”
The man pointed at me and treated me recklessly.
It was so ridiculous that I did not answer him and stared at him while staying still, then he pointed at himself and asked brazenly.
“You don’t know who I am?”
‘Should I know that?’
As I looked blankly at him with that thought, the man sighed as he thought that it was outrageous.
“Ha. Really. It must be because he’s a fallen aristocrat brat, there’s nothing his head can carry. Really.”
At the remark, the faces of the aristocrats who were watching the situation hardened frigidly.
However, some people who knew about that man showed expressions of despair as if they knew that would happen.
If I looked at those reactions, he probably hadn’t had that kind of nasty behavior for only a day or two.
“I’m Ivan Luke, you’ve heard of it, right? You don’t know the name Luke? The Luke Company is a name that even the backstreet beggars have heard of.”
How could I not know that?
I also knew very well about The Luke Company.
The Luke Company that was founded by Theodor Luke was one of the wealthiest major companies in the empire.
The Luke Company had shaken off the influence of its capital across the empire to the extent that it was known to reach out to all sectors of business as long as there was money in that sector.
Obviously, as a businessperson, the name “Luke” could never be taken lightly.
Above all else…
The Luke Company owned Kunst, who’d hosted the upcoming auction.
Knowing that Ivan’s surname was Luke, he was probably the bloodline of Theodor Luke, the founder of The Luke Company.
As I thought that about how that cheap man was the second generation of a conglomerate, I immediately understood the characteristic that he was showing in front of me.
“I’m the director of that place, director. You know that? I’m not one whom a mere fallen aristocrat like you can dare to talk to while looking at me in the eyes like that.”
“…”
“Now that you know it, get lost. I’m only going to let the fact that you disturbed my fun pass this one time….”
It was a bothersome situation.
I’d just been trying to get rid of the fly that was stuck to Professor Selena, and I was trying to get rid of the ants that were stuck to me as well.
My target was the director of the Luke company, of all people.
A bastard who was the second generation of a conglomerate, at that.
I’d messed up with a honeycomb while trying to avoid the flies.
But…
Pull.
Behind my back, Professor Selena’s slender hand that was holding my sleeve was shaking.
If I stepped down from there, that scoundrel would try to forcefully drag Professor Selena again.
…I couldn’t help it.
“Hey. I told you to get lost quickly!”
“I’m sorry.”
I stared at Ivan with unwavering eyes and spoke.
“But Professor Selena has a previous engagement with me first.”
I naturally spit out a lie through my teeth.
“Am I right, Professor Selena>”
“Ah.”
She nodded hastily as she read something in my behavior.
“Y-yes. That’s right.”
Ivan Luke’s face was horribly distorted.
“Hey. Are you kidding me now?”
“Do I look like I’m kidding?”
“What? Hah. This is a funny guy. Hey, whether you’re Sören professor or whatever, who are you to tell me to step back?”
Ivan said so as he strode toward me.
Then he raised his right hand and tried to push my shoulder.
But he was unable to…
—As I grabbed his wrist before he could touch me.
“You… Wh-what are you doing? You won’t let this go?”
“Since you said it like that, I’ll return it the same way.”
I said so while putting more strength into my grip on Ivan’s wrist instead.
“If you said that you were the Luke Company’s director or whatever, did you think I would step back?”
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