Delorchelap was left twitching on the ground. Blood, flesh, and teeth covered the ground as everyone held their breath. A few of the young bourgeois friends came over to try and help their fellow, but there wasn’t much that they could do. Xiaolie’s hit hadn't just broken or dislocated his lower jaw. It had blown it right off. It just wasn’t there anymore, and no amount of puzzle mastery would allow anyone to put it back together.
“Are you crazy?!”
One of them shouted in a stark disregard for his own safety... But before the back of his throat was introduced to Xiaolie’s shoe, the event organiser walked into the room.
He definitely looked more proper than his guests. It was likely that he stood in a spot where the big players didn’t care about him at all, but also a spot where those lesser than him would gather in droves to lick his boots.
It was a rather unfortunate position to be in, especially if one actually had ambition and wasn’t content to remain where they were.
“By the gods, what happened he–”
His look of concern disappeared as if it had never been there before, and he made a beeline straight at the group.
Delorchelap’s friends stood up.
“Sir, this maniac-”
The organiser pushed them out of the way, shoving his gloved palms into their faces as he stepped right on top of Delorchelap without a care in the world.
“Lady Anoteros! It is such a pleasure to see you here!”
He carefully shook Fanqia’s hand, greeting everyone present like they were his own family, even Xiaolie. Despite the fact that he knew very well that she was a maid and not a wife, he didn’t care. No one of great status had ever bothered to even send a servant before. He was over the moon.
He was dressed in a three-piece suit and even wore a top hat.
“I am Indoramus, and I am ecstatic to have guests of such status at one of my small parties”
Indoramus was a lanky man. He stood at one meter and eighty centimeters in height, with a refined moustache and a smile that wouldn’t fade away. He tipped his hat at Edrick’s wives. Although the man himself wasn’t here, any form of attention from someone of such status was warmly welcome.
“It is a pleasure to meet you, Mister Indoramus. As you know, I am Fanqia, Lord Anoteros’s first wife. He unfortunately couldn’t make it due to the visit of Mister Chang Sheng”
“Of course! The future sword saint is otherwise more important than this little event!”
Only then did he turn around to take another look at Delorchelap.
“Aherm, might someone clean this up?”
“S-Sir… He was attacked in broad daylight?”
“Nobody cares. He got what was coming for him. And even if he didn’t, do you feel like making a complaint to the Anoteros residence? Headed by Edrick Lucien Anoteros, rising star of the Elt clan and successful entrepreneur, huh?”
“No? That’s what I thought. Drag him out of here!”
He shooed them away as workers of his came to dispose of the bits and pieces of Delorchelap’s lower jaw.
Indoramus soon clapped his hands, prompting things to return to a semblance of normality, although the rest of the guests were now quite nervous. Delorchelap’s action had been foolish. He should have known that a Foppoof that is neither worried about being known as one, and unbothered about mentioning a husband, would be someone that shouldn’t be messed with… Not only was it an obvious sign that the husband in question was a big fish, but in Leynlornd, there was only one person who was open about his affection for Foppoofs… And it was a man from the Elt clan.
Even if not everyone knew who Edrick was or what he was all about, they at least knew that he was an Elt, and that alone was enough for most to want to keep their distance.
For the merchants in the room, it was another story entirely, though. Merchant circles were places where information travelled quickly. Many merchants were already well aware of Edrick’s successful opening of his shop ‘Eltysia’s Coffer’.
An Elt who got into business matters was a bad sign, but an Elt successfully getting into business matters? It was truly something to worry about. As such, once everyone realised the identity of the group. There were only a few reactions…
Either they decided to act none the wiser and ignore the potential threat to their well-being, or they decided to respectfully approach. Either in an attempt to appease the threat, or in a bold attempt to form some connection to Edrick through his wives.
For merchants, the last option was far more preferable. They didn’t know if Anoteros would expand his business ventures or not, but they knew that if he decided to do so, it could easily spell their doom. Eltysia’s Coffer had taken the market by storm, and it was only Edrick’s goodwill that had prevented many businesses overlapping with his from going bankrupt.
All sorts of people showed up to speak with the wives. Naturally, they all headed for Fanqia as she was the matriarch, but as the talking got started, not everyone could join the conversation, so they instead tried to initiate with some of the other wives.
Luxuli could run her mouth for hours, but she wasn’t actually saying anything of substance. Her small talk and gossiping were top-notch, however, which ended up luring over a lot of other women.
The demoness was quite pleased that no one seemed to care about the fact that she was a demon, so she spoke to her heart’s content.
Usually, she would speak endlessly like this, following a one-on-one session with her husband. As rough as he may seem, Edrick was an excellent listener and was capable of enduring a barrage of meaningless words for hours on end.
Although people were a bit scared of Linmin–On account that Xiaolie had been swift to act upon perceiving an insult–Quite a few people ended up talking to him. As a former personal servant, Linmin actually knew his way around this sort of event, as it had been part of his training.
He didn’t have much to say business-wise, but he was happy discussing certain rare ingredients that he had grown familiar with from his ventures to become a proper spirit chef.
Hui and Haoyu were far less comfortable in this environment, and unless they were engaged on topics they were obsessed with, they couldn’t hold a proper conversation without making things exceptionally awkward.
Thankfully for them, Yin had their back and joined in, which helped smooth things out.
Nonetheless, there was no one more determined to actually make a connection than Indoramus himself. He had been organising parties such as this one without stop, trying to get anyone of great status to come, to no avail. He didn’t even like parties. He would much rather keep to himself and handle business matters, but he knew that if he wanted to actually expand his various businesses, he would need the assistance of someone with actual influence and means.
So, he went and spoke to the one person everyone else seemed to be avoiding…
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