Chapter 111: The Great Banquet (2)
Moonlight shone through the window, illuminating The Shadow’s face.
Vikir loosened his grip on her throat.
The face beneath the golden-blonde bob was revealed.
CindiWendy. She had come in person when she heard of Vikir’s return.
She winked at Vikir.
“Why don’t you just stick to what you’re doing, you aren’t bad at it.”
“Cut the crap and tell me what you’re here for.”
Vikir slid off of CindiWendy’s body and sat on the edge of the bed.
She rubbed the back of her neck, which had been held so tight just moments before, and smirked.
“Still living without a shoulder. Don’t you ever get bored of going in a straight line like that?”
“Before I slap your ass and kick you out. Quick.”
“Wow, he’s a big boy. Are you sure you’re seventeen? You look like you’re forty…… or fifty.”
She lay on the bed at an angle, raising only her upper body as if she owned it.
She squinted up at Vikir.
“By the way. You sent a minion after me. How did you know where I was?”
“From the way you’ve acted in the past. Going to a crooked capitalist, building up trust by telling him of his wealth, and then stealing it all away.”
“Excuse me. I’m a financial planner, and I get paid for my work.”
A flower girl who had once amassed a great deal of wealth thanks to Vikir’s special laws.
Thanks to Vikir’s protection, which included a bodyguard, she was able to keep her money and lead a safe life.
But it’s not just about keeping the money. She didn’t know how to spend it or what to call it.
CindiWendy took advantage of that and approached the girl to work as a financial planner.
“She is now thriving in her role as a big sister, and I have already given her a sizable sum of money. She would have been conned if it hadn’t been for me; perhaps it’s because she’s so sweet and innocent.”
“I’ve even given her a bodyguard.”
“Bodyguard? Aren’t they just there to protect people? Do they weed out scammers?”
“The bodyguards included financial experts, and I had ordered them to weed out the scammers.”
At that, Cindiwendy looked puzzled.
“Those bodyguards…… didn’t touch anything, so I thought you were completely out of touch with finance. What?”
At her words, Vikir nodded.
“You’re right. I even ordered them to let you get close.”
Vikir had thought that if word got out that the flower girl had ten billion, CindiWendy would be the first to approach her.
That was Vikir’s bait and switch to lure her in, to locate her.
In the end, the 10 billion dollar bait didn’t work out, as Vikir caught her right away at the slave auction, but it did help him locate her later.
After realizing all of this, Cindywendy flopped down on the bed with a dejected look on her face.
“No way. I was wondering how that Chihuahua guy knew where I was and sent a telegram, but I’ve been playing right into your hands the whole time. I’m dumbfounded.”
“Again.”
“……You’re such an as*hole.”
Cindiiwendy grumbled for a moment, then slipped her hand inside her chest.
A wad of crumpled paper emerged from her chest.
She tossed the stack of papers at Vikir.
“These are the materials you asked for.”
“……Hmm. Next time, put it in a folder.”
Vikir opened the paper.
It was a list of people who would be honored at the Great Banquet tomorrow.
“I knew I’d be invited to the great feast after all my hard work. It’s a good thing I did my research beforehand.
It was to Vikir’s credit that CindiWendy had come the night before the Great Banquet.
But.
“But that’s only half of it.”
CindiWendy opened her mouth.
When Vikir looked up, Cindiwendy pointed to her other breast.
“I’ll give you the rest after you pay the information fee.”
“An information fee?”
“Did you think you were going to get it for free?”
At that, Vikir nodded silently.
Then. Vikir pulled something out of his pocket and tossed it to Cindywendi.
…With a pop!
CindiWendy’s eyes widened as she caught it.
What landed in her palm was a white, pointed tooth. It was the fang of an ox bear.
She stared at Vikir in disbelief.
“That’s it? Are you kidding me?”
Of course, an ox bear’s tooth is priceless. They could fetch millions of gold if they were carved into chess pieces.
But if it’s an information fee, it’s too cheap.
CindiWendy was about to complain, but Vikir cut her short.
“There are thousands, tens of thousands more like it.”
“……?”
CindiWendy stopped what she was about to say and pricked up her ears.
Vikir spoke again.
“If you listen to me, you can get a cartload of them every year.”
He was talking about trade with all the natives of the entire jungle, including the Ballak.
Vikir is now a hero to them and to all the natives who live in the Black Mountain.
In such a Vikir-led trade, the natives would gladly give up their antlers, gums, shells, truffles, and other precious forest products.
From the Empire’s point of view, the trade could not be more beneficial, and the Hierarchy or Guild that would oversee this massive trade would be thrilled.
Mega deal.
If the trade actually takes place, it will open up the distribution of luxury goods on a scale never before seen in history.
Fund managers, financial planners, and others would be dazzled.
Especially for the likes of Cindiwendy, a gold-digger, it was an investment she couldn’t pass up.
Her mouth was watering and her eyes were glistening.
With a gleam in her eye, she pulled out the rest of the materials and thrust them in Vikir’s direction.
“Do you think the barbarians will open to trade?”“Of course.”
With the support of all the tribes, Vikir could pull off this megadeal of epic proportions.
It was the seed of a storm that could end the war and create countless other economic phenomena.
And right now, there are only two people who know about it, Vikir and CindiWendy, who had just heard about it.
CindiWendy picked herself up in a polite manner and sat down on her knees with her legs crossed in front of each other, showing Vikir the two documents.
“I guess I’ll have to call you boss from now on.”
“As you wish.”
Vikir didn’t seem to care about the title and went straight to the papers.
First came the first and most curious document.
It was about Pomeranian’s identity.
[Pomeranian La Baskerville]
First granddaughter of Hugo Le Baskervilles, head of the Baskervilles Clan.
Estimated age is 5 years old.
.
.
Vikir’s interpretation was based on what he had heard from Butler Barrymore earlier.
Upon closer examination, Pomeranian proved to be a direct descendant of Hugo.
Hugo had married a woman named Roxana when he was twenty years old.
She had given birth to Penelope La Baskerville while with Hugo and died in battle.
Later, Penelope La Baskerville in an unexplained accident was captured by hunters from the Rokoko tribe.
She gave birth to a daughter, Pomeranian, and died.
“Something is fishy about that accident.”
Vikir thought as he looked at the bottom of the document.
Well, whatever.
Hugo’s first daughter, Penelope, had disappeared about a year before Vikir was born.
Hugo was about forty-one at the time, so the timeline seemed to fit.
The fact that it was true was a relief. Vikir flipped to the of the book.
The next page had details about the official list of people scheduled to attend the dinner tomorrow.
[Hugo le Baskerville]
Rank: Patriarch
Title: Marquis
Title: Swordmaster.
Other: Hugo Le Baskerville has a total of …… children, including direct descendants, illegitimate children, and adopted children outside of his lineage or bloodline.……
(omitted below)
.
.
It’s no surprise that Hugo, the patriarch, is at the top of the list.
It was the next one that mattered.
[Boston Terrier Le Baskerville].
Ranks: Knights of the Pit Bull – Knight Commander, Senator.
Title: Count
Title: Peak Graduator
Other: Half-brother of the Baskerville family patriarch, Hugo Le Baskerville.
Very belligerent and temperamental, hating to be tied down.
.
.
At the Great Banquet, Boston Terrier, the Knight Commander of the Knights of the Pitbull order, is in some way present.
He is one of the elite of the elite, commanding one of the seven Knights of the House of Baskerville and one of the “Seven Counts,” who symbolize the family’s military might.
“For someone who normally dislikes formal and formal occasions like the Great Banquet…… why is he attending?”
Vikir scratched his head and flipped to the next page.
As expected, he sees another unexpected name.
[Great Dane Le Baskerville].
Rank: Knights of the Mastiff Order – Knight Commander, Senator
Title: Count
Title: Graduator Supreme
Other: Half-brother of the Baskerville family patriarch, Hugo Le Baskerville.
He is reserved and reticent, unwilling to pretend to be anything but, and has a particularly bad relationship with Count Boston Terrier.
.
.
Great Dane, leader of the Mastiff Knights, is also officially confirmed to attend the Great Banquet.
He is also one of the Seven Counts, one of the pillars of Baskerville’s military backbone.
They don’t usually attend events within the family, so why are they attending the Great Banquet?
Especially when it’s being hosted by their half-brother, who’s a bit of a pain in the ass to look at.
When Vikir scratched his head, CindiWendy smirked.
“Are you thinking about why they’re coming?”
“Yes.”
“You really don’t know, do you?”
CindiWendy pointed an index finger at Vikir in disbelief.
“It’s because of you, I don’t know why!”
“……?”
Vikir frowned, and Cindywendi explained.
“Normally, the Senators, including the Seventh Count, don’t interfere in the family’s internal affairs, so why would they come to your Great Banquet all at once? They’re coming to see you, the young legend of the Baskerville family who returned alive!”
“Are there others coming?”
“Don’t be alarmed, all seven counts have requested to attend this great banquet.”
Vikir was a little surprised at that.
Seven counts.
Normally, they are rarely seen by the lesser hounds of Baskerville in their entire lives.
But the only two that had managed to make it onto the official list were a Boston Terrier and a Great Dane.
Cindywendi chuckled.
“I heard that all the other Knight-Order leaders were deployed far away, so it would take them a long time to return home. Only Boston Terrier and Great Dane, who were sent out on missions closer to home, were able to make it in time, and even then, they’ll be arriving in a hurry.”“Hmmm. I don’t suppose they’re just curious to see my face.”
“Of course not. They’re here because they want to take you into their order, to set their sights on a future knight, and they’ve heard that other than Boston Terrier and Great Dane, all the other knights are stomping their feet because of the distance.”
The Great Banquet is a rare event that only direct blood relatives can attend, so they can’t send a proxy.
So only two of the seven counts, who were relatively close by, rode through the night in good spirits to return home.
“We’ll see tomorrow. I’ll be bombarded with scouting offers for a while.”
She giggled.
The pinnacle of two orders, the Pit Bull Knights and the Mastiff Knights, are rumored to be at odds with each other.
And with a very tasty piece of meat between them.
Perhaps Boston Terrier or Great Dane, or both, will try to win Vikir over to their order.
But Vikir’s response is short.
” …… I’m not interested in either of them.”
He just hopes it doesn’t come to that.
Vikir read the following documents
At this point, important figures began to appear.
[Osiris Le Baskerville].
Rank: Member of the House of Representatives
Title: Viscount
Title: Peak Graduator.
Other: The eldest son of Hugo Le Baskerville, Currently first in the line of succession.
.
.
The next generation of Baskerville.
A cold, heartless genius. An ultra-elite who’s growing up to be what Hugo once was.
He can already draw six teeth with the tip of his blade, and his swordsmanship is said to be on par with that of the Seven Counts.
Rumor has it that he will soon reach the rank of Swordmaster.
“……Osiris.”
Vikir was silent for a moment.
Before his regression, Vikir had seen Osiris a few times as a child, at a distance.
He was extremely reticent and cold.
He never said hello to anyone, not even his own siblings, let alone those of his direct lineage.
But it wasn’t as if he had brothers who could speak to him before his overwhelming skill and charisma.
So he was always alone. A solitary, tortured genius.
Cindiwendy looked at him and said.
“Aside from the Patriarch and the Seven Counts, he must be the strongest in the Baskerville Family, right?”
“…….”
“No, maybe you’re more……?”
Sindiwendi sneakily tried to gauge Vikir’s combat strength.
Vikir shrugged it off and turned the page.
[Seth Le Baskerville]
Rank: Underdog City Magistrate – Councilor
Title: Viscount
Rank: Mid-Tier Graduator.
Other: Second son of Hugo Les Baskervilles, the patriarch of House Baskerville. Currently second in line of succession.
.
.
The next presence was one that was still vivid in Vikir’s memory.
Seth Baskerville.
His talent for swordsmanship was far inferior to his older brother’s, and he had been particularly sickly from an early age.
So even when his brother Osiris was knighted for his prowess in battle against demons, he was only given the honorary title of Viscount.
His personality was unusually gentle and affectionate for a Baskerville, but this only made him appear weak and withdrawn to Hugo.
Hugo was especially cold and strict with his second son, Set.
Set, however, never lost his gentle nature.
He was the only one in the family to shed a tear for the hounds dying like garbage.
Vikir had seen Seth lay chrysanthemums at the memorial more than once.
“Hmph. I heard you were in training for the closing ceremony…… but you must have stepped out to attend the great banquet.”
Vikir flipped through the information.
As he read slowly, his expression became more and more expressionless.
Then.
Vikir spotted a familiar name at the bottom of the document.
[Highbro Le Baskerville]
Rank: Academy Candidate
Title: Young Master (Shadow)
Rank: Sword Expert Advanced
Other: Direct descendant of Hugo Le Baskerville.
.
.
[Midbro Le Baskerville]
Rank: Academy Candidate
Title: Young Master (Shadow)
Rank: Sword Expert Advanced
Other: Direct descendant of Hugo Le Baskerville.
.
.
[Lowbro Le Baskerville]
Rank: Academy Candidate
Title: Young Master (Shadow)
Rank: Sword Expert Advanced
Other: Direct descendant of Hugo Les Baskervilles, patriarch of House Baskerville.
.
.
“Another set of unexpected names.”
Vikir closed the file with a dry chuckle.
He was beginning to look forward to tomorrow’s great banquet.