บท 122: Gala
"There are some delicacies, that while unbelievable tasty, cannot be eaten by normal persons. Because they contain a form of energy that can only be absorbed by mages and is damaging if not absorbed, they are restricted to mages.", she explained to him.
She then continued towards the servant, "We both are."
The women gave them two small stickers in response, "Please wear them at your clothes if you want to enjoy the special dishes. Only if they are visible will the waiter allow you to order them.", she then explained to them.
Lara already knew about it, so she just nodded and Ivan followed her example.
They then entered the hall. The hall was mainly filled with small tables surrounded by a few chairs, where the guests each had their own place. When they entered, a group of people close to the entrance turned towards them. When they saw who had entered, a look of surprise appeared on their faces and a group consisting of three pairs came towards them.
"Madam von Berg, I didn't expect you to come.", an elderly man greeted them. The woman beside him was elderly as well, but she still kept some of her good looks. Together with their aura, it made the two of them look very imposing.
"Lord and Lady von Deldor, It is nice to see you again.", Lara first greeted him, before explaining, "It's not like I didn't want to come, but since you made it compulsory to have a partner, I was just unable to."
"Oh, so this gentleman must be your husband?", Lady von Deldor asked while letting her eyes sweep over Ivan. "He looks like a fine guy."
"Yes, this is Ivan, my husband.", Lara introduced him. Their conversation had a joking undertone, indicating that they knew each other quite well.
"Then from now on, you have to come to all our parties.", the Lady told her with a seemingly stern tone.
"Of course, of course, how would I dare to reject your invitations, now that I don't have an excuse anymore?"
This time the Lady had to giggle slightly. She then came over and wrapped her arm around Lara's shoulder.
"You know, I really envy you. Back then we went to the same class but now look at us. You are still looking as young as before, while I have gotten this old already.", although her words seemed to indicate unhappiness, there was nothing like this in her tone. Instead, it was full of mirth. Clearly enjoying complaining to Lara.
Ivan was surprised at the information he had gotten from her speech. Although he knew that Lara should be older than she looked, he hadn't expected the difference to be this big.
Lara looked a bit dejected at it, but the Lady didn't seem to mind. "Don't look like this. It's just the way it is. Those that can train will get stronger and live longer and those that can't live their lives to the fullest in the time they have."
These words reminded Ivan of something he hadn't thought about before. With an increase of strength, life expectancy would increase as well, so those who would be stronger would have to experience the others to slowly die, while they survived. Luckily for him, those around him were all able to train and had considerable talent. So they would live a long time too.
They chatted a bit more and the other two pairs were introduced as well. They consisted of the children of the Von Deldor as well as their spouses. All of them were a friendly bunch, making it easy to communicate with them.
"Sorry, but we have to greet the other guests too.", the Lady said to Lara when another group of guests entered the hall.
"Of course. Go do your job. I'm sure there will be some more time to chat later. And if not just give me a call and we can meet. I really miss our meetings back then."
"Sure, I will call.", with these words, they left to greet the new guests.
"Let's go to our seats. After that, we can then go around and greet a few others.", Lara said, before leading them to one of the tables.
At the table, there were already four people seated. Who enthusiastically greeted Lara, when she came closer.
"Hey, sis. I really didn't expect to see you here.", this came from the guy at the left side.
"Yeah, it is the first time I have seen you come to a party like this.", the woman from the other pair said as well.
"Well sister, isn't it just so she can show off her man?", the man asked in a joking tone.
"Oh, so it is like this.", the woman answered as if it was a great truth.
"The two of you stop messing around.", Lara hurriedly intervened, before the two could continue on and embarrass her even more.
"Alright, Alright.", the man hurriedly placated her. He then offered Ivan his hand. "Hi, I'm Lara's brother Key. It is nice to meet you."
Ivan shook his hand and introduced himself as well. The others seemed to already know of him since neither of them showed any surprise.
"Hi, I'm Lara's elder sister Tess and this is my husband Oleg.", the woman introduced herself after that and shook hands with him as well.
"And who is that besides you?", Lara asked her brother curiously.
"Right, you haven't met yet.", Key looked ashamed that he had forgotten to introduce his companion, who only smiled softly.
"Hello, I'm Yevina. And I'm this dork's fiance.", she then introduced herself, directly calling Key a dork. This elicited a burst of hearty laughter from Tess.
"Hey, how can you call your future husband a dork?", Key asked angrily.
Yevina looked at him innocently. "Why not? You are a dork after all."
"Damn.", Key could only curse but was unable to answer. This clearly showed the power in their family. Once again eliciting a burst of laughter from the others.
"Haha, I would have never expected that my brother would have such a day sometimes.", Lara exclaimed while laughing. "I really like it. Keep up the good work."
"You....", Key cursed angrily, but a sharp glare from his fiance shut him up.
Tess took pity in him and changed the topic, "So how are the two of you? Since you appear together here, it must be going quite well?", she asked Lara while giving her an obvious wink.
"It's going great.", Lara answered while a smile appeared on her face.
"That's good. I feared that there would be some problems after you have met again."
"Oh there were some, but him having lost his memory has made it much easier."
They continued chatting until the host appeared on the stage.
"Welcome, everyone to this gala by the Deldor Company. We are glad that all of you have come.
This year, not only is this gala the annually biggest meet of the most important people in the economic world of the capital, but also the platform for an important announcement of the Deldor Company."
When he finished his sentence a murmur went through the hall.
"Have you heard anything about this?", Lara asked the other two.
"No, this comes as a surprise to me too.", her brother answered and her sister shook her head, to show that she too didn't know about it.
Luckily, the host didn't let them wait for long as he soon continued on.
"We are happy to announce that together with the Leidra Company, we have decided to open up a new region in the Seven Trail Mountains."
This time his announcement made even bigger waves. To open up a new region, would mean that these two companies would use their power to clear a part of the wilderness and then install shields there to keep the monsters out. It would then be able to found a new town there.
While this might be very profitable if they succeeded and there were no strong monster attacks. If they failed, it would end up as a gigantic hole that could easily make these two companies go broke. Because if their shields failed and they weren't able to keep the monsters at bay, the military would deploy to ensure the safety of the civilians.
Of course, this wouldn't be for free. Not only would they have to pay for the deployment, but they would also lose their rights of management for the region.
All these things result in it being like a gamble.
"Why would they do this?", Keira asked in surprise, "To my knowledge, there is no reason for them to take the risk."
"I'm not sure. From what I know these companies have never made as much profit as during the last quartal.", Key answered.
Before they could continue to speculate the host once again interrupted them.
"I'm sure many are wondering why our companies have decided to take the risk."
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IvanDeSchreck
IvanDeSchreck Sorry for the unannounced break. But here is the next chapter.
Besides that, I have decided to try to increase the release rate. I'm not yet sure but it will either be a chapter each day or a chapter every two days.
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