Just as she promised, there was a long table that provided a sumptuous buffet. I was quite enamored in particular with the seafood, and I grabbed a huge plate of c.o.c.kles, mussels, shrimps, lobster and crab parts, and sas.h.i.+mi. Yay! They even served raw salmon! I missed that!

"Are you seriously treating this like an all-you-can-eat buffet?" Harrison commented dryly when he saw the amount of food on my plate. I shrugged.

"I guess?"

"Have some dignity, dude." Harrison was burying his face in his palm. "You do realize we're here to represent our school?"

"Yeah, but that doesn't mean we can't eat. Or all the food here will go to waste. You want some?" I offered him some of my food, and Harrison raised an eyebrow. I realized that it wasn't very polite to offer him my plate of half-eaten stuff, so I withdrew it and gestured toward the table. "There's still quite a lot there. And they are really delicious."

Harrison sighed and shook his head. "Yeah, I'll have some."

"Don't let the food go to waste!" Theodore lumbered over, his plate having twice the amount of food that I had. The guy was bigger than me and so it was natural that he had a larger appet.i.te. "They are really good!"

"You guys…" Harrison tried not to roll his eyes, but he relented. As he scooped moderate amounts of food into his plate, he glanced at us. Dong Fang Yue Chu, Lily, Craig, Sheila, Theodore and I were all gathered together and eating almost side by side. Pearl was off somewhere, speaking to one of the girls from another school while Cody Crosby was nowhere to be seen. Well, he was an a.s.sa.s.sin, so he was always hiding somewhere, his presence concealed.

There was no need to mention Bu Fan. He hated my guts and looked down on the rest of us, and therefore refused to be caught dead in our company. Too bad Zhang Hou Zi wasn't with him, but other than his bro, Bu Fan was a lone wolf anyway. I rarely saw him with any other guys other than Zhang Hou Zi. In contrast, he was always surrounded by girls by some unknown reason. I bet it was the harem protagonist aura or pheromones that drew them to him.

"You do realize that the whole purpose of this party is to socialize and expand your network, right?" Harrison continued, almost unable to hide his annoyance. "How are you going to do that if you guys just hang out with each other?"

We all exchanged a glance, and then shrugged in unison. Say what you will, but our team was pretty synchronized and coordinated.

"Do you have to greet the elders later?" Lily asked. "I heard that all the team captains have to go to the main hall to greet the elders of Vermillion City."

"And where are the arrogant young masters and elites looking down on our third-rate school?" Dong Fan Yue Chu added, looking around. "I was half-expecting a vice-captain from another academy to approach us and make fun of us or something."

"Why would they do that?" Craig demanded, annoyed. "See if they dare, I'll cut their tongue out."

I sighed heavily. "Do you guys think this is some Chinese cultivation or fantasy magic novel or something? Do you really think people will just come and provoke us and hate on us for no reason other than because we are the main characters, and despite all evidence to the contrary, they continue to judge us as trash for some unfathomable reason? You think people just walk up and scorn random strangers for no reason other than to provoke conflict for the sake of advancing the plot and having antagonists?"

Everyone stared at me. "I have no idea what you just said," Sheila said.

"Never mind." I waved dismissively. "At least we didn't receive a random challenge from some vice-captain from some random school who is mocking us for no reason other than because we are the main characters."

"…huh?"

"Stop breaking the fourth wall," Craig complained. "Not all of us have read Battle Frenzy. And I don't plan to read it either."

"Returning to Lily's question…" Harrison dragged us back to reality. "No, we are not going to any main hall. The elders will be coming here and joining the buffet. They probably want to have a good look at all the students, not just the team captains."

As if on cue, there was a furor at the entrance, and a group of people trickled in. Middle-aged adults, accompanied by entourages of bodyguards and the like. The world of the rich – once again, I was reminded of the engagement party I attended. The one organized by Lionel Stuart and which ended in quite the disaster. The middle-aged adults in the middle were led to seats and tables at the far end of the main hall that the students were populated, and served gla.s.ses of wine and other finger food. It wasn't just middle-aged men, but young men and women in their twenties and early thirties, mingling with the students and speaking to them. A few of them raised their gla.s.ses of wine to a toast, and chuckled as they conversed.

"Good evening, everybody."

Dressed in a lovely lavender velvet evening gown, Lilith stood in the middle of the main hall, drawing everyone's attention to her. Her figure was spectacular, and more than enough reason for the guys to ogle her, while the girls whispered enviously to each other, admiring her style. Unaffected by the combined gazes of everyone in the main hall, Lilith continued.

"The ladies and gentlemen from the Cyan family, the Lavender family, and the Maroon family have always supported the Porter Clan as the main pillars of Vermillion City. Everyone, please introduce yourselves. I hope that after this evening, you'll all get to know each other a little more."

In other words, she was telling us to socialize with the elites of Vermillion City.

Several of the adults, seated in couches and sipping their wine, offered encouraging smiles and put on friendly expressions. One of them waved at us in a welcoming manner.

"I'm so heartened to see such a gathering of so many young, talented people in one place!"

"You can relax. Don't mind our ages, please come to talk to us freely. We prefer it that way."

"Yeah, let's dispense with formality and get to know each other!"

The students whispered among themselves, but more than a few of them had already begun their approach. Even though these families weren't among the top Ten Great Families of the Federation, they were still pretty renowned and wealthy, and persuading them to invest in one's talent and future was the goal of many of the students here.

"Better get started." Harrison sighed and wandered toward one of the adults, probably to pay his greetings. I bade him farewell. Honestly, I couldn't care less about this nonsense. I wasn't interested in sponsors.h.i.+ps or backing, not when I wanted to be a mercenary. If I was really that desperate, I would rather join Feng Hai and his Silver Wolves, though ideally I would just tag along with Dad on his missions once I graduated from university and received my actual combat mage license.

Quite frankly, there was no reason for me to socialize with these guys, and they most likely were not interested in funding mercenary missions and guilds. They were here to…probably employ future bodyguards or representatives for their clans in big-money tournaments. Nothing to do with actual combat. Perhaps some of them funded paramilitary organizations, but if that was the case I might as well join the Federation military.

Good thing I could just leave this socializing nonsense to Harrison. I decided to continue eating.

"Oh hey…Richie! So you really did come!"

Unfortunately, while I didn't want to socialize with the old fogeys, the same couldn't be said of the other party. Fortunately, the voice belonged to someone I was really familiar with.

"Uncle Glen! You're actually here?"

My jaw dropped when Glen Porter wandered over to the buffet table where my team and I had gathered. Harrison froze in the middle of his walk, then he slowly did a 180 degree and discreetly rejoined us.

"Who…?" Dong Fang Yue Chu blurted out. Lily, Craig and the rest looked just as puzzled, but Harrison elbowed him.

"He's Glen Porter! The Divine Tiger of Vermillion City! The son of Princ.i.p.al Henry Porter, the current head of the Porter Clan!"

"…oh."

"Why do you know such a big shot?" Craig hissed into my ear before Theodore shoved him aside, to maintain some modic.u.m of politeness.

"Excuse our rudeness," the big guy apologized to Uncle Glen, who didn't look at all bothered. Instead, he chuckled.

"Ha ha! Don't worry about it!" Uncle Glen waved Theodore's apology away, and then turned back to me with a grin. "Your friends?"

"Yeah. We're all from Jing Tian Academy."

"I see, I see. I'm glad that you have a lot of friends." He chuckled. "I was worried that you will take after your dad and become some sort of edgy lone wolf who wants to hide his strength for some reason even though his harem…I mean, female subordinates were getting beaten up."

"Don't mistake my dad for Ichinose Guren, and this isn't some side-story for Owari no Seraph."

"I know, I know. Anyway, I hope you're enjoying yourself. My daughter worked hard to organize this." he then ducked his head behind a waiter who was carrying a tray of gla.s.ses filled with wine. "Don't tell her I'm here. She'll probably get mad."

"Huh? I'm sure she already knows you're here."

"…eh?"

Uncle Glen froze for a moment, and then slowly turned around. His daughter was glaring at him, and I could literally see an inferno rage behind her.

"DAD~"

"Ugh! Um…I mean, greetings, my dear daughter…?"

"WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE?!"

Realizing that everyone was staring at her, Lilith then coughed and cleared her throat before regaining her dignified posture. Plastering a scary smile that would have frozen over the fires of h.e.l.l, she strode toward her dad.

"Dad, I thought you weren't coming today? Where's Mom? Weren't you both supposed to attend the festivities at Southampton City today?"

"Your mom can handle all that on her own, you know that."

"You abandoned Mom and left everything to her again?!" Lilith seethed as she buried her pretty face into her palm. "Good lord…you…"

Fortunately, before she could explode, her father was saved from her wrath when Riley hurried over.

"Captain! Big news!" before she could turn her rage upon him, he hastily added. "Princ.i.p.al Porter is here!"

That caught the attention of every middle-aged elite in the main hall, many of them hopping to their feet in shock.

"What?!"

"What's he doing here?!"

"The head of the Porter Clan is…?"

The majestic figure of Henry Porter strolled through the huge entrance. He was dressed in flowing vermillion robes, with the crest of the phoenix emblazoned across his chest. His expression grave, he strode forward in a straight line, even as Lilith hastily approached him.

"Grandpa, why didn't you tell me that you were coming?" she was practically flailing about frantically. "I could have arranged for people to receive you!"

"Why is her treatment of her grandfather so different from the way she treats you, Uncle Glen?" I whispered to her dad, who was blue in the face.

"Uh…because my father is the clan head?"

"And you're the deputy clan head."

"I don't know. I think little Lilith respects her grandfather more than me." Uncle Glen chuckled sheepishly, and then shrank back when Henry Porter glanced in his direction. "Am I in trouble?"

"Don't worry about it, little Lilith," Princ.i.p.al Porter a.s.sured her. "I wasn't actually planning on coming to be honest. It's just that…an interesting person showed up in your party, and I wanted to speak to him."

Lilith cast a glare at her father, no doubt discerning that he was her grandfather's target. "Listen, Grandpa! Dad is at it again! He abandoned Mom to attend the Festivities of Blades at Southampton City by herself, and sneaked into this party without telling me!"

"I see." Princ.i.p.al Porter's tone remained indifferent. "Well, your mother should be able to handle the Festivities of Blades by herself. I'm sure she'll be delighted to see her friends again after such a long time. She'll probably have some sort of Ladies' Night with them after the festivities."

Lilith's jaw dropped when she heard her grandfather dismiss her father's mischief just like that. She closed her mouth and tried to say something, but words just wouldn't form.

Princ.i.p.al Porter didn't wait for her to gather her thoughts and construct a coherent protest. Instead, he smiled. "Little Lilith, I'm sure there's someone named Richard Huang among the people who are attending your party today?"

A bead of perspiration ran down Lilith's cheek as she clearly wondered what I did this time. She tried to remain calm.

"Grandpa, is there some sort of misunderstanding?"

"Are you looking for me, sir?" I asked as I raised my hand. I had no choice. Uncle Glen was about to give me away, and he was already pointing at me. Fortunately, I cut him off before he could call his father's attention toward me. "I'm Richard Huang."

He nodded and approached me.

"The things on the library's holographic bulletin board…were you the one who wrote them?"

"What things?" I asked innocently.

"The short essay on how s.h.i.+ntoism and Buddhism weren't regarded as two separate religions before the nineteenth century, and were only inst.i.tutionalized as such after the modernized j.a.panese government sought to build a new national and cultural ident.i.ty in the face of the colonial threat from the West?"

"Oh, yeah. That was me." I scratched my head sheepishly. "Sorry about that. I got too carried away."

"I knew it! When you gave that answer during my lecture today, I suspected that you were the one!" the volume of Princ.i.p.al Porter's tone was rising. Behind him, Lilith paled considerably and shuddered from dread.

"WTF?! Did he scribble on Grandpa's research?!"

Princ.i.p.al Porter's hands were shaking as he placed them on my shoulder.

"Impressive! I want to know what your basis for that argument is! Do you mind following me for a bit? I want to discuss with you regarding this subject…if what you say has some firm basis, then it might revolutionize the field of history!"

"Surely you exaggerate." I was raising an eyebrow and wondering what the h.e.l.l happened to the field of history over a thousand years. "The arguments I made were already pioneered by historians in the early twenty-first century. In fact, already in the late twentieth century, a few scholars have already recognized the distinction between modern religion and premodern religion, and pointed out how religion as a concept was a modern, Western invention, and might not be applicable…"

"Fascinating! I would like to hear of these scholars you speak of!"

"Uh, Harry Harootunian is one of them…"

"Come with me!" Princ.i.p.al Porter was practically pus.h.i.+ng me toward some random direction and leading me from the party.

"Uh…Dad? What do you plan on doing with Richie?"

"Grandpa? What exactly is happening?"

Both Uncle Glen and Lilith were gaping at Princ.i.p.al Porter, completely flabbergasted by his reaction.

"History research," Princ.i.p.al Porter replied dismissively. "Academic stuff. I don't think anyone else will be interested." He then slightly pushed me. "Richard, let's discuss this in my study and see if we can dig up these ancient scholars you speak of."

The elites of Vermillion City and the students watched us go, and then Uncle Glen cheerfully clapped to break the tension.

"Seems like my father needs to discuss something with Richie, so the rest of you, continue partying! There's still a lot of food left, help yourself!"

"DAD! I'm the one who ordered the food!"

"Ha ha!" Uncle Glen chuckled, ignoring her and turning back to my friends who were still reeling from the unexpected turn of events. "Well…Shun Yin always said that Richie was a big fan of history and folklore. It's a pity, but even though I've visited Richie and his dad so many times over the last few years, I can't say I know him very well. Do you guys mind telling me how he's like at school?"

"Uh…he's…a nice guy?" Dong Fang Yue Chu offered uncertainly.

Lilith could only shake her head, but her father gestured for her to join in.

"Come on, Lilith dear, you might want to hear about Richie too!"

"Why would I?!"

"Well…" Uncle Glen glanced in the direction of his father's study and grinned mischievously. "From the way your grandpa is acting, I wouldn't be surprised if he asks you to marry him eventually!"