"I… I am sorry for acting on impulse, Tuan Aag. The days inside that ruined city were a bit stressful for me. Plus, we were all sent there to fight against each other. I hope we can look past our initial conflict and stay as acquaintances."
Lily offered a friendly handshake to Tuan which the latter accepted quickly while greeting her with a mild smile. Tonight was banquet night for all the Top 10 placeholders. It was meant to congratulate the contestants that had stayed till the last day of the tournament.
All the city officials, a few members of the Titus family, and some merchant families were invited to the event. It was hosted at a lavish restaurant's open terrace that was located in the heart of the city of Arangar.
Tuan Aag was seen to be in formals. He had worn a simple white-colored shirt and navy-blue pants. There was a runic detail of Fire Wings on the shirt below his left shoulder, near the heart. It would illuminate with fire-element mana from time to time. One had to say that the butcher was well-dressed for the occasion.
Lily had worn a black colored dress that accentuated her pear-shaped body. Her dress would sometimes reflect the chandelier light falling on it strangely, making it as if Lily's body had become one with the night's darkness. Tuan could tell that every outfit that was sent to contestants' rooms was given a personal touch according to each ranker.
Tuan shook hands with Lily and pressed them firmly before responding.
"Indeed, Miss Lily. We fought together as one raid team after our quarrel. I also like to apologize to you for being heavy-handed on your ass… as I was saying… Err… sorry for "that" hit. Please know that it was in the heat of the battle.
Even though that was not on the best of terms, I'd like to call you, Ketsu, and Wilder my allies outside the competition as well. And I hope we see each other again even after this banquet as allies."
Lily's cheeks had a tinge of red when she heard Tuan talking about slapping her ass. She could still feel Tuan's palms on her butt cheeks as if the slap had just been delivered.
With the residual effects of Tuan's immature soul sense and Sins series ability fusion still lingering on her, she couldn't help but get more involved in Tuan and his affairs as she talked with him.
Lily also wondered how a dreadful man like Tuan whom she had come to know in the previous week could talk so casually like a completely different person. She was curious about Tuan's next plans. So she didn't shy away from asking him.
"What would you do with all that money, Tuan?"
'Bunch of monster girls, elven ales, and Sativa sticks!'
Layla spoke in Eren's mind as if answering Lily's question in his stead.
She had come to him through her pendant adobe after he stepped out of the subspace.
Tuan could be seen having a stiff face all of a sudden with a vein on his forehead threatening to pop out. Lily wondered if she had asked him something very personal.
"Tuan, I asked out of curiosity. If you are not comfortable…"
Lily tried to ease the matter. But Tuan's response came soon after.
"Hehehe… I just remembered something that I had forgotten to do. There's this brat that I want to beat up. But they keep disappearing on me from time to time."
The butcher spoke and left everyone listening to him puzzled. He smiled awkwardly and coughed to clear his throat before speaking again.
"I don't mind answering your question, Lily. I owe this money to one of my trusted friends named Eren Idril. He is starting a guild. So he could use this money to lay a better foundation.
Eren is an honest man and an exceptional ranker. And I see him becoming a very successful leader in the future.
Both Katalina and I will be joining that guild. That's why we decided to cooperate after knowing that we both would be joining the same guild."
Katalina joined Tuan just as he finished explaining. She found it difficult to suppress her laugh that threatened to slip out of her pursed lips when she heard the butcher tooting his own horn.
She had worn a slip dress with frill details at the bottom. Her seductive curves as well as her captivating stride made Tuan excited about the night following his banquet.
Lily looked at Katalina to confirm Tuan's claim. By that time, Kat had gotten better control over her emotions and maintained a stoic face. She nodded affirmatively at Lily while handing Tuan a drink that she had brought along with her own.
"Tuan, you are joining a guild? I mean with your reputation now, you can join almost any guild that you see fit. Hahaha!"
Wilder spoke out loud while patting Tuan's shoulder. Apparently, he heard his conversation with Lily and walked right in between their conversation.
The rest of the rankers got curious after hearing Wilder and started walking toward Tuan. The latter smiled cunningly before responding.
"Oh, I'll not be joining any well-established guilds, Wilder. They are too rigid and don't care enough about us low-level rankers. Even the most friendly guilds will fail to provide fast growth for low-level rankers.
The most popular names are only centered around providing high-ranking entities with the resources they need. I'm not ready to invest my time and work in a place where it only benefits others for the most part."
Eren looked at the growing audience that was gathering around him. He took a short pause and took a small gulp from his wine glass before speaking up.
"Therefore, I'll be joining my friend Eren's guild, the White Raven Guild. This guild will be a game-changer in Edinburgh's history, I'm telling you. Hehehe! Remember its name well. Soon this name will make the headlines in Edinburgh. You guys can come and contact me if you want to join when that time comes. Hehe!"
The butcher started praising the guild and the guild creator, AKA himself, with his glib tongue. When he was done, his audience started asking him various things about the guild, which allowed him to talk about the guild's base of operation and its field of expertise.
A lot of rankers and merchants had come to realize that White Raven was just a freshly established guild. On paper, it didn't matter much. Some merchants also contacted their information sources on the spot and came to know that the guild only had one asset that was deader than the dead in terms of monetary gains.
Yet, since it was Tuan Aag, the champion of this year's tournament speaking about it, the listeners decided to make a note of the White Raven guild. They would at least check it out in a few days, if there was anything to check out that is.
'Self-promotion at its finest. Do you feel no shame in blowing your own trumpet, Eren?'
Layla spoke again. Tuan wasn't angry at the criticism made by someone who he considered to be a cheeky brat frozen in time. He chuckled before replying to her as he was busy talking with other rankers, merchants, and contestants.
'Nobody would promote my guild for me, Layla. And it needs promotion. Badly at that. So I got to improvise.
This is business.'
The appointment with the Derringers was drawing close. The butcher was doing everything in his capacity to ensure that his newfound guild gets the start he wanted it to have.
********************
"Well played, Tuan."
The audience near Tuan stopped speaking when they heard a known mana-imbued voice. They looked at the approaching figure and started gossiping on their own.
"If I stay in second place, I'll give you all of the Extols I would win."
A chuckle was heard made by the same voice when it spoke the sentence as if it wasn't it's own.
"That was the deception-of-the-year statement for me. Deceptive… but good."
Tuan also recognized the voice that came from behind him when he was busy talking with Bianka. The latter had also come to congratulate him as well as know more about the White Raven guild he had talked so much about. He looked back and saw Drin Dawn approaching him with a wine glass in his hands and a smile on his face.
Tuan chuckled when Drin reminded him how he had set him up. Drin came to realize that Tuan had no intention of paying him any extols now that he understood the meaning behind his condition. But Drin wasn't someone who couldn't move on from things that had happened in the past. He and Tuan talked about various things, especially about the quasi-Ogre Overload.
Tuan invited him to check out the White Raven guild in the future as well as they talked. The latter looked hesitant at first. But when the butcher was done explaining things to him, Drin was convinced that he needed to find start-up guilds like these for his own growth.
The butcher had lit a fire of curiosity in the minds of every ranker, contestant, and merchant contact he had met at the banquet. After all, a brand-new guild like White Raven could use the talents he encountered on the night of the banquet.
