Chapter 186

Chapter 187. Politics Under the Name of a Party (3)

“Sephira.”

As the word “Sephira” left Keter’s lips, the Triad exchanged glances. They all had faces that questioned whether they had heard correctly.

Or perhaps Keter had mixed up the names, but there was no room for that.

Garcia, Ruvan, Baydant.

None of those names sounded anything like “Sephira.”

Seeing his brothers’ confused expressions, Keter chuckled and repeated himself.

“This social party, of course, should be hosted by us, the Sephira, who won the tournament, right?”

“Huh?!”

“Umm…!”

“Us? Hosting a party?”

The Triad’s reactions were far from positive. And for good reason—Sephira had never once taken the lead in hosting a party in its hundreds of years of history.

Keter, oblivious to Sephira’s history, had already figured out one thing: the word “party” didn’t suit the Sephira family at all.

“Keter, I really think you might be mistaken this time. A noble’s social party isn’t something you can just decide to do on a whim.”

Anis, seeing that Keter clearly didn’t understand noble society, explained what a social party truly meant.

“A noble’s social party is a battlefield where money and mental fortitude are the weapons. It’s a stage where the host and all the guests flaunt their wealth and assets, and a battleground where they hide daggers in their words to gauge each other’s true intentions. A single misstep can turn you into a pariah or even a traitor among the nobles.”

Mail nodded in agreement and added, “If we host a party poorly and the attendance rate is low, not only will we suffer financial losses, but our family’s reputation will hit rock bottom. Even if many attend, it’s still a problem. If any part of the preparation is lacking, we’ll be buried in high society with no chance of recovery.”

Even Taragon, who would willingly jump into boiling water for Keter, opposed the idea this time.

“Above all, Keter, the party is next month. We only have a month left. Other families have been preparing for this party for at least half a year. The Baydant family might have prepared hastily, but they’re a family that regularly hosts parties, so it’s fine for them. But our Sephira has never hosted a party before. So, isn’t this a bit too difficult?”

“Keter, are we underestimating you again? Do you, by any chance, have deep expertise in hosting parties?”

Anis, who had felt firsthand that nothing was impossible for Keter, asked just in case.

But Keter shook his head.

“Social parties are a first for me too. If it were a massacre party, that’d be different.”

“…Massacre party?”

“The point is, it doesn’t matter if I’ve never hosted a social party before.”

“Hosting a party without any experience…?”

“If you don’t know how to host, just get someone who does to do it.”

“…!”

“So, you’re saying there’s someone who can help us?”

“Wait, even if there is, we only have a month left. Not even a month—if we include the time needed to send out invitations, it’s barely three weeks. And that’s not all. How are we going to get all the supplies for the party? Where will we find the manpower?”

“Brothers, remember this: if something feels impossible, it’s because you lack power and money.”

Keter pulled out a glass panel from his pocket. A Wizard Board, the communication device of mages.

While preparing for the Southern Sword Tournament, Keter had also kept the social party in mind.

If the Southern Sword Tournament was the “leap” announcing Sephira’s revival, then the social party was the stable “landing.”

No matter how high you jump, if you don’t land safely, who would say, “That guy jumps well”?

A good jumper must also land well.

Thus, winning the tournament was the leap, and the social party was the landing.

Only by successfully hosting the social party would all the nobles truly feel that Sephira had made its leap.

Everything from the groundwork laid during the tournament to nurturing the Ultima Merchant was all for this day.

‘I don’t need to know how to do everything myself.’

With power and money, nothing is impossible in this world.

Keter input an Akashic Code into the Wizard Board, targeting the noble with the most extensive knowledge and experience in “parties” among those he met during the tournament.

Zzzzzzzz—

The Wizard Board glowed blue and vibrated. A signal that it was attempting to contact the other party.

The Triad didn’t know who Keter was contacting, but they could feel it.

‘Who is it?’

‘Is Keter going to solve this again?’

‘Keter, is there anything you can’t do?’

Click.

Finally, the connection was made.

A young man’s voice came through the glass panel.

-“Contacting me right after receiving the code? You’re quite an aggressive woman, aren’t you? I like it.”

“It’s Keter.”

-“Oh, damn. It’s you. My excitement just died. What is it? Why’d you call?”

“Sephira is planning to host a social party. As you know, we Sephira don’t know anything about that. So, I contacted you to introduce me to an expert who can help.”

-“What? A party? An introduction? Hahaha! What are you talking about? Asking for an introduction! With me, the god of parties, right here!”

The Sephira brothers couldn’t help but wonder as they eavesdropped on the conversation.

Who on earth was this person calling himself the “god of parties”? With such a cheerful voice, it was hard to guess his identity.

“So, are you coming yourself, Baiga?”

Keter finally revealed the name of the person he was communicating with, and it was a name the Triad knew very well.

“Ba… Baiga?”

“Brothers, did I hear that wrong? He definitely said Baiga, right?”

“I definitely heard Baiga too.”

In this kingdom, there was only one noble who went by the name Baiga.

The third son of the Mejai family, the renowned swordsmanship family of the east!

Like Keter, he held the title of “delinquent,” but he was more often called the “party maniac.”

“I heard he hosts twelve parties a year.”

“I heard his parties are the most sought-after in high society.”

“Prince Baiga is worthy of being called the god of parties.”

Even the Sephira Triad, who knew little about politics or socializing, knew Baiga’s name. That’s how famous he was in high society, especially when it came to parties.

But for such a Baiga to be talking so casually with Keter?

‘How on earth?’

The Triad couldn’t help but wonder. They had poured all their energy into preparing for the Southern Sword Tournament.

To them, Keter always seemed to be lazing around or wandering aimlessly, and they had no idea what he was doing outside.

‘It was all for this moment.’

‘Keter wasn’t just playing around.’

‘Now I’m getting goosebumps.’

Of course, that was a grand delusion on the brothers’ part. The delusion that Keter had been running around busily all day.

For Keter, acting with the mindset of “working” was extremely rare. He only did what he wanted to do.

That’s how he met Baiga too. After meeting Kai, he casually interviewed nobles at a restaurant.

In other words, the only time Keter had actually met Baiga was then, and their conversation lasted less than ten minutes. This was also the first time they were communicating like this.

Yet, Keter asked Baiga for help. As easily and naturally as if he were asking an old friend.

And Baiga’s response was as refreshing as Keter’s.

-“What can you do for me?”

Of course, Keter wasn’t one to back down from a refreshing response.

“I’ll attend your party.”

It was a statement that would shock anyone in high society.

Hundreds of nobles were desperate to attend Baiga’s parties. Even the notoriously hard-to-please upper nobles wanted to attend, yet few received invitations.

For someone to casually offer to “attend” such a party was incredibly arrogant.

But—

-“That sounds good. Deal!”

When the other party was Keter, the story was different.

In fact, when Baiga first met Keter, he had already invited him to one of his parties.

But Keter flatly refused. He said it was annoying and asked why he should go.

Baiga was dumbfounded. Even royalty begged for invitations to his parties, and here was Keter, who had just started making a name for himself, refusing because it was “annoying”?

At first, Baiga thought Keter just didn’t understand, so he explained the significance of attending his party.

But the expression and reaction Keter had after hearing the explanation were something Baiga could never forget.

“Yawn— So, what?”

“…!”

Keter’s reaction, yawning as if he were listening to the most boring story in the world—how could Baiga ever forget that?

‘This guy, I like his guts.’

From that moment, Baiga took a liking to Keter and vowed to make him attend his party.

That’s why, now, Baiga accepted Keter’s offer to attend the party as if he had been waiting for it.

-“But listen. Even I can’t create a party venue out of thin air. Does Sephira have money? I thought you were poor.”

“Forget about the money issue. We have less than a month to prepare. Is it possible? Even for you, this seems a bit difficult, no?”

Keter deliberately made a dismissive remark to fuel Baiga’s enthusiasm.

-“Tch. Even if it were a week, it wouldn’t matter. As long as there’s money. But it’s going to cost a lot. You’re not expecting me to foot the bill, are you?”

“I’ll introduce you to a sponsor. That guy will cover everything you need. Money, people, everything.”

-“Really? It could cost millions of gold, you know?”

“No problem.”

-“Alright. Then as soon as I get in touch with that sponsor, I’ll head straight to Sephira to prepare the party. Hehehe, I’m looking forward to it too. A prestigious family that’s never hosted a party before!”

Click.

As soon as the communication ended, Taragon spoke with a worried expression.

“Keter. Even if Father agrees to host the party, he won’t approve spending millions of gold.”

Even a million gold was an astronomical amount to Taragon. But spending several million?

Mail and Anis felt the same. Spending millions of gold on a party was impossible for any family head.

The Triad assumed the sponsor Keter mentioned was their father, the head of Sephira, and voiced their concerns.

But.

“Why would I dip into Father’s petty cash? The sponsor I’m introducing isn’t Father.”

“Huh?”

“Then who is it?”

“It’s someone you all know well. Ultima—”

Then Keter smiled brightly and continued.

“My wallet.”

* * *

After contacting Ultima, explaining the situation, and connecting him with Baiga, Keter sprawled out on the sofa.

“Phew! Another problem solved. And a new schedule has been added.”

Keter counted his tasks on his fingers.

“The Aegis family is in the east, right? I can visit them while attending Baiga’s party.”

The purpose of visiting the Aegis family was that they had played the role of “sponsor,” one of the conditions for participating in the tournament as an independent.

Attending Baiga’s party and visiting Aegis felt like “work,” which slightly annoyed Keter, but he didn’t entirely dislike it.

“I might get a clue about the Titan at the Aegis family, and Baiga’s party will definitely be fun.”

Keter even made a somewhat ruthless plan: if it wasn’t fun, he’d make it fun.

At that moment, someone suddenly popped their head over Keter’s face. It was Catherine.

“Young master!”

“What is it?”

“I was trying to surprise you, but you didn’t even flinch.”

“If you want to surprise me, you’ll need to bring along the legendary assassin’s grandfather.”

“Just wait. I’ll definitely surprise you. Oh, Decameron woke up.”

“He was already awake.”

“Well, he’s come to his senses, so to speak. He immediately asked for you.”

“Then you should’ve brought him.”

“He said he wouldn’t follow my orders.”

“If orders don’t work, try asking nicely.”

“Huh?”

Catherine’s eyes widened as if to say, “That’s a method!”

“Fine. Since he’s a precious one, I’ll go myself.”

Decameron, worth a whopping 6 million gold. Of course, Keter had no intention of leaving such a Decameron unattended.

‘I’ll make use of him. Worth more than 6 million gold.’

When Keter arrived, Decameron was sitting in a chair like a doll, but as soon as Keter entered, he turned his head sharply.

“Lord Keter.”

“Yeah, I’m Keter. Your master.”

“I have something to tell you.”

“Don’t tell me you’re the type who gets weaker when you become a comrade? If so, I’m returning you immediately.”

“I’m not sure what you mean, but my combat abilities haven’t decreased. However, during the process of repairing my damaged Mana Core Fusion Reactor, some parts were unavoidably lost. I wanted to inform you about that.”

“Just call the Mana Core Fusion Reactor the Reactor. So, what was lost from the Reactor?”

“The memory storage was lost. As a result, I can’t remember anything except my fundamental memories and previous memories. But I managed to restore the memory storage as much as possible, and as a result, I was able to save three memory slots.”

Keter’s brow furrowed.

Although he had shallow but broad knowledge in all fields, he was a complete novice when it came to Homunculi, so it was hard to understand.

“What are you talking about? Summarize it.”

At Keter’s request, Decameron held up three fingers.

“I can only remember three things now.”