"Wow! What an adorable little girl!""Her dress is so beautiful and unique; it looks like a robe, but also like a dress. I"ve never seen anything like this before!"
"Indeed. It"s very graceful on her, and accentuates her figure really well. I wonder which tailor made it for her; I really want one as well!"
"What"s she holding in her arms? Is that an orange kitten? Is it a new breed? Why have I never seen it before?"
All of the women in the crowd immediately erupted into an uproar. They turned toward Amy in unison and expressed a phenomenal level of interest in her.
Not only was her dress very beautiful, it was also quite unique. Only with a dress like this could one be placed in the spotlight.
Of course, the women were all aware that such a dress might look good on a little girl like Amy, but most likely wouldn"t have the same effect when worn by them.
"Mamy Restaurant!" Goodenia was joyfully conversing with someone when he abruptly turned toward Mag. He clenched his fists and took a few deep breaths as he chuckled coldly. "Aren"t half-elves half-breeds? Since when were half-breeds allowed into the banquets held by the Chamber of Commerce?"
"I"ve heard of Mamy Restaurant; it seems to be rather popular in the Aden Square at the moment, but they haven"t joined our Chamber of Commerce, have they?" The portly businessman beside him was rather perplexed.
"Not only have they not joined our Chamber of Commerce, he announced right to my face that he would never join our Chamber of Commerce, and that he would force it to close down," Goodenia replied with a deriding sneer on his face.
"Then how did he get an invitation letter? Was he even invited?" someone asked.
A small stir began to spread through the crowd.
So that"s the Mag that keeps foiling my plans? Cyril also turned to appraise Mag with furrowed brows. Devoe was still locked up in the Bastie Prison, and the Aden Square food compet.i.tion rankings were completely out of his control. All of this could be attributed to this man.
Mag patted Amy"s head with a doting expression. As expected, she only had eyes for food.
Mag turned toward the guests in the banquet hall, and his brows furrowed slightly as he caught sight of a few annoying figures, but he still led Amy down the staircase.
It appeared that he had misunderstood the fas.h.i.+on sense in this world. Most of the men present were wearing lavish robes that made them look like walking poles no matter what their figures were like. The only thing that differentiated them was the colors of their robes.
However, he had been to countless events like this in the past, and he certainly wasn"t going to be embarra.s.sed just because his fas.h.i.+on sense differed from everyone else"s.
As for the the people that were appraising him and his daughter with enmity in their eyes, he paid them no heed whatsoever.
He had been prepared for this prior to attending the banquet. In the rules of the Chamber of Commerce, there were many that specifically targeted half-breeds, thereby fueling discrimination and antagonism toward half-breed beings.
One of the reasons why he attended this banquet was so that he could meet Scheer, while the other reason was that he wanted to clash with these xenophobic board members.
When Mag led Amy into the banquet hall, Cyril made his way over to them. He glanced at Amy before looking at Mag with a disdainful expression as he asked, "You"re the owner of Mamy Restaurant?"
"Wow! Father, I want to eat that biscuit!" Amy tugged on Mag"s hand and pointed toward a nearby platter of biscuits with a joyful expression.
"Meow!" Ugly Duckling was also getting quite excited at the mention of food.
"Alright, I"ll grab some for you." Mag looked down at Amy with a doting smile, completely ignoring Cyril as he gestured toward a waiter. "Could I please get one of those?"
"You dare to ignore me?" Cyril"s voice became very cold. There were very few people in Chaos City who dared to ignore him like this!
"How dare you growl at my father? What kind of… What kind of little biscuit do you think you are?" Amy planted her hands on her hips and looked up at Cyril with a serious expression.
The surrounding guests immediately burst into laughter. However, many people were trying to contain their mirth. This little girl"s words and mannerism were simply hilarious, yet no one wanted to offend Cyril, so they could only suppress their amus.e.m.e.nt.
Cyril"s expression darkened even further, and at the at the height of his rage, he burst into laughter as he said coldly, "Heh, you little half—"
"You"re not exactly a small child now, are you? Do you really insist on fighting with a little girl over a biscuit?" Mag accepted a platter full of biscuits from the waiter and handed it to Amy as he cut off Cyril.
"I…" Cyril was momentarily at a loss for words.
"If you want some biscuits, then speak up. If you don"t say anything, how is the waiter supposed to know what you want? Stealing biscuits from a little girl isn"t a very nice gesture, is it?" Mag pressed on with his line of questioning.
"You"re a biscuit-stealing baddie! Don"t come any closer!" Amy hid her biscuits behind her back and looked at Cyril with a cautious expression as if she really were defending her biscuits from him.
The laughter in the crowd was growing in volume, and some of the people who"d been suppressing their amus.e.m.e.nt earlier simply couldn"t hold back their guffaws any longer.
As Cyril listened to the raucous laughter around him, he looked as if he had swallowed a fly. He looked at Mag with a cold smile, and interrogated, "Since when were pets and half-elves allowed into a banquet held by the Chamber of Commerce? Also, your restaurant hasn"t joined the Chamber of Commerce, so why are you here? Your invitation letter is fake, isn"t it?"
The laughter in the crowd slowly began to die down as a burst of chatter erupted.
The mid-year banquet of the Chamber of Commerce wasn"t a particularly serious event, but under most circ.u.mstances, only the board members and their families were invited.
It was just as Cyril had said: there was no way that Mag could have received an invitation from the Chamber of Commerce.
If their invitation letter was fake, then they would most likely be thrown out of the banquet hall, making them the biggest laughingstock of the night.
A smile finally appeared on Cyril"s face as he looked at Mag with a deriding expression. "I don"t know what your intentions are. Perhaps you were desperate for an opportunity to mingle with the upper cla.s.s. In any case, a fake invitation letter is unacceptable! Guards, throw these two freeloaders out of here!"
A few burly orc guards immediately surrounded them, preparing to evict them from the banquet hall.
"Father, are these guys all here to steal my biscuits?" Amy hung Ugly Duckling from her dress while she grabbed her wand.
"A b.a.s.t.a.r.d like him should be taught a good lesson so he won"t try to freeload ever again!" Goodenia smiled as his flabby cheek tremored.
"Mr. Mag was invited by me, and I personally wrote his invitation letter." Right at this moment, a voice sounded from within the crowd. The guests parted to reveal Scheer, and she made her way over to Cyril with a smile as she said, "Don"t you know that members of the four major families have the right to invite someone to attend the banquet? Oh, I"m sorry, that might not actually be a right that you have."