“Of course you should go, such a ball will be beneficial to you.”
When Rocky handed the ball invitation to Liliya, he had not anticipated that she would strongly urge him to attend.
“The Apple Tree Corporation is an old-established Chamber of Commerce in Eternal City, with extensive connections. The ball they host will surely be attended by many important figures, and getting to know these people could be advantageous for us,” Liliya explained slowly, sitting across from Rocky.
“I’m afraid of not making any useful connections but instead drawing unwanted attention…” Rocky sighed while sitting across from her, looking somewhat helpless.
He certainly understood Liliya’s reasoning. Attending such a ball was naturally beneficial, but benefits and risks always coexist. Thus, nobody could guarantee that, after the ball, Thunderhawk City and he as its City Lord wouldn’t end up on someone’s blacklist after mingling with the VIPs, becoming the next target for takeover.
“You’re exaggerating,” Liliya laughed upon hearing this. “Just go. It’s ultimately good for you to make more connections with other City Lords at the ball for your future development.”
“Alright… It seems the trip to the weapons market will have to be postponed again…” Experience tales at empire
Convinced by Liliya’s persuasion, Rocky finally nodded and agreed to attend the ball. But, as he mentioned, since he decided to attend, the plan to go to the weapons market to buy Void Magic Armor and Skyships would have to be delayed.
Some might find it odd—wasn’t the ball starting in three days? There should still be time to browse the weapons market.
Those who say such a thing must have forgotten one detail: can you wear casual clothes to such a ball? To attend, you must dress up; hence, Rocky must now prepare for this aspect. Moreover, he won’t be going alone, so these kinds of preparations will definitely take more than a day or two to complete.
“It’s okay to delay it for two days. We don’t have much else going on lately. It won’t matter if we go to the weapons market after the ball,” Liliya assuaged.
“Alright then, tomorrow you, Aileen, and Monte should come with me to buy clothes. If we’re going, we must dress to impress.”
Having decided to attend the ball, Rocky certainly didn’t want to embarrass himself, so the next day he took Liliya, Aileen, and Monte to the biggest shopping center in Eternal City to start purchasing formal attire for the ball.
In the past, Rocky would never have dared to do such a thing because the formal wear required for the ball wasn’t something the poor could afford—a single piece of clothing could cost hundreds or even thousands of Gold Coins, which was far too stressful for the old him.
But now, with hundreds of thousands of Gold Coins in his possession, he no longer had to worry. Allocating a few thousand, or even tens of thousands of Gold Coins to choose suitable attire for himself and others to attend the ball seemed worth it to Rocky.
Just as he anticipated, it was an extremely time-consuming task. This time he had to choose clothes not only for himself and Monte but also for Liliya and Aileen. Once women were involved in such matters, it became an endless pursuit.
In the end, by the time Rocky had everything ready, it was the day of the ball. After spending three days at the shopping center and shelling out over five thousand Gold Coins—to the extent that Aileen even sought the help of a designer for advice—they finally settled on what to wear to the ball.
So when Rocky, accompanied by Liliya and Aileen as his dates and Monte as his escort, went to the ball, he was close to breaking down.
However, considering the caliber of the ball, his preparations were clearly justified. The Apple Tree Corporation, as a prominent Chamber of Commerce in Eternal City, organized a ball that was impeccable both in quality and standard, truly deserving the wholehearted preparation of those attending.
The venue was at the Guild President’s private residence; in other words, this was a private ball. And of course, the guests invited to the ball need not be mentioned—the attendees included plenty of individuals of City Lord status or higher, apart from the City Lords themselves, there were also influential figures from various Sky Cities.
Therefore, when Rocky arrived at the venue with Liliya and the others, they were quickly swallowed up by the crowd. It couldn’t be helped, there were twenty to thirty City Lords attending the ball, and Rocky didn’t stand out much among them.
Rocky was quite happy with this lack of attention; he had never been interested in such balls in the first place and had reluctantly spent several days at the shopping center. With no expectations for the ball itself, he headed for a corner as soon as he entered the venue and started to focus on the food provided at the ball.
However, just like how he couldn’t stay low profile when he wanted to previously, the events Rocky encountered at the ball definitely exceeded his imagination.
Firstly, he saw Karina again.
The Lord of Rose City also attended the ball. Dressed in her formal attire, Karina still resembled a fiery red rose, and unlike the unnoticed Rocky, she seemed to have a wide network—almost everyone at the ball knew her.
“City Lord Rocky, you’ve come as expected,” Karina approached him proactively while he was enjoying the exquisite food at the ball, accompanied by the two beauties.
Rocky had actually spotted her earlier in the venue. The Red Rose, Karina, truly stood out, but given the young City Lords surrounding her all the time, Rocky didn’t approach her.
To his surprise, Karina had noticed him too and took the initiative to come over.
“City Lord Rocky, you’ve been quite the figure of note lately.”
Carrying a wine glass, Karina walked up to Rocky and glanced at him with a smile, speaking casually as if the two of them had known each other for a long time.
“Oh, how come I didn’t know that?”
Rocky responded with a slight smile, genuinely unaware of when he had ever had such glory.
“You made a deal directly with the Apple Tree Corporation for over five hundred thousand Gold Coins, isn’t that glamorous enough? For a small Sky City, that’s not a small amount.”
“Lord Karina, may I ask a question?”
Upon hearing Karina’s words, Rocky frowned and then asked.
“Of course, you can.”
“How did you find out about these things concerning me?”
Although Rocky wasn’t surprised that she knew about his affairs, he was still very curious about how she had come to know them.
“Shadow Alliance, just pay ten thousand Gold Coins a month, and they will provide you with all the information you want.”
With a soft smile towards him, Karina casually provided the answer.
There was such an organization?
This response did startle Rocky for a moment, and then he silently took note of the Shadow Alliance. It seemed to be an information organization, which might come in handy for himself as well.
“Isn’t that City Lord Rocky? And Lord Karina, so you two know each other!”
Just then, another familiar voice reached Rocky’s ears, and as he and Karina turned to look, they saw Berg, the City Lord of Lingyu City, approaching them.
“What are you two talking about? If it’s business-related, you must include me.”
Arriving at Rocky and Karina’s side, Berg spoke as if he were an old friend, without any hint of feeling like an outsider.
However, faced with Berg’s familiarity, Karina simply rolled her eyes: “Look who’s here, Money City Lord.”
“Money City Lord?”
Rocky’s expression was that of a curious baby upon hearing Karina’s nickname for Berg.
“A City Lord whose eyes see only money, that’s exactly what a Money City Lord is.”
“Karina, you often do business at my place too, there’s no need to talk about me like this in front of City Lord Rocky, right?”
Berg didn’t seem upset by Karina’s mockery, and soon turned to Rocky: “City Lord Rocky, you’ve made quite the big deal recently! Next time, you must come and support my Lingyu City, where our Chamber of Commerce offers nothing but quality goods at fair prices…”
“A bunch of heartless traders still have the nerve to talk about quality and fair prices.”
As Berg boasted, Karina interjected with disdain, forcing Berg to laugh awkwardly and then continue chatting with Rocky as if nothing happened: “City Lord Rocky, you, me, and Karina are all City Lords of small Sky Cities. We occupy the lowest status in this sky, and only by helping each other can we survive better. Don’t you agree?”
Berg indeed acted very much like a merchant, extremely talkative, but it was precisely because of his gregarious nature that Rocky, Karina, and he enjoyed their conversation a lot. Berg would later introduce Rocky to several other City Lords.
However, just as Rocky got into conversation with these newly met City Lords, another person in the ball noticed him and hurried over.
“Rocky, what are you doing here?”
Rocky turned around when he heard his name called and then saw a person he wasn’t very eager to see: Cyril.
Cyril’s appearance left Rocky extremely astonished; he never expected such a coincidence that on both of his visits to Eternal City, he would encounter this cousin.
Just as surprised as he was Cyril. Actually, her purpose in coming to Eternal City was to find Rocky, but she had never imagined that the two would meet in such a setting.