Thousands of people slowly started to walk into the building, and once inside, they approached the counter in order to receive the money they had deposited in Daniel's bank before being allowed through. After getting their belongings back, These cultivators would be escorted into the arena, where the attendant would point at the direction of their seat, before going back to welcome another party.
Of the people that had arrived, Daniel had recognized a few groups. Amongst which were the members of the Scorching Anvil, the Helvha family, and the Helblaze company, as well as the parties of a lot of cultivators with whom Daniel had interacted during the games of the 'A World in the Palm of Your Hand' collective.
One last person who Daniel would be happy to see if he was here, was Mr. Roah, who in his mind, Daniel still called the nine-fingered man. He was the person who had sent the bomber to his company building, and caused the deaths of dozens of innocent customers and shop owners which had put their trust in Daniel's company when they had purchased a permit to trade in his marketplace.
That event had also caused the Poisonous Rose to have an additional edge to use in suppressing them, as one of the words they had spread to badmouth Daniel's company, was that the attack was staged by Daniel himself in order to gain the protection of the collective, as well as the fact that he had never given any financial support towards the destroyed families of the victims, which was not true.
Edmund, Emelnie, Heimart and the rest of the administrative side of the company, had been sent to keep company to the groups which Daniel's company was close with. Edmund was discussing with the members of the Scorching Anvil about a business deal regarding the purchase of high quality weapons for Daniel's army which was constantly growing in size, as well as about sending their young members to Daniel's new academy.
Emelnie was interacting with the Helvha family about the details of sending their youngest daughter to study in the academy, which they had agreed on doing after visiting Daniel's pocket dimension, the area where Leffe, Buriath and their kind lived, as well as the perfect essence spheres which they possessed.
It is important to understand one thing. For as good as the idea of obtaining one of those objects was, each and every group that was invited into the pocket dimension for a visit, was more than aware that they were not powerful enough to even think of keeping one sphere in case the word spread. That was why they had all seen what the worth of that matter really was.. A school in which the future of their families could learn with the best resources possible and in complete safety.. it was in their best interest to keep Daniel's academy secret.
At the same time, Heimart and his wife Alis were interacting with two more groups which Daniel had helped in obtaining revenge for the wrongs that they had received in the past.
Roley was sitting next to Fyro, while also interacting with his grandfather, and the middle aged woman who Roley could only guess was Fyro's mother, and the old man's daughter-in-law.
Jerigh, which considered himself as the unluckiest of them all, was currently walking around at a fast speed for two different reasons. First of all, he was in charge of controlling the guards of the company as well as controlling the guards that the governor had lent to Daniel, and therefore, he had to be constantly on the move.
The second one, was the real reason why Jerigh considered himself to be unlucky.. And that reason.. Was Cynna.
Cynna was one of the two people that had been allowed into Daniel's pocket dimension as one of the plus two for her family, which was one of the smallest groups within the 'The Superior Alchemy' academy, and therefore, part of the poisonous rose.
After entering the hall, she had spotted Jerigh walking around. She of course had no idea that he was currently working as the head guard of this entire event, so, she tried to approach him only to see him walk the other way instead, clearly trying to avoid her.
Proud as she was, Cynna hadn't taken Jerigh's reaction well, and therefore, started to follow him around. "Hey! Stop running away!" She said out loud from a few meters of distance. "Jerigh stop!"
This went on for a couple of minutes, until finally, after Cynna managed to reach him and stop him from walking away, Jerigh suddenly turned towards her "WHAT! WOMAN!" He shouted with exasperation.
Cynna was surprised by Jerigh's reaction, but instead of being offended, she remembered of the humiliation she had had to suffer from him a few days earlier. Annoyance grew in her stomach, to a point where she said "I want to spar." She was so angry, that those two were the only words that came out of her mouth.
Jerigh had no words. "Wha-" he was about to say something, but he was interrupted by a loud noise that came from next to them.
"Why do I have to sit next to a worm like you?" Said a purple-dressed young woman to a thirty years old man. The man did not respond to her, and from the look on his face, it was clear that no matter what group the two people respectively belonged to, they were not on the same level.
"Miss.. I was.." *SLAP* A powerful and audible slapping sound was heard for dozens of meters in the distance, and it was powerful enough to force the thirty years old man to spit a few teeth.
Jerigh was watching the events take place, and the moment he saw the young girl send the slap, he started to walk towards the two people, and past Cynna. He was quickly stopped by her, which grabbed his arm and said to him "Hold on.. What are you going to do?"
"My job." Responded Jerigh before pulling his arm out of Cynna's hands, and approaching the young girl. He then said "Fighting is forbidden by the master of this dimension, and head of this company. Cease all hostile behaviour, or you will be escorted outside." His tone was extremely serious.
What Cynna was trying to tell Jerigh, was that this young girl was notoriously proud, due the powerful background from which she came from. That background, was being part of one of the founding companies of the collective, as well as being the daughter of Mr. Roah, the nine-fingered man.
Just as expected, the young girl was enraged for being scolded by this young man right in front of a big chunk of the city's most powerful company heads. Therefore, she said "You're nobody to order me around. Your group is the lowest amongst our collective, and I am superior to you." Naturally, she was not aware that Daniel's company had already left the collective, after all, she was only the daughter of an important person, and not everything was reported to her.
Unfortunately, she had picked the wrong person to claim superiority with..
Jerigh, oppressively more powerful than her, grabbed her arm and dragged her out of the building, while she tried to pointlessly fight back.
"What is going on here?" Asked Mr. Roah, which had appeared in front of the two just before they could leave the building.
"This person attacked a guest of a Golden Company event. She is being escorted out of the territory." Responded Jerigh with no hints of fear or doubt, despite the higher power of the nine-fingered man.
Jerigh was fully aware that this man had sent the attack to the company building.. an attack which had hurt his pride more than anybody else's, as he was in charge of the safety in the marketplace. This man was one of the few he would not show face to.
Through narrowed eyes, Mr. Roah pointed behind Jerigh, and said "I think there has been a misunderstanding. My daughter did not attack anybody. Isn't it true, Gilly?"
After Jerigh turned in the direction where the nine-fingered man was pointing at, he saw standing in place the thirty year old man that the girl had just slapped. He looked anxiously at Jerigh with a slap mark still clear on his face.
The eyes of the many cultivators that were surrounding Jerigh, and the rest of the people involved, were now pointed at them, and were observing the events unfold.
Jerigh could not feel compassion for a man who was willing to take a beating just so that he could avoid fighting for his honor. That, was the type of creed which had been instilled in Jerigh's head ever since he had been forced to pave his way from being a simple slave, into being a warrior.
"I have witnessed to the scene myself." Responded Jerigh plainly before trying to walk past the nine-fingered man, which instead of letting him through, placed one of his palms over his shoulder. Then, he squeezed with a power that only a sixth stage immortal cultivator possessed.
But alas, he did not receive the result he was hoping for. No matter how much he squeezed, and how close Jerigh's bones were to shattering.. Not even a hint of pain could be seen on his face.
"Is there a problem here, Mr. Roah?" Said Daniel, which had quietly appeared right next to the nine-fingered man.
"It seems that your company does not know how to treat its guests. Your minion is trying to bully my daughter in front of all of this people." Responded Mr. Roah with an indignant tone.
Daniel smiled faintly at the middle aged man, and said "Jerigh here is my chief of security. If he says he has seen an aggression, then your daughter is guilty. We have no reason to claim otherwise, as this is a rather uncomfortable situation for the both of us."
"I agree." Said the nine-fingered man, before narrowing his eyes in a threatening tone, and adding "Maybe we should leave things as they are, and go on with this fine event.. Shouldn't we?"
"Of course.." Said Daniel, causing a faint smile to appear on the face of Mr. Roah.. but before he could express his appreciation to him, Daniel added "..after your daughter will be escorted out of my territory, we'll keep going with this fine event."
A stern look appeared on the nine-fingered man as he heard Daniel's words, which caused his blood to boil in anger. It was only to save face that he hadn't attacked Daniel right where he was standing. Instead, he said with a tone ten times as threatening as before "Mr. Hiel.. you should start worrying about who you can and who you can't offend. I've welcomed you into the collective from the kindness of my heart.. Protected your company from those who wished harm to it.. and even allowed you to leave it just months after winning the first prize of our games.. But this is goin overboard."
Daniel did not wish to deal with the collective right now, so, instead of explaining all that was wrong with the man's words, and exposing him in front of everyone around, he simply looked back at him, and with an emotionless smile, he said a few words that only the middle aged man was capable of hearing. "Tonight I am going to offend people much more powerful than you, Mr. Roah.. Don't put yourself in a bad situation, you're not capable of withstanding the burn as well as they will.. and they will not. Leave with your daughter."
This wisp of sound essence was charged with the full power of a sixth stage immortal cultivator, which after feeling it, sent a wave of shock through the body of the nine-fingered man. He could do nothing but to grab his daughter's wrist, and walk out of the building while spewing a few insulting words.
Suddenly, from the middle of the stage, a young girl said with a voice that was pushed by the entirety of her cultivation "The Auction will begin briefly. Please, take your seats."