Chapter 1216: Attending a banquet
"We’re being summoned."
Lin Fan was caught off guard when he heard Rokuko say this.
After all, there were few people that they had contact with on the magic continent and there weren’t many that would summon them like this.
The only ones that would do something like this...No, it should be the only one that would do something like this was Haku.
Yet why was Haku summoning them at a time like this when she should have been busy dealing with the Kalos Empire?
After thinking about it, Lin Fan decided, "It’s better if we don’t go."
"You don’t have a choice."
Lin Fan was surprised to hear this voice since it wasn’t Rokuko that said this. It was someone that had come from behind Rokuko to stand in front of him.
At the same time, Lin Fan was even more surprised by the person that stepped out since he recognized this person. He didn’t think that this person would actually do something like this since they normally didn’t go along with what Haku got up to.
There was a reason why Lin Fan chose not to go.
He was almost certain that Haku had been trying to get back at him for what he did to her in retaliation over the hero matter. That was why he chose not to go since he didn’t want to give her that chance.
But he couldn’t help feeling that he was wrong now that he saw the person that came to get them.
It was Agnus who had come all this way to collect them.
Normally, Agnus wouldn’t leave Haku’s side since she was her trusted aide. At the same time, Agnus was one of the few people that could actually hold Haku back if she did something that was considered overboard.
So for Agnus to leave Haku’s side and support her in this matter, it seemed that this wasn’t as petty as Lin Fan had thought it would be.
It meant that Haku had an actual reason for summoning them.
Only what was that reason?
After staring at Agnus in a daze for a bit, Lin Fan slowly asked, "What is the reason that we’re being summoned? We at least have the right to know that, right?"
Agnus gave a simple nod before saying, "It’s a banquet, you’re being called to attend."
"Banquet?" Lin Fan and Rokuko both had confused looks on their faces when they heard this.
Agnus gave another nod to confirm this before saying, "We should go or we’ll waste too much time. There’s still plenty of things that need to be prepared before we can go to the banquet."
It didn’t seem like she was going to let them go, so Lin Fan and Rokuko had no choice but to follow her.
This was their first time seeing Agnus looking so resolute.
They really couldn’t help wondering why she was acting like this.
...
"I feel stuffy..." Lin Fan couldn’t help saying as he pulled at his clothes.
Though it was clear that this was a proper suit and quite the fancy one, it made him feel like a monkey that was dressed up with how it felt on him.
Rokuko just looked at him with a smile as she said, "I think you look quite handsome."
Lin Fan shook his head with a wry smile before raising his hand towards Rokuko and saying, "Shall we?"
She took his hand with the same smile on her face before following him forward.
Though when they reached the entrance to the banquet, they were stopped by Haku who was standing there. She didn’t look happy seeing the two of them standing together like that.
But in the end, Haku didn’t say anything.
After all, this was what she had planned in the beginning, so it wasn’t as if she could stop it now.
Not to mention that everything had been prepared, so it was hard for her to go back on this plan.
After watching them for a bit, she turned around and walked through on her own.
Agnus who had been waiting on the side gave them a signal after a few minutes.
When the two of them walked in, they were introduced as the princess of the Laver Empire and as a count.
That was the new title that Lin Fan had received when they came up with this plan. After all, the title that he had previously was just too low for him to accompany a princess to the banquet like this.
So the only thing that they could do was give him a higher title.
The moment that they entered the banquet hall, they immediately became the center of attention.
Even though everyone had already heard of the princess, this was their first time seeing them in public. There were even some that were thinking about using this princess to climb the social ladder.
It was just that the moment that they saw the two of them together, all of those that wanted to use Rokuko to climb the social ladder couldn’t help knitting their brows.
They naturally didn’t dare think of anything towards Rokuko, so they could only turn their gaze to Lin Fan.
Lin Fan didn’t really care since it wasn’t as if he would ever interact with any of them and if Haku really pushed them to do something, the worst case scenario was that he could always leave the Laver Empire.
Haku would suffer more than he would from letting them go too far.
Lin Fan knew that there was another reason that they had been summoned to this banquet.
Other than introducing them, there was something else that Haku wanted to accomplish.
"Thank you everyone for coming to this banquet today. I hope that you are all enjoying yourselves."
When Haku said this, everyone started flattering her.
But those that had sharp eyes could see that there was a better way of flattering Haku than to flatter her. So that was why there were many compliments for Rokuko that were thrown out.
Haku just had a smile on her face when she heard all of this and she didn’t deny a single compliment that was given. She just nodded in agreement to all of them no matter how outlandish they were.
It made some of the nobles reveal wry smiles seeing this, but that didn’t mean that they stopped giving Rokuko these over the top compliments.
After letting them continue for a bit, that was when Haku finally continued with the reason that they were all gathered here.
It was actually very simple.
"We have already infiltrated the Kalos Empire and are prepared for an invasion."
All of the nobles naturally knew what Haku was referring to. It would be impossible for them to remain as nobles if they didn’t know about something like this.
Because they knew what Haku was referring to, all of them revealed excited looks as well.
There was a reason that Haku was announcing all of this to them after all.
It meant that she was getting ready to involve the nobles in this matter. It meant that they would get a slice of the pie that was the Kalos Empire.
The Kalos Empire was an empire that had been at the peak of the magic continent for a long time, so even a small slice of the pie would be a large amount of resources that would come their way.
Naturally all of them praised Haku for her amazing leadership as soon as they heard this.
They would have praised Rokuko as well, but they couldn’t associate her with this plan since there was nothing that they thought that she could have done to help. That was why none of the praise was for Rokuko.
When Haku heard this, she naturally didn’t seem happy, but there was nothing the nobles could do.
Haku then changed the topic to why she had brought Rokuko here.
"The princess will be receiving an autonomous area in the land where the Kalos Empire once was and will be receiving the title of duchess."
The nobles were shocked to hear this, but there was no one that dared to say anything about this. After all, they could all see the serious look that was on Haku’s face that even seemed like she was daring them to say a single word.
Seeing that Haku was this determined, they knew that they wouldn’t be able to change her mind.
In fact, it looked like some of them were already thinking about how to deal with Rokuko in the future.
However, this wasn’t the only thing that Haku wanted to say.
There was a trace of unwillingness in her voice, but she added, "The count here also has quite a few merits when it comes to the invasion of the Kalos Empire. As such, he will be receiving a fair bit of the Kalos Empire’s land."
This time, it seemed like the nobles really wanted to say something.
But they immediately swallowed their words when they saw the look on Rokuko’s face.
It looked like she was ready to fight anyone that would say anything.
With the way that Haku treated Rokuko, if Rokuko were to fight anyone...
So in the end, there wasn’t a single person that said anything.
But this time, they looked at Lin Fan differently.
"This gigolo..."
That was the gist of the look that they shot in Lin Fan’s direction.
They all thought that Lin Fan had used his looks to seduce Rokuko, which was why he was receiving this kind of treatment.
Lin Fan just didn’t say a single thing in response.