Cthulhu Gonfalon

Half an hour later, suitors gathered in the hall of the manor house of Maple Leaf Village.

Crick Keane, sitting in a wheelchair, was still at ease. But the Baroness pushing the wheelchair had lost her calm and her nerves showed.

His subordinates and guards were even more anxious, embarrassed, and restless. They looked as if they were facing their enemies. But they did not dare to act rashly.

Seeing that, many suitors felt contented and less worried.

Even the strong ones who managed to come back alive from the battlefield of the “Day of Sun’s Death” would die eventually. Crick in the present was like a dying beast. Even a milk-fed puppy could bark at him without fear.

Of course, these suitors were not little puppies. They were all insidious, cunning and vicious. It would be hard to find even one easy-going person among them.

So where were the easy-going and kind ones?

“Sir, why are you calling us together? Miss Anna is having a cocktail party over there,” Stephen complained with a bitter face, puzzled at the teacher’s decision.

Romon smiled and did not reply. He just took his glass and greeted the suitors he had invited. From time to time, he cheered with others, drank a little, laughed, and said a few words.

The suitors he invited had all been well selected, and their personalities were relatively good. Among them were knights from declining families; adventurers who were tired of fighting; young people who were confident in their talents; and downtrodden nobles who just wanted to find a place to escape the pressures from their families.

They all had one thing in common. At least in Crick’s eyes, they were all good men. That was enough. So when Crick was ready to take some great action, he asked Romon to invite them all under the fame of the Carter family.

Of course, another reason for inviting them was to negotiate issues on cooperation and common development.

Anna Keane was not a famous beauty. None among the suitors really came to Keane Hill to admire her. They were relatively weak in background and did not expect too much. It was more practical to talk to the Carter family about cooperation than to compete with dangerous guys such as Connor Griffin and Drucker Ricci.

Unfortunately, not all of the invitees arrived. Some were so obsessed that they insisted on attending Miss Anna’s cocktail party. To such people, Crick could only say that if a man insisted on doing something deadly, then he would die. Crick was a good man, but he was no saint.

After a while, Romon greeted all the invitees and came to the center of the temporary venue arranged in the rented lobby of the pub. “Welcome!” he said. “First of all, please allow me to introduce to you the host of tonight’s meeting: Miss Anna Keane.”

For a moment, the hall was completely silent. They all kept their eyes on the slowly approaching Anna, accompanied by Rena who disguised herself as a maid. Anna walked in through the back door of the hall and came to the center at a steady pace until she stood next to Romon and Stephen.

Nobody had expected that Anna, who should have been present at the cocktail party, would be here!

And, it was Romon who introduced her.

Not only that, but their positions were crucial. On the left was Romon, beside him was Stephen, then Anna, and finally Rena. With Anna standing next to Stephen, they looked like a young couple!

What did that mean? Had the Keane family decided to cooperate with the Carter family via marriage?

It seemed reasonable. Stephen Carter was about the same age as Anna Keane. The young man was also handsome and had a certain amount of fortune. At least in this venue, he was the best choice.

So who else on earth would get a chance?

A rashly tempered knight could not help but ask, “Excuse me, but has Miss Anna been engaged to Mr. Stephen Carter?”

He asked so straightforwardly, it made the thoughtful and cautious suitors around him unhappy. What the hell was that? There were only two answers to that: yes or no. It was forcing Miss Anna to make a decision!

Maybe Miss Anna was still hesitating and hadn’t made up her mind yet, and being asked in this way would make her answer “yes.” If she said “no,” it wasn’t a good sign either. The other suitors would be deceiving themselves in thinking there was hope if Stephen failed here!

Suddenly five or six pairs of eyes looking at the reckless Knight filled with anger. But the knight was confused and could not understand what was wrong.

The few careful suitors expected what happened next. Anna, in fact, hadn’t made up her mind yet. But when asked in this way, she didn’t think carefully before she turned to Stephen to see his dazzlingly handsome face. She took a deep breath and answered, as calmly as possible. “Yes.”

It would be appropriate to describe the mood of the suitors in the hall as disappointed and regretful. Some people saw the hesitation in Anna’s eyes, noting that she first turned to Stephen before finally making up her mind.

Some people were heartbroken, but even more sighed with relief. It was indeed a torture to work on something so apparently hopeless!

There was applause in the hall that nobody could pinpoint the origin of. Others followed, and applause came in waves. Later came the whistles, which plunged the small meeting hall, which was neither luxurious nor lively, into a happy atmosphere.

Stephen was perplexed for a while and felt a little dizzy. How did it work?

He hadn’t expected it at all. Yes, he had talked with Miss Anna through the Projection Crystal several times about a lot of things. He felt that this Baroness was really a good person and very suitable for him. But how did it suddenly develop into engagement?

Perplexed, he turned his head to his teacher for consultation.

Romon, always watchful, immediately performed magic by an invisible “Wage’s Hand.” He gently pushed Stephen’s face so that he turned his head to Anna instead of Romon,

On the other side, Anna heard Romon’s voice.

“Look this way.”

She was a little shy and embarrassed, so she did it subconsciously. She looked up Romon’s side and her eyes met instead with Stephen’s.

This was the truly first eye contact they had since they had known each other. They had talked with each other several times through the Projection Crystal and certainly liked each other but had never met. Before tonight, neither had looked the other in the eyes so seriously. After all, they were shy teenagers.

This time, under Romon’s arrangement, they finally looked into each other’s eyes. Two pairs of crystal eyes and two hearts with the same innocence met.

Like magnets, their eyes were inseparable from that moment on. At first, they were somewhat blank and curious. This soon turned gentle happiness. Their eyes seemed to talk as they exchanged thoughts and emotions with each other. They completely forgot themselves for a while and left everything around them.

The hall gradually quieted down. Everyone smiled and watched the boy and the girl stare at each other.

Some time later, perhaps due to an itchy nose, someone sneezed.

The hall was quiet, and the sneeze was so astonishingly loud that it woke Stephen and Anna up. They turned their heads away in a hurry. Meanwhile, their faces flushed and their heads drooped down in synchronicity.

“Haha! They look like husband and wife!” A bold and bright adventurer laughed. “You are the best match!”

Stephen and Anna’s faces turned even redder, but they could not help but laugh.

Romon could not help himself either. He held up his glass while laughing.

“Blessings to them! Cheers!”

The guests also laughed and raised their glasses.

“Cheers for Mr. Stephen and Miss Anna!”

Glasses of wine were sent to lips, and just as they were all about to drink up the good wine full of joy and blessings, a loud noise came from outside the city.

It came from the direction of Maple Leaf Village.