Chapter 28: Baelgore and Hellfire
Surprisingly, SuperSleuth was already acquainted with a handful of people. After entering he went off to say hello and introduce himself to new friends.
Lucan was left with 2 women who were out of his league at a social gathering that already made him feel greatly uncomfortable.
Lucy laughed at his nervous twitching. "Let's get some punch and take a seat at one of the tables. You are a Hand of Raze, you don't need to go around and introduce yourself."
"Ah, that's a good idea. You ladies can find a table while I will get some drinks." Lucan said immediately leaving them for the table of refreshment up against the wall. The punch looked questionable at best, so Lucan stepped up to the bar.
Suddenly he found himself with a new knot of anxiety in his stomach. He had never gotten drinks for a girl before, let alone two. He had no idea what they drank. It would be embarrassing to ask. Lucan took another look at the punch.
'It is probably good, but I can't get over the fact that it is bubbling and sparkles.'
"You seem perplexed friend, what's the trouble?" The bartender asked with a friendly smile.
"Ah, well, I don't know what to get them." Lucan subtly motioned over his shoulder.
"Ha, ha, no problem. You are in the presence of a master bartender. If someone claimed that I am the second best in the realm, no one would dare to say they were first." The man started to grab different bottles from behind the bar while mixing drinks. "Knowing what my customers want is second nature. Give me a couple moments and I will have the perfect drinks for you and your dates."
"Great, I mean, it's not like that."
"Just a friendly bit of advice from a bartender. Don't say that in front of them." He joked while pouring the drinks.
First, he set down a clear drink in a long stem glass. "A seven-spirit tonic for Blue." Second, he sent down an orange drink in a short wide glass. "A mango firework for Purple." And lastly, he set down a clear brown drink. "For you, a well-aged whiskey, neat."
"I don't doubt your skill; you defiantly got mine right." Lucan said while setting a few gold pieces on the counter as a tip.
Lucan took the three drinks back to the table and took a seat between Silent and Lucy. "Here you go." Lucan said, handing them their drinks.
"Adventurous. Let's see if you guessed right." Lucy said before taking a sip of the orange drink. "You did well."
Silent nodded after trying hers. "Oh, I didn't tell you about my training with Ash." She added before going into detail. Ash and his subordinates were rogues who had access to warlock abilities. Silent admired their fighting style and learned a lot of new things from them.
Afterwards Lucy went on to explain about the benefits her baptism gave to her shadow priest form. Her mana would regenerate faster and some of her current skills and spells were strengthened.
"Introducing our host, the Supreme Ruler and Sovereign of the Shadow realm, the Grand and Mighty Raze." Everyonr quieted down as an old man walked to the center of the room.
"Everyone, thank you for coming, I know the invitations were last minute, but I am happy to see you all here. As you know, the reason we are gathered is because a direct warlock has challenged a hand for his position. So, let me first introduce a direct warlock under the fifth Hand, Hellfire."
Hellfire awkwardly walked into the room under everyone's full attention. He nervously nodded and smiled under the silence and constant stares.
"Woo! Go Hellfire!" Lucan shouted out while starting to clap. A round of applause broke through the room while Hellfire went to go take a seat at Raze's table.
When the clapping died down Raze spoke again. "Tomorrow morning Hellfire will try to prove himself by overcoming this next person. Let me introduce to you, my fifth Hand, The Duke of Flames, Baelgore."
A large man almost 7 feet tall walked into the room.
Hellfire whistled from his seat and started clapping while the rest of the room applauded the Duke of Flames.
"While you are enemies on the field of battle tomorrow, today we celebrate both of you." Raze raised a glass. "I wish both of you success in achieving your goals in life."
Everyone presents raised a glass before taking a drink. "First let's eat." Raze said sitting down and clapping his hand. The waitstaff started walking in with covered plates. Placing them in front of Raze and the guest, then unveiling their meals.
Not long after the food was served and SuperSleuth returned to Lucan's table, several people began to go up and greet Raze and give there best wishes to Hellfire and Baelgore.
When they were done eating Lucan decided to take up the others to greet the main table.
"Raze, good to see ya. You remember Silent Night, this is SuperSleuth and Lucy Evermore."
"Nice to meet you, so glad you could come."
"Duke of Flames. I am Lucan Quilldrake. It is a pleasure to meet you. Hellfire speaks highly of you."
"Ha, Hellfire is right, you are a tricky one. You only know him a few hours and it sound like you are old friends. Ha, ha, he said you are very loyal to Raze so you are a good addition." The big man said with a hearty spirt.
"I wish you the best of luck tomorrow." Lucan said while shaking the man's outstretched hand.
"Hellfire this is the reporter I mentioned. SuperSleuth."
"Hellfire, nice to meet you, I am a big fan." Super said eagerly. "Let me start by saying my boss doesn't want to do a pay-per-view. He said they don't make as much money anymore. We have already sold add space on our site for the event. If you are willing to move away from the pay-per-view idea, we can pay you 80,000 USD guaranteed. And we also did a bit of shopping around and there are many companies eager to gain an endorsement from you during the event, they are willing to pay big bonuses if their conditions are met.���
"That's fine." Hellfire said excitedly with dollar signs in his eyes.
"Great, I will get you a list of their tag lines and endorsement requirements. I have already checked, and we can use pact magic to make a binding contract that will hold up in the real world, as long as it doesn't include anything illegal. Do you have 20 minutes to iron out the details? We can also do a quick teaser interview to get people excited."
Hellfire looked to Raze, who nodded that he could do as he pleased. Hellfire and Super walked off to a private table.
"You have been busy putting this together?" Raze asked.
"Me? No, I just happened to meet to right people. Putting them together brings me many benefits."
Raze chuckled. "Sometimes, that is all it takes. On small deed ripples into a larger boon for yourself."
Lucy had struck up a conversation with the Duke of Flames after he became enthralled by the plunging neckline of her dress.
Raze turned to Silent. "I see you have become a warlock and still haven't made any purchases."
"Are you willing to lower your prices?" She asked with a smile.
"Ha, sorry, but no."
"Then I think I will wait till I have finished my race change."
"Ah, yes, good luck with that." He said nervously before turning and calling the waiter to get another drink.
Lucan went and sat back down with Silent. Lucy talked to Baelgore for awhile but moved on when Hellfire returned. She did her best to get the 2nd ranked warlock to take her out on the dance floor.
The night remained rather uneventful. Lucan and Silent talked in a corner while Lucy and Super spent their time mingling with the other guests.
Silent and Lucan were walking back to his place.
"That was the worst."
"Tell me about it." Lucan replied. "If I had known I needed to dress up and go to a banquet I would have waited to show up until tomorrow."
Silent laughed. "Nah, you would still have come here straight away."
"Well… Probably. But I would have complained about it more."
"Now that I believe."
Gifts
-- Gift
received Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone