Following the servant, I approached the VIP lodges at the highest point of the tribune. Walking through the narrow walkway located at the very top of the tribunes was an unpleasant experience. With new elements of the show constantly appearing and changing on the stage, I knew I was missing quite a bit, but I had no other choice but to follow this guy.

Thankfully, Venna"s lodge was relatively close to the seat I got my ticket for. Entering a small room through a special door unlocked by the servant guiding me, I climbed the stairs only to turn around at their end and see four, comfortable chairs facing the gla.s.s pane separating the lodge from the rest of the tribunes. While I was walking on the walkway, those lodges looked like just a plain wall, showing that this window was only semitransparent for only one side. 

"How did you do it?"

As soon as the servant left, one of the three chairs suddenly turned on its stelage around, showing Venna dressed in common clothes. I guess she was one of those people who weren"t really bothered by their appearance while outside of work. Even if others would consider this as a disappointment, her plain way of dressing instantly relaxed the atmosphere making it easier to talk.

"What did I do? I"m not sure what do you mean."

Using the fact that she didn"t use any honorifics despite the presence of two other people besides her who were still focused on the events on the stadium, I refrained from using them as well and spoke to her directly.

"Don"t act dumb. It"s not a healthy approach to do business. And you don"t need to worry about them, while you won"t see these men in any official occasion, they hold quite a lot of say regarding the matter we spoke about earlier today."

Hearing my excuse, Venna"s beautiful face twisted in an ugly expression. Why I get why playing dumb might annoy her, but the sad truth is, I had no idea what she means!

"I"m sorry if that"s how it looks to you, but I really don"t know what do you mean. You need to at least point me in a certain direction if you want me to catch up with your drift. Unless you want to speak about our deal, but then you calling me here wouldn"t make any sense."

Spreading my arms, I can only keep my act. Even if the timing of her call is a hint to what does she means, without any knowledge about what this mist is and why is it important, I can"t help but act in this way to get some information about this topic!

"How did you manage to absorb all three weapons essences at once?"

So that strange mist was a weapon essence? Considering the names that were called when it appeared, that would give heavenly sword essence, draconic sabre essence and natural edge essence? While its all nice and dandy, what does this third one even mean?

"You can ask me and I can ask you. I felt some kind of strange energy in the air so I just cultivated and started absorbing it. As for how I was able to absorb all three at once, this is the moment I actually first heard about it!"

Since I was really eager to make business with her, there was no point in hiding this kind of thing. Coming clean was the best thing I could do!

"So that"s how it was…"

Hearing my response put Venna into deep thought. Since she requested a talk with me because of this small event, I decided to use this opportunity to probe into the topic that was on my head right now.

"Forgive me for asking, but I need to know one thing. I take it that I can speak freely here?"

While she didn"t mind those two people that were sitting in the chairs when we were speaking about the matter related to my own const.i.tution, I couldn"t be sure if they were trusty enough to include them in the talk about politics. After all, I was going to drop quite a big bomb right now!

"If you are concerned about this… Here you go, we can speak in private now."

After making some small movements with her fingers, I could feel some sort of energy enveloping us, before stopping in place and creating a barely visible barrier, enclosing us from the entire world. I guess it"s some sort of soundproof spell. It"s only natural that expert like her, especially in the line of the business she was in, would require such a tool!

"What is the att.i.tude of your faction in the auction house and the sect that you could recommend me and my fiancee towards Katenari family?"

While I would love to outright relay my plan to her if I don"t know what their relation to this family is, it would be highly unwise to just speak about the idea brewing in my head. 

"That"s a really serious question you asked me here… Why do you think you are ent.i.tled to the answer? Even if there is some sort of conflict or cooperation, it"s nothing a potential outer disciple like you should be bothered with!"

Dang, it. If I won"t be able to rip the answer out of her, I won"t be able to implement my plan. By working my bottom off I should be able to acquire enough resources to implement it myself, but without an influential backer, no matter what I would do, I would get squashed by local powerhouses! Recruiting the experts and creating my own faction in a short span of two weeks? This could only happen in a childish novel. Without insanely favourable environment for some kind of scheme that would result in such outcome, it"s is only a silly fantasy of someone unaccustomed to the way the world works! Even if I manage to recruit a lot of experts to protect my business that would serve as a leverage to put my real plan into motion, would all the other local powers sit tight while I would take over parts of their turf? The better question is, would they even allow me to recruit enough experts to protect my business in the first place! 

As such, if I wanted to employ my plan of undermining Katenari family influence, I had to find a force rivalling them!

"I might not be high enough to get this information, but let me put it in those terms. If the answer to your question will be in the line with what I want to do, this sword will be put as collateral for my requests."

Taking out my Utopy from my storage ring instantly attracted the attention of the two males outside our communication bubble. Only when they saw that I actually pa.s.sed the weapon to Venna"s hand did they settle down back on their seats.

"Do you think that a single sword is valuable enough…."

Venna"s sentence got cut short as soon as her hands touched the weapon.