Chapter 96: War of the Gods
As the card game progressed, Zhou Ning discovered something rather interesting—he could not only roughly discern his opponents' cards through Observation Haki, but the proficiency of his Observation Haki was also increasing rapidly.
If character could really be judged through gambling, Zhou Ning figured he was already beyond redemption.
And so, everyone present sat in a figurative jail for nearly forty minutes, embodying what it meant to be on pins and needles, at a total loss. It wasn't until around 6:30—when the guests began arriving in droves—that they were finally "released" from their torment.
The noble young ladies didn't seem to mind their brief "sentence." Especially Sabrina, Zora, and the other girls, who clung to Zhou Ning as they chatted excitedly about the card game and Darkland's magicball star, Evan Harkins.
Because the gas stove was on, the room was quite warm, and the noble girls were dressed rather lightly. With their soft voices and sweet fragrances, the scene could easily be described as the embrace of fragrant beauty. As a man with a perfectly normal orientation, Zhou Ning didn't exactly dislike being close to beautiful women, but given the circumstances, he mostly felt awkward.
Upon entering the banquet hall, Zhou Ning was greeted by rows of banquet tables loaded with food: foie gras, carrots with tarragon, frog legs in sorrel sauce, truffle guinea fowl pie… and sparkling Misty Sea wine, among other delicacies.
Zhou Ning, who hadn't had a proper meal in ages, almost drooled in embarrassment.
Scanning the hall, he soon spotted the chubby kid Alan, who had just left earlier. Alan was walking in with his father, Vernon West, along with a few other middle-aged nobles. Using Observation Haki, Zhou Ning picked up on their conversation, which revolved around scandalous affairs among the nobility.
That kind of gossip was clearly premium content. Even someone like Zhou Ning, who'd seen plenty, felt like tuning it out after a short while.
By 7:00 p.m., the guests had all arrived. To Zhou Ning's surprise, even Isaac Morton—the head of the Morton family—had shown up in person. Apparently, the West family really did have some clout; at the very least, even the Courage family hadn't dared turn down the invitation.
While chatting with Alan, Zhou Ning learned that the adult ceremony for noble heirs involved communing with their ancestors to receive the power of the family creed—but this ritual was conducted in private after the banquet.
After Alan's welcome speech, the banquet officially began. Events like this were primarily for socializing, so soon the guests split off into small groups of two or three and began chatting happily.
Zhou Ning wasn't particularly interested in socializing, so he grabbed a plate and wandered between the tables, sampling all kinds of food.
Thanks to the advanced alchemy of the Apocalypse world, even the plates had warming arrays inscribed on their undersides, keeping the food at just the right temperature and texture. Zhou Ning finally felt the joy of truly good food again.
Suddenly, Zhou Ning stopped in his tracks, eyes narrowing. Out of the corner of his eye, he spotted a familiar figure—standing casually at a table across the room, chatting with several nobles.
No doubt about it. It was the noble in blue he had seen at the Green Shade Inn that day:
Brown hair slicked back, icy blue eyes, a slightly receding hairline, and deep nasolabial folds. He looked just like the man Zhou Ning had seen in that portrait. Controlling his expression, Zhou Ning made no move to stare and instead casually moved to the far side of the table, plate in hand.
Keeping a distance that wouldn't arouse suspicion, Zhou Ning used his Observation Haki to identify and eavesdrop on their conversation while occasionally nibbling on food.
Sure enough, the noble in blue was being addressed as Baron Rivers. This generation's Baron Rivers was named Harrison Rivers.
Finally found you, Zhou Ning thought, exhaling deeply.
At that moment, Harrison Rivers was discussing the amendments to the Poor Relief Act with a few nobles. The draft revision had already passed the upper house with a majority vote. It stipulated that only the impoverished housed in workhouses and subjected to hard labor would qualify for assistance.
Zhou Ning listened for a while and was just about to move on when, all of a sudden, he felt a chill. Looking up again, his eyes locked with Harrison Rivers in the distance. He saw Harrison say something to the people beside him, then glance in Zhou Ning's direction with a trace of suspicion in his eyes. Zhou Ning barely managed to keep his smile from faltering.
This must be one of the downsides of becoming a living legend—people suddenly know your name, or start recognizing you through all kinds of channels. It's so damn unscientific.
Turning away as if nothing had happened, Zhou Ning's expression turned grave. Now that he had confirmation that the black-robed man was indeed Harrison Rivers, the question was—how should he deal with him? The man was powerful, highly ranked, and a close friend of the king. Could Zhou Ning somehow enlist the help of a team of Supernaturals or the Church?
Flipping the perspective, could Harrison Rivers have also recognized him? Perhaps not as the man who fought him that night, but maybe as Wayne Sturwell—the one who had thwarted the Curse God Cult multiple times?
Either way, he couldn't afford to let his guard down. He only had one life, after all...
Maybe this time, he should strike first?
Once the banquet ended, Zhou Ning said goodbye to Alan and, with great resolve, turned down a noble girl's invitation to stay the night, choosing instead to take his leave.
By then, it had just started to rain. Zhou Ning saw Harrison Rivers board a carriage. Lifting the curtain, the man looked back at Zhou Ning before the carriage sped off into the night.
Having already missed the last public carriage of the day, Zhou Ning had no choice but to hire a private one, which cost him four Roshens.
By the time he returned to the dormitory, it was close to 10:00 p.m. John was sitting there, completely absorbed in something.
Seeing Zhou Ning enter, John immediately waved him over. "Wayne, I got a few illustrators to do some mock-ups of the Yu-Gi-Oh! card art. Come check them out!"
"Oh? That fast?" Zhou Ning walked over, curious, and picked up the illustrations on the table.
He had to admit—John worked fast. He'd hired four top-tier artists to draw card artwork, all themed around the Harpie Lady deck. Each piece had a distinct style, oozing artistic flair. Zhou Ning browsed through them, and in the end, chose the one with the largest chest.
"Knew you had good taste like me." John gave him a thumbs-up and grinned slyly.
After chatting with John for a bit, Zhou Ning returned to his room. Glancing at the clock, he saw it was just past 10:15. With nothing else to do, he figured he might as well grind out some progress in the game.
He opened the game simulation interface. Since he had just done a few ten-pulls earlier, he only had seven Traversal Coins left. After some hesitation, he gritted his teeth and spent 530 Vecktas to recharge 53 coins. He then selected the new map: War of the Gods—and hit Traversal!
[Preparing for traversal… Traversal Coins -60]
[Please choose a traversal mode…]
[1. Direct Traversal]
[2. Use Parallel World Template for Traversal]
As usual, he first selected the second option to inspect the templates. He'd gone all-in for this traversal, so there was no room for carelessness.
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