Chapter 425 425: Power Plays VII
was well dressed, but compared to what the Guild Kings, High Guild Lords and Guild Lords were wearing, they might as well have just been beggars that came off the street. This was not their kind of scene, so it came as no surprise to Cole that instead of mingling as they were expected too, his unit sequestered themselves to a corner of the banquet hall, satisfied with glaring at everyone and everything.
Cole sniffed, the air was awash with the scent of heavy emotions, and half his unit were Raens just like him, the other half followed along, basing their reactions to the banquet based on what their Raen partners were feeling. It wasn't too long from there that Cole spotted Eze walk-in towards him with a middle aged woman in tow, and given she looked like she was dressed better than 90% of the people here Cole suspected she was an individual with a bit of power, not to mention even from here he could feel the pressure she was letting off.
It wasn't all round, but she has one of the strongest presences that Cole had experienced since he came to The Boreas. He could tell that the weakest of her stats was at the early stages of the told rank, and her strongest was far beyond the diamond rank…..the Titanium rank. Cole remembered that the Titanium rank was actually the final threshold in the earth confluence. After that was the Lunar rank. Those were too far away from him at the moment, but right now he could tell just how powerful this woman was….and she could squash him.
Cole reckoned that if he wanted to win a fight against her, he would have to bring out his biggest gun…..and in this case it is an eldritch chaos entity that melts a person's brain just from looking at it. Yeah Cole hopes nothing ever makes him have to resort to summoning Deraka…. That's definitely not going to end well for anybody.
"Greetings Sir, how are you enjoying your evening?" Cole rolled his eyes, making sure Eze and the woman could see it, before taking a drink from his wine glass, slurping loudly as he dropped the glass and leaned his head to the side.
"What's with the pandering Eze, you're the head of my military, no need to be so high strung, even in front of such a ravishing yet extremely powerful woman." It was Eze's turn to raise an eyebrow as Cole too the woman's hand and brought it up to his lips with a crisp smile on his face.
"allow me to introduce myself fair lady. The name's Cole, Lord Cole Raen Night of Raen Valley." The woman though did not even react, it was as if she was looking at a block of wood.
"I know exactly who you are Mr. Cole. So I won't beat about the bush, whatever the fuck the king has you doing…..stop it! You are messing with my businesses and I don't like that. I will fucking kill you and everything you love if you don't stop meddling in my business!" By the end of her words the woman was screaming at him, loud enough that she had brought the entire party to a halt.
Eze sighed, shaking his head before face palming and releasing an audible groan of frustration, it was unfortunate really. Cole's attempt at being charming was ruthlessly shut down, not to mention the threats and attempts at intimidation that followed. Whatever face Cole could have possibly built for himself was destroyed by now.
And it was made even more worse by the fact that the person doing all this, was way stronger than him. There was nothing he could to wash away the shame, such a public display would be a big blow to Cole's standing. And Eze knew it because he did not think that even Cole would be stupid enough to-
*BOOM!*
"The fuck did you just say to me bitch?"
Eze did not think Cole would be stupid enough to do that…. To smash an entire buffet table, spraying extremely powerful and influential people food. Then he stepped up to the woman, towering over her as Chaos dance all over his form and he called her…..he called her a bitch! Eze groaned as he turned an quickly started trying to call Tehilla. Cole was about to cause another disaster.
The woman in question blinked rapidly absolutely stumped, she didn't answer, she couldn't. Cole turned picked up a napkin from the ground as he dabbed at his face, not taking his eyes off the woman, and giving her glare so deep it sent chills down to her bones.
Perhaps, he needed to act, make an example of someone, she could squash him yes…..but she couldn't kill him. Plus Raens were the great equalizers, doesn't matter how powerful an enemy was…..[Sin Eater] was a respecter of nobody.
"Enough!"
A powerful voice reverberated across the entirety of the banquet hall, the aura behind it decidedly stronger than what the woman in front of him could bring to bear. Cole snarled and turned a fanged grin, only to come face to face with the man that could only be the king that has been trying to play Cole around like he was some puppet on a string.
"Your Majesty, I apologize for my outburst, I couldn't help myself." Cole said to the king, but of course every single person here knew Cole did not mean a word of what he had just said. But ultimately he still won a few points because he had been willing to give the king a little bit of face.
"You don't have to apologize, you are our commander it is the merchant of death that should have known better and shown proper decorum and respect for my own domain….and as such she will be punished. General Doratin…..arrest this woman and confine her to her home for the next 10 weeks, and sanction all of her operations in my city…..no one! Absolutely no one disrespects my home!" Cole had the sneaking feeling that he was the one the king was talking to…..but seriously…..he cant be that stupid right?
Cole grunted…..he really needed to get this tyrannical manner of thinking in check, Cole was almost always eager to fight someone or challenge the people stronger than him. Of course he'd win, he's had buffs and bonuses to his abilities every time he has gone up against worse odds….. it's why he's actually more effective against people stronger than him…..Cole was built to punch above his weight class.
And then there was the Deraka factor…..it made Cole particularly bold and not afraid of challenges. His mind might be telling him he wont be able to match up, but his body knew what he was capable of, and it was always itching for a fight.
"You can't do that to me! Who do you think you are!" the king did not even respond, instead a man covered to toe in armor appeared out of no where and clamped a hand down on the woman's shoulder. He did not feel particularly stronger than the king to Cole, but somehow the moment his hand clamped down, the woman shut her mouth as a look of intense fear covered her face.
The king turned around and said to Cole. "Come with me, the rest of you please enjoy the rest of the evening, after all we have a hero in our midst! Pasco boy! You do honor to the truth of Te Boreas, we serve each other, regardless of power and standing, brotherhood under the wind, I'm sure you leadwith the same values."
Pasco looked like he had been forced to swallow 5 eggs the size of a golf ball, one after the other, with one in his mouth before the other had gone down his throat. It was not a pretty sight but a quick nod from Cole was enough for him to swallow any retort or denial.
He was in the presence of the king…..his king, he ought to serve his motives and agendas...but why did it feel so much that the king he was thinking about, was very different from the king he meant. Once again his eyes met Cole's and he bowed.
"Yes my king, I will do everything within my power to uphold those values and the trust that you have placed in me, I will endeavor to make you proud of your faith my king." Pasco had a gift of words that was undeniable and he could think quickly on his feet.
The king chuckled after hearing Pasco's reply, tapping him on the shoulder as he went on ahead to tell everyone to enjoy themselves before moving on, Cole and a few other guards following behind him, while Pasco and the other members of the company positioned themselves in strategic areas….just in case.
New novel 𝓬hapters are published on (f)reeweb(n)ovel.com