When Enya formally took her seat, the people in the outer commentary seats began to converse, very curious about this first appearance of Enya.
A lady snorted, turned to the lady beside her, and said in a low voice.
“At an occasion like this, she’s still wearing a hat to cover her face. Afraid she has some secret she can’t reveal. No wonder she’s never seen in public.”
“Indeed, even though she’s already seated, she still hasn’t taken off her hat…”
The lady beside her chimed in.
To them, not removing one’s hat was a very rude thing. After all, everyone here was open and not hiding anything, yet she alone wouldn’t let others see her true face. Did she think she was special?
“This woman named Einfel, I heard she’s the younger aunt of Gro’s daughter, Kalian. She’s said to be very beautiful. I wonder if she’s married.”
“Speaking of that… I have inside information. It came from the maids at Lily of the Valley Manor. It’s said that this lady is married and has children.”
“Tsk…”
“Who is the man? Who has such good luck to have acquired such a large asset?”
“That’s unknown. Perhaps…”
The chatter continued.
The name Einfel had been circulating among the public recently, mostly with bad rumors, which gave many people a poor impression of her. Now that they saw her in person, they naturally had to comment, even using the gossip as conversation fodder.
Enya couldn’t be bothered to care about what these people said privately. She just needed to trouble them a bit—give them more nightmares to replenish her power.
Without them noticing, she had already started harvesting them like crops.
“Cough, cough…”
After a cough, Lord Cleveland had already walked up to the stage.
On the semicircular stage of the conference center, there was a chairman’s seat equipped with a special magical tool for amplifying sound. It was a square box about the size of an adult’s head.
Inside the box, a small, delicate magic array faintly appeared, while on the side facing the audience was a larger magic array.
When Cleveland spoke into the inside of the box, his voice was amplified and output from the outer magic array, reaching the entire vast conference hall so that everyone could hear without it sounding harsh.
After the customary flowery opening remarks, Cleveland said, “Next, let us invite our highly respected elder, Mr. Horn Smith, to preside over this grand meeting.”
From among the six seats behind the semicircular stage, one of the two middle seats was occupied by an old man with graying hair and a kind, benevolent face. He was helped up by a handsome young boy beside him and came to the center of the stage.
When he left his seat, Penrose, sitting at the far end of the other side, glanced at the unmoving Enya and gave a cold snort.
Penrose had heard all the chatter from those in the commentary seats. These days, through the entertainment venues under his control, he had spread unfavorable rumors about Lady Einfel, which were now deeply ingrained and hard to change.
These rumors had even begun to affect the businesses under the Lily of the Valley Chamber of Commerce, with shops like clothing stores suffering the most. Yet even so, there was still no countermeasure.
Because of this, Penrose dared to judge Einfel as just a pretty vase, which led to his subsequent actions.
Penrose gritted his teeth and sneered inwardly.
‘Up here, my people are in control. Down there, my people are too. What can you use to fight me? The waters of the Zephyr Empire cannot quench the fires of the Lakeside City. Let’s see how you make your final struggle!’
In his eyes, the Lakeside City, or rather the forces of the Northland States, simply didn’t want to directly break with the Zephyr Empire, so they cooperated with him, wanting to use his hand to eliminate the Lily of the Valley Chamber of Commerce.
His previous actions were just small skirmishes.
But if a prolonged attack failed, Penrose believed the Northern Kingdom forces would resort to harsh measures!
He didn’t think that the delicate woman sitting here now, along with the elf maid behind her, could withstand a lightning strike.
Perhaps she would be locked up in prison?
As Penrose thought about it, he began to snicker sinisterly, but soon he stopped his smile and calmed his inner agitation.
His desire for the position of the Lily of the Valley Chamber of Commerce had already twisted him.
Enya turned her head slightly, glancing at Penrose on the other side. But it was just a glance; she had no particular opinion of this person.
Taylor of Fengsui had a look of determination on his face.
Even if the City of the Other Shore was blockaded and the Hall of Shadows no longer supported them, dealing with a woman of no ability was still easy. Previously, they had just let Penrose use some small tricks. If that didn’t work, they wouldn’t mind using force to seize it.
Vincent of the White Wave Chamber of Commerce was watching this side with great interest. He had no interest in Lucia, but he was very interested in the mysterious Enya and Wendy, who was a Forest Elf.
Vincent waved his hand to call over his attendant standing behind him. He whispered a word in the attendant’s ear. Then the male attendant quickly walked toward Enya’s side.
The male attendant was about to approach, but Lucia glared at him.
Those eyes, deep as darkness, made the man extremely uncomfortable. He instinctively stopped in his tracks, standing five meters away from Enya, his line of sight blocked by Lucia.
The male attendant frowned. He felt some discomfort in his body and quickly sensed the strangeness in Lucia. He hurriedly stepped back, his forehead sweating, and said in a low voice.
“Lady Einfel, our president asked me to convey a message to you. He said, that elf—how much is she worth? Name your price.”
When Lucia heard this, her expression turned cold.
The meaning of these words was very clear—it was outright provocation!
Enya glanced at Vincent, who was still watching this side, and said flatly, “Go back and tell him, six thousand gold coins can buy one. Let him go to the Elven Kingdom and buy one himself.”
“…”
The man was stunned, not expecting Enya to actually answer, and this answer left him at a loss for how to respond.
Seeing that he hadn’t left, Enya added one more sentence.
“Also, tell him to stop his eyes from wandering, or else he might lose his eyeballs.”
She wouldn’t go so far as to gouge out someone’s eyes.
But if Enya didn’t do it, there were plenty of people who would do such ruthless things.
So, she kindly gave a warning.
The male attendant’s mouth twitched. He quickly left this side and returned to Vincent’s side, reporting the previous words verbatim.
After listening, Vincent squinted at Enya, grinned, and said.
“What a fiery woman.”
“…”
The male attendant lowered his head.
He was at the Fourth Tier of Mana, but the mana fluctuations Enya displayed in perception were only less than Second Tier. What gave him pressure were Lucia and Wendy—one carried an ominous aura, the other had a powerful aura far beyond his.
Vincent glanced over and saw that his subordinate had cowered. His face quickly turned cold. When he looked back at Enya’s side, he happened to meet Lucia’s gaze.
Clearly, she had heard the words “fiery woman.”
In Lucia’s understanding, this sentence was an insult to women. And coming from Vincent, it was clearly disrespectful to her mistress. Naturally, she felt uncontrollable anger.
“Lucia.”
Enya called softly.
Lucia withdrew her gaze and lowered her head again.
What about Wendy?
Wendy had no idea what was happening.
Enya sighed lightly. She suddenly felt that being human was so tiring. It would be better to be a dragon—if she wasn’t happy, she could just breathe fire.
Vincent calling her a fiery woman was a bit unexpected for Enya. Although being called that didn’t warrant killing his whole family, a little revenge seemed not inappropriate.
Enya closed her eyes slightly, and after three breaths, she opened them again. She had already figured out how to repay this great shipowner.
At the center of the stage, Horn had finished his opening remarks. They were flowery and crafted with skill. After he finished, there was a burst of applause. Then the real content of the meeting began.
While sorting his notes, Horn glanced back at Enya in her seat. Seeing that she had no particular reaction, he let out an almost imperceptible snort. As a traditional old man, he greatly disliked women engaging in the same work as men.
In his opinion, women should properly stay home as young ladies or noblewomen who don’t concern themselves with worldly affairs, not participate in business.
Even Melita, who was temporarily on their side, was on his list of dislikes.
This old man was like that.
Since the Zephyr Empire began, the previously oppressive atmosphere had only recently been released. And in this world, strength rules, and the strong are regardless of gender.
Horn glanced at his notes, stroked his beard, and smiled.
“Gentlemen, ladies, the reason the Chamber of Commerce Union has suddenly called this meeting is to discuss one matter—a very important matter that concerns every one of us!”
“In recent years, although the Lakeside City has been steadily developing, since the establishment of the Chamber of Commerce Union, there have only been five large chambers of commerce. This pattern has not changed for a long time.”
“Ultimately, this is all caused by excessive monopoly of industries. Therefore, the Lord and the heads of the major chambers have jointly discussed and decided to implement an Anti-Monopoly Act in the Lakeside City, to support the development of various small and medium chambers of commerce.”
As soon as these words were spoken, the entire hall erupted.
Everyone below the stage was either a notable figure of the Lakeside City or a president or representative of various small and medium chambers of commerce. They were the indispensable middle class of this city.
The Anti-Monopoly Act that Horn mentioned was clearly beneficial to them.
But on second thought, those who were attentive could smell the blood in it. Those who understood felt their heartbeats quicken.
This was using the guise of implementing the act to dismantle the Lily of the Valley Chamber of Commerce!
They already knew that the Lily of the Valley Chamber of Commerce had changed hands, and it had been transferred to a woman named Einfel, a name they had never heard before.
The rumors that the Lily of the Valley Chamber of Commerce was crumbling were the most widespread among many rumors. After all, the collapse of such a large chamber of commerce was what people most wanted to see.
At this moment, many eyes were focused on Enya. Since the protagonist was present, they were curious about how Enya would react.
Resentment? Despair? Or hysterical struggling and tantrums?
Enya had none of that at all.