Might as Well

Thankfully, this time he didn’t have to order a car. Lara, being who she was, came with a wide range of services she could make use of. One of those services was a twenty-four-seven car service employed by the family.

They simply had to leave the building, and the high-tech car was there, with a man dressed in a suit, wearing black sunglasses, holding the door open to them.

The first part of the trip was spent in silence as he once again spent his time staring out of the window and watching the skyline pass by while his date spent it perfecting her makeup.

With a quiet click, the small box of makeup tools, powders, creams, and everything else closed and retracted back into a receptacle of the car and Lara turned to Sam.

“So, the plan is still the same? Your meeting with grandpa didn’t change it, right?” she asked, half worried and half giddy.

Sam forced himself not to shudder at the thought of Lara’s grandfather and nodded.

“Yep. Still the same. Smile and wave while pretending to be an airheaded bimbo,” he replied.

Lara just grinned.

“Do you think it will work?”

“I mean you told me you haven’t really participated in business meetings…”

“I mean yeah, I have cousins for that…”

“That means that most of these people will have no idea who you are…” Her grin widened as he spoke. “We only need one person to recognize you. The rest will be taken care of by gossip.”

“Can’t wait to see it!”

“Same…”

They lapsed into silence as Sam tried to hype himself for the gala. The meeting with Lara’s grandfather rattled him, and his usual cool behavior was harder to bring forth.

“What about the auction?” Lara asked, suddenly breaking him out of his thoughts.

“Hmm?” Sam answered absentmindedly.

“Do we want to buy anything from it?”

“Why, did you see anything you want?”

The auction they were going to would be separated into two parts. The first part would be all about real-life items, like paintings, antique decorative items, and even his statue. Unsurprisingly, a lot of things were connected to the game. His item would be joined by several paintings of in-game characters, sculptures of monsters, and even a few contracts for artists. They pledged to create whatever the winner of the auction wanted in their preferred mediums.

Sam checked, and they were moderately well-known and respected artists. Nothing he would be interested in, but based on the buzz on the net, people were really hyped for them.

The second part would be filled with in-game items like skill books, enchanted equipment, and artifacts, and the list that the auction organizers provided also had an item that just said it was for a quest.

He had a few guesses about what kind of quest it could be – based on how quests worked - but in the end, it would only be revealed to him when the auction started.

“Some of that equipment looks cool…” she admitted.

“Which one?” he asked.

Lara took out her phone from her purse and after a few seconds of tapping, she turned the screen toward Sam, showing him one of the weapons on the list.

Sam read the details and specifications of the weapon, a rapier, and then took a look at the asking price.

“Damn. That’s some expensive trash…” he mumbled.

“Really?” she asked, bringing the phone back toward herself and taking another look at the weapon. “It’s much better than the one I currently have and the enchantment looks super useful.”

[Earth Pierce: Earth and stone cannot stop your weapon. It pierces through earth without any slowdown or decrease of damage.]

Sam just snorted. “Remind me later and I will have Lucy commission you one that has All Pierce. Earth Pierce is rather limiting…”

“You can do that?”

Sam just waved his hand in a dismissing motion. “It’s a rare enchantment, but I know how to get it…”

Lara’s eyes widened, and her frown turned into a grin. “You’re the best, boss!”

Getting into the gala was easy. Granted, they had to wait in an actual limo line to get to the front door, but nobody hassled them at the door. The person standing there recognized Sam instantly and waved him inside, alongside the crowd. The staff member ignored Lara as she clung to Sam’s arm and gazed around in a ditzy manner.

‘Probably used to less than stellar dates…’ Sam mused as he escorted Lara inside.

The Stelborne Gala and Charity Auction looked exactly like Sam expected. Chandeliers hung from the ceiling, illuminated by countless light sources that made sure to scatter the light artistically on the crystal parts of said chandeliers.

The walls were lined with countless artworks, both on the wall and on the floor. Between and around them several plants, both exotic and not, could be found, their green color enhancing the look of the venue.

However, the building had other things to fill it with. Tables laden with bite-sized food, waiters wandering the floor with drinks, both alcoholic and not, while sofas in all shapes and sizes (sinfully comfortable, all of them) littered the space, allowing people to group and ‘enjoy’ each other’s presence.

Sam saw young people, around Lara’s and his age, lounging on the sofas, surrounded by beautiful women who laughed almost automatically at everything they said, and saw the older generation sitting around, with a little more decorum (but not much) talking quietly with each other, the genders separated into different groups.

Older women tittered amongst themselves as they threw glances at other women around the party. The men laughed uproariously as they made fun of each other, with one person trying to keep cool as their head turned into an interesting shade of puce.

All in all, it was everything he expected it to be.

Naturally, as they were not part of any of the groups or cliques, Lara and Sam were practically ignored by everybody as they slowly walked through the space. Men scoffed at Sam and women threw condescending glances at Lara while turning to whisper to their friends and point.

“Just like back in high school…” Sam murmured, leaning down a little so that only Lara could hear him.

She snorted and then giggled a little. Then she stiffened and exclaimed a little louder.

“Look! Katie is there!”

And indeed, their chaotic friend was there, near one of the tables laden with cakes. She was wearing an elegant blue dress that showed off her shoulders while her hair cascaded down in incredible waves. Next to her stood Isabella, who instead of a summer dress type of clothing was wearing a tight dress, fitted perfectly to her body, in green color with blue highlights, her hair up in an elegant hairdo while jewelry sparkled on her neck drawing attention to her moderate décolletage.

They barely moved toward their friends when Katie’s bored, wandering gaze found them. Instantly, the boredom fled from her eyes, replaced by genuine joy and excitement.

“Sam!” she called out, her voice cutting through the low murmur of the hall, causing several people to look toward them. Then she grabbed Isabella by the hand and strode forward, her kitten heels clacking on the marble floor.

Soon, they were being hugged by the excitable young woman as several speculative gazes watched them, wondering why the daughter of the person who organized this gala was talking to two totally unknown people.

Thankfully, some managed to scrounge up the brain cells and figure out that if Katie was talking to an unknown person, whose name was Sam, then more than likely it was Katie’s guild master. As Katie began to babble the room was also filled with whispers.

“So nice to see you finally! I have been soooo bored! We can’t even talk about anything important with Izzy! Tell them, Izzy!”

Isabella opened her mouth to answer, but before she could even start talking, Katie continued.

“See! It’s been horrible! At least the food is great! I made father use the caterer I know can make super delicious cakes!”

Isabella chose the moment Katie paused to take a breath to comment.

“Indeed, it has been horrible. I doubt it’s going to get better…” she said dryly.

Next to her, Katie just nodded emphatically as Lara giggled while Sam extricated himself from Katie’s vice grip.

“Nice to see you guys again,” Sam replied with a smile. “Anything interesting?” He made sure to keep his voice at a level that made sure that everybody heard him, but it looked like he was trying to keep a low profile.

“Sooo much! The art is meh, but the game stuff is super interesting!” Katie answered with a grin.

Sam could feel the physical weight of the stares on them after that sentence. More than likely, most of the younger people played Magic Unbound, and he suspected that at least half of the older generation also partook in gaming once in a while.

And as the game was the newest craze, there was nothing more interesting to these rich people, than things that could provide them bragging rights or advantage over their rivals.

Surreptitiously glancing around, Sam had to hold back a smirk.

‘Let’s start with an easy one…’

“Yes, the equipment up for auction is all rather compelling,” he admitted.

“Are you going to bid on them?” Isabella asked with a small smile.

All of them knew that Sam was only here to sow chaos and not to buy anything.

“Oh yes, I plan to bid on as many as possible. They could be a great addition to some people’s build…” Not his people, but some people could certainly make use of them…

Already, he could feel the tension rising up in the room. After all, all these people were here to bid on those same weapons, armor, and artifacts. He wasn’t as rich as most of these people, but as he was the leader of one of the most powerful in-game organizations, they were equating his power to the real world.

After all, in their mind, only someone powerful in the real world could build something like that in the game.

Suddenly, his arm was grabbed by Katie.

“Come on! Let’s introduce you to my father!” she exclaimed, a smile on her lips, and began to drag Sam.

He shared a look with Isabella and Lara, who both just shrugged, so he let himself be dragged.

The man of the hour, or at least the event, stood amongst his ‘equals’, wearing a high-quality suit, fitted perfectly to his frame, talking to distinguished people with frowns on their faces. Hanging around them were countless heirs, based on the fact that Sam saw a guy with a similar look to Katie and their father having a stilted conversation with another young scion.

The man instantly looked up when the sound of Katie’s steps began to echo around the room, his eyes locking on Sam. He returned the look with a nod and smile. The rest of the people slowly drifted apart, no doubt expecting a show.

“Father!” Katie skidded to stop not far from the man, took a deep breath, and motioned toward Sam. “My friend, Sam!”

Silence fell on the group as Sam adjusted his own suit jacket and stepped forward with a hand outstretched.

“A pleasure to meet you, sir. I’m very thankful for the invitation to the gala. I rarely have the opportunity to spend time among individuals of such caliber,” he greeted a man. Most of the younger people listening in smirked proudly at his admission, while the older ones – at least some of them – just gave him an insincere smile, including Katie’s father.

The man took his hand and shook it a few times before dropping it.

“Welcome to the Stelborne Gala.” Katie’s father then turned toward Lara who was still standing back, dutifully acting like an empty-headed arm candy. “Might I know your date for today?”

Sam straightened and smiled. “Naturally!” He reached out with a hand, palm facing upwards, to Lara, who gently grabbed it and simply glided forward.

Sam vowed to ask her later to teach him how to do that.

“Allow me to introduce my delightful date for this evening, Lara Astran!”

It was really hard not to break out laughing as all the distinguished gentlemen began to choke on their drinks while Katie’s father looked like he was simultaneously kicked in the balls and given the sourest candy in the world.