Aldrich Triss is like a golden pheasant that has lived in the wild for many years, and despite his sonorous wings and good status, it is still difficult to squeeze into the ornately decorated zoo of Baron Federi.

He wandered the remote corners of the hall and listened to a small circle of young people talking about the hottest topics of the moment, but unfortunately there was no suitable introducer, and Knight Tris remained on the edge of the social circle.

However, Aldridge's luck was good, and the rumors of the Fourth Knight of Eastwood brought him a lot of unwarranted hatred and jealousy, and at the same time attracted the attention of the descendants of the military knights, especially the former allies of the Triss family.

A young man with a faint scar on his cheek, seeing Aldrich approaching, stepped back half a step, turned slightly sideways, and opened a gap between himself and his acquaintance, and then he gestured to Triss with a slight forehead.

Opportunity!

Aldrich walked silently, like a dew dropping into the river, perfectly becoming a part of it, and then cast a grateful glance at the 'introducer'.

The facial features, the distance between the eyes, and the light green pupils were unexpectedly familiar, and Tris suddenly remembered a worthy member of the Night Watchman, Tim Pol.

"Thank you for taking care of my brother, who is not too disciplined, but fell into your hands, grew up gradually, and became a personal friend with Burgetta, all thanks to you. ”

"Worried about the future and vital interests of the family members, Tim's brother, it seems that you are not a closet nobleman who lives a leisurely life, thank you very much for attributing my brother's growth to me, but in fact, the sweat on his forehead and the straight back are the ingredients for his success, and Tim's efforts should not be ignored, otherwise it will not be fair to him. ”

The young introducer was silent for a moment, then stretched out his right hand: "Phyllis Pol!"

"Aldrich Triss!" declares himself to his home, and at the same time holds the friendship of the noble people.

The other three young men in this circle raised their glasses, and Phyllis Ball withdrew his right hand and introduced Triss in turn: "Goyle, who likes to delve into magic and tricks, Angus, who loves poetry, and Ribo, who has his own gallery." ”

Wetting his lips slightly, Aldrich Triss was a member of the circle, and even a nod of friendship was enough to save him from the embarrassment of being alone outside the dinner party.

"By the way, Mr. Pol, everyone here has their own areas of interest, I wonder what you are involved in?"

Rainbow had a playful look on his face, and Angus and Goyle had an equally interesting look in their eyes, ready to hear what their friend Phyllis had to say, hoping that beautiful words would keep coming out of that slippery mouth.

Phyllis Pol was at first at a loss for this sudden question, but in order to deal with the social problem, he did a lot of drafting, pondered for a while, but did not pick out a single white lie, but asked directly.

"Mr. Triss, what do you think I should do, Mr. Triss?"

Aldrich had a headache, as if he was not facing his peers, but an old parliamentarian politician: "Well......"

Pondering, sharp, but not face-hurting, eyes swirling back and forth over the members of the circle, and considering the trivia that Tim Pol the Raven had once said, Triss decided to determine his position with precise answers, not vague expressions.

"This is a circle of magicians, bards, and great painters, and if there is no common language, it is difficult to get along well and have a lively conversation, at first I guessed that Mr. Pol's identity should be a writer or something, after all, he has a thin cocoon on the first knuckle of the middle finger of his right hand, and there is also a smell of ink on his body that cannot be concealed by rose essential oil perfume, but ......"

Speaking of this, not only the young people around Aldrich, but also the people in the small circle who were still talking nearby were aroused by curiosity and pricked up their ears to listen.

"However, there is something special about my nose that can faintly distinguish the smell of rosin ink, and as far as I know, there is only one type of person in Eastwood who works in this kind of industry. ”

Phyllis Pol raised his glass, without any emotion: "It's close, it's close." ”

Aldrich cautiously changed the subject: "As far as I know, art trading is quite lucrative, and there is room for potential appreciation, which is more valuable than depositing it in the bank for regular interest." ”

Rainbow, who owns his own gallery, couldn't help but exclaim: "The brain is too good, and he can guess Phyllis's profession with just a few clues, maybe only the senior detective of the Secret Police Department can do it." Dear Mr. Tris, what exactly do you guess?"

"Quite simply, there is no such thing as a complicated reasoning technique. Phyllis's younger brother, Tim Ball, once praised his brother many times in front of me in a warm tone, and used him as his role model. ”

I see! The high expectations were instantly dashed, and the nearby circle paused for a moment to continue the conversation, and the importance of Aldrich Tris was pushed back to its original place by reality.

'Tim doesn't know what I really do!' Phyllis Pol didn't debunk, smiling as he asked for a glass of champagne from a plate held by a passing waiter, his eyes shining through the wine at the pace-driven lieutenant of the Night Watchman, who had created the Scavengers' Guild and led it to establish himself in both the underworld and the chaotic docklands.

'There's something to be confirmed, but there's no right opportunity for the time being. Phyllis Pol put down his wine glass, and out of the corner of his eye, he saw the game of the noble girl in the deputy hall not far away, and suddenly his heart moved, and he glanced at the acquaintances inside, ready to use this as a starting point.

As guests move in, the large foyer can't accommodate so many people, so the numerous rooms become the best channel for diversion, like the tributaries of a great river and the lakes along the way.

In the corridors, aisles, room entrances, windowsills, courtyards, and under the trees, there were guests lingering in every place, and the waiters in charge of hospitality were even busier, and even had to use reserve manpower to fill the gap.

Aldrich's new social circle did not choose a back room for the big people with the smell of smoke, but a spacious open-air courtyard, walking on the soft and thick lawn, his feet sunk into it, as if he were stepping on a Posey carpet.

A few noble children who originally occupied this place immediately cheered when they saw Phyllis Ball and others approaching, and they couldn't wait to rush over, the goal was neatly and unanimous, not the fresh face of Aldrich Tris, nor the bard Angus, the gallery owner Ribbo was even directly ignored, and the person they adorned was the magician, Goyle.

The person who held the moon in front of his friends didn't show a happy expression, he didn't want to mix with the little kid, not to mention that losing his identity would affect his reputation, that would definitely not be good.

However, because of the identity of these teenagers, he had to come up with some tricks, otherwise he would not be able to get out for the time being, and there would be a lot of dissatisfied gossip.

Sit or stand, finding his place in the courtyard, Aldrich Triss watched curiously as the magician Goyle coped with the clingy young noblemen.

I saw him carelessly take out the hand towel hidden in his sleeve, clench his left hand into a fist and stuff it in, and with a whoosh, a bouquet of fireworks suddenly appeared in his right hand, and the whereabouts of the hand towel were unknown.

Goyle's left hand was spread out, his five fingers turned over, and then snapped his fingers, and the tiny spark ignited the lead of the firefly, and from the tiny spout, rushed out the firefly-sized flash particles, about elbow feet or so, and then bloomed into a palm-sized small fireflower, close in front of the children, but there was no dangerous burn, obviously he had been prepared.

"It's not supposed to be a trick, it's a real magic show. Aldrich let go of his worries, it wasn't that Goyle didn't have a source of spell casting, but it didn't show it on the occasion of the current dinner.

He also took out a few candy-like magic flowers from his sleeves, and after lighting them, only the top sputtered sparks, adding a bit of unusual brilliance to the dark courtyard that was not lit and hung up.

Finally getting rid of those little kids, the magician Goyle came to his partner's side and took out a handkerchief to wipe the sweat from his forehead, obviously it was not easy to get through the trick just now.

The lighter is guided to the courtyard by the attendant, takes off the oil lamp with a long pole, refills it with pine oil and lights it with a match, and the four corners include a stone table in the middle, and a string of three oil lamps of different heights, so that the open-air courtyard is like a brightly lit room.

"The real big guys haven't arrived yet, so let's wait here for a while. Phyllis Pol's tone was extremely relaxed, and he saw an acquaintance in the deputy hall just now leading a few noble girls over.

Madame de Lovette, who had been ordered to approach Aldrich Triss, was also on the list of invitees to the dinner, and it should be said that she was a frequent visitor to the Baron's palace of Federi, and that she had only been slightly frustrated by the previous half-way tentative contact, and afterwards she consulted the relevant professionals in time for the traditional knights of the manor, so that the widows of the nobles, who had already set their sights on their prey, 'visited' the invitees of the open-air courtyard as if they were following the crowd.

Led by Phyllis Pol, most of the nobles gathered around him were the children of the noble clan, who had plenty of free time to pursue the life they wanted, and had more options than commoners, at least until the family needed them to do their duty.

The deep furrow squeezed out by the low-cut dress and fishbone tights of the noble girl made Aldrich Triss suppress the desire to stir, like a beast hidden in its body stretching its hands and feet, eager to rush out and take over his body.

Madame Lovette, who was staring at him, soon noticed the unintentional struggle of her target, and she pretended to arrange the dinner gown, but her well-cut gown slipped unintentionally to the ground, right in front of Aldrich.

Hindered by the etiquette of the knight, Triss immediately stepped forward to pick up the old-fashioned precept and the elixir of love, and he chose the former again, and respectfully returned it to Lady Lovette, Aldrich, who had a good memory, and soon remembered the street encounter that had been deliberately arranged.

"You ought to clothe her!" seemed to see an undercurrent surging between the two, and Phyllis Pol, who was slightly aware, did not know his own kick and kicked Triss into a desperate situation of poisonous snakes and flames.

Aldrich could only do so, and he gently draped the silver-green robe over Lady Lovett, acting skillfully as if there was a long-standing friendship and tacit understanding between the two.

Only the painter Ribber, who is familiar with the structure of the human body, saw Tris's stiff hands and feet, and his view of this friend who had not known him for a long time suddenly changed, and he couldn't help but laugh secretly in his heart, I see!

He also saw that Mrs. Lovette, who had a 'good reputation', had a good impression of Aldrich: perhaps, they had known each other before, and had a little friendship.

Rainbow decides to take advantage of the dinner party to push Triss out of his role as a young chick once and for all, after all, Baron Federi's new house is famous for its large number of rooms, and many of the rooms serve as witnesses to friendship, except for the back room controlled by the big man.