A day later it's time for me to finally meet Ethan's father, Nathan baron.

Tap. Tap. The sound of my footsteps sounded and I was greeted by the two guards outside of Nathan's room as they opened the door for me. 'Bang' As the door closed I saw Nathan staring outside the window as his back was facing me. Turning around he smiled and said "Please take a seat"

With a nod I sat down on a couch as he sat opposite to me. Crossing his legs a maid entered and served us tea. Taking the tea I looked at it and saw my reflection, I stared at it for some time before taking a sip. Nathan smiled and said "It's nice to finally meet you, sir-"

"Zero" I said and Nathan was stunned for a moment before he nodded and said "I'm count Nathan Baron, you've probably met my son already. I apologize if he however offended you, I didn't know I raised such an insolent brat"

I raised my eyelids at his words but remained silent. After a long time, I finally spoke, "I've heard that you wanted to see me, for whatever reason that may be?"

Nathan clasped his hand and said "You see, there will be a ball this coming week, it is the debut of the Chrysanthemum Family's youngest son and I would like invite you as a special guest of the Baron Family on my behalf"

I took the last sip as I already finished the tea, looking at Nathan I said "The reason?" As Nathan heard this, he sweated a little and said with an awkward smile "Nothing much, I just thought that you might like to come along with us"

"Hm" I hummed and lowered my eyes as if pondering. Nathan became nervous at my actions and silently gulped. Then, I raised my head and smiled innocently and said "I accept" as I thought 'It wouldn't hurt to pretend to be ignorant for a while'

Hearing my response Nathan was delighted. With a smile he said "I'm glad you accepted the invitation" I just smiled and nodded with the thought 'I'll make use of what I can'.

….

Four days later, it was time for the ball and we arrived at the front gate of the Chrysanthemum's Family's mansion. I, Han Min-Jun, Ethan, and Nathan were the only one's to arrive here on behalf of the Baron's Family.

Seeing me enter the gazes of everyone fell on me with mixed emotions in it: Disdain, Greed, and Envy

It was a common emotion from a human and I was used to it and so was indifferent to the situation. Unlike my usual outfit where I either wore a brown coat or a robe with a mask, this time I was wearing a noble's clothes.

My bangs fell as I walked, my skin was pale as snow which robust my white and gold coat along with my white tuxedo. Then, my eyes which were all black made it looked terrifying yet unique. In just one glance, everyone already knew that I was a [Guide], and became a target. Some were about to walk towards us but the moment I glanced at them they froze and trembled before backing away.

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Alas I knew this would not be able to stop them as some stubbornly approached us with hidden intentions.

"Oh! It's Count Baron! I'm delighted to see you here" A person wearing a very elegant suit approached with a white hair and mustache. Seeing him appear Nathan's lips twitched slightly but hid his disgust and said with a smile "I'm also very delighted to see you, Count Savoy"

The person who was from the Savoy Family nodded his head and glanced at me as he asked "And who may this young lad be?" Nathan finally found the opportunity to introduce me and said "This is Zero, as you can see he is a [Guide]" Count Savoy nodded and said "I see, I'm impressed that you can find such a person"

"Hehe, it's nothing really" While saying this he kept stealing glances at me and seeing that I didn't seem to be offended he sighed a relief internally.

"Father"

A feminine voice then sounded and Count Savoy made way as he said "Ah, this is my daughter, Lily Savoy" The girl who had white snow hair and blue eyes bowed in an elegant manner as she said "Pleased to meet you"

Nathan nodded and also introduced Ethan as he said "This is my only son, Ethan Baron" Ethan also bowed and said "'Pleasure to meet you"

While I was looking around Lily suddenly approached me and said "Is your name Zero?" I looked at her and hummed indifferently. Lily did not get disheartened at my indifference and instead became even more interested as she closed up to me even more.

Ethan and Han Min-Jun on the side suddenly became nervous, fearing that I might do something reckless. Just as Lily was about to close up more on me, a blonde golden hair suddenly fluttered and in a blink of an eye, a woman appeared beside me. Seeing who it was I widened my eyes slightly, it was Claire.

"Claire?" I called out and she smiled and hummed, unlike her previous attitude this time she was much more gentler and well mannered, probably because we are at a ball.

"Lady Anderson?" Lily was surprised and did not expect that the previous shy and meek youngest daughter of the Anderson Family would make such an approach! What's more, seeing her eyes she knew that she became a [Guide]. She had heard about this rumor about Claire Anderson finally becoming a [Guide] but she did not believed it.

'So the rumors are true huh?' Lily hid her dismay and smiled as she said "Are you two acquainted?"

Claire smiled and hummed. I did not noticed the strangeness and also hummed in response but before I could even think of something, Lily spoke and asked "Are you two perhaps, lovers?"

"Pfft-!"

The sound of someone choking sounded and everyone became stunned, especially-

"What did I just hear? You have a lover, Claire?" Hearing a rough and solemn voice we turned our heads and saw a person with blonde hair and mustache strode towards us with a suffocating aura. Of course his aura did not affected me but it did for the others.

I used my [Appraisal] [Skill] on him and found that he has a lot amount of mana and did not thought of offending him, so, why does he seem angry? Subconsciously I glanced at Claire and found that she had her eyes widen and her face flushed red along with a little bit of paleness, then, she exclaimed "Father?!"

Me: "…" Father?

"It's not what you think!" Claire explained and the [Judge]s couldn't help laughing, even the [Judge] "Iris" who was stern and lofty. Was what the other players told me so

As the person reached us Claire walked towards his side but the person just scoffed and asked with his arms crossed "Then how do you explain what I heard just now?"

Before Claire could explain I spoke first and said "It was merely just a conclusion from Lady Savoy" My voice was indifferent and nonchalant which made the person frown but could not refute my words. In the end he could only introduce himself and said "I'm Claire Anderson's father, Eugene Anderson"

With a nod I also introduced myself, "Zero". Eugene narrowed his eyes at my word but did not speak. Seeing the atmosphere getting tense, Nathan spoke up and said "Well then, may I ask, where exactly is the star of the show today?" Before anyone could react, we heard the sound of 'clang' and looked over towards the sound. Speaking of the devil the person we were talking about finally arrived

At the very center of the two stairs, a person with green emerald green hair and eyes appeared wearing a noble white military suit. It was a leader of the knights as well as the youngest son of the Chrysanthemum Family, Lux Chrysanthemum.

This was another familiar name that I've heard before from the game as the Chrysanthemum Family was the richest noble in the Engine Country. An NPC who had a huge role for the upcoming war of the world [Theos] and the Outer Gods.

The youngest ever to become the leader of the knights at the age of 18, Lux who was also known as--

--The Grand Master code name: Leaf

And he-…

I couldn't help grinning slightly as I thought 'Is another piece that I need to obtain'.