In the eastern district of Ignacy, the City of Lights, where the Chamber of Commerce was located,
all the gold foil, temporary structures, and everything else had been packed away,
and the thousands of Golden Masks responsible for managing the Chamber of Commerce began gathering together. They came face-to-face, and whenever their masks touched, they fused into one. In the end, all the Golden Masks merged into a single entity, whose appearance changed slightly as well.
Long golden hair fell over his shoulders. His attire resembled that of a gentleman: a formal suit with no buttons, though its color was black.
Gold was used for decoration, including a golden tie, golden leather shoes, and a golden pocket watch connected to his collar and breast pocket by a golden chain.
Most important of all was a golden briefcase. Inside were enough Old World gold to cover the entire Chamber of Commerce district, portable building frames, a shrunken auction hall, and so on.
As for the other rumored Silver Mask, no sign of him had appeared from beginning to end.
Duke's castle palanquin was also carried by the group known as the Back-Seat People. There were more of them than before, clearly because quite a few people had gotten carried away with gambling during the Chamber of Commerce's event and signed contracts of servitude lasting thousands or even tens of thousands of years.
As the number of Back-Seat People increased, the castle grew slightly larger as well.
The Golden Mask jogged over, leaped up with a few quick steps, and landed steadily atop Duke's castle. He squeezed past the fat on Duke's back and found the room hidden deep within the castle that belonged to him.
The Chamber of Commerce finished packing up and departed in the form of a castle throne.