Inside the Silver Clam Hall, Lin Qi and the other two sat beside the dining table, its long surface piled high with all manner of extraordinarily expensive food.
Calling food "expensive" was a strange thing. But that was how banquets at the Pearl Shadow Club worked. Nothing here sought to be the best—only the most expensive. Even among ingredients identical in taste and texture, only the costliest would catch the eye of the top chefs here.
The most expensive ingredients from the Western Continent, even the Odin Icefield and the Black Spirit Continent, were processed by master chefs, then had at least one zero and as many as three zeros added after their cost price. That was the pinnacle of extravagant indulgence the Pearl Shadow Club offered its members.
A dining fork forged from mithril viciously pierced a fresh purple oyster. Edwards happily put a piece of oyster flesh, as translucent as a silver crystal and occasionally seeping glittering mucus, into his mouth. Then he let out a satisfied sigh.
Such enjoyment was truly moving. Although he was the Gallic Empire's Minister of Taxation, he was only the Finance Minister's deputy. In other words, he was the Finance Minister's subordinate. Compared to the Finance Minister, who held the entire Empire's economic power in his hands, Edwards was responsible only for tax collection.
Thus, Edwards had plenty of graft to skim, but compared to his title and expenses, it was somewhat insufficient to cover his outgoings. If he had not owned several sizable farms outside Berely City, he simply could not have maintained the dignity expected of him.
Places like the Pearl Shadow Club were open at all times to core members of those ancient ducal and marquis families, as well as the Gallic Empire's true ministers of state. Though Edwards