Annan was still busy with The Mage Tower's Fall, unaware that a Bard was smearing his name.
The bad news was that the people of Betar City weren't buying it. The Mage Tower had no foothold here—because Betar City had no Mage Tower. It had the Diatra family instead. And there were more poor people... It sounded hard to believe, given how much Betar City traded with the outside world and how much wealthier it was than Breeze City. But all that wealth was concentrated in the hands of the Noble, and they didn't have a City Lord like Olmedo.
The good news was that the Nobles could afford the "small sum" of 100 Gold Narls. There was no tax, either, and Lady Deepwinter was covering the cost of the Recording Magic Stones.
If a hundred Nobles paid up, Annan would earn ten thousand Gold Narls.
So Annan asked Lady Deepwinter to invite the city's ladies to a Betar City Premiere. Now he stood before a dressing mirror, buttoning his clothes.
Joan stared at Annan's reflection and suddenly said, "Why do I feel like you and Jack look alike...?"
"How could we? My hair's orange-red. Jack's is black."
"That's true."
"Francois is much better-looking than Jack, too," Astolfo chimed in. Annan felt that something was off.
After smoothing the last crease from his black uniform, Annan set off for the banquet hall.
"Do you really believe that human?"
An elf with a torn pointed ear and a scar across his cheek muttered bitterly, "Despicable humans imprisoned us, abused us, and killed us. Now he locks us in a Dungeon and feeds us, and you think he's a good person?"
"There's a human city outside. Where could we run?" another elf replied.
"So we do nothing? We are children of