On the second floor overlooking the hall stood a row of tables and chairs. Fruit, meat, and drinks were laid out on the tables, and seven people sat there, watching the wealthy guests and the assorted men and women chatting merrily and dancing gracefully below.
They were Baron Mistvale's six daughters and his wife.
"Anyone catch your eye?"
Seated in the middle, Baroness Mistvale asked with a smile. She took a sip of red wine and set her glass on the table beside her.
She looked poised and elegant, beautiful and gracious, yet the corners of her eyes hinted at boundless allure.
Her six daughters sat beside her, each with a distinct expression and a beauty of her own.
"They're nothing special. What quality could you expect in this backwater? If Father's advancement hadn't required us to come here, I wouldn't have bothered. My snake den is still in Isbeth. Luckily, I brought Silver Carly along to keep me entertained."
The eldest daughter, Natalie Mistvale, curled her lips, utterly uninterested in any of the so-called outstanding young men present.
A slender silver snake with a small patch of gold on her head crawled out of Natalie's collar, wound around her neck, and slithered onto her hand, flicking her tongue at her.
Natalie immediately beamed. "Good girl. My Silver Carly knows just how to make me happy. My darling will soon advance into Golden Carly. Father will be delighted."
She preferred snakes to people.
"I'm wondering whether their flesh might taste better. After all, Father said this land once nurtured the Flower of Sin. We shouldn't call it a backwater. There ought to be a few promising, special candidates among the people here."
The second daughter, Sandra Mistvale, held a chicken drumstick without the slightest trace of ladylike grace. She bit off more than half its meat and spoke indistinctly, her mouth smeared with grease.
"I'll enjoy the farce they put on, and I'll arrange a splendid performance for them, too. Hmm, their eyes are full of desire for us. Greed. I'd love to see what they look like when they're terrified."
The third daughter, Harley Mistvale, covered her mouth with her fingers, but she could not conceal her smile. Her lips curved into an eerie arc, and as she watched the people below, her eyes gleamed with the desire to toy with and fool them.
The fourth daughter, Esme Mistvale, and the fifth, Sophie Mistvale, remained silent, quietly watching the men and women in the hall. They looked exactly alike, and their gazes held the same scrutiny-or perhaps contempt.
"I'm very interested in him."
The youngest daughter, Zatanna Mistvale, pointed at a man in the hall and spoke calmly.
The women followed the direction of Zatanna's finger, and a man stuffing himself with food came into view. His behavior seemed rather uncouth.
"Who is he?"
"He does seem somewhat... different."
Her older sisters were rather surprised. The man looked perfectly ordinary, with unremarkable features, and his behavior made it clear that he had never received a proper education. Perhaps he was pretending to be wealthy so he could freeload on the food and drink.
That possibility was slim, however.
There was only one requirement for attending tonight's party: guests had to be landowners or wealthy individuals. Their clothing and bearing were enough to tell, and the attendants receiving guests at the entrance had all been professionally trained. They had keen eyes.
Then he must have been an upstart who had never seen much of the world.
"Did yours react?"
The baroness raised her brows slightly as she asked. If her youngest daughter had taken an interest in him, the man must possess something worth being drawn to. The little creature nurtured inside Zatanna's body was sensitive only to special things with dark attributes.
Zatanna nodded, her gaze growing slightly fervent as she stared at Bruce. The moment she had noticed this man, the little creature inside her had radiated tremendous excitement.
If the little creature inside her could sense him, this man must be very special.
Father had said they were coming here for his advancement.
Otherwise, they would never have chosen to move here. According to their intelligence, a Gargoyle had ended up in Rhode Town, and Father needed that Extraordinary item to advance. At the same time, they also needed the thing their family records said was hidden in Lane Village. "It seems we've uncovered a secret."
The baroness clapped her hands softly, a smile appearing on her lips. Thoroughly pleased, she beckoned, and the maid standing behind her stepped to her side and bent down, lowering her eyes submissively as she listened.
"Go find out about that young man. Also, tell the master this good news. He'll be very pleased."
The maid nodded and went downstairs.
After Zatanna's remark, the other five Mistvale daughters all became interested in the man. They had no regard for ordinary people, for they all wielded Extraordinary powers. People harboring secrets were their favorites; only such people could arouse their interest.
And there was only one person in the hall stuffing himself with food: Bruce Wayne.
Bruce was completely unaware that the women of the Mistvale Family had set their sights on him. He was busy feasting, savoring the delicious meat in his mouth.
"If yours reacted, his aptitude shouldn't be bad. His flesh and blood ought to taste good, too. I'll try some when the time comes. It might be a great help to my advancement."
Sandra bit off another chunk of chicken and swallowed it in a great mouthful, satisfaction written across her face, as though she had just bitten into Bruce's flesh.
"I think he'd make excellent nourishment. My big darlings should be quite fond of him." Natalie licked her lips. The long snake on her hand flicked her tongue as well, her sharp gaze fixed on Bruce.
"You can't have this one, Natalie. He's mine. He ought to make a very entertaining toy. You can have him once I've had enough." Harley's brows immediately drew together, and she looked deeply displeased by her eldest sister's words.
They discussed Bruce without restraint, each revealing what set her apart from ordinary people. They were strange and terrifying, nothing like young ladies raised in a noble household. Yet the servants standing behind them acted as though they had heard nothing, standing as still as clay statues.
As attendants of the Mistvale household, they all knew that its mistress, master, and young ladies were Extraordinaries.
Nor were they the only ones who knew. Many Extraordinaries also knew that the Mistvale household in Isbeth was an Extraordinary family. Even the Goddess of the Night Church in Isbeth had to treat them courteously.
The Mistvale Family had never intended to hide their abilities.
For this move to Lane Village, they had openly obtained a relocation permit from the kingdom. The Night Watchers of the Goddess of the Night Church in Forendana should also know why they had come: for the Gargoyle.
Not every Extraordinary item had to be kept in the custody of the Goddess of the Night Church. Although the Church wielded immense influence in the Rune Kingdom, it was not all-powerful, nor did it have everything under its control. Any Extraordinaries who came to deal with potentially dangerous incidents were allies of the Goddess of the Night Church.
The members of the Mistvale Family themselves knew that their true name was not Mistvale, but Witchcraft and Gu. The Extraordinary identity they possessed was an exceptionally rare one: Witchcraft and Gu Warlock.
They specialized in raising gu, nurturing the little gu creatures inside their own bodies to obtain Extraordinary powers.
Most gu were poisonous and could harm or kill people, but some possessed Extraordinary abilities of their own that could be put to use.
The sixth young lady, Zatanna Mistvale, for example, had a gu called the dark qi gu. It was extremely sensitive to dark auras and excelled at controlling dark powers.
"We can't hear his thoughts."
At that moment, Esme and Sophie, who had remained silent until then, spoke in unison.
A brief silence fell over the second floor.
"Oh? Someone whose thoughts even you two can't hear? That makes him even more interesting." The playful gleam in Harley Mistvale's eyes deepened, with a hint of anticipation.
They all knew that Esme and Sophie each nurtured a little creature inside her body. One was male and the other female, and they were called twin-heart gu. They allowed two people to share their thoughts and also hear what others were thinking, effectively granting mind-reading abilities.
If this man could block their mind reading, he probably harbored quite a few secrets.
Identical strange expressions appeared on Esme's and Sophie's faces. They rarely failed to hear someone's inner voice; they could hear even Extraordinaries. Yet when they tried to read Bruce's mind, they received no information whatsoever. There was only silence-or rather, deathly silence.
Surely that only happened when they listened to a corpse.
The baroness pondered for a moment. This young man looked fairly ordinary, and she could not determine whether he was an Extraordinary. She would test him, then. Even if he noticed, it would not matter. She was confident in her own abilities, and her husband's powers were not to be underestimated either.
As the baroness gazed at Bruce, a faint ring of gold shimmered in her pupils.