Chapter 3920

"The scenery here is very good, right?"

When the two walked halfway and walked along the pebble path on the edge of the park lake, Vigo asked softly.

The lake surface was rippling because of reflecting the lights. At this time, looking up, one could already see the charity banquet hall with lights not far away. The building, which was made magnificent by the lights, inexplicably matched the quiet park night view quite well.

"Yes, it's beautiful here."

Xia De responded in a low voice, as if afraid of disturbing the atmosphere at this moment:

"I have been to many cities and seen the spring of many cities, but even the spring city night view of the Spring City - Randall Valley is not as beautiful as this park."

Vigo showed a calm smile. After getting off the carriage just now, she had already hooked Xia De's arm according to social etiquette, and felt in her heart that the invitation tonight was so correct:

"If you like it, in the future, we can also come here for a walk alone. I also like tonight very much, yes, I like it very much."

The calm park lake water reflected the lights of the pavilion standing on the shore. The rippling light had wrinkles with the night wind, like flowing broken gold. The outline of the pavilion in the distance gradually became clear. The white stone walls reflected a warm luster in the night. Xia De could even see the velvet curtains hanging in the window and the warm gas lamp light behind the curtains.

In front of the pavilion was a slightly inclined upward ramp, and the lawn on both sides of the ramp was trimmed very flat. And at the entrance of the pavilion at the top of the ramp, the Duchess, as the host of this banquet, was already standing there preparing to welcome the guests.

In fact, according to general social rules, the people welcoming guests at the entrance of the banquet hall at this time should be the Duke and the Duchess. But the Duke is now on the front line and cannot come back, which everyone understands very well.

Seeing Vigo walking over with a strange young man's arm, the Duchess of Russell walked over with a smile to greet Vigo:

"Good evening, Vigo."

She first covered her mouth and smiled to compliment Vigo's good complexion today, then asked about the relationship between Xia De and Vigo with an ambiguous smile, and finally thanked Vigo for her support of charity. Xia De could see that the two had a very good relationship.

And the Duchess's "thanks" naturally had a price, because there was a long table inside the entrance of the exhibition hall decorated as a banquet hall, and on the long table were the guest sign-in book and donation box. And the 100-crown check that Vigo took out at this time was only an "admission donation." Later, there would be "in-banquet donation" in other parts of the banquet.

However, with Vigo's financial resources, she didn't care about this money. Besides, after tonight, the local newspaper's "Charity Column" would specifically publish the donation list. The order of the list at that time would be the donation amount, and Vigo didn't want the Astley family to be ridiculed.

Although it was temporarily decorated as a banquet hall, the front hall of the exhibition hall still looked different from the formal banquet venue. However, considering that this was a charity banquet, perhaps this itself was the organizer's purpose.

Xia De found that there was also a small "charity achievement exhibition" at the entrance of the banquet hall. Thank-you letters from orphans, construction drawings of refugee shelters to be built locally, and photos of aid recipients taken in the Outer City recently were all displayed there. Xia De and Vigo visited them with great interest.

"In a while, you accompany me to talk to the charity organizations receiving aid this time. I remember 'Arcadia Children's Relief Association', 'Snake Heart Hospital', and 'Candlekeep Charity Association' all sent people."

Vigo said softly, and then coughed a few times weakly. Xia De then patted her back gently.

The servants in the banquet hall took away Vigo's cold-proof cloak and Xia De's hat, followed by the social warm-up before the formal banquet began, which was the cocktail party.

This was very similar to the banquets Xia De accompanied Galina to attend in Toussaint. Guests communicated freely in the banquet hall, enjoying appetizers, champagne, and small snacks. As for the topic, it naturally revolved around charity donations, social news, and noble gossip.

And Xia De, who had sharp ears, noticed that the final direction of most topics was the ongoing North-South War. People who could appear in such occasions to attend the banquet naturally wouldn't believe the exaggerated war reports in the newspapers that even ordinary people felt were exaggerated.

This was Arcadia, close to the front line. Gray Rock Pass had officers and soldiers returning from the front line for rest every day, and the first-hand news was very much. Xia De only learned a lot of secret news about the Eastern Front battlefield that Galina hadn't mentioned in the process of accompanying Vigo forward.

"Perhaps Director Anluosi should send people to mix into such occasions."

Xia De thought in his heart.

As the main major city in central Karsinrik, the local Snake Heart Hospital was naturally very famous. It's just that the chubby nun who came to attend the banquet this time was not a Ringed Shushi, so Xia De just stood by and listened politely when Vigo was talking to the other party.

And these representatives of local charity organizations were quite familiar with Vigo. It could be seen that Vigo often dealt with them. After they learned of Xia De's identity from Vigo, they were also very tacitly praising that the two were quite a match standing together — Vigo Astley's intention could be seen by everyone.

Of course, Xia De didn't forget to look for Mr. Bernhardt's trace here. It's just that everyone was walking around before the banquet started, even if Xia De only distinguished the race logo on the top of his head, he didn't see his friend immediately.

However, thanks to the large number of people, his "Fate Manual · True Name Recognition" played a role several times. It's just that knowing the real names of local nobles was of no use to Xia De, he just used this to calculate the activation probability of this ability when targeting ordinary people.

"Do you often attend such occasions?"

Seeing that Xia De's performance was very appropriate, and the etiquette he showed when talking to strangers occasionally was also in place, Vigo asked him in a low voice again.

Xia De promised Galina not to say her matter for the time being, but it was okay to reveal his background identity at this time.

"Yes, the witch I know also took me to attend similar occasions."

So Vigo immediately recalled the identities of the thirteen people in the council, and then found that it seemed that everyone met the conditions. Even Claire Reinhardt, who had no background identity, often entered and exited such social occasions because her mineral exploration business was doing very well.

And a small thing happened before the formal banquet started tonight.

At that time, Vigo and Xia De said that they would take him to find Baron Ramsay, who had the manuscript, during the free activity session after the banquet. At this time, they were preparing to go to talk to the wife of Mayor Norfolk.

Xia De had heard from the coachman that the fifty-something Mayor had a young daughter, and the age of the Mayor's wife who had just given birth was relatively young, only in her thirties. Before the two met the Mayor's wife, suppressed noise came from the entrance.

Vigo looked over there, and a smile appeared on her pale face:

"Oh, it's them."

She then explained to Xia De, who didn't know the local situation:

"See the woman in the black evening dress with heavy makeup, and the young man beside her?"

Among the two she mentioned, the former could be seen to be in her forties even with heavy makeup. The lady was plump and looked a bit arrogant; as for the latter, he actually looked a bit older than the outlander's appearance at this time, his face was handsome, but he looked a bit... effeminate.

"That lady is a local Viscountess, everyone calls her Mrs. Connaught. She inherited the Viscount's rich legacy after he passed away, but she is notoriously stingy. Her male companion is the lover she found after her husband passed away. However, there is a rumor that before that poor man passed away, the two had already appeared in public together."

Vigo added softly:

"That young man has no identity background, and was originally just a manager in a factory under that Viscount. There are still stories about this, but I don't know. But they are famous jokes in the local social circle.

The former's stinginess even reached an exaggerated level. As for the latter, he did a series of ridiculous things to please that Viscountess. Let's go further away, don't pay attention to them, such people cannot become friends."

Every place has "celebrities" in the social circle, just like the outlander himself is a celebrity in Toussaint. And Xia De and Galina's situation has a certain degree of similarity with the situation of this pair.

It's just that Xia De is not greedy for wealth, and his appearance is indeed very enviable for Galina. Especially after the rumors about "wrist" spread, according to Ricia's statement, many noble ladies actually think that Galina took advantage of Xia De.

In short, Vigo quickly took Xia De away from the position close to the entrance, and then the two met the Mayor's wife who had just given birth to a little daughter in March. The lady who looked very kind also praised that Xia De and Vigo were quite a match when standing together.

"Vigo, when did you know such an excellent young man? Look at him, I see many young girls secretly looking at him, but he is just looking at you."

The witch had an uncontrollable smile on the corner of her mouth. The smile on her face hadn't disappeared since just now, but she still explained repeatedly that she and Xia De were currently just friends.

She took care of social etiquette and didn't let Xia De feel that she had ulterior motives. She really fully considered factors in all aspects.

Most "Mayors" in this era have no noble titles, but serve as new social classes, such as wealthy factory owners, heads of well-known social organizations, etc. But although the Mayor is not of noble origin, the slightly younger Mayor's wife comes from a local Baron family.

She is also very familiar with Vigo, and even talked about Vigo's physical condition, and held Vigo's hand to hint explicitly or implicitly that since she is in poor health, she should get married and have children early, otherwise it will be more difficult later.

This made Vigo, who thought she had thought of all situations, blush immediately.