Chapter 5: A party

Tom was at the annual gathering of the important families of the English Magician Community, bored out of his mind as he entertained himself by chewing his way through the food table when he suddenly heard a familiar voice scream at him.

"Prest! You betraying a piece of shit! You lied to me!" James Jasin shouted in rage and tried to lunge at the flabbergasted Tom who didn't understand where the guy gained the guts to make a scene at this kind of place.

Of course, before James could reach Tom, he was halted by a tall, black-haired man who put his arm across James's chest, stopping him in his tracks.

"Good evening to you too, Mr. Jasin." Tom pleasantly greeted, amused at the expression of utter rage on the tall man's face.

Lucky him that the entire room was full of anti-magic wards otherwise James would definitely try other than physical means to 'deal with him'.

Supposedly only the guards had the key to the wards and were capable of casting magic but Tom inwardly called bullshit on that one. He would bet every family head, family heir, and maybe even some important family members had a similar key and simply did not show it to not make a scene unless totally necessary.

It would have been too much of a security risk otherwise.

"You! How can you still calmly smile at me you sna-" James shrieked but he was interrupted before he could finish the sentence.

"Mr. Jason." The tall man who was holding him back strongly spoke, "The person you are trying to offend is the business partner of nineteen out of twenty most influential families in this country, of which every head is in this room." He gave James a pointed look, "You were invited here because of your family's rising prestige. I would recommend you to not ruin your image any further. Go, and mingle with others, just don't bother people you can't afford to offend." He showed James with his shoulder, causing him to backtrack.

James could only stare in stupefied shock at the verbal thrashing he had just received but the gears in his mind finally started to move and he gritted his teeth before wordlessly turning around and walking away.

Not that it mattered, in Tom's opinion. The man had already made a fool out of himself as his first impression to these bigshots and that can not be undone so easily.

'The Jasin Family is in for some hard times, huh?' He mused, not really caring.

"Thanks for that." Tom gratefully nodded at the man who stopped James, receiving a tired sigh in return.

"We are quite aware of the clause stating that were you to die, the alchemical circles would cease to work." The tall man gave Tom a forced smile, "Just don't cause too much trouble. You aren't much different from that scum." He gestured with his head in James's direction before turning around and walking away.

Tom watched the man's back, an amused smile on his face. He knew who he was. The heir of the Hendrickson family.

He did not really care about the insult. Especially since it was from someone born with a golden spoon stuck in his ass.

These heirs had a lot of expectations piled upon them and their lives were certainly not easy but... they had it all. They had all the resources they needed whenever they needed them no matter the cost. They had the means to become great shoved into their mouths on a daily basis.

Such a guy showing his 'superiority' could not faze Tom because whenever that happened, he always thought, 'Just imagine where that guy would be if he was in my situation.'

And the answer to that was almost always... 'In the gutter.'

No, Tom was proud of his achievements, as meager as they were. For now.

After all, he was just getting started.

"Forgive his bluntness." An elderly voice chuckled next to Tom, causing his eyes to slightly widen as he didn't realize somebody was standing next to him until the man spoke.

When he saw the man and recognized it was the Belgrade Head who both realized Tom's ploy and offered him a marriage contract to his granddaughter, Tom gave him a small grin, "Heh, not even gonna bother to deny his claim?"

The Belgrade Head just mirthfully laughed, "Well, he isn't exactly wrong. If you want respect, get stronger, boy." He chortled while giving Tom a provocative but amused look.

Tom just rolled his eyes at him, making the old coot even more amused.

"As long as you realize it." The old man shrugged, happy that Tom was not an idiot.

What Tom accomplished in these few past months was nothing extraordinary. It did not show him as some kind of magical prodigy or anything that would instantly win the magician community's respect.

He had just created one new way of using alchemy. And while that was impressive on its own, it was not 'that' impressive to move the 'important folks' other than certain Family Heads.

What really impressed these family heads was not Tom's magical ability but the way he handled the situation.

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With just de facto one magical discovery, Tom managed to manipulate the scene and use his wits to establish deals that will provide him with a stream of very respectable income even from the point of view of these important families.

He used the most dangerous people in the English Magician Community as a deterrent to whoever wanted to harm him. Even if it would be one of them, the other families would have to stand up for Tom if they didn't want to lose the profits from his alchemical circles.

And most importantly, with this move he showed everyone that he can play the 'high leagues', so to speak.

The Heads of these important families could respect ability. Even if it wasn't an outright magical one. Money and politics were also important and Tom had showcased he is no sheep to them.

But it was different for the family heirs or powerful magicians. Those were less interested in politics between families and more vested in magical might. For them, Tom was just some lucky no-name and while they would not antagonize him because of the deals between him and their families, they would certainly show their disdain for him.

Tom had no friends among these people. Only reluctant allies and people who wanted to make use of his worth.

At least the Belgrade Family Head was an amiable fellow. But Tom knew he would be a fool to trust him. One didn't get to his position because he had a friendly smile.

"Speaking of which," Tom turned towards the Belgrade Family Head, "I wonder if you would make a trade with me."

The Belgrade Head blinked and tilted his head, "And what exactly are you interested in?"

Tom smiled. He quite liked the old man. At least he could be pleasant and act friendly instead of being an arrogant nitwit. "I'd like to buy two Sitri summoning fliers from you. In exchange, you can keep my next month's profit shares your House will owe me."

The Belgrade head raised his eyebrows in amusement at Tom, before his lips stretched into a knowing smile. "I see. That can be arranged." He shrugged but his opinion of Tom once again increased.

What Tom offered was over the top. It was like buying a stray cat for thousands of pounds from a bystander who didn't even own it.

The Sitri summoning fliers did not belong to the Belgrade family head and they could be found for free if one was lucky enough. Plus, families that had contact with the Sitri devils and made deals with them could just ask for more of these fliers whenever and they would get loads of them completely for free.

But...

There was a reason the world had no idea about the existence of the devils and it wasn't only because of the area of effect mind-wipe magic.

Getting a summoning flier for a devil was hard. They didn't exactly just fly around the streets whenever a person stepped outside.

In the anime, it was depicted as such but one should not forget that Kuoh was devil territory.

Contrary to expectations, devils did not have a lot of territory on Earth. Most of it was taken by other pantheons, Heaven, human factions like this Magician Community, and so on. Devils had a small hold on the mundane world by different means but they did not do territories.

Most other pantheons detested devils to the core and the devils knew it. Having territory in the human world was a huge risk for them. Hence, they stayed holed in the Underworld, going to the human world only to chase entertainment and peerage pieces.

That's why Kuoh was... er, will be... a very special place.

If Tom wanted a flier for free, he would have to spend time and effort looking for an area where they were being given away, and then travel there to receive it.

That sounds easy but there was no guarantee he could get one even if he went through all that effort. Some territories had outright wards that destroyed these fliers just a few seconds after they were released. The factions were still in the cold war and nobody would let devils advertise their services openly on their territory.

There was a reason why the customers for devils were most often magicians.

On top of that, even if Tom got a flier, he could not be sure he would receive the flier from the Devil House he wanted. Namely, the Sitris.

It was easier to just ask for one from the old coot next to him and even if he lost a few hundreds of thousands to get it, it wouldn't really matter. Once he had at least one and used it, the Sitri familiars would periodically send more of these fliers to him. That's how it worked.

Why put an effort into looking for one when he can just ask the man next to him? Tom would much rather spend his time furthering his research.

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