[Maestro, we have an issue,] Hurricroak chimed in first. [We have spotted warriors associated with Duke Diamoro and the Silver Jungle Dragon Shipping Company. I think those guys are in the neighborhood.

'Yeah, I can confirm that,' Zhen Liu answered Hurricroak. 'I am staring right at them.'

[Oh, shit.]

[Director, you're not going to believe this,] Razorstella interjected. [But we ran into one of Bellona's cousins here at the Cyan Stone Auction House.]

'Say what?'

[Yeah. Your cousins were looking through the auction catalogs to determine who was going to make an appearance here, and someone with the surname of Ecaredies showed up,] Springerdermain explained. [Either he's related to Bellona or this is a massive coincidence.]

'Huh...I can't tell if it's good or bad fortune that the groups got divided the way they were divided.'

[Maybe it's both?] The Doll Twins suggested.

'Regardless, this is an order to all Kaijin in the city: do not start any fight with these bastards if you can help it. If they throw the first punch, feel free to end it. Otherwise, no violence. Got it?'

[Understood.]

'Good...now then, I guess I have to try and maintain my own neutral face...'

…

"Xiao Liu, are you okay? You seem a bit... rattled."

"I'm fine, Rianna," Zhen Liu assured the albino giantess. "Just...a little surprised to run into all of them here at once."

When Logos and Pathos informed Zhen Liu that some of his old enemies were going to be present in Rainbowden, he assumed that, in a worst-case scenario, only two of them at most would show up.

But now, through the eyes of his kaijin, he had just confirmed that practically all of them had shown up to this city of artisans.

At the Cyan Stone Auction house, members of Bellona's extended family had shown their faces in a bid to form connections with foreign craftsmen, probably to find people that could arm their allies in the upcoming war.

On the streets of Rainbowden, the warriors who had sworn their loyalty to Lord Smoking Mirror were simply walking about like it was the most natural thing in the world. Maybe they had overtaken the place form the shadows and were maintaining a "business as usual" front.

And lastly, in the Carved Dreams Auction House itself, was a veritable greatest hits of old enemies that Zhen Liu should've buried when he had the chance.

Madam Venus, Duke Diamoro, Alfonso, and Alain were all here and mingling with all sorts of people in pursuit to their own goals and networking purposes.

In his gut, he could feel that these separate forces had a very good chance of minginling with one another, realizing that they shared some common enemies, and then forging alliance that was going to be incredibly annoying to deal with.

On plus, thanks to picking out who was going to where earlier and the disguises that Jinju Ren helped to coordinate with the kaijin, absolutely none of these enemy forces would realize that Zhen Liu or his allies were in the same room as them.

That is,as long as Zhen Liu managed to keep Lythero from suddenly stabbing Duke Diamoro out of revenge.

Thankfully, he had Frosttusk for that task.

"Zhen Liu, why is this big guy preventing me from walking up to Duke Diamoro and stabbing him in the face at least twenty times?" Lythero muttered under his breath.

"Because this...big guy...knows...that... vengeance...needs to be handled...coldly. Not with...blazing...passion."

"Hmmmph!"

Regardless, since none of Zhen Liu's enemies seemed to recognize him anyways, he wan't going to go out of his way to paint a target on his back.

'Alright, I think the auction is going to begin in a few minutes anyways. We just need to stay quiet and—'

^Pardon me.^

'—OF FUCKING COURSE!'

Unprompted, and because life felt like kicking Zhen Liu in the metaphorical balls, Alain made his way over to the portion of the lounge that Jinju Ren and her entourage had claimed as their own.

A part of Zhen Liu had thought that the jig was up and this guy was about to call them out and drag them into a fight that would definitely snowball into an absolute shit show...but then he remembered something incredibly important about this situation.

Alain had no idea what any of them looked like.

The Grafted Warrior had never met Jinju Ren, Rianna, Zhong Wei, or Lythero; he had never seen Nepherage or Frosttusk in their human forms; and most importantly, he had never seen Zhen Liu's face before.

During the Battle for Undertow, Zhen Liu had been dealing with the Fallen and Buzza, all while wearing his [Regalia] for most of the battle. While some people's [Regalia] exposed their faces, a testament to their pride and desire to be recognized; Zhen Liu's [Regalia] completely covered his face.

In other words, showing obvious hostility towards Alain at this point in time was an incredibly bad idea.

Which is why Zhen Liu had no choice but to play the role of a loyal attendant, while Jinju Ren had to deal with socializing with Alain…a fact that oddly bothered him on an emotional level.

Then again, that discomfort probably had to do with the fact that Alain was staring at Jinju Ren with a rather lustful gaze. Hell, Zhen Liu's ability to condense [Desire] into [Cores] almost went off, but he made sure to suppress it before it caused a noticeable surge of [Chaos] in the area.

That, and because he didn't like the idea of getting a [Core] sourced from this knock-off Lucifer.

^Apologies for being forward, mademoiselle, but I couldn't help but notice that you and your maid seemed a bit lonely in this stuffy lounge. Would you mind if I provided you some company?^

Technically speaking, Alain wasn't being rude here for dismissing the presence of Lythero, Zhen Liu, Zhong Wei, Nepherage, and Frosttusk.

Since they were all acting as attendants to royalty, as opposed to companions, they were more or less at the same level as furniture in the eyes of Alain and others of similar status.

As such, Jinju Ren didn't have a choice but to play along with these royal shenanigans. On the plus side, Rianna was mistaken as her lady-in-waiting, meaning that she could make use of her innate bluntness to...deal with any particularly unpleasant topics should the need arise.

But for this specific instance, Jinju Ren was more than happy to handle it herself.

^Hmmm. Rather bold of you to make such a request without properly introducing yourself,^ Jinju Ren replied with the haughtiness expected of a royal. ^I have a half a mind to have my attendants throw you out of this lounge.^

As if anticipating getting the go-ahead from her, Nepherage and Frosttusk both made a step forward.

Out of everyone present, they were the most...qualified, to deal with Alain if things got messy.

^Now that...is a very prudent decision,^ Alain replied with a good-natured smile. ^Most ladies are too charmed by my good looks to point out something so obvious and dangerous. They then usually make some excuse about sensing that I'm far too charming to be a threat.^

After paying a compliment to Jinju Ren's sharp mind and inflating his own sense of self, Alain straightened himself up to properly introduce themselves.

^My name is Alain Vullede, Crown Prince of the Gallito Kingdom of Radiant Feather. Please to make your acquaintance.^

^Princess Ren Jia of the Smoking Rain Kingdom of Roaring Tide and this is my lady-in-waiting, Anrie.^

^A pleasure.^

'Wait a minute, Crown Prince?' Zhen Liu repeated in his head, noticing a immediate discrepancy in what he knew of the man. 'That can't be right...'

A little after the Battle of Undertow, Logos and Pathos had compiled documentation on all of the Grafted Warriors, partially as an exercise in information gathering, partially to see if there was anything that connected the Grafted to one another other than the obvious.

Not a lot could be compiled about the Grafted as a whole, except for Alain.

Out of all of the Grafted warriors, he was the only one with some form of royal status.

Due to this status, it was actually fairly easy to get their hands on spy reports and find out more of the man's genealogy.

In other words, Zhen Liu had been given a crash course on the Radiant Feather's weird political structure, and the fact that Prince Alain was technically the biggest bottom rung bastard on the entire totem pole of his royal household.

The fact that he was calling himself Crown Prince meant that Alain was incredibly full himself or that he had actually done something to get that status.

Thankfully, Rianna was able to provide clarity in the hole in Zhen Liu's knowledge.

^Wait a minute...did you just say Prince Alain? As in the same Alain that—!^

^The one that defeated all six of his siblings for the right to become the next king? Yes, that Prince Alain.^

'Oh...fuck.'

Evidently, his enemies had gotten busy these past few months.