As the procession of gift-giving continued, Lucen noticed someone watching him. It was Count Vermont and his family. They seem like they wanted to approach Lucen's group, but were holding back for now.
Count Vermont stood stiffly beside his wife, his eyes flicking toward Lucen and Vardon with the awkward stiffness of a man unsure whether to grovel or retreat.
'I guess they would want to apologize.' Lucen thought to himself.
After the Viscounts and Counts gave their gifts, it was the turn of the Marquesses and the Tower Masters to give their gifts. This is when the gifts became rather interesting.
Many of the Marquesses had forged strong ties with merchants, and some even hailed from merchant families themselves. The gifts they brought were only possible to acquire if you had bought connections and enough coins.
Artifacts that would strengthen oneself, old books from now destroyed kingdoms, those were the kinds of things the Marquesses gave.
