That night, the main residence of the Negan Family was brightly lit.
This was a social event held in the form of a dinner party. Many guests came to the banquet, but most of them were prominent nobles. There were people from various factions. Earl Hall, Marquess Losant, Earl Gross—
As soon as Loen walked into the banquet hall, he attracted everyone's attention. His aura as the "hero of the east district" and the one who "fought the Assassin alone" directly made him the most eye-catching focus of tonight.
Della Neigen personally greeted him, with just the right amount of gratitude and respect on his face.
"We've been waiting for you, James."
Soon, the party officially began.
Aguad · Negan, the Prime Minister of the Kingdom of Loen, stood on the high platform in the center of the banquet hall and first stated the condition of Duke Negan to everyone. He explained that the Duke's injuries had stabilized and there was no danger to his life, but he still needed to recuperate quietly for a period of time.
Subsequently, the wife of Duke Negan, Madam Della—who had a poor relationship with her husband because of his many mistresses—also stepped forward to confirm the news.
Upon hearing the news that the Duke was fine, the guests reacted differently. Quite a few nobles of the Conservative Party subconsciously breathed a sigh of relief. Conversely, quite a few people showed expressions of unconcealed regret.
Afterwards, Aguad · Negan announced with a serious expression that, to express the Negan Family's gratitude for the heroic actions of James Scott, the "hero of the east district", the Negan Family would give this brave friend a generous reward.
"Two hundred thousand pounds—and quite a few luxurious villas in different districts of Backlund—a suburban estate—four hundred and fifty thousand acres of land—and a large amount of colonial real estate—"
This string of numbers and assets almost made Loen lose his composure! Although he had anticipated that the so-called reward would be generous, this was simply too lavish!
Although these things were completely not worth mentioning compared to the Duke's life and the Negan Family's massive assets, the degree of this generosity still made people feel incomparably shocked. He even had the urge to put on the "Ring of Calm" in public and give himself a "Mental Storm".
Not only Loen, but the guests present also showed the same astonishment.
"Hiss—"
It was unknown who first drew a cold breath, and then, suppressed exclamations and whispering discussions burst forth like a tide after the silence!
Two hundred thousand pounds! For the vast majority of nobles present, this was a huge sum of cash that needed to be taken seriously! Not to mention those properties with prime locations, large tracts of land, and colonial industries! Putting these assets together, their value was simply incalculable! It was enough to instantly elevate a commoner into the ranks of the truly wealthy in Backlund, surpassing even many impoverished nobles who only had titles and ancestral property with tight cash flows!
With these, he was no longer just the "hero of the east district" with a little bit of fame, but truly "Mr. Scott" with property and estates. If the Negan Family was willing to help, he could even be Sir Scott—
Oh, Goddess above—he looked even more charming—some young noble ladies looked at Loen, their eyes flickering with unusual brilliance.
This made Loen somewhat glad that this was Loen and not Intis, because he noticed that besides some young ladies, quite a few noble wives licked their lips, and their gazes were also somewhat subtle—
Almost all the guests' gazes converged on Loen. There were those whose eyes were red with envy, those whose jaws were about to drop in surprise, those who were so jealous they wished they could take his place, and even those who looked at him with appreciative and adoring eyes.
He forcibly controlled his facial muscles, maintained a modest and flattered expression, and bowed to Aguad and all the guests present.
Under the dual effect of this spotlighted atmosphere and inner excitement, he truly felt a bit of the feeling of "winning". At the same time, something inside his body began to loosen.
The "Winner" potion was digesting rapidly! The digestion progress bar that had made no progress for a long time suddenly leaped forward as if injected with fuel! The digestion was fast and violent, carrying a refreshing feeling of a sudden outburst after a long accumulation!
Unfortunately, Loen could not calm down to feel his own state right now, because the party was still continuing—
Soon, the atmosphere in the banquet hall became active again. Nobles and celebrities from all walks of life swarmed toward Loen to congratulate, converse, sound out, and invite—
"Congratulations, Mr. Scott!"
"Truly admirable bravery, and enviable good fortune!"
"I wonder what Mr. Scott thinks of the recent financial market?"
"Mr. Scott, does your factory need a new partner?"
Some nobles had a peaceful attitude, carrying sincere understanding and appreciation. Others carried the unique arrogance of nobles, only wanting to probe into his background. Still others clearly revealed disdain for Loen's commoner identity in their eyes.
Loen perked up, behaving neither humbly nor haughtily, keeping his words as appropriate as possible, neither getting too close to any one side nor easily making promises. Just as he finished dealing with another wave of visitors and felt slightly tired, Della Neigen sent a waiter over to give him a message, hoping that he could stay after the party ended.
The guests gradually dispersed, and the clamor faded away.
Della Neigen personally invited Loen into the study. After closing the door, he took out a document from his pocket with a mysterious look on his face and handed it to him.
"Although I have said it many times at the banquet, I must thank you again, James. Thank you for saving my uncle."
"This is also a part of the reward we are giving you."
——
Loen took the document and began to look at it by the dim light in the study.
"Backlund Munitions Group—" The title of the document made Loen somewhat surprised.
This was one of the largest munitions enterprises in Backlund currently.
Reading further down, Loen found that this was a share transfer agreement. Although the shares were small, only three percent, the help to Loen's future munitions career was undoubtedly huge!
After reading it, Loen put down the document, looked at Della Neigen, and his eyes narrowed slightly.
Ever since the party started, he had a subtle feeling. Could the Negan Family simply want this kind of catch-off-guard feeling of completely binding him with money and status in full view of the public?
"This seems—not the assets of the Negan Family, right?"
"Indeed not." Della Neigen nodded.
"But it can be your assets."
"A gift? Or—another form of reward?" Loen pursued.
"Mm." Della nodded.
"But more accurately, it is my investment. Just like we chatted about earlier at the banquet, I am very interested in the 'ripper' you designed and your factory concept. I am optimistic about your potential in the munitions field and—unique ideas."
He paused, his tone becoming more profound: "I can use my resources to invest in you, help you integrate resources, expand production scale, and open up broader markets.
"Of course, these are all my private investments and will not involve the family."
Will not involve the family—Loen sneered inwardly. He simply didn't believe this.
As a young man, it was normal for Della Neigen to be interested in munitions, but for such a large-scale investment, to say there was not a shred of family will involved was simply impossible.
He could also roughly guess the reason—
As the backbone of the Conservative Party, the Negan Family on one hand needed to maintain a traditional image, making it inconvenient to publicly and heavily invest in emerging industries so as not to provoke a backlash from other more conservative forces within the party.
On the other hand, they also keenly smelled the changes of the times, saw the huge potential and profits of new weapons and industrial production, as well as the potential declining prospects that conservative forces might face, and wanted to take precautions to carry out a certain degree of transformation or layout.
And he, a commoner who suddenly popped up with technology, ideas, the cover of a "hero" halo, and had just "saved" the Duke, was undoubtedly an excellent collaborator, or rather, an agent.
Loen's brain operated rapidly.
For him, this wasn't a bad thing either. With the other party's help, his munitions career would definitely advance by leaps and bounds—the Negan Family had considerable influence in the military; at least the sales channels for weapons would definitely not be a problem.
Moreover, in worldly terms, he was equivalent to having a backing.
"This is a quite constructive proposal—"
"Your vision is very wise."
"I think so too." Della revealed a smile.
In short, Loen generally accepted the other party's proposal, but the specific terms could not be made clear for a moment. However, Della promised that in the future specific development of the company, he could give Loen considerable autonomy and respect his technology and business philosophy.
But conversely, Loen had to invest a portion of the cash reward explicitly given by the Negan Family into his munitions business.
And on key matters, Della himself also needed a portion of a say; at the same time, the matter of their cooperation should be kept as confidential as possible.
A conditional reward, huh? It was expected and acceptable—Loen understood clearly in his heart; he had long anticipated Della's conditions.
If there really were no conditions at all, he would find it weird instead.
The two chatted along related topics for a while, and even signed some memorandum-style agreements.
On the carriage back, Loen could finally calm down to feel his state.
"The potion is almost digested, just missing that final kick—" He wasn't very happy, but instead felt somewhat strange.
"That's not right. With the state just now and my past accumulation, it logically should have digested directly—why did it stop—"
"威尔.昂赛汀?"
This name surfaced in his mind once again. Was this existence of a high Sequence of the "Monster" Pathway secretly interfering with his advancement? Or did the digestion of the "Winner" have some unique peculiarity that made it impossible to digest conventionally, or was someone else playing tricks—
"Hiss—headache." Loen rubbed his temples. "Let's not think about it for now. The most urgent task is to handle this pile of things right in front of me."
The pharmaceutical factory needed to be started, the large-scale production of allicin needed to be put on the agenda, the secret cooperation agreement with Della Neigen needed to be detailed, and the integration and expansion of the munitions industry were imminent—
Moreover, it could be foreseen that after tonight's high-profile reward banquet, his attention in Backlund would definitely rise to another level.
——
In terms of political inclination, he might already be classified under the Conservative Party.
"A factory owner in the Conservative Party, a new party element within the Conservative Party—" Loen even started thinking of nicknames for himself in self-derision.
"Quickly handle these few urgent matters right in front of me and straighten out the framework. Then—hurry out and avoid the limelight."