Olivia couldn't help but arch her eyebrow at this response. The struggle had to be really intense if the boy had regressed to the child-like tendency to refer to oneself in the third person. Unbeknownst to Olivia, she was both right and wrong. She was right that the struggle had become very intense for Greg. He, however, hadn't regressed to a child-like state. He had gone a step further and forgotten that he was supposed to hide the fact that he wasn't the real Roka. Luckily for Greg, Olivia thought nothing of it and continued to analyze the power landscape of the town. "Chances are that, the town head is individually powerful enough that even if the three families came together, they would have to pay an inordinately high price to get rid of him. Otherwise, they'd just get rid of him and fight for control among themselves," She guessed. "But while your town head is powerful, he doesn't have anyone else in his family powerful as he is. None of his sons have the kind of power that he

The woman had been staring at Greg's mask for a while now almost like a moth enamored by the light from a lamp. There was a hint of confusion in her eyes as she looked at him. It was almost as if she was wondering why she was so taken in by him when she couldn't even see his face to begin with. Greg reached forward for the woman's hand in greeting. The woman actually blushed like a little girl as she reached forward and received his greeting. As soon as their hands touched, the woman let out a gasp as she looked down at his hand, her other hand rising to her chest. The other women around seemed too enamored with his face to notice anything out of the ordinary. His mother, on the other hand, had been looking at him as she introduced her so she didn't pick up on the odd reaction of her friend. "She has a daughter your age," His mother continued. The woman holding Greg's hand unconsciously sent his mother a dirty look, almost as if she was introducing a love rival to the man she was aft

Speeches at a party in this town were usually given after everyone had eaten. Giving speeches to people with empty stomachs was at best considered a faux pas and at worst, just plain rude. Unless it was a serious topic that couldn't wait, people were likely to ignore you or leave the party altogether. Something Greg was all too grateful for as he wouldn't be bogged down with giving a speech to the attendees while new guests arrived. He could just flitter around keeping everyone happy and reiterating his appreciation for their attendance. But while Greg tried to interact with his guests as much as possible. He was never far from the gate and always had one eye on it just in case someone new walked in. After all, the main purpose of this event was to get as many women recognized by the system as possible. This attention on whether there was anyone new coming to the party was the reason Greg noticed them a while before most others in attendance did. A pair of brother and sister that we

There was a bit of a scramble to get a room ready for the unexpected number of guests that had shown up. Greg had already given instructions to have a room ready for some special guests earlier that day. And to her credit, his sister, Tayani, had prepared a room. It, however, had only been set up for eight people. And yet, there were now ten people in total, three from the Town-head's household, including the Town-head himself. Three from the Ember household, two from the Valla household, and Bran from the Aria household and Greg himself. He, however, didn't fault his sister for this unforeseen issue. Had someone asked him that morning how many special guests he was expecting, he would have said four. The heads of each of the three families along with the Town-head. Looking back at it now, Greg realized that he should probably have seen this coming. The truth, however, was that Greg hadn't even remembered that these scions of the three major families existed right up until he saw them

There was a bit of an awkward silence after Greg's answer. They'd probably thought that Greg would launch into a tirade about how this came to be, or why he deserved to have the healer as his teacher. He, however, didn't feel the need to explain himself to any of them. "Splendid! Splendid," The Town-head was forced to keep the ball rolling as he spoke to cover the silence. "It's the town's good fortune to have a talent such as yourself," He went on, taking a different tack. Greg's smile widened seeing clearly that the man had decided to take the flattery approach. "You are too kind," He replied to the Town-head, then took on a somber tone. "I only wish that my father had been here to see it," he said. "If. uhh, if he was... I'm... I'm sure he would be proud!" He said forcing himself to keep a somber expression as his gaze turned to the table before him. The reason Greg had stumbled all over his words wasn't for lack of something to say or being overcome with emotion. Instead, it w