Ning pulled out his phone and called Blake.
"Sir Valen? How can I help you?" the angel’s voice ca from the other end.
"Do you know about the fundraiser happening today? The one—"
"Yes, of course," Blake said. "It’s a big event."
"Can I enter the fundraiser?" Ning asked. "I need to get in there to et soone."
"That... might be hard to do," Blake said in a hesitant tone. "Can you give a second? I need to find sothing."
The call ended and Ning waited. He stared at the crowd gathered across the street, reporters with massive caras constantly taking videos and pictures of the richest people in the city walking into the fundraiser.
Blake’s call ca not long after. "The president is already on his way there. If you want, I can arrange for you to enter with him."
"That would be perfect."
Twenty minutes later, Ning walked out of an alleyway and climbed into the large car that drove off.
"I didn’t take you for soone who would go to a fundraiser," the president said inside the car with a jovial tone to his voice.
"Not really," Ning said. "Believe it or not, I’m working right now. Didn’t think I would get to it so quickly."
"Oh, strange. Has an issue co up at the fundraiser? I should’ve been notified."
"No," Ning answered. "This isn’t sothing that the agency is aware of. I can’t have them know about it just yet for a few simple reasons."
"I hope you know what you’re doing," the president said, and said no more.
They arrived at the fundraiser and the door opened to the masses. The president walked out first to a sowhat tad response, and then Ning walked out.
The reporters seed to go crazy suddenly, shooting so many pictures of him that it made him wonder if more pictures of him had been taken today than the entire hundreds of thousands of years he had lived before. He wouldn’t have been surprised if that was true.
Never had he been popular in such a way after all.
Ning stood around on the red carpet, smiling at the crowd as his picture was taken. Since he was still in his superhero outfit, it was hard to mistake him for who he was, when his press conference just earlier had been watched by everyone.
Ning stared at the notification that had appeared before him.
As he was told, there was a suppression field in the area. Of course there had to be one in such a location. It would be dangerous otherwise.
The president stood nearby with a practiced smile, talking to a few reporters. He called Ning over and very soon, Ning found himself talking to the dia.
"Were you invited, sir Blackfang? Or did you decide to co here all on your own?" one of the reporters asked.
"I wasn’t invited," Ning said. "But as I was leaving my press conference earlier, President Gurmac told about the fundraiser and asked if I wanted to co. Since it’s for helping children in need, even though I am just getting started, I wanted to give sothing back. So, I ca."
"That’s incredible! And will we ever get to see your real face?" the reporter asked.
Ning smiled. "It’s unlikely. I quite like my privacy."
"Of course," the reporter said. She was about to ask another question when her eyes turned to the side, along with many other reporters.
A woman in a designer blue dress walked by, wearing a blue veil over her face. She stopped just once, turning toward the cara, letting the lights bathe her, before turning around and walking in without a word.
Ning was left staring at her for a while, recognizing who she was.
Frostveil. The hero ranked number one in New Limaro City.
Ning said a few more words to the reporters before walking in as well.
The fundraiser was set in the center of a massive mall, a sprawling venue lit up from all sides against the night sky. Guards in black suits and ties stood in every location. With the wealth gathered in that small place, it was enough to understand why security would be so high.
Ning walked into the party and grabbed a hold of two glasses from a staff mber who walked past and passed along one of them to the president.
"Were you ever poor?" Ning asked the president as he walked in.
The man turned toward Ning. "Why do you ask?"
"Just asking to see if you feel out of place at such a party," Ning said. "Because this is a bit too rich for my liking. So of these n and won wear my net worth on their person."
The president chuckled. "I can’t say I have ever been poor. We were upper middle class when my father started this agency. Over ti, it grew and I took it over from him so 20 years ago. But that by no ans says that I can get used to being around billionaires. Even the agency itself is worth less than many of the people here. The business they have is worth many tis our own."
Ning smiled. "You do look like you fit, so you’ve gotten better."
"I’ll say I’ve gotten better at faking it," the president said. "Speaking of which, co. I want to brag about you a bit more to those fellas over there."
A few people stood around in a group, who the president introduced to Ning as the leaders of five of the other big Hero agencies in the city. When they finally realized who was brought along to them, all of them made it a mission to let him know how much better they could serve him.
"I’ll keep that in mind," Ning said.
"Yes, yes. Don’t forget to remind him in 5 years’ ti too. That’s when we’ll be reviewing the contract."
"What?" one of the n said. "Five years? The basic contract is two years almost everywhere. They lied to you."
"No, I knew about it," Ning answered.
"You had leverage though. You could’ve lowered it."
"I used the leverage to increase it, actually."
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