After leaving her room Ki headed to meet with Alf right away while leaving Lumi and Rayleigh to do as they please.
They had already been instructed to continue their practice and let her know if they need anything or wish to do something so she did not have to worry too much about them.
Alf greeted Ki as she approached. "Hello again, are you ready? I have to tell you that there are no weapons carried when you enter the meeting rooms to avoid any conflicts that resort in bloodshed."
Although people carried weapons on them within the city it was often considered to be rude to still carry them in places in doors where people meet up.
While talking or discussing things many things will be said and arguments will be had but when things turn bad nobody wants to see someone suddenly draw their sword within the same room and cause panic among the crowd.
An escort or guard may either wait inside or outside with a weapon but they are not to move from their place until the end unless their masters life is endangered.
Since the rooms are arranged ahead of time so is the security but that does not mean accidents cannot happen and that the people who arranged it can be fully trusted.
The food or drinks they prepare could be tampered with, their guards may be arranged to target a specific person and also the people within the group may have already colluded before hand in order to single out someone else so not every rule can keep everyone safe and be completely fair.
Ki nodded and followed behind him quietly while observing the various people she passed by.
She made sure to wear a mask that covered the top half of her face so that she did not attract too much attention during the meeting since she was unable to keep her hood up.
While she did leave her weapons in her room she did leave a couple of traps in her room in case she encounters any intruder or thief.
All she had brought with her was a couple of her products which she intended to introduce during her first meeting.
Entering the room there were many people who had been followed by an escort and sat down as their escort was positioned behind them closer to the wall waiting silently.
Many were pure blood northerners while a couple of them had some mixed blood after Ki noticed some subtle or more obvious differences.
While most had characteristics of the central lands one of them had a couple of characteristics of the east.
If she had to guess some of them had a harder time establishing their place to get into this group.
Like most places bloodline is important and to the northerners their blood is in their own views the best and should not be mixed with anything inferior.
So half bloods and foreigners are sometimes discriminated against because of this old way of thinking but judging from how they were able to hold important positions it was obvious that some things were beginning to change a little.
Although it was a small amount now it was still progress so long as those who had those positions continued to positively influence history.
Alf and Ki sat down at the table and Alf began to introduced themselves. "Hello everyone I am the leader of the snowflake trading and mercenary group and beside me is Ki Bombyx the heir of the Bombyx family and also the leader of the Mulberry trading group that has become quite prominent in the central lands lately."
Right away more than half became unwelcoming while the other half were filled with curiosity towards her.
Ki raised her hand a little and spoke in a slightly hoarse voice. "Do not mind me, just continue as you have been doing so far."
A large man with a fierce scar down the side of his face and braided white hair and beard sneered. "Whatever.. let us get started."
Alf let out a sign of relief upon seeing everyone moving on.
The discussion began among the men and slowly they were beginning to finish up with the unimportant or trivial things.
The thing that Ki could notice among the groups were that there were no females among important positions and if she had been identified as one then maybe she would have been overlooked or she would have been treated rudely even if her status had been revealed.
Many things were starting to make more sense after seeing many things in her previous life and witnessing some things in this life.
The hierarchy and way of life of the northerners are vastly different from the central lands and women are usually only treated as breeding tools because of their weaker bodies.
This would also explain why the divine ice sect had been able to make use of their status to trade for or recruit female disciples without that much of a cost from the villagers or even those within slate city.
The men were able to survive better in the harsh environment but the women on the other hand once they become pregnant in the harsh environment they will struggle to give birth if not properly provided for and in many cases the mother may die because of the poor conditions.
If they survive and If a son is not born then they would have to give birth once more further endangering their lives.
The daughters would be a waste of food in their eyes so would either be poorly treated, sold away or abandoned because of their way of thinking that was suited most to preserving the lives of the strong or the males within their bloodline.
Ki rolled her eyes and judged these people as idiots after listening to their worries about their trading and their petty problems between trading various things or hunting packs of beasts that were causing public outrage because of their attacks.
Her first impression of them were that they thought highly of their northern bloodline and roots but also thought nothing as women but weak and fragile things that were only suited for was breeding.
However in the central lands it was much different, there were many common or rich families that raised their daughters to be able to handle working and providing a life for themselves.
Even in the more strict noble or rich families that often treat the daughters as political or business tools they allow their daughters or wife's to learn a wide variety of things to boost their value and help them build up their own social standing among the noble ladies social circles.
In their own way they are able to make some progress and continue to do so but in the north Ki had barely saw any signs of a female that had been a member of a hunting party and had only seen young mothers and many females tending to their sons and their partners daily life after they return home.
However the eyes of the females may be loving towards their child but often they mostly looked very tired and dispirited because of the lives they had been living.
Most likely they had either been raised by the family along with their child to become the wife to continue the families bloodline or they were later traded for something or a deal was made by their parents and they became tied to the person they were now with.
Whether they accepted it or not did not matter and if they tried to run away or voice their dissatisfaction they would be wounded physically or mentally until they are obedient.