Time does fly when you are enjoying yourself. My short vacation came to an end soon enough and I had to return to work. Vance had boarded a ship back to Hoenn just yesterday and I saw him off. Now, I have no idea when I would see him or my parents again.
It was a very nice vacation, because I got to spend quality time with my older brother and I felt as if we had grown a lot closer in those few days. Ever since I became a trainer just like Vance did it's been getting harder and harder for us to spend time together so I do cherish every moment I get to spend with him.
Now that I've been living in Unova for quite a while, If there's one thing that I'm starting to realise, it's that in Unova, people of my status tend to frequently attend social gatherings in order to socialise. Socialising in such events is simply an avenue for people of similar status to get to know each other and exchange information. It is in such places where new opportunities and partnerships were first started.
I don't think such events are as common in Hoenn because I don't see my parents or Vance going out to take part in such events very frequently. Additionally, from what I was told by my brother, there are very few families in Hoenn that actually dared to invite us because in terms of financial power, reputation, and historical status, our family stands at the very top together with the Stone family. Steven's family is the only family of equal standing to mine and we are on very good terms with each other. If we really want to meet with each other, we don't need to host an event or party to do so because we can just do so in private. In Hoenn, people will flock to whatever parties or events we host -if we ever host them- but nobody will ever dare to invite us to their parties or events without our prior permission. That's just how the upper society works in Hoenn as far as I'm aware.
In Unova, however, I guess the common occurrence of attending social events is simply the way of life of the upper elites of Unova's society. It's simply how they function and like a famous saying in my previous life went, when in Rome, do what the Romans do.
Right now, the interpol is focusing on gathering crucial information and building up our own personal information network because we have reasons to suspect that the Unova League and Government may have been compromised. We cannot solely rely on their help if we want to work towards our goal. In that case, our next best option is to try and make connections with people from within Unova's high society, because these are the people who will most likely possess what we need. At the same time, these are the same group of people who the Plasmas will also seek out to collude with and we need to identify as many of those as possible. Either way, there is a need for someone among us to mingle with them.
Among the current interpol members, the only people who would be qualified to attend such gatherings without raising anyone's eyebrows would be me and Nova. However, it's obvious that I am the better candidate simply by virtue of my family status. Like me, Nova comes from an affluent family, but what she lacks is the "status" of her family name because the Labelles are a family who only rose to fame within the last two decades due to their invention of the Holocaster. To the upper society of Unova, the Labelle name is qualified to only stay at the bottom rung of their social ladder in the eyes of the true elites who run the whole show. The social hierarchy within the upper society of Unova is very exclusive and many times, harsh and cruel as well.
In such gatherings, the individuals who gathered here all come from families which had at least decades or even centuries of history to their name. As such, there is "status" to their names and the only person in the interpol with such status is me, because I am a Vera. My family had more than five hundred years of history which would make my family even more ancient than the families among the respected Five Weapons of Unova. I would be easily accepted in any Unova parties or events held by the individuals of Unova high society.
So here I am, taking part in a charity fundraising event hosted by the Aguirre family, who had kindly invited me because they knew that what I needed at this moment were the connections to link me deeper with Unova high society. This fundraising event would be conducted through- surprise, it's another auction. Maybe Unova just loves auctions, I'm still not too sure about that.
In any case, I was told that in such an event, you either contribute by bidding for the items up for auction, or donate an item to be auctioned off. All proceeds from the auction will be used for charity purposes. This may be a fundraising event for charity purposes but given the kind of people who will be attending this event, the item donated cannot be anything too subpar either.
I remembered that my room was filled with luxury goods when I first arrived, so I decided to pick something out from there to donate and subsequently auction off. I ended up picking a luxury handbag whose model and brand can only currently be found and purchased in Hoenn, and it's not just any commonly seen luxury brand that can be easily bought off the market. The lessons that I had with my brother and Sebastian had let me learn that for truly rich people like my family, our standards for luxury goods are a lot higher. The common ones just wouldn't be able to cut it because what we wear reflects our status. We cannot afford to dress ourselves in poor taste when we attend such formal events because we would be representing our families and our region. We need to have "class".
Very often, the accessories you would see us wearing would be some obscure luxury brand that the ordinary folk would rarely hear about, but the monetary value of those items would not be any lesser than the luxury goods on the market. In fact, the value of such objects were much more expensive than the ordinary luxuries. The only reason why the ordinary folk do not have much exposure to such brands is precisely because these luxury brands cater solely to the rich. And by "rich", I'm referring to families or individuals whose wealth and influence are significant enough for families like mine to take notice of them. The brand of the jewellery set that Mum got for my birthday, Eric Davin, was one such example because so few individuals across the world would own this brand of accessories, and each and every product produced was unique because they were tailor-made upon the request of the customer.
Now that I learnt many more things and had the time to think back, there were hints that our family indulged in such luxuries from time to time, it's just that I never bothered to think deeper into it. I could never identify the brands of the accessories my parents wore because the kinds of luxury brands that they favoured were so obscure. Like my father's collection of watches, my mother's jewelleries that she only wore when meeting somebody important in a formal setting as the matriarch of the family, or Vance's wallet collection. I just knew that they looked expensive and I know that my parents and brother are more than capable of affording them, but I just assumed that these luxury goods were normal luxury goods. I was never well acquainted with luxury goods anyway and I never really paid any attention to the names of luxury brands other than the few commonly known ones, so I thought not knowing the luxury brands of the accessories my family favoured was simply normal for me.
Now that I have officially stepped into this social circle, there is a need to learn at least a little about luxury and branded goods because what I wear would reflect my status and class, because this would affect others' perception of me and I am representing not just my family in Unova, but also the region which I came from because I am a Vera. As a Vera, my every action would represent Hoenn in a formal setting in a foreign region because of my family's history and status. That is just how it is and as a Vera, it is my duty to ensure that I would not bring shame to the region. That is the responsibility that I have to shoulder for being born into such a family.
Adorning myself with a high-end accessory or two is needless flaunting, but this is the rule of the game in upper society that Dad obviously wanted me to learn. As I recently found out, just any of Dad's watches that I sometimes took out to secretly play around with when I was younger could easily buy me a limited edition sports car with leftovers to spare. The craftsman who made the jewellery set that Mum gave me for my birthday? His name is Eric Davin, a Hoennian who is also an internationally renowned jewellery maker that only makes ten sets of jewellery per year. If you want to order a set from him you have to queue up and the waiting time can sometimes take one or two years or even longer if you are unlucky enough. Vance told me that my family only had to wait for two months, which was already a very short waiting time in comparison and I'll bet we had preferential treatment because we are the Veras.
In retrospect, it's no wonder that I had never heard of the brand name of my jewellery set, because across the entire world only a small handful of individuals possess the jewelleries made by that craftsman. From what I now know, his works are very sought after by the elites in the upper society, especially in Hoenn. By that virtue, it would also mean that any accessory from my personal jewellery set would fetch an astronomical price on the market.
I now have my own personal set of formal dresses and evening gowns in my personal closet. I have no idea if it was Mum or Sebastian who picked those for me, but they were obviously designed with me in mind because they fit me perfectly. In such formal events I prefer wearing evening gowns whose colours are of a darker tone simply because you can never go wrong with such a colour scheme. This time, I chose to wear a dark blue evening gown that reminds me of the starry night sky itself, the colour of it complementing my fair skin and blonde hair very well. I even took the time to go to the hairdresser to do up my hair too, and thanks to the insanely good looks I inherited from my mother I really had no need to put on much makeup so I only applied some light-coloured lipstick and that was it.
What I'm most happy about was being able to wear some of the accessories that Mum had given me for my birthday. The bracelet is easily my favourite, I'm wearing it on my wrist almost everyday because I love it so much. Tonight, I am wearing a matching pair of earrings from the same set and that is saying something because I was always averse to the idea of getting my ears pierced and I had never worn earrings until tonight. Mum's gift was so beautiful that it actually managed to convince me to try piercing my ears just to be able to wear the earrings she had given me.
I arrived at the event venue just about half an hour before it officially started. I wasn't too early nor was I too late, just like I had intended it to be. Myles Aguirre personally went out to welcome me when he learnt that I had arrived and I knew that it was his way of helping me mingle with the crowd. Myles is the head of the Aguirre family and his family is one of the Twenty Assisting Houses of Unova. For him to personally welcome me to the event that he was hosting would be a blaring signal to everyone present that I am someone important. I'm very grateful to him just for that act alone.
So naturally, people would want to approach me to get to know me better, the unknown little girl who was important enough for Myles to welcome and greet me personally.
I'm here to gather information for the interpol and to also help my family build connections with the upper society of Unova. However, initiating conversations with such people is a very delicate art in itself. In such situations, whoever chose to take the initiative to approach the other party would usually be in a slightly more disadvantageous position in terms of bargaining power. It's some sort of psychological trick and power play that Sebastian had taught me about in our lessons.
I'm gambling. I'm gambling that I had attracted the attention of those already present and roused their curiosity about my identity. I'm gambling that there will be people who are dying to know who I am because it's obvious that nobody other than Myles had any idea who I am. I'm gambling that they will be curious about this little girl in her teens who attended this event alone and yet was important enough for Myles Aguirre to personally welcome her when she arrived.
I'm gambling that to those people, I am a very enigmatic puzzle that they are itching to solve. What I'm doing is to take advantage of their curiosity to advance my own plans forward.
I didn't even have to wait for five minutes. I simply stood at a corner of the event hall and held a drink in my hand while waiting for the main event to start, appreciating the taste of fine red wine that I would usually be never allowed to drink if any of my family members were around on the excuse that I'm underage. The attendees were allowed to bring in our pokemon as long as they do not exceed a certain size and that they do not create trouble. I had Rena accompany me, because Kel definitely would not like the crowd and Fuzzy is too much of a troublemaker for me to trust him to behave himself in such an important setting.
Then there are my ghosts too, but I trust Dolly and Wacky to be able to keep them in line for me. I had impressed to them about the importance of this evening's event and playful as they are, they knew when not to cause trouble.
"Good evening."
The first person to approach me was a fine young man and we were soon joined by various other people who had either picked up the courage to approach me, or decided to not be left behind and miss out on a potential opportunity that my presence might bring for them. These people came in all forms and sizes. Young men, middle-aged men, a woman in her fifties, a lady in her thirties… you get the drift.
"My name is…"
"My family is known for…"
"What brings you here today?"
"How did you get acquainted with Mr Aguirre? He's picky about who he associates himself with…"
As you can see, our conversation thus far didn't amount to anything much in terms of conversational value. It's mainly just them trying to be subtle in fishing out the information that they want to know about me.
"My name is Velda. As you might already suspect from my physical appearance, I'm not from Unova," I introduced myself with a polite smile when I decided that now is the time for me to speak up because I now have control over the flow and direction of our conversations. I am going to release what they want to know from me little by little in order to milk this conversation for what it's worth.
"Oh, where are you from?"
"Hoenn," I made sure to reply with a sweet smile in order to make a good first impression, taking full advantage of the good looks that I was blessed with since birth. "We don't experience the four seasons over there because we are situated in the tropical region, so it took awhile for me to adjust to the cooler weather over here."
"Ah, Hoenn! I heard that there are only two seasons over there, either the sun or the monsoon, is that true?"
"That's quite an apt description," I agreed with a small laugh. "It's really either enduring the scorching heat of the sun or trying to find shelter thanks to another sudden downpour. If you want to escape the winter season in Unova I would suggest you try visiting Hoenn for a vacation. It's sunny almost all year round."
"So you came over to Unova to escape the heat?" A man who I estimate to be in his thirties joked good-naturedly, earning a laugh from us all, but he had also cunningly redirected this conversation to fish out what everyone here wanted to learn from me, which is my true identity and why I'm here in Unova. I'm fine with that, I wasn't intending on hiding my identity in the first place.
"No, I'm afraid not. I came to Unova partly for official business, and partly because I want to take this opportunity to travel the region because I had never been here before," I replied while idly swirling the contents in my glass. "Unova's a very nice place. I have visited Nimbasa, Floccesy, and Humilau, and they each have their own unique charm."
"These places are popular tourist attractions, but business…? With the Aguirres?"
"And a few other parties," I replied without giving too much away because I know that what kept the attention of these people on me was about the many things that they don't know about me. I'm not planning to let them leave without learning a few things about them in return. I had given a few tidbits of information that they wanted to know, so now it's their time to give me back the information that I wanted to know and I'm planning to collect my investment back with interest.
My plan worked, because information started to flow to me the moment I mentioned "business" but chose not to elaborate on it. I did it on purpose, because I wanted to gauge just how eager and curious these people were in me. If the response was lacklustre, I could simply end the conversation there without it being awkward and without giving any important information away. If the response was positive, then I could expand on this topic and continue to control the flow of this conversation.
"That's interesting. From what I understand the Aguirres' main business dealt with pokemon breeding. Well, my family's business deals with pokemon too, but we are more involved in the pokemon healthcare sector."
"Haha, I'm afraid my family's main area of business has nothing to do with pokemon, but if you are looking to purchase properties in western Unova you can always come and find me. I offer the best deals and rates in that part of the region."
"By any chance, are you interested in the insurance business?"
It started from there, the people who joined me in this conversation started to introduce themselves and their affiliations, including the main businesses of their families or whoever they were representing in this event. I mentally jotted down their names in my mind and whatever details that caught my attention because you never know when this might prove to be important.
"That's a very nice bracelet you have there. Pardon me for asking, but is that a Hoenn product? Because I don't remember seeing anything similar out there on the market and I work in the jewellery industry."
This is the power of owning limited edition luxury goods, because this is how conversations are started for people of our social class (especially women) and this is how we identify the rare gems from the ordinary diamonds. Mum's present was already starting to have the intended effect she wished for, aiding me in maintaining the control of the flow of such conversations.
"You have a keen eye," I praised the young lady who was only probably six or seven years my senior and raised my wrist for everyone else to be able to take a look at my bracelet which had just become the topic of our conversation. By now, a handful of people had gathered around us and I knew that I would be walking away with a few more new contacts in my phone before the event is over tonight.
"You are right, it is a Hoenn product. I just celebrated my birthday, you see, and this bracelet is my mother's birthday present for me. She said that I am now at the age where I should have my own personal jewellery set, so she commissioned one for me. I'm not surprised that you didn't recognise this design because this is tailor-made for my personal use."
"Do you mind telling me the brand of this jewellery set? The craftsmanship is really good," The lady inquired and I could tell that she had no other meaning to her words. She's simply passionate about jewelleries and I never meant to keep this a secret anyway. For events like this, your personal accessories serve only one purpose and that purpose is for you to flaunt it and to grab other people's attention. It's just a matter of how discreet or how obnoxious you chose to do so.
"If you are in the gemstone and jewellery industry, you might have heard of his name before. This is Eric Davin's work. He's quite a renowned jewellery craftsman in Hoenn. In fact, the earrings that I am wearing are part of the same set as the bracelet."
From the reactions I observed and gathered from the people around me, I can tell that there are people who don't recognise Eric's name, but those are the minority. Most of the people gathered around me do recognise Eric's name. His name is a brand in itself in not just the Hoenn jewellery industry, but also in the international jewellery industry among the upper class society across the world. Eric's international fame could truly be considered an incredible achievement considering how severely behind globalisation is in this world. The common folk would never associate or be bothered to learn about him and his works because his works are something which they will never be able to afford. Eric's works are specifically tailored and made for people like us.
I knew that I had finally caught these people onto the hook that I had casted out since the start of this conversation. Not just anybody would be able to afford the price of owning one of Eric Davin's handcrafted accessories, much less one entire set of it. Even if price is not a concern here, Eric Davin was notorious for being extremely picky about who he chose to craft his works for, so the number of people who could claim to possess one of his works are very few in number.
The fact that I own one entire set of Eric Davin's jewelleries despite me being just a girl not yet into adulthood spoke volumes about my background and status. Furthermore, I mentioned that it was my mother's gift to me. I did that on purpose, because how many families in this world could actually afford an entire set of Eric Davin's jewelleries for their teenage daughter when so many other elites in the world had failed to commission even one piece of accessory from the world-renowned Eric Davin?
"Eric Davin? That Eric Davin?"
"That very same one," I affirmed with a slight nod of my head and I now know that I have everyone's full attention.
"Did I hear Eric Davin?"
Our conversation was interrupted when a young man somewhere in his late teens to early twenties announced his participation in our conversation. I would admit that he's not bad looking if I'm just looking at outward appearances. I immediately knew that he had to be someone important because the crowd subconsciously parted the way for him as he walked over, allowing him to meet me face to face.
I also immediately recognised that he's not here to make friends, but rather to create trouble.
Now, Vance had told and taught me many things about the upper society before he left. He had a lot more experience when it comes to mingling around in such high class social events because he's the heir and Dad had been grooming him to be able to take on the responsibilities that comes from being one ever since he was young. I remembered very clearly that Vance had once told me that for families like us, the children that came out from it usually fall into two different spectrums and from his experience, it's rare to have anyone fall in between the two extremes.
Here was what he said, and I quote him, "For families of similar status and history to us, the people that came from it are either the super talented and hardworking ones like Steven, me, and you, OR, the usual dramatic lazy spoiled brats not unlike those you see being portrayed in cliche TV dramas. Those belonging to the former tend to be more humble and rarely stand out but when they do stand out, they shine damn brightly. Those belonging to the latter would do all they can to attract attention to them using their family's influence but when you need them to really pull their own weight, you would realise that they really suck big time. For some reason, I had never seen anyone who belonged to the middle ground. Not sure why."
Those were Vance's exact words. Sure, Vance's words definitely were a little biassed, I'm certain that his words are definitely not representative of the entire population of upper society but it's still a nice measuring stick to refer to since I'm just starting to take my first step into this circle. And if his words were anything to go by, this man is probably going to fall into the not-so-nice spectrum. Vance had said that for people our age who hails from a family with status similar to ours, he personally had never seen anyone fall anywhere near the middleground within the two extreme ends of the spectrum he talked about.
Still, I don't plan on being rude because my every word and action do represent my own region as well. So, I answered his rude greeting with a smile on my face.
"You are…?"
"What? You seriously came to Unova without knowing who I am?" The man scoffed and I had to resist the urge to roll my eyes. "Whatever. Name's Callum Carrillo, what's yours?"
Carrillo, now that rings a bell. The Carrillo family, like the Aguirre family, belongs to the Twenty Assisting Houses of Unova. From my knowledge, the Carrillo family had historically kept a close relationship with the Euclid family. Conversely, they are not on very good terms with Dandolos family and their allies. It's a bit of a mystery why the Aguirre family, a close ally of the Dandolos, would invite a Carrillo to this event, but that is not something for me to question.
"Carrillo? I apologise for not recognising you sooner, it is my first time meeting someone from your family."
"Oh you learn quickly, I like that!" That insufferable man laughed and I could tell that he's not very well-liked among the people here from their facial expressions and body language. However, they hadn't acted nor had they spoken a word about his rude behaviour, which would mean that to them, the Carrillos are not people that they can carelessly offend. It's understandable that they would not want to risk their families and businesses for standing up to a little girl from a foreign region they barely know about and I don't blame them for it.
But if Callum Carrillo mistook my nicety for me being a pushover, then he has another thing coming.
I made it a point to learn about the Five Weapons and Twenty Assisting Houses of Unova when I decided to assist my family and the interpol through this path, because Sebastian and Vance had emphasised to me time and time again just how much influence they collectively possess in Unova. Be it for the interpol's purpose or for my family's sake, there would be a very high chance that I will have to work with a few of those families within Unova's soil, there's no escaping from it.
I know what the Carrillo family deals with and the basic outlines of their history. Like the Euclids, most of their businesses do not involve pokemon, at least not directly. To put it simply, the Carrillo family's main business is investment trading. Ever since international borders had started to open up after Lucas Foster decided to take the initiative to foster better relationships with every region, Hoenn's regulations had relaxed a little when it comes to overseas investments, be it to allow Hoenn's businesses investing overseas or having overseas investments starting to pour into our local businesses. The Carrillos had decided to ride on this wave of opportunity to expand their businesses into Hoenn as well.
It's quite similar to what my family is currently doing in Unova, expanding our influence and business overseas by trying to capitalise on this first mover advantage. What I do know was that in recent years, the Carrillos had been trying to diversify their business and were attempting to branch out their investments into several other industries that they had traditionally not been involved in with mixed results. They are viewing the opening and gradual prevalence of international trade as a good business opportunity to do so. They are trying to do their diversification in overseas businesses as well.
"Now that I have a closer look, you really are a pretty little thing," Callum Carrillo took a few steps closer while I simply took a few steps back to avoid him when he tried to do the rude thing to a lady by trying to touch my face without my permission in a very condescending manner. I could tell from the frowns of the people around me that they disapprove of Callum's actions as well, and I knew Rena would have done something drastic if I hadn't given her the mental command to stand down.
I don't need my pokemon to handle this clown. For now, I can deal with him myself.
"Hey, how about this? Be my girlfriend. Eric Davin? Pfft, that's just second-rate jewelleries to me. Ever heard of Enthral? Those are much better. I could give you as many of those as you want if you were my girlfriend, how about it?"
Now, it's taking all my self-control to not lose my temper. Vance had taught me about the social customs and norms when attending high class events. He warned me that this particular social circle can be very dirty and messy and depending on the context of the situation, for people like us and especially so for the men, to them, "girlfriends" sometimes might have the same connotations as "playthings", to be switched and changed at their whims. As such, if they invite a female partner with whom they are in a serious relationship with to any gatherings, the best way to protect them would be to introduce them to others as their "fiancee", because that is a clear sign to every other man present that this woman is off limits. In Vance's words, I need to be aware of this because you never know just what kinds of bastards lurk around in these events believing themselves to be above the law and sadly, they sometimes are above the law thanks to their family's influence.
From the tone of Callum's words there's no mistaking just what he was insinuating when he "asked" me to be his "girlfriend". So, Callum Carrillo had extended me an offer to be his "girlfriend". He actually had the gall to ask me to be his "plaything". I guess today's my lucky day, because I know for a fact that the Carrillos had decided to try expanding their global business operations to Hoenn, attempting to invest in Hoenn businesses in their attempt to diversify themselves. I also know for a fact that Hoenn was their only region of choice where they chose to focus their bulk of their investments because Hoenn is so much more politically stable as compared to the other regions.
In Hoenn, there's two main families that you absolutely cannot afford to piss off if you want to continue doing business there. Unfortunately for Callum, he had just royally pissed off one of them.
"Hmm, my family isn't too strict when it comes to who I chose to date, but my father and brother did make me agree to one condition before I do so," I pretended to act as if seriously considering his offer, and I saw the concerned looks from a few other people nearby who thought that I was too young to understand the connotations of being Callum's "girlfriend" in such a setting and context. I engraved all of their subtle reactions I had observed in my mind. This confrontation could be considered as a blessing in disguise because this way, I now know which people among the handful here actually possess a moral compass. These are the people that I could most likely trust and work with should I choose to.
"Oh? Do enlighten me," Callum has now made me very uncomfortable with how he's intruding into my personal space, and I'm planning to make him pay for insulting me earlier by trying to make me his "plaything".
"Well, for starters, whoever I chose to go out with had to first beat them both in a pokemon battle," I shrugged, "and I always tell them that I would be an old hag by the time anyone actually managed to beat them both, because they are very skilled trainers. It's kind of a given since our family lived and worked alongside pokemon for a long time much like the Dandolos do."
"Dandolos? Hmph, don't lump me together with those losers," Callum scoffed. "Pokemon, so what? Powerful or not, trainers still have to work for money and I have plenty of those so-called Elite trainers under my beck and call."
"Really?" I asked, acting like the genuinely curious naive girl that I hope I come across as.
"Of course."
"That's… weird. If there's really so many Elite trainers working for you, why hasn't anyone told you that you had been stalked by a ghost?"
"What?"
The area around us fell into silence with immediate effect and I could see how people instantly shifted away from Callum like the plague. Ghosts are not well-liked and they are widely feared, because being on the receiving end of their attention is rarely a good thing and it is extremely difficult to get rid of them due to the nature of their typing.
I simply smiled.
"I said, you had been stalked by a ghost, and from what I can see it has been quite a while. At least a month, by my estimate. Haven't you felt anything weird in this one month? Sudden unexplainable shivers, more nightmares, suddenly feeling lethargic for no reason? These are all very common symptoms of being stalked by a ghost. There are many more and if you wish, I could explain it all in detail to you."
Callum's face started to pale and the hand which he was using to hold his glass was actually starting to tremble. I wasn't lying earlier when I said that he had been tagged by a ghost, because the person who did so was me.
I was attacked by an unknown party after my first meeting with Leticia. Back then, I had instructed a ghost to tag our attacker with basic instructions to follow after our attackers and seek out their mastermind, or whoever the ghost deemed to be the most important person within the group after the attacker had reunited with whoever he or she took their orders from. "Tagging" was a trick Agatha taught me, but the limitation of this trick was that you never know when you would reunite with that ghost ever again because you can only verify the identity of the attacker if there is a reunion between both parties.
I had sent one of the misdreavus that had always been following me for this job. I knew all along from my ability that Callum had a ghostly companion hidden in his shadow but I wasn't sure if it was because he possessed a ghost type pokemon. However, after spending so much time conversing with him I'm sure that I sensed that same misdreavus in his shadow, because this was something that Rena had also confirmed with me through telepathy as well. Misdreavus was trying to secretly ask me through Rena's telepathy if there were any further instructions to follow, if it should continue with its current orders or to return to me.
I just never expect to flush out the mastermind of the faction behind the attack on my person in this manner. Callum was obviously not the real mastermind; he's obviously too dumb to successfully pull off something like that, so it had to be someone else within his family. The Carrillos had been involved in that attack that was out for my life. For now, that alone is enough information for me. This was an unexpected find.
"Are you alright? Your hands are shaking."
Maybe I'm enjoying this a little too much. Perhaps ordering the misdreavus through Rena's telepathy to slowly leech on his lifeforce was overkill, but I made sure it was just enough to get him to taste a hint of fear and that it would result in nothing lethal. Whenever ghosts decide to leech on the lifeforce of their targets, the common symptoms would be unexplainable shivering of their bodies, sudden bouts of lethargy, and sometimes frequent nightmares. These are all common symptoms which I listed out for Callum earlier and I'm sure he would have already experienced some of the abovementioned symptoms every now and then simply for having a misdreavus stalking him for so long.
"Y-You are l-lying."
I really want to roll my eyes at him. I wasn't expecting him to be such a wimp for all of the bravado he showed earlier. He's shaking in his pants after hearing just a few words from me.
How disappointing.
"If you say so. After all, you did say that you have plenty of those so-called Elite trainers under your beck and call. I'm sure one of them would be able to resolve your little ghost problem. I mean, what does a little girl like me know, right?"
'Rena, get misdreavus to turn up the effects a little more. Just be sure not to cause any permanent harm.'
'As you wish. I too, want to see this trash squirm in discomfort.'
This time, Callum's teeth are starting to chatter uncontrollably, and rather loudly if I might add. Misdreavus might have been a little too excited about this. This time, everyone except for me started to really give Callum a wide berth because something was obviously wrong with him, and they were afraid that he might bring the curse of a ghost to them as well if they stood too close.
"Oh dear, you might want to hurry and call for one of those trainers under your employment to assist you. I think… the ghost within you might be a little… hungry."
"T-They would… eat me?"
"It depends," I blinked my eyes innocently. "Some species feast on intangible things like your soul, leaving your body a lifeless husk. Some would consume your flesh too, it really depends on what species of ghost you are housing in your shadow. The ones that live near my house are very well-behaved, so I also never had a chance to see them at their worst because they don't like it when I try to watch them feast on their prey."
The glass he was holding fell and shattered by his feet upon dropping onto the floor below.
"C-Cold… I-It's g-getting c-cold… Help… H-Help…" I knew misdreavus was finally having its much anticipated feast when Callum's teeth chattered at a much more audible level and his shivering got much more violent, his arms wrapping himself in a reflexive action to warm himself up. He's arrogant and cocky, but he's not an idiot beyond saving. It would be too late to seek help elsewhere and he knows it.
"Y-You k-know h-h-how to s-stop…"
"But I'm just a little girl, what can I do?" I helplessly shrugged my shoulders and shook my head, having the time of my life by enjoying my little vindictive revenge. Callum's life is in no real danger so I could mess around with him for as long as I like, but Callum didn't need to know that. By now, Callum wasn't even able to stand on his feet, and was now curling up on the ground because his physical strength was starting to leave him as misdreavus continued to heavily leech on his life force.
"S-Save m-me, I-I c-can a-agree t-to a-a-anything…"
"I beg your pardon? Sorry, but I really couldn't hear you clearly with how badly your teeth are chattering," I asked out loud and I think it's getting obvious to everyone present that I'm doing this on purpose, that this is my revenge for Callum disrespecting me earlier.
If Callum is not a total idiot, then he will know what to do, what is the right call to make.
"S-S-Sorry! P-P-PLEASE H-H-HELP ME! I-I-I-'M S-S-S-ORRY!"
"Now that wasn't so hard, was it?" I decided to drop all pretences of nicety as it's obvious at this point that whatever Callum was experiencing was my doing. Still, I kept the sweet and polite smile on my face because I was taught to always be polite. I have such good upbringing.
"Dolly, if you would, please."
Dolly slowly emerged from my shadow, eliciting fearful gasps from a few people present at her unexpected appearance. She disappeared into Callum's shadow and soon brought out a reluctant misdreavus who looked as if it hadn't had its fill of fun yet.
"Oh, a misdreavus. Now that's rare, especially in this part of the world. Where on earth did you go to be able to meet one of those?" I asked in faux curiosity as I allowed the playful misdreavus to nestle itself on the top of my head and let it play pretend, the playful ghost trying playfully to act as my wig. It's not a patient ghost though, and soon left me alone and disappeared into my shadow together with Dolly.
"You…" Callum growled in hatred, still shivering weakly from the lingering side effects of having his lifeforce suddenly sucked away by a misdreavus. He will recover in time, but that time is definitely not tonight.
"Yes, me," I replied with a vindictive smile. "Ah, I remember now, Imperial Holdings… That's the entity your family is using to invest in Hoenn, am I right? I think Imperial Holdings had already spent about… twenty million? Ah yes, twenty million to try and enter into the Hoenn market on their own but it failed quite terribly. I remembered my butler telling me about how Imperial Holdings recently tried to attempt once more to enter the Hoenn market, this time, through trying to convince Velure Grains to embark on a joint venture or something like that. Well, I guess it's too bad for you, but as of this moment that investment of yours would be a bust."
I even released an exaggerated sigh at the end of my speech to add on to all the drama.
"W-Who a-are you…?" Callum asked through gritted teeth as someone finally tried to help him up from where he was still grovelling on the ground.
"Oh, I haven't introduced myself? Oh dear, look at me, where are my manners?" I gasped in mock surprise before doing a perfectly formal bow in his direction. "Velda Vera, of Hoenn's Vera family. Pleased to make your acquaintance."
Judging from the reactions I received from the people around me, it had the effect I desired. Nobody is going to forget about me anytime soon, not for those who were here to witness this spectacle. I'm not afraid of Callum, because my family is not afraid of the Carrillo family. My family is my greatest shield and support.
I am the daughter of the noble Vera family of Hoenn, and I would make everyone here tonight remember this fact.
"V-Vera…? You… that Vera?"
"Don't you know? Velure Grains was named after me, because my father's original intention for setting up this company was to hand it over to me one day and he finally did so about a week ago when I celebrated my birthday. I am the owner of Velure Grains now, so if I say any possible collaboration with a third party is a bust, it is a bust. "
That was not a lie. Velure Grains is one of the businesses my father made me the shareholder of and gave me a stake in it. Velure Grains is a company whose main business revolves around the selling and distribution of grains essential to the production of pokemon feed, and it is the only business that my father gave me in the truest sense because this is the only family business which I owned as its main shareholder. Other than a select few, my family businesses are mainly private entities that are not listed on the market, especially the truly important ones. It was a necessary measure because our businesses have a direct correlation with Hoenn's security as we are the main providers of the bulk of the pokemon the Hoenn League needs to bolster their military forces. Confidentiality and secrecy will always be our main consideration that we have to keep in mind when doing our businesses in order to uphold our family's duty to the region.
For other businesses that I am now a shareholder of, I simply have a stake in it, but the portion of my shares is lesser than my father's or brother's in comparison and is not enough to override any of their influences in those companies because I am not actively involved in the decision making. I'm not a main shareholder in these business entities. Thus, I am not the main owner of those businesses because Dad and Vance are the ones who truly own them by virtue of the distribution of their shares in it. There has to be a distinction between the heir apparent, which is Vance, and me, and I understand the reasons for it.
Vance would be the one who eventually takes over my family's legacy, not me, so it's fair that he gets a larger share because he has to take on that additional responsibility. I'm entirely fine with supporting him from the side. I had received too much from my family as it is and I am already very grateful to be born as their daughter. I would never ask for more.
But that's also why Velure Grains is special, because it is the only entity out of the many in the complex group of companies associated with my family that belongs to me, and it is raking in quite the profit for a relatively new company. Velure Grains is a very well-looked upon startup within the industry because my father had painstakingly built Velure Grains such that it would take a very serious natural or manmade disaster for the business to wind up, and I don't even need to be actively involved in the company's usual operations for it continue functioning this way. This is my father's way of ensuring that I will be comfortably set for life. The way he shows his love for me is not as direct as Vance and Mum will do, but he does his best to ensure that I will never need to fret for money and I will always have enough to live in luxury, because I am his beloved daughter.
This is my father's gift to me, his daughter, although I only understood and knew about his intentions on my birthday just not too long ago.
"Talking about things being a bust…" I pretended to fall into deep thought before dramatically shaking my head. "Maybe it would be more accurate to say that any future attempts for business ventures into Hoenn on your family's end would be a bust, because my family would not be happy to hear about what had happened today, and if my family is not happy because I am not happy, they tend to take things a little too far because they really love to spoil me. Ah, and when that happens, my brother would probably look for Steven Stone, because they are very good friends and they love to confide with each other about what goes on in their lives, and when even the Stones get involved… Well, like I said, everything would be a bust."
I put on the sweetest and most harmless smile on my face when I listed out very clearly the consequences of offending me. I am not one to usually do this because I don't like to abuse my power as a Vera, but doing this to an asshole who deserves it is really too fun to miss out on.
"Truth to be told, I'm rather spoiled, because I usually prefer to indulge myself in my hobbies and my parents tend to let me do whatever I want. I don't really contribute much to my family's business side of things because rather than being known as a Vera, I'm more well-known in certain circles as the Ghost Mistress."
The shadows under my feet bloomed under my mental command as all sorts of species of ghosts started to make their appearances, cackling and hovering in the air around me before suddenly disappearing from view altogether. This is enough to scare anyone shitless if they are not at least an Advanced trainer in skill and strength.
"There was a time where I never really did like this moniker and my teacher always did say that I have the potential to be a Ghost Master although I always thought that she was exaggerating, but after experiencing the recent Battle at Olivine and taking part in it, I thought that maybe, just maybe, my talent with handling Ghost types may not be such a bad thing after all, and that I should revel in it."
Wacky made his sudden appearance just a few centimetres in front of Callum with a hair raising screech, causing him to scream and backpedal in fright, scurrying away in fear at the sight of a crazed looking gengar. My point has been made.
"Wacky, what did I tell you about playing pranks on people?"
Wacky dutifully put up a show and audibly whined, because he had appeared to scare Callum upon my silent instructions to do so. Whatever I said earlier to Callum, being considered a future potential candidate for a Ghost Master, my participation in the Battle of Olivine, and the army of ghosts that I purposefully revealed; it was a subtle warning to him and to anyone else that might harbour unkind thoughts towards me. This is an act of deterrence on my part and also a display of my strength. I purposely showed or mentioned all of those to make a point. I am far from being the harmless and clueless little girl that my physical appearance made me out to be.
"Velda? I heard that there was a commotion, is everything alright?"
The person who came over was Myles Aguirre, who had just arrived to see what the commotion was about. Judging from the situation, he's here to show his support for me. He's really a considerate man.
"Ah, Mr Aguirre. Oh, it's nothing, we just have a slight ghostly problem but I had already resolved it. It's my expertise after all."
"That's true! You are Agatha's student, I would not expect any less!" Myles let out a booming hearty laugh before turning to look at Callum. Others may fear Callum due to his social status but Myles will not, because he is of equal standing to him as a fellow member of the Twenty Assisting Houses.
"Oh, Callum, you were the victim? You were very lucky that Velda was here. Ghosts are really not creatures that you would want to mess with and Velda is one of the few that I know who has enough knowledge and skill to safely interact with them without getting hurt."
"I'm flattered," I replied to Myles' words with a slight bow of my head as a gesture of thanks. He's cooperating with me to put up the show that I started. No words could express the thanks and gratitude for the support I received from him. He's a man that is worth befriending.
"And it's flattery well-deserved," Myles grinned at me before grabbing everyone's attention once more. "Well, the auction is starting soon, so how about we start getting ready for the main event? I swear upon my family's name that you will not be disappointed!"
We trickled into the main hall upon Myles' invitation. At least, tonight will be an interesting night.
Very interesting night indeed.