Chapter 618 - The Hunt (7)

"Business circle?" I softly questioned Alex, elbowing him.

This never came up in my collection of scripted answers. Unfortunately, the scripted answers were useful in trying to get the guests to leave me alone. Most of them turned their attention to Alex, bȧrėly getting their questions answered from me. I also needed to save as much energy as possible to survive through another round today. I could already somehow tell this whole business circle thing would be a pain.

"It would be an honor to join, however my cousin is not here with us," Alex intercepted the question.

"I think you have misunderstood us. This invitation is only extended to Rika," the guest waited for my answer.

"I would like to decline," I blurted under the pressure.

"Unfortunately, I am a penniless person that doesn't have any money in my bank account. I'm afraid I don't have the qualifications," I used the first excuse that came to my head.

"You come from the Roselia family, do you not?" She became extremely confused.

"Just like not everyone in the first district is wealthy, not every member of the Roselia family possesses money," I knew it was a poor explanation.

"These accessories and dresses come from a loan from my wealthy cousin," I added when they didn't believe me.

"You are extremely humble," a guest didn't understand my intentions, almost laughing.

"You're humiliating us," Alex quietly mumbled, wanting me to stop talking.

"I can show you my empty bank account," I had exchanged everything for Memors.

I tapped on my screen, confidently accessing my bank account, passing the display around for everyone else to see. Maybe I was successful, the entire table going silent. Since I didn't get the chance to check, I returned the screen back to its original position, facing me. I silently cheered inside my heart when I discovered there was really nothing in all of my accounts. I repeated my decision, "as a penniless person, I am afraid I do not possess such qualifications."

"You really have nothing," a guest was surprised.

"She was telling the truth," another person murmured.

"I didn't think a member of the Roselia family would have financial hardships," another guest joined in.

"This is a joint bank account," Alex tried to fix his family's reputation.

Alex swiped my marble away from me, tapping on many settings, eventually landing on the total account balance of everything added together. My eyes widened when everything amounted into half a trillion Aris, not trusting the numbers. Alex began to present the screen in front of the guests, revealing, "my cousin doesn't know all the features on her account yet."

Alex closed the screen, passing my marble back to me, making the guests speechless, including me. I didn't know that Luke possessed this much wealth on his side of the account. Luke managed all our ȧssets as I steered away touching anything. I only used money sent by my parents, knowing all my purchases would get revealed with the one provided by the Roselia family. I considered that account to be purely used to exchange Aris into more Memors.

"My cousin is right. I'm too brainless and senseless to have the qualifications to join your circle," I quickly came up with another excuse.

To support my claim, I presented my poor school grades, scrolling to the times I got an extreme amount of minus points. This usually did the trick to convince people to leave me alone. Alex's smile almost came crashing down as the guests struggled to maintain their masks. One of the guests began choking on their food, coughing to hide their emotions. Even Ethan and Oili were stunned, seeing the minus 400,000 points from when I was partnered with Henry.

"Do you still want me to join?" I hoped they would retract their offer.

"Do you know what a business circle is?" A guest asked.

���I don't. If you also ask me anything about my fractions, I can tell you that I have no clue what's going on. The only skill I have is conquering dungeons and slowly collecting my harem," I shook my head.

"You're the famous MuimemeLover4421 who got reported for trying to collect a harem! That's one of his common lines," A person gasped.

"We have to let her join us. Her harem is almost legendary in the game world," he turned to the people in his business circle.

What? Was this business circle actually another gaming club? It did make sense other people would try to keep their hobbies a secret with the high standards in this district. I coughed to get their attention, "I can show you my ways. Please tell me the true purpose of your circle."

"We are actually harem collecting gamers, hiding behind the cover of a business circle. We like to admire beautiful people," he confessed.

"I'm joining! You can rely on your big sister," I rose from my chair.

"Now bow down to your master," I wanted to see if they were sincere.

I stumbled a few steps back from shock, watching them rise from their chairs to kneel down. They really wished to learn from this master to increase their own harems. When I snuck a peek at Alex, his face was in utter disbelief, watching everything unfold. I flipped my hair, "this is enough for today.. I'll add you as my friend in the game and here is my contact information so you can contact me to get some advice in real life."