Chapter 126 - Petty Tactics

Myron choked on his words and descended into a violent coughing fit, arousing the attention of others around him. Goran didn't bother to wait for him to calm down and turned to leave.

"Wait! *cough* big -"

"Clan Leader," Goran corrected as though it were second nature, which essentially was the case for him by now. The interjection didn't help Myron's recovery and exacerbated his frenzied coughs.

"Tsk! Act more appropriately, will you?! You're embarrassing the clan!" Goran reprimanded, eliciting a malicious, red-eyed and tear-filled stare from his hunched over brother.

"You're in the Core Condensation realm for goodness sake!" Goran reminded. Myron caught on to this hint, surprisingly, and immediately activated his mana circulation. After a short half-minute, he calmed down and exhaled loudly to regulate his breath.

"Clan Leader," Myron started, eyeing Goran with a hateful gaze. "Ah! Is this the little artist?" He exclaimed and shifted his gaze towards Kano. Noticing the man's hostile intentions, Kano slowly slid behind Goran.

"This is the artist whose work is taking the centre stage today, Artist Lang!" Myron turned and commented. From behind him, an elderly looking individual, with an imposing aged-silver coloured beard and a haughty gaze, walked forward with his hands clasped behind him. The man called Artist Keegan Lang looked towards the little child and observed him with great intensity. Within a short second, the man had already inspected the boy from top to bottom using his mana sense and, after finding nothing of value, snorted derisively.

Myron wore a proud smirk and glanced at Goran. Goran realised that Myron had taken his earlier "advice" quite seriously, and went out of his way to bring in an expert. Well, calling Artist Lang an expert would be an understatement; the man was a veritable master in his craft. He currently held a 6-star license, evidence of the fact that he could create artworks at the fifth level consistently. Goran actually owned a few paintings of Artist Lang, including the man's very first fifth level painting, and they hung within a secure vault in the Rasmus Clan's territory.

"Artist Lang! What a wonderful surprise," Goran greeted as he stepped forward with a jovial smile. Kano observed that there was an undertone of respect and adoration in Goran's voice - he truly meant it when he said that - which was in contrast to his attitude earlier when meeting others. And this was because Goran actually admired the talent of the man before him.

"Clan Leader Rasmus," Artist Lang replied with a smile filled with a contrast of emotions. Kano sensed reverence and respect, as well as a tinge of animosity in the man's tone. The resentment didn't seem like it was directed towards Goran, though, which confused Kano even further.

"Kano come, greet Artist Lang," Goran instructed and moved the meek boy forward. Kano, in turn, walked up with a lowered head and bowed profusely.

"It is an honour to m-m-meet you, Artist L-L-Lang," the boy said in a low voice. In response, the boy simply received a curt hum from the man. It was then that Kano realised that the earlier hostility was directed at him! The resentment was so telegraphed that even Goran picked up on this minor interaction and immediately moved forward to shift the topic.

"I apologise for cutting this meeting short. We were planning to peruse the works in the exhibition, so we shall be taking out leave," Goran said and bade Artist Lang a hurried farewell. They had arrived right just a few hours before the exhibition opened. Being a VVIP, Goran had the privilege of appreciating the artworks peacefully before the common riffraff.

"Why don't we join the Clan Leader and the little artist, Artist Lang?" Myron said in a feigned suggestive tone. He didn't wait for the recipient's affirmation and immediately started to follow Goran.

Goran sighed in annoyance and walked in. Right as they entered the hall, Goran noticed a bizarre scene with the employees of the guild moving around frantically. He observed them and realised that they were replacing the signs reading "Main Exhibition: Artist Keegan Lang" with "Main Exhibition: Kano Reva".

He then tuned in to the conversations bubbling amongst the visitors in the hall and heard the full story.

"*Tsk* What's wrong with the guild? They moved Artist Lang's works to a lower slot in place of a complete novice! Who even is this Kano Reva?"

"Shh! Apparently, they're in bed with some bigshots..."

"Who?"

"I shouldn't say..."

"Just spill it! Damn it!"

"Alright, alright! It's the Rasmus Clan!"

"No way! If Clan Leader Rasmus is sponsoring this artist, he must be pretty good."

"I don't know. Let's go check it out first!"

With a forceful growl, Goran jolted his head backwards and interrogated Myron, "What have you done?!"

"Big brother," Myron started. He paused for a half-second by instinct, noticing that Goran hadn't corrected him like an imbecile, he celebrated internally and said, "since you were debuting your sponsored artist, I figured you would want his work to take the centre stage. So I asked the guild to make the change, for which they readily obliged as you are their foremost patron."

"So you replaced a 6-star artist's painting with that of someone who hasn't even earned a Practicing license, and used the clan's name for this?" Goran reaffirmed with an exhausted voice. He finally realised the cause of Artist Lang's ire. He had been upstaged by a literal nobody! Of course, the artist couldn't take it out on the people who implemented this, since it was equivalent to taking on the entire Rasmus Clan, all the man could do was direct his displeasure towards the dastardly interloper, which was Kano.

"I'm looking forward to observing 'artist' Reva's work," Artist Lang commented as he walked in behind Myron. When he said the word artist, there was a clear sarcastic edge in it.

While Myron revelled over his supposed victory, Goran immediately started to ponder over how to resolve the incoming conflict. The people with a lot of clout in a particular field, though wise, were often petty. They never appreciated it if someone they deemed a 'greenhorn' opposed them or made them lose face. Goran could already anticipate the amount of contention Kano would encounter in the future in the hands of Artist Lang if the current fray wasn't settled appropriately.

In the end, Goran couldn't come up with anything. For the first time, he had been bested by Myron in a diplomatic battle.

'I was too careless,' he thought as he gazed apologetically at Kano.

"Why don't we study artist Kano's work?" Myron suggested rhetorically.

"That's not necessary," Goran denied curtly. "We are here to learn from the works of others not stroke our own ego, isn't that right Kano?"

Kano nodded vehemently with a serious expression.

____

Keegan would be lying if he said that he wasn't affected by everything that transpired today. The exhibition at Radiant City's Artists' Guild was a huge event that garnered a lot of attention. It was where veteran and up-and-coming artists would come to showcase their mettle, and possibly make huge sales with the high-rollers that attended intending to procure the latest masterpieces.

However, a 6-star artist such as himself wouldn't usually bother to participate in such clownish events. Why would they bother placing their transcendent works amongst the lower tier trash? To put it simply, it would be analogous to a dragon flaunting its might amongst ants. But Keegan was different. He didn't care much about such trivial beliefs and practices, all he cared about was the money. The only reason he was taking part in this event was to offload his newest painting with a lucrative sale.

Keegan wasn't short on funds, he was as rich as any other Artist in his position could be. Yet, he was wanting for more. Every once in a while, Keegan would get this prickly feeling of insecurity. That at any moment, all the money in his bank account would just disappear. Whenever that feeling rose within him, he would rush over to his studio and lock himself for months on end, only to exit after he had created another masterpiece level-five artwork. He would then sell the work to fuse an influx of cash into his account. Only then would his insecurity subside.

Incidentally, Keegan wanted to try something different this time and decided to advertise his new work in Radiant City's exhibition rather than through the usual auction. The Guild was rightfully elated to host Keegan, after all, it wasn't like every 6-star artist would willingly publicly advertise their works.

But just before the day of the exhibition, his position was switched with that of another, unlicensed artist. It was blasphemy of the highest order! He was prepared to unleash his complete fury on the guild for such an unceremonious sleight, but he realised that the perpetrators were one of his highest-paying clients: the Rasmus Clan. Knowing who they were, Keegan wasn't surprised that the guild sided with them rather than him.

He couldn't afford to oppose them, not if he was prepared to lose a lucrative source of income. But that didn't mean that he was ready to drop his displeasure towards the miscreant who made him lose face so spectacularly. Keegan should have and was planning to immediately void his participation, but Keegan was somehow convinced by Myron Rasmus to attend the exhibition and destroy the artist's reputation personally. 

At that time, he was prepared to tear the artist a new one publicly and end his entire career, until he realised that his so-called 'opponent' was just a little kid. How small-minded would he be if he was ready to go up in arms against him?

Internally, Keegan slammed his past self for becoming so embroiled in his anger that he had become swayed by Myron's obvious attempts to incite a pointless conflict. Because now, Keegan was feeling extremely regretful.

But Keegan's pride stopped him from doubling back. Since he had made a declaration with such conviction, he would lose too much face if he gave up without putting even a little bit of effort.. So Keegan decided, rather half-heartedly, that he had to do something, albeit only in ceremony, to humble the boy.