Old Gods, Rapid-Fire Guns, and Prohibition

Chapter 99 [Charity Auction]

As soon as he entered the venue, Ethan saw an acquaintance.

El.

As the dean of the School of Art at the University of Winchester and an artist himself, it was normal for him to attend this dinner.

But now he seemed a little worried.

"Dean El, good evening."

Ethan greeted him.

El nodded, forced a smile, and responded.

"What's wrong, Dean? You look so worried. Are you in trouble?"

Hearing this, El sighed slightly and hesitated to speak.

Finally, he whispered to Ethan: "I suspect the principal is missing."

"disappeared?"

"The principal was originally invited to this charity dinner, but I can't find him. It seems that no one has stayed in his recuperation room for several days..."

"Maybe... the principal just has something urgent to do." Ethan said this, but his heart was in turmoil.

It's gone. Was it taken away by Solomon?

If Loren was one of the two masked men that day, it would not be surprising that he was taken away by Solomon.

However, they knew nothing, so they didn't have to worry about the fire coming back upon them.

"I hope so." El sighed again.

He has reason to worry.

He clearly stood on Loren's side and disregarded his own beliefs for this. Everything was going well and he even drove away his mortal enemy Ramon.

As a result, Lauren disappeared at this critical juncture.

What about his future?
After comforting El a few more words, Ethan saw Sofia walking towards him.

The two men greeted each other, and El naturally didn't want to continue sighing, so he said a few words and walked away.

Ethan asked about Ned.

Sophia said that Ned was currently receiving people from the Church of the Sun with the mayor.

This time, the Church of the Sun sent a black cardinal from the cathedral specifically for the matter of Saint Quanti.

The status of the black cardinals is not low. In the Apollo Cult, apart from the Pope, there are twelve yellow cardinals, followed by twenty-four black cardinals.

Black cardinals are basically people who are in charge of a certain area, and those who can serve in the cathedral are already core figures who can participate in the cathedral meetings.

This shows how much the Church of the Sun values ​​Saint Quanti.

As they were talking, there was a slight commotion in the entire venue. Then the crowd was seen being separated. Led by a high-spirited middle-aged man, three people entered the venue almost at the same time.

The leader was naturally none other than the current governor of Winster, Oswaldo Neil.

He is not from Winster, he is from the central region and is known for his competence. Under his leadership, Winster has developed well in the past two years.

There are rumors that he is likely to step directly into the royal capital in his next promotion.

Next to him was naturally Ned.

And the black cardinal from the Old World, Casal Clavering.

This was a middle-aged man with a sinister face. Dressed in a black robe, he looked nothing like a believer of the sun, but rather like a vulture.

As they entered together, Ethan saw another familiar face.

Ramon, the former dean of Winster Law School, with whom he had previously had a painting dispute at Winster University.

He actually followed Casar.

But considering that he is a devout believer in the Sun God religion, it makes sense.

They walked into the crowd, greeting everyone while slowly approaching Ethan and his group. "Let me introduce you. This is our daughter, Sophia, and this is her good friend, Ethan, a very famous artist these days."

Ned took the initiative to introduce himself.

At this moment, a discordant voice sounded: "Besides being a well-known artist, Mr. Ethan has another more famous identity, right?"

The sound was so loud that even many people nearby heard it and looked over with curiosity.

Winster is not big, but not small either, especially in the upper class. It is impossible for them to pay attention to what is happening in the black mud. In fact, not many people know Ethan's mafia identity.

But the person who spoke obviously wanted to expose this point.

Ramon.

Ramon looked at Ethan provocatively with hatred in his eyes.

Ethan caused him to lose a crucial position.

"Oh? What is it?" Osvaldo seemed interested.

"The head of the Poretta family, naturally."

As soon as the words "family" and "chief" came out, people nearby knew Ethan's true identity.

For a moment, all kinds of expressions and emotions appeared, some were avoidant like the plague, some were contemptuous, and some were disgusted.

After all, they are upper-class people, and it is really beneath their status to stand with something like this in the black mud.

Fortunately, I didn’t go up to say hello to him just now.

"Dean Ramon, why do you always target Ethan? Ethan is an upright and good man. Please apologize to him. You owe him an apology." Sophia stood up and spoke at this time.

Cardinal Casar glanced at Ramon and said, "Don't speak nonsense, otherwise God will punish you, Ramon."

"Your Excellency the Bishop, I did not speak nonsense, otherwise I would be punished by heavenly fire." Ramon said righteously.

Seeing the tense atmosphere, Ned cut the topic short and said, "The charity auction is about to start. Let's go."

The three of them talked and laughed again and left.

Ramon glanced at Ethan with a pleased expression.

"Ethan, don't take it to heart. Ramon has gone too far. I know what kind of person you are."

Sophia comforted Ethan.

Ethan nodded, avoiding Sophia's attempt to hold his hand.

The auction officially began, and items were moved on and off the stage one by one as the auctioneer operated.

The powerful people in Winster donated a lot of good things.

The atmosphere was also very warm.

Finally, it’s time for the last lot.

"Then let's take a look at the final lot, which is a painting by Ethan Pauletta, 'The Orphans of San Quanti'..."

Originally everyone had high expectations for Ethan, after all, he was a talented artist praised by Popol himself.

His works are highly sought after, and people believe that their value will definitely increase if they are photographed.

But after Ramon's words, everyone's attitude changed, and there were even some slight boos from the crowd.

At this moment, someone quickly walked up to the stage and whispered a few words into the auctioneer's ear.

"Oh, everyone, I just received the latest news. Mr. Casal Fraklin, the black cardinal of the Sun God Cult, donated a painting by the famous painter Constant in the name of the church. It's called "The Gaze of the Virgin Mary"..."

As soon as he finished speaking, some people in the audience started to make a fuss, saying that they wanted to take a picture of the painting first. Gradually, such voices became more and more frequent.

The auctioneer looked in one direction, where sat Consul Osvaldo.

He nodded slightly.

(End of this chapter)