Chapter 212: Endless Cycle

Noah and Maggy, who had never had much access to luxurious things even after Noah started receiving a lot of money, were enjoying the lunch to which Marel invited them.

"Before, I couldn't understand how someone had the courage to pay so dearly for such a small portion of food, but after tasting the flavor of these dishes, I have to ask the waiter to send my regards to the chef," Noah said with a satisfied expression. And seeing Maggy eating with such a happy expression of her own made him feel even more satisfied.

"As much as the rich like to spend money on useless things, I can assure you that most restaurants do something that makes their money worthwhile. Of course, some will only have a high price without a chef to make that price fair, but the ones that are like this restaurant are definitely worth it," Marcel said as he had a proud smile on his face. Anyone would feel good when they show something they like to someone else and that person likes it.

That's why even after so many years after livestreaming had shown up, people who just reacted to things were so successful since many people loved to see other people reacting to things they liked.

But the harmony the group had while eating was completely ruined by a sarcastic comment.

"Well, well, the Khan family beggars still have money to pay for a meal here? What a surprising thing! This restaurant hasn't had any Khan family beggars for over 3 months. Unfortunately that record was broken by the 'Young Heir' of the beggar family... " A man, apparently 23 or 24 years old, commented with an expression of disgust as he looked at Noah and Marcel's table.

Noah was angry after hearing this, not because it affected his pride in some way, but because he saw that Maggy was slightly uncomfortable after hearing a comment like that aimed at them. Noah was used to hearing comments like that all the time in Eyrin City, especially before his blessing woke up, but Maggy had never heard anything like it.

But before Noah could get up, Marcel did it first and in an angry voice pointed to the young man who had spoken and answered him, "Don't talk to me, you shit. Even were the Khan family not experiencing less than the best of times a low-level family like the Hyo family skills carefully consider saying something like that about us. Maybe I have to show you the difference between our families one more time?"

Noah looked at Marcel with an eyebrow raised in amazement. He had never seen Marcel act this way, and seeing Marcel's worried look at Maggy, Noah knew that the reason Marcel acted that way was the same reason that had stressed him out. This was something that Noah liked to see, since his friend also cared for his little sister, just like him.

Leaving this discussion to Marcel and this arrogant young man, Noah held Maggy's hand under the table and showed her a confident smile, saying in a low voice that everything was fine.

Seeing that her brother was not worried about it, Maggy's expression got better and she went back to eating, this time with an even happier smile as she felt her brother's hand holding her own little hand, happy for the affection she was receiving.

"Hehe, it looks like you spent a long time outside of the capital Marcel, but the Hyo family is now part of the circle of the biggest families in the city. And unlike my family that is on the rise, your family is in decline...? How long until your family is replaced inside the circle by another slightly less mediocre family?" The young man held his anger inside and responded to Marcel, pretending not to be affected by his words. Apparently Marcel's last sentence had invoked some bad memories for him.

"Hmm, let's see... Maybe I have to upset you?" Marcel said as he sat down and stopped paying attention to the other young man.

Seeing that Marcel wasn't even looking at him anymore, the young man snorted and went back to the table where his friends were sitting.

"I'm sorry Noah... I didn't want to make either of you go through this, especially you Maggy; I'm sorry." Marcel apologized while even lowering his head to show his guilt.

Noah saw that Maggy had already forgotten what had happened while she continued to eat with a smile on her face, splitting her gaze between the food and the hand of her brother who was still holding her little hand.

Since Maggy no longer cared about it, Noah became a little more calm. "It wasn't your fault, Marcel, don't worry. Honestly, if it weren't for not causing problems I wouldn't mind making that retard taste my flames. But leaving that aside, why did he say that about the Khan family?"

Hearing this, Marcel couldn't help but let out a breath before he started to explain. "The Khan family has always been among the most important and influential families in the capital, but after my grandfather, the only Blessed One at the top of the family's peak Rank B, fell ill, we lost a lot of power in the city. Even families that were small like the Hyo family took the liberty to get a share of our monster essences market because of their patriarch who reached the peak of Rank B and started cleaning up more Fortresses than we currently do."

"Hmm, so families are fighting over who gets more essence? Why is this so important? I know it can increase the strength of a Blessed person who is above Rank C, but how does that affect you?" Noah asked, genuinely curious.

"Money for our families has already become irrelevant. We have so many businesses that seeing the amount of money in the bank account at the end of each month doesn't even make a difference to the Blessed Ones at the top of the table. But seeing as human beings are very greedy, the people found another way to feel satisfied, which was with talent. Families look for talented people to nurture them to participate in family competitions in the future and get enough prestige to have even more talented people join their families in the future. Do you understand what I'm getting at?" Marcel asked back.

"Just as you convinced me to join your family, the other families have their talented young people. The talented compete with each other, calling to them more talented. With more talented individuals you can get more resources to make the inner circle stronger. Each family's internal circle competes with each other for even better resources so that they may become even stronger and get more talent, thus creating an endless cycle of searching for power and talent." Noah said his assumption out loud.

Hearing these assumptions, Marcel nodded. "Precisely. As my grandfather fell ill, our most powerful Blessed was unable to compete for the best resources, making us earn less, making less people want to join our family, and making the endless cycle also never end."

"Well, then you chose the right person for this... After the Valorwatch championship I found out that I love a good competition... hehe," Noah said.

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