I'm Trying To Go Broke, So Why Do I Keep Getting Richer?!-Chapter 171: Unexpected meeting

The butler stared at the spot where the ’permit’ had been, his brain short-circuiting as it tried to process things.

"I... no, of course not, Excellency! It’s just that the representatives that came last time were different. It was a team led by a woman, so I was just a little confused for a moment..."

He tried explaining that he wasn’t doubting their identity. He was just a little confused because they were different from the investigation team that had visited last time.

"The Team that came last time?" Inwardly, Leo was taken aback. Then again, he didn’t lose his character.

After all, the butler had already given him enough information to play with.

"Ah, you must be talking about that little girl. Don’t worry, I’m her senior. Since she was taking a long time to solve this case, the Union sent me to solve this case. So lead me to your boss..."

"Ah..." The Butler didn’t know how to respond. If these people were truly the seniors of that girl, then he couldn’t just send them back. After all, they were officially dispatched by the Union.

" It’s just that the banquet has already..." He mumbled weakly.

"The banquet? Oh, how delightful!" Leo interrupted, his mustache twitching with a life of its own. "We love a good party. Nothing loosens the tongue like a good drink at a banquet...’

’My colleagues and I haven’t eaten since the seventeenth sector," he added. "Or was it Tuesday? Whatever, you can lead us."

Leo began walking forward with the confidence of a man who owned the planet, or at least the person directly in front of him. Behind him, the other three followed him.

"Wait! Your Excellency!" the butler scrambled to keep pace, his polished shoes clicking frantically on the stone. "The Patriarch is currently in a high-level briefing with the direct heirs! It’s a matter of succession! Can you... Wait a little while I inform the Patriarch?"

Leo stopped dead in his tracks and turned, the tip of his magician’s hat dangerously close to the butler’s nose.

"Succession? Excellent. I’m a specialist in succession. In fact," Leo leaned in. "I once presided over a succession dispute where the winner was decided by a game of rock-paper-scissors. It lasted three weeks. Only two people lost their fingers. It was fun."

He didn’t wait for a response. He signaled to his companions, the multi-armed man and the two silent, imposing figures who looked like they enjoyed crushing people for leisure.

"Move aside, my good man. Every second we delay is a second that the perpetrator of these bank attacks could be spending on a beach, sipping something with an umbrella in it. And I hate umbrellas. So I must stop them!"

The butler, caught between the orders of the Lionel Family and the bureaucratic nightmare of offending the Galactic Union, chose the path of least resistance. He bowed so low his forehead nearly hit the red carpet.

"This way, Excellency."

As the group swept past the bewildered guards and into the grand palace, Leo caught a glimpse of himself in a gold-framed mirror. He paused for a fraction of a second to smooth his mustache.

Once the group entered the main ball, they caught the sight of hundreds of guests, many with a glass of alcohol in their hands.

The interior of the grand hall was even more beautiful than anything Leo had ever seen. It was as if the Lionel Family was worried that the others would not recognise that they were rich.

Even the statues that were placed near the walls were older than many civilizations.

Quite a few people shifted their attention to Leo and the others, before returning to their discussion with their colleagues.

After all, many people were in attendance, and quite a few of them didn’t recognise the other.

"Please have a drink and wait. I will inform the Patriarch about your arrival."

The butler gestured for a waiter to rush to them with a tray that was filled with alcohol glasses.

The butler personally handed over the alcohol to the four guests before rushing upstairs, leaving them behind.

Leo watched the butler leave, and the smile on his face also disappeared as he sneakily emptied the alcohol in the nearby plant, carrying an empty glass in his hand as if he had finished the drink entirely.

The last thing he wanted to do here was to get drunk.

"Let’s go." He didn’t wait for the butler to return, as he took the same route as the butler, going upstairs.

Yang finished his drink, putting the empty glass back. Meanwhile, Ulen and the Branch Manager followed Leo, and emptied the glasses in the plant. 𝒻𝑟ℯℯ𝑤𝑒𝑏𝑛𝘰𝓋𝑒𝓁.𝒸𝑜𝘮

They followed Leo. Along the way, Yang tried to reach out to another glass of alcohol, only to later grab the entire bottle itself, as he went upstairs with Leo.

"You really shouldn’t be drinking so much," Ulen told Yang, seeing him gulp down the bottle. "We are supposed to be high-ranking officials of the Galactic Union."

"I’m merely confiscating it for evidence," Yang answered back, taking another sip. "It might be poisoned. I must test it. Repeatedly."

They reached the second-floor landing. The sound of clinking glasses from below was replaced by silence.

At the end of the hallway, there was a meeting place where all the direct descendants of the Lionel Family were gathered.

The meeting was filled with people, yet the place was completely silent. Everyone was looking at the patriarch silently.

After all, that one man was going to decide who was going to become the next leader of the family.

Not even the descendants had expected something like this. Normally, as per tradition, the next Patriarch was going to be selected after the banquet was over.

But for some reason, the current family head had broken the tradition. He had called for a meeting while the banquet was still ongoing.

Many people wondered if the patriarch was going to be decided in this meeting. Or was there a different purpose behind this meeting.