The Greatest Sinner

<Oh, there's my food. I hope it tastes as good as it looks>. Evan thought to himself, watching the waiter place the dishes on the table.

First of all, Evan started with the steak as the main course. He quickly picked up a piece of meat with his fork and took a big bite out of it. From the outside, Evan looked rather wild and uncultured. But he didn't care about the opinions of others. At the moment, he just wanted to eat and get full. He didn't have the slightest desire to monitor how he was holding the cutlery and so on.

The people sitting at the neighboring tables looked at Evan with disdain. He had initially attracted attention by walking into such an expensive place in very cheap clothes, and now things had only gotten worse. Even though no one was admonishing him, and, certainly, no one was going to interfere with him in any way, Evan could clearly see their scornful looks.

<Huh, I wonder what a cool place is that all these pompous turkeys are afraid to even squeak anything?> Evan thought to himself.

He could tell by the looks on their faces that if it were up to them they would throw him out, they were disgusted to be in the same space with a poor man. Of course, Evan had already ordered, but he hadn't paid for it yet. Other people didn't know that he actually had a lot of money.

However, contrary to their wishes, they were holding back, and you could see it in their faces. Obviously, they were not afraid of Evan, they were afraid of causing trouble in this establishment because of its owner.

While Evan was eating his steak he thinking about who could be the owner of this beautiful restaurant. The food wasn`t only was delicious, but also quite unusual.

Honestly, it's not that hard to make a delicious dish. All you need are quality ingredients, an uncomplicated recipe and proper cooking. Any cook can cope with this set of tasks. It`s much more difficult to make a delicious dish from unusual and rare ingredients.

Unfortunately, man is so built that he always gets fed up with everything. No matter how much you love to do something, if you do it every day, you will soon get bored with it. Everyone needs constant variety in their lives, whether it's food or magic.

<Okay, now to dessert>

Dessert is the most satisfying part of a meal. Many people love sweets more than anything else. Evan ordered a delicious dessert. Hot chocolate with cold ice cream. This contrast only gives the dish an original taste.

Click.

While Evan was enjoying his dessert, the door of the "Berry Paradise" opened and an adorable girl stepped inside. Everyone present immediately drew attention to her, except Evan. He was indifferent.

People were not paying attention to her because of her beauty, but because she was a very special person: the daughter of the owner of the restaurant.

One of the waiters quickly ran up to the girl and respectfully said: "Miss, we are pleased to welcome you, do you have any special instructions?"

The girl was about to answer when her attention was caught by loud noises coming from the table by the window. She turned and saw Evan sitting there, the only one still eating at that moment.

The pompous customers in expensive suits smiled snidely, and the waiter was confused. The first ones thought Evan was about to be thrown out of the place, while the waiter didn't know what to do.

"Miss...your father ordered everyone to be allowed in, no matter what he looks like..." The waiter tried to justify himself, but the girl paid him no attention at all.

She walked slowly toward Evan's table. Everyone was watching the situation with awe. The girl was known to be very appreciative of manners, just as her father was. Nevertheless, none of them knew that it was all just a grandstanding. Only one person knew how she behaved at home.

The girl sat across from Evan and quietly asked: "Well, is it really good?"

Evan looked at the girl in surprise, "Fien? What are you doing here?"

"Same as you, I`ve come here to eat, isn't it obvious?"

Evan smiled, took a sip of his mint cocktail, and said excitedly: "Great place, special praise to the owner for the idea and creation of this restaurant."

Fien smiled and mouthed contentedly: "Huh, you're eating on the money of the owner of this place."

"А?" At first, Evan didn't understand what Fien meant, but then he remembered the card and everything fell into place.

"So, Marcel owns this restaurant? Well, there's really nothing surprising about that." Said Evan as he finished his dessert and put the glass aside.

While Evan and Fien were talking everyone looked at the two of them in disbelief. Everything had turned out exactly the opposite of how the visitors had originally assumed.

"Berry Paradise" was only frequented by very wealthy people, so they quickly realized that Evan's personality was not as simple as it seemed. Moreover, the fact that he knew Fien already gave him a special status.

"I think you've already understood how rich my father is, many people even call him the third head of Mossy Vulture, but he doesn't care for such a title."

"The third head? What does that mean?" Evan didn't know how power was arranged in Mossy Vulture. He had originally assumed that the city had no ruler at all, but he seemed to be wrong.

Fien nodded and continued: "Yes, there are many very powerful and influential people in Mossy Vulture, but the city is ruled by two families. Koen van Erden and Fane Cross - they are the most respected and influential people in the whole town. Fortunately, there is no animosity between them and they just cooperate with each other."

"So, what does this have to do with Marcel?"

"It's simple, Koen and Fane own most of the city, about sixty percent. Ten percent is under the influence of other, lesser families. The remaining thirty belong to my father, but there's one thing to understand. Unlike Koen and Fane, my father has no large territories except the estate. The Erden family and the Cross family own whole neighborhoods, and my father's is a little different. His thirty percent is a variety of restaurants like this one, wineries, bakeries, blacksmith stores, stores, and so on. My father also has connections with an alchemist-a mutual acquaintance of his and Mr. Zak's."

Evan was shocked to hear something like that. Mossy Vulture was a gigantic city and to own nearly a third of it was an incredible accomplishment. Moreover, many people referred to Marcel as the third head of Mossy Vulture because of his great influence.

Marcel himself did not enjoy his influence. He had no goal of owning large territories, he simply invested money into projects that interested him. Marcel did not compete with such forces as the Erden family and the Cross family. Just because he was buying up everything, he happened to have quite a lot of influence.

<Koen van Erden... I think Rosa's last name is Erden, too... so it must be her brother or a relative?>

Evan thought to himself. Now he understood why Rosa was accompanied by so many people and her carriage was so luxurious.

"No wonder Marcel is called the third head. He is very rich and influential, indeed. By the way, Fien, do you know where you can get some really good weapons?" Evan said calmly, looking at the girl.

Fien smiled and said slowly: "Sure, there are a couple of such places"