Once the afternoon heat started to fade the crowd around the pool started to thin out and the social media celebrities moved on to the restaurant to take outcrops of their food. It was a ridiculous tradition Max didn’t understand since 99 percent of their audience would never even be on this planet, but taking pictures of every meal was a tradition all through history.
“Why don’t we order dinner at the tables overlooking the forest?” Max asked, indicating a group of tables under umbrellas off to the side of the pool area where they were out of the line of sight of the main attractions, but still had a great view.
“That works for me. It will have a great sunset view as well, probably better than the restaurant if we didn’t get a window seat.” Nico agreed.
Those with famous travel blogs were pretty much obligated to go to the most famous spots for a photo multiple times a day, and their antics served as amusement for the truly wealthy visitors who were there to relax.
The second group, the truly wealthy, are the ones that joined Max and Nico on the patio for dinner..
“Sir Max and Lady Tarith, it is an honor to meet you both. I am Baroness Claudia from Kepler 108. My son is a huge fan of the fighting games like the one you are advertising.” An older woman greeted them once their drinks were served.
“It is a pleasure Baroness. I do hope that Comor has been as good to you as it has been to us.” Max greeted her with a smile, wondering how he got so popular even with the civilian Nobles, who have always been somewhat at odds with the military for threatening their political authority.
“The endorsement of the Ruling Family was a nice touch. Tell me, how did you manage to get them on board with such a venture?” The Baroness asked, and Max realized where the misunderstanding came from.
She thought that he was the Noble backing the game, but he was the one on contract, while the Chen family actually owned the company.
“The Chen family has their eye on many things. To be a top family is to be involved in every facet of your planet’s economy after all.” Nico informed her with a smile, and a number of the other Nobles around her smirked at the subtle jab at the status of a Baroness.
“Your Tarith family might be waning, but you still have your fingers in a lot of pies do you not? I visited Kepler Terminus a few years back, and for a noble family that refuses a title, the Tarith family does seem to be involved in everything.” One of the other ladies present pointed out
Max knew Nico’s family was very large since it included all branches of the main family and had a particular fondness for many children. Over a single school break he had seen nearly a hundred people from her mother’s generation in total, and there was talk of others that couldn’t come to visit due to business.
“You know how it is. Some families prefer to be subtle and understated.” Nico answered with a wink and a pointed look at the woman’s heavy makeup and expensive jewelry.
Nico herself was wearing bright Sakura pink, but the others seemed to get the reference.
One of the better-dressed men finally stepped in to avoid a catfight. “Greetings, Sir Max, Imperial Lady Tarith. I am Duke Luigi, of Cygnus. Would you mind horribly if I joined you for dinner? None of the others from the Groom’s delegation are here yet.”
Max took a second to consider the man’s words and noticed that he mentioned the groom, so he must be at the resort for one of the wedding parties.
“Of course, please do join us, Duke Luigi. It would be our honor.” Nico nodded, avoiding a smile, since she knew hers didn’t look quite right yet.
The intervention of the Duke was enough to quiet the Lesser Nobles. None of them wanted that level of trouble, even if they were up for a verbal sparring match with the military-aligned pair.
“Will you be attending all the parties, or just the one that will be held here? Now that you’ve become the face of Kepler’s latest news campaign, I understand that you might not want to go to all of the public events.” Duke Luigi asked.
“We were at the announcement, so I think just this one should be fine, though we did receive an invitation from the young couple to attend them all.” Max shrugged, making the others nearby look shocked.
“That’s probably not going to work out though. This is the first event, and after seeing you again they aren’t going to let you escape so easily.” Nico teased him.
“She has a point, Lady Chen speaks very highly of you both.” A female voice joined the conversation from somewhere behind Max.
She looked vaguely familiar from the party on the Station, but Max couldn’t immediately place her.
“I believe you have met Madam Aria. The younger daughter of Viscount Aria works as a personal guard for the Chen family.” Duke Luigi introduced them and Max finally put the pieces together. She was one half of the stern-faced maid pair that followed the young couple around.
The hotel staff brought out their meals and the conversation turned to the upcoming day’s plans. Most of the Nobles were doing the forest walk, exploring the unique local plants for the morning. A few were planning on sports outings or the caverns, but those ones were all doing them in the opposite direction that Max and his group were, so that they didn’t have to scale the cliffs to get to them.
Instead, they would take a second, shorter cavern back to the bottom of the hill and return to the hotel. It was much more of a lazy outing for sightseeing, instead of a physical workout like the cliffs were.
Of course, only about half even planned to exit the resort compound. Walking in the tropical heat wasn’t for everyone, many preferred to just lounge around the pool or the spa facilities, maximizing their relaxation with zero physical activity.