Bab 132: Special Guest?
Undoubtedly, Alderman messed up big time at the War Festival.
War Festival, meticulously planned to revive his family tradition and take a firm step toward reclaiming his family's former glory, ended up being a complete disaster.
Initially filled with confidence, Alderman was toyed with, defeated, and even scolded in public by his daughter, feeling truly humiliated. Even his soon-to-be attendant, whom he had brought from outside, turned out to be a troublemaker, nearly causing a huge mess.
This was truly a blunder among blunders.
Moreover, to make matters worse, it was Riezel, someone from Yuri's side, who ended up dealing with Jill and became the hero of the day.
What was Alderman's role in this incident?
Nothing.
He couldn't do anything, just stood in place dumbfounded the whole time. By the time he snapped out of it, it was all over and everything had concluded smoothly.
While Riezel and Yuri had gained immense prestige, what about him? He became the laughingstock in many people's eyes, losing face to the point of no return.
For Alderman, it was indeed a serious blow.
Because of this, he retreated to his room upon returning home, feeling too ashamed to face anyone. His behavior only made Mediste, who had once feared him, scorn him.
'What are you doing? Acting like a child? Is that what a mature man, an acting lord of territory, would do? Hiding away when you've done wrong?'
As Mediste thought like that, she couldn't believe that the father who once seemed so decisive and formidable turned out to be nothing but a paper tiger.
Was his ability to handle pressure even weaker than her own?
It was truly embarrassing.
Even Isaac, who had just gotten up from the ground, looked indignant and complained.
"After the War Festival, Elder Sister Yuri handled the aftermath, even Elder Brother Sefaz pitched in a bit. But Father? Instead of helping, he's just hiding, totally ignoring the mess he made. What's up with him?"
Even a nine-year-old boy like Isaac couldn't stand to watch.
Evidently, this time, Alderman had truly disgraced himself, losing all his dignity in front of his children.
"Mr. Riezel, how is your injury?"
Mediste seemed unwilling to mention her embarrassing father any further, shifting her concern to Riezel.
"I'm fine now."
Riezel raised his hand and waved it, indicating that he was fully healed.
Yesterday, to protect Yuri, Riezel bravely blocked Jill's powerful slash with his bare hand, resulting in a deep gash on his left hand.
Jill had clearly used all of his strength on that slash, even breaking through Ariel's wind barrier surrounding Riezel's body in an instant, leaving it unable to block the slash.
Regardless, with Ariel's wind diminishing some of the slash's power, coupled with the added boost of END from Raumure, the injuries Riezel sustained weren't severe at all. As for the few minor wounds he received from completely abandoning defense during the subsequent fight, they were even less of a concern.
Yesterday, Riezel had used Dia Fratel on himself for treatment, effortlessly healing all his injuries. Now, he didn't have even a little bit of injury on him, as if nothing had happened.
"That's good..." Mediste relaxed her expression.
It seemed that she was quite concerned about his injury.
"If there's nothing else, I need to go find Yuri." Riezel said to the two siblings. "She just sent someone to fetch me."
Upon hearing that, Mediste understood instantly.
"Guests?" Mediste hinted.
"Probably." Riezel nodded.
After the War Festival ended yesterday, the Frenzel family, besides handling the aftermath, also received many visitors, which were nobles invited from afar by the Alderman to witness the War Festival.
Now that the War festival had ended, how could they not pay a visit to the Frenzel family and greet its head?
Moreover, they were very interested in Riezel, who had demonstrated astonishing strength at the War Festival yesterday, expressing their wish to meet him through Yuri.
Riezel knew about this but chose not to meet them.
He could easily guess the intentions of these so-called nobles. It was probably because they were impressed by his performance at the War Festival and wanted to see if they could win him over, or at the very least establish some connection with him.
Honestly, he had long grown tired of these upper-class society's antics.
As a result, citing his injury as an excuse, Riezel refused all meeting requests from these nobles, leaving them all to Yuri to handle.
Yuri also knew that Riezel didn't like these kinds of things, and she herself hoped that he could properly rest because of the injury she had caused him. Consequently, she readily intercepted all meeting requests from the nobles, preventing them from disturbing him.
She even dispatched the knightly order to patrol Undine, looking for any suspicious individuals lingering in the city to prevent some malicious people from causing trouble in Undine for Riezel's sake.
Thanks to Yuri's efforts, yesterday and this morning, Riezel had a peaceful time without any disturbances.
But this time, it seemed he really had to meet a rather special guest whom he couldn't evade.
"I heard that someone quite influential from the royal capital has come, and they've specifically asked to meet me. Even though your sister said I'm resting, they've said they will stay at Undine until I'm available." Riezel shrugged. "I don't want your sister to be too troubled, so I guess I'll just go and meet this guest."
Since Yuri had specifically sent someone to fetch him, it proved that this guest's status was definitely not low or ordinary, or else she could simply decline them without much trouble. Because of this, Riezel decided to meet this guest.
"Then we won't bother you." Mediste, understanding the situation well, obediently stepped aside to make way for him.
On the contrary, Isaac, lacking in tactfulness, continued to hop over to Riezel.
"When will you teach me magic?" Isaac grumbled, his face showing discontent. "Are you afraid I'll take advantage of you? I won't, okay? Even though I don't know why the magic crystal with the latest recording was lost, I have others. We can discuss it in detail!"
Upon hearing Isaac's nonsense, the corner of Riezel's eye twitched. Without a second thought, he turned and walked away.
"Hey, wait—" Isaac was about to call out to Riezel when a hand gripped the back of his neck.
"...Did I hear you correctly? You actually have others?"
A voice as cold as ice echoed, causing Isaac to shiver and break out in a cold sweat.
"That... That's just a magic crystal recording of you sleeping! Absolutely nothing indecent!"
Isaac quickly tried to defend himself.
"Don't worry, Elder Sister Mediste, I've learned my lesson this time. I'll only bring out proper recordings for the trade. I definitely won't bring out recordings of you changing clothes!"
At his words, veins bulged on Mediste's forehead.
'You think I'm talking about what kind of recording you're bringing out? No, it's about why you're always recording those kinds of things!'
Mediste thought with anger before holding her brother's hand with a strong grip.
"Come with me!"
Dragging Isaac along, she led him into a corner.
"AHHHHH—!!!"
Three seconds later, Riezel, who had turned into another corridor, heard a scream that seemed to pierce the sky.
"What a troublemaker brat..."
Riezel muttered under his breath and quickly left the commotion scene.
===
The Frenzel family's reception room was on the first floor.
Guided by a servant, Riezel made his way to this room.
*Knock* *Knock*
"Come in."
Yuri's voice came from inside, prompting the knights guarding the doors on either side of the reception room to extend their hands and push the door open for Riezel.
Riezel stepped inside, only to be greeted by two pairs of eyes locking onto him.
In the reception room, there were a total of four people.
Yuri sat on a sofa, with Marilyn standing behind her.
Facing Yuri were two strangers whom Riezel had never seen before.
They were a pair of men, one sitting across from Yuri, and the other, like Marilyn, standing behind the sitting one.
Across from Yuri sat a golden-haired man, probably in his mid-twenties, dressed quite appropriately, bearing a striking resemblance to the noble Riezel knew from his previous life.
"Finally, we meet, Sir Riezel Brynhart."
Surprisingly, the golden-haired man quickly stood up when he saw Riezel, performing a noble gesture without a hint of arrogance, leaving an extremely positive first impression.
"Riezel." Yuri also stood up and smiled at Riezel. "Let me introduce you. This is Marquis Phillip Charlier from the royal capital."
From her simple introduction, Riezel gleaned a lot of information.
Firstly, this guest named Phillip not only hailed from the royal capital but was also a noble of no lesser status than Yuri.
Though Riezel wasn't sure about the status and reputation of the Charlier family in the royal capital, Yuri's use of 'Marquis' to address him indicated that just like her family, the Charlier family was also a Marquis family of Jinas.
Moreover, since he was addressed as 'Marquis', it could be inferred that like Yuri, he had already become the head of his family, which meant the current Marquis of Charlier.
"Nice to meet you, Marquis Charlier." Riezel greeted back with a calm demeanor.
"No need to be so formal, just treat me like any other guest."
Phillip responded with a friendly smile before introducing his attendant.
"Right, he is my attendant, Glimann, about your age, eighteen this year. Despite being young, he's already a skilled swordsman, holding a Sword Master Medal for three years, y'know? You two should get to know each other."
His words made Riezel glance at Glimann.
Glimann also glanced at Riezel, with a hint of fighting intent in his eyes.
Seeing this, Riezel was slightly taken aback before raising an eyebrow.
He felt it.
This Glimann was a powerful swordsman.
At least, not weaker than Marilyn.
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Bab 133: Not Ordinary Relationship
Riezel was honestly amazed.
He had to admit that there were so many powerful people in this world, such as now, where a swordsman equivalent to a Level 5 first-class adventurer just casually popped out.
If this were in the world of Danmachi, it would probably cause quite a stir.
However, it made sense.
A marquis who came from the royal capital with an attendant by his side would truly be unworthy of his status if his attendant wasn't at least a Sword Master.
"Hello." Riezel nodded as a sign of courtesy.
"Hello." Glimann returned the gesture, but the fighting intent in his eyes remained undiminished.
Obviously, this man was very interested in Riezel—or rather, he really wanted to spar with Riezel.
At the War Festival, Riezel's displayed strength impressed this swordsman, sparking a desire in him to challenge Riezel.
Unfortunately, the current timing wasn't right.
Glimann resisted the urge to challenge Riezel, opting instead to stand behind Phillip and focus on his duties as an attendant.
"Please, have a seat and let's chat, Riezel." Yuri invited, patting the seat next to her.
Riezel didn't hesitate much, naturally coming to her side and sitting down.
However, this seemingly natural move didn't escape Phillip's eyes, who suspected there was more to it. He glanced at the little distance between Riezel and Yuri, secretly surprised.
'It seems that the relationship between Riezel Brynhart and Marquis Frenzel is even better than I imagined...'
Before this, Phillip, like everyone else, thought that Riezel was a talent recruited by Yuri into the Frenzel family, serving as her capable subordinate. However, judging by their interaction and the distance they displayed right now, he could be absolutely sure that their relationship was not as simple as superior and subordinate.
At least, Phillip had never heard of Yuri letting anyone, let alone someone of the opposite sex, sit so close to her.
'Is it to warn me? Or...' Phillip's thoughts raced.
He somewhat suspected that Yuri did this intentionally to hint to him not to speak out of line and warn him that Riezel had someone backing him up. But Riezel's action of sitting next to her was so natural that it was impossible to doubt if there was any deliberate intention behind it.
Even if there was, it couldn't be denied that the relationship between both of them was not an ordinary superior-subordinate one.
Realizing this, Phillip toned down his casual demeanor a bit.
At the same time, Riezel finally spoke up.
"I wonder why Marquis Charlier wanted to meet me?"
Riezel didn't beat around the bush, diving straight into the topic.
Yuri remained silent, quietly listening on the side.
"Why, huh...?" Phillip suppressed some miscellaneous thoughts and smiled. "The main reason I came all this way to find you this time is because of the royal family's orders."
Upon hearing that, Riezel wasn't surprised. Ever since he learned that his identity as a Tactical-Class Magician had been exposed, he had anticipated something like this would happen sooner or later.
"Is it because I used tactical-class magic in the royal capital without permission that the royal family wants to punish me?" Riezel smiled faintly as he spoke.
In principle, all major countries indeed prohibit magicians from using tactical-class and strategic-class magic in cities because of the potential harm it could cause. Especially strategic-class magic, once unleashed, could potentially wipe out an entire city in an instant.
Therefore, all countries on the continent explicitly forbid magicians from casting tactical-class and strategic-class magic without permission.
Violators will be punished, with fines being the lighter penalty and even capital punishment being a possibility for more serious offenses.
Riezel had used tactical-class magic without permission in the royal capital, so according to the law, he was liable to be pursued and punished by the kingdom.
Of course, Riezel brought up this topic merely to shift the focus of the conversation, with a hint of perfunctoriness in his tone.
In response, Phillip shook his head with an involuntary laugh before beginning to explain.
"It's not about that. Sure, you used tactical-class magic in the royal capital, but firstly, it was to repel an attack from a foreign Tactical-Class Magician targeting the Frenzel family, which is understandable. Secondly, it didn't cause meaningful damage, and only the Frenzel family itself suffered considerable losses, with their mansion being directly destroyed. That's why, the royal family has decided not to pursue your violation this time, so you can rest assured."
That was probably one of the compensatory measures made by the royal family. They also knew that they had definitely angered Yuri this time and thus sought to make amends.
However, Riezel didn't care about such matters at all. Whether the royal family pursued it or not was irrelevant to him. Even if they wanted to punish him, whether Yuri agreed or not was another matter.
No matter what, the reason Riezel used tactical-class magic in the royal capital was to repel a powerful foreign enemy; at least, this was the overall justification. If this were considered a crime, should he just stay silent and watch the Frenzel family being attacked, and Yuri being harmed or even killed?
If this were the case, there would definitely be a lot of controversy.
In such circumstances, Riezel wasn't worried at all about what might happen to him. Even if they did something, he didn't really care.
At worst, he would just leave Jinas.
However, it was obvious that Jinas wasn't going to let him go.
"The main reason I came this time was for your ennoblement." Phillip revealed his true purpose. "Since you have become a Tactical-Class Magician, according to the kingdom's regulations, you are eligible to visit His Majesty the King, receive a promotion, and be granted the title of viscount."
'Sure enough, this man has come for that matter, huh...' Riezel's expression remained calm, and his mind was equally undisturbed. "Just for that? You came all the way here just to inform me about my ennoblement?"
A marquis, the highest-ranking noble status just below the royal family, had actually come all the way to the Frenzel territory, situated on the northern border, solely for Riezel's ennoblement? Even though he happened to be a rare Tactical-Class Magician, it seemed like a bit too much trouble.
If it were to recruit a Tactical-Class Magician as his own subordinate, that would be understandable. But to do the royal family's bidding, with no benefits whatsoever, a marquis need not go to such lengths.
Facing Riezel's question, Phillip hadn't even begun to explain when Yuri answered first.
"Marquis Charlier's visit isn't just for your ennoblement; it's also to confirm my situation."
She spoke with the same calm expression as Riezel.
It must be said, this scene made the two of them seem quite like a married couple.
Phillip felt somewhat awkward but still answered Riezel with a half-sighed, half-smile.
"Indeed, bringing the instructions from the kingdom regarding your ennoblement is the purpose of my trip, but confirming the status of Marquis Frenzel is also my purpose."
Who let Yuri leave the royal capital with the excuse of 'escaping with severe injuries'?
Now that she had finally appeared in her own territory, naturally, the royal family would send someone to check on her, to see if she was really okay.
"Now that it seems Marquis Frenzel is well, I can rest assured."
Phillip didn't mention the oddities of this topic at all, nor did he inquire whether Yuri had really been seriously injured, as if deliberately avoiding this sensitive topic, he glossed over it.
"Did the royal family send you here to try and persuade me to return to the royal capital once it's confirmed I'm fine?"
As Yuri asked with a half-smile, Phillip's expression became helpless.
"Ahaha... Marquis Frenzel is indeed perceptive..." Phillip said helplessly. "But, judging by your current condition, it seems there are no plans for you to return to the royal capital, right?"
"As you can see, I'm quite busy now." Yuri answered straightforwardly. "A Demon Swordsman has just appeared in my territory. Considering the possibility that he may have accomplices who could threaten my territory, I must find a way to deal with this matter promptly. Moreover, with my family's War Festival revived, I have numerous responsibilities to handle. Unfortunately, my father is currently unavailable to assist, leaving me swamped with work. I can only ask Marquis Charlier for understanding."
"...Understood." Phillip remained silent for a while, then gave up. "I will report your situation to His Majesty, I believe His Majesty will understand."
"Thank you." Yuri nodded.
"What about Sir Brynhart?" Phillip turned to Riezel. "Are you not intending to return to the royal capital with me?"
Facing Phillip's direct question, Riezel answered even more directly than Yuri.
"Sorry, but I don't plan on heading back to the royal capital anytime soon..." Riezel shook his head, his tone indifferent. "Everyone is aware of the multiple attacks I faced there, nearly costing me my life once. It was a truly traumatic and terrifying experience, you know? So, for now, I'd rather stay in Frenzel territory and savor some peaceful days."
His answer made Phillip feel a bit awkward.
No choice.
The hidden meaning behind Riezel's words was clear. He indirectly expressed to Phillip's face that 'the security in the royal capital is so terrible'.
Honestly, it left Phillip, who represented the kingdom, somewhat speechless.
Riezel had been attacked multiple times and narrowly escaped death was a fact well-known among the nobles of the kingdom. Making matters worse, the Frenzel secondary residence in the royal capital also suffered an attack and was destroyed.
Riezel's bringing up the royal capital's security issue made it really hard to argue against.
"The royal family is already investigating the mastermind behind the attacks. I believe before long, those daring criminals will face the kingdom's judgment."
In the end, Phillip could only say that to assure Riezel.
"Well then, let's consider returning to the royal capital after the kingdom's judgment is out then." Riezel nodded and finally let out a smile.
Yuri also smiled, looking particularly happy.
Seeing their smiles, Phillip realized that Riezel seemed to have been waiting for that kind of response from him.
Realizing this, Phillip sighed inwardly.
What else could he do?
He could only accept this outcome and convey Riezel and Yuri's words about not returning to the royal capital yet. As for how the higher-ups would handle this matter, it was no longer his concern.
He had done his best.
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