"Greetings to Lord Russell!"
"Lord Russell, the grand spectacle of your duel with the Frost Giant Ge yesterday is something we all wished we could have witnessed personally. It is a great pity we missed it!"
"Earl Sir, I offer you my highest respects!"
In the hall of the Inner Fort at Red Castle, nobles of the Grand Duchy were paying their respects to Russell, expressing their awe and admiration.
Frost Giant Ge had been slain by Russell the night before last. After brewing all of yesterday, the news had spread throughout the whole castle today; everyone knew and spoke of it. Moreover, the truth of it had been verified by the Council of Elders, praised by the Shadowflame Dragon himself.
"You flatter me," Russell said with a casual smile, "it was merely an underdeveloped Frost Giant, hardly worth mentioning."
While that was said,
the spate of sycophantic compliments around him never ceased for a moment.