Ritzy and Junger were walking to the war council room through the camps. Ritzy was as happy as a fiddle because he was dying of boredom in the camp. Junger, on the other hand, was in a sour mood because he has been recognized as Ritzy friend and probably Ritzy's guard. This meant he would lose his future and it would now be in the hands of Ritzy.
Finally arriving at the castle entrance, they saw a huge line.
Ritzy said in a pouty mood,
"Looks like we're going to have to line up again. I wish this was like the other checkpoint where they just let us pass".
Servant,
"Don't worry, since your a blessed noble, there would be no problem with you skipping the line. Also, we're taking the main entrance and not the one they're waiting for. You'll see it around the corner".
As they were passing the corner, they saw a grand entrance with fashionable knights creating a walkway and an extravagant noble welcoming each noble personally.
Servant,
"This is an entrance befitting your status, am I correct?".
Ritzy has never personally been to a grand entrance like this except in his old world when he was infiltrating a high-class party. He was a bit surprised but made sure to hide it.
Ritzy,
"Yes, this is befitting of someone of my stature. We'll be going off then".
As they were walking to the entrance, the servant yelled from the checkpoint before the entrance.
"Wait, before you go. You must show your family emblem or they won't let you in".
Hearing those words, caused Ritzy to freeze.
Ritzy's mind,
"Family emblem? Crap, I forgot it at home! What am I gonna do! You know what, I'll just wing it".
Junger noticed Ritzy sudden stop of movement and told Ritzy,
"Don't worry, I have mine. When we meet with the noble welcoming us, I'll show him the emblem and you can just say your eyes are enough proof".
"There aren't many blessed people, and much less in nobility. So, you can say that your knight wearing the emblem and your eyes are enough proof from which family you're from".
Ritzy turned to Junger in a joyous mood,
"You genius! A man not only good with a sword but also as well with his words".
Junger had his ego boosted and felt proud of himself of thinking of this idea. He also gave a strong valiant pose to show he was great but then his face turned into panic when he realized what he did.
Junger's mind,
"Goddammit, why did I help him!?! With this, he'll see me more as a trusted companion. I don't want that!".
Junger held back his thoughts and said with a fake grateful tone,
"Of course my lord, this is the duty of any of your knights. You should do things like this with Alter and you'll see he'll do the same. No, he'll do it even better".
Junger's mind,
"Screw you Alter for volunteering me. Since I'm with the lord now, I'm gonna try to boast about you as much as I can so he chooses you for special tasks. This way you'll become his lapdog and not me. I am a genius like the lord said!".
They then continued walking into the row of knights. There they were greeted by the welcoming noble. The noble was a young man looking as if he was in his early twenties. Most likely there trying to grow his social network.
Srika,
"Welcome to stronghold Sporco, I am Srika of the Cinghiale family. May I know who you are?".
Ritzy,
"I'm Ritzy from the Reds family".
Seeing his cue, Junger intervened and showed his knight badge that held the family crest.
"We come from the Leaf county. The family is in charge of White Leaf which was granted to us by our benevolent king".
Srika found distaste from the knight talking to him. He found it beneath him so he continued talking with Ritzy,
"Ahh, yes. You must be from Leaf county if I'm correct? My father said a new kind of blessed child was born there from the marquees family. It seems your blessing is from the creator god if I'm not mistaken?".
Junger was left speechless from the young noble Srika ignoring him. He was surprised how thick-skinned he was on how he pretended to remember where the Reds province was.
Ritzy took no mind since his initial goal of them not noticing he had no emblem was complete.
Ritzy,
"Yes, I was lucky enough to be granted the blessing from the father god".
"Since we both come from prosperous families and are both young, I hope we can continue speaking with each other but right now I need to get to the war room".
Srika,
"Yes of course, please go on ahead. I will wait until the rest arrive so I bid you farewell".
On that note, Ritzy left with Junger into the castle.
Ritzy's mind,
'Thank god for my old experiences of talking with high-class people saved me. I need to refine my acting skills or they will catch on that I haven't had real formality training. Why did my mother not teach me about noble etiquette'.
Srika's mind,
'So that's the man my father told me I need to best. It seems like he thinks he is so high and mighty because he got a very rare blessing. I'll show him how special that blessing is by showing him how great I am. He'll then learn that a blessing is nothing compared to a higher ranking noble'.
'And that damn knight! Who does he think he is to speak to me. Those people should feel lucky that we even enlist them to work for us'.
As they entered the castle, a servant arrived to guide them.
"Right this way men".
As they followed the servant, they finally arrived at the door.
"Please come in lord and knight".
Entering the room they were greeted by watchful gazes from all the guards and nobles already inside the room.
Junger instantly froze from all the watchful gazes but Ritzy was fine since he lost all his stage fright from all his other world missions.
Ritzy,
"Don't stand at the entrance, follow me".
Junger went out of his stupor and tried to calm his mind as he was following Ritzy. He felt so frightened from all those high-class nobles looking at him.
While they walked into a free area to stand, the other nobles started talking about Ritzy in whispered tones.
Noble 1,
"So that's the Reds family representative".
Noble 2,
"Yeah, I wonder why they sent that young man. They should've sent the heir Rodrigo".
Noble 1,
"Shhh, don't let the Cinghaile family head hear you. He's almost right next to us".
Noble 2,
"Wait why?"
Noble 1,
"Did you forget? The Cinghaile family was in charge of the recruitment and also they hate the Reds family. It seems like they chose the young man because the head wants to compare him and his own son. He probably heard the rumors of how great of a warrior the Reds heir is so they probably got the younger one so his own son can one-up him. This way he can gloat how his family decedents are the best, or at least better than the Reds family descendants".
Noble 2,
"Wait, I thought the Wealthy Boar was in charge of recruitment?".
Noble 1,
"Are you new or something. The Wealthy Boar is the crest of the Cinghaile family!".
The next moment the Cinghaile family head coughed which frightened the noble pair. They turned around and saw it was just a normal cough.
Noble 1,
"Thank god he didn't hear us. Let's end this conversation for now. We'll talk later".
Noble 2 said with a stutter,
"O-Ok t-that sound like a g-good idea".
After thirty minutes have passed, the room was starting to get dark. The Cinghaile family head seeing this, he stood up and made an announcement.
"Seems like it's getting dark, here let me fix that".
He then went to the back and talked to one of the attendants and came back.
The room was silent because nothing happened but after ten seconds, the walls started having spots that lit up.
"I have placed some light magic gemstones on the walls. I cost me 20 gold per each gemstone, but don't you think it was well worth it?".
Seeing how effective the gemstones were, the fellow nobles all clapped.
Noble 3,
'Amazing!".
Noble 4,
'Truly well spent!".
On the contrary, Ritzy and all the fellow nights felt like fainting. For them, they saw this as a useless expense. For the knights, they saw a single gemstone as the same worth as outfitting a whole platoon with better than average armor. For Ritzy, he saw it as the same worth as quality magic rings.
Grasso,
"As this is an opportune moment, you can come to me, Grasso Cinghaile, if you desire any of these gemstones. My family magician makes them, so we can make a decent enough supply for any that you desire and do not worry. I will sell them at twenty gold".
Noble 4,
"Truly a kind noble that shares with his fellow men".
Noble 3,
"A man that values his fellow noble more than coin".
When Ritzy heard that the family magician made those gemstones, he became curious. He turned to one of the gemstones and began inspecting it with his mana presence.
His inspection skill 'assassin eye' then activated.
---
Item: Enchanted Gemstone
Magical: Light Magic
Material: Amethyst
State: 89% durability
---
Ritzy's mind,
'Wait what? That's really cheap material compared to other magical tools, and from the look of it. It seems to have a certain amount of life before the gemstone can't light up anymore. It seems like he lives up to the wealthy boar name. He probably only wastes less than a gold coin and gets many times more than what he spent to make it".
"Maybe I should learn enchantment, it looks like a helpful and profitable skill. Sadly, Savior doesn't know about enchantment so I can't ask him for any lessons. Especially, since he is not here as well. Maybe I should talk to their family magician. He probably is willing to teach me".