Now that the king and queen had left, the nobles were free to leave. The first wave of nobles trickled away, making the wide expansive hall feel bigger than ever.
Conversations continued in small cliques continued. Without the presence of royalty in the hall, the air felt easier to breathe. There was less of a need to conduct oneself properly.
This all came to a halt when a scream was heard at the entrance of the hall.
"Who did this!?" A deep voice bellowed.
A few nobles hurriedly rushed to the entrance as gasps continued.
"M-My son!"
"How terrible! Who could've done this..?"
Evidently, the nobles had discovered the mess Earl created earlier. A red-faced blonde-haired middle-aged man came stomping back into the hall, cradling a bloodied blonde boy in one arm.
"That's Marquess Lee and his son!" Someone from the crowd whispered.
"No one will be leaving until I get an explanation!" Marquess Lee announced while twisting one foot into the ground to assert his dominance. His face was so red it looked like steam could come out of his ears at any moment.
"Me too! Who did this to my son!?" Another noble stepped up.
"Me too, me too!"
It was like a repeat of the previous scene Earl just encountered. One blonde in the front and 4 mob characters in the back. The only difference this time was that they were all fully grown.
At the table of Court Mages, Earl sipped on his tea as he watched the situation unfold itself.
"What a mess," Old man Merlin shook his head softly.
"It looks like only one of them is a high ranking noble, father," Shane said. Like his father, he possessed a calm and soothing voice. "As long as Marquess Lee is handled, the others will quiet down."
The position of marquess was only second to that of dukes. To the other nobles, Marquess Lee's words carried immense power. However to the people around the table...
"Not like we have to get involved in this mess." Lightspear Xavier stood up and patted the wrinkles off his Court Mage robe. "I'm leaving."
The Alchemist of Cliffgem eyed the leaving figure of Xavier and followed suit. "...I'm leaving too."
With the most outspoken Xavier and antisocial Norman gone, the table was just left with the parties of Ari and Merlin. Ari nudged Earl and asked with a smirk, "Fufu, what are you going to do now, my Earl?"
It was no surprise that Ari would know what happened. Earl shook his head and calmly responded. "Nothing if they don't find out."
"What are you going to do if they do find out? Those children are going to wake up soon~" Ari said amusedly.
"Is it fine to make a mess?"
"Oh my, when did my Earl become this violent?"
Earl chuckled at how entertained Ari seemed to be by the situation.
"This is not violence, this is also real experience training, right? Besides... they deserved it." Earl said seriously. To have ideas about Aria and Lily was not a light crime in his book.
At Earl's words, Ari narrowed her eyes and paused before voicing. "Good. A man should have resolve."
While Earl and Ari shared a relationship beyond family, Ari's main priorities will never change. Her goal of parenting Earl into a fine man will always be number one. Ari knew that Earl understood these concepts of reasoning even at his very young age because of his genius. And precisely because of this, she needed to test him occasionally.
At the front of the hall, Marquess Lee attempted to stop the 2 Court Mages with his body. "You guys can't-"
"Get out of my way." Norman glared and stopped the marquess before he could finish his sentence.
In his anger, the marquess failed to take a second look at the robes of Xavier and Norman.
The glare of the alchemist left the noble in a cold sweat. And just like that, the 2 Court Mages easily left the hall.
"Don't even think of trying any funny political move after this. Marquess Lee." Xavier reminded softly to the frozen marquess.
To be glared at by 2 Court Mages on top of someone assaulting his son, could his day be any worst? Thankfully, one of the youths woke up after the two mages left.
"He's up!" The father of the youth exclaimed. The two had an uncanny resemblance. With those eyes of theirs, it was no wonder the child turned out the way he did.
The youth did not need to be asked before saying right away. "Father! It was the kid with 2 slaves!"
"The kid with 2 slaves?" The crowding nobles whispered as their eyes were drawn to an approaching trio.
A mysterious, finely dressed child led them. His hair was black as night and his face was well sculpted. His skin was creamy pale. His eyes were like the most luxurious amethyst. Following him were two fine girls with matching black dresses.
The first girl was a dark elf with moonlight silver hair with yellow eyes. The other was a demon girl with red hair and distinct red and blue bicoloured eyes.
"Are you talking about me?" Earl said crisply. His eyes landed on the freshly awakened youth briefly which made him clutch his father in fear.
Marquess Lee narrowed his eyes as they landed on the figure of Earl. Seeing his attire and bearing, the marquess kept his cool and asked cautiously, "Which family do you belong to?"
"Our meeting would be too short if that question is answered."
"..." The marquess stepped back cautiously. He was not going to make a mistake.
Taking a deep breath, he raised one hand. "Guards."
Two knights stepped up from behind. They were in a full set of armour and stood tall, holding a spear in one hand. They stepped forward slowly towards Earl.
To Earl, this was nothing compared to the monsters he had seen in the plains and in dungeons. With a wave of his hand, a blazing ball of Frostfire suddenly appeared.
The entire hall took a drop in temperature as realizations appeared on the faces of surrounding nobles, and especially that of Marquess Lee.
"Wait-"
Boom!
The Frostfire froze the two guards over and extended to Marquess Lee, also turning the man into an ice cube.
"..."
There was silence.
Earl looked to the 4 remaining nobles who stood behind Marquess Lee with their sons. The expression on their face was of utter shock as they could not comprehend the fate of Marquess Lee before them.
"Please-"
Boom!
They did not finish speaking before Earl blasted them all into an ice block with Frostfire Magic. It was an unfortunate fate for the horny youths you just woke up from getting blasted with Wind Magic earlier and also their fathers.