Beori was planning how to proceed with the plan that had formed in his mind when Wilhelm suddenly stood up from his seat and walked towards him.
"There must be a good reason for your long absence Junior Brother, after all, I trust that you know the importance of today's event and the consequences of messing it up… right?" Wilhelm said with a coarse and cold expression.
Listening to Wilhelm, Beori glanced at Aman and noticed how he nodded slightly with his eyes closed in approval of Wilhelm's actions, the other adults at the head table also fell silent, giving a tacit agreement that the older generation young man settle the matter.
As the eldest baron son of the noble house, Wilhelm not only had great talent but also responsibility equal to it, destined to become his younger sister's right-hand man and carry forward the next generation of the Guthalds, as a consequence, he also had a very relevant status and social power both inside and outside the family, for the same reason it could also be said that he had the power and duty to reprimand his brother when he committed a fault, although it may be a bit early for that at this time …
Although that was only what the guests at the table thought, Haman on the other hand had better plans on this matter, due to Beori's peculiar past and his current 'protected status', he had never had a real chance to properly suppress him to keep him at bay. Ray, after all, is not his son and has the 'Protection' of Sylke, but he did not take it very seriously because he had no real reason to want to keep him at bay due to his lack of talent and obvious laziness.
However, in the last two years after that 'Accident' he has been quite diligent and responsible, despite his few talents he was beginning to give Aman a certain strange feeling that bordered on caution, so he wanted to take advantage of this opportunity today to put it to the test.
He knew the arrogant and reckless character of his son, so he knew that he would try to intimidate Beori a little to provoke a slip of his tongue and be able to reprimand him more harshly, in front of so many honorable guests, it would undoubtedly be a serious offense towards the prestige of the company. family, so no matter how much Sylke wanted to indulge him, he would have to give him a proper punishment later.
With that in mind, Wilhelm looked even more coldly at Beori as he waited for his answer, releasing a shapeless pressure from his body and using his trained aura to psychologically pressure him.
Aura is the energy used by knights and swordsmen to fight and the natural basis of their strength, similar to Mana for mages it is formless energy with multiple convenient uses, though it is not as flexible and transformable as Mana; Capable of forming so many types of spells for so many uses, the Aura is innately more destructive and unrestrained, with the same amount of Aura you can deal triple the damage of Mana and common magic spells.
Although the power of these always differed by the technique and abilities of their user, it was an indisputable fact that aura users are innately more powerful in close combat than any other class, even paladins who are capable of training both would be unable to do so. to defeat a knight of the same level in a confrontation of pure force at close range, although in the world there were always exceptions...
But coming back to the subject, due to the characteristics of the aura, it turns out to be especially good for intimidating ordinary people and especially children or those with little experience, putting a strong psychological burden on them as if they were in a very stressful situation trying to lying, which was just what Wilhelm was looking for.
But contrary to his expectations, Beori who was looking at him confused and a bit afraid from the beginning didn't change his expression in the slightest, keeping that confused and a bit afraid face he had since before he used the aura.
Incensed at his younger brother's seeming indifference to his aura pressure and a little embarrassed that it was happening right in front of so many important people, Wilhelm was about to get serious and use more force to pressure him, since Beori was still a child and he hadn't even managed to train a bit of aura, he only used a little of his power to pressure him, but now he planned to genuinely suppress him with all his strength and return the humiliation.
But before he could take action a large hand fell on his shoulder patting him gently but imposingly, looking in the direction of the hand he noticed Willet Thybeth standing behind him as he shook his head gently at Wilhelm.
"Little Wilhelm, I understand that you're angry... but that doesn't justify using your hard-earned power to suppress your little brother, not to mention the fact that he hasn't even trained his Aura, you'd better sit back and listen to his explanation for now," he said Willet in a neutral tone, making it very clear that he could not deny her words.
Wilhelm could only snort in response before returning to his seat, Willet, on the other hand, gave Beori an interesting look as he stood in front of him waiting for his answer, he found it very interesting that Beori managed to withstand the pressure of a knight so nonchalantly, Although the pressure of the aura is not something tangible or physical, it could easily bring an ordinary soldier to his knees from mere psychological pressure.
It worked similar to bloodline rank among powerful beasts or blood purity among some races of Demi-humans, being able to show some level of control and suppression against weaker enemies, but this pressure attack is still fundamentally psychological, so it would be less effective against those who are psychologically stronger or more strong-willed, another reason could be that person is a mentally unstable or quintessential idiot, in which case it might as well be like a breeze off the field to that person.
Willet continued to look at Beori with interest, trying to find out which of these two types of person it was, but as for Beori, he had not fully realized what had just happened, he had kept his expression confused and fearful from beginning to end because he did not know what. Wilhelm was trying, when he noticed that he was using his aura expelling it slightly towards the outside he thought he was trying to show off, but only until then, he did not feel anything more out of the ordinary nor could he identify what his intentions were in doing so, leaving him briefly frozen without knowing what to do, but when he decided to give him some praise for his aura control Wilhelm seemed to get even angrier with him and was only a step away from exploding before Willet stopped him.
Honestly, Beori was the most confused in the room about what was happening since he didn't notice that Wilhelm was trying to pressure him with his aura, after this small and short incident even more people were focused on him about what was happening, and Beori could notice the obvious interest in Willet's gaze, but he was a bit lost on how to proceed from here.
Finally making a bold decision, he chose to proceed as previously planned, ignoring the entire previous matter.
"Oh Stepfather Aman, you don't know how sorry I was for running away earlier, but while I was doing my duty this morning tending to the guests, I got an urgent message, telling me that mother had summoned me and had something important to talk to me about, so I was unable to do so. I refused his order and went to meet him" Beori recounted in a dramatic and pitiful voice.
"But who knew that on the way back I would be attacked by some crimson spark bees, it was a terrifying and dangerous encounter in which I almost lost my life, if it were not for the magical guardian weapon that my mother gave me at birth it could have been the last day of my life" Beori continued with an even more pitiful voice, even with a few slight tears in the corners of his eyes.
Everyone frowned a little when hearing his story, although it is a bit strange that Sylke called him at such a time, it would not be something completely impossible and more so if you take into account Beori's "past", which was tacitly known by For those at this table, what was worrying was the attack of the crimson spark bees, although they are very low-level magical beasts and easy to control, they could cause an accident if they inadvertently attacked guests like Beori.
Due to Guthald's mansion's proximity to the border and TianFa Forest, it wasn't that rare for some weak magical beasts to sneak into the nearby forests, but their appearing so close to the mansion right now was a bit worrying...
"Tell me Beori, where exactly were you attacked by the Crimson Spark Bees?" Aman asked immediately.
"I don't remember clearly, but it must have been somewhere in that direction," replied Beori as he pointed to the spot where he had tested the spirit gathering formation.
Hearing the answer Haman turned his eyes to a corner of the great hall and made a sign with his hands, after which several shadows shot out of a window heading in the direction indicated by Beori.
Most likely, they were to check the veracity of Beori's words and check if there are more magical beasts nearby if it was true, but Beori was not worried about this since he had planned his lie very well.
The Crimson Spark Bees are relatively weak and aggressive magical beasts, individually they did not represent any danger for any apprentice wizard or knight, but since the common bees could become dangerous in a hive, they were only slightly larger than the common bees and orange in hue, being quite fast and with a ferocious poison that could make an adult cry if it stung you.
But his main characteristic is the purity of his internal mana and his self-sacrificing personality, once he attacks someone and feels that he cannot defeat him, he will immolate himself by burning all his Mana, giving one last kamikaze fight trying to take his enemy with him.
From the crimson fire caused by their self-immolation comes their name, since in other characteristics they are common bees, and this was the key point of their lie, these bees would never run away from an enemy and in the worst case they would sacrifice themselves by immolating themselves without leaving a trace of them, so they would not leave concrete evidence besides the burned area.
By sending them to the area where I destroy the collection matrix they would only find the remaining scorched area and could only believe that his story was true, although they could also use some methods to check the Mana activity in the area it would not be very useful since previously Beori I state that he survived using his guardian magic weapon, so even if they know that magic was used in the area they could only conclude that it was the magic weapon protecting Beori.
The only way to refute it is by verifying that the magic used was of the fire element and that Beori's magical guardian weapon is not of this type, but it is something that they would not dare to do since the magical guardian weapon of each direct heir of the family is secret, only known by that person and the head of the family, in this case, Sylke.
But Beori knew that if he could think of such a plan and execute it, Haman and those present could also see through the plan, and despite having no proof they could put some pressure on him to get the truth, so his real trump card was another.
"It was a terrible and scary experience, my previous clothes ended up in a mess and I had to change before going back to the ceremony, but because I don't know how to do my hair I could only show up here in such a state..." Beori said in a depressed voice.
Aman who was secretly giving orders to the guards of the mansion heard Beori exclaim again and frowned, he had planned to question Beori about the flaws in his explanation after organizing a sweep of the nearby area to ensure there were no beasts, but it seemed that Beori steps ahead by acting immediately.
"Any time mother and little sister Sylke arrived, it would be a complete disgrace if I showed up in such bad shape on their special day, this would surely make mother sad, what could she do..." Beori continued in a depressed and urgent voice but looked askance at a certain person.
Aman felt that something might happen so he decided to interrupt Beori in his whining and question him about his excuse, but before he spoke a cold and indifferent voice sounded at his side.
" It would certainly be frowned upon for a son of Sylke to be so poorly presented at such an important event, but given the unforeseen situation, you cannot be blamed for what happened either... in any case, I cannot let Sylke's prestige be seen." affected by such an accident, so come over and I'll help you comb your hair a bit."
The person who spoke was Joane Aldrol, the representative of the Duchess Aldrol family, who had barely said a few words in her entire stay so far, but who unexpectedly stood out in this situation which surprised everyone at the table.
But Beori seemed to have predicted this would happen as he instantly moved to Joane's side with a bright smile on his face.
"It's good that Aunt Joane is here, otherwise I'm sure mother would be very sad," said Beori as he smiled tenderly at Joane.
"Naturally I would come to such an important event in Sylke and Nielphie's lives," Joane replied without changing her cold expression, but her voice seemed to have softened a bit.
With a Beori smile, he stopped in front of her and turned to have his hair combed, without another word Joane reached into a cute little bag I was carrying and pulled out a beautifully decorated comb to comb Beori's hair.
Leaving everyone at the table perplexed by the unpredictability of the matter, Beori was not so surprised since he remembered what his mother had told him about Joane, Joane was a beautiful and cold woman who studied in the same class as Sylke in her adolescence. , with great magical talent as well as a brilliant mind, stood out along with Sylke as the best of his generation.
But despite her cold and distant exterior, she was someone who could become very affectionate in certain circumstances, she was a fan of adorable or fluffy things, as well as someone mentally weak to resist children's requests, it was just that because of her attitude Usually not many people came up and tried to meet her.
In addition to all this, she was excessively affectionate and protective of her close ones and being Sylke's sworn sister, it was quite predictable that she would help her directly or indirectly in any matter that concerned her, so Beori planned to use this to get under his control. careful in this matter.
"I can understand your concern regarding this matter Joane, but Beori's statement above is quite a serious matter so I'd like to ask you a few questions-"
"Enough about the Aman matter, you will not get anything relevant out of this matter without mentioning that there is something much more important to come, it would be better to put these things aside for now and concentrate on what matters"
Aman wanted to interrupt and ask Beori some questions to pressure him, but he was stopped in his tracks by Joane, who scolded him in a cold voice and selflessly while combing Beori's hair, which made him quite angry but he couldn't show it that he wasn't comparable to her in any way. status or power.
"Well this will be enough, you should go and take a seat as the ceremony will start soon, I can feel Sylke getting closer," said Sylke as he finished combing Beori's hair.
Although some were unhappy with his bossy attitude and arrogance they remained silent as they could also feel Sylke approaching, so they just kept quiet and tacitly let this relatively unimportant matter pass.
Beori did not say anything either and went directly to his table a little further from the main one, where Thyred and some children of VIP families were also sitting, none said anything or greeted Beori as they solemnly awaited the arrival of the main guests...
Even Thyred only smirked at Beori before gently shaking his head and turning his attention to the entrance of the room.
Soon the main event would begin...