Sir Gawain and General Frost were led by a nearby receptionist toward the private room at the back of the inn. While on their way, General Frost kept reminding Sir Gawain of his temper.
"Sir Gawain, I warn you for the last time. We are meeting elves right now, but please do not cause any commotion at all costs," General Frost said in a quiet voice. "If you do, the church may end up earning repercussions due to your actions."
Sir Gawain, hearing this for the umpteenth time, couldn't help but click his tongue. He felt like General Frost was treating him like a problematic child instead of a fellow knight.
Age-wise, they are like father and son, with General Frost being 20 years older than the barely thirty-year-old Sir Gawain. So, hearing General Frost reprimand him didn't seem out of place.
Soon, the two, led by the receptionist lady, reached the door to the private room. General Frost checked his appearance one last time while the receptionist knocked on the door.
At the moment that the receptionist opened the door, Sir Gawain felt that something was off. He quickly scanned the room and found three elves standing behind Lady Sophia, acting with prudence.
Sir Gawain couldn't brush off the weird feeling. It felt like he had an itchy back that he couldn't reach no matter what he did; it was frustrating. He quickly tried to read the aura of the three elves, the most probable suspects for the cause of the incongruity he was feeling.
He first read about the two female elves. The two possess similar auras, probably due to their close blood relations. Although they had an aura that was slightly below his own, they weren't that far off either.
'It's not them. Then, is it him?' Sir Gawain thought as he tried to read the mysterious male elf's aura. As soon as he did, he couldn't help but scrunch his eyebrows in disbelief.
'What? Why can't I detect his aura?' Sir Gawain doubted the scene.
However, after a few moments of staring, Sir Gawain was shocked by the sudden realization he had.
'No! It's not that he didn't have any aura, but rather that it was too large for me to see at once!' Sir Gawain quickly took three steps back, feeling danger creeping down his spine. 'Now, I should be able to see it!'
However, as soon as he took the third step away, he finally realized just how large the mysterious elf's aura was. It was so large that it covered the entirety of the inn itself.
'T-This is insane! This isn't a power an individual should wield!'
Thinking so, Sir Gawain drew his sword and aimed it at the male elf.
"Y-You! What the hell are you?!" He shouted with both fear and awe. "You, your mana isn't something of this world! It's not an amount a single being should be able to hold!"
Hearing his outburst, the male elf tilted his head, wondering what he was trying to say. He even looked toward Sophia as if asking, "What's going on?"
This action sent Sir Gawain into a fit of rage. 'You dare to look down on me?!'
Although his heart was gripped with fear of this unfathomable being, he still poised his sword in a high-handed stance. With pride and honor, he shouted.
"I, Sir Benedict Gawain, the 1st Paladin of the Church of Purity, hereby deem you a dangerous being! I will eliminate you here and now for the peace of this world, you Demon God!"
The words came out of his mouth as smoothly as water flowing. The word "Demon God" that he unconsciously blurted seemed like a fitting label for the male elf; he actually convinced himself that the male elf was the true incarnation of the Demon God.
However, as soon as he did, the two female elves' mana went into a wild flurry. One of the two, the older-looking one, quickly declared, with anger seething between her words.
"Unforgivable! Nobody is allowed to badmouth our king! Not even the church!"
The younger one added with fury in her eyes.
"You dare! You dare blaspheme our ruler! You deserve a thousand deaths!"
The two were already in the middle of using a powerful attack spell against Sir Gawain. Its construction was so fast that he couldn't even imagine how he could guard against it. Despite having a more powerful aura than the two individually, he couldn't possibly guard against a spell that had the two of their auras' power mixed and added to each other.
"ENOUGH!" General Frost shouted.
The whole room quickly froze over, not only physically but also magically. The bodies of the three got frozen halfway in an instant, depriving them of their mobility. What's more, they weren't able to control any of their internal or even external mana in their surroundings. The General had so much control over the surrounding mana that the three hotheads couldn't even raise a finger against each other anymore.
...
The room went quiet all of a sudden.
"First, let me apologize for my companion's behavior." General Frost spoke, his voice resounding around the whole room. "As a Paladin of the Church of Purity, he may have gotten a bit too agitated. Please let this incident pass like water under the bridge."
The General bowed his head towards Sophia, who was the only one other than the General himself that was excluded from the ice field's effect.
"It's fine, General Frost. There's no harm done. As long as Sir Gawain is willing to put this unfortunate event aside, we have nothing else to say," Sophia said with an unperturbed smile.
Sir Gawain twitched after hearing his name called. Combined with the glare from the General, he was forced to back down.
"P-Please pardon my actions. I was too hasty." Sir Gawain quickly apologized. "I won't pursue this matter any further, so..."
His eyes were pleading with General Frost to undo the restriction on his body. However, the General just snorted and let him be. Instead, he undid the bindings on the two elves first.
Since the two women were still quite pissed, Ein quickly waved his hand and intervened.
"It's fine, Sir Gawain. No harm done." Ein smiled as he showed that he wasn't harmed in any way.
His actions, however, shocked General Frost instead. He formed his restriction magic in such a hurry that he could only set himself and Lady Sophia outside the range of effect. However, it seems that his magic wasn't able to even get close to Ein, as he didn't even have a single hair on his body covered in frost.
A smile leaked from General Frost's mouth, but he quickly returned to a neutral expression.
"Then, let's all say that nothing happened. Let's proceed with the discussion."
Sir Gawain quickly attempted to return to their original purpose for meeting here. Sophia nodded her head and gestured to the two men to take a seat.
"Please," she urged them.
General Frost quickly sat down with a loud thump. The sofa creaked loudly from the combined weight of his armor and his body. Sir Gawain, who was finally released from his restrictions, stood behind the General in attention and kept his mouth shut.
Afterward, the meeting proceeded without much difficulty. Sophia heard the content of the goods that were set for trading and the goods that were saved for gifts to the elves' higher-ups.
General Gawain heard from Sophia about the crops that were up for trade, as Ein declared, and was pleased with the projected amount.
"I really hope that this trade will succeed," General Frost said as he stood up and returned to his post. Sir Gawain, after staring one last time at Ein, quickly followed behind.
When the pair's footsteps weren't heard anymore, Sophia let out a long sigh.
"That was nerve-wracking," she said with a frown. "Who would've thought that the Church of Purity would send a delegate for a simple trade?"
Sophia quickly turned to Ein and apologized.
"Mr. Rain, sorry for that. I know that he said all that stuff like calling you [Demon God], but please do not take it to heart."
With a bothered smile, Sophia once again apologized for the acts of Sir Gawain.
As the side that was requesting the trade, earning the ire of someone who probably had a big say in the conduct of the trade is a big no. Sophia was quickly thinking of ways to fix their slightly tarnished impression. However, Ein just shook his hands and smiled.
"Please, it's nothing much, Lady Sophia. I don't mind it one bit."
However, despite his words, the two by his side were visibly still angry. Nayta and Melina were still wearing deep frowns on their beautiful faces. Inside, the two were thinking of the same thing.
'He dares to blaspheme our Demon God! We won't forgive him!'
Ein, who guessed the content of their minds, just sighed.