After a minute or so, a girl with silver hair and an expensive-looking dress appeared from a side gate of the house leading to a garden. Her eyes were a shade between brown and crimson which resembled the Viscounts to a frightening degree.
Her stride was quite elegant, and Raz could see that in her eyes was an ambitious fighting spirit showing intelligence and age that most children could ever display at seven years old back on Earth.
She walked over to her father and asked, "You asked for me, Father?"
Viscount Malfe looked at his daughter and frowned as he inquired, "Where's your brother? I called for both of you to come here."
"Well, we both heard your call, but Anton insisted that I go for both of us so the other nobles' children wouldn't be left alone in the garden," Aria replied as Raz detected a hint of disgust in her expression as she mentioned her brother's name.
Sighing, Viscount Malfe looked at William and apologized, "My sincerest apologies William. You came here for a good time, but apparently, my son can't even come out and greet you properly. I've tried and tried to keep his behavior in check, but…."
"Oh, it's fine, really, Thomas. Kids are kids, and some of them are just rebellious. I'm sure things will get better when he's older. On the plus side, your daughter seems well behaved at least," William replied as he tried to lighten the mood.
"I guess your right. Aria is a great daughter. At least one of them turned out manageable. Aria, go take the Viscount's son and introduce him to the other children," Viscount Malfe instructed.
Nodding, Aria motioned for Raz to come to follow her, which he did. As he followed her towards the side gate where she came from, he saw his parents and the Malfes enter through the front door into the manor before turning his attention back towards Aria, who suddenly stopped.
She turned around and looked Raz in the eyes before she asked, "Are you really five years old?"
Suddenly, Aria took a step closer to him, where she stood face to face as he noticed the girl was roughly the same height as him.
"According to my knowledge, the son of Viscount William Alden is supposed to be five and incredibly smart. I'm not sure about the smart part, but you are just as big as me, and I'm seven!" Aria declared as she stared at Raz with her eyebrows held up in suspicion.
Even though they were the same height, Raz couldn't help but still view her in a laughable sense.
After all, mentally, he was undoubtedly the oldest person in this manor, but he couldn't say this and played along with the children anyways.
"Of course, I'm five years old. I'm just a lot bigger for my age due to my naturally strong body. As for the intelligent part, I think you can tell yourself how smart I am." Raz responded with a slightly amused expression.
Turning back around and continuing, Aria warned him, "Be prepared for my brother. Even if you are the son of a Viscount, there's no telling what he'll do. Although our father probably hasn't noticed, Anton is a little unhinged and does not mean to do well for anyone but himself. Watch yourself. Even as his sister, I must admit he is quite psychotic."
The two continued to walk through the large garden connected to the back of the manor, making Raz reminisce about the large garden in the Palace of Versailles back on Earth.
There were intricate bushes carved into various geometric shapes that were freshly trimmed, seemingly for the banquet.
In the center of the garden was a giant maze made from bushes that seemed to have been more for decoration than an actual maze to confuse someone, as its general layout was in the shape of an octagon.
As Aria led Raz further into the maze, he could hear a flowing fountain in the distance close to where the center would be and when he emerged from one of the dozens of paths to the center. He saw the other children.
The middle of the maze had been decorated more for comfort.
There were various benches around on a tiled floor with a large fountain in the center of the maze that constantly spewed water with a rune glistening in the middle, undoubtedly powering the fountain.
On one bench was a boy with curly and frazzled brown hair. However, what stood out to Raz was not his hair or brown eyes but the crazed look in his eyes.
The boy spotted Aria and Raz as he examined the newcomer while asking, "So, is this the Viscount's son?"
Aria replied, "Indeed, Anton, this is, in fact, Viscount Alden's son."
"Really? He doesn't look like he's five. He kinda freaks me out, considering how big he is for his age," Anton observed before he started to laugh, "Haha, now that we are all here. I think it's time for us to establish a hierarchy in this group. Obviously, I'll be number one. What about the rest of you?"
The other children, who ranged from six to ten years old, all looked at each other weirdly as they couldn't understand what was going on in Anton's mind. Although, no one said anything or looked in Anton's direction as if they were afraid.
Seeing no one reply to him, Anton's eyebrows pinched together as he started to eye everyone in annoyance as he inquired, "Is anyone going to say something, or am I gonna have to beat it out of someone?"
Everyone seemed to know of Anton's personality and looked at each other, seeing who would volunteer, until a boy who appeared to be one of the older ones spoke out, "I guess I'll be second then.
Anton got up from the bench before he stuck out his hand as if he was offering a handshake, but the moment the other boy tried to shake it. A punch flew into the boy's midsection as he crumpled onto the ground.
"Who said you could be second?" Anton asked as he started to kick the boy who had covered his head on the ground with his hands like a turtle.
Even though the boy was bigger, he could only lay there as he was kicked and punched. The rest of the children all backed up a step as they were afraid of Anton. Although some of them were bigger and older, no one wanted to mess with Anton, as who knows what he was capable of, especially if it somehow affected their families.
"Anton! Stop it!" Aria yelled as she positioned herself between the boy and Anton.
Anton seemed to stop as he announced, "This could have all been avoided if you guys just played along. I'll stop if everyone kneels on the ground in front of me to beg for forgiveness."
Although all these children were the sons and daughters of nobles, they really didn't want to anger Anton as he was the son of a Viscount who could crush their parents. They could only obey the psychopathic child.
"I'm telling Dad!" Aria yelled as she started to run out of the maze seeing Anton continue his antics.
Meanwhile, Anton spat on one of the children kneeling in front of him before he spotted Raz, who had been leaning against a bush with his arms crossed, spectating everything in front of him.
If this was Raz from back on earth or in his second life, he would have stood up against Anton and protected the boy from getting beaten. However, after his time in the Murim world, he lost his naive sense of protecting anyone and everyone.
In the cultivation world that he had to live through, the ones who blindly chased after justice were the ones who usually died the fastest or chased a false one. Plus, Raz didn't feel any actual killing intent from Anton, which meant that the boy wouldn't have died regardless of whether he intervened.
As he was thinking about all of this, Anton spoke, "Hey, freak. Just because you are a little big for your age and the son of Viscount doesn't mean you are exempted from kneeling as well."
Raz couldn't believe what he was hearing. He didn't know what was crazier, the fact that Anton actually thought he would kneel, or how delusional this child was. Usually, Raz wouldn't hesitate to teach someone like Anton a lesson, but he promised his mother that he wouldn't cause any trouble, so he didn't say a word as he walked away.
Seeing Raz walk away, Anton yelled in anger, "Hey! Where do you think you are going? Get back here!"
As Raz continued to ignore him, Anton charged at him and swung wildly at Raz, who ducked as he hopped back a few steps before looking at Anton in the eyes as he snapped, "You really don't want to do that, little boy. Don't think just because you're physically older than me that you could actually win in a fight against me."
"Though if you wish to try, I wouldn't mind teaching you a few lessons," Raz replied as he beckoned Anton to try.