All eyes were on Keith and Zane as they sat on the seats Old man showed them. The nobles were sitting on a long "C" shaped table with the duo being told to sit in the middle.
"First of all i would like to congratulate you both, that was an amazing battle, you two really impressed us" Old man said.
The duo nodded respectfully. Zane couldn't help but notice a pair of eyes on him. Not that he could see the person's eyes, but he noticed that this particular noble hadn't moved his head ever since he saw Zane.
Zane, not backing away from a staring contest, reciprocated the man's gaze. The man showed a surprised expression seeing Zane's boldness. Most commoners couldn't dare look a noble in the eyes for this long.
The man then smiled before nodding his head in approval. That was the moment that he decided to get Zane no matter what. Obviously this man was Charles Willer.
"Keith this meeting is mostly for you and I'm sure you can already guess what it's for." Old man said, drawing Zane's attention from the noble.
Keith nodded at Old man's words and waited for him to continue.
"However, the issue here is that all the families here want you. Due to not being able to come to an agreement, they decided to let you choose for yourself" Old man revealed.
Keith was ecstatic to find out that he was this desirable. He couldn't have asked for a better situation than that.
He then put his fingers on his chin as he thought, however, seemingly not being able to come to a conclusion, he nudged Zane's leg.
Zane knew what Keith was thinking and he leaned over to whisper in his ear. This might have seemed disrespectful but the nobles were fine with it since they all wanted Keith.
Since everyone in the room except for the two mortals were High Mages, they could easily hear what Keith and Zane were whispering about. However, respecting their privacy, they decided not to listen in.
Of course, Old man Reed didn't give a damn about their privacy and listened to every word. After a few seconds of whispering, Keith cleared his throat and looked at the nobles.
"Excuse me for asking but which of you specialises in Water elemental magic?" he asked. He did so because water was also his element and it was obvious that the best mentor for him would also be a water elemental.
Surprisingly, Charles, along with three other nobles nodded their heads lightly. They would have lifted their hands but that would seem like they were in some kind of classroom.
"That's too bad" one of the nobles who didn't nod their head said before standing "We will be taking our leave now Reed" he said and left along with two others.
Now only Old man Reed, Charles and three nobles were in the room with the duo.
"I would be happy to join any one of you, however i have a few requests, I would like my sister to come with me" Keith said.
He was tempted to warn the nobles about Charlotte's problem but thought they should be able to handle it. After all the noble families in front of him weren't small sized ones, unlike the family causing trouble for Charlotte.
One of the three nobles furrowed his brows "Who is your sister?, was she part of the tournament?" he asked.
"Yes she was, she is that girl. Zane's lover" another noble said, trying to jog his fellow noble's memory.
Upon hearing that statement, Zane started coughing loudly before moving his chair away from Keith, who was staring flaming daggers into his back.
"Ohhh that one" the noble seemed to recall Charlotte before looking strangely at Keith 'He beat his own sister that badly?, nice, i like him' the noble thought.
The four nobles seemed not to mind Keith's request and they all nodded. Keith was however quite disappointed, he thought that his request would eliminate more nobles to make his choice easier.
"Which one of you is the strongest?" he asked. The nobles were quite surprised to hear that question as they weren't expecting Keith to ask such.
"That would be me" Charles said.
"Ohh okay, then my sister and i will be joining your family senior" Keith slightly bowed to Charles.
Charles instead chuckled "I think there is a misunderstanding here young one, I don't want you nor your sister" he revealed, prompting audible sighs from the other nobles.
They all knew that if Charles got Kieth, they wouldn't be able to contest against him. Charles was the most powerful among them after all, both personally and when it comes to military power.
"Ohh that's disappointing" Keith said. He wasn't really disappointed to be turned down by Charles because he didn't care which family he joined, as long as that family would be able to protect his sister.
"Who is the second strongest?" Keith asked. Surprisingly, instead of a single noble speaking up, two nobles stood up.
"We will be taking our leave now, see you next time Reed" one of the two said as they left.
The remaining noble smiled at Keith "Welcome to my family Keith. My name is George Bryant" The noble said as he stood up and walked to shake Keith's hand.
"Thank you" Keith said with a smile and a nod.
"What is your name?" George suddenly asked. Keith was surprised as he thought George already knew his name.
That's when he suddenly smirked before answering confidently "My name is Keith Bryant" he said.
Zane was surprised "So he already inherits a last name?" he asked.
"Keith isn't an ordinary employee of my family. In fact, Keith isn't an employee at all he is more like a future elder of the Bryant household, he is part of the family" George explained.
Zane was still slightly surprised but nodded his head nonetheless 'Maybe joining a family wouldn't be so bad after all' he thought.
Zane was so against joining a noble family because of the fear of being held back, however he couldn't be so sure about it.
'If the family would be grooming me to become a soldier for them in the future, they would obviously try their best to make me grow as fast as possible' he thought.
"Let's go to the Bryant mansion, you and your sister have to meet the rest of the family" George smiled, it was obvious to see that he was excited to be adding a powerful future High or even Supreme Mage to the family.
"Hey George, make sure to bring him here tomorrow morning, he still has to fight against John then enter the main tournament" Old man Reed said.
"Mmm okay he will be here tomorrow" George nodded.
"See yah Zane" Keith waved to Zane.
"See yah Keith Bryant" Zane chuckled. The two men from the Bryant household then left, leaving only Old man, Charles and Zane in the room"