Undoubtedly, Alderman messed up big time at the War Festival.
War Festival, meticulously planned to revive his family tradition and take a firm step toward reclaiming his family's former glory, ended up being a complete disaster.
Initially filled with confidence, Alderman was toyed with, defeated, and even scolded in public by his daughter, feeling truly humiliated. Even his soon-to-be attendant, whom he had brought from outside, turned out to be a troublemaker, nearly causing a huge mess.
This was truly a blunder among blunders.
Moreover, to make matters worse, it was Riezel, someone from Yuri's side, who ended up dealing with Jill and became the hero of the day.
What was Alderman's role in this incident?
Nothing.
He couldn't do anything, just stood in place dumbfounded the whole time. By the time he snapped out of it, it was all over and everything had concluded smoothly.
While Riezel and Yuri had gained immense prestige, what about him? He became the laughingstock in many people's eyes, losing face to the point of no return.
For Alderman, it was indeed a serious blow.
Because of this, he retreated to his room upon returning home, feeling too ashamed to face anyone. His behavior only made Mediste, who had once feared him, scorn him.
'What are you doing? Acting like a child? Is that what a mature man, an acting lord of territory, would do? Hiding away when you've done wrong?'
As Mediste thought like that, she couldn't believe that the father who once seemed so decisive and formidable turned out to be nothing but a paper tiger.
Was his ability to handle pressure even weaker than her own?
It was truly embarrassing.
Even Isaac, who had just gotten up from the ground, looked indignant and complained.
"After the War Festival, Elder Sister Yuri handled the aftermath, even Elder Brother Sefaz pitched in a bit. But Father? Instead of helping, he's just hiding, totally ignoring the mess he made. What's up with him?"
Even a nine-year-old boy like Isaac couldn't stand to watch.
Evidently, this time, Alderman had truly disgraced himself, losing all his dignity in front of his children.
"Mr. Riezel, how is your injury?"
Mediste seemed unwilling to mention her embarrassing father any further, shifting her concern to Riezel.
"I'm fine now."
Riezel raised his hand and waved it, indicating that he was fully healed.
Yesterday, to protect Yuri, Riezel bravely blocked Jill's powerful slash with his bare hand, resulting in a deep gash on his left hand.
Jill had clearly used all of his strength on that slash, even breaking through Ariel's wind barrier surrounding Riezel's body in an instant, leaving it unable to block the slash.
Regardless, with Ariel's wind diminishing some of the slash's power, coupled with the added boost of END from Raumure, the injuries Riezel sustained weren't severe at all. As for the few minor wounds he received from completely abandoning defense during the subsequent fight, they were even less of a concern.
Yesterday, Riezel had used Dia Fratel on himself for treatment, effortlessly healing all his injuries. Now, he didn't have even a little bit of injury on him, as if nothing had happened.
"That's good..." Mediste relaxed her expression.
It seemed that she was quite concerned about his injury.
"If there's nothing else, I need to go find Yuri." Riezel said to the two siblings. "She just sent someone to fetch me."
Upon hearing that, Mediste understood instantly.
"Guests?" Mediste hinted.
"Probably." Riezel nodded.
After the War Festival ended yesterday, the Frenzel family, besides handling the aftermath, also received many visitors, which were nobles invited from afar by the Alderman to witness the War Festival.
Now that the War festival had ended, how could they not pay a visit to the Frenzel family and greet its head?
Moreover, they were very interested in Riezel, who had demonstrated astonishing strength at the War Festival yesterday, expressing their wish to meet him through Yuri.
Riezel knew about this but chose not to meet them.
He could easily guess the intentions of these so-called nobles. It was probably because they were impressed by his performance at the War Festival and wanted to see if they could win him over, or at the very least establish some connection with him.
Honestly, he had long grown tired of these upper-class society's antics.
As a result, citing his injury as an excuse, Riezel refused all meeting requests from these nobles, leaving them all to Yuri to handle.
Yuri also knew that Riezel didn't like these kinds of things, and she herself hoped that he could properly rest because of the injury she had caused him. Consequently, she readily intercepted all meeting requests from the nobles, preventing them from disturbing him.
She even dispatched the knightly order to patrol Undine, looking for any suspicious individuals lingering in the city to prevent some malicious people from causing trouble in Undine for Riezel's sake.
Thanks to Yuri's efforts, yesterday and this morning, Riezel had a peaceful time without any disturbances.
But this time, it seemed he really had to meet a rather special guest whom he couldn't evade.
"I heard that someone quite influential from the royal capital has come, and they've specifically asked to meet me. Even though your sister said I'm resting, they've said they will stay at Undine until I'm available." Riezel shrugged. "I don't want your sister to be too troubled, so I guess I'll just go and meet this guest."
Since Yuri had specifically sent someone to fetch him, it proved that this guest's status was definitely not low or ordinary, or else she could simply decline them without much trouble. Because of this, Riezel decided to meet this guest.
"Then we won't bother you." Mediste, understanding the situation well, obediently stepped aside to make way for him.
On the contrary, Isaac, lacking in tactfulness, continued to hop over to Riezel.
"When will you teach me magic?" Isaac grumbled, his face showing discontent. "Are you afraid I'll take advantage of you? I won't, okay? Even though I don't know why the magic crystal with the latest recording was lost, I have others. We can discuss it in detail!"
Upon hearing Isaac's nonsense, the corner of Riezel's eye twitched. Without a second thought, he turned and walked away.
"Hey, wait—" Isaac was about to call out to Riezel when a hand gripped the back of his neck.
"...Did I hear you correctly? You actually have others?"
A voice as cold as ice echoed, causing Isaac to shiver and break out in a cold sweat.
"That... That's just a magic crystal recording of you sleeping! Absolutely nothing indecent!"
Isaac quickly tried to defend himself.
"Don't worry, Elder Sister Mediste, I've learned my lesson this time. I'll only bring out proper recordings for the trade. I definitely won't bring out recordings of you changing clothes!"
At his words, veins bulged on Mediste's forehead.
'You think I'm talking about what kind of recording you're bringing out? No, it's about why you're always recording those kinds of things!'
Mediste thought with anger before holding her brother's hand with a strong grip.
"Come with me!"
Dragging Isaac along, she led him into a corner.
"AHHHHH—!!!"
Three seconds later, Riezel, who had turned into another corridor, heard a scream that seemed to pierce the sky.
"What a troublemaker brat..."
Riezel muttered under his breath and quickly left the commotion scene.
===
The Frenzel family's reception room was on the first floor.
Guided by a servant, Riezel made his way to this room.
*Knock* *Knock*
"Come in."
Yuri's voice came from inside, prompting the knights guarding the doors on either side of the reception room to extend their hands and push the door open for Riezel.
Riezel stepped inside, only to be greeted by two pairs of eyes locking onto him.
In the reception room, there were a total of four people.
Yuri sat on a sofa, with Marilyn standing behind her.
Facing Yuri were two strangers whom Riezel had never seen before.
They were a pair of men, one sitting across from Yuri, and the other, like Marilyn, standing behind the sitting one.
Across from Yuri sat a golden-haired man, probably in his mid-twenties, dressed quite appropriately, bearing a striking resemblance to the noble Riezel knew from his previous life.
"Finally, we meet, Sir Riezel Brynhart."
Surprisingly, the golden-haired man quickly stood up when he saw Riezel, performing a noble gesture without a hint of arrogance, leaving an extremely positive first impression.
"Riezel." Yuri also stood up and smiled at Riezel. "Let me introduce you. This is Marquis Phillip Charlier from the royal capital."
From her simple introduction, Riezel gleaned a lot of information.
Firstly, this guest named Phillip not only hailed from the royal capital but was also a noble of no lesser status than Yuri.
Though Riezel wasn't sure about the status and reputation of the Charlier family in the royal capital, Yuri's use of 'Marquis' to address him indicated that just like her family, the Charlier family was also a Marquis family of Jinas.
Moreover, since he was addressed as 'Marquis', it could be inferred that like Yuri, he had already become the head of his family, which meant the current Marquis of Charlier.
"Nice to meet you, Marquis Charlier." Riezel greeted back with a calm demeanor.
"No need to be so formal, just treat me like any other guest."
Phillip responded with a friendly smile before introducing his attendant.
"Right, he is my attendant, Glimann, about your age, eighteen this year. Despite being young, he's already a skilled swordsman, holding a Sword Master Medal for three years, y'know? You two should get to know each other."
His words made Riezel glance at Glimann.
Glimann also glanced at Riezel, with a hint of fighting intent in his eyes.
Seeing this, Riezel was slightly taken aback before raising an eyebrow.
He felt it.
This Glimann was a powerful swordsman.
At least, not weaker than Marilyn.