Arthur never left the academy after he came out of old Harry's magic tower.
The Imperial Elite Academy Tournament will be held after the New Year, and Gold and the others will come back before the New Year.
Arthur just used this time to sort out the gains from martial arts and magic training in the past two years, and he could take the opportunity to ask the professors of the academy for some questions that he couldn't figure out before.
Professor Aug is still the same as before, and he often answers some of Arthur's martial arts questions in a few words.
Arthur originally planned to ask Professor Sharlene for some doubts about magic. After arriving at the library, old Jack told her that Sharlene had been away for a while, and he didn't know whether she would come back or not.
Arthur felt a little lost when he heard the news of Sharlene's departure.
The years of training passed by quickly, and before he knew it, the New Year of the 798th year of the ganging calendar had quietly arrived.
After Gold, Huey and the others came back, they had a small gathering and then went their separate ways. They all wanted to go home for the New Year. Only Arthur and Joan were left alone in the academy.
Arthur found that Joan had been in a bad mood since she came back. He asked Joan several times in private, but Joan denied it.
Arthur thought that he would spend the New Year with Joan alone, but he unexpectedly received an invitation to the New Year's ball from the Grand Duke, Ross's mansion.
Arthur never liked to attend social activities such as balls and cocktail parties among nobles, but this time he couldn't refuse, otherwise Gold would fight him to death after the New Year.
Arthur didn't even wear a dress for the ball. When he appeared in front of Joan wearing a blue military uniform with the Star fall Sword on his back, he almost laughed to death.
"Viscount Jiang, if you wear this at the New Year's ball, you will be the most talked-about joke in the imperial aristocratic circle in the next ten years."
Arthur was completely indifferent to Joan, who was laughing so hard that he fell backwards, and didn't think there was anything wrong with his outfit at all.
"We are going to dance with those noble ladies, not to compete with them?"
"Do we need to dance?"
Joan looked at Arthur with a foolish look, "Boss, do you think we need to dance at the New Year's party?"
"Forget it, I'll wait for Gold to come back and deal with me during the New Year." Arthur was frightened and immediately retreated.
But Joan was unwilling to give up. He would be bored to death if he and Arthur spent the New Year in the academy.
He lent Arthur a set of dark noble gifts and dragged him away.
In order to maintain his dignity, Joan even hired an exquisite beast carriage pulled by a white-haired camel beast in front of the academy, and the two of them went there in the carriage.
When they arrived at the gate of the Grand Duke's Mansion, they found that they were still the shabbiest.
The lights were on, and there were many carriages in front of the Grand Duke's Mansion. The worst carriages were driven by four beasts. One by one, the carriages were carved with canopies, gold and silver decorations, and extremely luxurious.
Joan embarrassed asked the driver to stop the car far away, and the two walked to the main gate of the Grand Duke's Mansion.
The person who was in charge of welcoming the guests at the gate of the Grand Duke's Mansion was Naiad Ross, the eldest son of Grand Duke Ross and the deputy commander of the War Song Corps. Naiad was already in his thirties, with a strong back and handsome appearance, and he had the demeanor of Grand Duke Ross when he was young.
Unlike other families that had open and secret struggles among the younger generation because of the position of heir, the Ross family had determined Naiad's identity as the heir early on. Let the future Grand Duke and the Corps Commander personally welcome the guests, and smile and greet every guest regardless of their status. It can be seen that the Ross family not only values martial arts, but also follows the rules.
Arthur and Joan were young and insignificant, and wanted to sneak past quietly. Unexpectedly, Naiad took the initiative to greet them, "You two should be Viscount Jiang and Master Joan. My father and my younger sister must be very happy that the two masters can come."
Arthur and the others did not expect Naiad to know them. Not only that, he personally led the two to the mansion for a while, and handed them over to the servants who led the way before returning to the gate to welcome the guests.
The servant led the two to the banquet hall of the Ross family.
In addition to being spacious enough, the banquet hall of Grand Duke Ross was not very luxurious in decoration. Not to mention, compared with other grand dukes, even many marquis' homes were more luxurious. But the banquet hall of Grand Duke Ross's family would impress any guest. The walls of the hall were hung with various weapons and monster skulls.
The banquet had not yet started, but nearly 200 guests had gathered in the hall, including many young men and women of the same age as Arthur, who came with their elders.
This kind of ball is not only a place for nobles to socialize, but also an occasion for the younger generation to get to know each other and for marriages between families.
The servants of the Ross family carried silver trays and shuttled among the guests, providing them with drinks and cold dishes.
Arthur took Joan around the hall and didn't see a familiar person. The two of them shuttled in the hall and attracted the attention of many young girls. Joan, in a white dress, was the most handsome man in the audience, and she responded to every glance with a polite smile, which can be said to have brought his "lovable" trait to the extreme. Arthur, with long black hair, was not very handsome, but his facial features were sharp, and because of his experience on the battlefield, he had more heroic spirit than Joan, which also attracted many young girls.
But Arthur ignored the looks and whispered, "Why didn't Huey and Moral come?"
"Do you think that half-orc would be interested in attending this kind of ball? Even if Golly fought him to death, he wouldn't come. Moral wanted to come, but nouveau riche like the Wells family are not qualified to attend the Grand Duke's ball."
"Then why can you attend?"
Joan smiled, "I am attending to give face to the Ross family."
Arthur wanted to ask the reason, but suddenly the music started, and the Grand Duke of Ross and the Duchess came out, and the Grand Duke was accompanied by his beloved daughter Golly.
The moment he saw Golly, Arthur almost couldn't help laughing.
Golly actually wore a dark red pleated dress for the first time, revealing her neck and most of her shoulders, and a red crystal pendant on her white neck.
Golly's dress matched her fair skin and brown-red short hair and looked very pretty. Perhaps because he was used to the way Gold was usually dressed in armor, Arthur wanted to laugh no matter how he looked at her.
Gold herself might not be used to this dress either. She looked very reserved as she walked beside the Grand Duke with her head down. If he saw the smile on Arthur's face, he might rush over and strangle him to death.
According to convention, the New Year's ball will officially begin with Grand Duke Ross's toast.
Grand Duke Ross raised his glass and first introduced several marquises, generals, and even a great magician from the Magician's Guild who attended the banquet. Then he suddenly raised his voice, "We are also honored to invite the human hero, Viscount Jiang, Arthur Hiller, who traveled through the orc wasteland and assassinated the son of the Lion King."
All eyes in the banquet hall turned to him, and Arthur's head suddenly became bigger. How did he become the focus of this banquet, inexplicably?