The grandeur of Lord's Mansion exceeded Abel's imagination. As soon as he entered the courtyard, he saw an enormous fountain. Light drawn from who knew where illuminated the dancing water, making it shimmer with fantastical colors.
The servants of Lord's Mansion leading the guests were all dressed in black servant uniforms, each one polite and attentive. The guards patrolling the surroundings wore half-armor and carried longswords. The Aura they displayed belonged to Professionals who were at least Level 4 Cultivators of Battle Qi. Everything here demonstrated the extraordinary status of a viscount noble.
Professionals included warriors, knights, and assassins. All of them cultivated Battle Qi as their foundation, developing certain special abilities.
Warriors were ordinary Professionals. Most people who cultivated Battle Qi were warriors, and warriors could use nearly every weapon, including swords, hammers, and long spears.
The most powerful were knights. Their excellent education and abundant resources allowed them to receive the most comprehensive training and finest equipment. Warhorses and armor were their standard gear.
Assassins were the fewest in number. Besides cultivating Battle Qi, they also had to learn a large number of methods for concealing themselves. An assassin's Battle Qi erupted more violently, but the price was a shorter duration.
In the Duchy of Camai, noble titles were extremely difficult to obtain. Generation after generation, the kings had suppressed the number of nobles and established a series of regulations to reduce the inheritance of territories and titles. For example, women were forbidden from inheriting noble titles, non-hereditary titles were downgraded by one rank each time they were inherited, and territories were reclaimed if there was no heir. After countless years of constantly reclaiming power, countless noble families had disappeared.
There was only one condition for obtaining a noble title: making a great contribution to the duchy. This was especially difficult in peacetime. Once war broke out, however, military achievements came at the cost of the deaths of large numbers of aspiring nobles.
That was why the conflict between the king and the nobles had grown increasingly severe in recent years. The great nobles constantly increased their strength, while the king searched everywhere for opportunities to destroy those who dared challenge royal authority.
One only had to look at the title of Harvest City's lord to understand how low noble ranks were in the Duchy of Camai. The lord of a major city held only the title of viscount. In the neighboring Grand Duchy of Thunderclap, a city of the same size would have a lord who was at least a duke.
Of course, all this was far removed from Abel. Knight Marshall had only casually told him about it while they were discussing the city lord in the carriage on the way there. As a knight who had earned his territory through military achievements, Knight Marshall did not care about such matters. He had merely brought them up as an amusing anecdote.
Yet when Abel saw the guards of Lord's Mansion, he could not help thinking of what Knight Marshall had said about the great nobles constantly increasing their strength to resist the king. There were several hundred guards before him, and every one of them was a Professional. Even if they were all only the lowest-ranking warrior Professionals, the formidable battle strength of these hundreds of people could rival that of a several-thousand-man army.
The hall was packed with people. To Abel's disappointment, Lord's Mansion had not prepared much food. Since it was winter, the buffet offered only pastries and roast meat, though there was plenty of red wine.
With the appearance of Viscount Dickens, the ball officially began. First came the viscount's speech. Though there were many people in the hall, Viscount Dickens, a Knight Commander, used his powerful Battle Qi to carry his voice into every person's ears. According to Knight Marshall, this was an annual display of strength. Whether in financial resources or overwhelming military power, it allowed Viscount Dickens to manage this vast territory more effectively.
This was the most boring ball Abel had ever attended. He did not know a single person there. After Knight Marshall introduced him to several friends, Abel returned to a corner alone and quietly observed this gathering of the world's elite. He also understood why so little food had been prepared. Few people here took any food at all; they simply carried glasses of red wine while walking around and looking for people to talk to.
In this environment, Abel's eyelids grew heavier and heavier, and he gradually fell asleep. He had spent the entire day walking around the city, and the noisy sounds around him now seemed like a lullaby. He did not wake until the ball ended, when Knight Marshall shook him awake.
On the way back, Knight Marshall mercilessly teased Abel. A knight simply could not believe that a Level 5 Apprentice Knight had fallen asleep at a ball because he was tired from walking around.
Early the next morning, Knight Marshall took Abel into the carriage and prepared to return to Hari Castle. As they left the courtyard, Robin, the steward, escorted the carriage to the gate. Abel leaned out from the carriage and waved goodbye to Robin.
This action confirmed to the servant who had spent the night freezing while watching the courtyard that Abel was about to leave. He hurriedly ran to report to his master.
"What? They went toward the south gate? Are you sure?" Joshua immediately summoned his men after hearing and confirming the servant's report.
Joshua's father was a baron. Skilled in business, he had purchased more than a dozen shops beside the main roads in Harvest City over the years, controlling nearly fifty percent of the city's ready-made clothing market. He was a true noble merchant, and his immense wealth had given his only son, Joshua, better conditions for cultivation. Nineteen-year-old Joshua had already become a Level 4 Apprentice Knight, and the baron had always dreamed that Joshua would earn military achievements and become a landed knight.
Because of this, the baron had never been stingy with Joshua's growth. The investment he had made in Joshua could be seen simply from his purchase of the Hundred Refinements Greatsword. Joshua, having lost the bet, had not dared tell his father about it. He planned to settle the score first, then slowly find an opportunity to explain it to the baron.
After gathering a squad of twelve men, all strong servants from his household, they set out. Each servant had a packhorse and a longsword, while Joshua rode a scarlet warhorse. The thirteen-man pursuit party departed.
Knight Marshall was savoring a bottle of red wine given to him by a friend in Harvest City. His body moved slightly and leisurely with the carriage's jolts, yet the surface of the wine in his glass did not ripple in the slightest. Abel was currently working hard to imitate a knight's posture. However, the carriages in this world were too rigid and had no suspension at all. Sometimes, before he could react to a jolt, the wine in his glass would begin sloshing violently. Abel did not lose heart. He carefully observed the knight and imitated him with great enthusiasm.
Although packhorses did not run quickly, they were still faster than the carriage over short distances. The thirteen riders soon drew close to the carriage, and a vicious smile appeared on Joshua's cold face.
"How interesting. Someone actually dares to pursue my carriage." Knight Marshall stopped the glass in his hand, a trace of icy ruthlessness appearing on his face.
Abel also sensed something unusual from the vibrations in the ground. He glanced at Knight Marshall. Since he had come to the ball with Knight Marshall, he had not brought his longsword. He merely took out his hand crossbow, loaded a bolt, and prepared to fire at any moment.
"Go! Stop the carriage and drag out the people inside," Joshua ordered the twelve servants.
If Joshua had seen the carriage from the front, perhaps he would not have done this. The front of the carriage bore the crest of a noble family.
The twelve servants raised their longswords and charged toward the carriage. The coachman knew that Knight Marshall was inside, so he was not anxious. Instead, he shouted a warning: "This is the Hari Family's carriage! Attacking it will bring down the wrath of the Hari Family!"
The twelve servants charging forward knew nothing about the Hari Family. They might have recognized Knight Marshall's carriage, but they did not stop their mounts and continued rushing toward it, blocking the carriage.
Joshua had already caught up. The first thing he saw was the extremely conspicuous white unicorn crest on the front of the carriage. A chill shot from his back straight to the top of his head. He had actually led men to attack a noble's carriage. He had not clearly heard what the coachman said earlier, but seeing the coachman's fearless expression, he knew that the people inside had an extraordinary background.
Things had already reached this point, and the attack on a noble's carriage was now a settled fact. Joshua could no longer retreat. A murderous intent quietly arose in his heart. If I kill the coachman and that little blacksmith inside, who will know I did it?
"Kill them all." Joshua spat out the three words viciously.
The twelve servants hesitated. Usually, they only helped the young master bully people. At most, they broke someone's limbs, but they had never killed anyone. Still, they had to obey the young master's order, so they raised their longswords in a chaotic rush and charged at the coachman.
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