"The Orchid Family truly lives up to its reputation. Perhaps from now on, we should keep our distance from the descendants of those great families from the royal capital."
"He's too strong! Loren Grant is the strongest young man I've ever seen."
"There probably isn't a single person in Decker City who could fight him!"
"That was a Gold Grade Barbarian Chieftain! So many people had lost to him before. With Grant as his surname, it's no wonder he's extraordinary."
The nobles of the Black Feather Merchant Association dispersed amid their excited chatter. By then, everyone knew.
From that day on, the remarkable young man would make a name for himself among Decker City's nobility.
It wasn't just because he had conquered the barbarians, a feat every noble had dreamed of. It was also the overwhelming strength he had displayed that left them shaken.
The eyes of many noblewomen who had witnessed the scene were already glistening.
With his handsome looks, powerful family background, and extraordinary strength, Loren was practically flawless.
He was the perfect image of the prince on a white horse they had dreamed of.
For many noblewomen, the first thing they did when they got home that day was send someone to find out everything they could about Loren. Some were even bold enough to ask their parents whether they could arrange a marriage alliance with the Orchid Family.
Admiring the strong was human nature, and in this dangerous, chaotic world, that instinct was only stronger.
Accompanied by their guards, the curly-haired noble and the blond noble left the slave market with complicated feelings.
The blond young noble was Enli Deer, the only son and heir of Marquis Deer of Decker City. Shame showed on his face.
"I never thought Decker City's nobles were inferior to those in the royal capital. But now I have to admit that perhaps there really is a gap between us."
Thinking of the remarkable young man who had met an entire barbarian tribe head-on with Silver power, he couldn't help but feel deeply moved.
"I wonder why such an outstanding descendant came to the Northern Frontier."
As he spoke, something seemed to occur to him. He abruptly turned to the guard beside him.
"Find out immediately what that descendant of the Orchid Family has done since arriving in Decker City! I want all the information on him!"
"Yes, young master Enli!"
After the guard left, the curly-haired noble came back to his senses and said, unwilling to concede, "Young Master Enli, that fellow may be strong, but our nobles of Decker City aren't weak either.
"Some of the strongest among us have fought Gold warriors with Silver power. They just haven't come back yet after joining the City Lord's Gold Knights.
"Otherwise, it would have been one of our nobles who conquered the barbarians!"
Enli Deer shook his head. "You don't understand. Those few relied on sharp weapons and sturdy armor when they fought Gold warriors.
"If you put on a set of A-class extraordinary armor and took up an A-class extraordinary sword, you could also trade a few blows with a Gold warrior wearing standard C-class armor.
"Besides, defeating barbarians isn't anything special. But facing Gold with Silver power—and leaving the famed barbarians utterly unable to fight back—that's something else.
"I've never seen anyone with such a domineering presence."
His tone turned grave.
"More importantly, he's a descendant of the Orchid Family. Don't you know what that means?"
The curly-haired noble froze, then drooped his head in defeat. "It means no one dares to lay a hand on him."
With such a terrifying background, as long as he didn't go looking for trouble, almost no one would target him. Nobody wanted to make an enemy of that extraordinary family.
The Orchid Family had long been inseparable from the Silver Moon Kingdom. No one in the Northern Frontier could afford to provoke that legendary family.
Enli Deer nodded. "So don't provoke him from now on."
"Young Master Enli, I'm not that stupid. That fellow's practically not human. Why would I provoke him?"
The curly-haired noble curled his lip. The moment he pictured the Barbarian Chieftain beaten into a heap of mangled flesh, a chill ran through him. What a tyrant!
Enli Deer nodded and said nothing more. When a servant brought the carriage around, he parted ways with the curly-haired noble and climbed in alone.
The luxurious noble carriage rolled along smoothly, with hardly a jolt. In silence, it entered a sprawling manor.
"Young Master Enli, we're home."
The coachman opened the carriage door with a graceful bow.
At the sound of his voice, Enli Deer came out of his thoughts. He stepped down from the carriage and walked into the manor, looking distracted.
The manor's lavish surroundings failed to catch his attention.
He nearly collided with someone as he entered the central hall.
"Enli, what are you doing?"
The sight of the graceful figure before him, her expression tinged with anger, snapped Enli back to his senses. He hurried to apologize.
"Sorry, Sister. I was distracted."
The girl wore a long white dress and a white hat adorned with an upturned feather. Her refined, noble bearing softened the slight frown on her face. Then she asked curiously, "Didn't you go to the Black Feather Merchant Association? You're back so soon. Have the barbarians been tamed?"
Before Enli could answer, a stern voice came from inside the hall.
"Tamed the barbarians?
"Those stubborn bulls from the highlands have no bloodline that would ever make them submit!
"Even the Gold Knights couldn't make them bow. How could a bunch of green boys who don't know their place make the barbarians submit?"
A strange look crossed Enli's face. He turned toward the man seated inside the hall in a luxurious chair set with gemstones and bowed with a hand to his chest.
"Good day, Father."
Marquis Deer, dressed in black formal attire, nodded. He rose and walked over to the two of them, looking at the girl beside Enli with fondness.
"Elivise, if you reach Gold Intermediate this month, you might be able to give it a try. As things stand, you can defeat the barbarians, but you can't make them submit."
Then he turned toward Enli and scolded him with displeasure. "Enli, put away those impractical fantasies of yours. You think you can conquer the barbarians?
"If you still haven't reached Silver Intermediate by the end of this year, I'll personally send you to train with the City Lord's Silver Knights!"
Enli shook his head with a complicated expression. "Father, I want to join the Silver Knights tomorrow."
The refined girl and Marquis Deer both froze.
They stared at Enli in astonishment.
"What did you say?!"
Seeing their shocked expressions, Enli's face grew resolute.
"Father, Sister, perhaps you were right all along. I really do need to start applying myself.
"The Deer family shouldn't decline under my watch!"
The two exchanged a glance, even more surprised.
The refined girl was the first to recover. She fixed him with a sharp gaze.
"Enli, who did you meet at the slave market? Did those few terrifying fellows from the Gold Knights come back?"
Only those powerful individuals who had joined the Gold Knights could have shaken Enli this badly.
Enli shook his head. Looking at them, he spoke with a fervor he didn't even seem to notice. "Father, the barbarians were defeated by a noble from outside the city!"
Marquis Deer raised an eyebrow, displeased. "Gold Grade barbarians are powerful, but they haven't awakened their Bloodline Power. What's so strange about someone defeating them?
"Is that really worth making such a fuss over?"
Enli fell silent for a moment, then spoke slowly.
"What if that person was only Silver Beginner?"
"What?!"
"That's impossible!"
Marquis Deer and his eldest daughter, Elivise, were both utterly shaken.
The Highland Barbarians, raised in harsh conditions, were incredibly powerful fighters.
At the same grade, it took at least two Gold warriors who hadn't awakened their Bloodline Power to face one of them, and three to defeat one.
How could a human at Silver Grade possibly defeat a Barbarian Chieftain?!
Marquis Deer immediately thought of an explanation. Had the other man used an extraordinary weapon of A-class or higher?
Yes, that had to be it. An unarmed barbarian losing to an armored noble descendant—that made sense.
But just as the two had found an excuse for the Barbarian Chieftain's defeat, Enli's next words left them speechless.
"Impossible?"
Enli's face was full of undisguised admiration.
"Father, Sister, what if that person defeated the Barbarian Chieftain with his bare hands?"
"What if he didn't just defeat him, but crushed him absolutely, killing the Barbarian Chieftain in a single move?"
"What if he didn't just kill a Gold Grade Barbarian Chieftain, but single-handedly took down the entire barbarian tribe?"
"What if he was even younger than me, no more than eighteen?"
Even Marquis Deer, a man who had weathered countless storms, was astonished by Enli's fervent words.
With Silver power, he had killed a Gold opponent in one blow and taken down an entire tribe single-handedly!
And the one who had done all this was only a seventeen- or eighteen-year-old boy!
Just imagining it left him shaken.
That was what a true dragon among men looked like.
Marquis Deer's eldest daughter, Elivise, his pride and a genius who had reached Gold Grade at the age of twenty-five, couldn't help showing her surprise.
She had never imagined anyone at Silver Grade could defeat a Gold Grade Barbarian Chieftain!
And he was so young. Though she considered herself a genius, for the first time she felt that she might not measure up.
In an instant, she became intensely curious about the man her younger brother so admired.
Who could this exceptional figure be?
This wasn't happening only at Marquis Deer's manor. Nearly every noble who had witnessed the scene at the slave market that day was spreading the news: a descendant of the Orchid Family had defeated Gold Barbarians with a Silver-grade body.
In no time, Loren, who had previously gone almost unnoticed, became the focus of countless nobles in Decker City.
Before you continue