At Gallop Academy, in the teachers' office, Tierney was still chatting with Milady, a teacher from the Imperial Capital. By then, Neil had helped Xiaohua pack her things and made his way to the doorway.
"My dear Count, are you finished chatting?" Neil asked, mimicking the nobles' manner of speaking.
When Tierney saw that it was his good friend, he immediately shot back, "What is this? Has the illustrious Count Neil finished showing Lady Xiaohua around the campus and decided to return to your castle?"
"Oh, my dear Count, as you know, my wife had hoped to try a cup of fish-roe sweet pudding from Breyak. But because of your dawdling, my dear Count Tierney, we have to leave now. The believers of His Majesty in the north are waiting for us!"
Even though they really were counts now, their pompous, rotten-sounding noble airs still had Xiaohua and Fang laughing their heads off.
"Enough, you two. Why are you putting on those ridiculous airs?" Xiaohua complained. "If we don't get going, we'll miss the first pot of lamb chops!"
Today, there was a grand bonfire party in the city's northern district. Dozens of bonfires had already been lit in the northern square, with large cooking pots arranged all around them. Almost all the Knights, Barbarians, and Mages who had traveled with Landen since last year had been invited.
"Come on, let's go!" the three young people said together. Though they had all been ennobled, they still fondly remembered the hard times they had shared.
"Teacher Milady, aren't you coming with us?" Tierney asked casually when she saw that Milady was the only one who hadn't moved.
"Me? Can I... go?" To Milady, bonfire parties like this were events attended by Duke Landen and his closest confidants. As an outsider, she