"Third in merit-Baron Calvin, Louis Calvin."
The moment the adjutant's voice fell, it was as though a Demon Explosive Bomb had been hurled into the banquet hall.
The solemn atmosphere shattered. Hushed discussion spread like an avalanche, sweeping through the entire hall in an instant.
"Him?! Is this a joke?"
"How old is he? Eighteen? Nineteen? And he ranks third in merit?"
"Did he... pull some strings?"
"Don't forget his name is Calvin. That's one of the Eight Great Families of the Empire."
"A southerner who hasn't even been established in the Northern Frontier for six months, and now he's walked away with a medal? Who would believe that?"
"Rigged. It has to be rigged."
Even without open accusations, the suspicion and hostility in their gazes all but formed a hail of arrows aimed at Louis, seated in the front row.
Yet the young man remained composed throughout.
Then a furious shout thundered through the hall: "Silence!!"
It was Duke Edmund's voice.
Every whisper and hushed discussion stopped at once.
He said nothing more, merely raising a hand to signal for the military official beside him to continue.
The military official cleared his throat, unfurled the scroll of battle records, and read aloud:
"Baron Calvin was ordered to scout Clearfeather Ridge. He discerned the enemy's movements and took the initiative to attack.
Advancing stealthily for fifty li at night, he led one hundred and thirty knights to capture the enemy stronghold and seize Clearfeather Ridge.
He then laid an ambush, combining Demon Explosive Bombs with the mountainside terrain to annihilate eight hundred elite enemy wolf riders, without losing a single man."
Gasps rose throughout the hall.
Many nobles stared wide-eyed in shock.
"One hundred and thirty against eight hundred? And not a single death?"
"Elite wolf riders? Aren't those the