Althea stared at Feng, smiling slightly as she began. . "A pleasure to meet you, sir..."

Feng simply looked at her, staring at her with a gaze that made her feel uncomfortable. The gaze was filled with scorn and disappointment.

"Feng." he said. Not telling her who he was, huh.

"A pleasure to meet you, Sir Feng. I am Althea Diery, of the-"

"Feng, not sir Feng." the boy growled. "This is the Southern Continent, Althea. There is no nobility here."

"Of course." she said. "I was simply trying to treat you with the respect you deserved. I apologize if I offended you."

Feng merely scoffed as he looked at her. Why was he so angry? Did she do something to offend him? Or perhaps he was just angry at the nobility in general?

The Northern Continent knew very little about this Feng. In fact, they did not even know who his family was. Just his first name, Feng. Did a noble do something bad to his family? Was that why he was hiding his name?

The Grandmaster was famous for not protecting his disciples. As long as someone that wasn't an entire stage stronger didn't attack them, he was fine with anything that happened to them. That might be why Feng had a grudge against nobility.

"What is a Lady of the Northern continent doing so far from your coasts? This is not the place for a luxury cruise, Althea." he commented. Althea rolled her eyes.

"I am here to compete in the Human Cup, as you well know. I am sure the news of what happened in the north has reached the South." Not that the same applied to the South. The factions of the South had a jolly time killing spies from the North. But the North seemed unable to do the same. Perhaps one of these battle manuals was good at detection? How were they distributed anyway?

Feng took a deep breath, barely noticeable from this distance, but Althea saw it anyway. The senses of a Master were more than advanced enough to catch things like this.

"I hear you will be participating too." she said. "I look forward to competing with you."

"I shall see."

Althea held back a groan. What was this guy's problem? Did giving a proper response take that much effort?

A short silence lapsed between them as both sides did not know how to react.

No, wait. There was just one side that was willing to talk. The other side just didn’t seem to care.

Lady Surich got up, thankfully employing grace and etiquette while doing so. Althea looked at her with a raised eyebrow.

"Perhaps we should partake in this lavish buffet arrayed before us, Countess." she said.

Althea smiled. "Yes, it would be rude to our host not to." Getting up was a chore in this dress, especially while following the etiquette of the Northern Continent. A noble couldn't get up using their hands to help them. Just feet. There also couldn't be any imbalance. Or clear use of mana to help. With how heavy this dress was, it did make getting up difficult.

But she managed. There might not be that much history and management in her education, but there was plenty of this. The five of them headed towards the 'kitchen' that was quickly turning into a distastefully set buffet table. Feng grunted, and his followers practically jumped to eat the food.

Althea sidestepped the deserts, the oily foods, the live tables that suddenly had far too many people, and headed for the starters. There weren't many dishes that she recognized, but one of these looked like potatoes.

A few steps later, she knew it had to be meat too. Just with some kind of yellow leaf over it. The dish just looked like Mccain chilly potatoes from far away. Of course, this was understandable. The Southern Continent did not have much in the way of agriculture. The dishes had to be meat dishes.

Looking at the dishes, there were few breads, noodles or anything you would expect from a buffet. There were plenty of meat dishes, though. A lot of meat. Was that a whole pig she was looking at?

As she watched, one of Feng's followers took the pig in his hands and broke it in two. The pig was divided between the followers as they ate with their hands. A clear violation of any form of etiquette. Then again, there didn't seem to be any dishes that could easily be eaten with a fork and spoon. Or any fork and spoon in sight.

Althea looked around for something she could eat. The chicken starter was nice, but it was hardly filling. Should she just leave it at that? This wasn't dinner time anyway. Then again, maybe they had dinner earlier in this part of the world.

Even if that was the case, she didn't know how to properly eat with her hands. That basically made sure eating wasn't an option. A Master didn't really need to eat much anyway.

Sidestepping through the crowd, she almost managed to find her way back to her seat. A particular muscle-man stopped her.

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"A bit too proud to eat food with your hands, your grace?" Feng quipped. This guy loved using her titles to mock her, huh.

"I am merely not hungry, Sir Feng." Althea replied. Well, two could play the game. There was no reason for her to step back.

Feng looked at her plate. "Try not to choke on your plate then, my lady. Southern food is a bit more...tasteful than the North."

Althea scoffed and put one piece in her mouth. The leafy covering was, well, leafy. Not very tasty, but she supposed the texture melded well with the meat beneath. The chicken under it was indeed spicy, and hot. So hot that it seemed like her mouth might burn. But it wasn’t hot enough to make her react.

The smirk that spread across Feng's face told her he expected her to react negatively. Well, sadly for him, she was quite good at showing false reactions.

"How delicious." she said. "I find it curious that your people can't grow crops, but somehow manage to grow spices.”

Feng's grin widened. Althea felt something pass from her mouth into her stomach. Fire mana, a lot of it. And air mana. So much of it that she could practically feel the explosion starting in her stomach.

A sense of hurry took her as Feng leaned in close to whisper in her ear. "This is no mere spice, my lady. That was a Leaf of the Burning Forest."

Althea hid a groan, suppressing the gas that bubbled inside her, trying to disperse it, little by little. If it escaped from either of the directions, then it would be very, very bad.

"How curious. A Leaf of the Burning Forest. Does the forest really burn, or is it simply a name?" she asked, acting nonchalant.

"Of course, the forest has been burning for over ten thousand years." Feng smiled. "The fires of this forest are renowned to be difficult to put out."

Althea could feel that. The fire was difficult to put out. In her stomach. This strange fire, that wasn't strong enough to harm her Master rank insides, was causing a potent chemical reaction that threatened to destroy her dignity.

A Lady. Could not. Fart. Or burp.

That was the law of etiquette, and she was determined to not break it before this irritating man. The fire had other ideas. For some reason, it seemed determined to emit air. The more she tried to suppress it, the more it would react. How the heck was there a fire that emitted air? Magic indeed.

Hmm, wait. Magic.

Althea smiled, shifting her method of suppression. If the fire's magic was a problem, the solution was to change it. And as a fire friend, she could command any fire to burn. The flame in her stomach, that had hitherto been more interested in emitting gases than actually burning, changed. And then as quickly snuffed out by the movement of her stomach and the lack of oxygen inside her.

A grin stretched across her face as she extended her neck towards Feng's ear. "That sounds like an interesting place. Perhaps I will visit it sometime."

And then she sidestepped him, heading straight for her seat. With the rest of the chicken leaf starters. That she didn't want to eat. Feng's narrowed eyes that gaze towards her with suspicion and challenge told her she didn't have that option. And there was still a lot of gas in her stomach that she hadn't disposed of.

Althea opened her mouth slightly, letting the gas escape out of her mouth without it being overly apparent. Of course, her throat and stomach had other opinions, convulsing in an attempt to force the gas out at once. But the burp could not be allowed to happen. No, no, no. Not a chance.

The smile that adorned her face stretched wider as the last of the gas escaped, leaving her insides clear...and stronger? What? Whatever, she would deal with that later. Now for the real important stuff. Dealing with Feng. And finding a way to avoid eating the rest of the starters.

The man in question was eating one of the same starters, popping half a dozen of them in his mouth. And then, after a few moments of chewing, let out a massive burp.

Althea wrinkled her nose at the mocking smile that spread across Feng's face. Thankfully for her, she didn't have to deal with him for much longer. A clap resonated from the ceiling, heralding the coming of a particular rotund woman with a tendency for over-flirtation.

The Golden Turtle.

"How do you do, my lovelies!" the woman floated down, circling around the kitchen as she laughed merrily. Althea put on a polite smile on her face as the rest of her entourage returned.

"Did you enjoy the food, Venny?" the Golden Turtle asked, fluttering her eyelids again. The Steward's face became a stony mask as the Golden Turtle flew towards him. "I didn't cook it, but I did pay for it."

"How about some Fire burps?" the Golden Turtle said, holding up a plate of the dastardly destroyers of polite society. "I remember you used to like them when you were here."

"That was a long time ago, Ms. Golden." the Steward said. "I fear that I am travelling under more official circumstances now."

"A pity." the Golden Turtle pouted. "And here I was wondering if we could have some alone time away from all these youngsters."

Lady Surich started coughing into her hand, her face reddening as she caught on to what the Golden Turtle meant.

"I am not sure if that would be appropriate." the Steward replied, his tone steely.

"Oh, well." the Golden Turtle sighed. "And here I thought you were grouchy years ago. Then you went and turned even worse."

The Golden Turtle zipped higher towards the ceiling, tilting herself to stare down at them. "Tell me, how many of you have been wondering what we have in store?"

The Golden Turtle flew towards Feng, almost landing on his face as she asked. "Do you want to buy it?"

Althea suppressed a laugh as the Golden Turtle hovered far too close to Feng's face. That was sure to make him uncomfortable. And then regretted it when the Golden Turtle suddenly appeared before hers. There was no time to even react, the Golden Turtle was before Feng moment, and another right in front of her.

"What about you? Is the Diery family interested in this little person's goods?"

"Of course, after all, it made you come this far north." Althea smiled. That had to be what the turtle was selling. And probably why Feng was here. If it was something Feng could use, then it was probably something that would help her too.

"Oh, ho, ho, ho." the Golden Turtle circled around the kitchen, going upwards in a spiral as she continued to laugh like a Santa Claus in a mall. Why was she even doing that? That couldn't be her natural laugh.

"Well, I hope you will be satisfied, for this was not easy to acquire." the Golden Turtle smiled mysteriously as a floating pedestal with something on top that was covered by a cloth appeared.

The pedestal floated down towards the kitchen until it was finally hovering just a little above it. In clear view of everyone there.

And then the cloth came off.