"Wha-what an imbecile!" Lady Astoria shrieked. "First you give me some mongrel’s leftovers and now you can't even hold a plate? How could the noble Bern house have a servant like you."

Nathan tried not to laugh. How did it become the waiter's fault? Wasn't it you that unfurled the fan and hit his plate? And what do you want? A personal waiter so you wouldn't have to eat someones 'leftovers'. Even the Prince eats from the same waiter you idiot.

"I apologize on behalf of our servant, Lady Astoria." Lord Johren said. "I will make sure he is disciplined properly."

"Please make sure of that, Lord Johren." Lady Astoria said, seemingly getting a hold of herself again. "The reputation of the Bern family cannot be infringed upon by such imbeciles."

And now she was using the incident to flatter Lord Johren.

"I am grateful for the lady's concern." Lord Johren said as the waiter left in a hurry. Nathan made note to check on what happened to him later on, and if needed clarify what had happened. Lord Johren should trust him at least. An incident like this could end up with the waiter losing his job or worse.

"Oh please, we nobles must stick together when certain creatures intrude our homes." Lady Astoria smiled as she got up, looking at Nathan scornfully.

Lord Johren's smile twitched, but his face remained icy as he did not reply.

"Lady Astoria speaks wisely. There are certain creatures that just shouldn't be trusted." the Zerolian Count's voice said. Of course he decided to interfere now. "I even hear that they have the Poison element. I simply cannot trust that they have good intentions. The last time a Fae was allowed in the halls of Soleria, the Emperor nearly lost his life. This mutt may have designs to kill us, even now."

Nathan's lips twitched. If this guy knew that he was talking about Nathan's mother...he would probably start screaming about executing him or something. And then if he found out who his father was. The guy's head would blow into smithereens.

"Are you questioning a person that helped save a city from a beast tide?" Isa responded. Leaving an impression it was.

"Helped save? How do you know that they didn't cause the beast tide in the first place?! I hear there was even an Adept stage half-Elf! That man is a danger to every noble in the room!" the Count said.

Nathan rolled his eyes. "Perhaps his lordship should ask your grandfather that. The Countess has been kind and given him face, but that kindness will only go so far."

The Count's nostrils flared as he prepared to reply, but the Second Prince beat him to it.

"Perhaps it would be best if the conversation were to end here," he said.

The Count looked at the Second prince and then at Nathan as if considering something. And then decided to continue.

"Why, your majesty? I wish to hear what it is, exactly, that this mongrel is accusing us of. The Zerolian family's name is not something he can sully easily." the Count said.

"The Second Prince speaks true. This conversation shall end here." the Marquis' booming voice had an authority that twisted the Count's face. The Count outranked pretty much everyone in the room.

Prince was a de-facto noble title, it was inherited by birthright, but it also gave no privileges or land. The Count could ignore the Prince. Isa was still one rank below him, even if she did represent a guardian of the Empire. But the Marquis was one of the most powerful nobles in the Empire. Not even Duke Zerolian could ignore him outright.

"Oh my, there sure is a lot of hostility isn't there? I suppose this is the nature of young people. A lot of fire and not a lot of sense." the Marchioness commented. "How about we have a little competition? A tournament to relieve all that pent up energy."

"That is agreeable." Isa replied.

"I will be honored to defend the name of the Zerolian family." the Count stated.

"That is, of course, agreeable, Marchioness." the Second Prince stated.

The Marchioness smiled, leaning back on her throne-like chair.

"Then please, begin. Johren can decide on the rules."

Lord Johren lifted himself up from the wall, looking more alarmed than anything else.

"Oh, well, if that is truly necessary. How about we hold a series of duels? This is a celebration, there is no need to get more serious." he said.

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"I will meet whoever comes to challenge me." the Count stated, mana swirling around him. Nathan frowned as he looked at Isa and Vanessa. The Count was a peak Apprentice, and with an overflowing space element. The three of them looked at each other before Vanessa stepped forward.

"I will meet your challenge, Count Zerolian." Purple mana swirled around her as she prepared her spells. The nobles looked at the battle with interest. A space mage against another. This kind of battle was rare. The space element was rare to begin with, and non-combative to boot.

"Please, begin." the Marchioness stated. Mana was immediately released, a whip of mana heading towards the Count. A shimmering shield formed in front of the Count as he prepared a counterattack. But he didn't get to make it.

The whip halted at the shield for a second, as if encountering turbulence, and then shot forwards, shining even brighter than before. The Count was sent flying towards the wall, landing onto the ground in a disgruntled heap. Vanessa immediately responded with a space blade, holding it on the Count's neck remotely.

"Viscountess Vanessa wins." Lord Johren announced awkwardly as the Count's face reddened.

"A spacial redirect does not work against a space spell. The spell will absorb the spacial energy and get stronger instead." Vanessa advised. The Count's face twisted, clearly taking her words as an insult.

The Second Prince cleared his throat. "What a clever show of strategy by the Viscountess, using the Count's unfamiliarity with spacial combat against him. This is a learning moment for all of us here."

Nathan tried to keep his face from showing his doubt. The Count was indeed not familiar with spacial combat. But still, how did he not know the nature of his own spell? A spacial redirect was a spacial fold made with spacial energies, the most common spacial spell.

The spell would supply false information to the object and it's inertia about which direction it should take. The object would think that a straight line was in fact in the direction of the fold, changing direction at the expense of it's own momentum.

But a spacial spell would not receive this information at all, it would simply absorb the mana used in the spell to make itself stronger, giving the illusion that the spell was working. Even he knew that, and he wasn't a space mage.

This was why one should use mana and other energy forms against space mages, spacial redirects were harder to execute against such things.

Had the Count not had any combat training at all?

"Now, who will go next?" Lord Johren asked. The ball was silent, the nobles looking at each other contemplatively. There was no rule stating that the participants had to be from the two squabling groups, and fighting here could greatly increase one's prestige.

"I would be happy to experience a half-Fae's strength." a voice said from the wall. A blonde haired, blue-eyed boy stepped through the crowd, a particularly recognizable character beside him.

The third young marquis, Dan. And his brother, the Countess' ex-fiance, Neil.

"Is it not disagreeable for a twenty-two year old to battle a nineteen year old?" Isa asked, her voice having an edge to it. The Countess had warned them to avoid Neil, but Mira had told them what had happened. Isa was particularly offended by his actions.

There were words like 'teach him a lesson' and 'execute him' thrown around. Nathan had a feeling she was even angrier because he would have been the Count of Diery had he married the Countess. That was very offensive to Isa.

"Are you afraid?" the third young marquis asked, his tone frosty.

"If the third young marquis wishes to interpret an ask for fairness as fear, then perhaps a conversation will be useless." Isa said.

Nathan looked at the third young marquis, gauging his strength. For his age and stature, he was weak. A peak-Apprentice at most. The only variable was mind magic. Controlling it was hard, and not something that should be used in duels. Nathan could injure the third young marquis gravely, or worse, kill him.

"So quick to define things as useless. Should I say, as expected, as one of that woman's retainers?" Lord Dan replied, a sneer on his face.

Isa snorted. "Referring to the Countess in such a manner...are you sure you have not spent too long at sea, Lord Dan? Have you forgotten the position of a guardian of the Empire?"

"What? Can I not even complain over an unfairly broken engagement?" Lord Dan scoffed. "Even now, there has been no mention of reimbursement. The Countess enjoyed her stay here for-"

"Enjoyed? I see that you have been brainwashed by your brother, Lord Dan. Perhaps the Diery county has been too kind to you and your ilk. Keeping your secrets while you conspire against us.

Tell me, Lord Neil, would you like for what you did to be revealed to the world? Have the entire court know why the Emperor approved the dissolution of your engagement?" Isa asked, staring the ninth young marquis down.

Lord Neil shifted in place as Lord Dan growled deep in his throat.

"Will you fight or not?" Lord Dan practically shouted.

"Yes, I will. But I cannot guarantee

that you will come back in one piece." Nathan replied, gathering mana around him.

Lord Dan smirked. "Then I will gladly experience a half-breed's strength."

The nobles cleared space around them, but kept close by, watching with interest as they prepared to battle. Nathan sensed at his opponent's mind, trying to gauge his defenses. The stronger the better at this point. The defenses...were strong indeed. Nathan looked at Lord Dan's face, seeing his smirk widen.

The bastard had used a defensive artifact. A hidden one from the looks of it. At the end of the duel he would probably say something like 'artifacts are a part of one's strength'.

But little did he know, this was exactly what Nathan needed. After all, wouldn't he not have to worry about killing the third young marquis now? The artifact would do the hard part. And use the third young marquis' mana to boot.

Nathan called on his core, black mind mana spilling out as he mixed greenish gold poison mana into it, concocting his virus of choice. The third young marquis shot towards him, clearly confident of his victory.

Nathan dodged, letting his hand scrape against the sword and letting the virus be deployed on it. The viruses were stealthy, and hid between other mana, preventing them from being detected by most people. The Countess and Pulsie seemed to always know where they were though. But he had found that others were less impressive. And that was just what he needed.