Ajax had to admit to himself that while the imperial parties were by all accounts a lot more brutal than the ones held by his own kingdom the lack of required decorum was much more his wheelhouse.

The partygoers watched intrigued as two participants battled in the center of the ballroom over a perceived slight followed by a few sharp words. The imperial ways were not all that different on paper from what they were in the kingdom of Gryndor, a simple change that made demanding immediate conflict resolution through combat at a noble level meant that almost all parties developed into a combat portion towards the middle and end of the evening.

Parties that welcomed foreigners did not force them into combat but since most kingdom nobles did have one or two good connections in the Empire their friends would usually step in to accept any challenge that was thrown.

Ajax knew that the rules demanded that the combatants actually taking part be no higher level than seventy and within three levels of each other for the sake of fairness but the two level sixty fighters going at it didn’t make this seem like a simple disagreement.

“I still don’t see why I can’t just challenge him.” the young imperial prince complained to both his sister and his mother. “Grandfather would be pleased to see his views supported and we’ll even get a look at what he’s been hiding.”

“You’ll do no such thing.” His mother was quick to interject. “ He hasn’t been taught of our old way of doing things, not only that but from what I hear that bull beastkin is one of his only retainers with some high potential. There is a reason we make exceptions for newer nobles.”

“Not to mention in terms of combat it wouldn’t even be a fight.” the young imperial princess piled on her brother. Her comment however did draw the attention of not only her father, the imperial crown prince but also her elder brother, the visiting crown prince and Xavier.

“What do you mean?” the imperial crown prince asked. “Did your skill catch something?”

It was well known that the young princess had access to an Epic inspection skill. “Just barely, not only that but he also noticed I peeked.”

“That’s impolite, darling.” Her mother chided.

“And what did your skill say?” her elder brother pressed.

“That I’d have a better chance fighting you than I would him.” she answered.

The answer was certainly eye opening for the imperial family considering that the eldest of the crown prince’s children was no only twenty-five years old but he was also already level forty and by no means weak.

“I’ll be happy to stand in for him if you are looking for a match closer to your level.” Xavier joined the conversation. Despite being almost two years younger than the imperial prince Xavier was actually two levels up on him and was confident in winning the fight.

“You’ll lose this one too.” his sister tried to warn him but that warning only pushed him further into agreeing to the fight.

“Sure I’ll accept that challenge.” the prince smiled.

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Ajax hadn’t been close enough to listen to the conversation so he was taken by surprise when he saw Xavier and the young imperial facing off in the center of the room once the first battle ended.

He also wasn’t the only one surprised as all the nobles present were a lot more interested in this fight compared to the previous one. Despite the fighters being much weaker it was still one royal family against the other.

As the battle started Xavier quickly found out that his opponent had him beat in terms of raw physical stats. That wasn’t much of a surprise to him since he knew his opponent was a fully physical fighter who wasn’t talented in using mana.

Despite the lower physical stats, Xavier had no issues keeping pace with his opponent. His [Longsword] skill was closing in on level sixty and there was a reason why he was seen as the star of his generation before Ajax showed himself.

“You do know we aren’t dancing.” the imperial prince taunted as Xavier maintained a safe distance and deflected his attacks.

“Well, if you insist.” Xavier replied as he jumped back and started chanting.

The retreat surprised the imperial, he hadn’t had almost any experience fighting hybrid fighters at this level for the sole reason that most would only be able to fight as weaker mages the difference in physical stats too much for them to overcome.

By the time he realized what was going on and attacked Xavier was most of the way through his chant, all it took was two more deflections before he launched his fireball at almost point blank range.

Ajax was surprised to see the spell had similar power to what he might be able to unleash if he were to try and release a direct fireball, chanting would make up for the stat difference between the two spellblade fighters.

Xavier was good enough that he didn’t miss point blank and the fireball also marked the end of the match as it put the imperial on his back. “Should have listened to your sister.” Xavier said with a cocky grin as he pointed his sword at the undefended chest of his opponent.

“I see he takes after his uncle.” the emperor said with chuckle as he watched the wry smile form on Xavier’s father.

“Hopefully not too much, your majesty.” the crown prince replied. “While I do hope he has my brother's sense for combat I hold on to hope that he will pick up my sense for politics.”

While the fight was ending nobody saw a frazzled servant sneak his way into a party and approach one of the viscounts. “My lord, there has been a small issue at the Ring.”

“So deal with it.” the Viscount said.

“I’m afraid it's a bit more complicated than that, my lord.” the servent started to fidget with fingers. “It’s about the mystery prize.”

“What’s happened?” the viscount asked. “Is someone complaining about two juvenile worms that will take at least a year before they can carry anything. Whoever is complaining can just go buy their own. They may be rare but it shouldn’t be that hard to find one.”

“My lord, the problem is that a foreigner won the prize.” the servant explained.

“WHAT?!” the noble quickly glanced around to notice that his little conversation has attracted quite a bit of attention. “I specifically told you to simply exclude any foreigner bets from winning the mystery prize.”

“The bookies didn’t know they were a foreigner until after they already gave out the prize.” the servant tried to explain his side.

“The emperor made a point to not sell the worms to foreigners, how could they not know they were a foreigner.” the viscount was getting angrier by the minute.

“It was a beastkin, my lord.” the servent said. “Everybody thought it was a slave that was placing the bet for his master, who would’ve thought that it would be part of the visiting convoy.”

“You’re telling me that not only did you give the worms to a foreigner but that you gave them a non-human as well?!” The viscount made sure to whisper that last part though that didn’t help much with the people who already seemed interested in the conversation. Especially as the servent could only nod in affirmation.

“Theron, how the hell did you manage that?” Ajax mumbled as he was one of the people eavesdropping on the conversation.

“What did Theron manage?” Xavier asked as he came to grab Ajax as his father requested to introduce him to the emperor.

Ajax quickly explained what he overheard to Xavier as he was led over to where the emperor was consoling his grandson for a well fought battle. Greeting the emperor was actually surprisingly swift, despite a few comments about bringing a beastkin the emperor actually dismissed Ajax, Lexi, Anna, Xavier and Olvier since they would start their delve tomorrow and simply insisted that they have a longer talk after they are done with both of their delves.

“What were you laughing at?” Lexi asks Xavier who could barely hold his laughter when the comment about Theron came.

“Apparently Theron managed to win two young still-worms tonight.” Xavier said as he finally laughed openly.

“What how?” Oliver was quick to focus at that since he knew the worms weren’t supposed to be exported outside the empire.

“Something about a bet at a fighting ring.” Ajax said as he chuckled along with the prince. “Apparently they thought he was a slave so they just gave them to him as a bonus on top of the winnings for his bet.”