Conspiracy
For some reason, Duke Peron’s third daughter was dressed like any other minor noble, the attire so poor for someone of her status that it almost looked humiliating. She had been inconspicuous among the group of young ladies, almost unnoticeable if not for speaking out.
Wendy was the kind of partner Jaaron always sought but could never hope to attain. The Peron Family was far more powerful than the Mensas, while Jaaron wasn’t even a direct descendant and was more than a decade older than her. Even meeting Wendy was difficult for him.
Seeing her amongst this group, Jaaron’s voice immediately turned gentle, “Miss Wendy, what are you doing here? I don’t see any competent guards nearby, what if you met with danger? These rascals aren’t fit for someone of your status, why don’t I escort you back to Faust?”
The noble youths were riled up by Jaaron’s comments, but they couldn’t do anything about it either. They hadn’t even realised her identity themselves; she had been brought in as a friend by two girls from a vassal family and had remained silent with a big cloak and high collar covering most of her face. They would never have dreamed that they were out with the third daughter of the prestigious Duke Peron.
However, they quickly recalled that Wendy was so pampered she had the right to choose her own partner. Being fancied by a lady of such great status would result in a meteoric rise for their entire families! In the face of such temptation, Jaaron didn’t seem scary at all. How could they let go of such an opportunity?
Jaaron himself listened as the nobles’ words grew increasingly nasty, his fury quickly getting the better of him as he yelled, “Get the hell out of here or I’m breaking your legs!”
The youths instantly shuddered, but even as they went mute another voice suddenly rang out, “What’s going on here?”
Unexpectedly enough, the patrol team had arrived even before the royal knights, led by a young man in simple mage robes that seemed to have no enchantments at all. He was the one who’d posed the question.
Jaaron felt his eye twitch at the sight of the Archeron crest on the knights’ armour, and he grunted at the thought of his misfortune. It was their turn to patrol today, and under Richard’s lead they were no longer as fragile a family as they once were. All thirty knights were well-equipped, and the leader was even a mage who looked to be level 16 or 17!
‘Just how much money do those bastards have?’ Jaaron complained in his mind before saying coldly, “These are matters of the Mensa Family, why are the Archerons interfering?”
The young mage smiled, “Interfere? I’m just performing my duty. If you have any problems, you’re welcome to bring up the matter at the assembly. For now, you are to obey my words.”
“How dare you! I am Jaaron Mensa, you have no right to—”
“You’re who?” the young mage interrupted, “Whatever, get down here.”
For a moment, Jaaron lost his proud expression. The sheer insult almost caused his flight spell to falter. “You bastard, I’ll have you pay for this with your life!”
“Hmm? You want a duel, I take it? Gladly, go tell your old coot that you accepted a duel with Richard Archeron.”
At this point, Jaaron had been whipped up into a frenzy, prepared to mock the enemy without second though, “Who’s ever heard of Rich—”
“Richard!” the female saint nearby interrupted, snapping him out of his hysteria and letting him recall just who it was that he was taking on. His expression immediately warped as warning sirens screamed in his mind; the family head of the Archerons was actually leading a patrol team, what kind of plot was this? It was only after looking through the knights behind that Jaaron’s heart calmed a little. These patrol knights seemed to be around level 14 or 15, which wasn’t too much of a threat even with thirty of them.
However, Richard paid no attention to Jaaron as he pointed towards the boy who was currently struggling on the ground, “Who did this?”
A few of the aggrieved nobles immediately pointed to the Mensa elite knight, ““It’s him!””
Richard turned to the aforementioned knight, “You, dismount and put your weapons away. You’re coming with us.”
“What did you say?!” the knight almost roared, tightening his grip on his sword as he glowered at Richard. It would take a miracle to make him comply.
“A commoner dared to injure a noble? And now you’re even speaking to me in such a tone. Disarm yourself and crawl over here, don’t make my knights do it for you.”
Crawl? None of the Mensa knights could believe their ears, their eyes burning with rage. Most of them were indeed commoners, but they were still knights of the powerful Mensa Family! They were even part of the planar war efforts!
It was an unwritten rule that even a regular soldier of a powerful family was superior to a minor noble. Richard’s declaration of crime was technically true, but in most cases the knight would only be reprimanded for a moment and have to compensate for the youth’s medical bills. Nobody wanted to blow up such a small conflict unless they wished to offend the Mensa Family.
Of course, everyone understood that Richard was here to do just that. Jaaron turned grim, but before he could even speak up one of Richard’s knights had already kicked the resisting man off his horse. The Mensa knight was then dragged towards Richard, and in the few metres of distance that needed to be covered all of his armour had been stripped off.
The knight moved like lightning, completing his task before the Mensas could even react. The captain didn’t even have the strength to struggle in the knight’s hand, clearly knocked half-unconscious. Just as quickly as he had charged out, the patrol knight returned to join the rest of his team.
The saint had originally planned to intercept the incoming knight, but the moment she saw the speed of the charge she had pulled back. “Rune knight!” she whispered quietly.
Richard immediately turned towards her, scanning her from head to toe, “Ah, Miss Yuria, is it? You have a pretty good eye.”
Yuria was glaring at Richard as her face went red, but she forced herself to avoid a confrontation here. She was considered an expert who hailed from the battlefields of despair herself, making her a core member of the Mensa Family, but she wasn’t foolish enough to attack someone with Richard’s status. This was especially so when she recognised that one of the thirty ordinary-looking knights was a rune knight. What, then, were the others?
However, Richard obviously didn’t have any plans to let it all end there. He looked towards all of the Mensa knights who had subconsciously drawn their weapons, saying indifferently, “You lot dare to draw your weapons in my presence? Dismount from your horses and follow me!”
“Lord Richard, you’re going too far!” Jaaron finally interjected.
However, Richard barely even spared him a glance, “And who are you to say that? There’s no place for you here.”
Hellfire immediately started burning within Jaaron’s eyes, the anger getting to his head as he shouted out without much thought, “I’d like to see who dares to lay a hand on the knights of the Mensa Family!”
Just as he turned around to order his troops to attack, Yuria pulled at his sleeve and pointed at the patrolling knights behind Richard. Ten of them had been waved out of formation, and they charged into the hundred Mensa knights without the slightest of worry. Before Jaaron could properly react, they started glowing with magic as their whips smacked knight after knight off his steed.
The grand mage stood dumbfounded as his men were stripped of all armour and thrown to the ground. Even if Richard wasn’t present, ten rune knights were more than a match for a grand mage. Jaaron would have to run for hours before he opened up enough distance to start casting spells and hopefully win the fight.