The Clash
"Lucius. You dare appear before me?!"
Ol' Fang growled at the sight of the approaching carriage.
Ol' Fang was currently in a heated mood and looked as if he would blast out at any moment. Ashr had never seen him like this before in his fourteen years of living in this world. Even though this uncle of his had been known as the 'Smiling Blood demon', he had never let off his murderous aura in such a fashion, neither had he lost his temper so abruptly like this.
"Haha. Why wouldn't I, you animal?" An arrogant voice mocked from within the carriage.
Asher noticed that Ol' Fang had lost it and was about to make a move so he stretched his hand and blocked his way.
"What do you think you're doing?" Ol' Fang said with an intense glare.
Asher was surprised that he was behaving this way, but he nevertheless replied.
"Preventing you from making a foolish mistake." Asher said with a strong tone while sending back a glare at Ol' Fang.
Ol' Fang maintained eye contact for what seemed like forever but was in fact only a few seconds, before huffing and turning around to leave.
"I can't promise you that I will keep myself in check here so I might as well leave right now." Ol' Fang left those words as he walked away.
"Oh? Is the famous 'Blood demon' -"
"That would be it for now." Asher interrupted.
"You might be from the capital but from your behaviour, I can confirm that you're not an envoy. As such, please refrain from causing trouble in the Arnhaunt domain."
"And what if I am the envoy?" The voice asked haughtily.
"That would be a funny joke because I refuse to believe that the grand ministers of the capital would appoint one such as yourself with that post. Nonetheless, even the princes and the king would give a certain level of honour and respect to the household of the great war god. An envoy should know better, or do you think you're greater than them?" Asher coldly replied.
The voice from the approaching carriage went silent as if to show that the speaker could make no comeback to Asher statement, and this was in fact true. As an envoy, he was no greater than the king nor any of the princes, much less the fact that the speaker wasn't even the envoy.
The carriage arrived in front of the mansion a few seconds later and the carriage in the centre, the one that held the speaker, opened up. Two men stepped out from the carriage. One was a middle-aged man who looked average in most aspects except that he radiated a dignified aura. Apart from that, he also had blonde hair, a typical feature of the descendants of the Castellan household.
The other man was older and taller. He also had a more buff physique, but it wasn't out of the ordinary neither did he possess a huge muscle mass. Compared to the Castellan, he looked more like a rogue warrior on a leash than an envoy.
One glance was enough for Asher to identify the men. The first was obviously the envoy sent from the royal family to pass on a message as well as command the reinforcement forces to cooperate with Darius. As for the second man, he was most likely the loud mouth that was provoking Ol' Fang.
'I wonder what the story is between these two for that old man to lose his temper so easily.' Asher thought as he studied the man Ol' Fang had called 'Lucius'.
"You must be Asher Arnhaunt, the son of the great duke Darius Arnhaunt." The Castellan envoy greeted as he extended his hand forward.
"Indeed." Asher replied but didn't shake the man's hand. Instead, he glanced towards his companion.
"I didn't know that the king's envoy would carry a pig along."
"What did you say?" The older man, Lucius, flared up at the comment from Asher.
His aura burst and the soldiers behind him suddenly went into battle mode.
"Hmm? A rebellion on Arnhaunt grounds?" Asher raised his eyebrows.
Following that, the mages by his side similarly went into battle mode.
To greet the group approaching from the capital, Ol' Fang had ordered a few mages to be present. Although they were small in number, they were all elite mages. Apart from that, Asher had also brought a few of his men along, with even Luther, Aaron and Savia present, and unlike during the mission, they were at their full strength.
With Asher making a reaction towards the show of force from the opposing side, his men took notice of this and understood the message, doing the same to the opponent. With Luther and Aaron leading, the other mages who were called to the scene by Ol' Fang earlier also replicated the same actions.
Suddenly, the courtyard right in front of the Arnhaunt family mansion because tense and it looked like a fight could break out at any moment.
"Watch your tongue, little brat or I don't mind helping your father train you." Lucius said.
Asher's eyes gleamed as he prepared to give a command but the envoy suddenly spoke up.
"That's enough, Lucius. Watch your tongue and show some respect." The Castellan envoy said.
Although those were his words, he seemed to also be speaking the same to Asher, after all, Asher had disrespected him by ignoring the handshake and gone on to use vile words on Lucius.
Lucius grumpily took a step back following which the mages behind him also relaxed their stances and returned back to a normal party. However, Asher had already planned on not making things easy for these men so why would he stop here?
Before the envoy could even say some comforting words of apology, Asher spoke up.
"Helping my father train me? Hehe. An incomplete male such as yourself shouldn't be saying such words. What do you even know about raising kids? Do you even have any? I doubt you could with your current state."
Lucius' composure broke down as he was shocked by Asher's statement. One would think that he would break out in furry at such an insult, but on the contrary, Lucius was currently embarrassed.
In truth, Asher's words were accurate. Lucius had an issue with his body that left his lower member a bit dysfunctional and this was an emotional and mental weak-spot of his. The reason why this condition of his was termed as 'a bit' was because by using supplies from the royals, Lucius would be able to regain the ability to perform temporarily until the drug's effect wore off. However, while he could regain the ability to perform the do, it was only temporarily and done using drugs, so in the end, one could say that Lucius was indeed not a true man.
What was strange was that very few people actually knew of this and so, Lucius was shocked as to how Asher did.
Seemingly regaining himself from the mild shock he had received from his secrets being spilled out, Lucius roared.
"You, you!"
"That's enough, Lucius." The envoy coldly said.
"Don't make me repeat myself."
Despite currently seething with fury and embarrassment, Lucius couldn't vent and had to keep all those emotions enclosed within him.
"Young lord Arnhaunt, you should try and keep your acts of provocation in check." The envoy smiled.
"Your men should watch their tongues carefully. Otherwise, not only would they lose it, but you might also be caught up in a sticky situation. Don't you think so?" Asher said with a light smile of his own.
"I guess you're right." The envoy replied and then bowed.
"I apologise for that."
Asher was a bit surprised but he didn't show it.
"No worries. I'll lead the way now." Asher turned around and then walked into the mansion.
Although the envoy was a representative of the king's authority, on Arnhaunt grounds, he could be treated just like a high-ranking official by any member of the main family much less the young lord of the family. The only exception was if he was a prince, but the envoy, although of Castellan blood, was not one.
'This would be a bit troublesome.' Asher thought.
Asher had planned on exerting his full influence here to suppress the envoy and inform him that he should hold no schemes or idea here. However, the envoy seemed to be an easy-going person who was hard to offend and could take whatever came his way without losing focus of his goal.
To suppress such an individual would be an incredibly difficult task.
'Doesn't matter. I just need to know what they are here and what they have planned. That's all that matters.'