Banquet at the Malfe Estate

The carriage proceeded to move through the streets closer to the city's center. They continued to draw stares as anyone being escorted by two squadrons of knights had to be somebody important.

After another ten minutes or so, the carriage stopped as Raz could see another set of walls that seemed well taken care of, which was quite a contrast to the dull and worn outside walls.

Twenty or so soldiers stood next to a rather large and ornate metal gate. As one of them saw the carriage move closer, they were about to stop them until the group leader put her hand on her subordinate to gesture for them to stop.

Shaking her head, she shouted, "Open the gates and have a pair of guards guide them to the Lord's castle! Do not forget our Lord is hosting a banquet today! There will be numerous nobles that we dare not stop!"

Soon, two guards riding atop horses joined the leading squadron of knights and continued guiding them along the streets towards a particularly large, tall, manor-looking building in the distance.

"Which noble was that, Captain?" the guard who almost stopped the carriage asked as he watched the group continue to ride away further into the city.

Chuckling at her subordinate's ignorance, the Captain explained, "You lucky bastard. You almost got all of us in trouble and potentially stripped of our jobs! That was Viscount William Alden, the lord of Levir and a middle-stage Fledgling Magus!"

Hearing that he had almost accidentally stopped a Magus and a noble one, the guard fell onto his behind with his spear clattering on the floor as he muttered, "T-thank you for stopping me, Captain. Just thinking about offending someone like that sent chills through my back!"

"It's alright, but to remind everyone in the future. I will signal when to let a carriage in with no stops, and if there is no signal, be sure to stop them! I have a parchment with all the guests of the Lord's and their respective crests or symbols." The Captain announced loudly toward all of her subordinates, who took a mental note.

The crisis and disaster that almost happened went unbeknownst to the Alden family, who started to double-check that their attire and hair were in order as the carriage got closer and closer to the giant manor.

Straightening out Raz's clothes, Fay instructed him, "Make sure you play nice with the other children! Especially the Malfes! They are the only other Viscount at the banquet and hosts, but we must not give them any excuse to cause trouble.

"They have twins. One girl and one boy. They are both seven years old, but don't let their age intimidate you! You are so strong and big that you should be fine! I heard that the girl twin is mature and intelligent! Just be careful around the son. I heard he has a nasty attitude and regularly berates their servants."

Reassuring his mother, Raz nodded and insisted, "Don't worry, Mom, you know that I won't let any insults about me get to my head. I'll be on my best behavior as well. I promise."

Though, Raz secretly found people who abused their status and power over those weaker to be quite annoying and painful. Especially the ones with vile attitudes. Although his mother didn't know about it, he had heard all about Anton Malfe, the male twin.

The maids secretly gossiped about the stories of abuse they heard from their friends that knew some of the maids who worked at the Malfe manor. It was rumored that Anton had once beaten a poor maid because she had simply knocked too loudly when he was sleeping.

Unable to fight back lest she wished to anger a Magus potentially, she could only try to run, but apparently, she had been pushed into a wall so hard that she had to be taken to a doctor. Later she resigned from her job.

From what Raz knew, Thomas Malfe had tried to educate his son and discipline him, but his responsibilities made it hard to devote all his time and effort to do it properly. Anton's mother, on the other hand, was lenient with her son and too forgiving, which made it so that he could do almost anything he wanted

"I know you're a good boy, but I just wanted to remind you anyways." Fay smiled before she started to hug him again and gave him a kiss on the forehead.

The carriage soon pulled up to a large imposing manor that was bigger than Alden's manor back in Levir. Although that was no surprise considering the time the Malfes had spent in Leshe, which was much longer, that meant their roots were much more substantial.

William outstretched his hand to open the carriage door, and as he opened the door, a sight to behold greeted him.

In front of them was a middle-aged man with a military cut that had a set of round eyeglasses pushed up against his nose.

He walked up before sticking his hand out and greeted, "Viscount Alden. It's a pleasure to see you once again."

As this happened, Fay also walked out of the carriage holding Raz's hand as she curtsied. Before she could nudge Raz to remind him also to bow, he had already given an impressive example of a bow considering he was only five years old.

William responded by shaking Thomas Malfe's hand, "It's good to see you too, Viscount Malfe. It's been a few years since we've seen each other in person, hasn't it."

"It has been a while since we've communicated outside letters and magical means, but rather in person. I was looking forward to speaking with you at my last banquet, but I see that you and Fay had quite the reason not to attend," Thomas observed as he saw Raz and gave a friendly smile before giving a little wave.

Although Raz had no idea what the Viscount was thinking, he saw the man analyze him before giving a slightly surprised nod of approval as Thomas inquired, "Though I must ask, is your son really five years old? Don't take this as me doubting the credibility of what's been told, but he is perhaps even bigger than my Anton, who's already seven!"

Laughing a little at the question, William explained, "Haha, that's a valid question that we actually get a lot. Raz is five years old, but he's been gifted with a naturally strong and herculean body. Even I was surprised when he took his first steps at two months!"

With his eyebrows raised in surprise, Thomas exclaimed, "Two months?!? You and Fay seemed to have been blessed by the heavens! Anyways, welcome to the estate. The actual banquet isn't officially starting for an hour or so; why don't you come to relax with Gertrude, myself, and some of the other nobles who arrived early while we can let the children play with each other."

"That sounds splendid. Raz, make some new friends and return within the hour." William said as he nodded.

The moment he heard William's response Thomas yelled with some mana injected into the shout to let it reach around the manor, "Anton, Aria. Get over here and meet Viscount Alden's son!"