The Gift ceremony

*************************

Many hours ago, at the Rothschild Villa in Soran:

"Uncle, you just need to cause some issues like you do everywhere. I will handle the rest, don't worry," Elena tried to reason with Louis, who was clearly disagreeing with her.

"Don't you know that if my brother heard that I helped you like that, my life would be in a very sweet danger, my lovely niece?" Louis was clearly annoyed by Elena's plan.

"If you don't help me now, do not forget that I might just tell father about every ruckus you did behind his eyes," Elena said, giving him a look. As Elena usually attended many events with Louis, she had helped him many times by lying in front of James to save Louis.

"Tch, you and your father, both of you think of me as some accessory for your plans," Louis grumbled towards Elena's reply.

"Will you help me or not?" Elena pressured him even more.

"Whatever, do what you want, but remember to not take things too far, okay?" Louis made sure Elena would strictly follow the plan without testing her luck.

*************************

Everybody turned to see who was the brave soul to say such things in front of the Grevilles. They saw a handsome-looking blond man who was holding a glass of wine and was wearing a royal blue suit. This man was none other than Louis Rothschild, the younger brother of James Rothschild, who was the head of the Rothschild family.

"Oh, now don't take it negatively, will you?" He jokingly said to the group of people.

Arthur looked at him with eyes and saw Louis shrugging his shoulders. Asher didn't react at all to Louis's comments. He indifferently looked at Louis for a moment, then ignored him.

"Woah, don't glare at me like that. It was a compliment only," his sarcastic voice made people gulp their own saliva, sensing the tension in the air. Louis was walking on a thin line, speaking like this against the Greville family in their own estate.

"Don't worry, we don't take uncultured people's words to our hearts as it only causes you a headache to argue with them," Arthur voiced his opinion. Hearing this, Louis was irritated. He was known as the troublemaker of the Rothschild family who had a loose tongue and did not respect others much. Hearing such insults made him lose control, and he leaked some of his aura in slight anger.

"Who are you calling uncultured, Arthur Greville?" Louis's voice was cold and his aura made all the adults present turn their attention towards him.

Sensing his aura, Arthur released his own peak S Rank aura and suppressed his presence, which made some weak people sigh in relief. Although Louis was not the opponent of Arthur, the Rothschild family was as powerful as the Greville. There were some factors that made Greville slightly more powerful than the Rothschild, but they were considered equal in the eyes of the masses.

"I wonder who that person might be," Arthur's usual carefree voice was absent. His expression was cold and he looked slightly like Asher in that moment.

"Now, now, now! Cool off, gentlemen!" A different voice came and a man in his 50s entered the venue. Everybody was surprised after recognizing his identity. He was none other than Edward Amaris, the famous disciple of the Mage Association chairman and was greatly known for his exceptional control of magic.

"He is Edward Amaris, the elder of the Mage Association!!"

"Wait, isn't this the first time someone from the Mage Association has attended such events?"

"Yeah, didn't the Chairman of the Mage Association dislike all the Elite families?"

"But Edward Amaris had some friendly relations with the Greville. Maybe that's why?"

Many people started muttering amongst themselves. Seeing Edward, both Louis and Arthur took their auras back. Louis was also surprised to see a Mage Association Elder, who was closely related to its chairman, came to such social events.

"Old man Edward, it's a surprise seeing you attend this event," Arthur ignored Louis's presence and went to greet Edward. They shook hands and Edward also talked with the other people in the group. Seeing so much commotion, Louis decided to step back and not cause anymore trouble. He was only S-Rank and if he pushed his luck more, there was a lot of chance that Arthur's sword will find his neck soon.

"I have done as you asked, my dear niece, but I hope you can explain all this to my older brother as well. But it's not like I didn't try to stop you, so it's not my fault if you cause a mess here," Louis told himself as he walked away from the group.

Louis was also glad that the infamous wife of Arthur was away. He was glad that he only had to argue with Arthur, who would only use his sword against him, but Sylvie was different. If she heard him, Rothschild would find it quite difficult to move around Somaria after this party.

Louis's reputation was very low as he was known for his low temper and untamable attitude. This made others avoid him and he sipped his drink alone after sitting at his reserved table. The adult section was different as every Elite family had their own area reserved for them, although only some Rothschild sent someone as their representative to this party. Many high-rank hunters gathering in one area might cause issues, that's why most people usually avoided such events. The last happy occasion for the Greville where all the Elite families attended was the wedding of Sylvie and Arthur, as this marked the alliance of Raven and the Greville.

Asher also greeted Edward and Arthur, and Edward talked with each other. Almost everyone wanted to chat with Edward as he was quite a solitary person and meeting was a rare opportunity, but they didn't want to disturb their talks so they controlled their emotions.

"It's almost time for the gift ceremony," Arthur reminded Asher and left Edward to enjoy the party.

It was almost time for the cake cutting ceremony, and Amelia and the twins also arrived at the party. This was a joint event for adults and young people so they gathered in the beautiful garden area of the Villa. People were confused seeing two kids with black glasses in the night standing with Amelia. The twins instantly noticed many people staring at them, but Amelia held their hands to calm their nerves. This was their first time standing like this in front of people, so it was natural for them to be nervous at such time.

Many youngsters were awestruck seeing Amelia in her white dress. Even Kevin was surprised at seeing how beautiful Amelia looked. He wanted to talk to her but decided to wait until the event ended.

"As you all know, today my son Asher Von Raven Greville turns 14, and this party is to celebrate his 14th birthday," Arthur said in his speech with Sylvie standing beside him. The sound of the clock hitting 12 AM in the midnight was heard, and many magical celebrations could be seen. Young people were surprised by such delicate preparation of this event.

"Happy birthday, Ash," Arthur and Sylvie wished Asher a happy birthday, which he thanked them with a calm face. The twins and Amelia also wished him. Although he was internally bored, his body language didn't show his inner thoughts. People started clapping and many people arrived to give him their gifts.

Damian was also one of the people who arrived to wish him and give his gifts.

"Happy birthday, Ash. This is your gift from me," Damian gave him the key to a supercar, which had limited models. Some people recognized the key and were surprised by the gift. Asher had a hobby of collecting supercars, so this was going to be his second-best gift in his mind.

Many people arrived and gave him various artifacts, gems, and other expensive things. It was all a pretense to forge a healthy relationship with the Greville, so Asher just indifferently accepted them. Stephen immediately took the gifts and moved them so Asher could accept others as well.

"Monster boy, this is one of the Elixir treasures of Rank S which will help you when you reach D Rank soon in the future," Edward's voice was only audible to Asher and his parents who were close to him. Sylvie did not like the word 'monster' but ignored it as she knew Edward was one of the people who helped Asher with awakening and was in debt to Nathan for saving his life.

"Thank you, old man Edward," Asher showed his basic courtesy and accepted the gift. Other people were surprised seeing this gift which made their own gifts pale in comparison. Many girls also tried to talk to him while giving him their gifts, but they were only met by his indifferent gaze, so they gave up soon.

At last, Elena and Louis, with Eva and Kevin, were seen coming towards Asher.

"Happy birthday to you," Elena's words could be considered rude, but Asher obviously ignored her and gave no reaction, which further angered Elena.

"Happy birthday to the Young Master Asher," Eva, and even Louis's greetings were normal, but Asher gave them the same treatment as Elena. Kevin was already annoyed at Asher, so he decided to greet him just like Elena, but he also forgot that Whiteheart was not the same as Rothschild, and Sylvie, who saw this, made a casual remark in her mind about the Whiteheart Family. Asher smirked internally sensing his mother's intention.

Louis presented a gift to Asher as it was the tradition for all the guests who attended the event.

"Arthur's boy, this is a rare piece of defense artifact of Rank A, hope you like it," people were surprised by such an expensive gift. Seeing people muttering among them made Elena make a smug expression in her mind.

"Although it might not be much, but this is a rare Ice Stone crystal from the Williams Family," one of Eva's servants, which were allowed only for the Elite families, passed the gift to Stephen, who held it. This Ice stone would help the person use Ice attribute magic more freely and was greatly beneficial for smithing as well. This rare stone was something only a few could afford to gift like this and Williams were capable of doing this much.

"This is a Red Fire Mana gem of Rank A from the Whiteheart Family," one of Kevin's servants handed over the gem. People were surprised by a Rank A Mana gem, which was quite expensive for even some of the people who attended there. Sensing other people's reaction, Kevin smiled internally in his mind.

"Of course, this is the might of the Whiteheart Family," he spoke to himself.

Handing his gift, he glanced at Amelia who was standing beside Damian for a moment and saw her excited to see her friends, which made him happy as well.

"So what was the best gift according to Young Master Asher?" one of the people spoke up.

Asher stood up and looked at the three gifts he had just received, and looked towards Emmy who nodded, seeing Asher looking at her...