Duke Icaldoren felt cold sweat running down his spine.

To think that the young boy had come not to make a deal with him, but to manipulate him.

"..."

"Are you alright?"

The escorts shouted in surprise when their master's condition suddenly changed.

It was extremely rare for the duke, who was protected by all kinds of expensive magic, to show such an appearance.

What on earth happened?

"It's nothing. I'm... feeling a bit unwell."

"We will call a priest right away."

"No need. I'll feel better after resting for a bit. I'm sorry. I'll take my leave first."

Duke Icaldoren got up from his seat.

He needed some time to go over this confusing situation.

It was truly unbelievable.

For he himself, the duke, to be so frightened and be the first to back away like this.

He had never been like this even in front of the Patriarch of the Wardanaz family...

'What kind of monster have you created, Wardanaz!'

When the duke got up from his seat and left the banquet hall, Yi-Han frowned.

"Why is he doing that?"

"Strange. Someone of the duke's status couldn't suddenly feel unwell."

He was in a position where he could pour potions and magic scrolls on his body just by moving a finger.

Duke Icaldoren, who wore artifacts worth more than a castle, wouldn't skimp on magic either.

"Th-That's certainly true."

Rowena was amazed by Yi-Han's insight.

She had simply thought the duke was feeling unwell, but this boy from the Wardanaz family had noticed something.

"There's only one reason."

"What is that!"

"He's pretending to be sick because he doesn't want to give souvenirs."

"...Pardon?"

Rowena, who had been listening with great anticipation, was taken aback.

"There's no other reason than that."

"...I don't quite understand...?"

No matter how much Rowena respected Yi-Han's insight, this hypothesis was a bit hard to accept.

Not knowing that Yi-Han was making a very rude misunderstanding in the banquet hall below, the duke took a rest.

The magic circles installed in the study refreshed his mind and boosted his energy, but as long as the cause remained, his troubled heart did not disappear.

'Should I withdraw from Einroguard?'

At this point, he felt like he shouldn't have touched Einroguard in the first place.

He had poked it, trusting his own power, but the more he put his hand in, the more he felt like he was sinking into a bottomless swamp.

If only he had definitely retrieved the subordinates he had sent, he would have seriously contemplated it...

"Master."

A cautious voice was heard from outside.

Those who had served the duke for a long time could tell that the duke's mood had turned rough.

Everyone was being extremely careful, afraid of being scolded for no reason while delivering a message.

"The knight order has arrived."

"...What does that mean?"

The duke's voice dropped even lower. It was cold enough to feel a chill.

"Was there a knight order scheduled to visit this residence today?"

"Well, that... It seems the knight order mistook the date and visited..."

"..."

A sound of something breaking came from the armrest of the chair the duke was sitting on.

"Eek!"

"Are all those knight bastards idiots? Can't they even count numbers?"

Originally, this wasn't something to get so angry about.

Because mistaking the date and visiting wasn't such a big mistake.

As long as the invited party was important, the duke didn't care if they visited a few days earlier or later.

However, the events that happened today were wearing down the duke's patience.

In the morning, the beast-like students from the knight families created a mess, and in the afternoon, the knight bastards couldn't even count numbers and came on a different date than they were invited.

"Sh-Should we send them back?"

"...Forget it. Those idiot bastards won't be fixed even if I scold them. Prepare to entertain them. I'll rest for a bit and come out."

Still, the duke coldly calculated.

Rather than shaming the knight bastards and chasing them away, creating unnecessary complaints, it was better to feed them well and send them off, then turn it into praise.

Treating invited guests well was also the duty of a great noble.

A moment later.

The attendant came to the duke again, who was resting with his eyes closed.

The attendant was trembling all over and spoke as if he really didn't want to deliver the message.

"The knights say they want to meet Duke directly and express their gratitude..."

"...Tell them to sit still and eat before I kill them."

"..."

The attendant couldn't bring himself to deliver the message and waited. The duke sighed shallowly and said.

"Tell them clearly that I will rest more and come out. If anyone comes to call me again, I swear I will bury them. Understood?"

"...Yes!"

The White Wood Knight Order was a gathering of knights who traveled throughout the empire, helping the weak, jumping into danger, and pursuing knightly honor, but in fact, the White Wood Knight Order belonged to a unique category among knight orders.

Who would enjoy traveling throughout the empire without any reward? No matter how knightly they were, it was a difficult and painful task.

Most of the knight orders in the empire were much more comfortable and profit-oriented gatherings formed by the local knight families to protect the region or for friendship.

The Chestnut Tree Knight Order also belonged to the latter.

The knights of the Chestnut Tree Knight Order, who were active in the area a little far from Granden City, were very excited about the duke's invitation.

"Not just anyone can receive an invitation from His Grace Duke Icaldoren, one of the great nobles of the empire. It is possible because of the glory that the name of Chestnut Tree holds."

"Those good-for-nothing bastards..."

"They're talking about glory. They probably just gathered and played mage cards."

"Shh. Be quiet."

The young squires of the White Wood Knight Order, who were moving together with the Chestnut Tree Knights, grumbled.

The knight who brought them along gave a warning as if to be careful.

"I will not forgive you if you are rude to the knights of another order."

"But those guys are too arrogant..."

"I told you to stop!"

When the knight showed his anger, the squires shut their mouths tightly.

The knight also understood their feelings.

The Chestnut Tree Knight Order, as was often the case with wealthy knight orders, tried to act more like nobles than knights.

If they were to act together with the squires of the White Wood Knight Order, they should respect each other and show courtesy, but they kept looking down on them based on their attire and weapons, so the squires couldn't help but be angry.

"Wait. Why are you guiding us this way?"

One of the knights of the Chestnut Tree Knight Order noticed something strange and asked.

The duke's residence in the city was large and spacious, so there were several spaces that could be used as banquet halls.

However, among them, the most central banquet hall was obviously the hall located in the center.

But the place the servants were guiding them to now was the banquet hall located on the left, wasn't it?

"There are other guests present."

"Other guests?"

The knights murmured.

It was surprising that there were guests who had arrived before them, but it was also surprising that they had taken the better banquet hall.

They didn't feel very good about it.

"Who are they?"

"They are students from Einroguard."

"..."

Dissatisfaction rose on the faces of the knights.

If it had been the heads of other families visiting, that would have been understandable, but to have their seats taken by mere students from a magic academy.

Of course, if they thought about it coldly, they could calculate what the average status of these magic academy students would be, but instead of calculating, the knights started to argue.

"Did Duke assign it to them?"

"How could that be possible?"

From the servants' point of view, they couldn't use the duke as an excuse for such a question. Even if they had several necks, it wouldn't be enough.

"Then what happened?"

"We don't know either..."

"It seems the students went in first."

The knights understood the servants' cautious answer in a different way.

"They're still young, so they might have misunderstood."

"Can't we just use the left banquet hall?"

The knight of the White Wood Knight Order cautiously spoke up.

Considering the status and position of the Einroguard students, he didn't want to make a fuss over a single banquet hall.

Then the knights of the Chestnut Tree Knight Order answered with a start.

"Why should we yield the banquet hall that we should rightfully use?"

"Just because they're students doesn't mean we should leave them be! We have to tell them when they're wrong. The squires of the White Wood Knight Order may be satisfied with this treatment, but we are not."

"..."

At the remark that blatantly disregarded the squires, the knight's eyebrows twitched.

When the fierce-looking knight exuded his force, the knights of the Chestnut Tree Knight Order also seemed to realize their mistake and changed the subject.

"Go and deliver the message. It seems there has been a misunderstanding."

"That Wardanaz bastard ruined the fun party."

"Yeah. It was a truly unrestrained and joyful time..."

"If anyone keeps muttering, I'll shove them upside down into the wine barrel, so shut up and eat."

When the awakened White Tiger Tower students grumbled and ate, Yi-Han warned them.

Just thinking about what they had done earlier, it was a waste to even give them food.

"Excuse me, Mr. Wardanaz."

"??"

When a servant ran over and whispered with a pale face, Yi-Han was puzzled.

What was it?

'They're not asking me to take silver coins, are they?'

It was a truly absurd thought, but the duke's evaluation within Yi-Han had already fallen that much.

"The knights..."

"...?"

Yi-Han tilted his head in confusion after hearing the explanation of the situation.

His friends, who realized that something was wrong, also gathered around and murmured.

"Why are the knights here? And today of all days?"

"It's strange."

Students from noble families knew well that they wouldn't invite multiple groups on the same day.

"Could it be that they mistook the date and came?"

"No way. They can't be that crazy."

"Look at the White Tiger Tower guys. They're stupid, but not that stupid."

"Tutanta. Do you want to die!"

"Shut up. You guys who collapsed drunk in someone else's banquet hall."

"We didn't collapse, we passed out after being hit by that Wardanaz bastard!"

"Hey... keep it down, it's embarrassing..."

While his friends were chattering, Yi-Han asked the servant.

"So now they want us to yield the banquet hall?"

"Absolutely not! Wardanaz!"

"That's crazy!"

The White Tiger Tower students reacted the most fiercely.

They had a lot of experience gathering with knight families, so they couldn't help but be sensitive.

Unlike the gatherings of noble families, the gatherings of knight families often had violent confrontations.

Trying to enter a banquet hall that someone else was already using, like this, was one of them. As someone from a knight family, they absolutely couldn't yield.

"Can't we just yield? We're done eating anyway."

"I said no, Wardanaz!"

"Come to your senses! You're not usually like this! You're the kind of guy who would crush the bones of anyone who picks a fight!"

"...I can see how you think of me."

Not only the White Tiger Tower students but also other friends showed a negative reaction.

Then Yi-Han readily agreed without saying more.

"Alright. If you don't want to leave. I'll tell them we refuse."

The servant, who was unfortunately caught in the middle, bowed his head to the point of pity and ran out.

And he came back and said.

"Excuse me, Mr. Wardanaz. The knights are asking if we could lightly test our skills to decide..."

'Is the banquet hall coated with honey or something?'

Yi-Han couldn't understand the knights who were obsessed with the banquet hall like crazy people.

Is there some kind of magical vein flowing here?

Why are they going this far?

"Mu... Muhahaha! They're digging their own graves, those idiots!"

"Chestnut Tree Knight Order bastards. You still don't know how vast the empire is! You're dead today!"

"????"

The servant who delivered the message was taken aback by the reaction of the White Tiger Tower students.

He had expected them to refuse the absurdly rude suggestion.

'What on earth...?'