Chapter 144
If Lady Stride approaching me in the first place caused a disruption, my rejection overthrew the entire banquet. A deathly quiet spread across as countless people stared openly at my table in shock, no longer attempting to hide their intent to listen in. Some had their mouths gaping open, while others stared at me like they had seen some strange animal the likes of which they couldn’t grasp. Even Sammuel seemed to be very surprised by my choice.
To her benefit, Lady Stride was quickly able to hide her look of shock. She put a smile back on her face, but if her eyes had held any warmth prior, they were now deathly cold. Before she could speak though, a clapping sound rang out. All the eyes turned to the source of that clapping which was none other than Jordan Stride. Lady Stride gave him an awkward look.
“Brother…” She looked back at him, a complicated expression on her face.
“You had me worried for a bit, sister.” He spoke to her before stopping his clapping as he glanced my way. “Even though you entered an arena where you didn’t belong and used nefarious methods to strip me of my rightful rank, my sister was willing to overlook these flaws and even invite you to work under our family. Yet, you don’t seem to know how far the moon is and discarded her gracious intentions. If you have any concern for your future, I recommend you tread carefully.”
I raised an eyebrow, turning to Lady Stride. “Is that how the so-called great families of Stormberg act? You force them to submit, and threaten them if they do not? It seems like my eyes have been widened to the world.”
My words caused several more paragons to frown. A few were giving the Stride family dirty looks. Even though this banquet had mostly paragons attending, there were mortal servants. Anything that happened here could still affect the reputation of the families, which I had begun to realize was extremely important to them. My accusation was putting a stain on all of the families, but it was Stride who had instigated this by offering a position and then providing veiled threats when I refused to acquiesce.
“We naturally wouldn’t force anyone to join our family.” Lady Stride responded. “My brother was only speaking out of magnanimous concern for your wellbeing.”
“Oh, I’m sure if I was a subordinate in your family, he would be very concerned with my wellbeing.”
Jordan’s expression turned ugly, but it was the Lady who spoke up. “We would treat every member of our family fairly. It seems like you feel my offer is insufficient. Would you perhaps expect to marriage to my family?”
Several people chuckled as if her words were outrageous. She was trying to make a mockery of my protests by suggesting I was overly ambitious. It seemed like the Lady Stride was decent at such banter as well.
I grinned. “Why not?”
Her eyes widened, and several people in the crowd muttered.
Jordan let out a scornful laugh. “What are you saying? Do you think you can marry into one of the families? Although you placed first in the tournament, aren’t you thinking a bit much of yourself? That’s only a measure of potential. Without the status or power to back it up, who would even care about you? Even marrying into a subordinate family would be too much.”
“Is that so? Then I guess I will remain unattached?” I gave a helpless shrug. “You wanted to feel out the cost to bring us into your families. Is that not why you’re here? I guess for me, I wouldn’t join a family without marrying into the core family.”
“How audacious!” A paragon woman declared.
“Do you desire power so much?” Lady Stride asked, her eyes narrowed.
I chuckled, leaning back in my chair. “Quite the opposite. I don’t want power or money. I just want to live an easy life. I’ve lived on the streets before. It’s difficult. I’d much rather have a rich wife who took care of everything. As long as I can live everyday leisurely, wouldn’t that be the ideal?”
I wasn’t sure why I said all that, but it was my belief. I had already spent a lifetime in an abusive hell, and another lifetime struggling to survive in purgatory. Since this could be considered my third life, wouldn’t it be better to spend this life relaxing? My only goal was to help Mara get her revenge, but there certainly had to be an after. The more I spent around people, the more I realized I was a social person. I couldn’t just abandon society like I thought I would shortly after leaving the pool. I rather missed booze, friends, and most of all, women.
“Hahaha.” Sammuel broke the silence with his laughter. “Well said! I knew there was a reason I liked you so much.”
I frowned. “Are you suggesting there is just the one?”
“Among many, among many!” He slapped me on the back before grabbing a cup of drink from a passing waitress and handing it to me.
The pair of us clinked our glasses and drank. This seemed to cut into the silence, and slowly people returned to what they were doing. There was a great deal of muttering, and a lot of it was talking about me.
“This guy is just a lech.”
“Here I was thinking he had some higher aspirations.”
“Marriage to a family’s young lady? Doesn’t he know every lady is set up for a political marriage by their parents nearly since birth? If he wanted such a lady, he’d need to steal someone’s fiancée.”
I smiled, pretending I couldn’t hear the muttered, even though most of them were said loudly enough that I didn’t need enhanced hearing to understand them clearly.
“In that case, good luck with your aspirations.” Lady Stride’s cold frown now matched her eyes as she turned her back to me, not giving back a single look.
“H-he wants… marriage?” The young Destiny Lou looked a bit awkward.
“Little sister, don’t mind such a foul and perverted man.” Fate snorted. “Some people are born to be lions… and others are born to be sheep.”
A little ways away, another conversation was going on. These people were all seated with the magistrate. When Jordan sat back down, he sat with them. He had a sour expression on his place as he grabbed a roll and started buttering it angrily.
“Lord Stride, pay no mind to such a lech.” A young lady tried to comfort him. “We’re from two different worlds.”
That young lady was Penny. She seemed to be looking at Jordan with a bit of pink on her cheeks. Perhaps, the agreements between the Capala and Stride family were a bit more complicated than I imagined.
“I’m fine!” He snapped angrily. “He’s just some paragon yokel who doesn’t understand his place.
“He is rather interesting though.” A voice spoke up, causing everyone to look over in surprise.
“Lady Giselle?” Lady Capala tilted her head with interest.
She wasn’t the only one interested. Although Mara was merely standing behind Lady Capala, she had been watching everything with keen interest and was currently leaning forward to listen.
“Although he seems rather direct, everything he does seems to have some level of caution. He reminds me of the icewind raven.”
“A raven, is it?” Huntington, the one who invited her, seemed to be the least enthused to listen to her talk about some other man.
“Well, the icewind raven is often coveted for its feathers. They remain cold, even in summer, making them popular filling for pillows. However, the icewind ravens have to be hunted. They can not be trapped. This is because they are far too cautious. When they see anything new, they will slowly circle it, and do various tests. They understand it.”
“So, they’re good at avoiding traps?”
“You misunderstand… they like the trigger the traps. They see a trap as a challenge that must be destroyed.
“What does this have to do with him?” Lady Capala looked a bit interested.
Lady Gisselle glanced my way. “It’s just… a feeling… he feels like someone testing his limits, looking for traps.”
Brandon snorted. “Well, he’s so busy looking for traps, he doesn’t see the cliff he’s walking toward.”
His words elicited a few chuckles, mostly from Jordan and Penny. Lady Giselle only shrugged, looking away as if none of this concerned her. The banquet continued for another hour until the servants stopped bringing out liquor. It was at this point that the magistrate stood up. He congratulated everyone for their hard-fought places and then began to hand out rewards.
He started with the lower numbers. Everyone in the top twenty got at least a medal. As he reached the top three, their rewards grew larger. He finally reached number one.
“Spirit.” He stated simply.
I walked out, and he handed me a storage ring. I used my limited magic to look inside and then pulled it all into my luminal space. There were the 50,000 kilojoules, just as promised. I couldn’t help but feel a bit more relaxed knowing that within a month, I had already paid off half the debt, although the mark I had received had only moved a tenth for my one-year time limit.
The clapping for me sounded a lot more reserved than it had been for the second and third places, but I didn’t mind. As I sat back down, the beautiful Lady Capala stood up.
“I have an announcement to make.” She spoke in an ethereal voice that attracted every ear.
“By all means.” The magistrate lowered his head, giving her the floor.
Everyone turned to her. Brandon Capala wore an intense look, while his father grinned from ear to ear.
“A year ago, my parents passed away, and since then I came to this dead branch of the Capala family with the intent to rejuvenate it. However, I’ve come to realize that I can’t do it all alone. I need… a companion to help me during these trying times. As my father had my mother, I too need someone I can trust and rely on. Thus, I decided to select my future marriage partner based on the outcome of the tournament.”
Lady Capala paused for a moment, but her eager uncle leaned forward. “Go on.”
“After careful consideration… I have decided on the man I would like to marry.” She put on a bright smile that made the entire room dim in comparison. “The future head of the Capala household and my future husband… the 1st place winner of the marital tournament, Spirit!”
Jajajaja, predictible end… but super FUN! go on dude!