Chapter 15: Incitement and a Bet

“Isn’t this the young knight Merlina, who lost his fief? How did you drop to the point of showing up at Baron Redmaple’s house to beg for food? If you lack money to buy barley for fire, come to me to borrow! OurGuli (Guli family) family owns vast lands and doesn’t need your measly copper coins!”
While the butler was reporting to his master, the guests outside pushed aside the servants and entered uninvited.
The newcomer was a noble youth around twenty years old, but with a thick air of thuggishness about him—more like a street ruffian than a noble, and his appearance was unappealing. By his side was an old mage dressed in a magnificent robe, holding a staff as tall as a person, with snow-white beard and hair.
Barley was a coarse grain usually consumed by the poorest commoners or slaves. The black bread made from it was hard, dry, and difficult to swallow, and few nobles ever had the chance to try it. By saying this, he was naturally mocking Donald’s fallen noble status. Yet he clearly didn’t realize that Donald now possessed wealth far exceeding that of ordinary hereditary nobles—enough gold sols to hand over in large amounts at once, something those minor nobles beneath barons couldn’t accumulate even after decades!
His words were so harsh that even Baron Redmaple, who valued peace, couldn’t help but frown. But upon seeing the old mage beside the youth, this merchant-noble clearly hesitated, stopping his scolding words.
Donald, though furious, still managed to maintain his noble demeanor and didn’t resort to violence. Instead, he secretly gave the other party a small lesson. Channeling his mental energy and using his magical skills, he grabbed a raw steak meant for grilling on the spot and smashed it hard onto the other man’s infuriating mouth.
“Ugh! … Phew!”
“Who’s there? Which bastard dares to mock this young master? Come out and face your death!”
The noble youth, who had been showing off, was furious at such an embarrassing situation and started shouting angrily.
The old mage beside him raised his white eyebrows and pointed at Donald, saying, “Dareful apprentice! How dare you show off your pitiful apprentice magic in front of this master! Come out and apologize!”
“Magic treats everyone equally. You’re not my teacher, and we’ve never met—what right do you have to demand an apology?”
Donald replied calmly. The old mage was stunned, then snapped angrily, “Just because I’m your senior—hasn’t your teacher taught you magical etiquette?”

Seeing the old mage acting arrogantly because of his age, Donald, who had confidence in himself, naturally wouldn’t allow himself to be insulted or looked down upon. He quickly retorted, “A master is indeed a great master—both in age and rank, he serves as a role model for us apprentices. But my teacher is only Master Mesel. Have your status already reached that of a master?”
“This…”
Upon hearing the name Mesel, the old mage was speechless. If he said anything to harm that person, even if that person were magnanimous enough to overlook it, the other mages in the North County would not let him off, and he would no longer be able to stay there.
While the old mage was cautious, the young man was so enraged that he lost his head and cursed, “Some Master Mesel? I’ve never even heard of him! Do you know who you’re talking to? Offending me means offending the entire LordGuli (Guli family)’s domain! You…”
Before the young man could finish, the old mage beside him pulled him sharply, cutting off the rest of his words.
Seeing the old mage’s face turn blue from shock or anger, and about to ask what was going on, they heard Donald laugh lightly from across. “If you dare say those words in Stone City, that would be truly admirable! I’m sure within half a day, all the mages in the North County will team up to turn you into a roasted pig. Even the city guards and their governor wouldn’t dare interfere.”
Even Baron Red Maple nodded in agreement. This man was simply too foolish to even dare speak insults against that master. Even the kingdom’s noble families would only treat that person on equal terms, never daring to show disrespect.
At the least, the matter might be settled with the magnanimous person ignoring it, but at the worst, the noble title of that family and their entire domain might be ruined by those words.
Meanwhile, the old mage had already explained the consequences to the young man, who turned pale with fear.
Seeing that the young man had learned his lesson and become more subdued, Baron Red Maple then spoke to him calmly. “Sodo, have you come to see Ceyolin again today? Who is this respected mage?”
Only then did the young man manage to force a smile and say, “This is Master Xue, the newly hired mage advisor for our LordGuli (Guli family)’s domain. I heard that Uncle Eunister and Sister Ceyolin both greatly admire mages, so they specially invited Master Xue to visit!”
Their conversation also cleared Donald’s confusion about how the young man happened to be here by chance.

This young man was the grandson of Old Gry, who had seized their family’s lands back then, and also the son of the current Lord Gry, Sodo. He had repeatedly insulted and mocked Donald in the past. As an old saying goes, even if he turned to ashes, Donald would still recognize him. The moment he saw this guy, old grievances and new resentments surged in Donald’s heart.

Back then, the Merlin family’s fiefdom was taken by Old Gry, that swindler, through cunning tactics. At that time, Old Gry was merely the steward of the previous Viscount Macbeth. To help his own son, the current Lord Gry, rise to prominence, he schemed to seize the declining Merlin family’s lands and then asked his son, who had been promoted from a knight’s squire to a full knight, to inherit them.

Normally, the Merlin family, like Baron Redmaple, was not a direct vassal of Viscount Macbeth but rather a local lord under the king. Somehow, the Gry family bribed officials in the royal court to obtain the Merlin family’s lands and was then directly granted the title of lord by the king.

Although Donald, with a new soul, knew there must be support from the Viscount family behind all this, he was most enraged by the Gry family’s shameless act of stealing his family’s lands and driving his grandfather to death.

Lord Gry, a vassal of Viscount Macbeth, was extremely covetic of Baron Redmaple’s lands and wealth, also at the instigation of Viscount Macbeth, who ordered his son to pursue the baron’s daughter. Even Viscount Macbeth was eager for Baron Redmaple’s two main sources of income: maple syrup and wine!

Today, this son of Lord Gry came along with Master Xue, a newly hired third-level mage from the Gry family, aiming to show off in front of his future father-in-law to increase his chances of marrying the baron’s daughter.

It should be noted that Baron Redmaple had always wanted to establish connections with mages but hadn’t received any response from them. Mages were proud, even those who were only low-level mages at the beginning stage of black iron.

So, with this third-level mage recruited by the family and Baron Redmaple still giving no direct reply to the marriage proposal, Lord Gry came up with this method as both a demonstration and a showoff.

Speaking of this Mage Xue, he was born a commoner. His original name was rather vulgar, so he changed it to Xue on his own.

In this world, ordinary commoners usually only had names without surnames. If a father was named Robert, his son would be called Little Robert. If there were many children, just naming them became a challenge for illiterate commoner parents.

As for slaves, most of them only had codenames and not even proper names. If a commoner had his own surname, it meant his ancestors must have been connected to the nobility or professional classes, giving them a status higher than ordinary commoners. The reason this old mage was only known by a single-word name was so that most outsiders would call him Master Xue, which gave him a strong sense of superiority. His rank was far from worthy of the title “master,” even though his appearance and attire seemed more masterly than those of Master Mersel, the top mage in the North County. It should be noted that only high-ranking mages could barely be called masters; true masters were grand mages of the gold rank. Strictly speaking, Mersel had not yet reached the silver rank of mage, but considering his achievements in alchemy, which had reached the silver level, along with his prestige in the North County, calling him a master was entirely justified. It was said that even the masters of the Kingdom Mage Association held great respect for Master Mersel, the only advanced alchemist and equipment enchantment master in Celt. Following the traditions of the Ancient Magic Empire, mages believed in the principle that those who achieve more should take precedence on the path to truth. Master Xue was already nearly sixty years old but was still only a third-level low-ranking mage. Due to his narrow-mindedness, he harbored feelings of envy toward talented young apprentices, which grew more intense as he aged and his rank stagnated. So, upon seeing the seventeen-year-old apprentice Donald, he felt as if a fire was burning inside him, causing great discomfort. He had heard from his friend Mage Naron about the news that a genius apprentice from the Giant Rock City Guild had been taken in as Mersel’s apprentice. He never expected to encounter him by chance while accompanying his employer’s son on business today. And this apprentice, Donald, was a model among the younger generation—how could it not ignite the old mage’s jealousy? Hearing Master Xue’s name, Donald immediately became alert. From the warnings of the servants at the mage guild, it was Master Xue who appeared alongside the mid-black iron rank mage Naron. Master Xue’s attitude was likely not much better than that of Naron! Seeing that neither side spoke and the atmosphere became awkward, Baron Red Maple, as the host, stepped forward to ease the tension. “I am hosting a banquet today for Knight Melinna to celebrate his successful transformation into a noble and promising mage apprentice. You two have come at just the right time. Why not sit down together and celebrate for Knight Melinna?”

Sordo was still uneasy about his earlier mistake, so the Snow Mage took the opportunity to invite him to sit down with them. As the appetizers and main courses were served one after another, Donald enjoyed them with great relish, while Sordo and the other man could hardly swallow their food. Sordo, who had been terrified by his own blunder earlier, had now regained his composure, but seeing Donald savoring the delicious food filled him with anger. He had often caused Donald trouble in the past, but he never expected this once-down-and-out noble to have a chance at turning things around! With this thought, Sordo felt even more determined not to let this kid grow any stronger. Meanwhile, the Snow Mage, consumed by jealousy, wanted to destroy this so-called genius apprentice right away. The two whispered to each other at the table and finally came up with a desperate plan: to provoke the young apprentice into competing in a magic duel with the old mage, using the ring given by the master as stakes. If he lost that gift, the master would surely be displeased, and Donald would no longer be able to rely on Master Messel’s reputation. The Snow Mage put down his utensils first, elegantly wiped his mouth with a napkin, and said, “Apprentice Melina, I’ve heard about your performance in the Mage Guild’s certification exams. Would you be willing to discuss magic with me, a third-level mage?” Seeing the old mage trying to imitate noble manners—only to fail because of his commoner background and lack of proper education—Donald thought it would be better to act more naturally, as it would seem less pretentious and awkward. Donald didn’t know what the other man was up to, but he knew it couldn’t be anything good for him. Yet he wasn’t afraid of a third-level mage. With plenty of magic beast cores and elemental crystals in hand, along with powerful summons and equipment from the Book of Truth, he could easily defend himself or even defeat the old mage. Knowing the other man had ulterior motives, Donald simply nodded indifferently. Seeing Donald’s indifferent attitude further angered the Snow Mage. He was a mage with third-level spellcasting abilities, his strength already at the top of the black iron tier, yet this apprentice seemed to disdain even talking to him. How could this not fill him with jealousy and resentment? “It seems Apprentice Melina is quite confident in himself! How about we have a bet? Let’s have a duel using the usual training methods among mages to liven up Lord Baron’s banquet, what do you say?”

“Great! I wonder how you’d like to compete, Snow Mage?”
Sordo interjected, “A duel between two mages is quite rare among our nobles. We should have some stakes. How about your ring and staff as the bet?”
Watching the two working together to trick him, Baron Red Maple also watched him with interest. Donald sneered inwardly; if it were some arrogant young man, they might have already lured them into their scheme!
Though Donald still retained the impulsive nature of a young man, he was already thirty years old and had experienced a second life, making him much more steady. Moreover, he had been wary of these two from the start, so he wouldn’t fall for it easily. Even if he didn’t take the Snow Mage, a mere third-level mage, seriously, he wouldn’t let himself be threatened so easily.
He glanced hesitantly at Sordo and the others. Under their expectant gazes, he suddenly flashed a bright smile, but his words made them want to spit blood.
“Sorry, I refuse!”