Chapter 9: Gifts
“Your Highness Princess Vero, please allow me to express, on behalf of the 170,000 people of the Caucasus, our sincere wishes for your birthday. We are fortunate to witness Princess Vero growing older in happy times, and to see the unparalleled beauty of the woman hailed as the kingdom’s most beautiful, devoted to Princess Vero. I believe my friends and I will have even more reason to boast about her when we return to the Caucasus, to Homer.” It had been several years since he last used such deceitful words to flatter an ignorant girl. The absurd times of courting women seemed to flash before his eyes once again. Was it absurd? Komer didn’t know—perhaps it was just the exuberance of youth, a way to prove that his youth was burning brightly.
As he poured out his praise to the silver-haired girl, who looked both shy and delighted like an elf, Komer also knelt on one knee according to the standard Nicomidian noble etiquette, asking to kiss her fingers. Perhaps moved by Komer’s sincerity and beautiful words, the girl, her face flushed with happiness, took off her gossamer-white gloves and accepted his blessings.
Seeing the happy expression on Princess Vero’s face, Sir Sart, standing nearby, felt filled with jealousy and unease. He hadn’t expected his opponent to still be able to flatter his idol so nonchalantly despite being caught off guard. He didn’t believe the other could pull any tricks now—such an occasion couldn’t be covered up by mere words by these country bumpkins.
“Hehe, Baron, we all admire your eloquence. Princess Vero, like all of us, is looking forward to your special gift. I’m sure it will be the brightest jewel at this party in her honor.” Struggling to control the murderous intent rising in his heart, Sir Sart didn’t notice the confusion and doubt on the faces of the two young knights beside him. At this moment, he only wanted to crush his opponent completely. If the other couldn’t bring a gift—or any gift that was truly rare and unique—he would hurl the vilest and most despicable insults at this pretentious fool.
“Oh, thank you, Sir Sart, for reminding me. I almost forgot to present the heartfelt gift from the 170,000 people of the Caucasus to our Princess Vero.” Komer politely nodded to the expectant young men beside him in gratitude, then calmly took out his so-called gift from his bosom.
A small ring in pale cyan, its design simple and unadorned, without any patterns or embellishments. Yet when placed in Komer’s palm, it emitted a soft cyan glow, as if a young sprout had suddenly grown there—silent yet strikingly beautiful. The nobles gathered around all fixed their eyes on Komer’s palm. How could such a plain and simple ring be considered a special, precious, and unique gift? Laughter erupted from the nobles around him, followed by endless mocking remarks throughout the hall: “Country bumpkin, is this your gift? A ring not even worth a gold shield, without even a box? Lord Baron, I wonder how you got your title of baron. Are barons in the Homer region really that worthless?” “Heh, the barbarian lands are full of rude people. Princess Vero uses such trashy goods to deceive us Galleans on her birthday. Do you really think we Galleans can’t tell quality?” “A bunch of scammers, Duke. I suggest we thoroughly investigate their background. It’s possible those scammers active in Phoenix City are them. I heard they do the same thing—pretending to be nobles and swindling people!” Knight Sart, filled with indignation, stepped forward aggressively, glaring at Komer. “Lord Baron, your actions are a great insult to Princess Vero and an affront to our entire Gallean noble class. If you can’t give us a reasonable explanation, I’ll consider it a provocation to us Gallean nobles, and I’ll formally challenge you to a duel!” The people behind Komer paled in shock and fear, but only Hozel, who had always followed Komer closely, remained calm. He dared to refuse his family’s heirloom and give such a ring instead. Having much experience in business, Hozel believed this enigmatic lord must have his reasons. Although he couldn’t see anything special about this ring, with its extremely ordinary design and ordinary jade material, he trusted that this lord surely possessed the power to turn situations around at will.
“Ladies and gentlemen, please be quiet. I understand your respect for Princess Vero, but I truly don’t understand why offering such a valuable and suitable gift for a girl has drawn such criticism from everyone?! I really can’t tell whether it’s because there are no people in Galle or if it’s intentional provocation. I ask you all to give me a reasonable explanation.” With a gentle wave of his hand, the noisy crowd quietly settled down, and the nobles who had been whispering curses turned their attention back to Comer.
Seeing that his daughter could control the atmosphere with just her actions, Sart was both angry and anxious. This guy was not just a common scoundrel or schemer—he truly wouldn’t cry until he saw death. A ring picked up casually, without even basic packaging, could be called a carefully prepared gift? He wanted to see how this man could turn a pile of trash into a flower.
“Baron, since you put it that way, please forgive our short-sightedness and limited knowledge. Could you please introduce to us how this ring has a long history, what its extraordinary origin is, and why it’s so invaluable?” Sart’s face turned pale and twisted, clearly growing impatient. His eyes flashed with hostility. If Comer didn’t give him a satisfactory answer, he might take the opportunity to challenge Comer to a duel and kill him on the spot.
“Of course. This is a ring, but by no means an ordinary one. As a birthday gift for Princess Vero, you should understand that I wouldn’t give her something as cheap and inferior as what some illiterate folks would call street merchandise. This is a magic ring, and its powers can benefit many people—Princess Vero, of course, will be the main beneficiary. Here, I wonder if anyone among you knows this ring and can tell us about its glorious legendary history?”
At this point, Comer was also forced into a corner. This ring was one of the items he obtained from that strange thief. Unlike the other items stored in a silk bag, Comer could sense the wood magic power hidden within this ring. Its design was ancient, suggesting it was a very old artifact. Once, on his way to Jazair, Comer took this ring to a top magic artifact shop in the capital for appraisal. Unfortunately, the chief appraiser was absent that day, and the ordinary appraisers could only vaguely conclude that it was an extremely precious wood magic artifact that would greatly assist mages in controlling wood magic, though the exact details remained unknown.
At this moment, he said so to see if anyone could recognize the object. If no one could identify it, then he could boldly fabricate stories about it being some natural goddess or forest goddess’s sacred relic. He could even add a few random excerpts from his knowledge gained from the last emperor of that dark empire to make it up further. In that way, this magic ring with a glorious history and infinite value would be created out of thin air. As for being exposed later, since he rarely came to Galle anyway and already had a reputation for being deceitful, adding the label of a fraud wouldn’t matter much. As long as he could pass through now, that would be enough.
Everyone’s gaze once again focused on the palm where Komer still held the ring. A magic ring? That was something reserved for magicians, certainly valuable, but not all magic items were priceless. Although most nobles didn’t understand magic well, it didn’t mean they knew nothing at all. This thing certainly didn’t seem like something of immense value.
The pale blue ring remained motionless in his palm, and no one could see anything extraordinary about it. It was best to stay silent about things one didn’t understand to avoid embarrassment, especially with items like magic rings whose true value was hard to judge from appearance. However, the two young knights standing beside Knight Sart frowned. Using their own senses, they could already detect the magical elements floating within the ring, which was indeed a magic ring. But what its effects were and what legendary history it had were beyond their understanding.
But Knight Sart, enraged, didn’t have the mental capacity to consider so much. He too could sense the magical properties of the ring in the other man’s hand, but that meant nothing. An ordinary magic ring with some protective properties would only cost three to five hundred gold shields in a magic item shop—by no means priceless. For Princess Vero, such a meaningless ring was nothing but a deception under the guise of magic, meant to fool everyone. Knight Sart was convinced that this was exactly what the other man intended, and he absolutely wouldn’t let this despicable guy deceive everyone so easily.
“Mr. Mondel, you are the authority in the magical community of our Calais region. Baron Komer claims that his ring is of inestimable value and has a great legendary history. I would ask you to assess it for us younger generations and also tell us about the legendary tales surrounding this treasure.” Raising his voice, Knight Satter was determined to see this through to the end. He couldn’t allow that cunning countryman to manipulate everyone here at will—it was undoubtedly a desecration of Princess Vero. He had to expose this scam and ensure those men were punished.