Chapter 020: The Banquet

At that moment, the sound of hurried footsteps came from deep within the city lord’s mansion. Along with those footsteps, a calm and elegant voice emerged from inside.
“It is truly an honor for me, Gaffield, to meet the world-famous Duke Du Fan!”
As he spoke, a figure slowly appeared at the entrance of the mansion, his tone calm yet seemingly tinged with amusement.
Du Fan also dismounted from his horse, ready to exchange a few polite words. Just then, he sensed a gaze sweep over him like lightning before the other person laughed heartily and said, “As the saying goes, seeing is believing! Duke Du Fan, to have achieved so much at such a young age—Gaffield truly admires you greatly!”
With that, the prince of Gaffield strode toward Du Fan.
Du Fan regained his composure and carefully observed the first prince of the Lanni Empire. This prince of Gaffield was tall and fair-skinned, exuding an air of refinement at first glance. His face was delicate, paired with blue hair, making him extremely handsome.
Of all the handsome men Du Fan had met in his life, Nicholas came first, followed by Prince Fischer. Though this Gaffield prince wasn’t as strikingly handsome as Prince Fischer, his innate calm demeanor already won people over.
Du Fan had peculiar thoughts—had he known he would meet such a person, he should have borrowed Nicholas. Wouldn’t that be interesting?
However, according to Christopher, this Gaffield should have cultivated Frost Combat Qi and be someone hard to approach. But judging from his current behavior, there was no sign of him possessing combat skills. Coupled with his flowing white robes, he appeared so carefree that he overshadowed even LeoPorter.
No wonder LeoPorter, despite being such a notable figure, had been suppressed for so many years.
On the surface, this Gaffield seemed utterly harmless, but Du Fan knew well that those who appeared threatening at first glance weren’t truly dangerous. It was the seemingly harmless ones who were the most perilous!
In that sense, it seemed he himself was also of that kind!
Thinking of this, Du Fan couldn’t help but smile bitterly in his heart.

Du Fan was observing Garfield, and Garfield was also observing Du Fan. Their gazes briefly met in the air before both slowly looked away, exchanging a faint smile.

“Prince Garfield,” Du Fan said softly, taking a gentle breath, “When I was in the Gavin Empire, I often heard of your fame. Seeing you in person today, I confirm it’s truly extraordinary. The name of the first prince truly lives up to its reputation.”

“What are you saying, Duke?” Garfield replied with a half-smile. “It’s Duke Du Fan who is truly extraordinary. Compared to you, I, Garfield, am far inferior in every way.”

Du Fan touched his nose and inwardly sneered a few times, but outwardly he exchanged a few polite words with Garfield.

Yet after those few words, neither of them mentioned the word “battle” again, as if Du Fan were an old friend visiting Garfield.

After a few more words, Garfield seemed to remember something. He cleared his throat slightly and said, “Duke, please come in first. I’ve prepared a banquet in the city lord’s residence to welcome you.”

With that, Garfield stepped forward affectionately, took Du Fan’s arm, and led him inside.

Du Fan knew that refusing now would weaken his own presence, so he didn’t hesitate. With a laugh, he followed inside.

Lioport, Marcus, and the others naturally followed as well. Du Fan had anticipated this situation. Besides Christopher and Randy, several Divine Might Prison experts disguised as servants also followed in. As for the other bodyguards, they weren’t allowed to enter the city lord’s residence under these circumstances.

Guided by Garfield, they quickly passed through the corridor and entered the hall of the city lord’s residence. There, several armored generals stood ready at the bottom of the hall.

Each of them had a fierce presence—some in black armor, some in blood-red armor—standing on opposite sides of the hall, clearly divided. Moreover, each of them exuded an astonishing aura. With a quick glance, Du Fan could determine that even the weakest among them was a warrior of level six or higher, and that was just their apparent strength!

It seemed that the Lani Empire had been able to suppress the Gavin Empire over the years not solely because of the weakness of the Southern Army, but because the Lani Empire’s own military was extremely strong.

It was only in such circumstances that the two factions within the Lanni Empire’s army still appeared like this; clearly, the conflict between Garfield and Leopold had long reached an irreconcilable level. Though both of them wore smiles at the moment, it was impossible to know how many times they had already fought each other behind the scenes. At this moment, the generals in blood-colored armor looked at Du Fan with relatively mild expressions, with a few even showing smiles, but the generals in black armor wore undisguised disgust and hatred on their faces. It seemed that peace talks this time… would be full of troubles! Initially, Du Fan hadn’t really thought about peace talks, but seeing the valiant appearance of the Lanni Empire’s army, he couldn’t help but feel lucky, and his desire for peace grew a bit stronger. A banquet had already been prepared in the hall, but unlike the sitting-style banquets of the Gavin Empire, the Lanni Empire’s banquet was arranged with separate tables. Garfield took Du Fan to two seats at the top of the hall, while Count Christopher sat in the first seat at the lower left, facing Leopold directly. As for Randy and the other servants, they didn’t have the right to sit and could only stand beside Du Fan. After sitting in the upper seats, Du Fan clearly felt that the gazes directed at him became increasingly hostile. He couldn’t help but sneer inwardly, though he did nothing. “Come on, let me introduce you to this person—this is Duke Du Fan, the genius of the Gavin Empire. I’m sure you’ve all heard of his name! In the capital of Gavin, this duke personally beheaded General Edgar!” Garfield introduced him casually, but those words reached Du Fan’s ears, prompting him to sneer again. That Edgar was one of Quested’s close followers, likely also under Prince Garfield’s control. By bringing this up here, was he trying to embarrass them? Or… Du Fan glanced around and saw that the generals in blood-colored armor wore sarcastic smiles, while those in black armor grew even more displeased. Meanwhile, Prince Garfield acted as if nothing had happened, still chatting cheerfully. Leopold, sitting at the lower end, also appeared calm. Although his armor was striking, it didn’t give off an arrogant impression.

At Garfield’s gesture, the generals below took their seats one after another. Garfield turned to Du Fan with a smile and said, “Duke, come here… Let me introduce you. Most of the people here are high-ranking generals in my Lani Empire’s army. I’ll introduce them to you one by one… Come on, let’s all raise a toast to Duke Du Fan. This way, we can get to know each other and be more cautious if we meet again in the future!”
Introduce the military generals of the Lani Empire to me? What exactly is Prince Garfield planning?
I’ve come here, and he refuses to make peace with me, yet still wants to introduce generals to me, a duke from an enemy country. Is Garfield crazy? Or does he think I’m crazy?
I really can’t figure it out…
I have no idea what Garfield is thinking. Logically, he should know that it was I who killed his right-hand man, Quested… He might be a bit colder toward me now, or… if he weren’t so eager, I might still understand. But his enthusiasm is excessive, yet completely sincere, which leaves me utterly confused!
Thinking of this, Du Fan could no longer sit still. After a few moments of reflection, he laughed heartily, picked up a glass of wine from the table in front of him, and said, “Your Highness Garfield, you’re too kind. These are all undefeated generals, while I’m just a young man. How dare I accept such a toast? Let me instead raise a toast to all of you generals!”
With that, Du Fan stood up and walked over to a black-armored general seated below Christopher. This general had a fierce appearance and an impressive aura, clearly a formidable opponent. His high seat also indicated his high status.
Du Fan approached him, smiled slightly, raised the glass in his hand, and said calmly, “This toast is for all the generals of the Lani Empire. I hope, out of respect for this drink, you won’t cause trouble to me, Du Fan, in the future!”
At that, Du Fan laughed heartily, but his gaze remained fixed on the general.
Originally, Du Fan’s words carried a playful tone, and anyone would have to respond politely with a toast in return.
But unexpectedly, the black-armored general simply smirked coldly, let out a deep snort, and stared somewhere off in the distance, neither standing up nor raising his glass. He completely ignored Du Fan.
The once harmonious atmosphere suddenly turned tense…

Volume 31: The Spirit of Youth