Chapter 001: Arrogance

Seeing the general in black armor behave in such a manner, the once lively atmosphere immediately turned cold, to the point where even the sound of a needle falling to the ground could be heard clearly.
Du Fan was extremely polite, yet the other party acted in such a way that Du Fan, given his current status, couldn’t afford to lose face. But Du Fan wasn’t annoyed. He sneered inwardly a few times before turning to look in the direction of Garfield.
Sure enough, he saw a slight change in Garfield’s expression. His usually graceful face suddenly twisted into a feigned anger as he shouted at the general in black armor, “General Adrian! What kind of person is Duke Du Fan? He’s offering you a drink—why refuse?”
General Adrian grunted and raised his head, saying, “Your Highness, I’ll hold off on drinking this for now. I’ve heard that this Duke Du Fan captured seven cities of my Laney Empire in just one night—so he must be quite remarkable! But after seeing him today, I realize he might not live up to his reputation after all! In my life, I’ve always admired true heroes! If he were really a hero, not to mention offering me a drink—even a hundred drinks I’d drink… But if not… Hmph…”
Although General Adrian didn’t finish his sentence, his meaning was clear.
Hearing this, Du Fan secretly smiled. It seemed Prince Garfield had indeed prepared himself! General Adrian had clearly been given instructions and was provoking him now to test his abilities and limits!
Well, young master, I’m not afraid of you testing me—I’m afraid you won’t!
Immediately, Du Fan glanced around the hall and saw that the generals in black armor all wore strange smiles on their faces. The generals in blood-red armor, likely unprepared for this turn of events, appeared somewhat surprised.
As for Leopold and Garfield, they sat calmly, making it impossible to tell what they were thinking.
Finally, there was Count Christopher, who simply smiled at Du Fan. When Du Fan looked his way, his eyes flickered slightly, but he said nothing.
It turned out that in such a situation, Leopold should have spoken up in my defense, but his attitude now suggested he had already prepared himself!

Thinking of this, Du Fan already understood—whether he wanted to or not, he had to agree to this test. Sigh… I understand the desire to show strength right from the start… but sending such a brute, do you really think I, Du Fan, am easy to deal with? Du Fan let out a soft sigh, calmly glanced at Adrian, then smiled slightly and said, “General Adrian, then tell me—how can you drink this glass in honor of me?” “It’s simple!” Adrian shouted loudly, suddenly drawing his long sword from his waist. With a sharp sound, the sword scraped against the wooden table in front of him. Then, with an arrogant expression, he said, “If Duke Du Fan is truly some kind of hero, then as long as you can surpass me in martial skills with your sword, I’ll drink this glass!” Adrian was indeed quite skilled—when he swung his sword, a flash of combat energy could be seen. Although the wooden table in front of him was pierced through, it didn’t split in two, showing that Adrian’s mastery of combat energy and martial skills was also quite high! Seeing this, Du Fan couldn’t help but shake his head slightly. Just as he was about to say something, Gaffield stood up and shouted, “Dare you, Adrian! With such a distinguished guest in the hall, how dare you draw your sword recklessly! Aren’t you afraid of military punishment?” After saying that, he glanced at Du Fan, smiled slightly, and said, “Duke, General Adrian is always straightforward. Please forgive him! He’s my top warrior. Even General Edgar, whom the Duke met before, was defeated by him. In terms of bravery, he’s second to none in the army of the Laney Empire! With your high status, Duke, how can you engage in such a trivial fight with a mere warrior? Let’s talk about more pleasant things instead!” Du Fan wore a half-smiling expression as he looked at Gaffield, saying nothing. Your Highness Gaffield, this play is going a bit too far… Without your orders, even if Adrian had a hundred times the courage, he wouldn’t dare do this, would he? With this thought, Du Fan realized that if he didn’t accept this challenge today, he would likely be underestimated.

Immediately, he sneered, casually smashing the glass in his hand on the ground before turning to General Adrian and saying indifferently, “General Adrian, are you saying… as long as I win your sword, you’ll drink from this glass? Does that mean you’ll also have to kneel down and lick it clean?”
At Du Fan’s words, all the military officers in the hall paled. General Adrian’s face turned red as he glared at Du Fan and said, “Duke! Don’t insult me too much! Though you’re a guest from afar, I, Adrian, am not someone who can’t teach you a lesson!”
Du Fan sneered inwardly. Since you refuse to give me face, should I, Du Fan, go out of my way to give you face?
He ignored General Adrian and instead turned to Gaffield, smiling faintly and saying, “What’s the matter, Prince Gaffield? Are your men really this insignificant? If we’re going to make a bet, it should be on a bigger scale… Otherwise, it wouldn’t be interesting at all.”
Before Gaffield could respond, Leopold laughed and said, “Duke, I think we should give up… Your request is a bit excessive. General Adrian will definitely refuse. Maybe you should change your conditions—then perhaps he’ll agree to compete!”
Upon hearing Leopold’s words, Gaffield’s expression changed.
Du Fan also smirked inwardly. Leopold and Gaffield clearly had a tense relationship. At this small banquet, Leopold either stayed silent or, once he spoke, forced Gaffield into a corner with no way out!
Sure enough, Gaffield’s expression shifted slightly. He snorted coldly and stared at Adrian, shouting, “General Adrian, since you want to see Duke Du Fan’s skills, then compete! But if you lose, you’ll have to face the punishment! You’ll have to decide then!”
Gaffield was quite a figure—he refused to mention licking the wine at all, trying to ignore that aspect entirely.
But Du Fan was no ordinary person—he wouldn’t let him get such an easy advantage. With a laugh, he said, “No rush! No rush! Prince Gaffield, how about this… If General Adrian wins, I, Du Fan, will kneel down and lick the wine clean! But if he loses, you, Prince Gaffield, will have to do the same. What do you say?”
Gaffield’s expression changed slightly. He originally didn’t believe Du Fan had any real skills!

After all, at Du Fan’s age—only sixteen or seventeen—how many people his age truly possess real skills? Even if news of the coup reached Prince Garfield’s ears, he would likely treat it as a joke and take it seriously at all.

Though this meeting made him view Du Fan a bit more highly, he still didn’t really think Du Fan could be that formidable. But now, seeing Du Fan’s actions… even the usually composed Prince Garfield couldn’t help but hesitate a bit…

If his side won, it would be good to embarrass Du Fan greatly. But if he lost, he might…

Although he didn’t believe Du Fan could win, there was always a possibility, and that would be bad!

On top of that, Leopold was right there, waiting to laugh at him… It was better to be cautious!

Prince Garfield, being so cunning, laughed and said, “Duke Du Fan, you’re just joking! With your status, even if you lose, how could you do such a thing? How about we change the condition? Whoever loses must drink a penalty drink!”

A penalty drink?

Du Fan sneered inwardly. He glanced around and suddenly pointed at an unopened jar of wine on one side of the hall, smiling and saying, “In that case, if General Adrian loses, he’ll have to drink this jar of wine!”

This time, before Garfield could respond, General Adrian already shouted, “Fine! If I lose, I’ll drink it all!”

With that, he quickly drew his long sword from his waist, stepped back to an open area in the hall, raised his sword, and locked onto Du Fan’s energy flow before roaring, “Then, Duke, Adrian will seek your guidance here!”

Unexpectedly, Du Fan gently shook his head and smiled faintly, saying, “General Adrian, you must be overestimating yourself a bit. When have I ever said I’d fight you personally? With your status, you’re not even worthy… Such a person… can only fight servants!”

As he spoke, Du Fan glanced at Randy, who had been standing by one side of the hall, and smiled lightly, saying, “Commander Randy, this battle is left to you! Remember well! If you lose, it won’t just be my reputation that’s at stake—it’ll also be your family’s!”

Randy could never have imagined that Du Fan would drag this disaster upon himself. But as the commander, he had no choice but to obey such an order. He could only perform a knightly salute to Du Fan from a distance, grit his teeth, and then declare loudly, “Randy will surely not disappoint the Duke!” With that, he drew his long sword from his waist with a clang, stepped forward several paces, and entered the hall, pointing his sword at Adrian and saying calmly, “General Adrian, Randy seeks your guidance!”