Chapter 57: Mysterious Background

Laribode Selaya.

This name itself represents a legend.

Within the entire Kingdom of Wester, almost everyone knows his history. At the age of twenty, he entered the ranks of high-level mages, then used only three years to enter the Mage Council, becoming the youngest grand mage. In the subsequent battle with Dikar, he demonstrated his incomparable powerful strength. Not only did he single-handedly resist enemy forces several times his own, but he also broke through what seemed to be a certain death situation. Especially in the battle of Sunset Valley fifty years ago, he proved his wisdom and power to the world. Originally, Dikar planned to use the terrain of the valley to ambush the army of the Kingdom of Wester, but Laribode saw through it and turned the tables, leading Dikar’s army into a dead end. In the end, Dikar’s strongest imperial guard was completely annihilated in Sunset Valley, and even the supreme commander of Dikar, known as the Tiger of Falling Night, perished. Since then, Laribode has become a legendary figure known to all in the Kingdom of Wester. In fact, if he hadn’t been obsessed with magic, the kingdom’s three major combat legions might have included his as well. Even so, no one dares to underestimate Laribode’s strength. He controls all the mages within the Kingdom of Wester and is the commander-in-chief of the Court Mage Guard. In terms of both power and status, he is unmatched.

Even His Majesty the King has to politely address Laribode as “Master” when meeting him. Yet this young man, who looks no more than twenty, dares to call him by name without any courtesy?

Hearing Julian’s words, everyone present was shocked, their mouths wide open, unable to utter a single word.

This isn’t just disrespect; given his status, this is simply… this is simply…

Only now did everyone suddenly realize that they knew absolutely nothing about this young noble before them!?

Who exactly is he? What’s his background?

Thinking of this, everyone’s gaze towards Julian was filled with confusion. Julian’s direct use of Laribode’s name had greatly shocked them, and for a moment they had overlooked his age. But now looking closely, they found he was only about twenty years old, just barely an adult, still just a young man. And it was this young man who had just demonstrated the strength of a high-rank swordsman?!

At this point, everyone realized that Julian’s identity had become somewhat mysterious. Many among them were familiar with noble circles, but they had never heard of such a genius emerging from any noble family. It should be known that being able to become a high-rank swordsman at twenty means he’s certain to rise to knighthood in his lifetime! And such a person with unlimited potential and powerful strength shouldn’t be unknown in the Kingdom of Wester! No, no, no, even if he came from one of those great families, he shouldn’t be so disrespectful to Laribode. But now, a young noble with the strength of a high-rank swordsman dares to use such a scolding tone to order the Mage Guard to go to Laribode and tell him to discipline his subordinates?

If an ordinary person said these words, they would either be crazy or an idiot. But now this young man genuinely has the strength of a high-rank swordsman. Everyone had seen the Soul Sword Light earlier. They never imagined they would encounter a high-rank swordsman in this small city!

“Well…”

The members of the Mage Guard weren’t fools either. After the initial anger, they quickly calmed down. The leading warrior frowned, vigilantly observing and sizing up Julian before him, carefully choosing his words before speaking.

“May I ask who you are…”

“You don’t need to know,” Julian smiled slightly, then reached into his robe and took out a gold coin, tossing it towards the warrior opposite him.

Faced with Julian’s sudden action, the warrior was confused, but he instinctively reached out to catch the gold coin. Just then, suddenly a flash of cold light appeared, and the gold coin seemed to be struck by something, jumping up, spinning twice in the air before falling into the warrior’s hand. When the warrior looked closely, he was surprised to find that in the center of the gold coin, a crack had appeared at some point, forming a strange Y shape.

“Just give this gold coin to him, and he’ll know who I am,” Julian sheathed his sword, his usual smile reappearing on his face.

“Now, I don’t want to see you here anymore… understand my meaning?”

“Of-of course, respected sir.”

The other party had spoken so clearly that the warriors naturally had nothing more to say. After all, standing before them was a high-rank swordsman! And such a young high-rank swordsman at that! As for that court mage? What a joke, he’s just an ordinary member of the Court Mage Squad. Would they offend a potentially influential figure for his sake? They absolutely wouldn’t do such a thing.

Having understood this point, these warriors quickly left. Although the court mage was unwilling, he also realized that he had no support at the moment. Although mages generally have high status, they are only on par with high-rank swordsmen. Moreover, he now had no spellcasting ability. A mage without magical power is almost no different from a useless person, so the Mage Association probably wouldn’t fall out with a high-rank swordsman for such a useless person. Thinking of this, the court mage could only glare fiercely at Ophariel before turning and limping away.

“Thank you very much for your help, my lord,” Ophariel watched these people leave with concern, frowning slightly and speaking in a low voice with a guilty expression. Although she hadn’t figured out exactly what had happened, the clever princess had already guessed that the court mage’s loss of composure was likely related to her momentary uncontrolled burst of magical power. This made her feel uneasy deep inside. If her guess was correct, this incident could be said to have been caused by her. And now Julian had stood up for her strongly. If it caused any trouble, it would be very unfavorable for the development of the territory. After all, the other party was a court mage, whose influence far exceeded what Julian, a country noble from a remote area, could contend with.

Compared to those who were uncertain and suspicious of Julian’s identity, Ophariel believed she had some understanding of Julian. This young lord probably didn’t have any powerful backing, and his recent words, in Ophariel’s view, were just another demonstration of his most skilled psychological warfare. Ophariel had long known that this lord’s most skilled trick was to be mysterious. For every sentence he spoke, as long as he didn’t give a definitive explanation, any guess from the other party could be completely wrong.

But these little tricks were just little tricks after all. If the other party returned to the royal city and investigated carefully, Julian’s status as a fallen noble would be immediately discovered. Then what would happen next…

Ophariel lowered her head, almost unable to imagine what would happen.

“Don’t worry, there’s nothing to be afraid of,” Faced with Ophariel’s concerns, Julian appeared very carefree. He still wore his usual relaxed and elegant smile, reaching out to pat Ophariel’s shoulder lightly.

“We should go back and rest too. Being disturbed by such boring things is really unlucky.”

Saying this, Julian smiled and looked around. Those who met his gaze involuntarily retreated, lowering their heads at the same time. What a joke, if this young man really had the powerful influence and backing as they thought, they absolutely didn’t want to have any relationship or trouble with him!

Julian’s intervention no longer seemed so strange to these people now. After all, when Ophariel spoke earlier, they had heard her voice. That sweet and gentle voice, as beautiful as heavenly music, and her tactful and well-educated tone, all indicated that this young woman was no ordinary girl, possibly even a beauty. For a young man to help his female companion was quite natural and not improper at all. However, people were still a bit puzzled in their hearts. That court mage didn’t seem like a lecher, so why would he go and trouble a young girl?

Julian, of course, wouldn’t answer these questions. Under everyone’s gaze, he quickly left the hall with Ophariel, returning to their own guest room. The only one who was somewhat depressed was the inn owner. With a court mage on one side and a high-rank swordsman on the other, it wasn’t good to ask either for compensation. In the end, he could only swallow this loss with a dejected face.

After entering the room, Julian arranged for Ophariel to go rest, then turned around, smiling at the guards following behind him.

“Mr. Caster, I think you’ve seen enough excitement, haven’t you?”

“This… I don’t know what you’re talking about, my lord.”

Hearing Julian’s smiling words, Caster’s body trembled slightly. Although he did intend to test Julian’s strength, being exposed by the other party still made Caster somewhat uneasy. Indeed, he had long guessed that this young man wasn’t easy to deal with, but he didn’t expect him to be this formidable! Not only did he dare to call Laribode by name, but he actually demonstrated the strength of a high-rank swordsman… Holy Grace above, where did this monster of a young man come from?

At this moment, Caster was inwardly crying out in dismay, while also secretly cursing that damned Viscount Euwen. He had said this lord was just an ordinary noble youth, with nothing worth noting. A twenty-year-old high-rank swordsman not worth noting? Did a donkey kick his brain?!

“What’s past is past… I don’t intend to cause any trouble, but…”

Saying this, Julian paused before continuing.

“In the coming days, I hope you’ll stick to your duties as guards. That shouldn’t be a problem, right?”

“Of course not, respected lord!” Hearing this, Caster’s heart relaxed, and he hurriedly spoke up.

“Please rest assured and leave it to us. We will definitely do our best!”

“I hope so.”

Hearing this, Julian nodded and said nothing more. Seeing that the atmosphere between the two sides had finally eased, Caster also let out a long sigh of relief inwardly. If he had any doubts before, now he absolutely wouldn’t have any thoughts – oh, no, he still needed to curse that stupid and idiotic viscount once more. How could he throw him to such a thorny character?

But mistakes can lead to happy accidents. If he could establish a relationship with such a powerful person, then in the future…

Thinking of this, Caster hurriedly approached.

“My lord, please forgive my rudeness. With you displaying your abilities so openly, what if the Zach family finds out? After all, in our hands…”

Although he didn’t say it explicitly, his meaning was clear. Julian’s high-profile display of himself, and this incident occurring within Zach territory, would definitely lead to an investigation by the Zach family. At that time, wouldn’t they and their charge become the focus of attention? This seemed completely contrary to the goal of this mission.

However, contrary to Caster’s expectations, Julian looked at him with a puzzled expression, as if he had said something extremely stupid.

“Did I ever say we were traveling incognito?” Julian asked in return.