******************

Meanwhile, in one of the secured rooms of the villa, a few people could be seen drinking and talking with each other. Suddenly, they felt the aura of an S-Rank hunter, which was immediately followed by the aura of an SS-Rank hunter.

“Did something happen outside?” one of the people spoke while putting his drink on the table.

“Hahahaha, it seems the youngsters are having fun,” Nathan spoke while drinking from his glass.

ƥαṇdα-ηθνε|·ƈθm

The people in the room were friends of Nathan who came to meet him after knowing that he was attending his grandson’s birthday party. Many of these people held a considerable amount of power in the economy of Somaria. The group continued on talking among each other, ignoring the ruckus happening outside.

*******************

After the gift ceremony of a big family, it was a tradition to select the best gift. Everyone was looking forward to whose gift Asher would choose.

“I think he would choose the elixir,” one of the women talked among the group of ladies.

“Young Master Kevin’s gift is also worthy of being the best gift,” one of the women beside her expressed her opinion.

“Rothschild are not lacking behind either, and don’t forget the Williams are there as well,”

“So which Elite family would have the honor of the best gift?”

People started chatting as all the gifts were presented. Kevin also could hear praising his gift. Although he disliked Asher so far, but he needed to fulfill the wishes of his family, and this gift was indeed given for making favourable connections with the Greville as they were the most powerful Elite family in Somaria.

Emmy arrived soon after she left, and behind her was a maid who was holding a canvas-like structure which was covered with a black cloth. She took the canvas and came towards Asher. Everybody present there were confused by this new development.

“I appreciate all the gifts so far, but for the best gift tonight, I have chosen the most pleasing gift I have received.” He took the black cloth off and the canvas revealed a painting.

Everybody was confused by seeing the painting, some were speculating it could be an expensive artist’s painting, but nobody could recognize it. It depicted a far-stretched grassland on a sunny day where a tree stood in the center. Two cats could be seen napping under the shade of the tree. It gave a calm summertime feeling.

“This is by far the best gift I have received today,” Asher announced. Seeing a painting of an unknown artist being more valuable than the gifts presented earlier offended quite a lot of people in the crowd, but nobody could dare voice their opinions.

“Hahahaha, it seems like the Whiteheart family lost to a painting,” a young boy laughed among his group. Although he was immediately stopped by his parents, but Kevin, who heard his voice, could only hold his anger inside him. This was a social event, and he was representing his family here, and this meant he could only be on his best behavior, unlike the time when he tried to attack Asher at the airport.

Listening to the young boy’s remarks, many of his peers started giggling among each other. They were already jealous of Kevin, as he was rumored to be a prodigy and was surrounded by two of the most beautiful girls at the party. Although they could not confront him because of his status, they used Asher as a shield to insult and mock Kevin.

“It seems Young Master Asher does not put our families in his eyes,” Elena noticed Kevin being insulted, so she decided to carry out her plan. “How is this painting worth more than our gifts? Are you trying to mock our families?” Elena questioned Asher. ‘You brought it upon yourself,’ she thought to herself. Seeing Kevin being ridiculed made her angry, and she was not going to sit around and watch Asher mock them.

“So what?” Asher replied with an indifferent face. “Why should I bother with your families? It’s my party, and this is Soran Miss Rothschild. I guess you already know the consequences of what happens when somebody speaks carelessly in front of me, enough to not repeat the same mistakes again?” Asher mocked Elena in front of everyone.

Many people were shocked by the way Asher ridiculed one of the most powerful families in front of all these people. Elena’s behavior could be considered rude, but Asher was plainly threatening her in front of everybody.

Hearing this, Kevin forgot about saving the reputation of his family and was ready to return Asher’s words and stepped forward, but he was stopped by Elena.

“I heard the grandson of the Swordgod was quite talented in his sword talent. You even learnt it just by watching the person demonstrate the moves to you,” Elena spoke with a smirk on her face.

“What are you trying to imply, Elena?” Amelia spoke to calm the two parties. She did not want them to argue with each other and wanted to stop the fire before it spread further.

“Stop, And what do you want with that information, Miss Rothschild?” Asher stopped Amelia from speaking further, his cold gaze landed on Elena again.

“I mean, I heard about your talent and wanted to see if it was true or not. I wanted to have a friendly bout with you after the party, but-” Elena was speaking, but Asher cut her off.

“Stop being annoying and tell me what you want. I don’t have so much time to entertain your tantrums.” Asher’s indifference ignited even more anger inside Elena.

“Why don’t we have hand-to-hand combat duel right here, right now?” Elena challenged Asher.

“Elena, what are you doing?” Eva tried to stop the fight. She did not think Elena would outright ask for a duel with Asher. As the news of Asher’s awakening was not spread, everyone assumed Asher to be an unawakened person. Even Eva thought of Asher as an unawakened person.

“Don’t worry, I would not use my mana against you, but if you are too afraid to fight me, I would not force you,” Elena asked worriedly. Although inside she was smiling, thinking of how she would trap Asher into accepting the duel.

Arthur and Sylvie were silent, they did not intervene slightly in this matter. They knew about Asher’s strength, so they did not see a reason to stop this.

‘This might be a good way for Asher to announce himself as an awakened person,’ Arthur thought to himself.

“Isn’t it bad for him to fight an awakened person?” Several people were muttering among themselves.

“No need, we can have this duel. Emmy, take this painting away from here,” Asher agreed to Elena’s challenge.

“Oh, it seems like you are quite confident in yourself, kid, but I hope the adults won’t interfere in the duel of the youngsters,” Louis looked at Arthur and spoke mockingly.

“Mom, Dad, no need to interfere in the duel,” Asher indifferently said and moved from his position.

“If the young people want to resolve it between themselves, then what could I say,” Arthur obviously knew Asher’s strength after his dungeon trip, so he was confident that Asher could beat Elena, who was known as a person following the path of a mage. Sylvie also did not speak against it. Amelia could do nothing now that her parents also agreed upon this. The twins were anxious as to why suddenly this blond girl wanted to fight Asher. Lucas, especially, found Elena and Kevin quite annoying.

“Stephen, arrange for the duel to happen right now,” Arthur signaled Stephen.

The other guests couldn’t follow what just happened. Just a couple of moments ago, they were celebrating, and now two people from Elite families were going to have a duel. Eva could only sigh, watching her Elena, who went to get changed into her training suit as she already brought a nano-armor suit for herself.

Kevin was looking forward to seeing the beaten face of Asher already. He was confident that Elena would be able to beat Asher, who was known for disinterest in awakening in hand-to-hand combat. Emmy had already brought her nano-suit bracelet, so she got ready quite quickly.

“Elena, don’t go overboard, okay?” Louis seriously told Elena as she was leaving the room given to her to change into the training suit.

“I know. I will only mock him in this duel. Winning is not my goal. I want to see how he will look after acting so cocky till now,” it seemed that her anger for Asher had already turned into hate.

She arrived, seeing a square area of 20 meters where she would have a mock battle with Asher. They could not use weapons. She saw Asher, who was still in his suit and did not change into a proper training armor.

“Are you backing out now?” Elena mockingly asked Asher.

“Come here and fight. No need to run that mouth of yours so much,” Asher stepped into the training area while other guests were spectating and guessing who the winner would be.

“YOU-” Elena wanted to say something but she stopped,

“Alright, let’s see this arrogant attitude of yours when you face me,” Elena also stepped into the ring.

Louis stood on the other side of Asher behind Elena with Kevin and Eva. Arthur and Sylvie were already sitting on their seats. Most of the young children were excited to watch this duel. Adults were the same, although nobody was voicing it. They also wanted to know how good Asher was.

“Will he be fine?” Damian asked Amelia, as he also didn’t know about Asher’s awakening like the others present here.

“Don’t worry, Ash is strong enough to defeat her,” Sylvie replied to Damian’s question.