Chapter 247: Princess’s Visit No. 247
"Alas..."
Back in the office, Yuri seemed to have no heart for work, sitting at her desk and continuously sighing.
Even Marilyn found it hard to watch.
"How about I go call back Young Master Ian and Miss Mistis?"
Marilyn intended to help her master round up the carefree siblings.
"Forget it," Yuri still sighed, her voice faint, "They hardly have any entertainment in the main house, and rarely have the chance to play so wildly. Just let them go."
You, Miss, should stop acting as if your brother and sister have gone astray and can never return to their innocent and adorable past, okay?
Marilyn hesitated, wanting to speak and stopping herself repeatedly, but eventually she gave up on persuading.
"Never mind them, let’s attend to other matters," Yuri slapped her cheeks, forcing herself to shift focus, "Those letters addressed to Reiger and the invitations for meetings, have you passed them on for him to see?"
"I’ve entrusted them to the butler," Marilyn said as her master pulled herself together, "But it seems Mr. Reiger hasn’t looked at them. He left everything to the butler, who didn’t dare to handle them on his own, so they’re all with me now."
"That’s right. Now, those daring to send letters and meeting invitations to Reiger are certainly not the lesser nobility, but big nobles at the very least, and quite a few higher-ranked than our family, including Dukes." Yuri nodded, "It’s perfectly normal for the butler not to handle them indiscriminately."
"I glanced over them tentatively, and indeed, most are from Marquis-level nobility, not a few from Dukes, and surprisingly less from Earls. Perhaps they feel it’s not quite their place to proactively establish a relationship with a Sword Saint?" Marilyn spoke without fluctuation, "However, among the letters from the Earls, there are still the usual meeting invitations from Reiger’s two friends."
She was, of course, referring to Aquil and Kaliya.
"Those two really are persistent," Yuri said flatly, "Kaliya Liat is forgivable; she’s probably just a bridge. Aquil Rein, on the other hand, is being somewhat presumptuous."
"Intelligence shows that since Reiger became a Sword Saint, the Rein Family’s second son has been anxious to meet him. Earl Rein has also changed his attitude dramatically, claiming that if he can invite Mr. Reiger to visit, he would be designated as the heir," Marilyn spoke, "This has made the second son a bit restless."
Marilyn did not tell Yuri that Aquil has actually visited the Fransel house several times these past days.
But since Reiger spent every day in the arena accepting challenges, the arena was not only packed with spectators inside and out but also guarded by Ai En and Ian taking turns with the Fransel knights maintaining order. Aquil could not even enter, thus each time he could only arrive with great eagerness and leave thoroughly disheartened.
Can you believe that a second son of an Earl’s family couldn’t even get inside the door, let alone squeeze into the arena?
But there was no helping it; this was the Fransel house, and Aquil as an Earl’s second son dared not pull rank, and he didn’t even venture to have people make way for him to get a glimpse of the arena.
There were many nobles who came wanting to meet Reiger, and many took the opportunity of Reiger’s dueling to try to establish a relationship with him, but why would Reiger care?
He set up the arena matches to reap the daily delivery of free experience, not to entertain these so-called nobles, surely lacking the mood to receive them, and even less interest.
Thus, Reiger had long instructed Ai En and Ian to allow only those prepared to challenge to approach the arena and keep the rest at a distance.
Besides, among the crowd there might pop up others from Earl, Marquis, or even Duke families. Not wishing to cause any trouble, Aquil naturally had no choice but to withdraw in defeat.
Marilyn chose not to mention these details because she felt there was no need to speak of them.
Whether to Yuri or to the present Reiger, a person from an Earl’s family didn’t matter; even if he wasn’t just a family member without a confirmed inheritance, but the Earl himself, they could easily deny him an audience.
Even those from Marquis families, if not the ruling Marquis themselves, neither Reiger nor Yuri needed to attend to them personally.
However, children of Duke families were, being royalty and considered branches of the royal family, imbued with substantial influence within the kingdom, making them difficult to refuse.
If a Duke himself came visiting, even Yuri would have to personally greet him, and their meeting invitations certainly could not be casually dismissed.
"Let’s do this, bring me the letters bearing the Duke’s names. I’ll look them over and reply personally," Yuri decided, "For the rest, you can respond with a unified rejection."
Since Reiger had no interest in these matters, and he might even discard a Duke’s letter, let alone respond or accept meeting invitations, Yuri could only help him decline more tactfully.
After all, they were a significant part of the kingdom’s upper echelon, and completely ignoring them would undeniably offend people.
Therefore, even without interest, they needed to be declined tactfully and seriously, to save face for the others. It was unnecessary to create enemies over such trifles. Being targeted would also be troublesome.
Yuri was quite adept at such matters and knew the best way to handle them.
When she became a Marquis as a strategic Magician, her popularity was on par with, if not exceeding, Reiger’s current fame.
"Yes."
Marilyn, of course, had no objections.
Just then, Ai En knocked and entered.
"Miss!"
It was rare to see the usually composed and calm female knight in such a rush.
"What is it?"
Yuri furrowed her brows, looking at Ai En.
"There is, there is a visitor."
Ai En was as concise as ever, yet her face showed an unusual trace of agitation.
"Who?"
Yuri unconsciously asked.
The next second, Ai En made a reply that slightly changed the expressions of both Yuri and Marilyn.
"The princess of the royal family,"
Ai En took a deep breath and said so.
"Her Highness Liz Genius."
...
At that time, Reiger was still in the arena, welcoming his one hundred and ninety-ninth challenge, about to defeat the two hundredth opponent.
That might sound quite intimidating, but in reality, it wasn’t much compared to the number of challenges Reiger had faced in the past few days.
Reiger’s arena was nearly non-stop from morning to evening, with no intention of pausing except for a meal, and only ceased operating when the sun was about to set in the evening.
And with Reiger’s swift pace of dispatching opponents, facing a thousand challenges in a day wasn’t a problem at all, so this number really wasn’t significant.
Just as Reiger was merrily "harvesting" his challengers, down below, next to Ian who was diligently registering the names and order of challengers, a knight rushed over in a fluster and whispered in her ear.
"What?"
Ian’s actions stopped abruptly, and her face showed surprise.
"Boom!"
At that moment, a thunderous roar fittingly rang out, allowing a flash of lightning to strike down the challenger who had just stepped onto the stage.
"Next."
Reiger sheathed his sword and stood firm. This time, he did not offer any guidance but simply announced to those below.
However, this time Ian did not call the name of the next challenger.
"Wait a moment, Mr. Reiger."
She approached with a serious look on her face and came to Reiger’s side.
"What’s the matter?"
Reiger was slightly taken aback and looked at Ian with confusion.
Could it be that this female knight wanted to come up for guidance once more?
In the past few days, aside from external challengers, people from the Franzer household also challenged Reiger.
That would be Ai En and Ian.
Seeing that Reiger truly possessed the strength of a Sword Saint and was willing to accept anyone’s challenge and give pointers, they, like the other swordsmen, became eager.
A Sword Saint’s guidance, which even the special beings like the Lees brothers greatly benefited from, would certainly be irresistible to swordsmen of Ai En and Ian’s level.
Bear in mind that although Ai En and Ian were both formal swordsmen, they were certainly not veterans.
The two had only been recognized swordsmen for a short time, less than two years, and could only be considered novices among the formal swordsmen.
Experienced swordsmen like the Lees brothers, Marco, and Old, had strengths that were at least equivalent to the very bottom of Lv.6, while newly advanced swordsmen like Ai En and Ian were only at the very bottom of Lv.5, a full grade below.
The sword techniques they had learned were not even of the special class, hence, it’s evident that if they had the chance to be guided by a Sword Saint, it would be an incredibly rare opportunity for them.
Therefore, not long ago, they too challenged Reiger and received his guidance.
For his own people, Reiger naturally didn’t hold back the way he did with others, and so his advice to Ai En and Ian was comprehensive.
For Reiger, who thoroughly understood the world, could see through the truth and bluff of others’ sword techniques, and had spent such a long time as a sparring guide in the Demon Slayer World, it wasn’t particularly difficult.
In light of this, Reiger’s pointers were genuinely helpful, greatly benefiting Ai En and Ian. They hadn’t skimped on following him around lately, eagerly absorbing his teachings.
Reiger thought that Ian had once again become keen to learn and was about to come up for some tips.
However, this time Reiger clearly guessed wrong.
"Mr. Reiger, we have an important visitor,"
Ian approached Reiger and spoke softly into his ear, bringing with her a sweet scent.
"A visitor?" Reiger felt slightly uncomfortable and frowned at Ian’s words, asking, "Who is it?"
The person who Ian would interrupt her own tasks to consult must be someone of significance, right?
Indeed...
"It’s Her Highness, the princess of the royal family," Ian said with pursed lips: "Her Highness specifically asked to see you by name."
Reiger fell silent for a moment.