Igrit immediately lost her temper and became indignant since he went about it – what she considered an extremely important topic – in an overly casual way.

She had a fiery character, and so some strong words were exchanged, even some hints at the man's low moral character that irked Ron quite a bit, despite him not showing it.

"Wow, hey, no need to act like a bitch for a little joke," Ron frowned when she stepped over the line.

"Who's the scumbag womanizer trying to bang anything that moves, huh?!" But, as you might expect, she just had to have the last word.

"Look, I'm trying to be polite here," he quietly said as he stared into her eyes, his words carrying a dangerous undertone. "You might be protected since you work under the Northendark family, but you should not forget your place!"

Igrit gritted her teeth in anger, gave him a stern look, and shut her mouth. Ron was right. He provoked her and she fell for it like a child.

Slandering a superior carried a severe punishment in most cases, especially so when insulting a Guardian of The King. But since it has been years without any incident, many started to forget. Apart from apologizing, the best she could do now was simply walk away and not make things worse.

And so she did. She simply left without looking back and rejoined her group like nothing ever happened.

Gerald long since removed himself from the conversation, happy to just keep observing from a distance.

"Mhm," he nudged his mount while stuffing his face full of food, "See that, Toby? That's called politics… It's a whole bunch of useless banter that makes no sense. Don't try to understand them, it's bad for your health."

The Warg nodded in agreement despite being clueless on the topic while happily eating the delicious bones Gerald was handing it. The quality of the food here was even better than a fresh Orc. Best meal ever! Totally worth the sacrifice.

"Exactly!" Trevor came strolling around and inserted himself back into conversation while hugging Gerald across the shoulders like some close friend, a wine cup in one hand, and a piece of roasted meat in the other. "Politics are so boring! Studying magic is way more fun! Look at this!"

Trevor tossed the piece of meat to Toby, who gladly devoured it right away, and made some bizarre hand gestures to pull some water from the pond toward himself.

He then concentrated deeply, accompanied by an ever-changing facial expression, until the water turned into ice and then morphed into a miniature sword.

As an ice sculpture, it could be considered pretty good. Pretty good for a party trick!

Gerald was getting annoyed with the guy acting so familiar with him despite not having interacted much in the past. And above all, he was disrupting his meal. Honestly, the latter bothered him more.

And so, as a proper gentleman would(not), he decided to be petty.

"Oh wow, that's so cool," he faked enthusiasm. "Can I-" he touched the floating ice sword with his finger, suddenly turning it into mist.

"Wha-! Hey, that's not cool!" Travis protested. He worked so hard to make it! It took him nearly a whole minute! He was at the edge of despair. Suicide was among the options he considered at that instant.

"Oh no, let me try and fix it," Gerald continued with his charade.

To make the whole thing especially memorable, he started by pulling moisture directly out of the air. He lowered the temperature around them so that fog started condensing all by itself and then used that to make a small figurine.

Trevor stared at it, gawking with his mouth open like some low-class mouthbreather.

The tiny ice crystals formed beautiful snowflakes that swirled around Gerald, giving him a celestial aura, and then came together on his palm, creating a small person.

"It's… It's…" Trevor was at a loss for words. It was a miniature version of himself, about as large as a hand, completely made of white ice, and looked absolutely stunning!

"It's beautiful!" he eventually sighed.

"Here, take it," Gerald tossed the statue to him. A bit of telekinetic manipulation and it safely landed in Trevor's hands.

"F-for me?" The guy very nearly started to cry. Tears already started forming in his eyes as he looked at Gerald akin to a fan watching his favorite celebrity up close.

"Thank you! You are the best friend I ever had, I'll never forget-"

"Yes, yes, I'm a saint, I know. Now go away!" He had to shove off his new fanboy to not get snot from a grown-ass man all over himself.

"Let's just hope he is not going to start simping for me," Gerald murmured with a grim expression while watching Treavor leave. The guy was still smiling at him like a fool.

Such interactions were best forgotten. Unfortunately, Gerald would have to live with it from now on. Even alcohol didn't help in this case. That of course didn't mean he didn't drink, quite the opposite. Gerald took an entire bottle of wine and downed it akin to cold water on a hot day.

"Damn it Tabbris, where have you left me?" He silently cursed, "You could have at least told me what the fuck is going on!"

"You don't know?" Ravian approached him after catching his complaint. As Tabbris' right-hand man he knew quite a few things about Gerald, so he assumed he knew what was going on, especially since he was here.

"No, I don't… Care to enlighten me?"

"Look around you," Ravian said and gestured to the other party members. "Everybody is here. All four generals have finally gathered in Auralba, the Church of Innos sent a few of their members, and even the Ring of Water has its representatives here…"

"We've been only defending and delaying the monsters for a while, right?" He looked Gerald straight in the eyes and spoke with a serious tone, "But now it's time for the real war to begin!"