As someone who had visited this place once before, Riezel had gained a fair understanding of Hydromel Restaurant, the high-class restaurant that was open exclusively to nobles.
The first floor consisted of a grand hall specifically reserved for banquets and ballroom parties.
The second floor contained private rooms for minor nobles such as viscounts and barons.
The third floor was reserved exclusively for major nobles like counts, marquises, and dukes.
Needless to say, the establishment displayed the rigid hierarchy and clear distinction of status among the medieval nobility to the fullest, allowing anyone to clearly understand what privilege truly meant.
No matter how much people tried to deny it, in this world, nobles were the privileged class, while the royal family stood above everyone else. Only the truly powerful could overturn the class divide and earn recognition from high society, while ordinary commoners could never resist that reality.
If Riezel had been a hot-blooded young man who despised privilege, perhaps he would have devoted himself to changing this situation.
Unfortunately, although there were certainly things he disliked, he understood better than anyone that even without nobles or the royal family, privilege would still exist everywhere.
Rulers possessed privilege.
Merchants possessed privilege.
Capitalists possessed privilege.
Even wealthy commoners possessed privilege as well.
Undeniably, there had never been absolute fairness in this world. Even if the royal family and the nobility were overthrown, it would only mean replacing one group of privileged people with another under a different system.
Because of that, Riezel had never once thought about changing everything.
What he could do was become strong enough to obliterate every trace of malice directed toward him and make those who believed they could use their privilege to suppress him regret it.
And he had accomplished exactly that.
Counting the time he had spent traveling between worlds, more than a year—nearly two years—had passed since he had arrived in this world.
In just two years, he had truly reached the summit of this world.
With the Hidden Land remaining secluded and the ancient magic civilization already destroyed, his combat power, which surpassed that of an ordinary Sword Saint by more than two levels, made it no exaggeration to say that he had become practically invincible.
As a result, he no longer needed to simply follow Yuri around at various social gatherings. Instead, it was now the young women around him who followed at his side while receiving the respectful gazes of everyone present.
Indeed, when Riezel led Yuri and the others into the highest-ranked banquet hall on the first floor under the guidance of a waiter, the noise throughout the hall noticeably subsided.
"Sir Brynhart and Marquis Frenzel!"
"So those two really came..."
"Could the three ladies following Sir Brynhart be...?"
"They’re the two female Sword Saints who were recently awarded the Sword Saint Medal!"
"In that case, the other one must be the rumored Princess Lizbeth?"
"Amazing..."
"Three Sword Saints appearing together, along with Marquis Frenzel..."
"Hmm, this has to be the strongest force in the kingdom, doesn’t it?"
Whispers immediately spread throughout the hall.
Three Sword Saints and one Strategic-Class Magician—no matter how anyone looked at it, this was undoubtedly the most powerful force currently within Jinas.
Now that the members of this group had finally appeared before everyone’s eyes, it would have been strange if they had not drawn countless respectful gazes.
Especially Riezel, who walked at the front while chatting cheerfully with Yuri, drew incomparably more solemn expressions from everyone as their gazes fell upon him.
It couldn’t be helped.
He was both a Sword Saint and a Strategic-Class Magician.
Two female Sword Saints also served under him, while even Marquis Frenzel had gradually begun treating him as the group’s leader.
Moreover, there were also rumors that the Shadow Sword Saint, Rohm, had fallen at his hands, that he had defeated Jinas’s strongest Old Sword Saint, and that even Sorren Jinas, who had murdered his father and seized the throne, had been slain by him within the Cordelion residence while fighting alongside the mind-controlled One-Eyed Sword Saint, Hardt.
In this world, those countless rumors alone were enough to leave the assembled nobles deeply shaken.
It should be noted that many of the people present had watched Riezel rise to prominence from the very beginning.
For example, Count Phillip Charlier still vividly remembered meeting Riezel in Frenzel Territory.
At the time, Riezel had merely been an exceptionally promising Sword Master and Tactical-Class Magician. Even then, he had already been someone worthy of attention, though not yet someone who inspired fear.
Yet little more than half a year had passed, and the young man who had chatted with him so casually in Frenzel Territory had now risen to a position where every noble—and even the royal family—had no choice but to consider his wishes before taking action.
Thinking of his personal attendant, Phillip sighed as he chatted with another marquis among the crowd, feeling as though one generation of rising stars had already been replaced by the next.
Several others were also watching Riezel’s group with complicated expressions.
Among them was Albert Borley.
Ever since being defeated by Riezel in a single strike—the battle that had established Riezel’s reputation as the Lightning Sword Saint—the knight captain appeared to have thrown himself into grueling training.
Now, the aura surrounding him had grown stronger and stronger, already carrying a faint trace of a Sword Saint’s presence.
Because of that, many members of noble families had gathered around the Borley family’s heir earlier, praising him and claiming that it would not be long before the kingdom welcomed another Sword Saint.
Albert himself had been full of confidence that, after a little more time, he would officially step into that realm and become a Sword Saint.
Recently, that had become Albert’s conviction.
But now, upon seeing Riezel once more, he no longer dared entertain such thoughts.
Albert looked at Riezel with a complicated expression, feeling a faint sense of defeat.
As the heir to a family of Sword Saints, he had once been celebrated throughout Jinas and the neighboring nations as a prodigy, but ever since losing to Riezel, that label had all but vanished.
Now, people only remembered Jinas’s seventeen-year-old Sword Saint. Hardly anyone remembered Albert Borley anymore—the genius who had once been praised as someone destined to become a Sword Saint before the age of thirty.
Truthfully, the feeling left him with mixed emotions because he knew that all he could do now was look up to Riezel.
It was only natural, considering Riezel had defeated Jinas’s strongest Old Sword Saint and had even slain the Shadow Sword Saint, Rohm.
Albert suddenly recalled the words his father had spoken after the kingdom’s upheaval.
Albert smiled bitterly.
Another person watching Riezel with similarly complicated eyes was a red-haired young woman.
It was none other than Carrera, the eldest daughter of the Elliott family.
"Fufu, you’re not going over to say hello?"
Standing beside her in a crimson evening gown, Serena chuckled softly before asking.
As the biological younger sister of Sergius Cordelion, the current favorite to inherit the throne, Serena naturally had every right to attend this banquet while Duke Cordelion himself was away from the royal capital.
Carrera, meanwhile, had attended as the future head of the Elliott family.
Yes, Carrera was about to inherit her family’s title and become the next Count Elliott.
It was inevitable.
Not only had the head of the Elliott family died tragically, but Carrera’s father had also passed away. Several other siblings with succession rights had likewise died one after another, leaving the family on the brink of extinction.
Had it not been for the protection of the Cordelion family, their overlord house, the Elliott family might no longer have existed.
With the Cordelion family’s support, Carrera, who had served as Serena’s follower, had ultimately been chosen as the next family head. Once the new king ascended the throne, she would officially receive her title and become the next Count Elliott.
As the head of a count family—a major noble house—Carrera naturally possessed the right to vote in the royal succession and was therefore qualified to attend this banquet.
Ordinarily, a young and beautiful future countess backed by the powerful Cordelion family should have had no shortage of people eager to befriend her at an event like this.
However...
"What right do I have to greet someone that important now?"
Carrera said with a self-deprecating smile, the bitterness in her voice impossible to conceal.
"You’re right..." Serena admitted without denying it. She then sighed as she looked toward Riezel, together with Carrera. "Honestly, forget about you—even I’m not sure I’m qualified to go over and speak with him anymore..."
Even now, the astonishing slash with which Riezel had instantly defeated Hardt before killing Sorren remained vivid in Serena’s memory. Whenever she recalled that slash, she realized that the young man before her had already reached an unimaginable level of strength.
Even more unbelievable was the fact that two female Sword Saints willingly served under him as attendants.
Without exaggeration, that level of power had become influential enough to affect the entire kingdom. Even the Royal Faction and the Duke Faction now had to consider his attitude before making their moves.
"Now even my brother believes that whether the future king has a place on the throne will largely depend on whether Sir Brynhart is willing to support him."
"If he refuses, then with his influence, whether it’s the Frenzel family, the Borley family, or even the other nobles who fear him, they could all switch sides in an instant."
"My brother even thinks that whether he can become king depends on whether Sir Brynhart supports him."
"If he does, then three Sword Saints and one Strategic-Class Magician are enough to silence everyone."
As she spoke, Serena let out one sigh after another, unable to suppress the complicated emotions weighing on her heart.
All this time, that was the one thing Serena simply could not let go of.
It was enough to show just how extraordinary Riezel’s position had become in the eyes of the people throughout the kingdom.
Even Carrera found herself unable to stop thinking about those impossible ’what ifs.’
As soon as the thought crossed her mind, the expression in her eyes became even more complicated.
In the end, everything had changed.
From this day forward, she would no longer be the carefree young lady who simply accompanied Serena and spent her days taking Sylvanie out for fun. Instead, she would become Count Elliott, bearing the responsibility of restoring her family’s prosperity.
Meanwhile, the young man who had once looked at her with infatuated eyes—a boy whom she had secretly looked down on—would continue climbing to heights far beyond anything she could ever imagine.