Chapter 278: Banquet
After a long silence, Rhea woke up from the shock and said in a flustered tone.
"Thank you. Please stand up."
On the other hand, the Churches' representatives, the remaining nobles, and Rank-3 Wizards were utterly stunned by this outcome!
The Truth Church representative Sawyer stood up from his seat, stared at the kneeling nobles, and shouted.
"What is the meaning of this?"
His voice contains deep anger and hate.
Except for Life Church members and Day and Night Church representatives, all other churches showed furious expression on their faces.
Meanwhile, Rhea regained some courage and asked with a frown.
"Mr. Sawyer, what is wrong with you? Are you trying to threaten them for changing their faction?"
Sawyer stared at Rhea for a moment and sat on his seat with a helpless look on his face.
In truth, the Churches' representatives had already suspected something fishy was going on, but none found any fault in those nobles.
After that, the nobles stood up from the kneeling position, bowed their heads towards Rhea, and soon returned to their seats.
Meanwhile, Rhea said a few words while thanking those nobles for supporting her and ended her speech.
At that moment, Charles stood up from his seat and announced.
"Let the banquet begin."
Then, the four maids moved to their glassy table, carried different dishes, and started serving them.
First, they served the guest of honor, and then served Charles, and so on.
Like them, each table was allotted with two to three maids, so all of them moved uniformly and did their jobs perfectly.
Once the maids served the dishes, all of the nobles muttered a ceremonial prayer and turned their attention towards the different types of dishes.
Steamed lamb, braised duck, Cedar plank salmon, glutinous rice stuffed duck, Braised chicken legs with grapes and fennel, quick potato gnocchi, Grilled pork spareribs, Marinated Chicken breasts with grilled pineapple relish, Tomato and Roasted garlic pie, Grilled Jerk Tofu, and plantains with mango salsa, stuffed eggplant and zucchini in a rich tomato sauce, and so on.
They placed seventy types of dishes on each table!
Different types of unique aroma spread in every direction and caused the nobles to nod in satisfaction.
They skillfully picked up the fork and knife, made precise cuts on the chicken, pork, or other dishes, and started the feast.
They ate leisurely for the next two hours, chatted with the nearby table nobles from time to time, and even discussed politics, hunting, sports, and magic-related matters.
Laughter, chuckles and whispers echoed from every part of the area.
At the end of the banquet, a melodic tune resounded from the nearby hall.
It was tradition for the nobles to do a ball dance at the end of the banquet.
As the music reverberated, the young masters stood up from their seats, held a glass of wine in their hands, and started inviting their partners to dance. They caught their partners' hands, moved to the ballroom, and began to dance under the rhythmic sound.
After some time, the nobles, their wives, concubines, and even some Wizards joined the party.
Meanwhile, Rhea also stood up from her seat while grabbing everyone's attention and invited Noel!
Her action surprised not only the nobles but also Charles, Jessie, Destiny Lady, and others.
Noel also stood up from his seat with a flustered face with no other choice, stepped out of the elevated stage, and followed after her to the ballroom.
"Are they in a relationship?" Jessie wore a dubious look and stared at their back in shock and disbelief.
"Rhea seems to have some feelings for him. But that lad hasn't realized it yet." Oswald chuckled.
"I did hear Rhea mentioning his name frequently during our lesson." Destiny Lady also nodded her head in approval.
While they were discussing, Titus looked around and soon looked in a particular direction.
During the past two hours, he paid close attention to a table from time to time.
Unlike the other tables, this one appeared gloomier.
Only five persons were seated at the table.
But among the five, four of them showed hostile expression towards a silver-haired young woman.
She was none other than Daisy!
This table belongs to Elliott's family.
Because of the tradition, Daisy had no choice but to attend this banquet with her family members.
If this were another noble's banquet, Tyler and her other siblings would have humiliated her and chased her out of the banquet hall.
Unfortunately, it wasn't.
Titus soon retracted his gaze and continued to listen to his Teacher and others' talking.
After some time, a few young ladies and young masters also invited Titus and Jessie to dance.
Because of the tradition, both didn't reject their invitations and joined the fun.
If this were before, both would have embarrassed themselves for not knowing how to do a ball dance.
Thankfully, Ashley paid special attention to these types of things and even taught them how to dance.
The dance party lasted till 10 P.M.
Then, the nobles bade farewell to Rhea and others and left the old mansion.
The banquet also ended without any disturbance!
But the enslaved Nobles didn't leave with their family members, though.
Instead, they moved to the backyard garden and waited.
A few minutes later, Jessie went to the garden, exchanged a few words with the nobles, and gave secret orders and strange wooden boxes to everyone.
Then, she sent them off and returned to her room to take some rest.
In the meantime, the nobles silently left the old mansion, returned to their own house, and shifted their attention to the unique wooden box.
Baron Colton was one among them.
He entered the master bedroom, lit the table lamp, and opened the wooden box in a hurry.
To his surprise, he saw a sealed letter, a detailed map, and a strange black trinket stored in it.
Upon seeing the black trinket, he furrowed his brows and muttered in confusion.
"The teleportation trinket? Why did she give me this?"
In truth, he was the one who used his influence, brought more than 50 teleportation trinkets from the Iron Tower at the cost of 25,000 gold coins, and gave them to Jessie!
Although this trinket was a one-time usage item, it was a very costly item.
'Why did she give this to me?'
Shaking his head, he shifted his gaze towards the sealed letter, opened it with a knife, and started reading it.
"Hello, Uncle Colton. Please quickly return to your Stonewall territory, gather all of your private soldiers and wait for my further orders. I will contact you through the communication ring on October 2nd evening."
Puzzlement appeared on his face as he read the content.
'A secret mission?' Although he was startled a little, he didn't delay any longer, walked out of the master bedroom, and went to the reception hall.
Then, he ordered his guards to get ready for the departure.
Within two hours, a group of twenty cavalries and two luxurious carriages came out of Baron Colton's mansion, entered the End Street road, and moved towards the eastern direction.
Although Jessie told him to use the teleportation trinket, he couldn't bring himself to use such a costly item now.
Moreover, his territory was not that far from the City of Iron.
Like him, some nobles from the nearby territories packed their belongings and moved out of the city through carriages.
The remaining nobles from the remote areas used those teleportation trinkets and returned to their territories.
Although the other nobles, mages, and Churches representatives were startled by their actions, most of them thought that those nobles left the City of Iron in fear of assassination!
In truth, the Royal Faction members indeed thought of sending assassins after those nobles.
But after recalling the Churches' warnings, they refrained themselves.
Meanwhile, those enslaved Nobles returned to their territories and started gathering their private troops.
