Having finished making a detailed plan for his training trip with Lilia and Roxene, Marcus decided to get some sleep since it had been the a few days since the last time he had let his mind rest.
Laying down in his large comfortable bed Marcus shut off his mind like a light bulb and entered the world of the unconscious.
…
A couple of days passed by, and it was now time for him to meet with the parents of Lilia's friends.
Marcus had come down the stairs to find that the pastries he had asked to be made as gifts being prepared by Stella and Leah.
At first, he had thought about giving out the same hairclips he had made for the duchess, but he soon realized those would only appeal to the women and since this was a much less formal gathering would seem excessive.
Taking one of the cream puffs that was being made, Marcus plopped it into his mouth and began eating it carefully assessing the taste.
'Damn these are good. Stella recently got her cooking skill up to level four and everything she makes has become just a bit more delicious. Makes me a bit jealous since my skill is only at level three. Maybe once the tournament is over, I can spend some time leveling up my cooking skill.'
Taking another cream puff and eating it, Marcus began thinking with his void like stomach instead of his head for a while, nearly deciding to abandon the life of a forgemaster and adventurer to pursue the culinary arts.
After his brief moment of food-based irrationality, Marcus came back to his senses and stopped eating the items he was planning to bring as gifts.
When the cream puffs were ready, Marcus stored the boxes they had been sealed in within his item box assuring that they would not receive any damage on the trip to his destination.
With everything now set Marcus said goodbye to Stella and Leah and went to find Hazel and Elianna who were going to be accompanying him.
With the two maids in tow Marcus exited his estate and boarded his carriage as the two maids got onto the coachman's stand.
'Hopefully Lilia's friends' parents will be nice. Judging by how their children became friends with Lilia it is likely but when it comes to nobles, they either seem to be quite nice or absolute snobs. I have met plenty of both and with luck none of the nobles I am meeting today will be on the snobby spectrum.'
After traveling for around thirty minutes or so, Marcus had made it to his destination which was the estate of Baron Kental.
Of the nobles meeting today he had the estate that was closest to the middle of everyone else's, so he had ultimately been chosen as the one to host their little get together.
Approaching the front gate Marcus was quickly let in and then led to the area that everyone had gathered at.
On his property the baron had a large green house and it had been determined as the most fitting place for everyone to meet.
Being led inside the green house Marcus quickly saw the table where five other people were sitting meaning that Marcus was the second to last to arrive.
Looking them over Marcus was able to identify Baron Kental and his wife since both of them were sitting at the front of the table, following them were a couple he assumed to be Sir and Lady Hinsen, and sitting by herself was Baronetess Brenato who Marcus knew was a widower.
'That means the only ones missing are the Skalbec's whose son is the one Lilia has a crush on. At least I assume it should be them since apparently one of them is an elf and no one currently here is an elf.'
Walking up to them, Marcus first bowed to the baron and his wife offering them a greeting and introducing himself.
Afterwards they returned his greeting and then Marcus addressed the other nobles and got slightly more acquainted with them.
"Looks like we are only waiting on Viscount and Viscountess Skalbeck, though as the highest-ranking noble attending it makes since for them to come last." Sir Hinsen said with a hint of annoyance in his tone.
Giving him a slight side eye Baronetess Brenato said, "I am sure they will be along shortly, how about in that time we get to know each other a little better and discuss what each of us do since this is the first time for all of us to meet."
After that she looked towards the Baron expectantly, waiting for him to continue the conversation.
"Very well then as the host I suppose I will go first. I am in charge of the large atrium within the royal castle that grows food, herbs, and even natural treasures year-round for the royal family. My family has long held this position and as you can see by our impeccable green house, are well versed in the subject of plants both normal and magical."
Hearing this Marcus looked at the baron in a new light since managing such an important institution must have been quite prestigious. This was also the first time Marcus had heard of natural treasures being grown by people.
'Impressive I wonder what kind of techniques and magic they employ in order to grow items like natural treasures. As far as I know they only normally appear in location that are rich in mana and some of them even have innate defenses. Of course, you can get them from chest in dungeons as well, but in that scenario you have to defeat a boss monster.'
While Marcus was thinking about how impressive it was that the kingdom had found a way to cultivate natural treasures, Sir Hinsen began telling what he and his wife did.
"I am currently the guardian knight for the fifteenth princess her highness Eis Borealia, and my wife is her lady in waiting."
Everyone except Marcus seemed impressed since being a guardian knight for one of the royal family was quite prestigious and showed that your strength was quite high.
Marcus on the other hand was thinking about how the king must get around seeing as he had at least fifteen daughters and who knows how man sons.
'I already knew that there were at least thirteen princesses because of Mrazivy, but damn the king needs to calm down. I know that he has like six wives but still that is way too many children.'
Once Sir Hinsen was finished, the others looked towards Marcus to tell about himself next, except until the baron pretended to cough to get his attention Marcus had been lost in his thoughts.
"Ah sorry. Unlike both Sir Hinsen and Baron Kental my profession has no connection to the royal family, I am actually a forgemaster."
Upon telling everyone that he was a forgemaster both the baron and his wife grimaced a bit, and while Baronetess Brenato did not show any outward signs of disapproval her eyes betrayed her slight dislike.
On the other hand, Sir Hinsen actually seemed to be quite impressed by Marcus, probably owing to him being a knight and his appreciation for finer equipment.
Of course, Marcus figured that he might get reactions like this since being a forgemaster was not normally considered a noble profession, and only a few were considered prestigious for their long line of expert forgemasters.
However, once he said that he was the new apprentice of Thabon Blazegram everyone's tune changed.
All of them seemed to know who Thabon was seeing as he is the greatest forgemaster currently in the kingdom, and being his apprentice put Marcus up on a higher pedestal.
"Lady Irene I know this might be rude, but would you mind looking at my weapon. It has been in my family for years and it is one of our treasures, and I was wondering if I could get your experts opinion on it." Sir Hinsen said with a gleam in his eyes.
Nodding his head Marcus agreed, and much to everyone else's dismay Sir Hinsen took out a long spear and handed it over to Marcus.
Inspecting the mithril spear Marcus found it to be of a superior quality.
'The person who made this put a lot of effort into it. They even used celestial platinum from the strength and number of the enchantments. Well, it is far better than my current scythe, but it falls just a bit under the pair of swords I mad for Clarisa. Still good but not at the top.'
After looking over the spear, Marcus handed it back over to Sir Hinsen and said, "It is a good spear, almost top quality. I would have to put in a good amount of effort to make something of a similar quality or better."
Sir Hinsen Looked at Marcus in surprise when he said he could make a weapon of similar quality and said, "Lady Irene you are telling me you could make another weapon as good as this one? Of every forgemasters I have seen, all of them told me that the enchantments on this spear were beyond them and that only true masters could make something like this. Please tell me, how much would it cost to have you make a weapon of this quality."
With a fervent look on his face Sir Hinsen had actually stood up from his seat as he looked at Marcus with expectant eyes.
The other nobles around the table unfortunately, all looked a bit peeved by Sir Hinsen's outburst and Marcus was not sure what to do.
'I suppose this guy must not have gone to any of the forgemasters who know how to use celestial platinum. I guess that would actually be normal since from what Thabon told me only around fifty people in the capital know that secret. Though it looks like the others are a bit angry that the conversation has been derailed so I should try and steer things back towards our original topic.'
"As much as I am flattered by your interest, we all came here to get to know each other because of my little sister and your children's friendship. I would ask that if you want to discuss business, we do it at a later time in a more formal setting."
Sir Hinsen then looked around and saw the expression's on the other people's faces and sat back down and gave brief apology for his outburst.
After that everyone looked towards Baronetess Brenato who was the last to go.
"Yes, I am currently the owner of a large textile and garment business within the capital. We manufacture both high end clothing for nobles and common wear.. In fact, I believe the dress Lady Irene is wearing was made by my company."
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