10: What happened at the Ball (3)

After the brief greeting, Count Simon and his family went to sit at their table.

The place they were assigned to was right next to Welton’s.

The two chief families of the eastern nobles, it was natural for the tables to be at the front.

Count Simon and his wife descended from the podium and approached the Welton table.

“Long time no see, Mrs Welton.”

“You look more beautiful than the last time we met each other.”

They approached Sears and gave a brief greeting.

Sears also got up and responded to their greetings.

“You’re welcome. You both look healthy, which makes me so relieved.”

“But, is Count Welton going to miss the event?”

“No. he will arrive at night. Something came up in the estate.”

“I hope it ends well.”

Count Simon looked at the side.

“Your son?”

Where he looked at, sat a little boy with emerald eyes.

“Yes. This is Jamie Welton, my son. This is my daughter, Sarah Welton. Kids, greet them.”

At Sears’ words, Jamie and Sarah stood up and greeted each briefly.

“I am Jamie Welton, the eldest son of the Welton family.”

“I am Sarah. Greetings.”

“The children are so pretty. Hehe.”

Countess Simon looked at the two kids with a bright face.

“Thank you.”

Sarah laughed out loud when she heard that she was pretty.

And Jamie just smiled awkwardly.

Sears couldn’t hide her smile at the compliments her kids got.

“They are bright kids.”

“They look so.”

Count Simon was the only one who didn’t have any expressions on his face.

He stared at Jamie with a blank face.

Ever since he first looked at Jamie, he didn’t take his eyes off.

And the reason was known. He was looking at Jamie’s body. What kind of body it was, and how he was gathering Mana, and what class he was.

Jamie didn’t hide it.

With a confident face, he showed himself.

For the first time, Count Simon’s lips rose into a smile.

It was so subtle that others wouldn’t notice, but Jamie saw it.

“Was it Jamie?”

“Yes.”

“Let’s meet sometime later.”

“Count?”

Sears questions Count Simon’s sudden words.

“I like that.”

At Jamie’s willing words, Sears went silent.

It was because she realized that the short conversation they had was something between magicians.

The eldest son, Alf, asked the Simon couple who returned to their seats.

“How was the son of the Weltons, father?”

“You are interested in a 7-year-old?”

“That 7 year old will one day lead the Welton family. If he is of my generation, there is nothing wrong with knowing him.”

The Count looked at his eldest son, who was 12.

Perhaps it was because the Count didn’t pay much attention when his kid was young, but his eldest son grew greedy for his father’s approval as days passed.

There were rumors that he was pretending to be a general by bossing around the kids of the nobles who were below them.

The reason he asked for Welton’s kid was probably the same. He wanted to put the kid under his feet right away.

And the reason was known too.

It was to receive even a little bit of recognition from his father, the great magician.

Count Simon knew it too, but he didn’t show it.

He wasn’t someone who was interested in his kids for no particular reason. For him, it was just giving birth to a kid who shared his blood, and that was enough.

A member of the Simon family grew up like that.

However, blood is blood. And he wanted to tune his kid.

“He is a smart one.”

“Besides that…”

That was all.

The Count no longer responded to his son.

Alf looked at his father with a sad expression, who harshly cut off the conversation.

The Countess sighed as she looked at them.

“Be nice. We have a nice understanding with the Welton family.”

“… I understand.”

At his mother’s words, Alf nodded with a sullen face.

And looked at Jamie, who was sitting far away.

He didn’t feel anything by looking at him. If he felt anything, that was to make sure to get that kid below him. He wanted the kid on his knees in front of him.

‘There is only one way to get father to recognize me.’

In the not-too-distant future, the eastern nobles will have only one head.

His mother did tell him to get along, but the kid has to be trampled, even if he was young.

After that, he can act like friends.

Alf lowered his head with a twisted smile.

There was a kid who quietly watched Alf from the side.

It was the second son of Count Simon, Lenon Simon. Seeing his brother’s twisted smile, he smiled.

“Make a lot of friends!”

Sears took Sarah, who was still young and disappeared somewhere.

Jamie, who was left alone, let out a sigh.

Finally, he was alone.

He wondered what would happen if Sears wanted to take him with her too.

“Make a lot of friends, my ass. Sorry, mother. I am going to a quiet place to rest.”

Jamie mumbled under his breath and tried to leave the room. One more minute, and it felt like he would die from suffocation.

Leaving the ballroom, he walked into a quiet park.

As the lord of Regen, the largest commercial city, the mansion of the Simon family was immense.

The huge lake in the middle of the park was well maintained and resembled a mirror.

He did think that the Welton mansion was great, but this was a step further.

In terms of using the wealth, this was the best.

“They seem to have a great talent for commerce.”

Jamie remembered Count Simon, whom he saw earlier.

The Simon family was prestigious, but the current Count had grown the estate tremendously ever since he turned into the head of the house.

Humans are endowed with so many talents, but utilizing those talents to the peak is a rare thing.

In that sense, the Count deserved to be called a monster. There was a great possibility that one day he would become a being that would exceed the limits of humans.

“I look forward to talking with him.”

“Talk with whom?”

A voice suddenly came from behind.

Jamie reflexively turned, made a spear out of Mana and aimed for his opponent.

“…”

Standing there was a cute girl with ponytailed blonde hair. The girl looked at the spear with a shocked expression.

Looking at the girl, he put down the spear.

Sigh!

The girl let out the breath she held back.

And then, with an angry step ahead, she talked to Jamie.

“How can you aim something like that at others!”

“Who asked you to suddenly come up from behind?”

Jamie didn’t back down and responded to her.

As what he said wasn’t wrong, the girl made an ’ugh’ sound.

She shook her head and tried to find something to say back. And as if she found it, she shouted with twinkling eyes.

“It is rude to point something like that at a lady!”

“You should be glad that I didn’t stab the lady.”

“Ugh”

This time, she literally had nothing to say.

Jamie grinned as he looked at the girl.

Retracting Mana, he crossed his arms and asked the girl.

“So? Why did you suddenly pop from behind me?”

Jamie asked nonchalantly, but he was actually perplexed.

He couldn’t feel anything.

Even if someone was hiding, it was impossible for Jamie not to know it.

It didn’t make sense that this girl could do that.

And it wasn’t like he was distracted enough to not feel that.

He wasn’t weak enough to not know about a single child.

“Me?”

At that question, the girl pointed to herself with an innocent face.

With an expression like ‘should I tell him? Should I?’, but she chose the wrong person to play with.

“I am not in the mood to joke around.”

Mana fluttered.

It wasn’t that he took the girl as his enemy, but he knew that she wasn’t an ordinary girl.

So, if necessary, he didn’t mind threatening her.

Like this.

Pang!

The girl flinched and looked at the ground next to her.

A round hole was drilled one the green grass. And white smoke flew out.

Brushing his index finger, Jamie said.

“That is a 2nd class air bullet. If you don’t have enough magic resistance, it will pierce through the skin. If it is a child, then it is instant death.”

“W-what!”

“Who are you?”

Jamie pointed his finger at the girl again.

Air condensed on the tip.

If he shot it, then definitely a bright red hole would appear on the skin.

“I-I am Ash Balle! Ash Balle!”

“Ash Balle? The Viscount?”

“Yes! I am the second daughter of Viscount Balle!”

If it was the Viscount, then Jamie knew.

It was then that he realized how his girl was able to stand behind him without him noticing.

“Are you a spiritualist?”

“Y-yes. That’s why you couldn’t know.”

Ash shouted, and Jamie withdrew his hand.

The little girl was a spiritualist.

Spiritualist was a term used to refer to a magician who can contract with mysterious beings called ‘spirits’ born in nature.

The number of spiritualists wasn’t that huge on the continent, and they were treated like outstanding talents, and just their existence was enough for them to be given the title of Baron.

Balle Viscount was one of the three families who had a spiritualist in the Seldam kingdom. They were known to be nature friendly, and Jamie heard that they mainly made contracts with the ‘wind’ spirits.

“The wind spirits. That is why you were able to come behind me without a sound.”

Spirits are familiar with magic, but the difference is that they are the real powers of nature.

Therefore, if the spirits made up their mind, erasing the presence of a human wasn’t a big deal.

‘If I was in my actual form, then even a spiritualist wouldn’t do much to me.’

If he reached his supreme state, let it be natural or artificial powers, all would be meaningless in front of him.

‘But I am shocked! She doesn’t seem to be that older. And already a spiritualist.’

To sign a contract with a spirit needed high affinity with them.

Nature friendliness is innate, but one would have to spend a long time in nature to raise it.

As the period was known to be 10 years at most, most spirit families didn’t start the training in nature-friendliness until they were 10 years or older.

So, the girl called Ash.

‘She is a genius born with great affinity with nature.’

If Ash trained in earnest, then maybe she could even make a contract with the spirit ‘king’.

Of course, that is a long way off.

As Jamie thought, he fell silent when Ash called out to him.

“Why aren’t you saying anything?”

“….”

“Hey!”

“Ah.”

At her shout, Jamie looked at her.

“Who are you? How can a child know how to use such dangerous magic?”

As her identity was discovered, she was now asking for Jamie’s.

Was she the kind who felt like give and take had to be done?

If she was a little stronger, Jamie thought that she could attack with a spirit.

It was meaningless to think of ‘if’.

“My name is Jamie Welton. The Heir to Count Welton.”

“… eh?”

“Nice to meet you, Ash Balle.”

“Eh!?”

Another piece of information that her father gave her.

Viscount Balle was a subordinate of Count Welton.