Let's rewind time back a bit.
As Alex was observing Freya.
On the other side where Leonardo and the others were seated, Katherina had already left to go to the emperor's side.
Leonardo was whispering something into the ear of one of the nobles sitting beside him.
This noble had brown hair and brown eyes, he was a little bit handsome. If Alex were to see this man, he would've identified him as being related to Larry Fishburns, because the two look alike, however, this man was more mature, more handsome than Larry, Roman Fishburns, Larry's Fishburns big brother.
''Roman, that man is the one that crippled your brother. To humiliate him, from what I see is currently Rank 5 at the best. Challenge him and beat him, the princess will allocate more resources to you.''
Hearing Leonardo's words, Roman went into contemplation for a moment before raising a question,
''What about that silver-haired woman beside him? It seems that she's her master, won't she gets mad if I-"
''No need to worry about her, she won't be able to do anything. Remember this is the princess order. To ensure that there is no problem she went to stay beside the Emperor. In case that woman will try something, the princess will ask the emperor to intervene.'' Leonardo cut Roman off and explained, he sent a glance to others besides him, having understood what this meant they nodded their heads as though to reassure Roman.
And as expected it worked, Roman did not doubt anything, he was too focused on the resources he would receive after completing this mission so much that he had not thought for a moment that he was being used by Leonardo, for him it was the Princess's order.
By the way, getting more resources meant he would have the right to dive into more dungeons, he would receive 30% of what he brings back. Because dungeons were under tight supervision it was impossible to trick the Princess. Only death awaits you if you were to try it.
As a member of the Second Princess faction, he was able to receive 20 % of what he brings back, an increase of 10% will help him to greatly amass wealth to further stabilize his position of next head of the Fishburns family and also to help him quickly increase his level.
Unlike the outside world, monsters inside dungeons respawn after some time when they are killed, this meant an endless supply of monsters.
Considering all these facts, Roman got easily tempted and forgot to think carefully about what he was trying to do implies.
Truth be told, Roman didn't feel hatred toward Alex for what he had done, on the contrary, it was gratitude, gratitude because Roman was planning to deal with his brother after he retrieves the money from one of their branch restaurant (Golden Nuggets, the restaurant visited by Alex and Leena (Elseria) when they were on their date).
Roman had already planned to send a bunch of bandits after his brother after the latter left the city, he was doing all of this because Larry was threatening his position even when being a thrash.
Roman and Larry did not have the same mother, Larry's mother was the legitimate wife of the Barron, now viscount. This meant Larry would be the next family head, however because of Roman's talent, he became the favorite to be the next family head. Not everyone supported this decision, naturally, Larry's mother was included in this category, she was trying everything to the viscount chose her son, unfortunately, it became an impossible feat as Larry turned into a retard, no, worse than retard he was like an empty shell.
'Sorry, if you want to blame someone blame yourself for offending people you shouldn't have. I will beat you and complete two objectives at the same time, one being the rewards I'll get and the latter being the favor madam asked me, she said she will support me if I thrash you and cripple you.' Roman mumbled and stood up, four young men followed him. They were slowly walking in Alex's direction.
Looking at the Roman's leaving back,
Leonardo smiled.
''What are you planning? The princess has never made that kind of promise. What if she gets angry?" Camilla asked in a low voice, she didn't understand Leonardo's action.
Smiling as if this was nothing serious, Leonardo explained,
''Don't worry she won't, that fool is just a sacrificial pawn. I'm using him to gauge Alex. The current him is giving me an uneasy feeling. I can't quite put my finger on it, but I have a bad feeling. Let's wait and see, I think Katherina will want to know Alex's current level. Like this, she will know how to deal with him.''
Camilla thought about Leonardo's words but she was feeling uneasy for some reason, she looked at Katherina to see her chatting with the emperor, suddenly, the emperor glanced at Alex.
'That it is.' Camilla inwardly exclaimed, she now knows why she was feeling uneasy, it was the way Katherina looks at Alex, it was not because the latter fell in love but most likely she wants Alex,
''Eh?" This time Camilla exclaimed aloud.
''What it is?" Leonardo stopped observing Roman and his men who were about to reach Alex's table and asked.
''What if the princess tries to recruit Alex into her faction?" Camilla asked fearful of this possibility.
''Impossible, why would she? She has me and you three, it is already enough. I'm the Hero, why would she need a thrash for? Alex may have changed but he is still too far from us. Our talents are a world apart, what if he became a little bit handsome? What if he became a little bit powerful? All of this doesn't matter because he can never be a dragon-like us. Doesn't matter if he has some kind of mysterious master. Did you think that a snake will suddenly turn into a dragon after two months? Not to say him a crippled snake it is impossible. You're also forgetting an absolutely important matter, isn't it Alex is Katherina's enemy. Did you think she'd forgotten that and bring him into her faction?"
Camila thought for a moment before shaking her head, she had a hard time imagining that prideful princess lowering her head to take someone in, someone she had previously discarded, will Alex even accept? Unlikely, but just the fact that Katherina may think about approaching Alex makes her feel uneasy. Even with all the arguments Leonardo advanced, she was still feeling uneasy, call this woman's intuition.
Suddenly, Kevin who was watching from the side decided to step in as he knew his little sister was still not convinced.
''Little Camilla, no need to think so much about it. There is no way the princess will want Alex back. They are enemies, knowing the two of them I can assure you that none of them will try to become the other party's friend, so don't worry. Even if he progressed a bit, Alexander is still a nobody without any backing like us.''
''I understand. I hope that I'm just being paranoid.'' Camilla decided to drop the matter when she saw everyone trying to convince her that she was overthinking. Even the silent Dodolus seemed to share the same thought as Leonardo and Kevin.
''Let watch, things are about to become interesting. Roman and his men have already arrived in front of Alex. Let's see what you will do, will you cower or will you fight?" Leonardo wondered while observing Alex. He was smiling.
The others also stayed silent to observe what would happen.
•••••
~Back to Alex's table.
Roman arrived in front of Alex, coldly looking down on the latter while completely ignoring the others present.
''Are you Alexander, the Rookie from Eria's city?"
''Introduce yourself first before asking me a question. It's the basic of etiquette.'' Alex replied nonchalantly.
The four men behind Roman became furious, when one of them was planning to insult Alex, Roman stopped him, he smiled and he said.
''I'm Roman Fishburns, eldest son of the Viscount Gareth Fishburns. I'm also the next head of the Fishburns family.''
While saying so, Roman's smile widened, he waiting to see the awe inside Alex's eyes, however, Alex's words froze him in place.
Clap Clap!
''How wonderful, I'm in awe. So, mister future head what did you want with this humble one?" Alex clapped his hands before asking with a sarcastic smile on his face.
By now, everyone had stopped talking and were focusing their attention on what was happening. Even the Emperor was looking with interest, the happiest about the current situation was Elseria, she leaned against her chair legs crossed, her lips were curved upward.
Freya, the headmistress of the Imperial Magic Academy stared at Elseria for a moment, being Elseria long-time friends, she knew when the latter smile like this, it meant she was up to something, that someone was about to suffer under her schemes. She decided to observe a bit, previously she was not interested, however now she decided to watch.
Katherina was surprised seeing Roman standing in front of Alex, judging by the latter behavior she knew what he was planning, he was planning to challenge Alex and there was only one person besides her that could make Roman go challenge Alex, it's Leonardo.
Staring at Leonardo for a moment, Katherina shook her head and thought that she may use this chance to gauge Alex's strength, she had tried numerous times appraising him since the moment he entered but wasn't able to. Something seemed to be obstructing her, when she appraised Gracier she was able to only see her Level, Level 45, nothing more.
She became more interested in Alex after noticing that she could not appraise him.
While everyone besides the Emperor was eager to know what going on the younger generation's side, there was someone who was not happy at all, it was the current head of the Fishburns' Family, the Viscount Gareth Fishburns, he was currently furious as he knew nobody good gonna happen if they mess up with that young man named.
Remembering the warning he received, Gareth glared at his son,
'What that idiot is thinking about?'
Unfortunately, at the moment, Roman was too focused on Alex to notice this.