8mi Chapter 250 Aristocratic Competition
Chapter 250 Aristocratic Competition
Summer June 30th.
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The last day of summer.
The wind was still warm, but it carried a hint of autumn and had lost some of its dryness.
In the bushes at the edge of the black pine forest, a few leaves have quietly turned pale yellow, as if reminding people that the short and precious autumn in the North is about to arrive.
Frost covers the area outside the city.
A group of several dozen people were gathered in twos and threes, waiting to depart for Chiffon Territory.
-- Attending the opening ceremony of the chiffon market.
Baron Darion the Thorn was the first to arrive; the chubby middle-aged man rode on a spotted rock lizard.
This rock lizard was robust, with several hard, round tubercles on its back that gleamed with a glazed sheen in the morning light.
He specially commissioned a leather saddle with gold trim for the rock lizard, with a bronze plaque bearing the emblem of the Thorn tribe hanging on each side of the saddle bridge. The plaque jingled as the lizard walked, making it quite eye-catching.
Unfortunately, this elaborate outfit paled in comparison to the surrounding warhorses.
Melanie rode a Frostfang Leopard, pure white with long, lithe limbs and two half-foot-long fangs that jutted out from the corners of its mouth, exuding both elegance and ferocity.
The Blackthorn Baron riding beside him was a jet-black Ironmane Bear, its shoulders and back muscles bulging into hard lumps of flesh, and its forepaws as large as two millstones.
Baron Ashvale's warhorse was even more extraordinary; a grey-feathered falcon crouched on the ground, occasionally flapping its wings twice, creating a gust of wind that kicked up a small cloud of dust.
As for Paul the Snow Deer, his snow deer, though not known for its ferocity, is nonetheless magnificent and elegant.
The antlers are adorned with dark blue, gleaming patterns, and the ground is left with a thin layer of frost wherever the hooves tread.
Darian looked left and right, and finally could only pat his rock lizard's bumpy forehead and chuckle dryly.
To put it nicely, nobles value pomp and circumstance.
To put it bluntly, it's about keeping up with the Joneses, especially the lord's exclusive war mount, which is practically synonymous with status and prestige.
[At this point, I hope readers will remember our domain name 12199.99]
Compared to the warhorses of other nobles, his rock lizard was much less attractive, but it was tough and easy to care for, and could even curl up into a ball to be used as a heater in winter.
...
"Melanie, didn't you say Earl Golden Lion would be coming too?"
Darian turned to Melanie and asked, but before he could finish speaking, a beast's roar came from the distant horizon.
The roar was unlike the roar of ordinary beasts; instead, it carried a sharp, resonant sound, a mixture of a lion's roar and an eagle's cry, with extremely strong penetrating power.
A bright golden shadow streaked rapidly from the horizon, its form growing closer and its outline becoming clearer.
It was a male lion with wings under its ribs, its entire body covered in golden, glossy mane, and it was a whole size larger than an ordinary male lion.
What's most eye-catching is its long scorpion tail, with the stinger at the end swaying gently, like a curved knife.
Its wingspan is six or seven meters, and each flap of its wings creates a scorching wave of air that knocks down the withered grass on the ground.
-- Scorpion-tailed winged lion.
The warhorses of the Golden Lion family's ancestors are also the source of the Golden Lion family's name.
A young man, about twenty-five or twenty-six years old, sat atop the lion's back, dressed in a dark gold aristocratic hunting outfit.
Even when he's just sitting quietly on the lion's back, he gives the impression of looking down on everyone.
This arrogant aura wasn't something deliberately put on; it emanated from within, as if it were something one was born to be.
Behind him followed four Golden Lion Knights, all of whom were Star-level warriors, each wearing golden armor specially made by the Golden Lion family.
...
"Good day, Earl Lawrence!"
Darian was the first to react, bowing to the Count of the Golden Lion in mid-air, and the other nobles followed suit.
Lawrence simply gave a faint "hmm," his gaze sweeping over the warhorses of everyone present.
Finally, it landed on Melanie's Frostfang Leopard, but only for half a second longer. Those that can fly and those that can only run on the ground are ultimately not on the same level.
"Lion, your scorpion-tailed lion seems to have grown even bigger. The last time I saw it, its wings weren't this wide."
Melanie lay on her side on the broad back of the Frostfang Leopard, her arms crossed, her tone casual and alluring, like that of an acquaintance.
"He just ate a bit too much," Lawrence said casually, patting the scorpion lion's thick neck.
Darian quickly chimed in:
"The scorpion-tailed winged lion is an extremely rare flying monster. I've heard that it takes several years just to tame one, let alone raise it to this size. Your Excellency, you truly have remarkable skills!"
Lawrence seemed immune to such flattery. He looked around and asked, "Where's Frost Rose? Weren't we supposed to meet at her territory and set off together?"
"Look, isn't that it?" Melanie raised her chin and gestured towards the city gate.
Everyone's eyes followed the direction she indicated, and then all sound in the room disappeared.
Inside the city gate, a beautiful figure rode out on horseback; she was not riding an ordinary war steed.
It was a pure white steed, with a slender and elegant body, and its muscles gleamed like silk in the morning light.
The most striking feature is the spiral horn on its forehead, which is crystal clear and seems to be formed from moonlight.
The four hooves burned with pure white flames, and with each step, they left faint, shimmering traces on the road surface before quickly dissipating into the air.
unicorn!
Lucy is riding on this unicorn!
Instead of her usual hunting attire, which was easy to ride in, she wore a long pink dress that made her skin look as white as snow.
With a touch of light pink rouge on her lips, she stood in the morning light, like a newly blooming ice crystal rose.
...
Paul stared at her blankly for a long time before he came to his senses and coughed softly.
"Lucy, you unicorn..."
"It was given to me by Richard."
Lucy slightly raised her chin, revealing her fair neck, and the smile on her face was impossible to hide.
"When he came to Frostholdt last time, he gave me one as a gift."
Her tone was indifferent, but the pride that was about to overflow from her icy blue eyes betrayed all the smugness in her heart.
Melanie couldn't help but laugh out loud.
"You got one as a gift? Viscount Richard is quite generous. I'd love to have such a noble and elegant creature too!"
Darian also came over, his chubby face full of envy, rubbing his fat hands together and clicking his tongue in admiration.
"This is a legendary mythical beast! Viscount Richard actually gave it away so readily. Such generosity and magnanimity are probably unmatched in the entire Northern Territory."
"It's not just the North," Baron Blackthorn chimed in. "Even among the great nobles, I've never heard of any family giving away unicorns as gifts."
"Viscount Richard is truly a model of nobility!" Baron Grayvale chimed in, "When the plague raged recently, if it weren't for his war magic, half of the serfs in my territory would probably have died."
"Yes, with such a rising star emerging in the North, we Northern nobles can also benefit from it, hehe."
The nobles chattered amongst themselves, their tone revealing no secret of their fondness and admiration for Richard!
...
Most of the nobles present were barons or viscounts, belonging to the lowest stratum of high society.
Counting upwards, the feudal lords are either earls or marquises, and further up, there are dukes, princes, and royalty.
In their daily lives, they were used to bowing their heads and bending their backs in front of high-ranking nobles, and to speaking and acting cautiously.
But Richard was different.
He was a viscount, but he had only recently been promoted, so he had a sense of closeness among these lower-ranking nobles.
Moreover, people still don't know the true potential of chiffon cakes.
But the dozens of war mages, the rumored Unicorn Knights, and the royal rewards are enough to make currying favor with them worthwhile.
If he were to be promoted to another rank in the future, he would become a high-ranking noble!