Chapter 267: Everyone Expected Luke to Stay Silent… They Were Wrong!

Arwen clearly noticed their silence and immediately understood what was going on.

’Sneaky bastards.’

He gave each of them a silent glare before fixing his eyes on Luke again.

Unfortunately, before he could say anything further, another voice interrupted him.

"Sir Luke has been invited by me."

Estelle stepped forward and stood beside Luke, looking directly into Arwen’s eyes.

Hearing this, Luke became slightly surprised.

After all, these two women had been keep helping him from the beginning, something he rarely encountered.

Arwen narrowed his eyes in annoyance.

"And who might you be to invite an outsider to this meeting?"

His voice carried nothing but disgust.

He already had to deal with humans because of this Hero, which was precisely why he hated coming to foreign lands.

Estelle, however, merely smiled calmly.

"The Princess of the Eldric Sunborn Kingdom." She paused for a moment before adding,

"And I’m also the main organizer of this meeting."

Her words shocked every student present. Even a few professors looked surprised.

After all, none of them had known that this exchange had been arranged by the royal family. As they had simply assumed it was a normal academy exchange, with even Empyrean Academy coming to participate.

Hearing this, Arwen and Lirael exchanged glances.

If what Estelle had said was true, then she had every right to bring someone else with her.

After all, they weren’t here for sightseeing.

There was also an important exploration mission, which meant they could bring someone they considered useful and trustworthy.

Arwen then glanced toward Roderan Halveth, the principal of Horizon Academy.

Yet, the principal said nothing.

At least, not yet.

’Damn it.’

Seeing that no one was objecting or adding anything, Arwen realized that his earlier question was about to become nothing more than a laughingstock.

Instead of exposing Luke, he had only managed to make himself look like a fool in front of everyone.

After all, how could an academy possibly object to an outsider brought by the very person organizing the event?

This results, his frustration reaching its limit.

So, before he could stop himself, a curse escaped his mouth.

"A filth brings more filth."

"..."

"..."

"..."

Utter silence descended upon the entire plaza.

Every student’s eyes widened.

A few even covered their mouths with both hands, unable to believe what they had just heard.

Everyone knew about the bitter history between humans and elves.

However, elves rarely came to human territories.

And when they did, they usually remained quiet, keeping their disdain to themselves and badmouthing humans only among their own kind. After all, they cared deeply about maintaining their so-called superior image.

Whenever an elf or human openly insulted each other, it rarely ended peacefully.

More often than not, it resulted in a conflict.

Sometimes, those conflicts even escalated into bloodshed.

But this time, Arwen had gone far beyond a simple insult.

He had openly insulted a human in front of everyone.

Worse, he had insulted the current princess of the very kingdom whose territory he was standing on.

And he had even insulted the Hero of Light.

The atmosphere instantly became tense.

Roderan Halveth and Drevian Orlath narrowed their eyes dangerously.

Yet, neither of them moved from their positions.

After all, if they suddenly intervened in what could still be considered a dispute between lower-realm individuals, also youngester’s, the situation would only become more complicated.

Of course...

That was only as long as they didn’t cross the line.

Meanwhile, the other representatives, although they didn’t necessarily share the elves’ hatred toward humans, also chose to remain silent.

As for Selene, she was still standing there like a statue, completely lost in her own thoughts.

Her lips moved rapidly as she muttered something in an extremely low voice.

So low that no one nearby could make out what she was saying.

’Yeah... Luke is filth. Kill it.’ On the other hand, Marius was practically smiling inside.

The situation had finally escalated from mere words to something dangerously close to physical conflict.

And if Luke ended up getting injured—or even killed—then it would be the best possible outcome for him.

Estelle, meanwhile, stood frozen for a moment, her eyes wide with surprise and shock.

As for anger, she knew better than to show it.

Although the person who had just insulted her was also an Early-B Rank like herself, she knew that when it came to status, influence, strength, and wealth, she was nowhere near his level.

’So, another insult has been added to my name.’ Estelle glanced toward Roderan and Drevian, who remained standing in their positions.

Their eyes met hers.

But there was only helplessness in their gazes.

After all, they couldn’t simply use their strength to attack someone younger than themselves, atleast openly.

If they did, then they would be branded as bullies, and the matter could even escalate into a conflict between their races.

’Peer matters should be handled by peers themselves.’ That thought immediately came to Estelle’s mind, leaving her with nothing but a helpless sigh.

After all, in human territory, unless someone belonged to the Emperor’s Royal Family, there was hardly anyone who could stand on equal footing against the high-ranking nobles of other races.

And that was only when talking about nobles.

The Royals of other races were an entirely different matter.

They were even more monstrous than the human Emperor’s Royal Family.

So Estelle didn’t say anything in response.

However, her fist slowly clenched, clearly showing how much she disliked the situation.

Arwen and Lirael, meanwhile, secretly sighed in relief.

’Fortunately, this is human territory. Otherwise, this could have caused serious problems.’ This same thought crossed both their minds.

After all, the other races were powerful and also possessed Demi-God-level beings.

So they had no reason to fear Elves or other races.

Sadly for them...

And fortunately for Estelle...

Someone else was present who didn’t like that particular word at all.

"Filth?"

A calm voice suddenly echoed throughout the plaza.

Surprise immediately filled everyone’s eyes.

’Someone actually dared to reply to a High Elf?’

The same thought crossed the minds of the students, the principal, the vice principal, and even the representatives of the other races.

One after another, everyone turned toward the source of the voice.

Everyone...

Except Selene.

She was still standing there like a statue, seemingly lost in her own muttering.

No one noticed that her eyes had slowly begun to darken with every passing moment.

The crimson in them was becoming deeper.

Darker.

Closer to a terrifying shade of deep red.

Meanwhile, everyone finally found the person who had spoken.

Yet, instead of seeing some powerful expert standing forward, they were met with a familiar face.

’Him?’

’The Hero of Light?’

Luke completely removed Isaria’s hands from his arm.

Then, under the astonished gazes of everyone present, he took a step toward Arwen.

TAP.

Then another.

TAP.

Soon, the only sound echoing through the vicinity was the steady clicking of Luke’s boots against the ground.

TAP. TAP. TAP.

Finally, Luke stopped directly in front of Arwen.

He calmly looked down into the High Elf’s green eyes.

At seven feet tall with a muscular build, Luke’s presence naturally overshadowed the 6.5-foot Arwen, whose lean frame made the difference even more noticeable.

For a moment, Arwen was stunned by Luke’s audacity.

’A Bronze Knight?’

’He dares to look down at me?’

But the reactions of the surrounding people were completely different.

’So handsome!’

’I want to marry him!’

The moment they saw Luke up close, everyone’s attention was immediately drawn to his ethereal appearance. Which they had failed to notice earlier.

His handsomeness easily overshadowed even Arwen.

Arwen himself was no ordinary-looking man.

With long blonde hair, fair skin, and the naturally refined features of a High Elf, he was undoubtedly one of the most handsome men present—easily among the top tier.

But Luke?

Even with his shoulder-length black hair, his appearance somehow surpassed Arwen’s.

For a brief moment, even Lirael was stunned by the realization.

Arwen, however, didn’t notice any of this.

His eyes were already burning with anger, completely focused on the man standing before him.

"A fine specimen." Alia, an owl demi-human from the Beast Race, muttered in surprise.

She had long white hair and completely white eyes, with not even a visible pupil in them.