Chapter 299 - 287: I Will Grant Your Wish

Chapter 299: Chapter 287: I Will Grant Your Wish

"Right? I think so too! I saw your Arcane Missiles, and they were incredible... Zelir, what kind of quest do you think I should choose for my first solo adventure...?"

Lante chattered on excitedly.

"I don’t want to just clear out some wild wolves or something... Maybe I should start with goblins? Or those kobolds from before would be good too, or slimes..."

Just as the two were deep in conversation, the sound of a loud, boastful discussion drifted over from nearby.

"Hahahaha! Don’t you worry! The harvest on my lands was excellent this year!"

"Just managing the checkpoint on a single trade route earns me several hundred Gold Coins a month!"

"My father is preparing to hand over all his business assets to me. It won’t be long before I’m an honored guest of all those chamber of commerce presidents!"

Zelir glanced to the side.

Over there, a group of seven or eight lavishly dressed young nobles was approaching.

Luke was among them.

The boastful remarks from a moment ago had come from his mouth.

Besides him, there were a few others Zelir recognized as well.

There was Leiden, the captain of the Third Squad from the Monster Hunting expedition.

He was the Junior Mage who had nearly taken off Valles’s head with an Arcane Missile during the battle with the Cystic Poison Frogs.

There was also Riley, the Magic Apprentice. Zelir had learned the Water of Cutting skill from him during the assessment at the Martial Arts Arena.

The rest were unfamiliar faces.

"Hey, Zelir."

Leiden and Riley both spotted Zelir and greeted him warmly.

Zelir responded in kind.

Luke, however, was a different story.

His beady eyes darted, and his expression instantly shifted from pompous boasting to one of bitter jealousy.

The memory of Bev’s friendly demeanor with Zelir surfaced in his mind, pricking him like a thorn in his heart.

"I was wondering how you managed to sneak in here... Zelir, Zelir. You don’t even have a family name."

Luke swirled the red wine in his glass and snorted, the corner of his mouth twisting into a disdainful sneer.

"So, you’re a Mage."

"You have a problem with that?" Faced with the sudden provocation, Zelir remained impassive.

"Heh... quite the attitude on you."

"I bet the biggest reason you became a Mage was for that Magic Apprentice stipend of a single Gold Coin per month, wasn’t it?"

Luke shook his head and laughed.

His gaze was like a hook, brazenly sizing Zelir up.

"You probably spent all your savings on that outfit, didn’t you?"

"You clean up nicely, thinking you can just blend in with us... But unfortunately, some things can never be changed."

"What did you just say?"

Lante couldn’t take it anymore. The normally mild-mannered young man shot back, "If you don’t know how to talk, then shut your mouth!"

"I have no intention of offending Mages as a group."

Luke shrugged.

"But even if the Kingdom’s laws state that Mages and the Nobility share equal status, some things are just different."

"Me, Bev, him, and them..."

Luke extended a finger, pointing to the other nobles beside him, even including Lante.

A vicious light glinted in his eyes.

"We’re all the same, all nobility... but you, Zelir, are ultimately just a lowly commoner."

"No matter what little tricks you can do, what clothes you wear, or what you say or do, you can’t change that fact."

"It’s something in the blood. Something you’re born with."

"If you know what’s good for you... you should piss off! Stop hanging around Bev. You two are not from the same world."

His words were truly out of line. Lante, standing beside them, was already red in the face with anger.

Even Riley and Leiden’s expressions changed.

’What the hell is this guy Luke even talking about? How dare he talk to Zelir like that?’

But in Luke’s eyes, it was all very simple.

Zelir was just some lucky guy who happened to stumble his way into becoming a Magic Apprentice.

He was just someone who had used his pretty face and a nice suit of clothes to weasel his way into high society.

’A person like that... thinks he’s worthy of competing with me for Bev?’

Having said his piece, the arrogance on Luke’s face reached its peak.

’I have to teach Zelir a lesson, show him what real strength is!’

Holding his glass of red wine, Luke deliberately walked past Zelir, then slammed his shoulder hard into him.

Luke put all his strength into it, confident that his Warrior’s physique was superior to a Mage’s.

Beneath his gray suit, his thick muscles tensed instantly.

He was going to embarrass Zelir in front of everyone!

But...

"BAM!"

When Luke’s left shoulder collided with Zelir’s right, the expected scene of knocking the other man aside did not happen.

He felt as if Zelir’s body were a solid rock.

Luke couldn’t budge him in the slightest...

In fact, he was the one who was sent reeling!

Having not anticipated this outcome at all, Luke was completely unprepared.

"Oof...!"

A muffled grunt escaped him.

The recoil sent him stumbling back several steps. He tripped over his own feet and fell right on his ass.

The wine glass in his hand traced a less-than-graceful arc through the air, and then...

"CRASH!"

The glass hit the floor and shattered to pieces.

The wine showered down, splashing all over Luke’s face and clothes.

His expensive gray suit was instantly stained with a large patch of red, and the wine dripped down from the tip of his nose.

Luke, who had been so arrogant and haughty just a moment before, now looked like a drowned rat.

This sudden turn of events drew the attention of everyone nearby.