Chapter 492 - 271: Whose Attendant Is This?

Some descendants of the Demon Hunter Old Blood Clan among the guests also raised their eyebrows, but considering there were no other Demon Hunter Law Enforcer teams in the auction house, they ultimately chose to endure it in silence.

However, it was foreseeable that if this incident was resolved safely, these descendants of the Old Blood Clan would undoubtedly file a complaint with the Prole Court, accusing the Lancelot Clan of professional discrimination and failing to uphold the value of equality between professions.

"I can also testify that this Attendant is not an accomplice of the Blood Race."

A woman’s voice rang out from the crowd. The crowd naturally parted, and the speaker emerged.

"Claire..." Jill’s expression wavered. He never imagined his own cousin would stand up and speak for this Attendant—a man Elder Pence believed was either an accomplice of the Blood Race or a Dragon Devourer Cultist.

Claire said, "Jill, I’m certain this Attendant is not an accomplice of the Blood Race."

Jill said, "But he killed..."

"That Knight deserved to die," Claire said. "He recklessly used Promise over a wide area, disregarding the safety of the guests. People were injured. If not for the help of this Attendant and the other Knight, I’m afraid I would have died to the Griffin Feather. You can ask anyone here to bear witness to that."

Jill turned his gaze to Aile. Aile shook his head; he hadn’t known about this. By the time he arrived, the Red-armored Knight and the Attendant were already fighting up close.

Jill said, "Claire, that only proves he might be a good person. It doesn’t excuse his motives."

"A trained Contract Knight... So what is your reason for being by Freya’s side?" He turned to look at Baron. "I never knew the Lancelot Clan would have a Bronze Tier Law Enforcer serve as a mere Attendant, rather than a Household Servant."

’So this was Freya’s scheme.’

’Baron suddenly understood why Freya had insisted he pose as an Attendant when he had originally wanted to be a Household Servant. That woman was probably getting revenge for the "Dog Collar" he’d made her wear.’

"A Contract Knight possessing chivalry and honor would never agree to such a request," Jill said. "At the very least, you don’t strike me as a traditional Contract Knight."

Jill looked at the Red-armored Knight’s corpse on the ground. "Your timing is far too convenient," he said. "Stirring up trouble in the auction house at the exact same time as the Dragon Eater Association and the Dragon Tide attack."

"If I told you the one who started it wasn’t me, but the dead man, would you believe me?" Baron asked.

Jill said, "My mission isn’t to debate right and wrong with you. My mission is to neutralize any and all potential threats to this auction house.

As for right and wrong, you can save that for the court."

’Going to court? What’s the difference between that and a death sentence? Last time, they sentenced me to death without a second thought. This time, knowing the Hestia Family’s methods, I’ll either be playing the part of Louis XVI at the guillotine or getting torn apart like Shang Yang.’

Baron said, "So, no room for negotiation, then?"

’Illusory Cocoon still has five minutes on its cooldown. As long as I don’t expose my identity as a Dragon Knight, I just need to stall for thirty seconds.’

Jill said, "If I am wrong, then I will accept the punishment myself."

He pointed his longsword. "Take him."

The Griffin Knights surrounding Baron swarmed forward, their swords aligning into what looked like a single streak of silver light.

Jill and Aile exchanged a look. Aile paused for a beat before realizing what was happening and rushing to follow.

Baron was unarmed. Facing the Knights’ coordinated attack, he had no path of retreat.

The crowd held its breath. They had witnessed the entire affair, from the Red-armored Knight’s initial provocation to Jill’s order for the arrest. They kept silent not only because they didn’t want to get involved, but also because, with nothing better to do, they figured they might as well watch the show.

Everyone waited with bated breath, eager to see what else this seemingly unremarkable Attendant was capable of.

It was then, under the crowd’s expectant gazes and amidst the Knights’ encircling attack, that Baron pulled several objects that looked like hand grenades from his clothes and tossed them toward the surrounding guests.

The crowd erupted in chaos. A horrified Jill roared, "Stop those bombs!"

The Knights turned to follow the order, creating a momentary opening in their Array. Baron seized that opening. In the instant the Knights spun around to pursue the "bombs," he grabbed the sword nearest to him.

That sword belonged to Jill Hestia.

Jill Hestia was a Bronze Tier Griffin Knight. A Bronze Knight of his Tier, without any enhancement from Spiritual Power, possessed 20,000 pounds of strength in a single hand—comparable to the maximum limit of a large industrial crane.

And that was *without* Spiritual Power enhancement. When enhanced, punching through reinforced concrete or kicking a titanium alloy beam until it bent was no issue. In fact, aside from Faith Knights and the extreme, physically-focused members of the Silver Faction and Beast Hunters, the physical conditioning of a typical Law Enforcer was no match for a Contract Knight of the same Tier.

Even if a Contract Knight’s pact was with a creature as small as a Siberian Hamster, they would be enhanced by the Knight Law upon Promoting. Their skeleton alone would weigh as much as an adult Siberian Tiger’s.

The direction of any further, deeper enhancements depended primarily on the nature of the Knight’s contracted being.

Jill Hestia snorted. He was confident that even if this Attendant was Bronze Tier, his strength was absolutely no match for his own.

Let’s not forget why a griffin is called a griffin. It’s not just because it possesses the speed of an eagle; the name also signifies that it possesses the strength of a lion.

Moreover, the griffin Jill had a contract with was a Storm Griffin from high in the eastern Himalayas!

The aforementioned 20,000 pounds was the normal strength for an average Bronze Knight. But as a Griffin Knight, Jill Hestia’s normal, unenhanced strength was 50,000 pounds in a single hand.

Forget theory. In practice, among all the opponents Jill Hestia had ever faced, excluding Knights of a higher Tier and that one Dragon Knight of the same Tier, it was absolutely impossible for anyone to wrench his personal sword from his grasp!

Absolutely impossible!

The Griffin Knights clearly thought the same, which was why they confidently followed Jill Hestia’s command to investigate the "hand grenades" Baron had just thrown.

Aile also stopped in his tracks, thinking the same thing.

’This Attendant is strong,’ he thought, ’but he can’t possibly be stronger than Jill Hestia—a man whose Spiritual Power, in both quality and quantity, was approaching the Pseudo-Silver level, and who was on the verge of unlocking Bloodline Assimilation.’

[PS: The proof of a Bronze Contract Knight on the verge of the Silver Tier is similar to when the Sun Knight Gawain’s body nearly transformed into a Dragon Species on the training grounds. It means their body and Spiritual Power have been enhanced to the point where they can accommodate the power of their contracted being.]

Aile knew how powerful he was, and it was precisely that knowledge that allowed him to comprehend the terrifying strength of Jill Hestia as a Bronze Knight.

Then he saw Jill Hestia fly backward. His personal sword was gone, and his arm hung limply at his side, trembling violently.

It was a common phenomenon known as spontaneous tonic muscle contraction, typically only seen in exhausted marathon runners. After prolonged, high-intensity exercise, continuous muscle contraction leads to an accumulation of metabolic byproducts like lactic acid. At the same time, muscle fibers sustain damage, leading to fatigue and, eventually, spasms.

For this to be happening to a Bronze Tier Griffin Knight could only mean one thing.

This Bronze Knight had been pushed to the point of utter exhaustion.

Aile was stunned when he realized this.

And once again, so were all the guests in the room.