Fire Mage (Web Novel)

Chapter 277: Speech

Meanwhile, Ashley stood beside the entrance, bowed her head, and announced.

"Rhea of the House Stoneflare, Inheritor of the First King Ledger Boneflare's Legacy, the Second Princess of the Iron Kingdom, First Disciple of the Ancient Mage Oswald, and the Rightful Heir of the Iron Kingdom is entering the hall!"

Her loud voice echoed everywhere!

Meanwhile, Rhea stared at everyone's response in surprise, stepped on the carpeted aisle, and walked towards the center table.

Following her were Jessie, Noel, and Titus in their formal suits.

When they entered the hall, Ashley also bowed her head towards them and continued to announce.

"Jessie of Jones Household, Second Disciple of the Ancient Mage Oswald is entering the hall!"

"Titus of Jones Household, Third Disciple of the Ancient Mage Oswald is entering the hall!"

"Noel of Torres Household, Fourth Disciple of the Ancient Mage Oswald is entering the hall!"

As she spoke, all three of them held their heads high and glanced at each other.

Ashley's announcement surprised everyone.

Smiling, they stepped on the red-carpeted floor, walked past the nobles' tables, and soon reached the center table.

At that moment, four maids appeared near the oaken chairs, pulled the chairs a little, and helped them to sit.

Only then did nobles, mages, and the Church representatives woke up from the shock and sat down in a hurry.

But the next moment, Ashley bent her waist again, bowed her head towards the entrance, and announced.

"Mage Oswald of the Wright Household, the mage from the Era of Ancients is entering the Hall!"

"Mage Silas is entering the hall."

"Mage Rachel of the Flores Household, Head Deacon of the Life Church, and holder of the title 'Dragon slayer' is entering the hall!"

"Mage Natalia of the King Household, One of the four Tower Masters of the Tower of Elements, and holder of the title 'Destiny Lady' is entering the hall!"

As Ashley announced, Charles, the real Oswald, the Lightning Mage Rachel, and Destiny Lady in their formal outfits stepped into the banquet hall and moved towards the aisle.

Meanwhile, the Nobles, Churches' representatives, and the Mages of Iron Tower got shocked by Ashley's announcement.

Except for the mysterious mage named Silas, Destiny Lady and Mage Rachel were not strangers to the nobles and Mages.

Even Emilia and Abel got startled by Rachel's arrival and looked at her in curious.

But, the Truth Church's representative stood up from his seat suddenly and raised his hand.

He was a man in his thirties, with amber eyes, blonde hair, and wore a golden-lined white robe.

"I have few questions to ask, Mr. Oswald. Can I have a minute?" He interrupted in a cold tone.

Charles halted his footsteps, frowned a bit, and nodded.

At that moment, he also used [Cryptic Analysis] skill on him and looked at his status.

'Hmm? Sawyer, a Rank-4 [Truth Arbiter] class… He also has some troublesome skill called Judge of the Truth.'

While he was reading the status, Sawyer snorted coldly and asked.

"Are you Charles Nightwind?"

'Answer carefully, lad. This guy's skills are hard to deal with.' The Holem's Crown warned him.

Meanwhile, the corner of Charles's lips curled upward.

"I'm not." He said calmly.

At that moment, a flash of surprise appeared on Sawyer's face.

Soon, he woke up from the shock and asked the second question.

"Are you the Ancient Mage Oswald?"

'What a tricky guy.' Charles let out a deep sigh and spoke with a profound look on his face.

"Name is nothing but a set of cloth to me. Yes, Ancient Mage is here-" He paused for a moment and added while clicking his tongue.

"Oswald is standing right in front of you. Are you satisfied now?"

An annoyance appeared in his tone.

Meanwhile, Sawyer's face turned into a confused one.

'His words are real? How?'

But soon, he snapped out from the shock and asked the following question.

"Are you really from the Era of Ancients?"

A chuckle escaped out of Charles's mouth.

'Mr. Runeth, tell him that you are a 30,000 years old soul. I will do the lip movement.' He said in his mind.

Within a second, the Holem's Crown spoke while Charles did the lip movement.

"I'm indeed a 30,000 years old soul."

'W-What? But the Life Church member said that this guy is merely a young man in disguise, right?' A blank look appeared on Sawyer's face as he subconsciously turned his gaze towards the new member of the Aces Team.

Then, he let out a deep sigh and asked.

"Did you guys complete the successor mission?"

For this question, Charles smiled instead of responding and resumed his walking.

Although Sawyer was furious a little, he held his anger and sat down.

On the other hand, Charles and others soon appeared near the center table and sat on their seats.

Charles then glanced at Jessie and spoke.

"Go on."

Nodding her head, Jessie stood up from her seat and walked away from the oaken chair.

Then, she looked at the surrounding nobles and mages and spoke with a polite smile on her face.

"Your Excellencies,

Nobles Lords, and Wizards,

We are delighted to have you Nobles Lords and Excellencies as our honorable guests tonight. Although this is your first-time visit to our old mansion, most of us have crossed paths in many ways, and we knew about each other long ago. The reason we arranged this noble banquet is to dispel the misunderstanding in everyone's mind."

"First, most of your sons and daughters keep calling Her Highness Rhea a fake princess. But we all knew which one is the real truth. The main reason everyone still couldn't accept the truth is due to the current Royal Faction members, am I right?" She paused as she let out a chuckle and then continued to speak.

"That's why our Teacher told us to conduct a banquet and explain the truth to you guys. You guys keep saying that Her Highness Rhea abandoned the kingdom and ran away to an unknown kingdom. But none of you know the whole truth." She stopped her speech, moved near Rhea, and then helped her walk out of her chair.

"She will give you a proper explanation about what she encountered during the past few years."

Saying so, she gave a slight bow towards the hundreds of nobles and took two steps backward.

Meanwhile, Rhea took a deep breath and spoke.

"Honorable Guests, I'm not much of a talker like my friend. So, I will go straight to the subject. You guys may not believe my story, but what I'm going to tell you is real." She paused for a moment and started speaking about how Blood Priest kidnapped her, how the Blood Priest manipulated her memories, how the Ancient Mage Oswald took them as his disciples and saved them, and so on.

She didn't hide a single thing and explained to everyone with precise details.

She even talked about the discrimination the commoners faced at Helm Ville and continued.

"I lived as a commoner girl for more than two years and knew how hard the life of a commoner can be. On the day when we entered Chester City, we almost lost Jessie because of our recklessness. If we hadn't met our Teacher, I might be still manipulated by the Blood Priest while others might have ended up as slaves or thugs. This is how a commoner survives."

"Every day, they are living in fear. What's more even funnier is that this is how a commoner lives in the Moon Kingdom. Over there, there is no such discrimination like the Iron Kingdom and most Mystics wouldn't even care about the commoners. But here? Commoners are actually treated more like slaves! You guys are oppressing them to no end and even killing them as you please." She deliberated for a moment before looked at her Teacher and nodded her head.

At that moment, Charles stealthy took out a strange stone from his space ring and activated it.

It was the Stone of Fear!

An Extraordinary Artifact which he took from Marissa's space ring!

The next instant, an invisible force spread into the surrounding areas and started enveloping the whole banquet hall.

Meanwhile, Rhea continued to speak.

"One way or another, when this successor mission ends, the Churches will seep deep into our kingdom and build churches in all the cities, and towns. Moreover, they will also test every kid's affinities, take the good ones and nurture them like they are doing in other kingdoms. But what would you do when the kids become powerful mystics and seek revenge one day? Although most of the kids wouldn't choose to walk on the dark path, nothing is certain in this world."

"What if one day they sneak into your home and kill your kids to seek vengeance? You actually cared nothing about the consequences and acted as you please these days. If you want your family from being wiped out by some random kid, you have only one choice. Support me! I will protect everyone. In my eyes, Nobles are not criminals."

"You guys are actually blinded by the ancient rules and acting without even realizing which one is wrong or which one is right. I will erase the discrimination, the traditional rules and at the same time, I will also save everyone. Killing and forcing you guys to submit is not my style. I will be your guardian-"

Before she could end the speech, Baron Colton suddenly stood up from his seat, walked out of the table, appeared in the aisle, and knelt on the carpeted floor!

At that moment, fear and reverence appeared in his eyes.

Fear of losing his loved ones.

Reverence towards her bold speech and character!

The next instant, the other 'enslaved' nobles stood up from their seats one by one, walked out of their chairs, moved towards the aisle, and knelt on the carpeted floor!

"We'll support you, Your Highness!" They shouted in unison!

Upon witnessing such a scene, Rhea got dumbfounded.

Meanwhile, the remaining nobles also felt awkward at that moment and glanced at each other in confusion.

After some hesitation, one noble voluntarily stood up from his seat and followed the enslaved nobles.

A few seconds later, more and more nobles stood up, walked out of their seats, and knelt.

Except for a few high-rank nobles and arrogant nobles, almost every noble in the hall swore their allegiance to Rhea Boneflare!

'M-My speech actually changed their minds?' Rhea's mind went blank.