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It was evening time in Westirifer.
Allen was busy overseeing the Ducal Palace.
Veronica was preparing herself to present in front of the delegation.
Not only her, but everyone in the Ducal Palace was getting ready.
After all, it was the delegation from the Holy Cross Duchy.
Vance had handed over the responsibility of the southern and southwestern border to nearly 30,000 hunters and mages, which also included 1,000 Viper Guards.
Sunstone bulbs had been installed all along the road from Gigori Wall Town to Serendity.
The road was clean, and two soldiers were stationed every two kilometers.
Looking at it, it seemed as if everyone was on high alert.
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In the evening, around the 16th bell, the delegation from the Holy Cross Duchy entered Westirifer Duchy from the direction of Gigori Wall Town and proceeded towards Serendity.
The Holy Cross Duchy's delegation was accompanied by a force of 4,000 Paladins, 4,000 Valkyrie Knights, and 100 Holy Mothers.
That meant a total of 8,100 soldiers.
Because of this, wherever they passed, crowds of people gathered to watch.
After all, it wasn't every day that people got to see such a large parade of powerful soldiers.
Time passed, and after nearly three hours, the Holy Cross Duchy's delegation finally entered the capital of Westirifer, Serendity.
As soon as they entered, they were met by a small unit of Viper Guards consisting of 100 Viper Guards who were waiting for their arrival.
All the Viper Guards were wearing full plate armor.
They held halberds in their hands and swords at their waists.
They were all mounted on strong and powerful stallions and were releasing their full aura.
Seeing these guards, the soldiers accompanying the delegation immediately went into full alert mode.
Two groups of Paladins moved to cover the delegation from the Holy Cross Duchy.
Because at that moment, that was what seemed right to them.
The Paladins, Valkyrie Knights, and Holy Mothers… all of them could understand that the people standing in front of them were not any ordinary group of soldiers.
According to Lucifer's depraved system, they might all be A-rank, but in the eyes of others, their rank was S-rank.
Seeing the soldiers go into alert mode, Mitalda said to Duchess Aria Holygrill,
"Dutchess… These are our Westirifer's Viper Guards.
There is no threat from them."
After Mitalda said this, Aria breathed a sigh of relief, but Paul still couldn't relax completely and asked Mitalda,
"Viper Guards? What do you mean?"
To this, Mitalda replied,
"Sir Paul, just like your duchy has Paladins, similarly, our duchy has Viper Guards."
Hearing this, Paul made a smug face and said,
"Heh… Viper Guards?"
"Lady Mitalda… Are you comparing them to the Paladins of our duchy?"
"Should I take it to mean that you are insulting the Paladins of our duchy?
Their rank is only around S-rank… whereas our Paladins are an elite force in which everyone's ranking is from S+ to SS-."
Seeing Paul's smugness, Mitalda's face started turning red with anger.
This wasn't the first time Paul had used foul words for Westirifer.
During the past four days of the journey, despite Aria and Delya repeatedly warning him, Paul kept saying nonsense about Westirifer and Lucifer.
In every field, he kept calling himself and the Holy Cross Duchy the best.
It seemed as if the envoys of Westirifer had begged on their knees for the Holy Cross Duchy's delegation to come.
But as always, Mitalda did not lose control over herself and said,
"Sir Paul… take my advice. If your attitude remains like this, then you will not be able to return safely to Lumera… even if you have Paladins with you, or even if the angels of Haven themselves come."
"Sir Paul… I don't know about you, but understand one thing clearly. If you say anything about Master in front of anyone in the Ducal Palace… then saving you will not be difficult—it will be impossible.
And here, if I hadn't been present, Sir M and Sir N would have finished you off the moment you left Lumera.
On top of that, I only came to talk about cooperation with your duchy. I did not make any request to you on whose behalf you are showing so much arrogance."
"It would be better for you to speak respectfully with me, my Master, and this Westirifer… Do you understand?"
Hearing Mitalda's sweet reminder-cum-warning, Aria and Delya were very surprised. Then Delya said to Mitalda,
"Lady Mitalda… you remained quiet throughout the entire journey, and now that we've entered your duchy, you're showing us your power?"
Hearing Delya, Mitalda said,
"Not at all, Lady Delya… I am just warning you and your husband that the attitude they showed towards me on the way should not be shown inside the capital's Ducal Palace… that's all."
After that, Mitalda did not give Delya any chance to speak and said to the Viper Guards standing in front of her,
"Sir Guards… Please guide us."
As soon as Mitalda spoke, the guards turned together and started leading her chariot towards the Ducal Palace.
On the way, Aria apologized to Mitalda for Delya and Paul's behavior.
After Aria apologized, Mitalda looked at her and said with a sweet smile,
"Dutchess Aria, you don't need to apologize. It is the arrogance of your daughter and son-in-law that was speaking to me… you are not at fault in this."
"And anyway, what does a frog living in a well know about how big the world is? Don't take my words to heart because I was just giving an example… But in my view, both Lady Delya and Sir Paul are frogs in a well."
Hearing Mitalda's words, Aria said with a slight smile,
"Lady Mitalda… wasn't that a bit too harsh?"
To this, Mitalda replied,
"Not at all, Dutchess Aria… In fact, I would say you should have brought your husband Sir Nad with you. If he were here, he would have understood my words very well."
Talking like this, they all reached the Ducal Palace.
The Ducal Palace was very large… It was no less than a citadel in itself.
In front of the Ducal Palace, 18 Yorkshire Devils stood in attentive position, flaring their full aura.
None of their auras seemed lower than the higher end of SS+ rank.
As soon as Mitalda stepped down from her chariot, M and N also joined the remaining spy unit, and now all 20 of them stood together in full attentive position.
Their aura was so terrifying that the soldiers who had come with the Holy Cross Duchy's delegation were on edge.
Although they were in their official duty armor and uniform, their hands were going numb due to the tension.
As soon as Aria's chariot stopped in front of the Ducal Palace gate, Allen and Jeff were already there to welcome them.
The moment the chariot stopped, Allen opened the door of Aria's chariot with proper etiquette. On the other side, Jeff opened the door of the second chariot in which the ministers of the Holy Cross Duchy were seated.
As soon as Aria stepped down from the chariot, Allen started with a warm greeting.
"Your Highness, Dutchess Aria of Holy Cross Duchy.
Welcome to Westirifer, you and the delegation that has come with you.
My name is Allen… and I am the Head Minister of Westirifer Duchy, and also the butler of Young Master Lucifer."
Then Allen gestured towards Jeff and said,
"And this is Sir Jeff… Young Master Lucifer's uncle and our duchy's Finance Minister."
"I, Allen, once again welcome you to Westirifer."
After Allen said this, Aria also greeted him and Jeff properly.
After Aria, Delya got down from the same carriage. There was some dissatisfaction on her face… because she had thought that their welcome would be very grand, but there was nothing like that here.
Here there were only soldiers, guards, and ministers… For her, this welcome felt very rude. Still, Delya also greeted Allen and Jeff respectfully.
After Delya, Paul got down and as soon as he did, he asked,
"You said you are Lucifer's butler, right? So where is Lucifer right now?"
Hearing Paul, Allen felt a little uncomfortable but still replied,
"Sir Paul, the Young Master is not in the duchy right now. He has gone out for some important work… We hope he will return by tomorrow morning."
Hearing Allen, Paul said,
"Oh, is that so?"
"Didn't your Young Master know that the welcome of a high-ranking person can only be done by high-ranking people?"
"A Dutchess has come to your duchy and your duchy's Duke is not even present in the duchy, even though we had informed you before coming?"
Hearing Paul, Allen said,
"Sir Paul, in Westirifer there is neither any high-ranking person nor any low-ranking person… Here everyone is equal, and this is one of the many rules here."
"And as for the Duke… there is no Duke in our duchy. The Velmora family rules over Westirifer.
The Velmora family is a matriarchal family. Here, the Grand-Dutchess and Dutchess rule."
"And as for same-tier people welcoming each other… At this moment, I, Allen, am of the same tier as Dutchess Aria."
"Before leaving, the Young Master gave me all the authority of the duchy… and at this moment, I have more power than Madam Grand-Dutchess."
Hearing Allen, anger was clearly visible on Paul's face.
He taunted again and said,
"Wow, what a duchy this is… where there is no Duke, there are two Dutchesses, but even they have less power than a butler. On top of that, this authority was given to that butler by some Young Master."
"Sir Allen… In your duchy, who holds the power… the Young Master, or the Grand-Dutchess and Dutchess?"
Hearing Paul's words, Allen was now getting angry, but he kept himself under control.
Instead of answering Paul's question, Allen started escorting Aria towards the court of the Ducal Palace.
And Paul, not getting an answer to his question, became even more furious.
While going to the Ducal Court, Aria looked at Allen and said,
"Sir Allen… Please forgive Paul for his behavior."
Hearing Aria, Allen said,
"It's alright, Your Highness."
After that, Aria said to Allen,
"Sir Allen… By the way, I also want to know who holds the power here?"
Hearing Aria, Allen smiled a little and said,
"Dutchess… the power here lies with the entire Velmora family."
"But if we talk about supreme authority… then it lies with Young Master Lucifer."
"But if we talk about who has authority over Young Master Lucifer… then that right belongs only to his mother, sister, aunt, and wives… To tell the truth, the power dynamic here is a bit different."
After hearing Allen, Aria really felt that this was unusual… Here, instead of one person having authority, the entire family had it.
Aria looked at Allen again and said,
"So Sir Allen, who all are there in the Velmora family?"
To this, Allen smiled again and said,
"Madam Dutchess, this is also very complicated.
Everyone living in this Ducal Palace is part of the Velmora family.
And then the Young Master considers the entire duchy as his family… That's why all the people here are also part of our family."
"But if you are talking about the ruling family… then the family living in the Ducal Palace has the most authority, and you can consider the families of Westirifer's people as sub-branches of the Velmora family."
After listening to Allen, Aria said,
"Really, Sir Allen… It is very difficult to understand this kind of power dynamic."
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