All of the nobles present were looking at the young couple with different thoughts going through their minds. However, despite the narrow-minded and petty thoughts they were directing toward the young couple, the two of them remained completely unfazed.

The more narrow-minded a person was, the more prone they were to envy and jealousy. The nobles present weren't willing to admit this to themselves, but their fury and detest simply stemmed from their crushing sense of inferiority.

Right at this moment, a noblewoman emerged gracefully from the crowd. "Oh, fancy meeting you here. What are you doing here in Zans?"

The woman was very bold and gave Erwin a seductive wink, even though they were in the presence of so many people.

Erwin and Onean exchanged a glance, and they couldn't help but be amazed at just how small this world truly was.

The woman was none other than the noblewoman who had had her portrait drawn for her by Erwin back in Belama.

"Are you already familiar with Mr. Erwin, Countess Retola?" Count Onen asked with a curious expression.

"We have indeed met once before in Belama," the noblewoman replied with a smile. "At the time, he was busking on the streets. I didn't think he would already be considered to be such an established artist in such a short time here in Zans."

This was nothing more than an errant remark from Countess Retola, but it was one that instilled many of the nobles present with a sense of vindictive glee.

In particular, the high and mighty noblemen present were even more disdainful toward Erwin upon hearing this. In their eyes, busking for money on the streets was no different from living on the streets as a homeless beggar.

"Mr. Erwin hasn't just become an established artist, I'm sure he's always been an exceptionally talented painter. He was most likely only busking on the streets to perform a public service by presenting his art to the masses," Countess Onen said as she stepped forward with a smile. "I daresay that with Mr. Erwin's talents, he wouldn't be outshone by any artist regardless of whether it's in our Boll Dukedom or your Delair Dukedom."

There was a reason why Countess Onen had stepped forward to defend Erwin, and that was because she held a severe distaste for Countess Retola for her debaucherous demeanor. Furthermore, the "here in Zans" that she had plastered onto the end of her sentence made it seem as if she were looking down on the nobles in Zans. As the hostess of this tea party, Countess Onen felt like it was necessary for her to stand up to Countess Retola. 

Countess Retola was a good friend of the vast renowned Duchess Silon of the Delair Dukedom.

At the moment, the Delair Dukedom and the Boll Dukedom shared very close ties. The current ruler of the Delair Dukedom, Duchess Silon, was the cousin of the current ruler of the Boll Dukedom, Duke Eru. Throughout the past very many years, the nobles of the two nations had always been quite close with one another. Prior to marrying Duke Silon, Duchess Silon had been a very renowned figure among the Boll Dukedom's noble circles.

Duchess Silon's maiden name was Sanfesa Peroni, and as the ruler of the Delair Dukedom, it would've naturally been unbecoming of someone of her status to participate in tea parties in the Boll Dukedom like this. However, she seemed to hold a great deal of interest toward the Boll Dukedom, which was being ruled over by her incompetent cousin, so she required an informant who could regularly appear in the Boll Dukedom's noble circles without seeming out of place.

Just like Duchess Silon, Countess Retola was also extremely notorious for promiscuity and debauchery in the Delair Dukedom. Perhaps it was this shared trait that convinced Duchess Silon to make Countess Retola her informant.

Many of the Boll Dukedom's nobles were aware of Countess Retola's identity, so they all afforded her a great deal of respect.

In contrast, Countess Onen wasn't afraid of offending Countess Retola at all, and she was directly rebuking Countess Retola in the presence of all of these guests.

Countess Onen was drawing her confidence from the fact that she and her brother-in-law's cousin, Sanfesa, were already old acquaintances, whereas Countess Retola and Duchess Silon were relatively new acquaintances, so in Countess Onen's eyes, her relationship with Duchess Silon meant more than Countess Retola's relationship with Duchess Silon.

Unfortunately for her, she was oblivious to the fact that there was no concept of friendship between women, particularly women like Duchess Silon.

"Ah, please forgive me. I wasn't thinking before I spoke, so my thoughts just slipped out of my mouth. What I meant to say was that I could already tell that Mr. Erwin was an exceptional artist even back in Belama, but I wasn't expecting him to earn such a glowing reputation for himself in Zans so quickly," Countess Retola hurriedly amended.

Count Onen could see the figurative sparks that were flying between the two women, and he was naturally going to stand on his wife's side. "We're not the only ones who think that Mr. Erwin is an exceptionally talented artist. We've heard from many of the young followers of the New Light Church that Mr. Erwin is far more brilliant an artist than all of his contemporaries. It's no exaggeration to say that his mural was a miraculous work of art." 

Right at this moment, a man in the crowd said in a derisive voice, "What's the point in wasting one's life pursuing useless skills like art? If you ask me, a man whose only remarkable skill is to paint should be ashamed of himself."

Everyone turned to discover that the one who had spoken was Baron Teffrey, who had accompanied Countess Retola to the tea party. He was also a noble of the Delair Dukedom, and he could tell that Count Onen and his wife were ganging up on Countess Retola, so he was jumping to her aid. Of course, Teffrey also had another identity, which was that he was Countess Retola's latest lover. Thus, he naturally couldn't just stand by and watch as his lover was bullied by another couple. In addition to that, he was quite disdainful toward Erwin as a lowly artist and busker, and he was taking this opportunity to knock Erwin down a peg as well.

Truth be told, this verbal attack from Baron Teffrey wasa rather idiotic move, and it made it seem as if he were trying to start a conflict for no reason. It would be like if a group of people were discussing what they were going to have for lunch, only for someone to suddenly barge in and say something like: "Lunch? What's the point in eating lunch? You should all have dinner instead!"

It was downright inexplicable and only showed a lack of manners on his part.

However, all of the noble men at the tea party were regarding Erwin as public enemy number one, so no one said anything to rebuke Teffrey. In fact, many of them were quite pleased to see that someone had finally stepped forward to knock Erwin down a peg.

Count Onen was naturally not very pleased to hear someone insulting his guest like this, and he was just about to speak up to defend Erwin when Erwin stopped him with a faint smile on his face.

Onean was standing off to the side, looking at Erwin with an amused expression. She wasn't expecting this hobby of his to kick up such a fuss, and she was rather intrigued to see how things were going to unfold from here.

"In that case, what do you think are the skills a man should have in order to not be ashamed of themselves?" Erwin asked in a polite voice as he made his way directly toward Baron Teffrey with a pleasant smile.

All of the noble women in the garden were very surprised to see that Erwin was being so directly confrontational, and their eyes widened as they looked on while standing on the tips of their toes, wanting to see what was going to happen next.

Teffrey had thought that Erwin was only a handsome artist, and he wasn't expecting Erwin to be so brash and confrontational. He was slightly intimidated by Erwin's aura, and that left him at a loss for what to say. He was trying to show off in front of his lover, but in terms of appearance, he would only stand out among the average man. In contrast with Erwin's exceptionally handsome looks, he was instantly outshone.

Under normal circumstances, perhaps Erwin would've let the comment slide. However, it had been a very long time since he had fought anyone, and he was raring to go, so he naturally wasn't going to pass up an opportunity to teach this big-mouthed noble a lesson.

Teffrey's face immediately turned red, and he said, "A man sh-should excel in either martial arts or magic! You're n-nothing but a useless artist! You're not even fit to be a m-man!"

Teffrey was feeling quite intimidated, standing in such close proximity to Erwin, and it certainly showed in his stammering voice.

Erwin nodded in response with an enlightened expression, then glanced at the sword that was strapped to Teffrey's waist as he asked, "Does that mean you want me to teach me a lesson with your martial arts?"

Everyone immediately erupted into a frenzy upon hearing this.

Even though Erwin had been trying to suppress his old self, the thuggish demeanor that he had developed with his three friends back in Sarus was still showing through despite his best efforts. As one of the most notorious troublemakers among the young nobles of Sarus, some old habits were very difficult to kill off.

All of the nobles attending the tea party were quite stunned by this turn of events. Never did they think that this handsome artist would be someone with such a fiery temper.

As for Onean, she was naturally already accustomed to this, and her expression remained completely unchanged.

Baron Teffrey gulped nervously, then mustered up his courage as he replied, "S-sure! You think I'm s-scared of you?"

At this point, he had already been backed into a corner by Erwin. If he were to back down now, he would be seen as a joke by everyone at the tea party, so the only thing that he could do was accept Erwin's challenge.

The warm afternoon sun was making all of the guests at the tea party feel rather drowsy, but the arrival of Erwin and Onean had breathed new life into the stagnant event. They had thought that the insult hurled by Baron Teffrey would've been the highlight of the afternoon, but they were now about to witness a battle too. All of the guests who were regretting attending this tea party certainly had no such regrets now.

Erwin nodded in response to acknowledge his opponent's courage, then took a step back before inquiring in a serious voice, "So do you want to go until one of us is dead, or stop when one of us is incapacitated?"

Erwin had endured several battles of life and death in the past, so even though he was speaking in a very calm and tranquil voice, his statement still sent chills running down the spines of all of the onlookers.

Baron Teffrey was truly feeling a little spooked at this point, and he turned his gaze toward Countess Retola for help. Unfortunately for him, she had already averted her gaze and was refusing to look at him. Of course, she had never asked him to stand up for her in the first place, so he was entirely responsible for this predicament that he was in.

"Surely you jest, Mr. Erwin. This is just a friendly sparring match at a tea party, of course we're not trying to get anyone killed," Count Onen hurriedly mediated as he stepped forward in an urgent manner. He didn't want someone to die in his back garden.

It was clear to him that Erwin was serious about killing Baron Teffrey, so it was very much necessary for him to step in and mediate. Baron Teffrey was a noble from the Delair Dukedom, and if he were to die here in Count Onen's backyard, it would undoubtedly be very troublesome for Count Onen.

"Everyone get back a few steps! Make sure we leave enough space for the two of them." While Count Onen was still hesitating about how to proceed, his wife was already calling for everyone to step back and open up the area at the center of the garden. She sorely detested Countess Retola, and as Countess Retola's lover, she naturally didn't harbor any pleasant feelings toward Baron Teffrey, either, so she really wanted to see how Erwin was going to teach Teffrey a lesson.

Looking at the two people who were preparing to go into battle at the center of the garden, Faya was feeling rather dumbstruck, and she was wondering whether it had been a bad idea to invite Erwin to the tea party.

She wasn't concerned that Erwin would lose the battle. She had a vague feeling that Erwin was a very dangerous man. Under that handsome and delicate face of his was an extremely violent soul. Through their interactions on their first night together, she had already been shown a glimpse of that violent and domineering side of him.

With that in mind, a deep blush appeared on Faya's face, and she cast her gaze toward Onean, who was standing not far away. She was lamenting her own terrible luck at having such an outrageously perfect love rival, but at the same time, she was unwilling to give up on Erwin.