After the tea party, the next few days for Erwin and Onean were quite peaceful.

Erwin was spending this time contemplating what they were going to do next. After turning down Count Onen's offer, it seemed like there weren't many viable alternatives for them.

The main problem was that all of his Loonies were still on Christine's airship. Without any money to his name, he couldn't do anything.

Right as Erwin was trying to work out a future plan, Chahan came to visit, and he did so very early in the morning.

Erwin thought that Chahan had to have run out of Loonies again, but to his surprise, that wasn't the reason for Chahan's visit.

"What? Who?" Erwin asked with a surprised expression. "Shiba? Who are you talking about and what do they want from me?"

"This is an old friend of mine. He heard that you're a powerful magician, so he wanted to request an audience with you," Chahan explained. "He's currently the commander of the Monge Riders mercenary legion."

"What is this Monge Riders mercenary legion supposed to be?" Erwin asked.

He had truly failed to anticipate that all of the nobles at the tea party would be such massive blabbermouths.

"Aside from Count Onen's Wild Ax Legion, Shiba's Monge Riders mercenary legion is the legion with the most number of troops in Zans," Chahan explained.

Erwin wasn't very impressed upon hearing this. Zans was only a tiny city, so he wasn't expecting any particularly large mercenary legions to be situated here. Thus, he didn't display much interest in this Monge Riders mercenary legion.

"What kind of relationship does Shiba share with Count Onen?"

"Count Onen really wants to absorb Shiba's mercenary legion into his Wild Ax Legion, but Shiba is quite resistant to the idea," Chahan replied.

"Why is that?" Erwin asked.

"He doesn't think Count Onen is a worthy leader to follow," Chahan replied. "Of course, if it isn't for the mounting threat from the Farody Family, Count Onen would never try to recruit Shiba and his mercenary legion, either. It's only in times of desperation that Count Onen is laying down his pride to try and recruit Shiba."

Erwin nodded in response upon hearing this, and he developed a rough understanding of the Monge Riders mercenary legion from Chahan's description. It was most likely the case that the mercenary legion was comprised entirely of commoners. Otherwise, Onen wouldn't have been so disdainful toward it.

"When would your friend like to meet me?" Erwin asked.

"Today would be great!" Chahan replied in a joyful manner. He wasn't expecting Erwin to agree so easily, so he was caught slightly off guard. "Would you like to come with me now, Master Erwin? If you don't have any plans, Shiba is free to meet you right away."

"Stop referring to me as Master Erwin and Your Excellency in the future. I'm not a noble, and if I was, that was only a past chapter of my life," Erwin said with a serious expression.

Chahan faltered slightly upon hearing this before nodding in response.

For some reason, Erwin had developed a strong sense of distaste for those so-called nobles ever since he had returned from the tea party. Perhaps he wasn't overly opposed to the title, but what truly disgusted him was being put in the same category as those people from the tea party. Even two whole days after returning from the tea party, he still felt dirty and impure. Just the mere thought of that atmosphere and those pairs of haughty and derisive eyes made him want to puke, and he decided there and then that he was never going to attend another such event unless it was absolutely necessary.

During these past few days, he had reflected on himself extensively, and his conclusion was that he was different from those people.

Furthermore, he learned a valuable lesson, which was that looking down at something from above was completely different from looking up at something from down below.

He finally understood why Lucidy Farody had said what he had said to Lia on that day.

Following his conversation with Chahan, Erwin prepared to leave the hotel room, but right as he was about to do so, Onean emerged from her room.

"Are you going out?" Onean asked as she took an indifferent glance at him.

"I am."

"I'll come with you."

Erwin was rather surprised to hear this. Onean had been very reluctant to go out recently, so he was quite taken aback by this offer.

Onean could clearly tell what Erwin was thinking, and a disgruntled look appeared on her face as she said, "I'm worried that you'll go after that witch!"

"You mean Theresa? Didn't you say her magic power is nothing special? Do you really need to come with me?" Erwin asked with an amused smile.

"It's true that she's not a very powerful magician, but what if she has an entire army of those toys up her sleeve? Did you think about that?" Onean asked with a cold smile. 

The thought of an army of opponents like Cheren storming him from all directions immediately sent chills running down Erwin's spine, and he nodded in response. "That's a very reasonable concern."

"By the way, Chahan, how much do you know about Theresa?" Erwin asked as he turned to Chahan.

"Truth be told, I haven't heard much about her. The only remarkable thing about her is that she's Duke Eru's daughter," Chahan replied after taking a moment to think about the question. "I heard that Cheren attacked you at the tea party, and everyone was very surprised to hear that. Could it be that Theresa was the one who instructed Cheren to attack you?"

"She did, but that's not all, she also completely modified Cheren's body with magic. Most importantly, even Cheren's brain seemed to have been modified. He didn't have the consciousness of a normal person, and he was following her instructions like a tool," Erwin explained as his brows furrowed slightly.

"I didn't know that Duke Eru's daughter was capable of that," Chahan said with a surprised expression. "Using magic to modify one's body isn't exactly a new concept, but to be able to modify someone's body so comprehensively, she has to be extremely skilled at the crat. I've only ever seen people with magically modified limbs, but I've never seen anyone that's had their brain magically modified before."

Erwin offered no response to this. He had full trust in Onean's judgment, and seeing as Onean had said that Theresa's magic power was nothing remarkable, then that had to be the case. Hence, one could only speculate about what type of magic Theresa had used to modify Cheren's body, or if she had recruited the assistance of a master in body modification.

In addition to that, there was another possibility that had occurred to Erwin.

"Alright, let's talk about this another time. Take me to that friend of yours," Erwin said to Chahan, putting an end to the conversation about Theresa for now.

Upon realizing that Onean was going to be accompanying them, a slightly awkward look appeared on Chahan's face, and he turned to look at Erwin as if he had something to say.

"What is it? If you have something to say, then say it," Erwin prompted in an impatient manner.

Chahan leaned in close to Erwin before whispering into his ear, "Master Erwin, the Monge Riders mercenary legion is full of men who are... let's just say not very sophisticated. If they end up saying something rude to your lovely wife, that would be quite awkward for all of us."

"Didn't I tell you not to call me Master Erwin?" Erwin said as he raised an eyebrow.

Chahan could only give a resigned shrug, indicating that old habits were difficult to kill off.

"You're worried that they'll say something rude to my wife? Take a look at her, does she look like she can't look after herself?" Erwin asked with an amused expression.

Chahan took a glance at the steely look in Onean's eyes, and he nodded sheepishly in response while praying that Shiba and his subordinates wouldn't do anything out of line.

Onean had not been in a very good mood these past few days, so if anyone dared to incur her wrath, then Erwin could only pray for their wellbeing.

...

Chahan led Erwin and Onean to a pub on Marvin Street, which was situated in the eastern part of the city. According to Chahan, this area was all encompassed within the Monge Riders mercenary legion's sphere of influence, and even the soldiers from the Wild Ax Legion had to give them some respect when visiting this area.

The fact that a ragtag bunch of mercenaries had their own sphere of influence in Zans further highlighted just how incompetent Count Onen was.

The three of them entered the pub, and all of the patrons inside were members of the Monge Riders mercenary legion. No one came out to drink this early in the morning, and even if they did, they wouldn't dare to venture into this pub anyway.

Erwin swept his gaze around the room, which was filled with the stench of alcohol, and he pursed his lips in a nonchalant manner, paying no heed to this group of uncouth mercenaries. The Wolf Moon mercenary legion was far more formidable than this mercenary legion, yet the former had still all been slain by Erwin and his comrades, so he certainly wasn't going to be intimidated by this group.

Meanwhile, Onean's brows furrowed slightly, and it was clear that she very much detested this type of setting.

It was certainly not every day that such a good-looking pair visited the pub, and everyone in the pub instantly had their attention drawn to the two of them. In particular, even though the woman was wearing a loose-fitting robe, her gorgeous and seductive figure was still plain to see.

Chahan rushed over to a table where a group of people was playing cards, then introduced in an enthusiastic manner, "Brother Shiba, this is Mr. Erwin." 

A man with a toothpick held between his teeth set down the cards in his hands, then took an indifferent glance at the two people standing in the corridor. "So you're Erwin?"

Erwin and his friends were renowned troublemakers back in Sarus, so he had naturally dealt with many people similar to Shiba. Thus, after entering the pub, he refrained from following Chahan deeper into the establishment. Instead, he chose to hang back and stand in the corridor. He knew that Shiba would definitely put on an act to try and intimidate or deride them, but he had nothing to ask of Shiba, so there was no reason why he would accept any attempts at intimidation or disparagement without any retaliation.

"Why do you look like a chick?" Shiba suddenly asked. He was looking at Erwin against the light, so he couldn't see Erwin's face very clearly, but it seemed to him that Erwin's face was very delicate.

Shiba's subordinates thought that their commander was intentionally insulting Erwin, so they immediately burst into raucous laughter to back up their leader.

Meanwhile, Chahan was standing off to the side with an awkward expression.

Erwin was much more composed and unfazed. He had experienced countless verbal exchanges like this with his friends back in Sarus, and many of them had escalated into physical altercations. In particular, Larwood had a knack for instigating, and he often began by insulting the opposing party's looks.

He knew that Shiba had asked to meet him for a reason. Surely he wasn't so bored that he would invite Erwin here for a meeting just to insult him for fun.

As for why he didn't retaliate right away, this was Shiba's territory, so he had to give Shiba some respect. If he were to lash out right away, then there wouldn't be much room for talking to be done.

"Damn, look at that chick standing beside him! I've never seen a chick this hot before. Look at that face, that figure, I'm sure it would feel like heaven to run my hands over that body..." A burst of lecherous laughter rang out from the card table.

The lecherous laughter quickly spread through the entire pub like wildfire, and all of the mercenaries of the Monge Riders mercenary legion began to stare at Onean with lustful looks in their eyes.

Erwin heaved a faint sigh, but his breath had only just been exhaled before it turned into visible mist. This was very strange considering the fact that winter was already long past.

The reason for this was because the air temperature in the entire pub had abruptly plummeted. In the blink of an eye, layers upon layers of glacial ice had emerged from beneath Onean's feet before spreading to all corners of the pub.

The chorus of lecherous laughter instantly drew to a halt, and all of the cackling mercenaries had been instantly frozen into ice statues.

As for Erwin, he had already vanished on the spot after heaving that faint sigh.

Immediately thereafter, the man who had just been talking about running his hands all over Onean's body had his head rammed straight into the wall behind him. He was staring blankly at the hand that had suddenly appeared before closing itself around his throat, and he had no time to react to this sudden turn of events.

That was the last thing that he ever saw.

The mercenaries gathered around the card table were clearly more capable martial artists than the other mercenaries in the pub, and not all of them were frozen by Onean's spell. Shiba had already drawn the blade that was strapped to his waist before slashing it toward the icy mist that was surging toward him along the floor.

Erwin cast a cold gaze toward his direction, then unleashed an instant-release spell to knock the blade out of his hand. Immediately thereafter, he arrived beside Shiba with a space split technique before giving him a vicious backhanded slap, leaving him seeing stars dancing before his eyes.

He then grabbed Shiba by the hair before pressing his head into the wall, right beside the other head that had just been embedded into the same wall. "So I heard you wanted to meet me?"

Shiba looked at the head beside him, which had intracranial fluids gushing incessantly out of it, and his lips were trembling with fear, so much so that he was unable to speak.

He was trying to intimidate Erwin just now, and he also wanted to see if Erwin really was as terrifying as the nobles made him out to be. Deep down, he sorely despised all nobles, whom he perceived to be high-born cowards, so he instinctively placed Erwin in the same category, and now, he was being left to rue his own idiocy.

This wasn't a pair of cowards, they were more ruthless than anyone he had ever seen!

"Look at those trembling lips. How cute," Erwin jibed. "By the way, where did that toothpick of yours go?"

Shiba could only stare at Erwin's sinister grin in horror, unable to utter even a single sound.

Erwin pinched his index finger and thumb together, and a thin ice needle instantly appeared between them. He then slowly pushed the tip of the needle closer and closer to Shiba's eye, making sure to elongate the process to instill more fear into his prey. "You like toothpicks, don't you? Here, I made a special one just for you."

"Brother Shiba!" One of Shiba's subordinates was frantically warding off Onean's ice mist spell, and he could only watch powerlessly as his commander was about to be blinded by Erwin. Even though his feet were already frozen to the ground, he was still doing everything in his power to rush over to Erwin with his sword raised.

Erwin was rather surprised to see that Shiba had such loyal subordinates.

"Stay away!" Somehow, Shiba was finally able to muster up the courage to find his voice, and he immediately yelled for his subordinate to stay away from him. He was terrified that Erwin would extend his killing spree if they continued to resist.

Erwin nodded with a hint of approval in his eyes upon seeing this. "Looks like you have a decent sense of responsibility."

He then released Shiba, allowing him to slide down the wall before sitting onto the ground.

"I was willing to show you some respect, given that this is your territory, but you weren't worthy of my respect, so you can't blame me for what I did," Erwin said as he sat down onto a chair, then cast his gaze toward Onean, indicating for her to cease her spell.

Throughout this entire process, Onean hadn't moved a single inch from her original spot, and her arms remained crossed in an elegant manner. It had only taken her the gentlest tap of her foot onto the floor, and the pub was instantly sealed in ice.

However, she didn't immediately stop as Erwin requested. Instead, with a twist of her foot, the heads of around a dozen frozen Monge Rider mercenaries were also twisted off their bodies, then fell onto the ground in an orderly sequence, producing a pleasant string of dull thuds.

Erwin shook his head with a resigned expression upon seeing this, then turned to the horrified Shiba as he said, "See what you did? All of their deaths could've been avoided."