Later that day, after the fall of the Symons family, Vicente would go to the local blacksmith association to practice his skills. There, he would receive word from Benson that Henry had agreed to their plan.

In two days, he would compete against Henry's most famous student in Millfall, Landon Fraser, a level 5 Acolyte who was about to advance to the 3rd stage.

Their match would occur in the early evening, two days from now, in the association.

According to Benson, they would compete in the production of three artifacts, and whoever won at least two contests judged by a jury of blacksmiths would be crowned the winner.

Vicente also discovered that if he lost, he would have to represent the chapter in more than one contest since it was only after Benson's promise that Henry had accepted such a bet.

But he didn't see a problem with that. It made sense that they could lose something as valuable as what was at stake for Henry. Besides, Vicente was confident he could improve his skills a little more in these two days, something he knew was possible for him, while his opponent would most likely not improve from today to the day after tomorrow.

So, on the afternoon of that day, he locked himself in a training room at the association, leaving the affairs of the Mazzanti family to Rory and the rest of his staff.

...

While Vicente was training for the wager in two days, Shelby was at a local restaurant with Molly, Livia, and Nicolas.

After the auction the day before, the group of these two young people from Dryhaven had fought to keep their belongings after the auction. But since most of those interested in the post-auction action yesterday had been after the Viscount and other individuals, they hadn't had to contend with a large number of opponents.

Since they also had no interest in third-party items, they had managed to get through the previous night relatively smoothly, being the only group from outside Millfall to do so.

After spending the night in this town, they discovered that the night's events and the family Shelby was about to marry had been completely wiped out.

In the face of such shocking events, Livia wanted to stay in this place for a few more days.

"Shelby, you must be in a terrible place to lose your fianc on the eve of your wedding," Livia said to the woman across the table, trying to hold back a smile. "I'm sorry for you. You would have made a great couple."

Shelby looked into Livia's green eyes and said. "You don't have to tell me that, Livia. Marcus and I weren't like you and Nicolas. For me, the Symons family's fall is really strange and shocking, but I had no feelings for him despite our engagement."

"You are so cold. No wonder you're so unlucky." Livia said quietly, not caring about the recent losses of the woman in front of her. "Anyway, when is her funeral? I guess you're organizing it, right?"

"In two days, we'll say goodbye in the Field of Souls. If you're interested, we'll welcome relatives, friends, and allies to say goodbye to the members of the Symons family."

One might ask, the Symons family has been wiped out, so what relatives could be left for this house? Well, families on this continent weren't that simple.

Every family had a main line and a secondary line, which was easy to understand when you considered the heir and his brothers and sisters. However, the members of that line had paternal and maternal relatives who were not part of the line of succession.

In other words, the Symons family had been wiped out because the main and secondary lineages had been wiped out the night before. There was no one left to inherit the family's lands and titles.

But there was the family of origin of the Viscount's wives, the maternal family of the family's heirs, and the maternal side of Viscount Symons himself.

These people on the maternal side of the Viscount's family couldn't inherit anything. Still, they were relatives who existed and might be interested in saying goodbye to the dead.

As for the Viscount's paternal family, who might have had some claim to the now-dead man's possessions, they no longer existed. Viscount Symons had had only one sister, who had no right of inheritance. As for his father and his father's relatives, they were all dead, as far as the official powers of the kingdom knew.

Could there be a Viscount's bastard out there? Or even an unofficial son of the Viscount's father? Of course, but only those recognized by royalty could claim property from dead nobles.

Until the day before his death, a nobleman could nominate people for his line of succession from among his descendants and paternal relatives from the main line. Bastard or not, as long as one was nominated in this way, he would become part of that family's line of succession.

On the other hand, if such a person was not nominated, he would have no rights, even if he could prove that he was related to the fallen noble.

Therefore, it was fair to say that the Symons family had been completely wiped out, and their title would have to be passed on to another family.

But there were relatives of the dead from the night before, and at least some of them were expected at the local cemetery to say goodbye to the dead.

Livia then said. "Then I'll stay in town for two more days. I want to pay my respects to the family you almost joined."

"That is your decision. Do what you want." Shelby told the green-haired woman.

Then Nicolas asked something he had wanted to ask for a long time. "Miss Staples, what happened last night? I have to say I'm surprised you're still alive after buying a 3rd-grade item."

Shelby smiled as she had heard the same question from her father earlier.

The man had asked her everything about the previous night, from how she had managed to survive to where the Seal of Spirits was and where her coins had come from.

After calming down and agreeing to use the local power vacuum to improve the Staples family's position, Baron Staples remembered that he wanted to ask his daughter all those questions.

Shelby then told Livia the same thing she had told her father: "I was forced to give such an article to the strongest person I could find. The night before, I had planned to go to the Symons estate to hide under the Viscount's protection. But before I got there, I lost the Seal of Spirits.

Sigh... I had a big loss the night before."

After talking about a few other things, Livia invited Shelby to her wedding to Nicolas, which would take place in Dryhaven in a few months.

Afterward, Shelby watched them leave, smiling to herself. 'Going to your wedding? Is there going to be a wedding, Livia? When Vicente frees Snow Claw, we'll see if you have time for a wedding.'