Endless Leveling Done Right!

Chapter 570: A Title That Would Be Put To The Test

While Alex and Lavinia enjoyed an early dinner with the young lady’s parents, Ramza went to the village plaza and ordered all the warriors who were Rank 5 and below to gather.

Of course, even the stronger warriors had voluntarily come to hear what their Lord had to say.

"I’m sure you’ve already heard that our Oathkeeper will take the Etherion Challenge tomorrow at noon," Ramza said calmly. "And his reason is to gain our family’s blessing to take Lavinia’s hand in marriage."

The older Catkin paused to give the warriors some time to process this information before continuing.

"Without a doubt, Alex is strong enough to protect Lavinia. However, since he intends to take more wives, he must prove himself capable of protecting all of them. Thus, he has decided to take the Etherion Challenge."

He scanned the faces of the warriors, who were all looking back at him with smirks on their faces.

That alone was enough to tell him that they intended to "play" with the Oathkeeper and allow him to win the challenge by not going all out against him.

Ramza had already expected these warriors to let Alex off easy, but he refused to accept such an attitude. He didn’t want the Etherion Challenge to look like a joke, for it was an important tradition of their village.

Fortunately, he had a way to sway the mood of the crowd and make his warriors take this challenge more seriously.

"I’m sure that many of you here respect and care for our Oathkeeper," Ramza said before pressing his right hand over his chest. "I feel the same way as you. But our Oathkeeper, Alex, said something that I find troubling."

Ramza then gestured for the maid Roselia to come close to him, which made the onlookers suddenly think of something that made their eyes widen in shock.

Seeing their reactions, the old man knew that his plan was working, so he no longer held back and told them what they dreaded to hear.

"Alex said that aside from Lavinia, he wishes to take Roselia as his Mistress," Ramza declared. "She will become his personal maidservant and care for him for the rest of his life. You know that that means, right?!"

""What?!""

""No way!""

""Not Roselia!""

""Damn it!""

Roselia was actually very popular in the village. In fact, a lot of their warriors were motivated to grow stronger in hopes that one day they could propose to her.

The maid always wore glasses and a frilly maid uniform. But whenever she went into battle, she would take off her glasses and her persona would change completely.

Many warriors had witnessed this change during hunting missions. She was silk hiding steel, and many Catkin warriors longed to impress her.

The warriors were not delusional enough to entertain fantasies of marrying the untouchable Lavinia. Marrying Roselia, however, was within the realm of possibility.

The memory of her drop dead gorgeous face and wonderful figure—which could only be seen when she wore her skin-tight battle gear—was enough to make all the guys present roar in anger.

How dare their Oathkeeper set his sights on their Roselia! And he only wanted to add her to his harem instead of treating her as the one and only light of his life!

"Lord Ramza, we can break his bones, right?!"

"Of course, you can!" Ramza replied.

"We can beat the crap out of him as long as we don’t kill him, right?!"

"Go ahead!" Ramza gave the warrior a thumbs-up.

"If the Oathkeeper wins the challenge, will he XXX and XXX Roselia?!"

The Patriarch of the Clawford Tribe smirked, making everyone focus their attention on him.

"Ask yourself this." Ramza raised a single finger. "If you were in Alex’s shoes, would you not do it?"

""...""

""...""

""...""

Silence spread in the plaza that lasted for a few seconds before furious roars of anger spread far and wide.

Even Alex and Lavinia, who were all the way into the Hartwell Residence, could hear the crowd, making them wonder what was happening in the village.

Fortunately, Lavinia’s parents had been informed of Ramza’s plan ahead of time. They had deliberately kept the two inside the house, preventing them from knowing the plot that the Patriarch was cooking.

""Damn it! Damn it all!""

"Roselia! I will protect you!"

"We won’t allow you to be XXX and XXX by the Oathkeeper!"

""Roselia!""

""Roselia!""

""Roselia!""

The maid looked at the bloodthirsty warriors calmly. A moment later, she broke into sobs before tearfully thanking everyone who wished to protect her.

"Thank you, everyone," Roselia said through her crocodile tears. Clearly, she was in cahoots with Ramza to make the challenge more interesting. "Please do your best in the challenge. I don’t want to become the Oathkeeper’s mistress. I’m afraid that he would not even let me sleep at night. May fortune shine upon all of you!"

""Yeah!""

""We won’t let him have his way!""

""Ohhhhhh!""

""For Roselia’s happiness!""

""Marry me, Roselia!""

"Beat the Oathkeeper!"

""Beat him!""

"Smack him silly!"

""Smack him!""

Diona was getting swayed by the crowd and raised her hand to join the chanting.

"Kill him!" Diona shouted. "Death to the Oathkeeper!"

But no matter how loud she shouted, her words were drowned out by the crowd. Everyone was pumped to fight Alex tomorrow in the Etherion Challenge.

Still, those who had strong hearing heard her exact words and paid careful attention to her from a distance.

Ramza and Roselia zeroed in on Diona, but were careful to keep their expressions subdued. The Oathkeeper was a special existence to them. They might have instigated the warriors into taking the challenge seriously, but they also knew that none of the young men would actually dare—or even want—to kill Alex.

A few minutes later, Ramza and Roselia headed back to the residence together.

When he was certain that no one was nearby, Ramza called out, seemingly to no one in particular.

"Come."

Five Ninjas appeared in front of him and kneeled in servitude.

"You all saw that lady earlier, right?" Ramza asked.

"Yes, Master," the leader of the Ninjas answered.

"Pay close attention to her," Ramza ordered. "If she does anything funny, neutralize her right away."

"Understood!" the Leader nodded before turning into black mist.

The others also followed suit, eager to carry out their Master’s order.

Ramza and Roselia continued their stroll back to the residence in peace.

When they reached the stairs, Ramza turned around and looked at Roselia apologetically.

"I’m sorry for using you in this manner, Roselia," Ramza said. "It was a low move, even for me."

"No, Master." Roselia shook her head. "I understand this must be done to verify Alex’s sincerity toward the young lady."

Ramza sighed before looking at the plaza, where a few warriors lingered. They were busy discussing strategies to neutralize Alex as fast as possible in tomorrow’s Etherion Challenge.

Deep inside, the Patriarch of the Clawford Tribe wanted to see how much the young man had grown since the last time he had seen him.

Even back then, Alex had struck him as someone special.

As to how special Alex was... Well, that was what the old man wanted to find out.

If Alex really managed to survive the warriors’ pursuit until sunset, the Catskins would be spurred into training harder.

Ramza was using Alex as a whetstone to further strengthen the resolve of the younger generation, the future of their tribe.

’I sure hope you succeed, Alex,’ Ramza thought as he continued to move up the flight of stairs. ’But I guarantee you that it will not be easy.’

He was already old, but for the first time in many years, he could feel his fighting spirit burn. It almost felt like he was back to his youth, when he had actively fought battles to expand their domain.

Those days were long gone, but the future of his tribe looked brighter than ever before.

The Oathkeeper was the symbol of the Clawford Tribe, and for the first time in centuries, this title would once again be put to the test.