After coming out of the Graywhite Theater, Altan complained to the nobles present, “Your drama is really… quite straightforward.”
The nobles then explained, “After all, the theater is now open to ordinary people; the days when it was only for nobles to enjoy dramas are long gone.”
Altan clicked his tongue, wanting to say something, but ultimately swallowed his words and followed the nobles to the upcoming ball.
After spending some days living in Graywhite Territory, Altan gradually realized that the biggest feature of this territory is that the differences between the nobles and the commoners are shrinking.
It’s not that the commoners live better than the nobles; rather, aside from assets, there’s not much difference in status between nobles and commoners anymore.
Many things that were once only enjoyed by nobles are now gradually being opened up to commoners. Not to mention in Altan’s homeland, he has not seen such a situation in other parts of this continent.
Not to mention that in other places, commoners must kneel when encountering nobles; the practices of nobles in other regions would probably be quickly dealt with by the law in Graywhite Territory.
Altan had originally thought that without noble privileges, life would lose a lot of its charm, but life in Graywhite Territory has far exceeded Altan’s expectations.
The obelisk in the city center not only emits a glow itself but is also surrounded by many mesmerizing magic circles that make people’s eyes dazzle.
Altan, who understands a bit about magic, knows those magic circles are purely for decoration, but that doesn’t diminish their spectacular visual effects.
The nightlife in the entire city is very lively, and this is also Altan’s first experience of what true nightlife is like.
It’s not that Altan hasn’t seen cities that are lit up at night; for example, he could compare it with the night view of Cape Royal Capital, where the night is still brilliantly lit.
However, the nightlife in Graywhite Territory is essentially different; those places are brilliantly lit but not lively, because only nobles can enjoy that beautiful night, and the ones who stroll around at night are mostly nobles and their servants.
In Graywhite Territory, however, the night is quite bustling, with workers, clergy, and merchants everywhere.
Bars and cafes basically operate all night long, even having entertainment venues that open exclusively at night, all of which are legitimate.
Ironically, the nobles have started to stay home at night because now these nobles also need to work during the day, so the ball time can only be arranged for the evening.
Although the nobles have discarded many of their past habits in Graywhite Territory, they still retain the love for balls since they are important venues for these nobles to exchange information.
As the Northern Border gradually stabilizes, the nobles’ concerns have also eased. They might have worried that gathering together would attract the Governor’s attention, but now there’s no such worry, making the balls more frequent.
As a new noble in Graywhite Territory, Altan also participates in various nobles’ balls every day.
Although the balls among the Graywhite nobles seem a bit simple compared to those in other places, as everyone truly just dances and chats together, the scale is not smaller at all; the dazzling lights during the dance are enough to leave people spellbound.
However, it seems that the Governor doesn’t particularly like those dazzling lights, having once commented that the dance scene of these nobles resembles a disco, though the nobles didn’t understand what “disco” means, they found the Governor unexpectedly conservative in some matters.
Altan, on the other hand, really enjoys it, even feeling that such flashy lights should be accompanied by more intense music and dancing, allowing him to party all night long.
What surprised Altan the most were the noblewomen at the Graywhite noble gatherings, who were not discussing entertainment gossip or the latest trends but academic topics.
Altan once thought that with his charm as a foreigner and his eloquence, he could easily join in on these noblewomen’s group chats—not for flirting, but to gather information; at least that’s what Altan believed. However, he found that he simply couldn’t fit in.
Just listening to the mathematical symbols made Altan feel like his head was about to explode, and he heard that this was because the Governor’s wife liked these topics, which influenced what was discussed.
Yet learning so much just to have a couple of conversations with the Governor’s wife, Altan shook his head. Was it really worth it? Did the Governor’s wife have that much power? Wasn’t she just a pretty face?
In the end, although Altan couldn’t join the noblewomen’s group chat, both nobles and commoners were very curious about him, making him quite popular at the ball.
“The Avar Kingdom is a beautiful place; our ancestors landed there and, through brave battles, defeated the savages and brought magic and enlightenment to that continent.”
Altan began speaking about his homeland to the nobles as usual.
“There were other countries there, but they did not know that there were other continents beyond the Sea of Instability, so they continued to use the name our ancestors gave for their land—Solun, which means ‘new home.'”
Then, Altan started describing the customs and conditions of his hometown and other powers on the Solun Continent. The nobles treated this as a new drama without a performance, listening with great interest, which greatly satisfied Altan’s vanity.
He had more new material to share with his colleagues.
However, someone raised a question about how the wars between the Avar Kingdom and other countries on the Solun Continent ended.
Hearing this question, Altan began to stammer, saying, “Well, we won thanks to the supremacy magic and our brave warriors, winning several battles on the Solun Continent.”
He then began recounting some classic battles of the Avar Kingdom, many of which were won by the elite professions through strategies of fewer numbers defeating larger ones and the weak defeating the strong, even claiming that even dragons were allies of the Avar Kingdom, eliciting admiration from the nobles.
Listening to the flattery of these nobles, Altan finally regained some confidence.
At first, the Avar’s campaigns on the Solun Continent went extremely smoothly; they didn’t even need to use supremacy magic and had forced the other nations into a corner.
However, later, the Avala Six of the Avar Kingdom became overly reliant on supremacy magic, which led the divine beings to punish the kingdom. In areas that overused supremacy magic, magic power began to deplete, making spellcasting increasingly difficult, and elite professions became rarer.
Conversely, the natives grew bolder with each battle. Although they hadn’t been able to counterattack, they had stabilized their positions and even mastered supremacy magic, while the Avar Kingdom, suffering from depleted magic, prolonged battles, and changes within the court, led the elite professions without the Tower’s constraints to gradually begin to spiral out of control, forcing the kingdom to seek alternative paths.
As the sea routes were successfully expanded, the Avar Kingdom finally began to conquer the Sea of Instability like its ancestors had, even gradually exploring a stable route.
Another continent had already fallen into ruin; it was time for the Avar Kingdom to return to the homeland of its ancestors.
