But as for Ria, she made a slight snicker as she looked at Marius lovingly while sending him a message directly to his mind, "Hehe, my husband, you truly are an evil fellow."
Marius had a faint smile as he replied mentally, "Ha, of course I am; you love me that way, don't you, Ria."
Ria's eyes beamed in a radiant ray as she poked his side under the table and licked her lips while replying, "Always…"
Marius felt a fire burning, but he knew this wasn't the time for their antics. He mockingly glanced at Kyle while speaking with his wife once more, "Huhu… see, that bastard deserves it. Since he wanted to take a chance at you, he should be grateful that I didn't kill him directly; from now on, he must be ready to share our ups and downs."
"Hehe… I can already see the look on his face."
Ria sent back with a teasing look on her face; Marius smiled while trying to keep a poker face as the two continued to converse and flirt with each other idly. Grevlin and Little Rose stills seemed a bit bored; they soon started to play a little game with each other.
As the family continued to carry an idle air, many looked at them with strange looks, but if one paid closer attention to these onlookers, they would notice that their eyes flashed with a hint of complication.
Unlike them, Kyle only had a slight moment of conflict before he returned to normal. The Wilborn's were influential in Ivanov, but his clan was still a few levels higher than them; they wouldn't be able to do anything if he were to push the right cards.
With a sly smirk, Kyle stared at Marius and his family as he spoke in a threatening tone, "The Wilborn's are not a bad background, but I'm sorry to say they just aren't up to the standard to keep you from suffering military action. Huhu… my dear stranger, it would look like your luck has a run dry, from this point onwards, I will—"
Marius made an odd look as he heard Kyle's words; he frowned, not liking the fact that a person he viewed as insignificant was still yapping away before him despite his prior statement. He was about to act more seriously, but before that could happen, there was a change.
"Then what if you add me?" A deep voice said, followed by the footstep of a figure in armor.
Looking closely, one would notice that the person who spoke was none other than the strange middle-aged man that had been eyeing Marius's family since the previous night. The crowd looked over and stared at the person carefully before their eyes widened in shock.
"That... isn't that Seth Vurlock?" One person exclaimed in surprise.
"You're definitely right, for one of the two Superior Instructors of the Royal Branch Academy to be here at this hour, it makes me wonder?"
Another voice said in surprise.
"That's nothing new; I've heard rumors that said the empire crowned him as a Lesser Knight from his former Troop Commander rank, but because of some incident, he was demoted and sent back here." Someone else said with a deep look on their face; the others also showed pensive looks as they felt it to be a surprise.
Much like everyone else, Kyle had a surprised look when he saw Seth make an appearance. His face turned stern as he thought to himself, 'Blast! Why is this bastard here of all places? Are you telling me a famous Ex Knight such as himself is going to meddle in this affair?'
Kyle was currently in a moment of distress as he didn't think someone of this standard would climb out of nowhere; the audience also thought the same as they felt that the matter with Marius and his family wouldn't be so easy to pursue anymore.
Liola, who had been planning on helping out, heaved a sigh of relief as she glanced towards Seth and muttered, "Oh, so Mr. Vurlock has taken an interest in them; it looks like I won't need to trouble the Inn Master."
Marius and Ria made a curious look when they saw the stranger took action; they glanced at each other in silence but said nothing in the end; they merely wanted to watch as the scene played out. However, a new matter had taken their attention.
The waiter had now returned with a few plates of food, and as if he didn't care about the current scene, or even Kyle himself, he had started to place down different plates with their condiments before Marius's family. Not bothering to attend anything else, Marius, Ria, Little Rose, and Grevlin promptly focused on their meal.
"Ah, yummy-yummy food!" Little Rose said in joy as she shook her small hands up and down.
Grevlin also licked his lips when he saw the rich colored and flavorful plates before them, Ria had a bright look in her eyes as Marius smirked and spoke, "Alright everyone, lets dig in."
"Yay!" Little Rose said as she began to try and stuff her face, but Ria hurriedly broke off a small piece of meat and placed it in her arms.
Grevlin also started his first battle in a long time, he strugglingly held onto the special fork that he had gotten from the Mountain Ax Senior, using his utmost care not to break them as he fed himself.
At this time, while the family had their peaceful meal, the tension had reached its turning point as everyone watched the scene between Kyle and Seth; they were waiting to see what the response would result in the end.
Both stared into each other's eyes in silence for a good while, as Kyle had a struggling look until his eyes flickered before he sighed helplessly. He rose to his feet and made a slight salute towards Seth, and spoke, "Squad Captain Rayman sincerely greets Sir Vurlock. Please, let me apologize for my prior blunder. Since you are willing to shield them, then, for now, I shall no longer press today's matter."
Kyle, who felt he had lost face with those words aid, didn't dare to dally for too long. He hurriedly walked towards the entrance, his men following behind him as they hauled away Barken's husky body along with his comrades.
However, while walking, Kyle didn't forget to shoot Marius a cold look; he noticed that they weren't even paying attention to him and were now idly eating. His eyes flashed with killing intent, but he kept it suppressed and only focused on the door ahead while his thoughts echoed.
'I can't touch you for now because of that bastard, but as for those darn Wilborn's, humph! I won't let them have it easy.'
Kyle's figure soon vanished from the inn with those dark thoughts in kind, when he left, the inn soon regained its former stability.
Many persons heaved a sigh of relief as they saw Kyle repelled, even more so for the various women in the inn. Some cast grateful looks towards Marius's family, but as they saw them eating, they couldn't help but show awkward looks thinking that this family was just too brazen.
Unlike the others, Seth, who had spoken for them, merely smiled as he thought, 'Heh, truly a good bunch.'
Without thinking anything else, he walked over to them, prepared to engage in conversation.