Wayne turned off the screen and continued with his own plot. Seeing that he was no match for Harry, Malfoy violated the rules of the duel once again following his sneak attack. He used a summoning spell, "Serpensortia," to conjure a cobra, which immediately terrified every student present.
Even more bizarrely, Harry wasn't frightened. Instead, he unconsciously used "Parseltongue"—an ability supposedly possessed only by the descendants of the legendary wizard Salazar Slytherin.
He told the venomous snake not to attack the students, but the others misinterpreted it as him egging the snake on to cause harm.
This led to Harry being isolated by his classmates for the period that followed.
But things didn't end there. Harry heard a voice calling to him inside the school more than once, saying terrifying things like "I want blood... they all must die..."
At that moment, the 3:30 PM bell rang.
Wayne, who hadn't eaten since he woke up that "morning," felt hungry. Popcorn and iced Coke were only snacks; eating them as a full meal was sickeningly sweet. If he was hungry, he needed a staple meal.
He asked Tess to go to the inn across the street to buy two takeout meals—one for himself and one for her. As for what to get, he let her decide.
When gaming in a net cafe, one shouldn't be picky about food.
Tess immediately did as told.
About twenty minutes later, the door was pushed open. Wayne assumed Tess had returned and said, without turning around, "Just put it on my desk." He didn't expect a powerful hand to reach out and pull the glasses right off his head.
Startled, Wayne turned around to see his old friend, Andrew.
He found it strange. Why would Andrew leave the blacksmith shop next door and come to the net cafe of his own accord?
Before he could ask, Andrew spoke with a frown. "Get out here quickly. The little girl is being bullied."
"What?"
Wayne stood up immediately. He wondered who was so blind as to come looking for trouble with one of his people—especially since he was technically a Knight. Furthermore, he was surprised that the net cafe's defense mechanism hadn't triggered.
He stepped outside and saw Tess just a few steps away from the inn entrance, surrounded by five men. The leader, a short, pudgy, balding man, was screaming insults at her. The takeout boxes scattered on the ground and Tess clutching her left cheek indicated that she had already been struck.
At that moment, the young girl revealed her stubborn side. She rushed forward to hit the balding man, only to be grabbed by the hands and hoisted into the air by one of the burly bodyguards. After all, a twelve-year-old girl didn't weigh much.
The balding man slapped her across the face again and barked:
"To think you'd actually try to lay hands on a Duke. You low-born filth!"
Apparently not satisfied with the verbal abuse, he raised his hand to deliver another slap.
"Hey! What are you doing?!" Wayne shouted. The balding man and his four bodyguards all turned around at the sound.
By this time, Mr. Farley from the inn and many passing residents had gathered to watch.
Wayne and the balding man locked eyes, and Wayne couldn't help but freeze for a second.
He recognized this man. This was the same person he had seen that day—Duke Bowles.
What was a Duke doing here instead of drinking himself into a stupor in Stormwind City?
"Who are you? Can't you see the Duke is disciplining this lowly servant?!" one of the bodyguards shouted sternly at Wayne, his face full of rage.
"I am Sir Wayne Miller," Wayne replied coldly.
The bodyguard was startled. Even a title like Knight, which came with no lands, still belonged to the noble class. It wasn't someone a mere bodyguard could afford to provoke at will.
The bodyguards immediately turned their gaze toward their master.
However, Duke Bowles' subsequent behavior seemed to confirm Wayne's suspicion from their last meeting—that the man had developed senile dementia. "Way... what Knight? Never heard of him!"
As the Duke spoke, Wayne smelled a thick, overwhelming stench of alcohol wafting from him.
With their master's words as backing, the bodyguards' menacing expressions instantly returned.
Farley, the innkeeper, spoke up. "Lord Duke, this man truly is a Knight dubbed by the Regent. The reward notice with the Regent's seal is still posted on the bulletin board over there... Please, be the bigger man and..."
Before Farley could finish, a bodyguard walked up to him. The man, who stood a head taller than Farley, practically pressed his chin against Farley's forehead and looked down with disdain.
"Is it your place to speak?! Didn't you hear what the Duke said?! If His Grace says he hasn't heard of him, then he hasn't heard of him. Even if he really is a Knight, so what? That's just the lowest, most insignificant rank. He isn't fit to carry the Duke's shoes."
Willem, the inn's guard, thought to himself that peace had only lasted a few days before trouble arrived again. He stepped forward, wanting to help his boss push back this arrogant bodyguard, but Farley—not wanting to cause a scene—actively held him back, blinking repeatedly to signal not to cause trouble.
Wayne, however, didn't care about any of that. He glanced back at Andrew, then walked up and shoved aside the bodyguard blocking his path. With a sharp "Smack," he batted away the hand of the other bodyguard who was holding Tess's wrists. He pulled Tess behind him to protect her and asked:
"What happened?"
Tess was crying indignantly, her eyes fixed on Duke Bowles with pure hatred as she sobbed:
"I was in the shop... I bought the food and was running out the door... and... I bumped into this dead... dead fat pig..."
The bodyguard who had been blocking Wayne earlier was now standing behind him. He shouted, "You lowly slave! How dare you openly insult the Duke?!"
Wayne ignored him and prompted Tess to continue. Tess glared fiercely at the bodyguard who had just insulted her and went on:
"The boxes in my hand... fell... fell on the ground. This dead fat pig not only didn't... pay for it, he said I dirtied his clothes and had... people hit me."
After the twelve-year-old girl finished her explanation, the surrounding crowd began to whisper:
"Really... treating a child like that..."
"The nobility is getting more arrogant and overbearing by the day!"
"Keep your voice down... don't go looking for trouble..."
"Exactly. He has power and influence. Forget ordinary people like us—even that Knight is ten thousand miles below a Duke..."
"Sigh... it's infuriating just thinking about it..."
...
Wayne stood up and looked at Duke Bowles, speaking in a relatively calm voice. "Is that how it happened?"
The bodyguard who had insulted Tess immediately barked, "You must use formal titles when speaking to the Duke!"
Wayne turned and glared at the man. "Who the fuck are you dipshit?"
The man immediately threw a punch. Wayne gave Tess a gentle push toward the net cafe and raised his arm to block the blow.
The bodyguard was enraged. "You dare strike back?!" With that, he threw another punch.
By now, Tess had run off. The Stilly siblings ran up to shield her and pulled her toward the net cafe. Meanwhile, Andromath and the others inside—having been notified by Andrew—put down their games and came rushing out.