221 Hinged
It had been over a month since the Daiyu family had visited the Sigebryht holy land…
Their plans were set in place in preparation for a proper takeover of the Elvin Kingdom. Although the Sigebryht and Norville families were confident in their own strengths, it was still the case that the grand elders posed a real problem.
Although the only other Celestial stage expert in the Elvin Kingdom, aside from the missing King and Grand Elder Deryth, was the head of the Sigebryht family: Sinaht, they weren’t comfortable with where they stood.
For one, Elder Deryth, although less talented than Sinaht, was far older. As such, his power reflected this age disparity. In addition, even if Sinaht was his match, Sinaht was well aware that his long-time rival would never allow the Elvin Kingdom to fall to him so easily.
In his youth, Sinaht was the undisputed peak genius of the Elvin Kingdom. He ranked within the top ten for the campaign rankings, his manifestation was both domineering and a perfect representation of the peak of the Sigebryht singularity technique, and he was in serious consideration for kingship.
The reason Sinaht had a chance to rule was because he was far superior to King Acacia at the time. In those days, the dislike of the True Empath ruling system was even stronger than it was now… reason being the ranking tome had named King Acacia a True Empath… but… King Acacia was known as a talentless commoner who hadn’t even managed to manifest his soul at the time…
Usually, the grand elders would write off Sinaht’s chances. After all, traditions were held in high regard… especially considering these traditions stemmed from the life sacrificed by one of the greatest Elves to ever live and the prophecy they foretold…
However, the problem was that decades passed without King Acacia manifesting his soul. Just like Ri had once lamented, King Acacia took centuries to finally succeed. And it was not until then that he was accepted as the rightful ruler.
To the grand elders, this was a sigh of relief. There was no longer a glaring reason not to crown King Acacia… however, to Sinaht, it felt like all of his life goals were crushed by a man he didn’t feel inferior to.
And for what? For a prophecy from a long-dead elf? For a savior no one had ever heard any word of? Why couldn’t he himself lead to elves to glory? To victory?
This obsession reached such a peak that Sinaht purposefully dashed his talent, forcefully cutting away his cultivation to remain at the peak of essence gathering so he could continue to campaign…
However, the ending of that story was clear for all to see. The elves were respected, but they weren’t unrivaled… and worse yet, they remained in this backwater universe. But, to Sinaht, the worst part was that his decision would always put him far behind King Acacia… the man who used to be known as trash.
Now, Sinaht had no way of understanding the level King Acacia had reached. But, he had reason to believe the man wasn’t as simple as being a mere lower celestial expert… it might not even be true that he was stalled at the middle levels… Because if he was so weak, it would have never been possible for him to win the heart of that woman… the woman that made the entire kingdom wary of what the princess would become.
There was no doubt that King Acacia was mighty.
Sinaht broke out into a cold sweat every time he thought of the day King Acacia finally manifested his soul… the day the Acacia family manifestation reappeared in the world… the day that forever marked his life in darkness.
However, things would change for him now. He knew it was a risk allying with such an enigmatic clan… the motives of the Daiyu clan were unknown to him. In fact, much of their movements made no real sense. But, Sinaht still accepted. ρꪖꪕᦔꪖꪕꪫꪣꫀꪶ
If the Daiyu clan only wanted allies to make moves to replace the current Royal God Clan, Sinaht would have no issue supporting them. Mostly because this was the best-case scenario…
But… there was always the sneaking suspicion that this couldn’t have been further from the truth… that this clan wanted more… and that whatever that ‘more’ was… it wouldn’t be good for anyone.
**
Soon, it was the night of the long-awaited banquet.
In a public square near the center of the city, and just out of the range of the castle’s forest, a great gathering was taking place.
The cobbled marble roads were shining under the moonlight, and the accents of jade gave the festivities a gorgeous backdrop.
The public square itself was a large opening amongst the complex streets and odd buildings of the Elvin Kingdom. In fact, this square was often where martial meets between the three academies took place. Previously, it had been a special case for the 3 school assessments to take place at the Acacia Academy coliseum… in that situation, there had been no chance to prepare the public square due to the late notice.
However, this banquet couldn’t be accused of being ill-prepared.
Hundreds of well dressed and organized tables filled the area, surrounding an elegantly formed stage.
Beautiful Elvin dancers spun in their well-designed dresses. Conservatively dressed, yet still unimaginably appealing to the eye.
Members of the Ualair sub-family played a variety of instruments, from lyres to guqins, accompanying the dancers. This, of course, made sense. The Ualair family was part of the blacksmithing guild and specialized in making high-level musical weapons.
All members of this family had a peculiar elegance to them and their light brown hair and eyes were without a doubt signs of their unique purity.
Watching the youths of this sub-family perform were all of the outstanding members of the Elvin Kingdom.
All 21 sub-families were present, and it went without saying that all 9 major families had made appearances…
However, this only caused a distinct cloud of tension to hang in the air despite the polite chatter because all attention couldn’t help but be focused on Sinaht and Zaltarish Sigebryht. They were the ones who called everyone here today… and everything hinged on their words.