Bro, I'm not an Undead!

The man gracefully picked up one of these at a time and expressed class while eating them with his tea, profanities following afterwards as he complained about the ungodly weather.

"It is sir," a formally dressed lady said while sitting on a chair at the side of the bed. "At least for you."

"You don\'t need to retort every time. I\'m perfectly fine grumbling to myself," the man said.

The woman seated at the side of his bed shook her head, the brown, braided hair of hers that was tied into a bun shaking as well to emphasise how she thought about her master\'s words.

"Instead of insisting on murmuring to the obvious, shall we review the list you asked me to compile, Master Aurolio?" the woman suggested.

"Only after you add another blanket, Idline," the man identified as Aurolio said while pointing a shaky finger at the woman who was named Idline.

A sigh and a set of footsteps later, another thick blanket covered Aurolio from the head to the shoulders and back. The white haired man expressed some semblance of relief that was replaced by a light quivering once again.

"Go on," he said to Idline.

The woman nodded as she pulled out a sheet from what seemed like a flat file, many texts being methodically written along with symbols used to distinguish each point.

"Of the individuals I have verified, to some degree, to surely be participating in the Premium Age Royale, I have noted eight figures, three of which you know, rest you do not," Idline said.

"Start with those that I know."

"Very well. At the top of the list is Vali Kinn of the Kinn Family."

Aurolio continued to sip his tea before adding another spoon of sugar to it.

"She already announced her interest in the game a while ago. Glad to know she hasn\'t changed her mind. I have no interest in that nasty freak unless... Wait. She can\'t be the one that fucking swindler, could she? He likes gender bending in his predictions to confuse people, doesn\'t he?" Aurolio asked Idline with a light frown.

"I highly doubt it, though I wish she had been the one. When was the last time you even entertained the idea of a woman in your bed, Master Aurolio?" Idline said with a teasing tone on her stern face.

"Don\'t start with me, Idline. I\'ll fuck you up this time and take away your PRIVILEGES," Aurolio said while narrowing his eyes.

Idline smiled and continued her report.

"Very well. The next one on the list is Nexius Oldd of the Oldd Family. My sources confirmed that he intends to join the Premium Age Royale to impress his fiancé with his... incredible prowess."

"If it weren\'t for our alliance, I would have killed that womanising fuck. Am I the only one who sees that you lot are severely overrated?" Aurolio said while munching on another biscuit.

Idline sighed and ignored Aurolio\'s last question.

"The last one you should know is...." Idline paused. "...him."

"Right. Multiple rumours said that he confirmed that he would join if this Royale was real, right? He\'s somewhat interesting but I doubt it could be him either," Aurolio remarked while yawning, his tongue cleaning the sugar from his teeth.

"He signed himself to a wealthy Family from the East. Don\'t know its name yet. He\'s been on a rather excessive killing spree though. Six fairly large families from the south were wiped out in one hour as soon as a bounty was setup for their heads. Apparently these Families were created by several bands of bandits for the Royale and someone didn\'t like it. I heard everyone there died the same way, a deep laceration from the shoulder to the side. Men, women, children and all."

"That\'s a killer for you. He hates wasting time. I like that about him. And the ones I don\'t know?"

"Well, it seems someone from the Academy has also signed a contract with a Family to participate in the Royale. A Mage."

"Ha. Didn\'t expect that," Aurolio said with a short laugh which made Idline smile for a brief moment.

When this man wasn\'t having panic attacks, he really reeked of confidence.

"The rest are Maxim Flatbed from the Flatbed Family.

Bonoli Fisher from the Fisher Family..."

....

***

EverSword Estate.

"The Venue is ready right?"

"Yes. It is ready. Everything has been prepared.

"The beast is secured? Firmly?"

"Yes. The beast is firmly held down and gagged."

"Good. Nothing must go wrong."

A man with a look of pride on his face said.

He dismissed his steward after getting the details to the finalisation of the elements surroundings the Venue.

Many problems could arise from this, namely scrutiny by the Capital Service and the Purity.

A Paladin Champion had been placed in Genhuis City to aid the Capital Service against possible attacks from the Green Neolists and Evenfall.

This could be problematic, but Actuass had told him to be at ease.

He knew the risks.

Divination and Divine intervention itself.

No one knew for sure if perhaps the Deities would intervene, but most people had lost faith. They only believed in the system and not these gods themselves.

This man, the head of the EverSword House remained standing, staring intently at a mural that was on the wall.

It was large, its height being 4,5 meters while its width was roughly half of that.

It depicted the image of a land that was ruptured, releasing a blood red glow like molten lava while a sea of green flame poured down from a sky untainted by clouds.

In between these two was the vague image of a man floating between the two eerie depictions.

Surprisingly detailed it was, showing not a distraught face but one of... gratefulness.