Bro, I'm not an Undead!

On this night that most would call excitingly chaotic, full of carnal anticipation and perhaps a dash of confusion as the event everyone was waiting for hadn\'t begun as they had pictured, the former Association Branch Head was burdened by fury and worry.

Again with this bastard!

Why did he like to not be present when important things were set to occur?

Did he enjoy seeing this man almost get a stroke from anxiety?

At this point, Silrat was more concerned with his investment going up in flames.

Even now, if Skullius was to perish somehow, the position he had earned himself, which was formally termed Appraiser, the lowest rank among those in the executive circle of the Guilds Association, would not be stripped from him.

The Association had already acknowledged him as being capable of finding and grooming talent. If that wasn\'t the case, it would be dug up as time went on.

This was not what he worried about.

Silrat worried about Skullius himself.

The Hybrid Luman had questioned himself on whether Silrat knew the inner intricacies of his Tie of Exchange with him, the answer to which was... to some degree.

As someone not born in Old times, Silrat only knew that invoking a Tie of Exchange demanded quite a lot from the initiator in terms of the safety of who and what it was invoked for.

One may call his concern genuine worry for a friend.

Others may call it bloodlust to strangle Skullius for his impudence.

But none of that mattered.

If he had a damn leash, he would skilfully wrap it around Skullius\' neck and turn him into a pet instead.

"Please calm down Mr. Silrat. I\'m sure Festos will be here soon," Stylla said while seated on one of the comfy couches in the lounge.

She had been watching Silrat\'s journey less rush for the better part of two minutes and decided she had had enough of this looped show even though it distracted her from the third individual seated beside her.

"This is the ninth day for crying out loud!" Silrat growled.

"Yes but the Royale hasn\'t even begun yet. Whether that is by dumb luck or something more... that gives him and us a bit more time, " Stylla tried to reason.

In her thoughts though, she wasn\'t worried about this in the least.

Over the past two days, her mind had been preoccupied with digesting a bombshell she had received in place of the news she desired.

Apparently, the Premium Age Royale was trivial when compared to something else that Festos would be involved with in the future.

The words of the old Diviner hadn\'t left her ears.

He had dismissed much of what had to do with the Premium Age Royale and gone on to repeat the same words. Words that Stylla couldn\'t understand the meaning of.

A king was to descend by Festos\' doing.

What did that even mean?

When she had tried inquiring about Festos\' performance in the Royale, the old man had simply said a single line that left much to be desired but guaranteed that she wouldn\'t be stressed about Festos\' tardiness having an effect on anything.

\'He will contest fittingly.\'

Stylla grumbled inwardly.

Talk about vague.

"If this... Festos doesn\'t show, will you finally reconcile with me by accepting my own candidate?" the third individual in this room said with a smirk on his face.

Stylla\'s face instantly hardened.

"Can we not have this conversation again?" she turned to the redhead she called brother with cold eyes.

"Oh, I like that look of yours, sister. It gives the illusion that you may actually swallow me whole with nothing but your eyes. Haha," the young man said with a chuckle. "It\'s quite alluring you know?"

This man\'s resemblance to Stylla was uncanny.

His chestnut coloured eyes and long red hair combed back with a dash of what seemed like gel which gave it a subtle gleam under the light from the chandelier above, brought on an pretty boy vibe.

He was sharply dressed in a formal white shirt that hugged his well trained figure and tight fitting pants which gave him a handsome look as he crossed his legs.

"Did your little \'stroll\' in the streets of Genhuis leave that much to be desired on your crotch? Your continued flirting won\'t help you bed me, Setkh," Stylla barked with an angry flame burning in her eyes.

Silrat who was caught in the middle of this verbal exchange couldn\'t help but sigh and finally sit down.

This was an ongoing theme in this residence, with this man who was known as Setkh Bryne going on flirt sprees with his own sister that he couldn\'t properly identify as mere playfulness or outright attempts at incest.

Whatever it was, he didn\'t want to know.

"Come now, we don\'t have to go into that detail with Mr. Silrat here," Setkh said slyly. "I am serious about discussing this debate about our respective candidates though. If yours doesn\'t show, will you support mine for the sake of our Family?"

"Do you really have to ask?" Stylla immediately shot at Setkh with a deep frown. "Don\'t brush off the past few months of conflict between us just because you happen to feel that you have the upper hand now. Are you even doing this for father anymore or for some other hidden agenda?"

"I could ask you the same, sister. As far as I\'m concerned, we\'ve been going about saving the Family the same way. With pure rivalry. You cannot judge me for that. And now I\'m asking, whether we continue that trend or it ends here. I would appreciate your support for my candidate. It would increase OUR chances of winning after all."

Stylla could only retain her displeased visage without voicing any objection.

What Setkh said was not exactly false but it wasn\'t true either.

As far as she had heard, Festos\' prowess had increased by leaps and bounds and Silrat who knew quite a bit about Setkh\'s candidate as well had given Stylla, without a shadow of doubt, the assurance that Festos was much stronger.

At that, she had regretted not being there to witness his strength personally but it was only a matter of time.

"It\'s not my place to speak on matters relating to your Family, but Festos is a lot more valuable than your candidate. His value is recognised by the Guilds Association\'s executive board and I have a few friends who can add more proof of this if you find it insufficient. If this is about supporting the best candidate, then we can easily vouch for Festos as you do your own candidate as a viable option," Silrat chipped in, packing away his worry temporarily.

"Hahaha. That\'s rich. The word \'friends\' doesn\'t exactly rub me correctly when it comes to authenticity. I\'ll believe it when I see it," Setkh said with a scoff.

At that moment, the doors to the mansion were opened as a guard entered while holding a wooden plaque carefully in his hands.

He walked straight up to Stylla and Setkh and gave a bow before handing the plaque to Stylla.

"A package has arrived for you Lady Stylla, Sir Setkh," he said.

As Stylla received the plaque, noticing the fine wood it was made from which exuded a delightful scent of mana and wood, she felt the gravity of what this before even knowing what it was about.

On this plaque was print in bold, the word \'EVERSWORD\' branded onto it.

Stylla\'s eyes shot open and she placed the plaque carefully on the table.

Setkh gazed at the object curiously only to turn serious, as did Silrat.

"It really begins it seems," Setkh said.

Stylla analysed the plaque carefully, and saw that it had a space within it from which a dark sheet of paper was stored and could be drawn.

She pulled it out, her eyes and those of Silrat and Setkh being drawn to the innumerable number of glowing runes of this sheet of paper.

She placed the sheet down, finding to her surprise that though thin, this paper was reinforced many fold to be extreme tough, a blinking light hovered over it as it formed characters that could be recognised.

\'PLEASE DECLARE THE NUMBER OF PARTICIPANTS FROM THE BRYNE FAMILY TO CONTEND IN THE PREMIUM AGE ROYALE.\'

Stylla swallowed a lump of saliva.

This was it.

While it was trivial to someone else, it was important to her.

She gazed at Setkh and Silrat who gave her different expressions that spoke different things before speaking...

"Two."

Immediately, the light hovering over the sheet of paper vanished, replaced by another which formed two swirling spheres of bright blue luminescence.

With something akin to a breath, two objects plopped over the black sheet of paper from the two spheres of light.

They were thick green cards with complex runes drawn over them in a spiral shape and dark colour, a vibrant energy flowing out of them!

A keen one would recognise what these were while reading over the early events in Aigas.

A keen one definitely would.

Another flash of light sprang from the sheet of paper, another set of words appearing before the S trio.

\'A BRUTAL GAME OF MIGHT, DEATH AND CHANCE IS ABOUT TO BEGIN, THE ROYAL PRIZE OF WHICH BECKONS FORTUNE, RECOGNITION AND POWER. YOUR SOUL, BODY AND MIND WILL BE PUT TO GRAVE RISK IN THIS EVENT, AN INEVITABILITY IN THE GRAND SCHEME. IF YOU DESIRE TO PARTICIPATE REGARDLESS, PLEASE DECLARE YOUR NAME INTO THE CONTROL SEAL.\'

---

[Ding!]

[Mashu_Berusutora has donated GENEROUSLY to the novel!]

[+2 Chapters above the normal quota as at 22/11/2022]