While Ri and Dyon were slowly making their way to the now grand event, the geniuses of the major families and academies were arriving.
Uncle Acacia could only shake his head and sigh. He had told Ri ages ago to go and get the boy, but it seemed like she had late tendencies comparable to even Dyon.
Near the center of the large square structure’s inner space, a coliseum rose out of the ground. It had almost a kilometer-long radius and rose higher in the air than even the structure that surrounded it.
In a high up structure around a table, Headmaster Acacia sat with two other headmasters of comparable demeanor. Mathilde Academy was headed by a member of the Grimbold major family. A stoic man with broad shoulders and striking red hair that denoted their family. Florence Academy was headed by a member of the Nodin major family. His green hair was as dark as his eyes. His figure was similar to headmaster Acacia’s, being sharp and stifling.
Beside them, sat their grand elders – the men who had been at the castle just a few days ago. Unfortunately, due to the letters in the sky, the castle was no longer habitable. They could only wait for the words to dissipate. Since they could no longer debate the lay of the Elvin Kingdom, they decided to witness these events under Elder Cormyth’s goading.
“So, Elder Cormyth, what was your reason for intruding on our assessment ceremony,” headmaster Acacia spoke with little respect in his voice. He had spent years listening to this very same man shame his elder brother’s rule, thus, he had little patience for his antics.
A cold light flashed in Elder Cormyth’s eyes. He was a grand elder of an academy. He was among the most powerful martial artists in the kingdom and he had major sway in the moves the kingdom made. Yet, he was being looked down on by a commoner. A commoner who only had rights to lead an academy due to a brother that was nowhere to be found.
However, remembering his purpose, he once again smiled, “no need to be so anxious, headmaster Acacia, all you need to do is allow your proceedings to continue. After they’ve finished, there can be a friendly competition between our schools. After all, we all have the same goal here, no?”
Headmaster Grimbold remained silent. Although Cormyth represented his academy, it was clear that he wasn’t supporting the Grimbold family. If anything, he was directly opposing them.
Despite the tension, Elder Deryth and headmaster Nodin remained expressionless as though the worries of the kingdom had nothing to do with them.
Headmaster Acacia lightly smiled. “We’ll begin once everyone is here. I don’t think a grand elder of the Mathilde Academy has a right to dictate the start of an Acacia Academy event, no?”
Elder Cormyth’s face froze, but he didn’t respond. He instead looked down towards the collection of geniuses. Comparing them to what Acacia Academy had to offer, he chuckled to himself.
In this current generation, Acacia Academy only had five notable geniuses. The three beauties, Jade, Celine and Opal. In addition to the disciple of headmaster Acacia, an orphan he named Aeson Acacia. The final was a lad from one of the 21 sub-families: the Benes family. This was truly a poor showing. Especially since females rarely chose to campaign, although there were some who did. Often, their families wouldn’t allow it.
Actually, Ri Acacia was the exact exception to this. She had expressed her desire to do so from a very young age. However, she was still too young, and no one was aware of what her talents were. She never showed up to assessments and had never fought anyone of note. The only thing that might speak to her talent was her family lineage and the fact few dared to comment on her normal appearance.
However, to Elder Cormyth, this was trivial. He never had the Acacia family on his radar because they hadn’t even been good enough to be a sub-family until headmaster Acacia’s brother became king. And now that that king had disappeared, what role would the Acacia family ever play again?
**
In the coliseum seats, countless voices could be heard. Many of them were from Acacia Academy, looking down at the geniuses as well. The suspense of this event had been building for many days now.
The headmaster had been appearing at assessments he usually never attended, the beauties of their school came to witness these same assessments, and now, geniuses from all over the city had come to their school. Everyone was wondering a single thing: who were they all waiting for?
The funny part was, depending on who you asked, each would have a different answer. But, only one group would be right.
Jade sent a gaze towards the terrace the elders and headmasters sat in, almost feeling the tension from her place underneath them. Jade had always been sensitive to things like that, it was part of why she was able to read Dyon so well, even feeling his sadness when he mentioned his mother, despite how good Dyon had gotten at hiding it. Ever since her meeting with Dyon, she had felt the stirring of a brewing storm.
She could only sigh, turning her attention back the area her and the geniuses were in. The area was actually an interruption in the seating areas of the coliseum. Split into and upper and lower area, the geniuses were actually in a lobby type area with a partial covering above to separate them from the elders above them.
They sat in discreet groups, but it was clear that Jade and her group of beauties were the center of attention. After more than two decades of life, Jade had long since learned to ignore this. As did her friends Celine and Opal.
The girls were a beautiful arrangement of complimentary colors. Jade was dressed in her normal stainless white gown that hung loosely to her outrageous curves.
Celine’s golden hair seemed to glide gently back and forth across her shoulders along with the wind, wearing a beautiful yellow dress. It had an elegant design, revealing her slender shoulders, but delicately gracing her neck with a flowery arrangement.
Opal was the more reserved and petite of the three. Her hair and eyes were both a deep and dark green. The light green dress that accompanied her seemed like the perfect choice. It was short, but somehow still conservative and pure, the edges ending in puffs of greenery.
All three were beauties of differing temperaments. It was only natural that they’d be the centers of attention no matter where they went.
Celine wore a devious smile, still poking and prodding at Jade for answers about why she insisted on attending. “You still won’t tell us Jade?”
Opal looked over at her long-time friend curiously, she too wanted to know.
“What are you two so anxious for? Today has nothing to do with the reason I’ve been dragging you two around. We’re picking out those who’ll lead in this generation’s campaigns,” Jade smiled lightly, feigning ignorance.
“As if we’d believe you. We have no need to give Zaltarish any face, so why would you have to come today? Just because he said so?”
Jade paused before speaking, “if we’re lucky, maybe we’ll get to see the birth of something new today.”
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