“You there, take this to the banquet hall, immediately. We need to prepare everything immediately.”
The Head Chef ordered one of the servants standing there, shoving a massive tray of boiled crawfish into his arms. The servant took the tray without much complaint and walked out the kitchen door.
There, his eyes met the soldier’s. The soldier approached him and whispered into his ears.
“The cardinals are already here. Hurry.”
The servant nodded and proceeded quickly towards the banquet hall.
“Oi. What did you whisper to him?”
His fellow guard came over, suspicious at the exchange between the two.
“Haha, I wanted to bully him for some of the crawfish, but he refused me.”
The new soldier sighed and shook his head in disappointment.
“Every year, there’s always someone like you. Get back to your station and ensure that everything is alright.”
“Right away!”
The older guard walked past him and he glowered with disgust secretly. He walked towards one of the corners where no eyes would be able to see him and revealed a crest on his hand. This was actual a temporary spatial storage rune that had been drawn for him to keep something in it.
A little application of mana caused the rune to shimmer, allowing for a black set of clothes to fall into his hands. The rune faded away almost immediately.
“For the Dark Church.”
He whispered with a smirk.
***
The summit had kicked off with a bang. The Taira and Minamoto Clans were the last clans remaining for the event to begin. An opening speech had been delivered by the host of this year’s Elder Clan Summit, the Dragon Priestess Tatsumaki Suzuki, followed by a special traditional dance by Dragon God Maidens to honour the Dragon God Fafnir.
Following that, the Elder Clan heads were made to state their achievements and contributions to the capital in that year and their promises for the next year. This was also a public announcement of their heirs whose identities had been kept hidden for several special reasons. The Imperial family was made to give them their blessing in this coming-of-age ritual for the Kazoku that no one Emperor had seen more than once.
Post this was the Banquet in which the Elder Clan members invited any and all who wished to come witness it. An event so grand that all commoners, nobles and the likes put on their best outfits to come interact. For this one night, rank mattered not. Everyone was an equal, at least that was how it was supposed to be.
There was an unspoken rule amongst the people in which no one ever went close to the Kazoku and the Imperial family. Even if they had nothing but good intentions, they couldn’t afford to accidentally offend a Kazoku. Their future depended on it, so they never even tried. This was all due to an incident in the past where someone’s family line was eradicated because he annoyed a Kazoku.
‘Master. Master, there’s so many people here.’
Karma spoke to Shiro from inside Shiro’s vest. The teenager sighed and dazedly stared at the cup of wine in her hand.
‘I was having the exact same thoughts, Karma. Also, I told you to call me Shiro.’
The little dragon’s head stuck out. She had been developing at a reasonable pace for her species. Given a year or two, she would be too big to even keep in a room, however, that growth spurt would only happen after 7-9 months of being born. Before then, they would remain tiny creatures.
‘Sorry, master. I simply cannot.’
‘Of course… I want to hurry up and get out of here.’
‘Me too.’
‘Of course, you do.’
“Hey there, Shiro-san.”
A girl approached Shiro. Not used to being called by her first name, she flinched and turned about quickly. Approaching her was the silver hair beauty called Taira Kana. Her hand had been raised in a wave and she possessed a bright warm smile.
‘A new person. How do I act? Should I smile back? Yes, yes. Smiling back would be normal, right? Yosh! Let’s smile.’
She tried to smile, however since she was a nervous-wrack, the smile came out in an awkward way that sent fear into Kana.
“P-Please tell me that’s not a smile.”
Kana wore a horrified expression when she stated her honest feelings.
“W-Why? Is there something wrong with it?”
Shiro started to feel her face to see if there was something off about her smile.
“I believe what she meant was that that smile was the scariest thing she had seen.”
Daisuke nonchalantly said, sucking a bowl of noodles.
“You didn’t need to be so blunt.”
Kana told her and slapped his stomach, causing it to only ripple and him to laugh. Shiro was on her knees in tears.
“Scariest thing she’s ever seen. Look at you, Shiro. Scaring off new people just like that.”
She muttered on the floor, making Kana laugh at her.
“Hahaha! You’re hilarious! What do you say, Daisuke? Friend material?”
“She seems nice enough, although she’s younger.”
“Eh? For real? She looks like one of the high ranked prostitutes my man-whore brings home every time though.”
“Look at yourself, Shiro. They think you’re a whore. This is how low you’ve fallen.”
She cried again on the floor.
“Raawrr!”
Both of them heard a cute squeak. Upon inspecting its source, they found a tiny black dragon with its wings spread out standing on Shiro’s head.
‘No one bullies my master.’
She said, but none of them would understand this. Kana’s eyes changed to hearts, as hers had been immediately captured by the cute creature’s appearance.
“Is that a baby dragon?”
She immediately grabbed it off of Shiro’s head.
“Um, yes. That is my familiar.”
“Familiar? Oh my. Does it have a name?”
‘Let go of me, you fiend!’
Karma tried, but none could understand her. In fact, her squealing was only making Kana’s heart mushier by the second. She pressed the baby against her decently sized chest and kept squirming about.
“Yes. Her name is Karma.”
“When did you get her?”
“About a month ago.”
“What’s her rank?”
“Um, I’d say she’s an advanced beast at this point.”
“Really? That weak?”
Kana sounded disappointed. Saying this would be offensive to a lot of adventurers, considering even the average adventurer was barely stronger than an advanced beast. The true problem children were the monsters in the Superior Beast rank and above.
Not wanting to get Shiro offended, Daisuke jumped into the conversation.
“Are you a summoner by chance?”
“Oh, yes.”
“Really? How many creatures have you contracted with?”
“Currently three.”
“Only three? That’s kinda disappointing for a summoner.”
Kana sighed and frowned, having expected to hear a higher number. At this point, Shiro’s pride was also wounded. Normally, she wouldn’t care, but being showed up by her peer was a bit different. You could say she had finally unlocked a petty nature that could be seen amongst friends.
“My strongest summon is an Imperial Beast, you know?”
“W-W-W-W-What? N-No way.”
She grinned and looked away.
“But you’re right, how disappointing for a summoner.”
Daisuke was genuinely impressed. Having been able to tame an imperial was a feat no one her age should be capable of. Was she simply making up a lie to impress Kana because her pride was wounded? No, doing so would only make Kana dislike her if the truth were to come out. And as a Kazoku, doing so would bring dishonour to her clan.
“Hello there, mind if I join?”
Dressed in a white kimono, patterned with turquoise cherries, over a silk vest with large trousers, with a katana strapped to their side, a beautiful person approached them. This person’s long flowing reached their mid back, with a portion of it being tied up into a ponytail and bangs falling over a side of their face. Their dazzling eyes radiated pureness and their face looked so young and smooth, it made the two girls feel lacking in a certain category. Nervously, they scanned the newcomer from head-to-toe and were relieved to see they at least had bigger chests and more curves.
“Akari, it’s been a while, brother.”
Daisuke said and spread out his hands for a hug.
“Indeed brother!”
Akari also spread out their hands and both of them hugged each other. The two girls, feeling embarrassed, started to sulk together.
“That is a man?”
“I am uglier than a man? How cruel is this world?”
Akari released himself from the hug and approached both girls.
“Truth is, I am a woman. Daisuke just calls me his brother.”
“Eh? Seriously?”
Kana inspected her from head to toe once again.
“Don’t listen to him. Akari is a man. He has what all men have.”
“Eh? But if he has that, why does he say he is a woman?”
Shiro asked, confused.
“Ignore Daisuke. My mother said I am a woman, so that is what I am.”
‘Master… is this one an idiot?’
‘Quite possibly, Karma. Now shush.’
“Anyway, my name is Saito Akari of the Saito Clan, although I guess we already know that because of the earlier introductions by our parents.”
“Does that not mean we are missing one more person?”
Kana asked.
“You mean the Sotomura Kazoku? Don’t bother. He is probably working on some weird experiment in place of the Clan Head or something of the sorts.”
Shiro took a sip of the bowl of wine she was holding.
“How do you know this?”
“My uncle is from the Sotomura Clan. He tells me a lot of things.”
Kana suddenly felt a bit cheeky.
“Uncle, huh? A handsome mid-thirties man, maybe?”
“Ugh, more like a near-death old man.”
“The kind that offers you raw tentacle?”
“Wait… your uncle offers you raw tentacle?”
“Don’t all of yours?”
She looked at everyone for confirmation. Everyone shook their heads and stared at her awkwardly. Kana shrugged it off and said,
“Your loss. Raw tentacle is very tasty.”
“As always, the Taira clan has produced another wild animal.”
Daisuke mumbled the words out. Unfortunately, Kana heard him and jumped on him.
While the four Kazoku interacted amongst themselves, the spectators just looked with warm expressions. Seeing how naturally they got along, that meant good fortune for their future. At least, they could rest easy, knowing they were in good hands.
Meanwhile, standing on the roof of the building, were several men dressed in black outfits, hoods and masks had covered up their faces. One man stood above all of these men. His outfit contained a white mark on its chest. This was the Elecryean symbol for the number 5.
“Kai.”
He called and one of the men who was bowing lifted his head to face this person.
“Yes, Cardinal.”
“You were present during the loss of my fellow cardinal. I am sure you must have felt nothing, but absolute powerlessness, giving who your foe was.”
The two moons in the sky shone brightly over them, revealing Kai’s shaking body as soon as he remembered the incident.
“I-I apologi-“
“You have been given a second chance to prove your worth with this night. Make sure nothing goes off the rails. The Elder Clans fall tonight for their offense.”
The paragon lifted his hand and all but he and Kai disappeared into the night.
“If all goes according to plan, you will be promoted to the rank of Cardinal, Kai. Make certain it does.”
Kai’s eyes widened in shock at the revelation.
“B-But I am not worthy.”
“Relax yourself. Cardinal Three always spoke highly of you. You would be the right person to inherit his seat. Do not disappoint me tonight.”
The cardinal then disappeared into the night, leaving Kai alone. The young man, left alone to his devices suddenly had a flash back of the past few years. He thought about a lot of incidents and events that had shaped his life. Right now, there was nothing he wanted more than the offer that had been given to him. And for that, he would not hesitate to destroy the Elder Clans.
“For the Dark Church.”
