With all the preparations made, days went by and soon it was only two weeks before the opening ceremony of the Grand Tournament.
Kazimir and the rest immediately went back to their own assignments after reporting all of their findings directly to the Emperor.
The crucial part right now is to ensure that the Empire can accommodate the incoming delegates from the different kingdoms and continents in the entire Prasinos.
Aside from having their own sleeping quarters, they have to also accommodate the specific needs of some guests, especially the ones coming from the Green Wave Continent, who were all non-human representatives.
It would have been easy to set up a separate place for them way up in the peaceful north, however, that would also mean that the Imperial Family had to set up the teleportation platforms for them to go to and for the tournament venue.
Teleportation arrays use mana stones, and the abundance of mana stones could also be an indication of a rich territory. So Emperor Valentin opted to not do anything suspicious that would make the other forces conclude that they possess a lot of Supreme Mana stones.
Besides, this supreme mana stone does not belong to him at all but is owned by his dear grandson.
So he could only decree to set up an intermediate teleportation platform so as to maintain an impression fitting to what the other territories thought of the Seirende Empire.
As for Eli and the rest of the participants for the tournament, their training has been on full blast upon her return.
She set aside everything, even the cryptic words left by the Leprechaun for her before their departure at the Imperial archives.
Having contributed to the best that she could among the Anti Curse Committee, she also asked for a temporary leave to focus more on training Lainie and Desmond.
The two of them improved by leaps and bounds. Eli could not be any more proud of what kind of musician they have become.
The other students from the academic department also had a Bootcamp, re-learning most of the mathematical principles and some other fundamental principles for their respective categories.
There was also the Magic Branch who trained with General Farauld himself to increase their combat sense.
And finally, the research team who were still locking themselves up in their own branch. No one in the empire knew what they were up to, but because it was common knowledge that they were somehow trained by Eli to some extent, they held high expectations over their works.
Among the three schools of knowledge, it was the research branch that had the highest chance of winning the entire category. But that would still depend greatly on the theme and mechanics of the tournament.
As for the side of the Imperial Family, it was now Leon who worked busily to gather and summarize all the evidence and information to support the charges against the Vesala and the other curse users.
"With this information, we could inform the temple of something that might be of help for solving the origin of the curse magic." Leon presented the files he possessed and had Emperor Valentin and the High Priest see its contents.
"Hmm… with this the Main Temple cannot also deny that the Vesalas were at fault in this matter." High Priest Enoch looked at Emperor Valentin.
Remembering the matter of the Main Temple, their expression changes.
"Something is really wrong inside the Main Temple…" Leon read the atmosphere and also added his concern.
He sympathized with the elderly High Priest Enoch who was now in a very awkward position.
In fact, he should not have been keeping a close interaction with Emperor Valentin to ensure that he would remain consecrated from the matters of politics, however, the Main Temple forces him to put the matters into his hand.
"The Vanderford filed an appeal to the Main Temple, to lessen the probable sanctions of the former Empress and Former Duke. From the way the Main Temple felt silent, it seemed that they were actually considering this issue." High Priest Enoch's voice was trembling in disappointment, he did not know if he could still trust the Main Temple because of this.
"This is ridiculous… they are up to something… I could feel it, but too bad, we do not have any evidence to back it up." Emperor Valentin sighed heavily.
"If I may ask something…" Leon looked at the two elders and got a few pages containing a part of the report made by Kazimir from their research.
"Go on…" Emperor Valentin nodded and permitted Leon to ask.
"From the First Victor's memoirs, there has been no recorded hostility between the Vanderfords and the Seirende. In fact, the ancestor of the Vanderfords was actually the confidante of the First Victor. Then why is it that for years now, the two Empires were wary of each other?" Leon asked.
Even when he was educated in the palace, the question regarding the awkward and competitive relationship between the Vanderford and Seirende Empire was a big question for him. Now that he knew that Vanderfords used to be standing close beside his ancestor, his curiosity reached its peak.
What could have happened in between that brought the two nation's relationship like this today?
Upon hearing the question the two elders froze and shook their heads, indicating that they also had no clue at all.
"That… I also don't know when it started. There were many speculations from the previous generation as to why the relationship with the Vanderfords suddenly changed, but it was not enough for a famed comradeship to crumble that way just like that."
"Besides, it is not like the Vanderfords had ever shown the intent to invade the Seirende Empire all these centuries.. And so all of the previous emperors dismissed this as just a case of a simple rivalry."
Emperor Valentin told his piece, there was also confusion in his eyes.
"Your Highness Third Prince, if I may ask, what is the reason why you are asking these things?" High Priest Enoch was asked in curiosity.
Leon looked at them and answered earnestly, "It was because, from what I could observe as someone who had not been basically an outsider towards this matter, my instincts told me that it has something to do with the Three Continent's relationship with the Main Temple."
Then Leon looked at the map of Prasinos and pointed at a tiny island that was placed at the center of the three continents.
"Initially the First Victor chose this Island to become the place for the Main Temple so that all of the continents could access it easily should they want to worship the heavens. But as you can see, the Vanderford Empire was the closest to the holy island.
So I was actually guessing whether this fact might become a link to the sudden change that we were observing from the Temple. It could be that Vanderford was influencing them, or vice versa. But the only fact that we know now is that…"
Leon looked at the two with a serious and cold expression.
"We cannot trust either of them…"
–
Green Wave continent.
All of the student representatives stood orderly at the square where their eyes were fixed on the platform of a building where the imposing crest of their nation was affixed.
Trumpets sounded and drums rolled, upon their call pairs of humanoid griffins and dragons soared above the air. The shore trembled as a large wave emerged above ground, where the merfolk appeared and joined the ranks.
Finally were multiple groups of forest creatures such as elves, dryad, dwarves, and werewolves.
All of them were just a few among all other nonhuman creatures who transformed into their humanoid persona, looking intently at the lineup of students as if they were sending off the younglings.
The next second, the biggest dragon hovering above stopped midair and looked at the students while he announced.
"Now all of you, steel your hearts as we start our journey to go to the mainland and compete for our nation!"
"Yes, headmaster!" The student's eyes blinked in excitement as they shouted in eagerness.
–
Vanderford Institute.
A large assembly of students also stood in their campus square waiting for their headmasters to finally announce the commencement of their journey to the Seirende Empire.
These students carried an undeniable sense of dignity, pride, and superiority in their expressions. It could be said that they looked like soldiers who were about to go to the war fully prepared after a hellish training.
The Headmaster looked at them calmly, his eyes were a kind of expression that is too profound to understand.
"Lift your head high and carry this institution's prestige with every move you make. You are the cream of the crop of this institute. You have done all you can to be in your best shape."
"Now it's time for you to finally snag the victory we've all been thirsty to attain. A perfect time for all of us to finally snatch the top place!"
"To the top!"
"To the top!"
