Chapter 525: Flocking Coincidence
[Did…did that kid just watch someone perform an aether art once and then perfectly mimic and modify it to suit his own needs?,] Frosttusk asked in a surprised tone.
[Yes, yes he did,] Nepherage concurred.
The two kaijin were still in their miniature forms, keeping out of sight, but also keeping an eye on the young man bearing the emblem of House Howlite.
They still had no idea whether or not this kid was the Marquis de Howlite’s son or nephew, but they at least came to the conclusion that he was at least significantly less murder-crazy than the aforementioned Marquis de Howlite.
The two kaijn were just about to bail and make their report to their lord, until they heard this exchange between the young man and his butler.
“Young master Alvis, I know you’re excited about possibly staying in Roaring Tide for the foreseeable future, but that won’t happen unless you place high in the upcoming Zhen Clan competition. We have no idea what it’s going to be and if you get injured before it begins then-!”
“I know Dorbin, I know. Relax. I can handle whatever the Zhen Clan throws my way in spades. But if it makes you feel better, we can head back now.”
“Phew…thank you, young master.”
“Anytime.”
Once they heard that little detail about a Zhen Clan competition, they decided it was necessary to follow this Alvis guy further.
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[After learning of this competition thing, milord,] Nepherage continued, [the two of us continued to tail Alvis Howlite even further, saw him copy even more people’s abilities until finally coming back here in order to-]
[Alright, what the coincidental hell,] Hurricroak interjected, [the guys Spring Brawler and I spied on also mentioned this Zhen Clan competition thing.]
‘Wait, what? Why?,’ Zhen Liu couldn’t help but to ask.
Last Zhen Liu had checked, Bellona’s family consisted of her older brother and her parents, all of whom had at least some idea about the Zhen branch clan’s bad blood with the main Zhen Clan.
So it made no sense as to why her older brother would want to join the main Zhen Clan, since he was engaged to his cousin!
Thankfully, this wasn’t actually the case.
[Wait…I just realized I might’ve been a bit misleading with my earlier statement..it is not the fluffy prince boy who was going lovey-dovey eyes with Zhen Yue,] Hurricroaked corrected.
[Santiago?]
[Yeah, it wasn’t him.]
‘Oh…okay, that’s good.’
[It was actually one of the mind-reading cousins that is currently vying for the throne back in Bellona’s home kingdom.]
‘Oh…oh that’s worst,’ Zhen Liu stated the obvious.
‘Care to explain?’
[Of course, maestro. Well for starters, her cousin looks nothing like Bellona. If anything she was bit more…vicious looking.]
‘Wait, she?’
[Yeah! Well…]
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Hours ago at the more civilian focused section of the festival…
[Man, I can never get used to these human disguises,] Spring Brawler complained as he tried to stretch out his arms. Of course, his arms only stretched out as far as the average mortal.
[I feel so…restrictive in my movements in this form. I can barely extend my limbs! How do you stand this?]
A bit after Hurricroak and Spring Brawler has identified a person of interest, the two of them had deemed it necessary to get on the ground and don their human disguises.
This was so they could get a more in-depth look on their target, and not because they wanted to mingle with the crowd for fun.
Or so they told themselves.
The two of them had managed to find an empty tent in which to don their disguises, a tent as far as they could tell was meant for the street performers so that they could do costume changes away from prying eyes.
[To be fair my springy kouhai, my limbs don’t naturally stretch and bend like yours,] Hurricroak told Spring Brawler, [I have bones, remember?]
[Ah…right.]
[Anyways, once you’re done, let’s get out of this tent. It’s rude to take up another performer’s waiting room after all,] Hurricroak mused.
[Right…do you still see her?]
[Aye. She’s over there, just sort of…standing there.]
[I wonder-wait…if she’s anything like Bellona, doesn’t that mean she could read our minds if we get close enough?,] Spring Brawler pointed out.
As soon as Spring Brawler posed this question, Hurricroak’s expression went: (._.).
[…shit…]
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‘Hmm. While I don’t care much for the aesthetic choices of the Zhen Clan, the quality of their warriors is much better than I had anticipated,’ a sharp-eyed sheep bloodliner woman commented to herself as she eyed some of the guards keeping watch over the festival goers, ‘and nary a thought of contempt or boredom coming off of any of them…impressive.’
Once she had finish taken measure of the guardsmen, the sheep bloodliner continued her walk around the area, looking for nothing or no one in particular, but always keeping an eye on possible rivals or allies.
‘Perhaps it was the right idea to come to this foreign land in search of an alliance…or perhaps just the aide of an expert or two, if the so-called ‘hero makers’ of the Pearl Scale Empire was as good as their reputation claims…’
This sheep bloodliner woman was Iona Ecaredies, cousin to Bellona Ecaredies, and one of the three candidates vying for the throne in the Bronze Bell Kingdom.
‘Then again…perhaps just getting the power to do it myself would work just as well…,’ Iona mused to herself as she lightly caused her aether to stir with a clenched, a flash of aether armor manifesting around it for only a brief moment.
‘Of course, all that would be meaningless unless I win this so-called Zhen Clan competition…how unfortunate that nobody seems to know anything about it though…’
As of this moment in time, she and her cousins were travelling the world in order to gather up enough power, be it internal or external, to try and solidify their respective claims for the throne.
Each of them had already exhausted their domestic powerbases, or rather, lines having already been drawn in the sand between her faction and the factions established by her two rival cousins. As such, it was difficult to try and garner more support from the nobility and factions that composed the Bronze Bell Kingdom without a judicial usage of bribes and concessions, so they each determined that foreign support was necessary to strengthen their claims.
The last she heard, her first cousin, Dialgo Ecaredies, had gone off to the Dozing Salamander continent to seek the aid of either the Scorching Scales Empire or the Barbarbous Sun sect.
A choice befitting a hot-headed and reckless brute like him.
Her second cousin on the other hand, Tiamorei Ecaredies, went off to the Umbral Spider continent.
They had heard stories of a noble household that was almost wiped off the face of the map by two of their rivals, but they had been saved by a mysterious warrior woman that was supposedly a long lost ancestor of theirs that had broken out of the underworld.
They always were one to believe in fanciful stories.
As for herself, Iona found it prudent to seek help that was more…guaranteed.
Being a woman of noble upbringing and culture, Iona had learned about the Pearl Scale Empire, about four kingdoms that made up its territory and about the eight clans that all swore fealty to both their respective kingdom and the crown of the Pearl Scale Emperor.
Of course, this also meant that she had learned about the yearly festival the Blossoming Scales held every year in celebration of its founding,
This in turn meant that she knew about how the Zhen Clan had an Aether Saint for an ancestor, and how they held a yearly competition as a chance for outsiders, regardless of their societal status, to join their ranks and learn from that aforementioned saint.
But most importantly, she knew that once she got into the good graces of the Zhen Clan by becoming one of their disciples and steadily climb up their ranks, they would be able to leverage their incredible resources to…persuade her cousins to give up their candidacy for the throne.
And all she had to do, was win one little contest.
‘Then again,’ Iona thought to herself as she entertained the laughable motion of not winning this competition, ‘if I somehow fail to win this contest, I can always just seduce the winner into helping me.’
A devious smirk began to form on her face as she thought of seducing this hypothetical winner.
‘It is rather hard to say no to a woman who knows exactly what you want or need in a moments notice…’
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[Huh…is it just me or is this woman very…how to put this…]
[Intense as all hell and would probably try and eat up our maestro in more ways than one?]
[Yeah, exactly that.]
[Hmmm. I don’t think we can get any closer to her without being detected…let’s head back.]
[Alright.]
