Behind The Scenes
Having sailed the vast ocean for three whole days, the ship had long since departed from common routes. It was on the fourth morning that Yessë-va-ilu appeared on the horizon, an island over tens of kilometres wide with springs on the eastern mountains for water, and a forest that covered half of its land providing timber. After Richard stepped foot on the island, he had a small village and port set up.
The ship dropped anchor, sending the group of people and their belongings through a smaller boat. Richard, Flowsand, and Lina entered the forest, searching for a suitable area to set up the portal. As Richard’s soulguard, Waterflower lurked in the vicinity as well. He could occasionally feel some faint joy from the girl through their connection, likely being related to having returned to the forest.
Lina eventually decided on the foot of a small hill, taking magic crystals out of her spatial pouch to set up the formation. The formation was extremely complicated, requiring even the Dragonmage one day at minimum to set up.
That night, Richard had a few bonfires set up around the area. He sat down with Flowsand at his side, grilling the prey that Waterflower had captured. Lina continued to work, placing crystals into their position from time to time as the formation flashed with a wondrous brilliance.
They could see the bonfires at the shore from their location, with the tens of tents set up there. If his expedition into the plane was successful, future generations could stay here, using the port and village they were setting up.
The bonfire flickered continuously, illuminating the two’s faces from time to time. Neither spoke. Even if they were heading for a low-level plane, with nothing expected to happen, nobody could be sure of what they would face. On the eve of their expedition, the pressure had magnified itself in front of them.
……
It was not a tranquil evening in Faust. Several griffins glided across the night sky, bathed in the brilliance of the seven moons as their riders skillfully landed them onto the first island of Faust’s seventh layer. Several important figures gathered in a lavish and spacious living room, representing not themselves but the families standing behind them.
Between the two sides sat a stern-looking old man. This was Duke Bickar Mensa, the head of the Mensas that occupied what was commonly called island 7-1. Like the Josephs, the Mensas were well-known aristocrats that had their legacies passed down through generations. Their existence was even older than that of the Sacred Alliance, their power evident just from their position amongst the fourteen.
On the duke’s left was Baron Raymond Joseph, while on his right was a handsome yet sinister-looking youth. That was Viscount Dasher of the Wellington Family, true big-shots that occupied the island 6-3. As for the last representative, the one from the Schumpeters that occupied island 7-7, he could only sit further away, at the side of Viscount Dasher.
These four families combined made for an extremely powerful force. As for the issue that had gathered them all together? The threat of the Archerons, of Richard Archeron.
Paying his greetings in respect to the Duke, Raymond surveyed everyone in the room before he spoke solemnly, “Everyone, the Archerons have not been on the floating islands of Faust for even two years, with only three sacrifices to their name, but they’ve already managed to have their island shift. I’m sure everyone present here is quite clear on what that means. We cannot allow this group of lunatics to expand any further, and need to adopt a powerful strategy to suppress them
“The first target is Richard Archeron. I’ve gathered that he’s not just a student of the legendary mage, but also someone who has the potential to become a grand runemaster in the future. Indeed, a grand runemaster! That isn’t something I’m exaggerating in order to incite action; my latest reports say that a compoundable rune he crafted was sold on auction for over five million gold.”
*Pat!* The Schumpeter family representative slapped the sides of his seat, saying passionately, “If we’d known that earlier we would have killed him the night he went to the ceremony with Gaton!”
Dasher harrumphed, saying cynically, ”Kill him? I heard there were several families waiting in the dark to ambush them, but nobody dared step up in the end. Being this afraid of Gaton, hmph! I’m sure the Schumpeters were amongst those in ambush?”
The representative of the Schumpeters turned red with anger, but he didn’t dare rebuke the viscount. As the family occupying the seventh island they were in an extremely awkward position, having to face the onslaught of any new entrants first. They needed the Wellingtons’ support in crucial moments.
However, given their sensitive position how would they dare arouse the wrath of the Archerons? If they started a war with that bunch of lunatics, even if they managed to survive they would lose an immense amount of resources. Who knows if any of the families eyeing the floating islands would seize the opportunity and attack them?
And this was all assuming they would be able to withstand an Archeron assault, something even this representative himself doubted. Gaton had cleanly destroyed the family that had occupied island 7-3, engaging in a full frontal war with someone like him? Don’t even think about it. Even the nemeses of the Archerons, the Josephs, would never do such a foolish thing.
Raymond spoke up to dispel the awkward atmosphere, “Everyone. According to what I know, it wasn’t Gaton that performed the ceremony that night. It was Richard.”
“Richard?” Duke Mensa snorted and furrowed his brows, “The fellow seems to have left Faust the moment the ceremony ended. He likely obtained a powerful time-related blessing. If he’s lucky enough, it could even have been prolonged life, or accelerated time in a different plane. The next time we see him, he could very well pose a huge threat to us.”
“If he was blessed with innate talent, or a specific rune, we might be facing a saint runemaster in the future! Don’t forget Saint Peter and his legendary divine set!” Raymond added.
The atmosphere in the discussion room turned gloomy in an instant. All those present acknowledged the threat Richard posed from the information they had been provided. It greatly increased the level of his threat even beyond Alice, putting him second in the Archerons only to Gaton himself. And the most terrible thing? He received even more blessings than Gaton. Even if everyone present knew the Josephs had some selfish desire in their proposition, the rest were just the same. Gaton’s shadow was like a sword looming over their heads, and the very first to be beheaded might just be the Josephs.
Duke Mensa eventually made up his mind, breaking the long silence, “We have to take action. We cannot let Richard grow in power.”