In each and every Kingdom and force in the Continent of Angaria, there were a few people whose job it was to collect all the top news and check whether any action needed to be taken about them.
Of course, the main kind of news that these people a.s.sessed was about enemy movements which would need strategic decisions by the higher-ups.
Yet, there were a few whose duty it was to check for news that might be left out.
It was these people who had obtained information about the Olympics that were going to happen in the Black Raven Kingdom. Immediately, they took the decision that this couldn"t be ignored by those in charge.
The King of Lanthanor had sanctioned an enormous amount of money to make sure that news about this event would spread everywhere, and the money had done its job. Various means were being used to proliferate the news, and some had even hired Mages to teleport to different areas in order to let as many people know as possible.
Besides, one very enticing detail was that only the seats inside the stadium needed to be paid for. According to the advertis.e.m.e.nts, there were also free seats outside the stadium where the events would be clearly shown using display trinkets.
Also, along with these advertis.e.m.e.nts, many top organizations which were known for their specialties in wine or food had taken the opportunity to spread the word that they would be present in order to serve everyone who came.
In essence, the Olympics were turning into some kind of festival to which all of the Continent was invited.
A festival was something often used by rulers in order to cheer up people in the face of difficulties. Usually, Kingdoms would spend enormous amounts of money to hire top performers and entertainers to regale people with their respective arts.
In this festival, the performers would be hot-blooded soldiers who would compete in front of hundreds of thousands to show their skill and power.
As a Continent that had a major focus on strength and capability, such contests enticed people much more than the usual methods of entertainment that they were used to.
Reports started flooding in all around the Continent that people numbering in the tens of thousands had already started to make plans to start their journey to the stadium.
Courts began to be held and discussions began to happen to address just how the other forces in the continent would react in the face of such popularity.
One such court that had just been held was in the Kingdom of Eldinor where the Queen was sitting on the throne with her lips compressed into a thin line.
Queen Eldra had spent the past few months weeding out corruption in the Kingdom, and she had been quite successful and had even busted a few elf slavery rings which had brought her much acclaim from the citizens.
Her popularity was constantly on the rise, and it seemed that she might even overshadow the love that her mother had had in her heyday.
Although there was much to be happy about, it was said in the Palace that the Queen was someone who rarely smiled and that she also had no one close to confide in, just like the previous Queen.
Although these were just whispers, they managed to reach Eldra"s ears, p.i.s.sing her off as she sat and listened to an elf talk extensively about the Olympics.
"-this is where the continent will be! So many people from so many kingdoms coming to watch, but it will only be two kingdoms who will have the chance to display their skills and steal the hearts of all the spectators. My Queen,-"
"Have you booked tickets yet?"
"No, I"m trying for the VIP seats."
Being interrupted suddenly, the elf answered without thinking and closed his mouth immediately while his eyes opened wide with surprise.
As chuckles started to sound around him, his face started to flush and he looked down at his shoes.
Eldra smiled inwardly, but nothing showed on her face. Since the time that she had taken the Throne and talked to her mother before she had been executed, the number of times that she had smiled could be counted on one hand.
In even those instances, it was just happiness that came from seeing elves freed from their misery.
Of course, she couldn"t even say that she was unhappy. Although she had been a little lost in the beginning, she had quickly found her stride and she now enjoyed ruling this kingdom and being loved by so many people.
Yet, the link in the corner of her mind which was like an itch that she couldn"t get rid of was something that perpetually lowered her mood.
That, and the words from her mother that she hadn"t been able to forget.
Now, seeing a minister of her"s speak so many praises about the event organized by the man secretly in control of the Kingdom of the Elves, she had felt the urge to speak like so and stop him.
"It"s alright. I know that many of you are doing the same, so I don"t understand why you are laughing."
As if they were school students caught red-handed by the teacher, half of those who were chuckling closed their mouths.
Elves were a species who had a lot of pa.s.sion for skill in any field. Also, there were many elves who loved to study humans and their behaviors in order to understand them better.
This would be a golden opportunity to observe so many people and draw conclusions about how groups acted in such scenarios.
In any world, the feeling of superiority that a species might have over others wasn"t something that could be kept from appearing. It was actually this feeling that led the elves to want to study humans, making them feel as if they were researchers treating those of the other species as mice to be prodded forward in a maze to note down and understand the dumb actions.
Of course, this only applied to a minority, but it just so happened that this minority was in the top echelons of the government of Eldinor and thus had the authority to attend this court.
In fact, the booking hadn"t even begun, but the elves had started to pull strings in order to make sure that they would be the first when it did start.
"So, what is your pet.i.tion?
The other aspect that came along with this superiority was that of pride. Pride which would be hurt if it saw the status of others rising far above in the hearts of many while they only stood on the sidelines, watching.
Looking up with determination, the elf said, "Elves must also take part, and we must showcase our power."
Eldra was startled by this. One known weakness of elves was that they were mostly Mages and that they actually had slower training speeds than humans in general when it came to training their bodies.
All of the events announced so far were meant for Fighters, so she didn"t understand how elves could even hope to partic.i.p.ate.
"Although I applaud your wish for Eldinor to rise in popularity, the events are all for Fighters. We would only embarra.s.s ourselves if we insist on partic.i.p.ating and then end up losing."
Those in the court were almost all older than her, and she sometimes forgot that they were also wiser.
This fact was shown to her again as she heard the reply of the elf.
"My Queen, we must challenge both of those kingdoms and mock them for not including any events for Mages. We must also anger them, saying that they are doing so because they know that their performance and skill cannot hold a candle to that of the wise elves of Eldinor. This will close the mouth of those who have started to talk that the other Kingdoms are too scared to test themselves in such a public scenario. If they refuse to include events for Mages, we will still have maintained our pride. But if they do include them, then we will crush them all and make it known to the continent once again that we are the Masters of Magic."
As the elf gave this pride-filled speech, Eldra chose to simply relay everything to Daneel through the oath.
As the King of Lanthanor received this message, his eyebrows raised as he realized that the Olympics were growing to become something even bigger than he had imagined.
"Alright. You"re in. I"ll send over the rules of the Mage games soon.", he replied, looking forward even more to seeing just how much of a grand spectacle the Olympics were going to be.