"I can"t believe it"s already here…well, all set?"
Two days later, the Palace of Lanthanor was bustling with servants everywhere, rus.h.i.+ng here and there to finish all of the preparations for the occasion that would soon be upon them.
Even in the room where all of the sovereigns had gathered, minus the one who had given them the name in the first place, all kinds of sounds could be heard.
Mages painting all of the walls afresh.
Fighters putting up all of the artwork using their speed to zoom around the Palace.
Maids making sure that not even a speck of dust was visible no matter where one saw.
It was almost as if the grandest festival in the world was going to begin, and after hearing Kellor ask this question, the rest of the sovereigns had to take a bit of time to answer as they were still really enjoying the atmosphere filled with excitement and antic.i.p.ation that was present all over the continent.
Finally, it was Elanev who answered.
"Of course. For once, our dear King gave us the courtesy of telling us what is expected beforehand, so that we could have time to prepare. It was hard, but with a lot of unsolicited advice from the old man, I think I"m ready… What about you lot?"
He was met by a period of silence, too, as everyone seemed to be lost in their own thoughts.
A few seconds later, Eloise was the one who punched his shoulder and said, "Nice try getting us to spell our decisions. You will know along with the king - no sooner. Shall we all head out?"
The last sentence was uttered loudly, drawing the attention of a few who had started to gaze out of the window nearby.
There were two who were gazing into each other"s eyes, too, and it was these two who nodded first.
"We"ll leave first. We have the farthest to go, so we should get a move on… Today, everything changes. It was long in coming, but it"s finally here. All hail the King!"
Shouting the last part together, Ca.s.sandra and Aran both flew out of the window before disappearing to begin teleporting to the place where they were supposed to be.
Ever the bold commander, It was Ca.s.sandra who had said those words with a stable tone. Her words also served to settle the minds of the rest, and with nods in Eloise"s direction, they started to leave, too.
Finally, only Kellor and Eloise were left in the room. Without needing to say anything to discuss their intentions, the two of them flew out together, and soon, they were right above the Palace of Lanthanor.
"It is only in moments like these that I marvel at how far we"ve come… Isn"t it incredible, Kellor?"
A tear almost dropped from Eloise"s eyes as she said this in a tone filled with emotion, and seeing this, Kellor responded by saying, "Indeed. We have come far… But we also have quite a distance to go, yet, before we can rest. Let"s go."
With that, the last two sovereigns also left Lanthanor, but even in their absence, all of the tasks that had been given kept going ahead in full swing.
Getting the notification from the system that everyone had set out, Daneel raised his gaze from his seat right above the center of the continent to glance in the direction where it had all started.
He was quite emotional, too, but he had decided that he would only allow himself the time to give himself over to them after it was all done.
Stoic determination apparent on his face, he turned back to what he had been looking at.
It was a sea. But rather than being made out of water, it was made out of the people of Angaria, with many rivulets still flowing in from many directions.
The entire area was close to bursting, and once again, Daneel was lost in the feeling that he had just gotten when watching all of the people who had answered his call arrive.
It was humility. He had earnestly acted in the best way he could for all these years, and seeing it pay off, again and again, was truly a treat to watch.
Instead of feeling that it was what he deserved after everything he has done, he felt grateful, and that, he realized, was probably one of the true marks of a leader.
"If only she had been here to see it…"
Hearing Drakos"s melancholy voice in his head, Daneel sighed.
"I bet she is watching, wherever she is, Drakos. And like you asked, I have removed the order to use lethal force on the members of the Eternal Blossom Sect if they are seen. I trust you. If it weren"t for you, I would have needed a lot more time to get till here. Giving value to your words is the least I can do, even though I personally feel that the most obvious answer might be the right one."
The Ancient Dragon had finally snapped out of the wallowing sadness that had left him crippled for all these weeks.
Daneel had been keeping a close eye on him, as he still clearly remembered the Emperor"s words: if Drakos was allowed to give in to his emotions, a catastrophe would happen.
Thankfully, the dragon had turned out to be much stronger than he had thought. Apparently, it was mainly the thought of someone he trusted taking the side of the enemies which had hurt him the most, and even though he still advocated that there might be some other reason, it was clear that he, too, saw all the warning signs.
"Well, let"s move onto merrier things. I can"t believe that it was that giant snake who left the continent, and created such a powerful sect. When you told me the story, itself, I was quite perplexed, but it is true that the world works in mysterious ways. As for your question regarding why she did not do anything until now, I can say with certainty that it is because of the apathy that she feels the continent. Even now, it is probably the prophecy and the fact that you have qualified to be her disciple which are the reasons behind her acting for the benefit of the continent. She had never had much love for her home. She often blamed it for making her so unique, thereby painting the target on her back, but time does have a way of nursing and erasing old wounds…"