Chapter 49: Aerthus X

The streets were decorated with flowers, colorful banners and most of the people were in a jovial mood. It was early morning, yet a lot of citizens were already gathering at the giant square before the royal palace, getting ready to witness as Aerthus IX took off his crown, placing it on his son’s head, signaling a new chapter in the Empire’s history. 

 

“Up, up, sleepy head!” laughed Anya as she came in Ren’s room, pulling away the curtains while her daughter only moaned, pulling the blanket over her head 

 

“Who wakes up this early… uggghhh….”

 

“You Young Lady! Come on!” pulled it off of her “You need to get ready, we need to be there in an hour, you will meet up with Leinor then accompany Feynor as he is being crowned.”

 

“Why me? Let the pervy one do it.” moaned sulkingly as she sat up on her bed, while her hair resembled a bird’s nest 

 

“He will be there too. Only the Second Prince refused to come home for the event.”

 

“Ugh, I got the creeps from the Third… But I’m curious about the Second. It's a pity he won’t be coming back.”

 

“Don’t be too hard on Prince Reignar he is still of royal blood and the brother of Leinor.”

 

“Huh? I thought you would be more harsh on him.” said with sincere surprise in her voice

 

“I would have been but seeing his reaction when he regained consciousness…” held back a laugh Anya

 

When they brought back the fainted Reignar and he finally woke up, he started to tell them what a bad dream he had… until he saw Ren, walking in and when she smiled at him, releasing a fragment of her aura the Prince just screamed before almost fainting again then excused himself and just escaped the mansion, not to be seen since then. 

 

“Well, true… It was funny. I won’t mess with him that much. Promise~” giggled playfully “At least he may act decently for a while.”

 

“Go wash up, then put on your dress. The ceremony will only take an hour or so, after that there will be a lot of fun activity all around the city, you can have some fun with the others and in the evening we will go to the banquet hosted by Aerthus X in the palace.”

 

“Got it. What about Emi and Niji?”

 

“Xendar will take them to the ceremony in disguise so they can witness it. For the banquet they are invited by Aerthus X and they will be introduced by him to the participants as ambassadors. There will be only leading figures of the Empire there, they ought to know what is going on.”

 

“I bet they are more nervous then Feynor~”

 

“Emi masks it well. Niji… A little but he says he is used to it as he was performing to humans when young.”

 

“Tsk… then they are no fun. Well, whatever! Oh, I’ll wear my new dress I bought!”

 

“Don’t you dare!” 

 

“Why?” puffed up her cheeks immediately 

 

“Don’t you dare parade around in those indecent clothing! You look like a dancer in one of those cheap brothels! What were you thinking?” 

 

“Wha-?! Mom! That's a cute dress! Isha helped me pick it out! They fit me really well!”

 

“That’s the main point! You should have asked me, not her! It shows too much skin!”

 

“Come on… it covers my chest and privates.”

 

“Yes, but only those parts! Everything else is completely visible! You lean a little and the skirt part just flips up! What kind of dress is that?! Also it is almost transparent!”

 

“Just almost!”

 

“Enough! Wear it for Leinor if you want, inside the bedroom, but forget that I’ll let you step out with you wearing that from the house!”

 

“Tsk… you are no fun…” sulked Ren as she really was looking forward wearing it, surprising everyone but it seems like her mother shot down everything right from the start

 

“I’ll get your clothing ready. Go wash up.”

 

“Oookaaaayyyy... “ answered, giving up while Anya just looked at her as she disappeared in the bathroom 

 

“Poor Leinor… you will have your hands full, she is just like her father…” smiled, shaking her head while getting Ren’s white-blue, one piece dress ready for the ceremony.

 

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…..

 

Saynur and Frenir were already at their posts, long before anybody, while Saynur put up his easel, got ready the canvas and Frenrir was helping to prepare the paint. 

 

“We are so early…” yawned Frenrir 

 

“You said there will be no complaining.” smiled Saynur, rubbing his head, giving him a hot chocolate that immediately drew a smile on his face “We need to be early. I want to capture the feeling of anticipation of the people and also have the best place, where I can paint the best possible picture.”  

 

“What if the Emperor notices the painting and he likes it? Wouldn’t that be awesome?”

 

“Yes, but don’t dream too much~” laughed Saynur and he had no dreams about being noticed by the royal family, he was content that some of the minor nobles were already interested in the painting and were curious about the end result. “Did you bring all the brushes?” 

 

“Yes!” said as he showed his bag

 

“Mmm… then where are the thicker ones?”

 

“Um.. um… oh… ah… they may be on the… um… counter?”

 

“Silly.” sighed but didn’t look frustrated “This is why we came early. Go back home and grab them!”

 

“Right away!” smiled as he rushed off

 

He didn’t get far away as after turning just around the first corner collided with something really soft, landing on his butt.

 

“Ouch… Sorry!” said, looking up, seeing a beautiful, red haired woman standing before him 

 

“Ahaha, no problem kiddo~” laughed with a beautiful voice, helping him up “What’s the rush?”

 

“I need to go home for stuff for my brother! He will paint the coronation ceremony and also the wedding next week!”

 

“Oh? Will he? What is your brother’s name?”

 

“Saynur! We have a shop not far from here!” grinned happily giving away the name and address of the shop before jogging away, looking back a few times as he never saw such a beautiful lady up close… or at least he would have realized he saw her already if not in such a hurry. 

 

“What’s up?” arrived Zern, fixing his formal attire, smiling at Isha who was also wearing a fine, silk, white dress with a slanted, short skirt. 

 

“Nothing.” smiled while leaning in, kissing him on his face “I just saw a cute little boy. Maybe I want one.”

 

“Want… one?” gulped loudly “We just… started to…”

 

“Ahahaha, look at you! Usually you are quiet and strong willed, but it seems before me you show your real side huh? I’m starting to like the flustered Zern more and more~” laughed, grabbing onto his arms “Relax, I’m just teasing you. Anyway, I bumped into a boy, he said his brother is going to paint the two ceremonies. I’m thinking of getting one picture of the wedding and gifting it to Lady Anya and maybe the others would get a copy too. If they behave~ What do you think?”

 

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“That's a good idea! Well, if you say you see a new side of me now I think I just saw a side of you they don’t know~ I think they will be surprised, especially Leinor.”

 

“Well… I may ask the painter to swap their clothes on the painting… that would be funny.”

 

“Okay, that would be something you would do.” sighed Zern 

 

“Ahaha~ I think Ren would appreciate that!” laughed louder as she held Zern’s hand between her bosom, making him flush “What~? Last night you weren’t this shy~ My hip is still sore and my breasts still tingle as I feel your strong grip on them~”

 

“Hmf. You deserved it!” said while grabbing her waist, pulling in close for a kiss “You easily get too cocky, you needed some firm punishment!”

 

“Now you are speaking my language~” whispered, leaning on him with a satisfied expression 

 

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When noon came, the square was packed, what Erin saw from her seat, beside Xendar was only a sea of human heads.

 

“So many… our tribe would only take up a small square in this city… We can only match their numbers if we count the lesser tribes without proper intelligence…” thought inwards “Individually we are stronger but… an all out war… tsk. If those cats persuade the others we will have bloody times ahead of us. I need to report this back to Lady Rumira.”

 

While she was watching and thinking, Niji did the same, looking on as Feynor appeared beside Dermitos, while his father gave a speech about how proud he is for being able to be their Emperor for so long and how excited he is to pass it down to his son who’s ideas will lead them into a new, prosperous chapter of their history. 

 

“The air around here is more prosperous and has more cohesion than in the Kingdom of Ten. The people look more unified. Interesting… so the human kingdoms do differ this much. I never believed it completely.” sighed, softly murmuring it to himself. 

 

“I once toured around there. They are unified by interests only. If we were gone, their kingdom would collapse into internal bickering and scheming, fighting for control.” said Xendar with clear disdain in his voice “The ruling family…” said but stopped, while Anya just placed her hand on his 

 

“It’s okay. You are right. I was cast out, I have no connection to them and no feelings for them.”

 

“Their ruling family maintains its power by constantly dividing the other families, playing chess, constantly keeping them at a certain level. The others are always trying to strengthen their own powers, making alliances, waging secret wars behind the curtains, smiling at each other while holding a dagger behind their back, ready to strike. The only thing preventing them going into complete anarchy is us. The fear of being swallowed up by us is etched into them for 2000 years. Pathetic.”

 

“I never thought of it this way. But we are the same, aren’t we? Since we evolved, we waged war against the old kingdom of your kind and later on we saw every human the same way.”

 

“What we know it was mostly the ents doing, destroying the Old Kingdom.”

 

“Still… It wasn’t only them. They evolved the fastest, most of the ents leading their tribe now are still the same ones who gained intelligence then. The first demonfolk followed them, back then we just awakened, the centuries we spent in realizing our place in the world and how we are hunted and cut down for resources resulted in the rage of the ents. The rest is history as you humans say.”

 

“I can understand, I would be furious if I realized I am no more than a raw resource.”

 

“The ents still carry deep hatred. They do not even trust other demons, just other ents.”

 

“Are you in danger?”

 

“Not really. They don’t venture out of their territory. But the other big tribes may eye them as enemies, standing against their unification efforts.”

 

“Maybe they will watch you the same now.”

 

“True. But don't we have an ally who just now gets crowned as Emperor?” smiled Niji

 

“My daughter is yet to be crowned.” grinned Xendar, knowing the main motivator in this alliance was not Feynor but Ren.

 

Emi silently listened to them, mulling over their conversation, trying to sort her thoughts and when she listened to Feynor, now Aerthus X’s speech about his plans to negotiate peace and cooperation with the demons, telling about his dream of peace, no more hordes from the north to the people, she was unsure what to think but her eyes unconsciously wandered to Poli before turning away.

 

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“There…” let out a big sigh Saynur, watching the completed, colorful, lifelike painting, when Dermitos placed his crown on Feynor’s head. The ink was yet to dry on the canvas, giving a mirage-like feeling to it if someone looked at it. The ceremony ended about an hour ago, yet the square was still packed as people celebrated.

 

“You’re so great big brother! I never seen you paint so fast!” giggled Frenir, holding up a water bottle to his brother who was sweating hard and looked exhausted 

 

“At least I am good at something, aren’t I?” laughed, taking it and gulping it’s content down

 

“I hope the beautiful lady will come back to buy this!”

 

“You said that a million times already. Are you sure you described her to me correctly?”

 

“Yes! I wouldn’t forget her!”

 

“You should, if you are correct, she was Lady Isha. My memory is great at remembering faces.”

 

“Really? So awesome!”

 

“If you didn’t just daydreamed the whole thing.”

 

“Well, he was clearly dreaming when he bumped into me.” came a soft laugh as Isha and Zern came closer

 

“Woah! I told you big bro!” said almost screaming the young boy, with stars in his eyes, softening Isha’s heart immediately

 

“My Lady, Lord!” bowed Saynur, greeting both of them 

 

“What Lady or Lord? Easy. I’m no nobility neither is he. Don’t act like this. We came to check out the painting and your little brother did not lie, it really is something.”

 

“T-thank you!”

 

“We are here to order a few copies.” smiled Zern “Also, we want to hire you officially to paint my Master’s wedding. If it’s not late, the General’s residence will pay any expenses, so please order the best quality canvas, paint and tools.”

 

“R-really?” 

 

“Yes.” laughed Isha “Lady Anya really liked the idea, she wants the original painting for herself, so she is willing to pay you handsomely for it. Also, we will need copies too, every expense is ours to pay.”

 

Saynur did not believe his ears at first. He didn’t anticipate anything like this, his plan was only earning a good amount of money he can invest in the expansion of his shop, but when Zern passed on the coin purse, containing half a year of his earnings worth of money, he almost fainted.

 

“This is for the expenses, Lady Anya will pay triple of this for the first painting. Any consecutive copies will be paid double its original selling price, you wanted to put them on sale.”

 

“T-this is too much…”

 

“Not in her eyes.” shook her head Isha with a warm smile

 

“Please… thank Lady Anya in my name!” bowed Saynur while Frenir also followed his example 

 

“Ahaha, no problem. When your little brother is coming of age, send him to us. We may be able to help a little with it.” patted his shoulder Zern, before leaving

 

“You little rascal…” grinned Saynur, looking at his brother who was still mesmerized by what was happening “You may just have bumped into our family’s biggest fortune.” patted his small head with excitement.

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