Chapter 10: Chapter 10: Celeste – Interlude

Chapter 10: Celeste - Interlude

 

Celeste watched on from her seat in the theatre as the specialists below scrambled around in a hurry. Just a few more minutes, and the team auction would be underway.

There was an undercurrent of nervousness permeating the room. It was a great honor to be chosen as an advisor, and she hoped that she wouldn't mess up the opportunity given to her. At twenty years old, she was the youngest advisor in this batch. She had spent a lot of time going through the data of the previous tourneys and was confident about the combinations that she had outlined. Ultimately, the decisions regarding the team composition would be up to the patrons. Nonetheless, she hoped that she could lead her prospective team toward victory.

A part of it was already out of her hands, as her patron had used his entitlement to get the Hollow Crown. He had then traded it away for the Pygilist with the record-breaking synchronization rate. All her preparations now revolved around forming a team with him as the base. On one hand, they had only two more teammates to pick, so they could be more aggressive with their bids. On the other hand, their entitlement was already used up. They couldn't participate in the redistribution rounds unless they earned another entitlement. The chances of that happening were pretty slim.   

Despite all her preparations, she couldn’t help but second guess her decisions as the eggheads were done with their preparation. Anytime now, and they would begin.

She was brought out of her reverie as several nobles walked inside the observation deck. She recognized most of them as patrons. Some of them were just there due to their political clout, to show off as being important, even though they were not the patrons.

After that, came the procession of the other lords. Walking in behind the pack was Lord Serval Kach, the patron she was working with. He was immaculately dressed and comported himself in a manner befitting a noble. Although, Kach was one of the few nobles who had reached their standing through merit. It showed in his attitude as well, since there was a marked lack of arrogance in him that most of the nobles possessed. When he had chosen her to be the advisor for his prospective team, she had asked him why. The answer she got was that she reminded him of his youthful days. 'A capable youngster among useless old farts,' were the exact words he had told her. Not that she would ever utter those words where anyone could hear them. Insulting nobles was tantamount to suicide unless one had sufficient power, either literal or political. Therein lay the crux of her participation in this endeavor. If she managed to advise a team of voyagers to victory, then she would have a lot of political pull. At least enough power to take a stand and not be married off to some useless noble like her father wanted for her.

Yes, she did care a lot about their survival. But, a victory would be the icing on the cake. Just being on good terms with the voyagers alone would greatly help her after the dungeon was put to sleep. After that, the final stretch to crown the Centurion was just tradition.

The dungeon was the lethal portion, and she was sure that she would be able to guide her team through it. Gone were the days when advisors could only provide limited aid. She couldn't embark into the dungeon with them, but she could build a proper team and give them all the necessary information about their artifacts. Good team synergy went a long way. That's why they needed to pair artifacts correctly into a good team. That alone was statistically proven to increase the survival rate.

Lord Kach approached their table and took the seat designated for him.

As their eyes met, she bowed in respect. Lord Kach nodded in acknowledgment and shifted his attention toward the spectacle in front of them.

A few minutes later, the lights inside the opera box turned on, and an all too familiar tune played on the speakers. Everyone, including the nobles, got up from their seats upon hearing it. Due to the height difference between them, they couldn't see what was happening inside it. Without wasting a second, the overhead screens lit up and displayed a live feed of the box in question.

Everyone's eyes were glued to the screen. The next instant, everyone bowed as the king entered his seating area and sat on an elaborate seat. Celeste thought that it was nothing as elaborate as the throne. At least in this seat, he looked relatively normal. The gaudy throne, drab robes, and his relatively young age never meshed well in the throne room. King Dracolan tried to give off an aura of maturity, but it always seemed artificial to her. Maybe in a couple of years, when he matured, it would pass off as something natural.

The King waved them off and said something to his ever-present aide.

The aide began speaking into his communicator as they were all instructed to take their seats. As Celeste watched on, a humming noise came from the stage.

Atop the stage stood proudly a ten-foot-tall statue of Emperor Byrone. It was aptly named Byrone’s Boon, as the whole setup was a boon, both to the natives and the voyagers. It was a time-honored artifact that monitored the dimensional anomaly inside the dungeon and pulled the voyagers out of it when they arrived. The dungeon always marked them the moment it began transporting them. But with Byrone’s Boon, they had a way to fetch them and prepare them before they had to go back in. It also helped the voyagers in another way. 

"Initiating binding contracts. Patrons and advisors who have already used up your entitlements, please form a line next to the stage after the countdown is done," a nasal voice spoke over the speakers as the eggheads seemed to have everything raring to go.

The binding contract ensured that patrons and advisors did not sabotage their charges willingly. The magical backlash otherwise would be gristly. One might think that sabotaging the voyagers was a stupid endeavor as the better they do, the more prestige it was for the patrons. Yet, there had been a few instances throughout their history where the patrons thought that they could manipulate the voyagers to gain human weapons under their control.

The G’Ani family had spent a lot of time and resources, trying to figure out how the contract worked. They wanted to present the crown with a way to enforce similar contracts to ensure the loyalty of their subjects. Or so they said. Yet, the research never went anywhere. Only Emperor Byrone knew how to make such an artifact, and he apparently took it to his grave. The royal family would have used it during some of the turbulent times in the past if they had something similar on hand.  

Right as the timer began ticking down, the statue started radiating a golden light. She couldn't peel her eyes off the once-in-a-century occurrence as the humongous statue shone brightly. With ten seconds remaining on the clock, a deep rumbling noise started resonating throughout the theatre.

When the timer hit zero, the light seemed to practically explode and engulfed everyone within the facility.

Byrone’s Boon was awake for the second time this century. It would awaken a few more times as it sent the voyagers and pulled them back in between the trials. Then it would go back to sleep until the next time the dungeon woke up.

Blinking the spots out of their eyes, Lord Kach and Celeste got up and walked together toward the stage. They would have to repeat this tedious process every time they locked in a voyager, but it was there for a reason.

Celeste looked around, trying to see the other patrons who had used their entitlement.

The details of the participants had gone live after everyone finished their bonding process. But nobody knew whether any entitlement had been used on them or not. Until now. She had several artifacts marked down for good synergy, but she knew that there was a high chance of some of them being locked. So, she would need to be flexible at all times. 

Lord Roland Patcher and her cousin Roul joined them midway as they continued their walk toward the stage. To be fair, every advisor was a cousin. It was the Z’Chi family’s divine duty to act as the advisors after all.

Lord Patcher walked a step behind Lord Kach, showing deference to his mentor. On such an occasion, it was a clear proclamation of allegiance. Not like anyone would suspect otherwise. The two lords had always been close.

She could see some of the seated nobles scrunching up their noses at this. Some of their egos always flared when it came to the so-called 'Pedestrian lords'. She was sure that it would be worse for them today, sharing the grand stage with those they did not respect.

She nodded at Roul, who seemed uncharacteristically serious for once. He did smirk for a fleeting moment when he saw her, but he quickly switched back to his fake mask of seriousness.

“Chill out for a bit,” he whispered as he fell in line next to her.

She didn’t respond to him and kept her eyes forward. Growing up, Roul always pulled her into his antics and got her into trouble. She wouldn’t fall for the bait, especially at such a stage, in front of all the nobles, and the king himself. Moreover, the hypocrite was telling her to chill out when he himself was acting all serious.

If Roul expected her to go on a tirade about his impropriety, he would be disappointed. Momentarily, that is. She would give him an earful once they left the theatre.

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Her head already ached thinking about working together with Roul due to the alliance their two patrons had. Roul was one of her favorite cousins, but he was too much sometimes.

“Voyager number one. Under the patronage of Lord Roland Patcher, and advisement of Roul Z’Chi: The Hollow Crown, Emilia Atkinson,” came the voice over the speakers.

Lord Patcher and Roul immediately stepped onto the stage as a hush fell over the crowd. Just a cursory glance throughout the crowd told her that Roul’s team already had a target painted on their backs.

Right off the bat, she knew that some patrons would advise their team to steer clear of the Hollow Crown, while others would tell them to be antagonistic. Their binds only prevent them from sabotaging their own charges after all. The others were fair game. Most didn’t resort to such measures. Yet some noble families were salty children masquerading as adults, so one could never say.

Greed was also a major motivator. As long as the Crown was in play, nobody was safe. The odds were skewed in its favor when it came to power.

Most people were looking at them cautiously, while a few patrons were looking at Lord Patcher and Roul with open hostility. If the trade hadn’t been made, she would have been the one getting such looks.  

Even though the Hollow Crown’s wielder was not on her team, they were still allied. At the same time, she knew Emilia. After all, Celeste was the one who had taken care of Emilia until the trade had been made. That girl had nerves of steel, and coupled with an artifact like the Hollow Crown, she would be a force to reckon with.

Her run in the proving ground proved it already. That video was available to the patrons and their advisors now. She undertook that trial on day one with the added disadvantage she was initially saddled with. Now that she was fine, and had a good amount of time with the artifact, she'd be even stronger. They'd all know soon enough what exactly they were against.

While she was deep in thought, Lord Patcher and Roul had sealed their pact and had begun the trek back to their seats.

“Voyager number three. Under the patronage of Lord Serval Kach, and advisement of Celeste Z’Chi: The Pygilist, Parthasarathy Uzhundhurpettai Parandhaman.”

Voyager number two was not called because they hadn’t been locked onto a team yet. This was a special procession to get the entitlements out of the way, after all.

She almost snorted in amusement at the butchering of his name. She barely controlled her mirth as she ascended the stage, following her patron. Once she found out that it bothered him, she had done her best to pronounce it properly. It was not as if she was going to use the full name anyway. ‘Parth’ was much easier to say.

Unlike the previous one, instead of silence, their announcement elicited a lot of murmuring. For one not in the know, it would be a curious thing indeed, a Pygilist getting locked in with an entitlement. But everyone here could open the file and see the synchronization rate. She was sure that many would have wanted to have him on his team due to that factor. Too bad for them.

At the same time, due to their unspoken declaration, everyone knew that they were in alliance with the Hollow Crown. It wouldn’t be long before everyone started plotting how to handle their team. She hoped that the others would hold back till the dungeon was finished at least. Their interference in the latter part of the challenge would be tolerated. If they interfered inside the dungeon, where survival was an issue, she would be pissed indeed.

“Please prick your thumb and place it on the Pygilist inscription. First, the patron, then the advisor," the staff on the stage told them in a low voice and handed them a golden needle each.

“Which one?” she asked in an even lower voice, not wanting to get it wrong. Both of them had six arms after all. She berated herself mentally for not paying more attention to what Roul had done.

“Anything is okay ma’am,” he said as he led them to the foot of the statue.

The plinth had a hundred inscriptions on it. One for each artifact. They were quickly shown which one corresponded to the Pygilist. It was a tiny etching of a singular gauntlet with embers surrounding it. It alone was glowing right now, since it was the target of the vow.

Lord Kach went first, as instructed, and pricked the thumb on one of his three right arms and placed it on the inscription. With a golden glow, the blood disappeared and he straightened up with a weird look on his face.

He thanked the attendant and handed back the needle, which quickly went into a sterilization box.

Celeste followed suit and did the same. The moment her thumb made contact with the metal of the statue, she felt a jolt of something crawling across her body. It settled down in her heart, and everything went back to normal. It hadn't even taken a second. She returned the needle and walked down the stage after her patron.

Within a minute, they were back in their seats and watched as another patron and advisor finished the pact.

“Voyagers fifteen… s-sixteen, and seventeen,” there was an uncharacteristic pause in the announcement as they all heard an audible gulp. “Under the patronage of Lady Nakiri Tetsuyumi, and advisement of Eyub Z’Chi: The Griffin, Opal Redwood. The Enfield, Zircon Redwood. The Manticore, Amber Redwood,” Even the announcer sounded incredulous at that absurd revelation.

Celeste herself looked at the stage with her jaw hanging low. That was unheard of. The hoops that Lady Tetsuyumi would have had to go through to secure three voyagers before the auction even started must have been mind-boggling.

She couldn't even imagine what had to be done for two other patrons to give over their entitlement to someone. It made a very loud statement though: Lady Tetsuyumi and her team were dangerous. They were definitely allied with two other teams, and the alliance would be strong because a lot had been put at stake for it to happen.

The most mind-boggling aspect about it though was the voyagers themselves. She had seen the file of the triplets when she was scouring all the details about the voyagers. Getting siblings transported was rare. Triplets? Unheard of. Most of all, the three of them had finished the totem set. The Griffin, Enfield, and Manticore were three artifacts that were identical to each other. Nobody had ever had all three of them on the same team.

In a way, it was redundant because they all did the same thing. Nobody knew why Emperor Byrone had created three artifacts that were almost the same. Every other artifact worked differently. These three were practically the same. It had long been theorized that there might be some sort of unknown effect if all three of them worked together.

The mystery would be finally revealed, and everyone would be looking forward to it.

It was yet another team that made a statement before the Centurial Challenge even began. In fact, this might be the boldest statement in quite a while.

Lady Tetsuyumi had made a massive play and it left everyone speechless. The sheer confidence required to pull this off and not even care about the other artifacts was quite praiseworthy. Celeste couldn’t help but see the fairy noblewoman in a new light. 

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