Divine Beast Ascension

549 Back to Iron Town

Once at Rot City, Zelsh gave everyone a beaming smile. He bowed to his candidates. “You all did amazingly. I thought creating such a team would get the job done, and you’ve managed to surpass my expectations with a bit of luck.”

Oli and the team bowed back, but they said nothing. They all knew Zelsh had more to say.

“Now that the province qualifier is over, you all will be able to go about your business,” Zelsh continued while giving those from the Forell Territory a knowing nod. “But for tonight, we’ll be participating in a feast! Oliver, I promised you a chance to see Kraz and the others after qualifying for the prefecture. Now that you’ve done that, it’s time I hold up my end of the bargain.”

Zelsh then walked away, leaving them on standby near the teleportation circle. It took him about fifteen minutes to come back with three people following him.

“Oliver!” the largest of those followers shouted. His massive wyrm body slithered past his father in order to greet Oli before everyone else. “It’s good to see you! Congratulations by the way.

Smiling, Oli replied, “Congrats to you too, Kraz. I can’t wait to see how much stronger you’ve become.”

“The same goes for you, Oliver,” laughed Tilgron. “More than anything else, we all want to see you in action.”

Nodding, Vant put a hand on Oli’s shoulder and smiled. “I really want to fight you. Master Zelsh says you’ll defeat me next time we fight, so why not spar now?”

“We’re not doing it now because we need to join the celebration!” Zelsh laughed, slapping Vant’s back and knocking the quadrant finalist to the ground. “The moment the other guests arrive, we’re leaving.”

.....

Then, everyone but Oli and Yeter looked back at Zelsh in confusion. Kraz asked, “Father, are we not celebrating here?”

Zelsh shook his head. “We’re heading to Iron Town! This is an excuse to feast on Bradok’s and Ania’s cooking again!”

Tilgron, Vant, Kraz, Oli, and Yeter were all laughing. But those from Forell Territory weren’t sure who Zelsh was talking about. So Yeter and Kraz started to explain the public relationship between Iron Territory and Rot Region, and how the current leaders of Iron Territory were some of the greatest chefs Zelsh had ever met.

Around the time they finished explaining the relationship and started describing the gorilla’s cuisine in detail, the teleportation circle lit up. Nine people appeared inside the circle. Ingall Sardin was in the lead with his three regional candidates and his provincial team behind him.

Without a word, Zelsh marched onto the huge teleportation circle with his provincial team and his four qualifying candidates. Zelsh nodded and smiled at King Sardin. “There’s no time to waste!”

The huge group of cultivators filled the circle with all their bestial candidates. But they still disappeared in a split second the moment the circle was activated.

Spatial energy dispersed as quickly as it had covered the group, delivering them to their faraway destination.

“Welcome to Iron Town.”

To greet the visitors, there were only two people there, offering bows. Vloz was in the lead. He was the first to lift his head, and then the fox girl behind him did the same in silence.

Turning to face the academy gate, Vloz stated, “Please, follow us, King Zelsh, King Sardin.”

The large group strolled through the bustling town. It was already beginning the transition from town to city. Though such a transition would still take years to complete, seeing it begin was a marvel for such a young settlement.

Half of Rot Region’s candidates had already been there before, so they weren’t surprised by the busy market outside the academy gates or by the towering academy library they could see looking back.

Everyone else was silently taking it in. There had been so many rumors about Iron Territory and Rhyner Region, especially after the sudden interprefectural exhibition and investigation two years ago. So not only was it a chance to witness the veracity of those rumors, it was an opportunity to experience the still-growing rise of an upstart territory.

King Sardin was thoroughly impressed, along with his candidates. “I’ve heard that Iron Town hasn’t even been established for half a century, yet you’re becoming a city after attracting the attention of even the quadrant god.”

“You’re not wrong, necessarily,” Vloz chuckled. “We established Iron Town the same year the Iron-body Gorillas took control of the territory, which wasn’t even five years ago.”

“Are you telling the truth?” Ingall’s eyes were bulging past his eyelids. He looked back at forth between Vloz and Zelsh in shock, noticing how both of them nodded. “That’s… That’s beyond incredible. You may only be a territory, but I’ve never seen such an ambitious territory in all my life. And you’re but a servant of the territory, even though you’re a peak-perennial yourself?”

Vloz laughed but never looked back while guiding the group through the streets, “Of course I am. I’m an old friend of the Iron-body Gorilla Clan, so they welcomed me and my aid here in Iron Territory. I’m Vloz, dean of Iron Academy. It’s a pleasure to meet you, King Sardin.”

Ingall blinked. “Vloz? The same Vloz rumored to be an assassination expert, the one who can kill kings while at the perennial realm?”

“That I am,” Vloz replied, finally looking back with a quick head bow. “But don’t take such accolades so seriously. For a top-class assassin, killing a king can be done by any perennial, not only peak-perennials. Then again, we don’t fight fair in such conditions. Our goal is to kill, not fight and stand with honor.”

King Sardin silently agreed with that logic. But he asked another question, “In that case, you would also be the expert coach that trained Zelsh’s candidate before the sudden Interprefectural Exhibition hosted by none other than God Toseko. You were glorified for teaching that candidate how to kill the quadrant candidate and claim a spot in the Mortal Championship finals. Is that also correct?”

“That is,” Zelsh was the one to answer while waving for Vant to come forward. “This is Vant. My quadrant finalist and my shared pupil with Vloz.”

“It’s an honor to meet you, King Sardin,” Vant briefly bowed to the king while he kept walking alongside the group.

Blinking, Sardin scanned over Vant. “Hm… A human? Interesting… You’ve found an excellent pupil, Zelsh. And your teaching must be quite rare and treasured to have trained Vant in so little time, Dean Vloz.”

Most of the candidates were startled to hear King Sardin addressing Vloz by his title. For a low-king, addressing a peak-perennial was nothing more than speaking or offering a bow of the head at most. Using Vloz’s title so formally was very unorthodox in most cases. But Sardin had a reason for that.

“I also heard you were the one to catch and kill a king trying to violate the rules of that interprefectural exhibition. Is that true, Dean Vloz?”

“Yes. That’s correct. But only because it was an early-king I managed to catch off guard,” answered Vloz, stunning everyone from Sardin Region into silence, along with all those from Forell Territory that hadn’t heard such a rumor. “But, again I remind you, it’s because I’m an assassin. Unless absolutely necessary, I never fight fairly.”

“That’s understandable in your line of work,” stated Ingall Sardin. But deep down Ingall was glad he had been extra respectful to the leopard.

Not only did that rumor surprise all regional kings across the prefecture, but it terrified them. The scariest part was knowing that Vloz was truly a peak-perennial. That meant Vloz was close to becoming a king. And the moment the leopard assassin became a king cultivator was the moment every early-king and low-king feared. Because they knew stopping such a cultivator from killing them and stealing their region was likely impossible. Even some mid-kings were afraid of the rumor.

Of course, Zelsh and any provincial kings didn’t care. They were secure and they knew it.

That was the second reason Iron Territory had made such a deep impression across the prefecture. Not only had they hosted God Toseko and provided a perfect candidate, but Iron Territory was also home to the strongest gorilla clan anyone had seen in centuries and one of the prefecture’s best-known assassins. And both the gorilla leader and the assassin were only a single step away from becoming kings. It was a horrifying combo for anyone that would dare get on Iron Territory’s bad side.

That’s why Bradok was keeping his king status a secret. They already had too much attention on them. With so much pressure, the moment Bradok reveals he’s a king without proper preparations, others would be tempted to silence him while it was still possible. Such was the beast-eat-beast world of the quadrants. Having a king meant that other kings could take action. And that was the last thing Iron Territory wanted, because it would force not only Bradok but their king cultivator smiths to come out of hiding as well!

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