Raon positioned himself on the left side of the great training ground, leading the Light Wind Palace Swordsmen. The leaders of the martial forces who had already entered and were waiting bowed their heads or nodded in greeting toward him.
-Whew!
Wrath looked around the training ground and sighed.
-It seems all the humans from your family have gathered today. This training ground is going to burst at the seams.
He shook his head, saying the sight of all those human heads reminded him of bean sprouts.
'It's an important day after all.'
Today is the important day when the final two successor candidates will be selected. Since they'll have to focus solely on war preparations for the next year, the people of Zieghart must have gathered thinking of this as the last festival.
-True, there won't be any fun for a while...
Wrath nodded, saying nothing drains your blood like preparing for war.
-So, are you confident?
He tilted his chin as if asking how things looked.
'To some extent.'
Raon glanced at Karoon standing beside him, his eyes half-open.
'At least this one seems confident.'
Karoon stood with his back perfectly straight and hands behind his back, as if convinced he would never lose. He fixed his gaze on the throne on the platform, like he had already become the successor.
'Then the others...'
Raon calmly turned his gaze to look to the right.
"Hmm-hmm-hmm."
Alice was humming and shrugging her shoulders as if simply enjoying this moment.
"Nephew! You're here!"
"Aunt. Hello."
"Since you're today's protagonist, you should have come later."
She grabbed his hand and shook it vigorously in greeting. Honestly, it was hard to read what this person was thinking.
'And.'
Raon observed Serena, who stood alone and tall among the waiting Division Leaders.
"Keep quiet."
Serena silenced the Void Sword division swordsmen and gazed forward with calm eyes. At the end of her line of sight was also the empty golden throne.
'That person has always been serious.'
Among the successor candidates, only Serena and Karoon were still looking at the throne. Those two seemed more serious about the position of head of house than anyone else present.
'Well, she did declare she would become head of house at our very first meeting.'
Originally, long before the selection ceremony, Serena had sought him out and proposed that he join the Void Sword division and support her bid to become head of house. At the time, he thought she was crazy, but now that they had come this far, he was genuinely impressed by her determination.
'That's what it means to never give up.'
In the history of Zieghart, no outsider had ever become head of house. Despite knowing this better than anyone, Serena never gave up and poured all her efforts into aiming for the head of house position. Regardless of today's outcome, he wanted to applaud her will and mental strength.
As Raon turned his gaze back to the platform, he heard heavy footsteps from behind that seemed to make the ground tremble.
"Uahahahaha!"
It was Balder. He walked up beside Raon, bursting into hearty laughter like a general commanding a battlefield.
"Nephew! Have you been well?"
Balder said it had been a while and vigorously pounded Raon's back and shoulders. Even without aura behind it, his natural strength was so great that Raon felt his collarbone might break.
"Ah, yes."
Raon nodded while rubbing his shoulder that had taken Balder's blows.
"Good! Good! You look well."
Balder laughed heartily as if in a good mood and stood beside him, looking toward the platform.
'Hmm?'
Raon slightly furrowed his brow as he looked at Balder, who couldn't hide his smile.
'What is it?'
Balder was a simple man who couldn't hide his expressions better than anyone. If someone like him couldn't wipe the smile off his face, it meant he was confident about today's outcome.
-Ohh!
Wrath seemed to sense the same thing and let out an exclamation.
-It seems that blockhead has prepared something too!
He licked his lips as if anticipating the results based on Balder's confident appearance.
'Indeed.'
Raon briefly furrowed his brows.
'I thought the outcome was already decided, but now I'm not so sure.'
Honestly, he had naturally thought that Karoon and himself would become the final successor candidates. But now that he was at the training ground today, he saw that Balder exuded even more confidence than Karoon, and Serena also seemed to have prepared something. The only person whose true intentions remained a mystery was Alice.
'Well, if it happens, good. If not, nothing can be done about it.'
It would be nice to become head of house, but more important was the survival of Zieghart. He had already grown attached to the Zieghart family, so even if he failed to become a successor candidate today, what he needed to do going forward wouldn't change.
-You're such a boring guy.
Wrath snorted, saying Raon's lukewarm reaction was no fun.
-You should at least be trembling with anticipation.
'I'll show you later. After I've accomplished all my goals.'
Just as Raon was waving his hand dismissively at Wrath.
"The sky of Zieghart. Glenn Zieghart, the Destructive King of the North and head of house, is entering!"
The gatekeeper of the training ground let out a roar that could shake heaven and earth. It was more than twice as loud as when he and Karoon had entered. Thud! The head of house's footsteps, which silenced the many people gathered in the training ground, could be heard.
At the appearance of Glenn Zieghart and the Heavenly Blade Division directly under the head of house, people unconsciously closed their mouths and froze like statues.
"We pay our respects to the Head of House!"
"We pay our respects to the Head of House!"
The moment Glenn entered the training ground, everyone there knelt and bowed, starting with Karoon's greeting. Thud. Unlike when he was in the audience chamber, Glenn climbed onto the platform excruciatingly slowly, receiving the greetings of the Zieghart swordsmen.
"Rise."
With calm eyes, he nodded and sat down on the solitary gleaming golden throne.
"Yes!"
The Zieghart swordsmen bowed their heads once more, as if Glenn's current appearance was only natural, then rose to their feet.
"Begin."
"Yes? Yesss..."
At Glenn's order, Chad, the Shadow Agents' Leader who had been holding documents to his chest, came forward to the platform. His lips trembled as if something might go wrong.
"A-after the first test, the determined successor candidates were the Central Martial Palace Master, True Martial Palace Master, Light Wind Palace Master, Void Sword Division Leader, and A-Alice Zieghart."
Chad mentioned the results of the first test while looking at each candidate one by one.
"And the second test was to gather supporters who would follow the successor candidate."
He slowly caught his breath as if just making the announcement was making him nervous.
"I will now announce the results of the second successor candidate test."
With trembling hands, Chad unfolded the documents he had been holding to his chest.
"First, I will speak about the Void Sword Division Leader. The forces supporting the Void Sword Division Leader are the Kingdom of Artina, the Water City Aqurian, the City of Time Reminis, the Tower Village Eldru..."
Void Sword Division Leader Serena had the support of most regions where she had carried out missions. This showed how diligently she had fulfilled her duties until now.
"Finally, Nokrin, the village with the Shadow Tower."
Although Serena had received considerable support, most were from forces without many people, so she appeared to have no chance of being among the final two candidates.
"Serena! Serena! Serena!"
Those supporting Serena shouted her name with desperate voices and shook their fists.
"Thank you."
Serena bowed her head to those supporting her, her expression calm. Despite knowing she had no chance of becoming a final candidate, she looked satisfied with what she had accomplished through her own efforts.
"Next, I will tell you about the forces supporting the True Martial Palace Master. Crystal Village Arsia, Cloud City Ethersian, Mining Kingdom Pelrun..."
The forces supporting Balder were more numerous than expected, and of high quality too. It seemed he had also gone to great lengths to gather supporters.
'Quite a significant number.'
Though of course he had no chance of becoming the successor. Raon nodded calmly. More names were announced than he had expected, but since he and Karoon had divided the forces between them, it wasn't enough to match his own support.
"...and finally, the Moving City Norid."
Chad breathed slowly as if slightly out of breath.
"Woaaaaaah!"
"Balder! Balder! Balder!"
This time, the training ground became noisy with people shouting Balder's name. It was different from Serena's calm yet heartfelt moment.
"Uahahahaha!"
Balder just burst into laughter, seemingly pleased. Now that Raon thought about it, he probably just had a good night's sleep and was in a good mood.
"Hmm."
Despite the training ground becoming noisy, Glenn made no attempt to stop it and instead wore a faint smile. He seemed to be truly treating this situation like a festival.
"Third, I will announce the forces supporting the Light Wind Palace Master. Habun Castle, the Shield of the North, the Vassal Families Sullion and Arianne, the White Whale and the Unyielding Blade of the Five Divine Orders..."
Chad began to list the forces supporting Raon, the third candidate.
'I remember them all.'
With each force Chad named, Raon recalled his past experiences with them. Since each one involved life-or-death battles, he smiled as he remembered the tension of those times.
"Finally, the Holy Kingdom of Suphren."
As soon as Chad finished speaking, the audience seated in the training ground rose to their feet.
"Uaaaaaah!"
"Raon! Raon! Raon!"
"Sword Emperor! Sword Emperor! Sword Emperor!"
Much louder cheers than for Balder erupted, shaking the entire training ground. He'd heard his popularity had increased recently, but it seemed more people liked him than he'd imagined.
"..."
Raon silently bowed his head to the people calling his name.
'This should be enough.'
Without even needing to calculate, this clearly surpassed Serena and Balder. With only Karoon and Alice, who seemed uninterested in being the successor candidate, remaining, Raon felt the outcome was already determined.
"Phew."
Chad caught his breath as if slightly tired, then raised the fourth document.
"Fourth, I will tell you about the forces supporting the Central Martial Palace Master. The Central Martial Palace Master has gained the support of traditional Zieghart allies and vassal families. The forces supporting him include House Sicerian, Kingdom of Tairan, Yuber..."
He listed the forces supporting Karoon while sweating nervously. Far more names came up than expected, and all were places with large populations. This was indeed the network befitting Glenn's eldest son.
"F-finally, the Desert City Zerha. Phew."
As soon as Chad finished listing the forces supporting Karoon, he exhaled a long sigh as if his throat hurt.
"Karoon! Karoon! Karoon!"
"Central Martial Palace! Central Martial Palace! Central Martial Palace!"
Those supporting Karoon shouted his name and "Central Martial Palace" with fervor. Since the eldest son typically has the most supporters anywhere, his name erupted from people's mouths almost as loudly as Raon's own had.
'They're almost equal, but...'
Raon briefly smacked his lips.
'It seems Karoon has slightly more support than me.'
As Chad said, Karoon had gained the support of traditional Zieghart connections. Although Raon had also gathered many supporters, it seemed impossible to overcome the thousand-year-old network of Zieghart itself.
'It's fine though. They're selecting two people anyway... Hmm?'
Just as Raon was nodding with a slight smile.
'Wait a minute!'
He swallowed dryly as he looked at Chad.
'If I think about the order so far, it seems to be in ranking order?'
Serena, Balder, himself, and then Karoon. The four people's names weren't called according to position or alphabetically, but seemed to be in order of the number of supporters, from least to most.
'T-then, could it be...'
Raon looked at Chad with trembling eyes.
"Ahem."
Chad moistened his throat with water as if exhausted, then lifted the fifth document.
"F-fifth, I will speak about the forces supporting Alice Zieghart. First, the Underwater City Atrian, the Western Coastal Union Sirfin, the Flower Harbor Libellis, the Mechanized Harbor Mecrian..."
He announced Alice's supporters at a much faster pace than when he had named his or Karoon's supporters. However, the list of names didn't end easily.
"W-what..."
"Why are there so many?"
"Those aren't villages or cities on the continent, but all ports or port cities?"
"No, there are even unions!"
The audience also gaped in surprise at the forces supporting Alice and focused on Chad's words.
"F-finally, the Fog Harbor Sirentium. Huff! Huff!"
Chad breathed heavily with a raspy voice, as if his throat had become completely hoarse.
"Wooooooooh!"
"Alice! Alice! Alice!"
The audience, though shocked by Alice's unexpected achievement, happily shouted her name.
"We've been had..."
Karoon pressed his lips tightly together.
"While the four of us divided the continent, sister monopolized the sea and nearby forces all by herself. Looking at it that way, this is a natural outcome."
He frowned, saying he hadn't expected Alice to work so diligently.
"Hmm..."
Raon's fingertips trembled slightly.
'I definitely missed that too.'
While focusing on continental forces, he hadn't had time to visit the coastal city where House Robert was located or the city with the Black Tower, which he had initially targeted. Now he realized that Alice had returned after gaining support from those forces that no one else had approached.
"T-then I will announce the rankings."
Chad lifted the sixth and final document.
"Ahem! 5th place: Void Sword Division Leader, 4th place: True Martial Palace Master, 3rd place: Light Wind Palace Master, 2nd place: Central Martial Palace Master, a-and 1st place is Alice Zieghart!"
Even as the Shadow Agents' Leader, he seemed unable to predict today's outcome, shouting Alice's name with his eyes tightly closed.
"Urrrgh..."
"I-is it true?"
"Alice really came in first?"
"T-then that means Lord Raon failed!"
"Insane..."
The swordsmen and audience gaped at the results that far exceeded their expectations.
"Gaaaaaah!"
Glenn also seemed to have assumed that Raon and Karoon would advance, as he inhaled sharply and his eyes trembled. The dignity he had shown when entering the training ground had completely vanished.
"Uh..."
Raon was also flustered, his legs trembling as he repeatedly moistened his dry lips.
-Bwahahahaha!
Wrath burst into mocking laughter while holding his stomach.
-You said you wouldn't be flustered, yet here you are showing it today! Yes! This is it!
He chuckled while clutching his stomach, saying he loved Raon's flustered expression.
-Both you and the big-eyed king were acting like you'd already won, but look at you now! What a sight to behold!
Wrath mocked both him and Karoon simultaneously while flicking his tongue.
"It was difficult with the tight schedule, but I finally achieved it."
Alice raised her fist vigorously as if to say, "How about that?
"This is the power of connections built from over 20 years of traveling the seas! You continent-bound nobodies!"