As Lera and Wu strolled through the corridors that belonged to the upper twenty houses, they couldn’t help but notice the subtle shifts in the quality of the interior decor. There was a pleasant aroma of summer flowers filling the air, and the clothing worn by the guards and representatives easily distinguished them from the regular workers.

In fact, Wu and Lera fit so well with the rest of the servants with their plain clothing that one of the busy managers stuff two plates full of drinks onto their hands before he had to run off to take care of a mess elsewhere.

Wu and Lera shared an awkward glance before they carried on their pretending while continuing to follow behind Rache.

The top ten houses each had their own corridor where they may rest and reconvene, and Rache made a turn at the first door of the corridor as that was the designated private meeting room for the Fisher family.

As Wu and Lera were about to head into the room inconspicuously, a tall butler stepped in front of them before putting a handout.

“We will take care of this.” He said, pinching the plate’s edge with his longer glove-covered fingers before he nonchalantly tossed a coin in Wu and Lera's general direction, “Thank you for your service.”

The door was slammed shut right in front of his face as the coin dropped towards the ground in a parabola. With all his years of basketball instincts, Wu lunged forward, catching the coin with his palm while Lera refused to have the disrespect.

“Yay! Free money!” Wu asked, slipping the coin into his pocket, "Did you get a look inside?"

“We are about to.” Lera said, creating a scouting Eye before turning and strolling towards the nearest window. She glanced both sides inside and out of the corridor before launching her Scouting Eye outward as if she were releasing a pigeon. It curved through the air before sticking to the corner of the private room's window and peeking through a gap in the curtains as a group of well-dressed men sat in a circle.

They all wore the ocean blue uniforms of the Fisher family with different colored stripes that indicated their seniority with the brightness.

Rache’s sitting alone in the corner with a drink in hand as he fixated his eyes on a man dressed distinctively different from the rest of them. He wore a white and red cloak, and he stood behind Charles and Darren Fisher, the two leaders of the House of Fisher, and whispered into their ears periodically.

He had deep eyes and black hair with the occasional red strand hidden within in the same way as Lera's own silver hair. From their expressions, it appeared that the head of Fisher was hesitant about something, but the man was trying to convince him of that very thing.

“Speaking of which…didn’t we sneak into the Union like this?” Wu murmured before a gentle bell was chimed, and the doors in the corridor all swung open as the representatives from the top houses all slowly made their way back into the main hall.

Wu and Lera backed themselves into the wall as they watched the group of prideful humans flow in front of them, the man in a white cloak soon walked past with Rache by his side complaining about something. This time, Lera and Wu both fully suppressed what they were doing and simply waited with the rest of the servants on the sides of the walls.

“We must stand our ground and ask for more…why are they hesitating…” Rache said through his teeth.

“Only move forward when the time is right.” The man replied, “We don’t know who and where our enemies are, so we must be cautious. Plus, if the others do not agree to our proposal…I have something special planned, just in case.”

Wu and Lera shared a nervous glance as their voices moved further and further away, replaced by the rapid footsteps of people hurrying back to the meeting hall. Then, they shared a nod before quickly heading back to the floor between floors where Ver had finally made her way to the snack stand.

That PORA man is about to do something, and it will be up to them to figure out what it is and stop it.

Relaying all of the information that they had obtained so far, Ver then took it upon herself to create a tiny opening in the ceiling of the main hall before the three of them looked through it together.

To ensure that they won’t be spotted, Ver made sure to keep the whirlpool purple in a dark corner while keeping all three of them submerged within the Kraken’s domain, using only the Kraken's tendril to collect both video and audio information.

The voices of the people from the upper twenty houses were just loud enough to be heard if all three of them shut up, and Lera’s the one making notes with Wu and Ver just looking through the tiny projection Cast that the Kraken had so helpfully created.

“As I and the rest of the top-ranked houses have said here, the country-level defensive Casts that arose within each of the territories rightfully belong to each of the houses that govern those territories.” The head of House of Angolia, the second-ranked house dressed in white, said with her stern voice, “And thus, it is only fair that we also possess the Revolutionary Manuscript required to activate it with minimal difficulty..”

“Costa city paid for the price of the Incident the most.” Charles Fisher said before swallowing hard and glancing towards Rote, "Henceforth, we deserve the payment that we have stated in our deal for transferring the activation Cast.”

“The Kings of other kingdoms all have the activation Casts at the palm of their own hand!” The head of the House of Raukis, the fifth-ranked house dressed in yellow, interrupted with his rough tone, “If you wish not to make enemies of the rest of the realm, then you will voluntarily surrender the Manuscript. To think that you want five million units for each of the hundreds of defensive Casts? Completely and utterly outlandish!”

"What's completely and utterly outlandish is your inability to understand the danger of those Casts and the value that these pages of the Revolutionary Manuscript contain!" Charles pointed straight at the head of House of Raukis as he looked like he was choking on a date by the response.

“Lords and ladies of the Upper houses…if I may.” A young-looking man sitting all the way at the back raised his hand.

“You may speak, representative of House of Militar.” The moderator said.

“It’s not exactly hidden knowledge that PORA had been cooperating with the House of Fisher, and I see the representative of PORA sitting among your party.” The young man said with a smug smile on his face, “I am by no means speaking for the Upper houses, but it would be a rather reckless act for PORA to be in the bad graces of the rest of the realm, no? If you wish to continue doing business in the Ethereal realm past the coming year, I urge you to reconsider the deals so graciously offered by House of Angolia.”

What a slimy one. Wu thought as he started to wonder where he’s heard the name House of Militar before.

“I shall repeat our offer once again, House of Fisher.” The head of Angolia said again as she leaned forward on the table as her white hair drolled forward, “You have until the last day of the conference to take advantage of our offer. In exchange for the Casts, we shall guarantee your fair placement in the next tournament and a small fee for each of the individual defensive Casts distributed. Remember, this is to preserve the integrity of the house system and prevent the actions of any outside source from upsetting the balance of the realm.”

“That’s nonsense!” Charles said, “Never once have the defensive Casts been activated after the day of the incidence. And if you had truly cared about the integrity of the house system and the balance of the realm, you would have brought this matter during the greater meeting with all of the houses.”

“You know how this realm works.” The moderator who’s coincidentally a member of the House of Konig said, “The strong are the ones in charge. That’s the true nature of the system supported by the people of this realm. And thus, I propose a weighted modification of Angolia’s original proposal.”

“What?!” The head of Angolia looked towards the moderator who sat back as a projection Cast was lit up in the middle of the room, “The House of Konig retains half of the share of the defensive Casts while each lower-ranked house obtains incrementally less and less defensive Casts…This is nonsense!”

“Do not forget who’s house you are in.” The moderator reminded, “Do not forget our grace as you take your next breath. Now, as impressive as you are, House of Fisher, in this new deal, you will end up in control of more defensive Casts than what you currently have.”

“With the exception that there are nine other houses more powerful than us.” Charles clenched his fist as Rache suddenly stood up behind him.

“Oh, looks like someone in your house is excited about the proposition.” The moderator raised his eyebrows as Rote stepped forward and placed a hand on Rache’s shoulders.

“My parents died for this, and you are just taking advantage of the aftermath as if you are trading properties in the countryside?!” Rache said, pointing a finger at the man sitting at the high table.

“Quiet!” Charles hushed quickly but Rache pushed past him.

“You don’t want to lose your best fighter in the tournament,” Rache said, his voice cold and decisive as Charles bit his lips and glared at Rote who stood right behind Rache.

“You know nothing of the workings of this realm, boy.” The moderator said, “What had happened that day at Costa city was truly unfortunate, but the most important of the matters is that these game-changing defensive Casts had suddenly arisen all throughout the realm, and to ensure the balance of power and peace in this realm, we must come to an agreement with this weapon as soon as possible.”

“I agree, dear representative of House of Konig,” Rote said, squeezing Rache’s hand briefly before stepping in front of him with his hands outreached to the side, “May I speak?”

“Who are you speaking on behalf of? PORA, or the House of Fisher?” The moderator asked. The crowd started a low murmur as Rote was put on the spot. Though PORA was recognized in a handful of countries in the Western continent, here in the east, most thought of PORA as an underground organization, especially within the high human circles of the Ethereal realm.

If Rote answered that he was speaking on behalf of PORA, then that immediately lowered the level of credibility and respect in front of the other houses as they simply do not consider PORA to be any more than an opportunistic organization during a time of change.

However, if he answered that he was speaking on behalf of the House of Fisher, it would have undermined the entirety of the Fisher family altogether as he is merely an outsider without Fisher blood.

Either way, it’s a lose-lose scenario for Rote.

“I speak on behalf of the entirety of the Ethereal realm,” Rote said as the moderator’s eyebrows raised before the laughter of the representatives echoed through the entirety of the main hall.

“You are mistaken, PORA’s pawn.” The moderator scorned, “The Ethereal realm can speak for itself, and it has been for the past thousand years!”

“No.” Rote shook his head, “I speak for the future of the realm. PORA knows of the methods to activate any and all of the country-level defensive Casts within this realm. Thanks to the very nature of your realm ever since the end of the War of the Third Millenium, this realm is the only place where only two pieces of the activation criteria are required. You know why those defensive Casts remain dormant until this day?”

“Why?”

“Because we allow it so.” Rote said as the main hall suddenly became deathly quiet, “Because we allow you to exist in peace. Because we recognize the culture you all share. Because we want to do this the right way. But don’t mistake our kindness for cowardice.”

“Pick your next words very carefully.” The moderator leaned forward, “A portion of House Konig’s forces can flatten the whole of Costa!”

“And a single defensive Cast can flatten this mansion.” Rote smirked, “Consider this an ultimatum. Accept the deal that was proposed by Charles Fisher, or watch this matter be discussed when all forty houses are present, and risk outbreak of total war in this realm.”

At that moment, the entire main hall erupted.