Vivena pondered the design of the flying platforms. They were crude, uncomfortable and weren’t built for long distances. Even flying between the grove and the rifts hadn’t been an unpleasant experience. It was odd because everything else she’d seen in the grove where the First Tribe lived saw a high attention to detail and an excellent craftsmanship.

Why were the flying platforms different? Why not add wings and rift materials to decrease mana cost of steering them? Even non-rift materials would make a world of difference.

Proper seats would be welcomed—

She blinked, realising what she was doing. She was trying to distract herself from thinking about Keynes and the race. With a near a hundred percent certainty, Vivena expected the Capital to play dirty. Her grandfather would have never let go of such an opportunity like the only Level 3 rift in the world. Other Old Blood families would’ve done the same. If it benefited them, they’d play dirty.

Based on what the chief had told Vivena and Keynes, the Capital seemed to have a change of heart. And it was a change for the worse. The Capital had to be aware that their win could lead to bloodbath. If they knew this and didn’t back off from the race, it was easy to figure out what kind of people they were.

Even if Keynes prevailed and won the race as the chief wanted, he’d step on the royal’s toes. Whoever these royals were, they’d managed to get the World Government to build a wall around the continent to keep the people out of it. Her mother’s training kicked in and she grew truly wary of what was awaiting in the Capital. The tribesmen didn’t seem to know who she was but she had no illusion about keeping her identity hidden from the royals. They’d know.

Instinctively, Vivena looked up, finding Keynes flying far above them. The tribesmen kept their flying platforms no higher than thirty metres above the trees. Seeing him fly, naturally made her jealous. He seemed so free. If only he hadn’t agreed to this idiocy.

There was nothing else she could do to make him change his mind short of overpowering and taking him away, or bringing Wagner here.

Both ideas had dire consequences. Keynes might be a Level beneath here, but she’d seen how strong and capable he was. She might be able to kill him but overpowering without her Talent was impossible.

On the other hand, Wagner’s presence here could pretty much start a war. So, both options were a big no.

But I have to do something. If only Keynes wanted to see the truth… Isako, do you have anything new?

Her spiritual companion appeared next to Vivena’s head.

Nothing new, my lady.

Just let me know if you hear them talk about the race, the Capital or Keynes, right?

I will, my lady, Isako replied and vanished.

***

Over the week of their travel, they hadn’t seen nothing but the endless jungle and an occasional savannah. During one of their three breaks, Vivena had learned that other tribes’ villages looked nothing like the First Tribe’s grove. It was a matter of a chief’s Talent.

That was partly why she hadn’t seen a single village on their way to the Capital or any signs of civilization until they were a day from the Capital.

At first, they encountered hunters decimating a horde of rift monsters on a savannah. They didn’t stop.

And then things started to change rapidly. Villages, small towns and roads popped up everywhere. Vivena saw cows, goats, fields and plantations. It looked like the Capital needed a lot of food.

But she didn’t like what she saw. There was no machinery, huts looked crude and makeshift. Something about the Capital irked her. Chief Bonolo looked out for his people. Their treehouses were well-made with comfortable interiors and a sense of well-being. She didn’t get that feeling from the buildings they passed.

Something popped up in the distance and grew to an unbelievable size as they got closer. It was a gigantic arch made out of stone and overgrown with vegetation. On its flat top stood armoured people, waving to their flying platforms.

It must be a routine procedure as the three pilots landed on the arch without hesitation. Chief Bonolo stepped off his flying platform and showed the soldiers something Vivena couldn’t see from her seat. The soldiers bowed and soon their journey was resumed.

As they left the arch behind, Vivena couldn’t help but stare at the bizarre structure in an odd location. With all the people around, the jungle was scarce here but still, who had built it or where they sourced so much stone?

Suddenly, the landscape changed again. Huts became stone houses, dirt roads became paved streets, the entire feel of what was beneath them was different.

And there was a wall, and like the arch, it was overgrown. Beyond the wall was a sight hard to describe. It was a city built out of white overgrown stone. It looked like no other city in the world. In its centre was a palace which was either built on a hill or the entire structure was ridiculously tall.

It also was their destination.

Vivena was speechless seeing the sprawling city with all these massive stone buildings, wide streets, odd structures and weird monuments. While the most pressing question was: who had built it? She also wondered why everything was overgrown. She saw thousands upon thousands of people in the streets and plazas. The sky above the city was swarmed with hundreds of flying platforms and some of them looked wildly different from those owned by the First Tribe.

The three flying platforms approached a landing zone adjacent to the palace. It was easily a hundred metres wide and two hundred metres long. Dozens of people awaited them, some looked exquisitely dressed, others were soldiers. This place wasn’t as peaceful as Chief Bonolo and Haruka claimed. On top of that, Vivena couldn’t shake a feeling that she just time travelled back to ancient times. There was no technology here. The pilots landed the platforms at the edge of the landing zone.

No matter what, she was going to find out what kind of mess they were trying to pull Keynes into.

***

Chief Bonolo and Hawthorne led the way toward the gathering. Haruka and Pandora walked in the middle, while Keynes and Vivena trailed them. The pilots and the rest of their entourage had gone somewhere else. Clearly, the customs were different here from everything Vivena had understood.

She kept her attention on what was in front of them, though it wasn’t easy. The sights were breathtaking.

They stopped in a rough line, facing the awaiting group. The soldiers or guards stayed only a few metres behind and Vivena wondered about the meaning of their presence. Bringing soldiers to meet a family sounded like a stretch.

The two women stood out from the group. Vivena was quite positive that those were the same women who had visited the First Tribe over a month ago. From close, their white and gold tunics not only looked pretty but also radiated power. Isako confirmed that both were Level 3 and purely rift essence ascenders. She wasn’t able to tell anything else as something was blocking her in-depth inspection.

One of the women had fair but tanned skin and Vivena assumed she was Bill’s mother and Hawthorne’s wife. The whole idea of Hawthorne and his wife being servants of the married couple felt like a strange custom.

Chief Bonolo bowed and the rest followed the suit except for Keynes who watched the two women. Since he’d levelled up, his boldness was becoming scary. It was a massive issue as it only cemented his decision to stay in the race.

Feeling no obligation to bow, Vivena didn’t do it, wondering what kind of reaction it’d evoke.

“Husband, what’s the meaning of this?”

Chief Bonolo glanced to the side at Keynes and Vivena, then returned his gaze to his wife. She was prettier than Pandora whose ever-present scowl didn’t help, but their attitudes matched.

“We came to take part in the Covenant of Tribes,” Chief Bonolo replied, seemingly unbothered by his wife's tone.

“I can see that. But why are there two outsiders with you? Have you forgotten about the tribal law regarding outsiders and the Capital? And if you’ve come here to take part in the covenant, where is your candidate?”

She grated the last words, she was pissed and she didn’t even hide her anger.

Chief Bonolo once again showed no signs of distress. He extended his arm in Keynes’s direction.

“Keynes is my candidate.”

That revelation caught the representatives from the Capital off guard. The two women exchanged glances while the others quietly chatted behind the women’s backs.

“Walk with us, husband.”

Isako! Follow them!

***

Venarys turned around and walked away from the gathering, Aurora and Bonolo in tow. She stopped at the western edge of the landing zone, with the steep gardens of the palace in the distance. As Aurora and Bonolo joined her, she activated her item that created a privacy screen. Venarys had been aware that some stray outsiders were in the First Tribe and it wasn’t a big deal. Them coming here was.

“Explain yourself, Bonolo, and be smart about it. You have less than ten minutes before we are all summoned by my parents. And I assure you, that chat wasn’t going to be a walk in a park.” She dropped the official ‘husband’ which signified the seriousness of their predicament. If Bonolo underestimated his deed, Venarys’s parents might remind him where his place was.

“There is not much to explain, wife.” Bonolo stuck to the formality. “I cannot let the Capital win the Covenant of Tribes and only Keynes is capable of winning it, even with all the obstacles you’re going throw under his feet.”

If not for her royal training, Venarys would have lost her control here and now. It’d have been salvageable if her husband was an idiot. That sort of thing could be forgiven. Picking a fight with the Capital? That was betrayal.

Venarys wanted badly to shake her head but she forced herself to keep an expressionless face and neutral pose. There were many eyes on them right now.

“Why have you done this, Bonolo?” she asked. “I made it clear that the Capital must win.”

“The Capital winning the race will start a war between the tribes. They will question your position among us. You meant to be neutral, wife, not one of us. I cannot allow this to happen.”

It was becoming increasingly harder to remain calm. She looked to her retainer.

“Go, take our guests to their rooms.”

“Can I…?”

Venarys sighed. Aurora didn’t need more than that. She showed Venarys her pearly white teeth in a mischievous but fleeting smile and left the husband and wife.

“If you openly tell this to my parents’ faces, they will kill you.”

Bonolo shook his head. His calm attitude worried Venarys. Was this the effect of the magical mushrooms they used to train their Mind attribute? There were reports that not every tribe was successful or lucky with the mushrooms and many tribesmen developed mental disorders. Could this be it? Hopefully, it’d make my parents think twice about sentencing this fool to death.

“I don’t think they will go that far, wife.” Always formal.

“What makes you think that?”

Bonolo gave her a hard stare, then a visible change crossed his face.

“It’s the boy. Keynes. He can open the hidden doors inside the rifts.”

“What do you mean?” Venarys wasn’t sure she heard her husband correctly. Since they’d discovered the hidden doors inside the Level 2 rifts, they didn’t manage to open a single one of them and they tried everything.

“You heard me. I mean exactly what you have on your mind.”

Venarys failed for the first time in years to remain composed. An ability to open the hidden doors? A Talent perhaps. She’d need to have a serious talk with her spies. This should’ve been reported to her right away.

“How?”

“Hawthorne and I believe it’s a Talent.”

“What’s inside?”

“It seems to be desire-oriented loot. Hawthorne got many taming-related skills, techniques and items. Bill, on the other hand, received rewards related to cooking. He completely bypassed the ritual of purification thanks to his cooking technique.”

Desire-oriented loot? It sounded too good to be true. But would Bonolo lie to her? It was unlikely. He’d hide information if it benefited him, sure, but lying? No.

Is the desire-oriented loot possible? She asked her spiritual companion.

It is.

There were many questions she had but most would have to wait. They needed to take care of business first.

“I don’t imagine that boy would agree to this agenda of yours.”

“He won’t. He’s rather greedy.”

“It won’t work, Bonolo,” Venarys admitted quietly. “Sharing isn’t my parents’ strongest virtue.”

Despite her words, he didn’t look worried. What have you cooked up, Bonolo? I badly need spies closer to him. That grove of his is already causing problems here in the Capital. Her parents didn’t like the First Tribe’s rise in power and she meant to be responsible for mitigating her husband’s growing influence.

“Hawthorne and I gave it a lot of thought,” Bonolo said, not looking at her. “Initially, we hadn’t considered it because we didn’t have the means but after your visit, Hawthorne came up with this idea…”

Venarys heard him out and agreed that the idea had some merit. But it all relied on one thing: the outsider girl. What if his feelings weren’t as strong as Bonolo and Hawthrone believed? The boy would flee leaving her behind. And to make things worse, he had a [Flight] skill.

“Is Pandora and Haruka on board?”

“No,” Bonolo shook his head. “And I would be hesitant to involve them in this. They may object to the idea. There is some friendship between our children and the outsiders.”

“Fine. Your idea isn’t as bad as I feared, husband,” she returned to the formal way of addressing him. “But we aren’t out of woods yet. You must convince my parents to not kill you and take the boy for themselves.”

The possibility that they’d find Bonolo’s role in this unnecessary was real. He admitted himself that the First Tribe didn’t have the means to make this plan work. Bonolo needed the Capital. Did the Capital need him?

A messenger appeared on the landing zone, coming their way. Soon, they’d know the answer to her question. They were being summoned to meet her parents.