Laochyro was as festive as the first day of the month of the summit. The merged voices from everyone's chatter drowned the songs of bards. More people from all over Nusterra have come to the city to watch the summit games that will be held at the World Academy's stadium. The World Academy's grounds are a fourth of the entire city. It comprises many buildings for many purposes. It also has branches in other cities of Decatris.
Once the group landed at the port of Laochyro, Anastasia parted with them for a bit and said that she'd meet them again when the summit games started.
The streets of Laochyro were considered the widest in all of Nusterra, but the amount of people made that fact seem untrue. Aeneas and the others needed to scoot over waves of people to reach the grounds of the World Academy. After entering one of the big gates at the area near the stadium, a long line awaits them. Then, a facilitator in front was asking all the people in line one by one.
"Are you a participant?"
When the facilitator reached Arsen, lord Caspius showed him the certification that he was one of the participants representing Pantera. The facilitator smiled and asked a colleague to assist Arsen and the people he was with inside the stadium. They rode engine-powered vehicles towards the stadium. Similar to the airboats, the engines in these vehicles were made from both mechanical and magical materials. Laochyro mostly uses such vehicles for transportation, although there are still some who use carriages pulled by harions. People had come to refer to these engine-powered vehicles as magic carriages.
Once near the stadium, the facilitator led them to a huge building and said that it would be their residence for their stay at Decatris. It was as big as the main residence of the Caspius manor but was with many rooms. He also said that they were free to find their place to stay in the city if they wanted to, but he mentioned that with the number of people coming from all of Nusterra, it would be hard for them to find places that are still vacant.
After the facilitator left, Tiriara and Neoma stared at each other with grins on their faces. They both rushed towards the rooms to check them. Lyra asked her youngest son to look after them.
"Is it fine with you to stay with us, my lord?" Lyra asked, looking at Nireus.
"Of course, I didn't have an invitation anyway. And I don't think we could find another place to stay," Nireus paused, "Ah, we could look for a different place to stay if we're being a bother," he continued.
Lyra smiled, "You jest, my lord. We love your family's company," she replied.
Nireus also smiled, "I see. We do as well."
After choosing each room for themselves and settling in their temporary residence, someone knocked on their door. Kyra sat there in case someone visited them. When she opened it, two familiar faces greeted them. One has long blond hair tied in a ponytail, blue eyes, and as tall as Tereus. While the other one has handsome features, long golden hair, and red eyes.
It was Mnesus Dimilis and Azeus Aurusmane. They were the two remaining representatives for the summit games to which all participants must be between the ages of twenty to thirty. The Panteran process of choosing participants for the summit games was to let the warriors the higher-ups suggested fight in a free-for-all match. Arsen, Azeus, and Mnesus were the last three to survive. In the end, Arsen was the last man standing, earning him the right to be the team's captain.
Arsen greeted them with the Panteran bow and a smile, to which both reciprocated but only Azeus smiled back. Both Mnesus and Azeus reside in the two houses near Arsen, and they see them arrive.
When they saw Nireus inside the same residence, they offered him a warmer greeting paired with the Panteran bow.
Then, the others left the three to speak about their upcoming summit games. Although Mnesus still harbors envy and prejudice towards Arsen since the thought of not being captain even though he was the oldest shames him, he couldn't argue the fact that Arsen won the free-for-all bout with a clear and unquestionable victory. Meanwhile, Azeus also feels a little bit shameful being under someone younger, but he is someone who recognizes a person's might first before anything else.
Since the opening of the summit games won't happen till a couple more hours, Tiriara begged her father to allow them to venture to the city of Laochyro. After a while, Nireus croaked but only with Konon accompanying them. In the end, Nireus and the three participants of the summit games were the only ones left behind.
While walking the busy streets, Tiriara kept on pointing at something and telling both Neoma and Aeneas to also look. The three of them were fascinated each time someone from a faraway kingdom passed by. One of them was a group from the kingdom of Meena. It was a kingdom home for people with a smooth brown complexion which was rare to see in eastern kingdoms like Pantera or Aakdan. They were even fascinated by someone in the same group having a much darker complexion.
Another group was from the kingdom of Semperio, the northwesternmost kingdom always blanketed by cold and snow. All members of the group were light-skinned. They wore thick furry clothes making some of them drenched in sweat.
But the most memorable ones for Aeneas, Tiriara, and Neoma, were the people from the kingdom of Nesmos. A neighboring kingdom only south of Decatris. Especially those that bear the Fair Maiden's Zeal. People would give way each time one would pass by. If it was a woman, single men would stop and stare till she was out of sight while those with lovers would steal glimpses and be smacked when caught. When the bearer of the Fair Maiden's Zeal was a man, women would stare, whisper with each other, and giggle.
Some say that it was the ultimate Zeal since aside from its powers, the bearer would ultimately become one of the greatest-looking humans in all of Nusterra.
Tiriara caught Konon staring at a Nesmosian lady passing by. She was curious to know if the boy would also be doing the same. When she turned to him, the girl caught Aeneas taking glimpses and stared forward when he realized that she was observing him.
"I guess she's really pretty," Tiriara muttered.
Konon scratched his head and smiled weirdly, "She was," he said. When Lyra, Theresa, and Kyra heard Konon, they began teasing him, telling the knight to ask the Nesmosian lady on a date. Eluard was walking beside him, laughing at the knight being tortured by the three ladies with embarrassing words. Meanwhile, Lois was telling her mother to tone down her voice a bit because it was too loud.
The three kids were walking in the front. Tiriara laughed and pointed at Konon before going back to Aeneas, "What do you think, Aenie?" she said.
Neoma was also staring at the boy when he replied, "Of course she is, she bears the Fair Maiden's Zeal."
Tiriara smiled, "Who's prettier, me or her?" She asked.
Aeneas's brows furrowed, "Is that even a question?"
Expecting that Aeneas would say it was her, Tiriara's smile became wider.
"Of course she is. You look like a baby grumalla when compared to her," the boy said paired with chuckles. While Neoma couldn't also help but smile even though she was always on Tiriara's side whenever the two quarreled.
Slowly, Tiriara's smile vanished. Her Zeal glowed and she hit Aeneas in the head with her knuckles. It was quick enough, rendering Aeneas unable to dodge. Lois was surprised, but Lyra and the others said that it was normal and to just let them.
After grunting in pain, "What? I merely spoke the truth," Aeneas said.
Tiriara was still glaring at him so the boy apologized and said that she wasn't that far off from the Nesmosian lady who was still more beautiful because of her Zeal. With that, Tiriara smiled and told Aeneas to be more honest. In response, the boy looked away and sighed.
After walking for minutes, Lois asked them if they wanted to look at her place since they were near. Tiriara and Neoma were ecstatic. Once they entered the opened World Academy gate, Aeneas noticed an old man sitting on the ground just behind the gate. His disheveled hair and beard were long and pure white, and his clothes were tattered. What caught Aeneas's attention was his right eye. It has a huge ugly scar around it. The eye patch on top doesn't seem to be of any help in hiding it.
The boy felt bad for him. Then, his empathy disappeared when he saw the old man with a luscious smile and realized that it was because he was ogling a woman with an appealing bosom walking in front of him.
"What a pervert," Aeneas thought as he shook his head.
But, when Aeneas took another glance in his direction, the old man was looking back at him with a serious and paralyzing stare.