Chapter 174: A Perfect Start

The next announcement appeared.

[5th Place: Kelshore Marches. Commander Kelshore receives +20 to all attributes. All Lords of the Marches receive +5 to all attributes. Kelshore Region receives +2 Fortune.]

For a moment, the Channel went silent.

"Fifth?" Kelshore cried. "We were supposed to take first! How can we be fifth?"

His Marches and Tervain’s had been the two favorites. Both were full, wealthy, and powerful. Seeing one of them fall short lifted the Crown Lords’ spirits at once.

[Corin Alder: Weren’t you the loudest one in here a moment ago, Kelshore? What happened to first place?]

[Kelshore: You dare laugh at me? One day you’ll fall into my hands. I’ll peel your skin off and tear out your tendons. You’ll beg me to let you die!]

[Corin Alder: Keep barking. I like you much better this way.]

[Kelshore: I’ll send my army to flatten Westmere!]

Galen Tervain hurried to calm him.

[Victory and defeat are both part of war. Don’t take it so hard.]

Kelshore turned on him immediately.

[You must be delighted, Tervain. Your biggest rival is out of the way!]

Tervain frowned. He offered a little comfort, and this was the thanks he got?

Of course, he could hardly admit that Kelshore was right.

[You’re putting far too much weight on a place in the Ranking,] he replied. [Losing your composure like this brings shame on the entire Black Banner—]

[4th Place: Ashvale Marches. Commander Galen Tervain receives +20 to all attributes. All Lords of the Marches receive +5 to all attributes. Ashvale Region receives +2 Fortune.]

"Damn it!"

Tervain grabbed his hair.

"Impossible! We were supposed to take first! How can we be fourth?"

[Kelshore: Find your own words, Tervain.]

Tervain had no attention left to spare for him. He forced himself to think, his teeth clenched.

Fourth through tenth received exactly the same rewards. If all he wanted was a place in the top ten, why had he gone to such trouble? Why had he spent a fortune running the Time-Space Farm’s acceleration at full power?

How could Bharan and Coldridge be stronger?

And what was the third Marches ahead of him? Could it really be Riftward?

He stared at the list, willing the next result to appear.

——

In Riftward’s conference, everyone except Cassian was holding their breath.

They had expected so little. Now victory was close enough to touch, and suddenly they were afraid of losing it. A few minutes had never felt so long.

[3rd Place: Coldridge Marches. Commander Austin receives +30 to all attributes. All Lords of Coldridge receive +10 to all attributes. Coldridge Region receives +3 Fortune.]

In Bharan, Arun Varma smiled broadly.

"Those two were supposed to be our greatest rivals. How disappointing to see them fall out so early."

He studied the new announcement.

"Coldridge did well, though. Third place with only a few hundred thousand Lords."

"People forget our strength," Master Amar said proudly. "We may not have the Beacon League’s technology or the Crown’s ancient foundations, but we have farmers. Plenty of farmers. Naturally, we produce more farming Lords."

"This Ranking might as well have been designed for us," Varma agreed. "With first place, we can demand much better terms from the Black Banner."

[2nd Place: Bharan Marches. Commander Arun Varma receives +50 to all attributes. All Lords of Bharan receive +20 to all attributes. Bharan Region receives +5 Fortune. All other Regions in Bharan Marches receive +1 Fortune.]

His last words still seemed to hang in the air.

Both smiles froze.

——

Riftward’s conference erupted.

"Cassian, you’re incredible!"

"All right. I’m convinced. Completely convinced!"

"Didn’t you say that last time, Seraphine?"

They might be important people in other Lords’ eyes, but most were still young men and women around twenty. Riftward had won again when victory should have been impossible. How could they stay calm?

"Long live Cassian! Long live the fox!" Nessa cheered.

Tobias shuddered.

"Enough, Nessa. Please. Are you ever going to let that joke go?"

If it spread, Cassian would know exactly whom to blame.

"You could marry into a Skyfox clan," Elara told Cassian, laughing. "Then you’d count as part of the family."

"That would be another story altogether," he said.

With second place revealed, the Realm did not keep them waiting long.

[1st Place: Riftward Marches. Commander Cassian Vale receives +100 to all attributes. All Lords of Riftward Marches receive +40 to all attributes. Riftward Region receives +10 Fortune. All other Regions in Riftward Marches receive +2 Fortune.]

Gold streamed down from the sky, one shaft of light falling upon each Lord in the Marches.

The Channels went wild.

[Another forty points in every attribute!]

[Forty last time, forty now. Eighty altogether!]

[That’s eighty stars of strength. At Level 40, I can stand beside Lords with D-grade Aptitude!]

[And fewer than thirty of us get a whole Region with four Fortune. Plenty of heirs from great families don’t have a start like this!]

[A perfect start. That’s what we’ve got!]

[Imagine how the people who moved away will feel when they hear this.]

[Riftward is my home. If the Black Banner sends veterans, I’ll kill them or die trying!]

[Thirty thousand Lords? Then we’ll be thirty thousand armies. They can fight us for every inch!]

The whole Marches seemed to speak with one voice.

Some of it was the excitement of the moment, certainly. But these were people willing to fight.

Cassian closed his hand, feeling the new hundred points in every attribute, and smiled in satisfaction.

A perfect start. They were right.

The newcomer Rankings happened once. Lord Rankings, Region Rankings, Marches Rankings—miss a reward, and that chance was gone forever. No amount of power or money could bring it back.

Not even Darian, with House Frost and Edran behind him, could change that.

He could quit the sector and try again the following year. But that would mean dismissing Heroes like Maren. Once those former great Lords became Human Heroic Spirits again, who knew how many years would pass before someone summoned them?

Darian would never pay that price.

Taken to its extreme, meeting Cassian had cost him hundreds of permanent attribute points he might otherwise have won.

That was why Cassian kept taking first place, even when it meant ignoring Aveline’s repeated advice to conceal his strength.

Riftward Region’s Fortune rose from sixty-two to seventy-two.

Monsters advanced. Resources changed. The Region’s space expanded once more. At the Dwarven Royal Hall, the interval between Hill King recruits fell to ten Realm Days.

The Domain Aether Vein grew stronger too. No new effect appeared this time. Perhaps that would have to wait until a hundred Fortune.

Darian held up a Fortune Duel Writ in front of his image.

"Every Region has at least four Fortune now. Shall we start the consolidation?"

Each peaceful duel could concentrate twice as much Fortune as before.

Cassian smiled.

"There’s still another Marches Ranking. If we start now, we’ll just have to do it again afterward."

The others stared at him. He certainly wasn’t short of confidence.

"Knowing this Realm," Elara sighed, "the third Ranking will probably be combined with the struggle for the Governorship."

"I don’t want to spoil the mood," Mira said, "but Coldridge was already eyeing our Marches when we only had two Fortune in each Region. Now we have four, and barely thirty thousand Lords left to share it. Nothing like this has appeared in a hundred years. We’re bound to attract—"

"I know," Cassian said quietly. "But so what? Mediocrity doesn’t make people envious. If we’re going to fear everything, we might as well move to the Crown’s heartland now. That’s safe enough."

"Exactly!" Darian said. "If the Black Banner and Free Will want war, we’ll give them war."

Then he grinned.

"I thought Seraphine was the only one who made speeches like that."

She had been getting thoroughly fired up. His remark brought her back down at once.

"It’s called youthful spirit," she muttered. "You scheming old men wouldn’t understand."

After a few more exchanges, Mira closed the conference.

Cassian thought for a moment, then sent Elara a message.

[Open your Domain’s Gate. I’ve got something for you.]

Aside from Darian and the seven Valcrests, his friends still lacked a strong enough foundation. Ordinary Lords might find them unreachable. To Cassian, they were still too weak.

"This win has pushed the Black Banner again. From now on, their veterans could descend at any moment."