After a slew of work, Gawain finally entered the Silver Castle in the most high-profile manner possible with many people watching.
The poor had no time to care about this. The normal people were uninterested in this. The small-time merchants and city residents only had leisurely interest in this. But almost every informed noble followed this event from the beginning.
But the towering, silver castle walls blocked most of the view. The lower and middle class nobles were not allowed to enter the Silver Castle. In the early hours of the morning, the King had ordered for information channels from the higher ups be cut off. Thus, they had no choice but to watch the grand procession as it entered the castle, and at the end of it, talk about the information announced earlier that were not kept secret.
The Duke of the North, Victoria Wilder arrived at Silver Castle three days ago.
The Duke of the West, Baldwin Franklin and the Duke of the East, Silas Loland, arrived at the Silver Castle an hour ago.
Several advisors and the King's Hand entered the castle.
The gate was closed, and no one knew what was going on inside.
Was this a banquet? A secret discussion? A dispute? Or might it even be an assassination?
Countless pairs of eyes wandered as they watched the castle. Noses were twitching nervously, sniffing for hints of a scheme or opportunities. Mouths opened and closed as they spewed new ideas and rumors. Listeners were wise to not take these news as truth because no one would know what the resurrected one who died seven hundred years ago would talk about with the King.
Francis II did not host any annoying banquets, nor did he summon Gawain to the royal court. Instead, he decided that they would meet in the Oak Hall next to the meeting chamber just as Gawain had requested.
The Oak Hall was an old place. Its existence could be traced back seven hundred years ago when the foundations to the Silver Castle had just been laid. The castle then, did not look like it was covered in silver as it did now. They called it 'silver' only for the mere reason that Charlie I could not come up with a better name.
Being the oldest room in this castle which had seen countless renovations, the Oak Hall had been imbued with magic by a powerful court Druid 400 years ago to ensure that its main wooden structure could be preserved forever (in actual fact, the magic had to be recharged every hundred years).
Although the size of the Oak Hall was only one-third the size of the meeting chamber, the small and old hall was actually the most extraordinary place in the castle. Only nobles who were counts or higher-ranked could be present in this hall, and only matters of relevance to the fate of the kingdom were to be discussed here in secret.
A round oak table was placed in the middle of the hall. The King sat in the spot in the star chart which represented the 'crown'. On his right hand side sat the King's Hand, Eden. He was a middle-aged man with thinning hair and brooding eyes. On the King's right hand side sat the Duke of the North, Victoria Wilder. Further on the left and right sides respectively, were the Duke of the West, Baldwin Franklin and the Duke of the East, Silas Loland. There were also several others whose names Gawain could not be bothered to remember. And the royal advisers sat in another row of chairs behind the King.
Rebecca was the only one beside Gawain.
Amber and Sir Byron were definitely not eligible to be present here. Thus Gawain simply left them in the mansion at 4 Crown Street. He had never even thought about bringing Amber to the Silver Castle. Given how the lady bandit was so dedicated to her profession, she would definitely scrape off all the silver foil on the walls outside the castle.
Besides the King's Hand and the group of advisors, who seemed to be there to fill the numbers, the others were all descendants of the pioneers from when Anzu was founded (including the pioneer Gawain himself). This meeting was already very special before it began.
As a founding pioneer, Gawain did not need to make salutations to anyone in the hall, so he simply went to sit down in his seat. Meanwhile Rebecca was obviously a little nervous. She squeezed her fist and took several deep breaths to calm herself down, forgetting that she had to greet the King.
But no one would hold her for it in this situation. This was the benefit of coming to the meeting with her authoritative ancestor.
Since he wore a duke's attire and the Sword of Pioneers at his waist, once Gawain walked into the room, everyone cast their gazes at him. Until the living fossil sat down on the chair, those eyes continued to watch. This was not in line with the aristocrats' etiquette, but it was hard not to look. A 700-year-old person had popped out of the coffin and was walking right in front of them. How were they expected not to stare?
As they watched, many were still wondering whether Gawain was in fact as true as they heard him to be. Or perhaps they were wondering how Francis II would see it.
Just then, the old King stood across the table. He had gray hair and looked very old. But he still had an imposing manner and vigor. He led the three dukes and the other participants to rise as well.
Gawain looked at him and heard him speak solemnly. "Anzu is blessed by the gods that we have the honor of witnessing the pioneering hero who lived seven hundred years ago. We are grateful to you and your generation for your sacrifices and contributions. This land and everyone on this land will never forget the great pioneers. As the successor of the Moen clan, together with all the descendants of the pioneers, let us salute our ancient hero."
The King bowed down, and every descendant of the pioneers (including the three dukes) did the same.
Now, the King had declared that Gawain Cecil had indeed been resurrected.
With regards to the issue of whether it was appropriate for the King to bow down to the duke, there was nothing wrong with that. After all, Gawain, who died seven hundred years ago, was not just a duke here. He was a symbol. Every year, everyone here would bow to the statue of Gawain Cecil and the other pioneers several times. Now that there was an actual pioneer standing right before them, what was wrong with bowing?
But Gawain had a feeling that there was something not right. A second later, he realized it, and his expression was odd. "The last time so many people bowed to me was when I was lying in that coffin…"
Everyone: "…"
The whole atmosphere became awkward.
Fortunately, everyone here had also gone through their share of awkward situations(although this was the first of its kind). They quickly recovered from it and stood up. The King laughed, "It's only natural that the younger ones salute their elders."
Gawain laughed too. Although on the outside, he was much younger than Francis II, his tone was exactly like an elder, "Although we have quite the age gap, your expression when you make excuses is exactly the same as Charlie's back in the day."
Gawain Cecil also declared that Francis II was truly of the Moen bloodline.
With that said, Gawain and the old King smiled at each other. The King in particular heaved a breath of relief and even looked a little pleased with himself.
Everyone at the scene was very sharp (perhaps with the exception of a certain dense descendant who was so unlike her elders), and had the ability to analyze the dispositions of one's eighteen generations of ancestors from just a whiff of one's fart. Thus just the simple exchange between Gawain and Francis II was enough to inform them of the tone of the meeting, and they could also tell that the ancient duke and the King probably had already reached some common understanding beforehand.
The lady sitting on the left side of the King seemed to frown slightly, but upon taking a second look, her expression had returned to normal. As one of the three dukes, she caught Gawain's attention.
She was a woman in her thirties, as mature and beautiful as Heidi, but much more colder and aloof than Heidi. She wore a white dress, silver fox fur over her shoulders, white silk gloves, and a head of curly silver hair. She seemed like she was surrounded by ice and snow. Her ice-queen-like beauty was so eye-catching in the oak hall, a good example showing that the color white was indeed very reflective.
The left side of Francis II was brighter than his right side…
That was the current Duke of the North, Victoria Wilder. Gawain compared the information he had just drawn from the memory to the person before him. At the same time, he recalled the establishment of the Second Dynasty. It was the northern Wilder Clan that brought the bastard child into power.
But now it appeared that the descendant of the bastard child was no longer controlled by the Wilder Clan.
Noticing the 'Ice Lady' looking across at him and nodding with a serious face, probably saying hello, Gawain waved back. "You have facial paralysis just like your ancestor. I told Wilder back then to marry a lively southern girl so as to counteract that face of his, but he wouldn't listen. Now see what it did to his descendant…"
The Duke of the North twitched in the face slightly. Then Gawain looked at the Duke of the West and the Duke of the East. With what information he had from his memories, he chatted a little about things regarding their ancestors. Then he finally turned to look at the empty space between the King's Hand and the Duke of the North. There was no chair in that spot.
That was originally where the Cecils should be seated, but the chair was removed a hundred years ago. Since then, the four dukes were reduced to three, and there were no more dukes from the south of Anzu. The nobles that were directly subordinate to the royal family became the group of rulers in the south, and the Cecil Clan was pushed into the farthest corner.
Noticing how Gawain was looking at the seat, everyone, including Francis II, could not help but hold their breaths. The atmosphere seemed to become tense for a moment. Then the meeting went from friendly greetings and chats into the meeting's main segment, the part where the arguments begin.
But Gawain only gave it a brief glance before he gave a relaxed and even disdainful smile. He looked at the King across the table. "Let's get on with it. My descendant, Rebecca Cecil, will now tell you about the disaster that occurred south of the kingdom. Everyone, that is the real problem."