Ilupeju was yet another kingdom which shared another border with Ifa-ile. Definitely, the battles between Ifa-ile and Efon was that kind that every kingdom had heard about even in a short period.
The instant the battle was over, the news spread to every neighboring village for the victory which Ifa-ile had in just a single day as the mighty Efon which had never been defeated, collapsed flat in the pit of disgrace.
Definitely, every King remained surprised as the question they asked themselves was how. How were they able to defeat the armies of Efon with their god, their magic, numbers and their strategic location?
This reason had Ilpeju braced herself with the determination not to war with Ifa-ile lest, get slain by the sword of their brutality.
For Efon to have been defeated by Ifa-ile in just a single battle persisted in their mindset as this became the factor to which in an instant, every Kingdom as every Kingdom remained scared of Ifa-ile.
With this, the King of Ilupeju had severely thought about the way to which he must solidify a relationship with Ifa-ile as for his entire days, he was determined not to step on the toes of Osabiegun.
Ilupeju was a Kingdom with yet a similar tradition with Ifa-ile to which they speak the same language and their topography ensuring them to dress in an almost the same fashion.
While in Ifa-ile the villagers were always dressed in their attire sowed with cotton, the villagers of Ilupeju also took immense pride in their attire, for which they were well-known for.
Their clothing materials traditionally come from processed cotton by traditional weavers. They in this sense believed that the type of clothes worn by a man depicts his personality and social status, and that different occasions require different clothing outfits.
As according to their culture, the villagers of Ilupeju were very industrious and have a very wide range of materials used to make clothing, the most basic being the Aṣo-Oke, which is a hand loomed cloth of different patterns and colors sewn into various styles came in very many colors and patterns.
In the same likeness as Ifa-ile, Ilupeju had their shoes as a symbol of status and only the elite are able to wear them.
Due to the warmer climates of Ilupeju, they preferred not to wear shoes, and had always preferred bare feet. In the same vein their elites preferred sandals unless for official purposes like ceremonial functions.
But this reason had not stopped the villagers of Ilupeju from making their shoes as a profession as the elites would always patronize them. They even sell to people outside the village of Ilupeju where people from diaspora of the world would come to buy their handy made shoes.
Their shoes were always made from traditional materials such were: leather, rawhide and wood.
With only this reason Ilupeju became one of the richest kingdoms and became a central place for trade activities as clothes, shoes and even beads can be easily gotten in their Kingdom.
Their King, Eleburu, was always the most stylish King that could be seen. Not only was he always seen with his beaded crown, his attire had always been designed in the pattern to which he will always describe.
In this sense, he had his royal weavers who weave his clothes specially for him as according to his taste. Surely, Eleburu was a King who did not treat his subjects with hardness. Even so, his gentleness like a cat should not be taken for granted, was the words of all his subjects.
He was yet a type of King who spent lavishly and even traded with Kingdoms of other cultures and languages for their gold and silver to which he always wore together with his traditional beads around his necks and even around his fingers.
His shoes had not been left out as he was the only personality in the whole of Ilupeju with a leather half shoe which remained a taboo for anyone else to buy or wear for anything or to any occasion.
In ceremonies that encompassed the Kings from different villages, Eleburu had always stood out in uniqueness as this was the reason even most kings had always wanted to war with Ilupeju and rule over their territory.
But that had always not been possible for any king to have done as Eleburu was a King who never believed in war but peace.
According to his words, gifts and friendship solidifies a relationship to which would eschew a battle or war.
Definitely, the chiefs of Ilupeju had not been any different to their King as they always appeared in the colorful design with the help of another set royal weavers who specially weave their own particular dress.
In Ilupeju, just as similar to Ifa-ile, the criteria to become a member of the palace as a chief was always hereditary as a noble will always remain a noble and a commoner can only become rich and not a chief.
With this had the chiefs always recognized with the beads cropped around their necks and wrist. Their dashing clothes with the unusual material are more colorful and beautiful than what any commoner of Ilupeju can wear.
Just like the material for making the King's attire remained a taboo for the chiefs or the villagers in making their own clothes, the attire for the chiefs was also a taboo and any villagers who dared the spite of a snake shall witness how sweet its poison were.
Contrary to Ifa-ile which had different lesser gods and a supreme God, Ilupeju had only a common god to which they all worshiped.
According to the tradition of Ilupeju and to which Eleburu had Carefully followed the steps of his fathers to stay steer of war, Ilupeju worshiped the moon; the god of light as they always called it.
With their solid belief in light, Ilupeju had no military and yet no wall to prevent their kingdom from attacks.
What they always have was their god and their hands of friendship which had always worked for them as this was the main reason Eleburu just as his ancestors would quickly take first his hand, stretched for a friendship with any hostile Kingdom.
And even when a kingdom was committed to war with Ilupeju, Eleburu offered such a kingdom enough gold and silver to which will eventually solidify a friendship.
In this vein, some kingdoms even though they were far away, established a form of an unconscious alliance with Ilupeju as according to them, going to war with Ilupeju meant going to war with them as no kingdom would be allowed to draw to close their own economic benefit.
Definitely, Eleburu was a King who did not give birth to a prince but princesses. He had four princesses and to which he was satisfied.
On the contrary to the culture of Ifa-ile, Ilupeju can be ruled by a Queen which would easily mean that one of the princesses of Eleburu was certainly the next Queen but yet a clause to which she must not marry a King and most always dress like a King.
With only this will her identity be changed and as a King she will always be regarded.
A rose will always be distinguished among the rest of the flowers and such was the princesses of Ilupeju who were easily spotted among the women of Ilupeju.
As the culture entails, the women of Ilupeju will only tie a layer of their attire around their breast to which their stomach was left in the open and another layer around their waist as they walk barefoot.
The princesses of Ilupeju had always been seen in their beads sitting on their heads like a crown in a bird pattern and yet, cropped around their necks as a symbol of royalty, and around their wrist and ankle.
Their waist was not also left out as they cropped more and a bead around it to which as they moved, the beads drags up and down alongside their buttocks complimenting even their beauty.
And so were also their shoes, in this sense were fashioned in slippers but leather which would never tear and among all the women in the land, the princesses were the only one who could wear this shoe.
Definitely, in Ilupeju, the beauty of a woman was important but how hardworking a woman was overruled her beauty as they culture foretold that any woman lazy will definitely produce an offspring who is as lazy as she.
For only this reason will the men of Ilupeju look for a wife not based on what was written on her face but how much work she can do as land remained the source of their wealth.
In this way, was it unfolded that cloth and shoe making was not the only profession the people of Ilupeju would do as most of the people also Inherited lands from their forefathers and planted enough yams to feed their own family.
But even as each man of Ilupeju inherited his land from his own forefathers, It was well stretched that the King owns every property thus, have the right to withheld the ownership of any land or restrict a person from harvesting from his own farm.