The Farewell Banquet was a small gathering of the local nobles, upper clergy, and heroes. After bidding farewell to Thron, I managed to arrive early and secured a seat in the far corner with my back to the wall. Levin and Grace were already there, but they hardly spared me a glance before returning to their conversation.
As more guests filtered in, I idly grabbed my staff from the air, laying it across my lap and running my hands over the fluted shaft. The strange connection I had with it was intact, but no more noticeable than the subtle tug I felt toward Soltair. Although I'd never used it, I could sense a dormant power locked away in the star-shaped crystal, its mere presence exciting the mana within me.
