Suddenly, a voice from the entrance of the Banquet Hall echoed throughout.
"What?" Emperor Kaiser Ethren stood up in shock as he lost his bearings. His eyes looked as if it had been instilled with alarm and a little bit of fear!
Empress Iona Ethren, the Princes, and Princesses others too revealed similar looks of disbelief and nervousness.
Only Alexi Ethren looked calm but he held a similar interest in the entourage as he looked back.
’The rulers of this territory...’
This sentence echoed in every mind present in the Banquet Hall, giving birth to a silent atmosphere, vastly different from the sumptuous and noisy atmosphere which had been present before.
In the distance, seven members who were dressed in luxurious robes flew over to the seat of honor without any haste. Their feet were not touching the ground, disrespecting the person of honor for this occasion, which is none other than the Ethren Emperor.
However, no person, no guards dared to reprimand them as they all let them pass without giving them a headache.
Emperor Kaiser Ethren’s eyes shook as he wondered why the Alstreim Family sent envoys, especially at this time.
’Could it be that they’re here to congratulate on my nine hundred and fiftieth birthday?’
Even he didn’t believe in his own thoughts.
While he was busy thinking about all the reasons, they quickly neared him.
Emperor Kaiser Ethren hurriedly flew forward once he came out of his reverie and landed on the red carpet. He clasped his hand while slightly bowing, "My Ethren Empire welcomes the envoys from the Alstreim Family!"
From the seven-member group, one of them flew forward clasped his hands back, "Congratulations on your nine hundred and fiftieth birthday, Emperor Kaiser!"
He had a mustache and a relevant facial feature that made him look rather stern, but if he were to remove his facial hair, then he might appear to be like a young master instead.
Emperor Kaiser Ethren smiled like an obedient grandchild and nodded his head. He then acted as if he were confused since he couldn’t recognize the person, "We haven’t been informed of a visit from the Alstreim Family. Is something wrong? Or have we done any mistakes?"
"No..." The man shook his head and took out a grand emerald token plate which had the symbol of the Alstreim Family.
"Let me introduce myself first! My name is Havle Alstreim." He grinned, "I’m the newly appointed envoy who takes care of your Ethren Empire."
His face then expressed some ounces of pity, "As for the previous envoy, he, unfortunately, died while hunting a Magical Beast."
"H-hunting a Magical Beast!?" Emperor Kaiser became taken aback.
The envoy he had known was at the Peak-Level of Eighth Stage! Peak-Level Law Sea Stage!
To kill an expert of that level, wouldn’t the Magical Beast have to be a monster of equal level or more?
He sucked in a cold amount of breath and bowed, "My condolences..."
As the Ethren Emperor, he was just at Mid-Level Law Sea Stage. Along with him, there were only a few more Royal Protectors who were at the Mid-Level Law Sea Stage.
In no way could they even fight back against that single envoy. In fact, he had given one of his daughter’s as a gift to the envoy. Perhaps, her life was ruined now but he didn’t care.
After all, he was told to forget about his daughter after that matter, and he didn’t dare bring that matter up to the Alstreim Family either.
Envoy Havle Alstreim nodded his head.
"Seems like we came rather at a felicitous time. I’ll conduct the inspection on the revenue of the Ethren Empire later then..." He casually laughed and pointed to his back.
Three other men stepped forward. They had blonde hair and purple eyes. In fact, all seven members have blonde hair and purple eyes.
"These three are my subordinates, and they would be helping me to look after the sources of revenue. Ready them separate accommodations each, as well as another one for my family in the back."
Emperor Kaiser Ethren’s heart momentarily stopped.
The moment he heard the word inspection, his mind blew up in a mess!
He had precisely gifted his daughter and promised other benefits to the previous envoy, purely for the purpose of falsifying the sources of revenue.
With this, the tax they would have to pay to the Alstreim Family would be considerably lessened!
But now, an envoy had arrived and told him that he was going to scrutinize the sources of revenue? He suddenly felt as if his birthday had turned into a nightmare!
"Emperor Kaiser?" Envoy Havle Alstreim prompted.
Emperor Kaiser Ethren came out of his reverie and hurriedly nodded his head, "Yes, yes, accommodations in the Royal Palace will definitely be prepared..."
Envoy Havle Alstreim smiled and moved away, not willing to take part in the banquet.
Emperor Kaiser Ethren didn’t dare to suggest otherwise either. He hurriedly called one of his daughters, a princess, and told her to personally prepare accommodations for them, his mind intently working on how to curry favor with them, just as he did with the previous envoy.
While the seven members were flying out of the Banquet Hall, one of them looked around in interest and curiosity. This person looked like a teenage girl.
Her looks were sweet and adorable, and the way she flew had a refined feeling to it. She looked no more than twelve years old and her developing figure had everyone looking at her in curiosity, wondering who this young lady was and how this little beauty would grow up to be...
They further wondered if she would grow up to be like the woman beside her since they seemed to be of the same mold!
The teenage girl turned to look towards one of the two female members in the group including herself, "Mother, I want to sightsee..."
"Tia, be a good girl and come with us. I am rather tired of this journey." The female member who was called mother by the teenage girl sighed.
Tia Alstreim adorably pursed her lips and looked towards a man as she shouted with an aggrieved expression on her face, "Father!"
"Now, now, don’t be sad. Father will take you to sightsee!" The man chuckled and looked at the female member who was called mother, "Lia, go take rest. I’ll take care of our daughter."
He moved his hand towards her placed his palm over the abdomen.
Lia became rather shy as she imperceptibly nodded her head while a red hue crept over her cheeks.
Towards the side, Envoy Havle Alstreim looked at his daughter and son-in-law. His eyes flashed as hee imperceptibly nodded his head with satisfaction.
After exiting the Banquet Hall, five members of the Alstreim Family returned to the accommodations while following the princess. The other two who decided to sightsee were left behind.
"Then? Where do you want to go?" The man asked his daughter.
"Everywhere!" Tia extended her hands and drew an arc.
The man awkwardly laughed before he shuffled her hair, "You cute little! We’ll start with the second level and come back here before returning to our accommodation, sounds good?"
"Mhm!" Tia nodded her head as she closed her eyes, feeling satisfied.
======
Claire’s legs gave in as she felt weak. She couldn’t believe the images projected over the projection formation to the public. Her eyes fell over the seven-member group of the Alstreim Family, especially on a single man.
He looked suave and handsome. His purple eyes were a little sharp but his facial features were calm, giving a sense of peace to others. His hair seemed blonde in color, hovering over his shoulders accentuating his golden-black robed figure.
"... Father..." Claire dumbfoundedly muttered as she saw that man who resembled her uncle Daniuis a bit.
A/N:
It seems that people don’t bother reading author’s note. I’ve been posting that I got sick for a week by now. Not only is it me but my whole family is sick. My elder sibling has it worse, and we got tested him for covid-19 two times. The second test turned out to be postive and my whole family, including me is now compromised. So yeah, I probably got covid-19 as well. Hence, I will try my best to schedule chapters for the upcoming seven days...
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