Chapter 283: Assembly

It seemed that it was actually quite unusual for the King to call out all the members of the Kingsblade like this, and it was even more so for the cadets to join the assembly.

Layla could see it clearly from the expressions on the faces of the other Kingsblade cadets. It was apparent that a lot of them had never even been in the same room as the famous King Callan of Arcadia.

All fifty cadets in their identical white uniforms approached the grand assembly room trying their best to look confident in the King's presence, but as soon as they entered the room, they realized that there were also others who were also summoned apart from them, all waiting for the King's arrival.

Layla, as someone who had been staying in the capital city for approximately five months now, got the chance to know about some of these present famous figures, although it was just their names.

The group of knights in full plate armor were the Arcadian Knights. Each of them was gathered from the best town guards from all the other cities, and every one of them was a combatant at least comparable to a silver adventurer. As a whole, they had been rigorously trained to fight within the cavalry.

Looking at these knights somehow reminded Layla about Barry, the Erantell captain who had always dreamt to join the knights. 

The second group in light armor and purple robes were the Arcadian Mages. These magicians were selected from the list of magicians who graduated from the magic academy, the place Layla studied before she joined the Kingsblade. They were in charge of managing the town's mage guild, led by Tobias, the grand wizard himself.

Even among these two groups, the Kingsblade was still considered the most elite out of them. After Layla and the other cadets arrived and took a spot in the hall following the lead of Commander Cecilia, the actual members of the Kingsblade began entering one by one.

Each squad of the Kingsblade had ten to twelve members, and each was led by a captain. There were a total of ten squads, and among those ten squads, squad one to squad three were led by a commander. Squad two was led by Commander Cecilia, and another one was the group that just came in. It was the third squad led by Vain, the Night Owl.

Amongst the members of the third squad, Layla recognized three of the newest members: Elyon, Alanis, and Sindur. They were the three Vanyar Elves who also recently joined the Kingsblade. But unlike Layla, who could be said to be the weakest one among the cadets of the Kingsblade, those three were undoubtedly top cadets. In less than a week, they were able to successfully be accepted to the prestigious third squad under Commander Vain.

The third squad came together with the fifth squad and the seventh squad, the squad that saved Layla from the Barbarian's attacks, the squad led by Captain Reyna.

It appeared that the grand assembly room was already full, and all of the people present were very important Arcadians. Those who were not present at the moment despite being important enough to be summoned were either sent on an important mission or were stationed in other cities, thus making them unable to attend. Even so, it did not matter all that much as more than half of Arcadia's top fighters were gathered in this one place.

Layla was still enjoying observing the crowd when the three elves approached her out of nowhere.

"What is it this time, Sindur!?" Layla asked in annoyance. It really seemed that Sindur, this elf, really seemed to like to cause trouble for her!

"Ah, I'm just surprised to see that you're still here, little girl."

"What's that supposed to mean!? You ugly elf!"

Sindur found the sudden insult to be slightly upsetting, but he only continued to smile before saying, "Yes, I heard from a message that your brother, the mighty blood elf, is making trouble in the south?"

Hearing his brother mentioned that way, Layla couldn't help but ask, "What happened? Tell me!"

Compared to when she first asked Sindur in annoyance, her speaking pace this time was noticeably faster, clearly showing how worried she was.

"Ah, you poor little girl. I heard that the king himself had to personally come to take care of the problem. I assume that he came today with some news of your brother… you know… some news of his death! Hahaha!"

"You're messing with me, aren't you!? There's no way I'm going to believe that! Especially when it's from your mouth!"

"It's true though, I heard it from the commander himself. If you still don't believe me, you can ask my two honest friends here, they'll tell you about it," Sindur said while pointing at his two friends, Elyon and Alanis.

Layla glanced at the other two elves. The elf girl comfortingly said, "It's all right, Layla, I am sure that your brother is fine. You shouldn't worry too much."

Hearing her comforting words only made Sindur burst out laughing once more. "After what he did? Absolutely no way! Suits him for taking my princess from me!"

Before anyone could say any more, a voice announcing the king's arrival resounded. Everyone present promptly stood in line to welcome their king. First, they could see the Grand Wizard Tobias walking in with solemn steps. Second, out of everyone's expectations, they could see a large orc walking into the grand assembly room followed by two beautiful girls. This caused the people present to be filled with surprise and confusion, but it did not last long as last but not least, Tristan, the white-haired elf, entered the grand assembly room.

Seeing her brother safe and sound, Layla was filled with happiness. She was about to scold Sindur and that dirty mouth of his when she realized that the elf was in shock as his eyes were glued in Tristan's direction. And when he finally saw Tristan taking a seat on the Arcadian throne, he was left speechless with his eyes wide open in disbelief.

"What is going on!?" Sindur definitely could not believe his eyes. He thought, no, he hoped that he was currently dreaming or hallucinating, but as if to crush that hope, the Grand Wizard stood and loudly announced in a clear voice, 

"You are now in the presence of Tristan, the new King of Arcadia!"

Amidst the crowd, Sindur looked back at the grinning Layla. He saw her looking  back at her, she made a gesture with her finger to her neck and said with a gloating smile, "You're dead now, Sindur!"