In the Valerius Archduchy, only a minute had passed since the three families entered the ancestral land of their ancient houses... the time difference between the two places was huge.
Seraphina, Ronald, Aleric, and Torin were talking among themselves while the other nobles enjoyed drinks and food at the stalls set up for the ceremony.
Count Arkwright had already come to Aleric to ask for forgiveness for what his daughter and son had done at the academy and in the county. Aleric reassured him that they would take no action against him or his family, as the Arkwright family had been loyal subordinates for countless years.
Torin had never seen a ceremony like this in his life. When he saw the children from Tiger Village running around joyfully with the children of the archduchy, he felt somewhat tense.
Ronald chuckled beside him, looking at Torin's tense face. "Torin! Don't worry, they'll be okay here... in this territory, even if they bump into a noble, the nobles can't take action in front of our guards."
Torin nodded when Seraphina said, "Let's see when our dear brother comes out of the ancestral land... I remember last time I was this close to passing the third test of the ancestral stone..."
Aleric chuckled too. "We all failed at the third test. Do you think Silas will pass it?"
In the crowd, Margrave Theros was drinking wine from his cup and sneered at the sky. "Hmph! These ancient families never stop showing off their power... if not for orders from higher up, I'd send those thousands of black puppets to destroy this ceremony..."
Just then the sky shook again, and Silas came out with everyone else.
But this time, when Silas stepped out, every single person from the Valerius family, the Blackwood family, or the Sylveria family felt their blood suppressed, as a power pressed down on them like a mountain.
They immediately fell to their knees — even Aleric, Seraphina, and Ronald.
Torin tried to help Aleric, but the aura pressed on him too, and he also fell to the ground.
The aura swept over the whole area, and now everyone fell to their knees, even nobles from various other houses and families.
Silas stood on the stage while the others stood beside him. Nytheira sighed, looking at everyone.
Before she could say anything, Lucian came forward and nodded at her. She gave him the stage, and Lucian's voice boomed, "This time, inside the ancestral land... something happened."
Aleric, Ronald, and Seraphina especially looked at Silas, who was standing with the utmost majesty right now... They felt immense pressure coming from him.
They all gulped. Just what happened inside the ancestral land that he changed this much?
Lucian said again, "Silas! Your dearest duke was selected by the ancestral stones of the three families. He took each test and passed them magnificently..."
Aleric, Seraphina, and Ronald were dumbfounded. They couldn't even pass the third test, while Silas had passed every family's test, and all of his results were magnificent. They focused on the speech immediately.
Lucian continued, "By the ancestral rules of our families, if a person is chosen by the three ancestral stones altogether... we should crown that person."
The soldiers gulped, while the nobles felt disbelief. Were they witnessing the founding of a new kingdom?
Aleric, Ronald, Torin, and Seraphina all looked at Silas with wonder in their eyes... they had just been talking a few moments ago about how Silas was like a king... and now he was going to be crowned.
Lucian said again, "So the ceremony will be extended. Tomorrow he will be crowned as the 'Ancient King.' And the three archduchies will become the forces of his kingdom..."
Silence — a huge silence swept over the crowd. Even the flies seemed to stop flying. The nobles gulped hard hearing the news. A king who could control three archduchies. It was unprecedented; even in ancient times it had never happened.
Theros almost ground his teeth to powder, while the imperial nobles who were independent from the three archduchies felt immense pity for the Emperor. If what the three families said was true, then the Emperor was going to face a calamity...
Lucian stepped back while Silas came forward. He looked down at everyone and sighed. "Actually, I don't know how this happened. But now I need to take the throne of a king. Although I'm receiving it in a hurry, I'll try to be a good king for my kingdom..."
A huge uproar came from the crowd below. Each and every one of them cheered out loud except those independent nobles and Theros.
Even Seraphina, Aleric, Ronald, and Torin cheered for him.
After a few seconds Silas raised his hand, and everything calmed down again. He said, looking down at everyone, "I promised my brother Aleric before that I'll change the rule of the three families..."
Aleric looked at him with utmost respect while Silas met his eyes and declared, "From this day onward, no family member of the three families will be disowned by the family... and the family members who were disowned before can come back to your respective families from now on."
A cheer rang out again, this time even the guards and soldiers cheered loudly for Silas.
Silas spoke again, and everyone stopped shouting. "And! There is a gift I prepared for you today..."
He looked down at the crowd and shouted, "Zephyr!"
Immediately a tornado formed in the middle of the crowd. People covered their eyes instinctively, but the tornado never touched a single civilian. The next second, everyone saw a Sylph holding a noble by the neck in its hand...
Everyone looked up and someone screamed, "Isn't that Margrave Theros Argentine! What is Lord Silas trying to do?"
Silas looked at Zephyr and said with a smile, "Zephyr, stop playing."
Zephyr grinned at Silas, then threw Theros to his feet. Theros, just released from Zephyr's grasp, coughed hard. "Cough... cough..."
Then he looked in front of him at Silas's boot.
He looked up and asked, still in that position, "Duke! What do you mean by this..."
Below the stage, Margrave Theros's guards had already drawn their swords from their sheaths and pointed them toward the stage. "Yes! We want to know why House Valerius did that to our lord! Did House Valerius invite us just to humiliate us... although we are under your archduchy doesn't mean we have to tolerate this..."
Before they could say anymore, Aldric was already in front of them. He unsheathed his sword so fast no one saw it move ,only the raised swords falling to the ground with a clink.
But what was terrifying was that the hands were still attached to them...
"AHHHHHHHHHH!"
The soldiers screamed and fell to the ground, clutching their wrists.
On the stage, Silas also slapped Theros's face hard enough to make his ears ring. Theros was dumbfounded.
Then Silas released his left aura ,the one he gets from using his skill. A Level 90 aura pressed down on Theros, completely suppressing his level.
Lucian, Selene, Nytheira, Varric, and everyone on the stage looked at each other when they felt that aura released by Silas... they had only one thought in their heads, 'just how many secrets does this child still have...'
Silas boomed his voice, looking at the crowd, and said, "Margrave Theros Argentine colluded with the demons and attacked the Valerius Archduchy with his black puppet forces..."
Everyone below gasped. Now everyone knew what crime Theros had committed.
The soldiers whose hands had been cut were immediately held at sword-point by the Valerius guards. They gritted their teeth in anger but couldn't do anything.
Theros laughed immediately. "Hahahaha! You knew... hahahaha so you knew it all along. But don't be happy, even if you suppress me..."
Silas grinned at him. "Oh, you think your friends will save you? Who, Margrave Marlo and Margrave Sinos? Hahaha, let me tell you a secret , those two margraviates are already gone under the surge of the Blackwood and Sylveria families..."
Theros's eyes widened instantly. They were the ones who were the masterminds behind the attack on those two families... He immediately looked toward Nytheira and Varric, and they just smiled and nodded.
Down on the ground, Seraphina frowned and looked toward Ronald and asked, "Was it you? Are you the one who gave him these details..."
Ronald puffed out his chest and said nonchalantly, "Who else could it be except me? Heheh... isn't it interesting... he already took action himself... without getting help from his family..."
Aleric sighed hearing that and looked at the stage again.
Silas said again while looking down at Theros, "And as for your margraviate, it is also gone under my surge."
Yes, before the ceremony started he had sent Zephiron, Selene, and the whip-guards to take care of the Argentine Margraviate.
Theros gritted his teeth, and blood seeped out of his mouth. He took out a black pill from his space pouch and put it inside his mouth. Black aura started emanating from his body.
His body was released from the pressure of Silas's aura. He stood up and said, laughing,
"Hahahaha! Duke Silas, I don't know how you managed to get that aura of level 90, but you are still a child, at mere secondary level... hahahaha my black aura of death will be enough to kill you..."
Nytheira, Varric, Lucian, Selene, and even the others Cassian, Lysandra, Auren, Elara, Isolde, and Cedric tried to get close to Silas, but the aura of death was strong... so they couldn't get close to Silas at all. To get close to him they need atleast a minute to burn this aura of death...
Silas, on the other hand, didn't show any fear. Theros felt somewhat uneasy. He sneered at Silas and tried to grab his neck as Zephyr had done.
But the next second, a sharp blade cut off his right hand, the one he had raised against Silas.
"Ahhhhhh!"
The next second, another sharp cut sliced his legs in half. He fell to the ground again with a plop. "Ahhhhhhhhhhhh... my legs!"
The death aura that surrounded Silas right now was suddenly absorbed by something, and the stage was cleared.
When everyone looked toward the stage, they saw a disabled Margrave Theros still crying in pain, wriggling on the ground and Silas petting a cute skeletal Gashadokuro that was maybe one-third his height right now, with a similarly sized sword in its hand.
No one could see the exact realm of that cute Gashadokuro at all, except Lucian, Selene, Nytheira, and Varric. The four of them gulped hard and said in unison, "A Saint-level monster!"