Outside the imperial palace's eastern entrance, a white five-story building by the name of Star Bridge Tavern stood out among other buildings found on the main street of Eastern Radiance.
It wasn't the most magnificent or tallest building on Eastern Radiance, but it wasn't the worst or the shortest either. It was just somewhere in between, very average in design and value.
However, it had the symbol of a handshake wrapped in five-point stars, indicating it was a building for accommodating foreign guests of the country.
At that moment, a group of large, bulky men gathered in the dining hall for drinks with growing discontent.
They were all dressed in rough beast leather and fur clothing that only covered the core of their upper and lower body. As such, much of their tanned skin was exposed, revealing their extremely toned muscles that couldn't be found on just any ordinary aura users and body refiners.
Coupled with their uncouth, rowdy, and unfettered behavior, they seemed like warmongering barbarians who had lived primitive but free lifestyles and appeared out of place.
Several chairs and tables had been damaged simply because they could not control their brute strength. The locals considered these same chairs and tables quite firm and stable. But to these brutes, they were very fragile.
Without a doubt, this group of people were the envoys and their accompanying guards sent over from the Great Ratholos Empire.
Only the people of the Great Ratholos Empire would have such appearances and behaviors.
"Dammit, it's already been two days since we arrived in this country, and yet we haven't even caught a single glimpse of the new ruler or the dragons!" a Peak-level Rank 3 warrior slammed his half-filled mug down on the table with frustration.
"Right?! These people aren't taking us seriously!" another Peak-level Rank 3 warrior shouted before suggesting with a dark look, "Maybe we need to show them our strength before they start taking us seriously! Lord Mortimer, please
"That's enough, Gaian!" the only Mid-level Rank 4 warrior and leader of the group, Mortimer Shackleton, snapped. "I am just as frustrated as all of you. But I need to remind all of you this is another country."
"Starting trouble on another's turf will not do us any good nor for our cause," Mortimer firmly added.
"Then what are we supposed to do? Keep waiting? We don't even know if the new ruler will meet us. Are we supposed to wait here forever?" the Peak-level Rank 3 warrior, Gaian, asked angrily.
He whisked his mug of mead and downed everything to calm his frustration, but his excessive strength broke the mug and splashed some of the honey drink over his face.
"God fucking dammit!" Gaian cursed furiously.
In his anger, he hurled the remains of the mug at a wall with a substantial amount of strength, splintering the broken mug into pieces upon impact and leaving cracks on the tavern's wall made of white bricks.
"The least they could have done is settle us somewhere of higher quality! Everything here is so god-damned fragile! They truly have no respect for us! How are we supposed to endure this?!" Gaian blamed the property for being cheap rather than his excessive force.
"I said enough, Gaian!" Mortimer barked with a fierce glint.
His violent aura exploded outward in that instant, suppressing the hot-headed Gaian. The latter dropped onto one of his knees with his head lowered like something cumbersome was weighing him down.
The air and everything else in the area felt thicker and heavier as if gravity had suddenly increased in folds.
"You're scaring the waiters and barkeeper! You should be grateful they are providing everything to us free of charge," Mortimer thundered furiously, not knowing his anger scared the tavern workers more.
Although Gaian calmed down and apologized to his lord afterward, he still held opposing feelings in his heart.
Be grateful for everything being provided free of charge?
They were representatives from another country that wasn't the least bit inferior to the Holy Knight Empire, for god's sake!
They weren't beggars!
Nevertheless, after Lord Mortimer forcefully calmed the heated group down with his gravity-attribute aura, they heard some commotion outside the tavern.
Curiosity brought them outside to understand the situation.
Immediately, Lord Mortimer and his men noticed large and small groups of people all moving towards the southern district with hurried footsteps as if something there strongly attracted their interests.
There were some Solarans among them, but they were mostly Darkans.
"Hey you, Darkan boy. You got a second to spare?" Lord Mortimer reached out for the shoulder of a sixteen-year-old Darkan boy full of scars, who appeared to be the closest person at the time.
Although the sixteen-year-old Darkan boy revealed his discontent for getting stopped, the expression was immediately wiped off his face when he glanced over his shoulder.
The person who called him didn't seem much different from a prehistoric beast. It was probably best not to offend such a person.
"C-Can I help you?" the Darkan boy asked nervously.
"Relax, there is nothing to worry about. We are just wondering for what reason you are all heading over to the southern district?" Lord Mortimer wondered.
"You haven't heard?" the Darkan boy furrowed his brows and quickly said, "The true heir and Sun God have returned from their trip and started helping people in need, especially unfortunate Darkans like me."
"I see..." Mortimer released his hand from the boy's shoulder.
"If that is all, I'll be on my way, Sir," the Darkan boy gave a short but quick bow out of respect before hurrying off with everyone else.
"It seems the new ruler and self-proclaimed Sun God wasn't in the capital, to begin with. We were angry over nothing," a Low-level Rank 4 warrior muttered before saying, "Since they returned now, I expect we'll be called into the palace for a meeting soon."
"I hope so, Eiram," Lord Mortimer replied.
Unfortunately, the Great Ratholos Empire's envoys were bound to be disappointed.
At that moment, Vaan had just entered a private study room that had been set up for him. A bunch of valuable scrolls had accumulated on his desk during his absence.
They were all unique aura cultivation methods from the regional lords and nobles of the empire.