The Martial Unity

Chapter 3805: The Royal Funeral

Banquets such as this, hosted by princes and princesses, were not uncommon on that day, the day of the Royal Funeral. Princes and princesses held banquets and receptions to try and woo the many important dignitaries of the Kandrian Empire, trying to earn their support.

Many of them had come to be aware of the fact that Princess Ranea had made changes to her faction after her meeting with the Void Prince, and it made them realize the importance of Princess Ru’s initiative of a strong anti-Rui and anti-Ranea alliance.

If they had any hope of defeating a Rui-backed Ranea for the throne, then they needed numbers and quantity of political capital. A large number of princes and princesses joined the alliance after learning of Rui’s apparent decision to support Ranea for the throne, while simultaneously winning over many foreign stakeholders as they could, such as the Britannian prime minister.

The only uncertain variable was the fact that Rui’s decision to make an important announcement at the Royal Funeral preceded his meeting with Princess Ranea.

Which, in their eyes, meant that he was undoubtedly announcing more than just who he was endorsing.

The uncertainty of what such an important and large announcement could be hung in the minds of almost every single prince and princess, along with the many other esteemed guests.

They would have to wait for the Royal Funeral to arrive.

And arrive, it did.

Later that day, dusk arrived as the sun began setting.

The skies began darkening.

The most auspicious hour for a funeral was said to be dusk, according to Kandrian traditions and customs. The Royal Funeral was held at the largest funeral hall available in the Kandrian Empire in the capital town of Vargard, reserved for royals and other high dignitaries.

Nearly two thousand seats were arranged for both domestic and international guests of honor, circling around the funeral stage. A large number of people began pouring into the hall at dusk; heads of state, Martial Sages, and rulers, governors, and other representatives of Sage-level organizations and above.

A faint tension hung in the air.

The atmosphere was electric, rather than dark, tingling at the nerves of all those who settled within the guests of honor. Not a single one of them could help but look around with a hint of amazement.

This was the first time they had seen the most powerful leadership class in the world gather in one place in person. There had been many digital and virtual meetings with projections that simulated such an event quite well, but this time, each of them had gathered physically.

To think that this momentous occasion would be for a mere funeral.

It still blew their mind.

Indeed, the Emperor of Harmony was extremely important and impactful to the Panama Continent, but even still, to summon to leaders of the world for his funeral was just excessively ostentatious, not to mention wasteful. The Panama Continent was in a sensitive period at the moment, and they had a lot of work to do.

The irrationality of it all was the reason they were convinced that the Dawnbringer had some extremely important message to convey to them, one that was so important that it was worth bringing all of them together.

Their attentions remained fixed on their environments as they watched others take their seats. It had already dawned on all of them that many had chosen their seats meaningfully. The stakeholders that backed the anti-Rui alliance, now the anti-Ranea alliance, had chosen to sit together in a large bloc.

This was in anticipation of the fact that there could be an opportunity to show their collective power in a power play. Once the guests of honor took their place, then came the cabinet of ministers of the Kandrian Empire.

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The gathered leaders directed a deep gaze as the many ministers of the Kandrian government walked in. Their status during a throne war was much higher than it was normally; they were practically treated as royalty themselves on such an occasion, for only they could coronate the next ruler of Kandria.

They were the gatekeepers of victory.

Once they took their special seats, positioned in a layer closer to the funeral stage, the princes and princesses of the Kandrian Empire followed suit, drawing even more attention from the various guests of honor.

They widened their eyes as they spotted the first person in line.

STEP

Not a princess, not even a human, but a dark elf and the mother of the youngest Kandrian princess, Mother Alicia, walked with a baby in her hand, with a melancholic expression. The one-year-old infant had ears longer than those of a human, but shorter than those of an elf; a half-elf-human hybrid.

With the dark elf settlement formed in the Kandrian Empire, there had been a small number of half-elves that had come to be, but they were still an extremely rare hybrid, for now.

After her was another young woman holding another baby in her hands, followed by a few toddlers, and adolescents, each older than the next. Most of them were far too young to have any real bid for the throne of the Kandrian Empire, drawing the least amount of attention from the gathered guests.

Then, the first real powerhouse came along.

Princess Ru wore a royal, but humble black dress, keeping her adornments and make-up to a minimum. There was no smile to be seen on her face. Only a slight hint of melancholy hung in the depths of her golden eyes.

Not a single person could get over how much she resembled her father.

Following her were the other princes and princesses, making their way to the layer of seating closest to the funeral stage. Each of the princes and princesses chose particular seats that allowed them to be closest to members of their faction, further behind among the guests of honor, each gathered to show support for their candidate, if need be.

And then, he arrived.

STEP

A profoundly unfathomable presence descended upon the Royal Funeral as leaders around the world beheld his ethereal body, as if he were of a higher plane of existence.

Each and every single guest of honor bore witness to the most powerful man on the continent.