So, they needed to find a solution to the lack of funds problem, and how to lure capable workers to work for them without exposing anything about their identities.
That wasn't a small problem to solve as well. They needed to do all this without showing any sign over their Cult or anything. Or else they'd bring lots of heat over their paths, ones that would involve lots of normal and neutral masters.
It was expected for them to take a long time discussing something they had zero experience about. And during all this, William's team was having their own challenge as well.
The Black Tails team went through the portal with Lara and her small group of guards and reached the capital of the kingdom.
The capital was nothing like any academy or big city. In terms of size alone, it was even bigger than ten cities like Lara's.
The place they appeared at was similar to Lara's portal area, filled with tons of portals and lots of people coming in and out from them.
The sheer number of portals was much bigger than what Lara and her family had, including the portals they never used yet.
The moment they stepped into the capital lands, they found a team dressed up in a unified armour set, shining with gold and red capes floating behind their backs.
They were a hundred in number, yet the look on their faces was enough to tell anyone they were veterans, weren't the type to mess with easily.
"Please follow us," the leader of this team said as his members surrounded the entire team, "you need to go through formal meetings first before getting enlisted in the contest."
"How do you know we are here for the contest?" Sara was surprised, as they never announced their coming before.
Yet soon enough she and everyone else learnt about the way the capital royal guards learnt about their presence. There was an entire team dedicated to foreseeing the future. And this team pinpointed each and every single team coming here to join the contest.
According to the team leader, they were going to introduce themselves, get tested, and then they'd get allocated to their living quarters. And yet from the expression on his face, on his team's face, the Black Tails team knew something was wrong.
And soon enough they got to realise their feelings were right.
The capital was indeed huge, yet they didn't end up inside any part of it. They were taken outside, walking through the bustling streets, and getting to see lots of marvels.
Nice, decorated buildings, fountains that spilled tons of spirit power in the air, and even small hills that were filled with healing stones, able to introduce peace and tranquillity into the spirits of anyone inside the capital.
Yet when they were guided outside the capital, passing through densely packed and very complicated sets of walls, passing through the massive gates and gigantic defensive towers, they knew something was indeed quite off.
"Where are you taking us?" Lara didn't like this and had to ask after introducing herself first.
"You are going to meet someone important," the leader of the team seemed to place Lara's position as the leader of a rising city in the kingdom in his eyes, "someone who wants to meet you away from all the eyes in the capital."
The words of this leader were vague, yet they were enough to tell the team that they were going to meet someone of high standard. And soon enough they arrived at a place filled with trenches and holes, a place that still held the deep scars of a brutal battle.
As they arrived there, they were welcomed by a similar team wearing the same outfit. Yet this team was in thousands, and they were scattered all over the place, seemingly watching and protecting it from any outsider.
"This way, she is waiting inside," once the new guards appeared and the leader guiding them here took aside and didn't speak, leaving everything in the hand of a much older guard.
He looked old to be at his fiftieth or something, yet he never looked weak or anything. He got a few wrinkles on his face, and he kept his healthy body shape even at such an advanced age.
"Who is inside?" Lara didn't like this situation even more. Such secrecy and tense atmosphere were enough to tell her something grand was going to happen.
She wanted to know what she was getting herself into before stepping inside that place. And yet from the serious look of the new guard leader, she knew he wouldn't let them off without meeting that mysterious figure.
"She is someone who is high in status," the leader paused, "in normal times, you won't have a chance to meet her. But for a reason, she wants to meet you."
"And who is she?" Ibra asked, trying to get more intel from this leader.
"You'll know in a few seconds, don't be impatient," yet the leader didn't give any hint about the identity of that person. At the same time, the guards already surrounded their team members in circles, with only one path left empty, the one leading towards a black hole in the ground.
"This way, please," it wasn't an invitation, more like an order. The team members exchanged silent glances and waited for the call of their leaders.
William's entrusted vices and friends knew if they refused, a fight would erupt here. The tension in the air was rising up fast, and soon enough they made up their minds without the need to exchange a single word.
"Let's go," Ibra was the one to speak up. In the entire team, he was seen as the leader when William was absent like now, "let's see who is this anxious to meet us the moment we arrived here."
The team had no option to begin with, and so they followed the leader into the depths of that hole.
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