When their carriage entered the area of Blackburg manor Irwyn noticed an unpredicted commotion. There were maids running to and from the courtyard carrying items of all kinds, likely bringing them out of carriages. Speaking of carriages there were far too many of them, an entire caravan that must've just arrived since they were still not properly parked.
The first idea Irwyn had was that there were some visitors, but that was difficult to accept as he would have known about anyone announced, and there were few people who would be accepted unannounced. Perhaps only royalty, and why would royalty be traveling this far during the festival of Dragoncull; that just didn't make sense.
Even more chaos was brought upon Irwyn's mind when he noticed the sigil on the largest carriage: A grey brick castle on grey background, the crest of house Blackburg. While Irwyn was contemplating they arrived and the answer presented itself.
"Is it you Irwyn? I haven't seen you since before you could walk!" A man, probably in his late 20’s exclaimed, his raven black hair and brown pupils were his dominant features, but the relatively handsome chiseled visage was nothing to scoff at either. However, that was not his main feature; what attracted the most attention was the strange aura of intangible profoundness which surrounded him, something Irwyn quickly identified as the proof of the 4th tier. Perhaps it was inevitable that Irwyn also immediately noticed that strange alikeness to himself.
“Could you perhaps be... you are Ezyx?” Based on his age it could perhaps be only one person: Irwyn’s eldest brother and the direct heir to Ezax von Blackburg. Irwyn’s eldest 2 siblings were very rarely, if ever, home as they were both studying in the central continent in the single place which even the Land of mages admitted to be superior: The Academy of Ignis. Just the fact that an institute which dared use the first flame in the name was not destroyed by the followers of primordial kings already had great implications. Irwyn naturally knew much more about its background as he was also definitely headed there once he reached the prerequisites of the 2nd tier. But that was still far away in the future.
“Indeed!” Ezyx laughed at him and exclaimed: “You have grown up to be a fine young man! But let’s head inside, mother and father are already waiting for me!” he said and without even waiting for a confirmation he already turned around and walked inside the building. Irwyn could only sigh when this happened, and in the end he followed. Of course only after sending Elizabeth off.
When Irwyn entered into the mansion he was quickly led into a familiar luxurious lounge, a large round table was already prepared; all chairs except two were already occupied, Ezyx also among those seated. It would seem that the entire Blackburg family had gathered: Ezax, who Irwyn rarely met since the attempt on his life; Avys, smugly smiling just like she always did; Brite, Alira’s twin brother who went beyond daggers and instead starred entire greatswords at Irwyn; Efora, who must have also just arrived; and finally an unimpressive looking black haired man in his twenties who Irwyn did not recognise, but based on the rest of the participants it must have been Irwyn’s last sibling, Ergo Blackburg; the second oldest son of Ezax.
“You are finally here Irwyn,” Avys announced with a wide smile “since everyone has arrived let us begin this rare family gathering.”
“Wait, where is Alira?” Ergo suddenly interjected, looking genuinely confused. Since he was also offshore studying at the Academy of Ignis he might be a bit detached from the news, but in order to not hear of such an important thing he must’ve been kept in the dark intentionally. And there happened to be a person in the same institute which just happened to have far superior control over the Blackburg messengers. Ezyx was after all the genius heir to duke Ezax, while Ergo was only an unfavoured backup with disappointingly average talent. But just the fact that Ezyx would not allow his younger brother know that their sister was dead was definitely worth keeping in mind.
“Why don’t you ask Irwyn there,” Brite immediately interjected while audibly gritting his teeth, his manner as lacking as always. Ergo’s confusion only deepened as he questioningly moved his gaze to Irwyn who just arrived at the table.
“I am surprised you hadn’t heard, it’s been 2 years since,” Irwyn didn’t let his expression falter in any way as he sat down “she was executed by the order of the second imperial judge.”
“What!?” Ergo jumped up from his chair in a moment of shock. Such a violent reaction was also perhaps one of the reasons why he was considered inferior to his brother “why hadn’t I heard about this?” he turned to Ezyx, his eyes half accusing, half confused. But Ezyx did not answer, instead only a wide smile and unwavering glare met Ergo’s stare. The younger of the two almost immediately flinched as a barely noticeable tremble went through his body before Ergo sat back down. After a moment of silence he once again turned to Irwyn and tried to pry more information: “Why? What did she do that she couldn’t be saved?”
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“She arranged an assassination attempt and was caught,” Irwyn replied only vaguely. Based on his reaction the man was not completely apathetic towards his youngest sister and it would be unwise to antagonise him for no reason whatsoever. A sentiment apparently not shared by everyone around the table.
“Bullshit! She was fucking innocent and everyone knows it!” it was Brite again, mirroring the words Efora spoke to Irwyn when they met earlier that day. It was questionable if he figured it out himself, or if he just echoed the words he wanted to believe. Most likely the latter since his intellectual genetical inheritance was embarrassing at best.
“Brite, mind your language,” but before Irwyn could retort a tranquil voice reprimated the young boy. It was none other than Ezax himself “I don’t wish for meaningless squabbles to ruin this meeting. There was a reason why you were all called here on short notice beside welcoming your two oldest siblings back home. If you would, dear.”
“Of course,” Avys smiled, probably genuinely for once, and took over “as some of you might be already aware our family has ulterior motives during this Dragoncull festival. Most things are already set in stone, but I decided it would be a show of good faith to let you in before everything was over. In short, should we succeed the mage guild will become significantly weaker. Firstly, I see that you have completely succeeded in my mission, Irwyn.”
“Yes,” Irwyn nodded “not only did Amadeus’ direct disciple not advance, I exposed his cheating and forged a grudge between him and our family. His chances to be re-elected as the Elemental lord of flame should now be near zero. Next, arranging the accident was a breeze with Shade’s support, however, I don’t have a report available whether we have successfully framed the Elemental lord of vast nothingness. I have naturally also assessed the other participants as you wanted me to.”
“And what do you say are your chances of winning tomorrow?” Avys followed up while the rest just listened. At least most of them, Brite seemed disinterested and was only staring down Irwyn with tangible hostility.
“Unless there will be a major surprise among the seeds, I might not even need to personally participate,” Irwyn just shook his head. The youngest category main event was held as a team competition divided directly by the individual elements. While they were indeed divided into teams of 3 only 1 participant fought at a time, and there was no rule against someone just not participating before his other teammates were defeated. An unlikely event considering Elizabeth was together with him in the team. Brite breathed in and wanted to say something, but someone stole his thunder.
“That remind me, where exactly did you pick up that girl? Her talent seems to be quite great,” it was his brother Ezyx this time, perhaps really curious. It was not unexpected that he knew of Elizabeth’s performance; he might have just arrived, but someone like him had all kinds of sources. Brite still perked up at that question, despite being cut off, not really hiding his bad intentions towards the girl Irwyn announced to be his personal maid. Efora was likely the same, but she was smart enough to not make that blatantly obvious.
“I have unfortunately already forgotten, but I am sure mother still has a report of sorts,” in other words: I don’t want my openly hostile siblings to know. A message that was apparently carried across as Ezyx just nodded and did not expand on the topic.
“You seem to be forgetting something,” Brite involved himself in the conversation again. Something he wanted to do when Irwyn made his confident declaration about victory, but he did not dare cut off Ezyx “I will crush both you and that girl tomorrow.”
“You should not let arrogance cloud your judgement,” Irwyn calmly replied. Brite was just old enough to still belong into the youngest category and was in fact the seeded participant for void, and darkness, element. He was perhaps not the most talented mage, but he more than made up for his average talent through constant combat training and Blackburg resources. But that was nowhere near enough to defeat Irwyn. It would in fact require a small miracle for him to defeat Elizabeth with her frightening talent for Brite’s main affinity. She perhaps did not yet practice void magic, but she was still a Herald of Umbra, something that should by no means be taken lightly.
“You are the one that is arrogant! I will show you tomorrow that just a bit of talent is not enough to defeat me,” Brite naturally did not relent. He was far too stubborn for that. Perhaps he was not even arrogant, only overconfident. Well, that didn’t make any difference to Irwyn.
“Have you heard me the first time?” Ezax once again calmly spoke, shutting Brite right up “the scourge named the mage guild will soon enough be tamed and my heir has returned from far away. We should celebrate as a family, not argue. Maids, bring it here!” just as he finished speaking the doors into the lounge were opened and dozen maids carrying various exotic dishes walked in. There was everything from giant lobsters to mana enriched fruits creating a feast; both for the eyes and a literal one.
“I have decided to celebrate with a humble meal,” Ezax described the luxury which would bankrupt most merchants “let us eat,” he finally half commanded, that was enough to ward off the rest of hostilities directed at Irwyn. The rest of the meal was mostly spend in idle chatter.