Dragon Gods Reign

[City of Sarcena]

Sarcena was a city famed for many things, whether it be as a trading center due to its location at the coast of the Skyfall Sea, a large inland sea practically at the center of the human territories on the central continent, as a military power, or as the seat of power of the current human emperor. But along with the rising of the sun, it also became one of the few cities to have ever hosted an emperor meeting.

For this, the entire city had been transformed. Taverns and other lodging were renovated to the standards of the human nobility and other representatives that had already been staying in town for a few days, streets and buildings were repaired and cleaned, and the already large military presence in the city was expanded even further until every street had at least one group of soldiers patrolling it at all times.

On the waters, before the harbor, hundreds of ships that would've normally sat in the harbor sat anchored before it, with the vessels in which many of the before-mentioned dignitaries arrived having taken their place. Scattered among them was also an entire fleet of warships, deterring anyone who might try to take advantage of the situation.

This wasn't limited to just the ships anchored outside the city, with massive siege weapons of both physical and magical nature being mounted on the bow of the larger vessels of the fleet. Aiming at the sky above the city, they served as a reminder for the arriving delegates in whose territory they were.

Though provocative, it wasn't uncommon for the emperor who hosted the meeting, whether he did it directly or through a vassal, to use this position to get an advantage. And while threatening the participants with such powerful weapons was one of the more heavy-handed methods to do so, all of them either didn't care or begrudgingly accepted it.

Still, despite having such complaints, the different representatives soon started gathering in Arkuns's castle in anticipation of the start of the opening ceremony. After all, while the emperors could shape the destiny of the entire continent at this meeting, the most profitable thing many of them can achieve is to make new connections.

For that, the opening ceremony tends to be the best time. Each host might be allowed to change anything about it besides having to introduce the other emperors as they arrived throughout it, but it was almost always used to show off the culture of the host emperor's species, leading to large crowds and an atmosphere that was perfect for socializing.

Arkuns too did keep that tradition up.

And as the doors swung open precisely at ten in the morning, the guests were greeted by the sight of him waiting for them atop his throne.

Resting his right elbow on the armrest of the throne and leaning his cleanly shaven chin onto his fist, he met the crowd's gaze with an emotionless look in his deep blue eyes. And even with his golden hair wildly hanging down his forehead and partially obscuring his eyes, his gaze made everyone in the crowd freeze up.

But whereas most did it out of fear, the human nobles did so out of reverence. Dropping to one knee, they bowed before the imposing sight of their emperor.

Clad in purple robes that reached down to above his knees and which were decorated with white and golden highlights, his frame fully filled the throne he sat on. Whether it be his wide shoulders that extended past the backrest on both sides, his height of easily two meters, or bulging muscles on his arms that were wider than the armrest he was leaning them on, he made the normal-sized throne vanish nearly completely behind his form.

His face had the same hardened look to it, with both the signs of his advanced age as well as the long scar down his right cheek only adding to it.

However, what truly struck fear into the hearts of the arriving guests was the longsword that leaned against the throne's right side. Positioned in such a way that Arkuns could grab it and start defending himself as quickly as possible, the obsidian black blade that was humanity's emperor relic stood ready to fulfill its purpose at a moment's notice.

Staying seated like this as he inspected the arriving guests, Arkuns took a while before he took his eyes off the group. And as he did, an audible sigh of relief echoed throughout the throne room.

Only then did the first guests start looking around the room. Starting from the stairs leading up to the platform atop which Arkuns sat, their gazes started to spread out throughout the room.

At first, they didn't notice anything extraordinary, only finding a banquette, a small stage with a dance floor in front of it, as well as a series of long tables for them to sit down at. However, as their attention wanders further, they soon start to notice that something was off.

Finding more and more elements from different kinds of social events that were popular among human nobility, they started to notice that as impressively large the throne room was, its usual state wouldn't be able to hold all of this. When some then noticed the jousting arena that barely took up a tenth of the hall, it immediately became obvious that the space inside the room had been expanded.

Initially, this greatly surprised them. Though once the initial astonishment passed, they remembered the space mage who acted as both Arkuns's right hand and most likely successor.

With that understanding, few were still surprised when they finished their look around the room and found, among other things, an archer range, another stage with a theater curtain hanging in front of it, as well as a surprisingly large art exhibition.

Soon most of the guests present had at least gotten a short look at everything notable in the hall. And with no announcements from either Arkuns or any of his subordinates, they hesitantly started to spread out.

Seeing this, one of the men standing around the throne stepped forward and turned to Arkuns for confirmation. Once the latter then responded positively with a nod, the man then rose into the air.

“Greetings.” He said, his magic enhancing his voice so that it echoed loudly throughout the hall.

Waiting a moment until everybody's attention was on him, he continued.

“In the name of Arkuns Sinio Larcus I, Leukos Laiason welcome you to this decades emperor meeting. Today I have the pleasure to address all of you who have gathered, from representatives of continent-spanning organizations, nobility from all four humanoid species among the great five, to those of you who represent the smaller species among our fellow inhabitants on this content.

Together with those among our ranks who have yet to arrive, we have the privilege to once again shape our shared home's future for years to come.

As such I won't impose on you for long and only tell you to use this first opportunity well. We the people have to stand together if we want our civilizations to thrive, so use this day to get to know each other. For each one of us has found our own ways with which we succeeded in pushing back the untamed wilderness of this continent, so what might we be capable of if we were to work together?

With that question for you to think about on this day, enjoy your time under my lord's protection."

As the mage floated back down to land by his emperor's side, thundering applause rang out from a large portion of the crowd.

Of everybody, the humans and beastmen were especially enthusiastic, as were about a fifth of the representatives of species outside the great five. The dwarfs meanwhile clapped mainly out of courtesy, while the beasts and most of the elves instead looked furious as they glared across the hall.

Though the speech seemed unifying on the surface, those three and many of the representatives of smaller species took offense to many of its underlying meanings.

Still, despite noticing the not-so-subtle announcement that the human emperor was intending to subvert the other emperor's rule over their kind, the dwarfs remained cordial. Similar to how most beastmen could overlook it out of consideration for their emperor's near alliance with Arkuns, they saw it as little more than petty insults that weren't worth losing business opportunities over, especially considering that it was more so directed at their emperor than themselves.

For the weaker species on the other hand, this same underlying meaning was a threat to their independence and possibly existence. As such most of them, especially those not belonging to a humanoid species, were looking on with grim faces as Arkuns nodded content as Leukos returned to his side.

The beasts and elves meanwhile cared little for this part of the speech, instead focusing on the more obvious attacks toward them.

Among these, the most striking one was the blatant disregard Leukos, and by extension, Arkuns, showed for the beasts. While beastlords might not be nobility in the traditional sense, they were the closest equivalent to it among beasts and as such typically mentioned together with the nobility of the other four.

To not only do this but to then also declare that they would push back the wilderness was as close to calling for a war against beasts as one could go in the opening speech for the emperor meeting.

Together with the historic context of the elves being seen as part of the wilderness to push back against, it might even be too far. At least there would be two furious emperors once Neandra and Venrie arrived, of that they were sure.

As a few seconds passed, the realization of this started to settle among the guests. Throwing careful glances in the direction of the nearest elf or beastlord and seeing their expressions, they quickly started growing weary.

Still, currently, there was only one emperor in attendance. And as Leukos had officially started the opening ceremony of the emperor meeting in his name, they could bring themselves to take part in it.

But even as the crowd slowly dispersed to start the event, the tense atmosphere that had formed never fully went away again.