Waving his hands to the servants behind him to bring the gifts forwards, Princess Marina watched as the servants rushed forward with three boxes showcasing three different ores.
"The gift for this year's hunt is an ore with an attributed blessing from a man blessed with high attunement to the blessing of fire." said the Sun of the empire and everyone gasped.
"An attributed blessing." Princess Marina thought as she stared at the glowing ores.
Ores came into existence shortly after the Goddess blessed humans with the spirit of the earth, water wind and fire. Through repeated wins and failure to drive the Bestiae back, humans realized that the ores of the Bestiae they slayed can be extracted, refined and added to a weapon. Before the Alvonians realized that the ores could be refined, the Alvonians realized quickly, that the ores in its pure form is harmful to humans. Looking for a way to win the war through any means, the Alvonians became desperate and that's when they realized that those blessed by the spirit of fire can refine the ores and remove its poison. Happy that they could win the war far more easily, the Alvonians soon realized that while the impurities and the poisons are being burnt off, some of the power in the ore leaks out. Not bothered by this peculiarity because the Alvonians were still winning the war despite the shave off of power, the Sun of the empire recieved a new weapon made by someone from the blessing of fire but when he went to war the output he produced was far greater than any of his peers.
No one knows what it means to attribute a blessing and Princess Marina has flipped through every book that she could find to no avail. The only information she could get from those books is that an ore that has been given an attributed blessing can boost the power of any wielder.
Looking at her options carefully, Princess Marina's gaze coincidentally landed on Pyralex Wyren under the canopy for the Royals.
"A man blessed with high attunement to the blessing of fire huh?" Princess Marina thought and Pyralex Wreyn smiled at her.
"Choose." The Sun of the empire said with a gentle smile.
Already having the ore she wanted to pick in her mind, Princess Marina pointed towards the brown ore that looked like a big brown stone and the Sun of the empire smiled even more.
After Princess Marina picked her ore, everyone apart from Aleron and Aldric were told to vacate the stage as it was time for Aleron and Aldric to be sponsored by the royals.
As per tradition, every royal was allowed to show their interest but the contestant would be sponsored by the highest ranking noble that showed their interest.
Seeing the two outstanding candidates and not wanting to be usurped by someone higher, the nobles of Baron class opted not to sponsor either candidate and the decision fell on the Viscountess laps.
"I would like to sponsor Aleron." The Viscountess said as she hoped and prayed that no one else would take him.
"I would like to opt out of sponsoring this year." The Earl said and all the Nobles except the Viscountess gave him quizzical looks.
"I would like to sponsor Aldric." the Marchioness said anf and waited patiently for what the Sun of the Empire would decide.
After five seconds of saying nothing, the Sun of the Empire said "I would also like to opt out of sponsoring this year." The Sun and silence washed over everyone under the canopy of the royals.
"Something is off." The Marchioness said as she discreetly looked from the Sun of the Empire to the Earl and almost as if what was wrong was written on their faces, the Marchioness's face tightened.
The Manor of the Marchioness
The Marchioness's study.
"Did the Earl truly not sponsor his own flesh and blood?" Rassera Dawnspire said as he sipped her tea.
"It would seem so." The Marchioness said with a small smile that was not reflected in her eyes.
Looking at her mother's expression, Rassera automatically deduced that something was wrong and became guarded.
"He is planning something." Rassera said and the Marchioness smiled before saying "And I don't care what it is."
"All the heirs of the Marchioness have always married men with high attunement to their blessings and if the Earl wants to sell his son as it means for more power, I will shake hands with him and let him think that he has the upper hand." The Marchioness said with a smile.