"Well I'll be damned! We had no idea what kind of gems the sect was hiding!"
While Sheikh Atractivo's voice echoed inside the arena surrounded by stone walls, color was returning to the chalk-white face of the bald-headed man next to him.
"You hit the nail on the head, Atractivo!"
"I sure did. If he learns my technique too, his cultivation will jump at least two levels in just one retreat!"
Unlike the men joking around and clapping each other on the shoulder, Jashua, stepping on the cold marble floor with his bare feet, didn't look too thrilled with the situation. Sheikh Atractivo had dragged them to the worst possible place, the arena where the fighting tournaments of the birthday bash would be held.
"You bunch of degenerates, put an end to this disgrace right this second!"
The two men who shut their mouths at the yell of the woman in red clothes didn't stop hitting each other. Despite the authority, they were like two young boys trying to have fun.
"Fuego, calm down. I'm sure the Holy Blood Sect Sheikh has realized his mistake."
Eyshan, seated on her throne in front of the Six Fiends behind her, silenced the Holy Fire Sect Sheikh. Her gaze was waiting for a few words from the handsome man.
"Just as you ordered, Your Majesty the Queen. How was I supposed to know they'd want to have sex at this hour of the morning?"
As Sheikh Atractivo kept talking, the tongue of the man next to him was sticking out of the gap in his cheek. While the Holy Bone Sect Sheikh tried to hold back his laughter, he couldn't help but make all sorts of faces. Meanwhile, Jashua had gotten dressed, but Lareina's face was beet red.
When Nafız turned to her right, she was met with Ralf's bewildered looks. It was obvious the young man, who was out cold during their first portal trip, couldn't wrap his head around what was going on.
"Since everyone is here, it is time to invite our guests!"
Eyshan spread her arms to the sides, and the doors of the massive hall opened simultaneously. First, hundreds of Royal Guards marched in and took their places behind the sect sheikhs. Behind them, people whose clothes were completely different from the residents of the Hell Realm appeared.
The people entering through four separate doors went next to the four sects and sat in the seats reserved for them. The Holy Blood and Holy Bone were deprived of the guests' company, and this situation was going to prompt Sheikh Atractivo to speak up.
"How interesting! The bunch of bandits calling themselves Mercenaries were also invited to join the birthday bash!"
When Atractivo finished his piece, Hueso next to him joined in by spitting on the floor. The attitude of the man, who looked like a walking corpse, towards the guests was crystal clear.
"You rotten geezer, know your place. Our guests are the guests of the Queen of Hell, Eyshan!"
"Shut your trap, you ugly hag! The bandits you call guests didn't build my lands, they murdered my disciples. Instead of putting a stop to the pillaging that's been going on for years, now you're sitting them across from me as guests!"
Hueso made a move to get up from his seat, but Atractivo grabbed him by the arm and slammed him back down. The people across from the chalk-skinned old man didn't lose their cool; they were getting a kick out of seeing him like this.
"Failing to protect the desert you call your lands is your problem. You're not going to pin your own incompetence on the four major merchant guilds, are you?"
The person speaking was wearing golden armor and reflecting the sun rays flooding in through the wide windows of the massive hall right onto Hueso's face.
"I'll show you incompetence, you...!"
Atractivo didn't step in this time; instead, Eyshan was going to take the wheel.
"Sheikh Hueso, sit down!"
When the laughter of the guests mocking the state of the old man waiting in his place without unclenching his fists died down, the Queen kept talking.
"The Mercenaries are the most important ally of the Hell Realm. Our guests are the top executives and esteemed delegations of the Four Merchant Guilds. I personally requested their presence at the festival we organized in honor of my hundredth birthday. I expect you to show them the proper respect from now on."
When Eyshan finished her speech, four people from among the Mercenaries stood up and saluted her one by one.
"On behalf of the Golden Leaf Guild, I would like to present our leader's gift!"
The man walking comfortably inside his golden armor stepped forward and dropped a chest at the foot of Eyshan. While the Queen watched the person returning to his place after bowing, one of the fiends opened the lid of the chest.
The glitter was blinding; the inside of the chest was stuffed to the brim with gold. With a polite nod, Eyshan showed she was pleased with the gift.
"On behalf of the Emerald Leaf Guild, I would like to present our leader's gift!"
Another chest appeared, and when its lid was opened, the color of the light rising from inside was bright green. The emerald, which was also the material the representative's armor was forged from, took its place next to the gold.
"The Diamond Leaf Guild presents its gift!"
A woman showing off in her shining armor dropped the chest in her hands in front of Eyshan and returned to her place. When the chest was opened, there was a single stone carefully placed in the center. A diamond the size of a grown male orc's fist.
"The Turquoise Leaf Guild presents its gift!"
The chest opened, and a turquoise light hit the ceiling. Gold, emerald, diamond, and turquoise lined up side by side, saluting the Queen of Hell.
"I can't thank you enough for your gifts, but your presence is more precious to me than all of them. I raise my glass to the glorious and lucrative paths we will walk together!"
The four Representatives raised their glasses in Eyshan's honor. They were followed by five sect sheikhs; only the Holy Bone Sect Sheikh was waiting with his fists clenched.
"The wine is pretty good too. That redhead isn't half bad either, we'll fix you up with the one next to her!"
In the minutes where silence reigned, a conversation piped up from where the Golden Leaf Guild was. Two hulking men were voicing the thoughts on their minds while looking at Nafız in her Nora disguise and Lareina.
"Noyla, shut your damn trap!"
The representative in Golden Armor yelled without turning around; he was dying of embarrassment because of the action of someone from his own ranks.
"My apologies, please forgive the ignorance of my subordinate!"
The Representative spoke looking at Eyshan, but the answer came from the exact opposite direction, from the area prepped for fighting.
"It seems there are some unpruned branches left in the Golden Leaf, but no biggie. I've got both the time and the itch to turn you all into firewood!"
Drawing the daggers she inherited from Mora, Nafız channeled her blood energy into the weapon, making the flowers on it visible to the naked eye. Tension spiked; the insolence of one of the guests could be tolerated, but the clapback coming from within the Holy Blood Sect was brutal.
"Everyone shut up!"
Eyshan found the solution in putting on a show of force; she had to lay down the law and show who was boss.
"There is only one thing missing for the festivities to kick off!"
"Bring out the father of the sinner!"
When the Queen bellowed, the door that hadn't been opened before slowly creaked open. Six people, hauling the chains wrapped around the body of a man caught in the middle of them, dragged him right to the center of the massive hall.
The guards, striking the backs of the knees of the person whose hair and beard were a tangled mess, looking more like a wild beast than a human, forced him to his knees in front of Eyshan. At the same time, a platform rose from under the man; it was an altar emerging from a hidden compartment.
"How nostalgic. Isn't this the altar where you sacrificed your brother!"
While the man whose mouth couldn't be seen spoke looking at the altar under his feet, it was impossible to tell what was going through his head.
"So, you decided to speak up after a hundred years! Uncle Abarran!"
Hearing the shabby man's name, the man in Golden Armor involuntarily shot to his feet; the other three representatives followed suit one by one.
"The Companion of Death, Abarran!"
How could they not recognize one of the top three blacksmiths in the world. The Mercenaries didn't have their own Supreme Artisan, and seeing one of them in this state now had shocked them all to death.
"Bring the weapons forged in honor of my birthday!"
When Eyshan gave the order, two giant chests and more than fifty people carrying them marched through the door Abarran had entered from. The eyes of the entire hall were glued to the chests holding the weapons.