Varian reached the avenue as a backup appraiser of the Krystal Arts team.
An event to decide the next faction leader was beyond grand. And since so many princes and princesses attended it, a pre-event was also organized.
All the unranked princes would fight it off and determine their position in the hierarchy.
Of course, God Emperor's clone impregnated a woman every second, creating tens of millions of imperial bloodline children every year.
However, only a couple of them actually reached divine ranks and dared to proclaim themselves as a 'prince' or 'princess'.
In fact, having the imperial bloodline instead attracted the covetous gazes of their siblings who killed them to improve their talent or powerful families who wished to extract anything useful from the precious bloodline.
Thankfully, such things would be useless once the descendant passed infancy. Still, most of the imperial bloodline died without living for even twenty years.
The surviving princes and princess were all beings who had been through difficult situations.
Even if they had good mothers and backers, once they reached divine ranks, they had to fight it out themselves.
Interference by non-imperial bloodline groups was extremely frowned upon and sometimes resulted in clan extermination.
The competition of the unranked princes was a platform for them to establish their worth—it's their social status within the imperial group.
This worth was also their bargaining chip in the factions they intend to join.
Every prince more or less knew that Eshala was being challenged and since such a challenge was not only thrown but also pushed by the 7th Prince and 2nd Prince, it's likely she's going to fall.
A new leader would assume the position, opening up new positions and opportunities for them in this faction.
Even if they didn't get into the Warring faction, if their relative status improved, they could join the 7th Prince's Naraka faction or the 2nd Prince's Conqueror's faction.
Unlike Eshala whose faction tended to be more strategic and focused on shadowy side of things, their factions were more open and focused on either fighting at the border or administering dangerous regions.
"And this is why work without any mistakes. The non-ranking princes are all still divine rankers. The company might or might not get destroyed if you offend them, but you definitely will. Be careful with everything you do." Adsher couldn't hide his trembling hands as his speech ended.
"Don't worry, my lord. We'll not waste the opportunity of our lives." An old man with a sharp gaze that didn't match his weak body, patted his chest and assured.
"Even if I won't believe anyone, I believe you, Paglus." Adsher exhaled deeply, his trembling hands calmed down.
Paglus was the most brilliant appraiser of the company. More importantly, he was a great communicator, maintaining a cordial bond with Adsher. Such a man should be able to deal with the princes and princesses who mostly spent their time honing their divine paths. At least, that's what Adsher hoped.
"Alright, the competition will start in six hours. We'll be sent after the first batch of refreshments or later if the imperials deem it so. Good luc—"
"My lord!" Cyris' plain voice interrupted and Adsher nearly lashed out. But as he was following his own advice to keep a cool head, he managed to hold himself back and ask with a frown. "What happened?"
Followed by the sound of foot tapping against the ground, Cyris entered into the meeting hall carrying a letter.
"Headquarters sent some updated information."
Adsher eagerly grabbed the letter and went through the message. His brows knitted together and he displayed the letter to the appraisers.
"Princess Samantha, a close aide of 2nd Prince, has recently shown interest in the Undead artifacts. Specifically, non-humanoid Undead." The appraisers looked at each other, feeling slightly flustered. They were of course knowledgable about a lot of things. But relatively speaking, their expertise in the Undead was always lower. It couldn't helped. Undead didn't have the same artistic taste as the living. These were the guys who'd welcome a statue of skinless people and call that grotesque image a piece of art.
"Markus, your team got the charge to attend the princess. Are you confident?"
"That…" A middle-aged man with a bland face showed a hesitant expression, turning to his four team members. His colleagues' expression were worse than his.
"We know the main schools of Undead but if it's about specific niches such as Nerve Statues or Soul Songs…"
Adsher's expression crumpled. Markus' heart almost stopped at his boss' reaction and he yelled. "B-Boss, just 8 hours! We'll do it! We'll get all the information!"
"Do you think we have 10 hours?" Adsher growled.
Cryis glanced at Markus without a change in her expression.
In fact, the letter had been delivered 5 hours ago alongside others. If she didn't delay it using some technical procedures, there would've been no problem. But if everything went smoothly, how would the plan work?
"Is there anyone in the main group who can substitute for this team?" Adsher glanced at the 50 members, hoping for a miracle.
Unfortunately, no one answered. Even the ones who had some capability didn't want to take such huge risk. Anyway, they spent all the time preparing for their designated clients and had no leisure to take on one more.
Adsher's face grew dark and he turned to the backup group of 100. "What about you?"
"…"
"…"
"…"
He couldn't treat the main group severely as they had to directly interact with the princes soon. But the backup team didn't have such privelege.
"What use are you idiots if you can't even help when there is a problem?" Adsher clenched his fist, his spit flying in the room as he started cursing the backup team, their professional knowledge.
"…you are all waste of resources! Just stop wasting the air and die!"
"Excuse me." "Huh? What the hell is your problem newbie? Cyris, dip that sword in lava and cut him thrice to teach him a le—" "I've had some dealings with Undead in the past, in similar niche areas. In three hours, I'm confident I can cover the niches the Princess is interested in. So, I'd like to join the main group's team." Varian said with an extremely confident look.
"Ah!" Adsher froze for a moment before he nodded with a big smile on his face. "Yes, yes, of course you're joining, Handseng!"
"Hand'sum, I'm Hand'sum, Your Majesty."
"Ahahaha! Hand'sum! Hand'sum! Take your three hours, I'll help you with everything I got!"