Mantle of the Gods

The seriousness of the earlier news vanished.

Instead, it was replaced with a lot of banter about what type of person we should add and other frivolous things that I couldn’t keep up with. Fray and Rix were the only two who didn’t join in on the rapid discussion. The only bit I was able to pick out was Gesai stating that she should have the biggest say because it was her team.

Trent cleared his throat and the chattering stopped as everyone turned to look at him.

“I’m glad everyone is so excited about getting new team members, but if you would give me your attention, please.” The white-haired man looked at each of us. "While I have been away, the other teams have managed to pull ahead of us in floor progress, which means that we have a lot of work to do.” He looked at Gesai. "I think you can attest that the students here at the Cathedral are further along in their dungeon progress than the ones you were looking after?”

The redheaded woman nodded.

“Which means that you all…” Trent looked over at Rix. "MOST of you are behind your peers and whoever we add will be behind them.” He sighed. "And I will venture that while the other assistant classes are going to be just as behind as we are, the original classes aren’t going to slow down so they can catch up. If anything they’re going to try harder to stay ahead.”

He paused and let that sink in.

“There is one more thing. Because of the increase in teams, it is going to be harder to get the spot to represent the Ward in the Adventurer Games. Right now, ArchBishop Mavery is working with the leaders of the other Wards to see about expanding the rosters to allow for two teams, but I’m told not to expect it this year and it may be something that has to wait an entire rotation to take effect.”

“What does that even mean?” Oz was the bravest of those who didn’t understand to ask.

“It means that there will be eight teams to go over the course of six years. While the first four years traditionally cycle to make sure that each team has a chance to go with the last two years being a very difficult competition. There is a chance that this cycle will only have seven of the eight teams going to the games.” I heard groans from the other students and a gasp from Aelin. “Which means that no one wants to be that last class that didn’t get to go.”

“So we need to find the best team members for Oz and Ren.” I summarized.

“Here is the problem with that. The news of my ‘son’ being placed under my tutelage has the Nobility scrambling to fill our last four spots. There have even been threats of getting the Gods involved or taking the matter all the way up to the Vatican. While we really didn’t want to add any Nobles that we couldn’t completely trust…” He looked at Oz and Ren. "It appears that our hands are partially tied in this matter, which means our pool of candidates has decreased significantly.”

I swallowed. Rix and I were going to have to hold back a lot with other Nobles around. I knew we’d have to hold back some during interactions with the other teams, but having to hold back even in our day-to-day lives was going to be difficult.

“What is the plan then?” I squeezed Ether’s shoulder as she leaned against me.

Trent pulled up a map of the Ward. “There are six major cities in the Ward. Tres, Mive, Harror, Klix, Slece and Juel.”

“Which means one Noble from each city.” Ether concluded.

We all looked at Oz and Ren. Both had come from Harror, which meant there would be at least one city not represented.

“We have Harror and Slece covered.” Trent pointed at the map. "Which leaves us Tres, Mive, and Klix to cover as soon as we can.”

“How do we have Slece covered?” I realized I’d used my outside voice for the mental question.

Oz was the one that answered. "You’re going to use the fact that dad is from Slece to satisfy that one.”

Trent nodded. "And so is your mother, which makes it all the more difficult for any Nobility there to make a ruckus. Not that they won’t, but still.”

I had a bad feeling about going from one Noble to seven, but there didn’t seem like anything we could do about that.

“Where are we starting?”