Chapter 146 – The Long Table.

The walk back to the Lower Cauldrons Estate late in the afternoon had a relaxed pace.

The squad strode down the southern avenue stripped of the heavy armor on their shoulders, carrying sacks of silver coins at their belts and talking boisterously about the highlights of the arena. The tension of recent days had vanished entirely from everyone's faces.

When they turned the final corner of the cul-de-sac, the manor's double iron gates burst open with a violent clang before Diana could even reach for the key in her pocket.

Mai appeared at the threshold of the gate.

The tiger girl was wearing her loose gray tunic and cloth trousers, round ears perked upright and striped tail lashing the air in sheer agitation. She looked over the entire group, sniffed the street air twice, and bolted across the gravel to halt right in front of Diana:

“You took way too long!” Mai crossed her arms with a petulant pout, baring her fangs. “I spent the entire day sitting on the wall waiting for someone to try and break in! Nobody showed up! It was completely boring!”

Kael let out a booming laugh, clapping a broad hand onto the girl's shoulder:

“Be grateful nobody showed up, kitty! We wiped the arena floor with three pairs in a row!”

Diana gave two gentle pats to Mai's head, who closed her eyes purring in that very second, before the Commander pulled out her dimensional bag and placed five silver coins into the hands of Kael and Aurelia-Elysia.

“Take the coin and head to the meat plaza,” Diana instructed with a slight smile on her lips. “Buy two whole cuts of infernal ox tenderloin, barrels of hot apple cider, and fresh rye loaves. Today we celebrate properly.”

Kael and Aurelia cheered together, grabbing a handcart in the courtyard and sprinting toward the commercial street.

***

Two hours later, the manor's inner courtyard had been transformed into an open-air banquet.

Kael had fired up the embers of the iron oven in the corner of the wall, grilling thick cuts of meat seasoned with fire-salt and wild garlic. Aurelia-Elysia had arranged the long wooden table beneath the purple leaves of the willow, heaping the tabletop with platters of cured cheese, baskets of warm bread, and clay mugs.

Diana sat at the head of the table wearing black trousers and a loose linen shirt, the Crown of Arcane Sovereignty resting upon her brow between her obsidian horns.

Rhea wasted no time. 

The wolf girl took the chair pressed against Diana's left side, wrapped in her blue velvet blanket lined with hare fur, spearing the tenderest cuts of roast meat with a fork and setting them straight onto the Commander's plate, silver ears upright with pure satisfaction.

On the other side, Mai sat on the bench to Diana's right.

The tiger girl ate ribs with both hands, smearing her fingers with grease and spicy sauce, letting out little snarls of pleasure with every hearty bite. Her striped tail trailed behind Diana's chair, resting its furry tip on the Commander's knee.

Rhea glanced sideways at Mai's tail resting against Diana. 

This time, the wolf girl did not draw her dragon daggers and did not bend the iron silverware. She merely huffed under her breath, shoved her chair half a centimeter closer to Diana, and looped her arm over the Commander's shoulders, ensuring her side of the table remained properly claimed.

Diana speared a piece of meat with her fork, chewing slowly, making no effort to push either of them away. She had already given up fighting against the complete absence of personal space in that manor.

***

Kael sat down at the middle of the table, raising a mug brimming with dark ale:

“I still can't believe that opening blow from the rock demons!” The vanguard thumped his chest over his shirt, laughing loudly. “Both cleavers struck my shield at the same time and my health bar barely registered the weight! That reinforcement from Master Volkan turned my armor into a fortress wall!”

Aurelia-Elysia gave a sweet laugh, pouring cider for Seraphina: “And did you see the faces on those magma casters when Seraphina's Quartz Titan dropped right into the fire vents? They didn't even know where to look!”

Seraphina pushed her round spectacles up her nose, cheeks flushed from mana wine, cradling the mug with both hands:

“The resonance from Cassian's Gem worked flawlessly. The Crystal Serpent consumed twenty percent less sustained mana than projected in House Vesperis's ancient calculations.”

Zarek sat at the end of the table, his two primary hands holding a goblet of wine while his four chitin hands carved slices of meat with small daggers:

“That lead blow from the executioner in the third round was heavy.” The arachnid swordsman looked at Diana with a grin of sharp teeth. “If you hadn't melted the big guy's shoulder plate with your horn beam, I would have had to pop my Death Denial to crack his armor.”

Diana took a sip of hot cider, looking around at the six combatants gathered around the oak table.

She calmly reviewed the figures in her head:

The prizes from the three consecutive arena victories had brought in thirty clean silver coins at the judges' counter. Deducting the five coins spent on the banquet and party drinks, the faction vault closed out the night with an exact historic balance:

Five hundred and twenty-five silver coins accumulated.

Exactly Fifty-Two and a Half Gold Coins.

***

—Remember how you were sitting on a cold rock two weeks ago crying amidst the ashes of a manticore?

The System's voice resonated in Diana's mind, not with the mockery of before, but with a warm presence of black gold drifting in the depths of her thoughts.

—Look at this courtyard now, Diana.

Diana lowered her clay mug slowly, resting her elbows on the wooden table.

She looked around.

Kael and Mai were competing over who could eat the most spicy sausages without coughing, drawing laughs from Aurelia-Elysia. Seraphina explained the anatomy of crystal spirits to Zarek, who listened with genuine curiosity between sips of wine. And Rhea leaned against her shoulder, calm breathing warming Diana's neck.

Diana felt the steady beat of her Archdemon heart against her ribs.

She had spent seventeen years of her life believing that the top of the mountain was an empty place where only the strongest and loneliest could draw breath.

But here, beneath the dark sky of the Third Circle, bathed in the glow of the grill embers and the uninhibited laughter of six people who had bled for her on the arena sands, Diana understood the true worth of what she had gathered.

She raised her mug of cider into the air.

Silence fell over the table that very instant. All six members stopped what they were doing, raising their mugs and goblets in unison to match the Commander's toast.

Diana looked into each pair of eyes with a calm, sharp, and deeply genuine smile:

“To the Arcane Greed Faction,” Diana declared, her steady voice echoing across the stone courtyard. “We conquered the arena. And tomorrow we claim our Border Pass.”

“TO ARCANE GREED!” they all roared together, slamming their mugs in the center of the table with a crash of earthenware, laughter, and wine splashing into the air.

Diana drank a sweet gulp of cider, letting the warmth of the celebration fill the night.

The battle of the Red Cauldron was won. And the path back to the gates of the Second Circle was officially open.