Alys chuckled watching the scene unfold on the Aether screens which showed the same place now.

"I still wonder how, Re-Marquis Ocean managed to convince Master Vonstein to do this. This grumpy old man wouldn’t even listen to his own apprentices." She commented.

"Ocean is a Master himself," Silas said and Alys hummed.

"I know he’s a Master to everyone at Oasis."

Silas sighed, "Ocean cleared the distinction of being Master a couple of months ago, Alys. He’s a Master level mage. Or even beyond that, it’s hard to calculate since his mana capacity is vast."

Alys’s jaw dropped, "What?! Why didn’t you tell me before?"

Silas shrugged, "It was done privately since he is not exclusively a part of Mage’s Tower."

"And how did he manage to get Master Vonstein to do this?" Alys asked.

Silas was silent for a moment before he said, "Ocean gave him a vial of his blood to experiment on."

Alys’s jaw dropped again, "How could he?! That’s dangerous!"

Silas shrugged, "That was his choice. We have demon blood, Master Vonstein has been trying to find a way to counter it and what’s the best than a Dragon’s blood."

Alys shook her head and glanced at Ocean who stood silently in his place.

"But, shouldn’t he be commenting on everything?" She asked gesturing at Ocean.

Silas looked once at Ocean and then at the screens before asking, "Who would you watch if he started speaking? The screens or him?"

Alys blinked and then nodded, understanding as she realised that if Ocean started speaking then all the attention would probably be fixed on him and the actual Trial would be ignored.

Eric and Carlos were now before the old man- the Master level Mage of Mage’s Tower.

"Can you tell me now why there is a civilian involved here?" Eric asked once their confusion had settled.

Vonstein glanced at him, "This is one of your choice."

Eric frowned, "An innocent person-"

Vonstein picked up and slammed the end of his staff on the ground once creating the lightning flashes around him. Eric and Carlos stepped back and Vonstein looked at them, looking displeased.

"This is your final choice here. Prince Carlos," he spoke and Carlos flinched.

"The choices that you are from those cells," he gestured at the left side three cells.

"Among the three cells, you can only choice one. Please see and make a choice. You two only have ten minutes left before the Trial’s time limit ends."

Carlos gasped before he turned and rushed towards his choices, Eric pursed his lips staring at Vonstein for a moment before he turned to look at the cells on his side.

He walked over to the cell of the civilian old woman and assured her, "Please don’t be scared. I’ll save you."

"Are you sure?" Vonstein asked, "You haven’t even seen what’s in the third cell."

Eric looked at him and then at the last cell.

"Please wait," he told the woman before he walked over to the last cell.

He looked inside and his eyes widened as he saw a familiar face inside.

"Drac!" He gasped and Drac lifted his head.

He was strapped to the farther wall with chains and he looked injured.

"Drac, what’s-what’s going on? Why is he injured?" Eric asked Vonstein, completely panicked.

Carlos took was shocked as he saw his guard Vice Captain Jared Hopkins chained to the wall, looking injured.

"What’s the meaning of this?!" He demanded.

"These are your choices," Vonstein announced, "You can choose the mana stone which is the purest in its form and is capable of making you the richest person on the continent, you can choose a civilian or you can choose your comrade who is close to death. Whichever choice you make will decide their as well as your fate."

Eric and Carlos looked conflicted. Carlos stared at the huge mana stone that day before his eyes and then at the old man civilian in another cell.

Eric looked at Drac who looked like he was losing consciousness.

"Drac, are you all right? What happened?" Eric asked.

Drac didn’t say anything and Eric frowned, too conflicted and emotional.

Rune gripped the railing of the balcony tightly, the frost gathering where his grip tightened. He, Eric and Drac had become good friends when they had been staying together at Eldarf, watching their friend injured was distressing.

Ocean simply watched with a detached look on his face while both the Princes seemed like at the end of their wits and the time was ticking away.

Carlos was the first to make a choice, "I have made my choice."

Eric clenched his jaw before he said, "I too have made my choice."

Vonstein nodded and the Viewing Orbs focused on the Princes while the audience was on edge.

"I choose Vice Captain Hopkins! He’s my guard and my comrade. He’s also the future of this Kingdom, with men like him our Kingdom will be safe and secure." Carlos announced.

Vonstein glanced at him and waved his staff, the mana barrier that held Sir Hopkins was dissolved and Carlos rushed inside.

Carlos rushed inside and started undoing the restraints with the key that was hung on the wall nearby.

As soon as he was done, he was immediately enveloped by the blue light.

Vonstein then glanced at Eric who spoke, "I choose this old woman and can I also take the other old man who is trapped here."

"You can only take one." Vonstein spoke and Eric nodded.

He stared at Drac who kept his head down, it was clear that he didn’t want to leave Drac behind but he stepped away from Drac’s cell and walked over to the old woman’s cell.

Vonstein released the mana barrier and then the three of them were teleported right to the arena.

Carlos stumbled into the arena first with Sir Hopkins beside him, he had a huge grin on his face when he appeared and he expected to be welcomed with cheers but there was no sound. Not even from his own faction’s supporters.

After a few seconds, Eric appeared with the old woman and Master Sheldon Vonstein.

In that moment, the entire arena erupted in deafening cheers and Carlos and some nobles had to clamp their ears.

Ocean gracefully leapt down from the arena watching the time which showed that it was five in the evening now.

He had to wait for the people to stop shouting until he could speak.

"Welcome back, Your Highnesses. We all were an audience to your adventures that displayed your skills, courage, prudence and your choices. I must say, everyone here were engrossed in your journey, right?"

The audience cheered at Ocean’s question and he smiled before he faced the two Princes and Vonstein walked over and stood beside him.

"Now since we all saw everything, why don’t we see who the victory is?"

Carlos frowned at that, "Wait! What do you mean to see who the victor is? I reached here first, I’m the victor!"

Ocean looked at him and his face did pale for a moment but he stood his ground and Ocean smiled.

"I think you are misunderstanding something, Your Highness. The name of this trial is Secure the Valued not a race."

Carlos’s face flushed as he heard the people laughing at that and he grimaced, unable to say anything.

"Now since we all saw everything so, the judge won’t be me or His Majesty but the people." Ocean spoke and Carlos’s eyes widened.

"What?!"

Ocean nodded, "The purpose of these Trials is to look for the King who could rule this Kingdom the best and who knows the best than the people? So, for this Trial the jury is everyone present here. The choice of who is the winner will be made by the people."

The announcement seemed to have stunned everyone, they knew that they were going to see the Princes compete before then but for them all to be hurt was not something that they had been expecting. Even the nobles were in shock. Roger sat unfazed as he knew about it.

"Wait!" Duke Esmertia stood up shouting, "This is preposterous! If you had to have us choose our King then why did you make them go through the Trial?!"

"That’s right!"

"Your Majesty, how could you let this happen?!"

The nobles started shouting and Ocean looked at all of them before Roger cleared his throat.

"Marquis Ocean had given me an explanation about this." He announced, "The people shall watch and decide who they want as their King."

"If that’s the case we choose Prince Carlos to be our King." One of the nobles shouted and the other piped in.

"You seem to be confused, my dear friends." Ocean said making the nobles stop.

"The choice won’t be made by you or only the nobles," he said, "when I say everyone, I mean everyone. Every single person here has the right to choose their king."

"You mean even the commoners?!" One of the nobles gasped.

Ocean smiled, "Your Majesty our King doesn’t only rule us nobles, does he? He’s the monarch of everyone over here and the same responsibility will be on our next King, aren’t I right?"

Roger nodded, "That’s right."

Katherine watched aghast and spoke, "But Your Majesty-"

Roger turned to her with a cold look on his face, "I’m sure even Her Majesty the Queen agrees with us on this."

Katherine could see the hatred and murderous intent clearly in his eyes and she wondered if Ocean Ryujin had told him all about her secrets already. She swallowed her pride and smiled.

"Ye-Yes, you are right."

Colette frowned but didn’t say anything.

"Then, shall we begin with recounting the skills that were displayed by both the Princes?" Ocean announced and the crowd cheered.