Tynesday, 28th of Maia, 470th Year of the Fifth Era

Josias was sitting cross legged behind his grandfather and next to his father upon the straw carpets near the king's beach gazebo. Next to King Parhal were the kings of Rumaparau and Hutangali. The other noble clan heads and elders were also sitting as they faced the new arrival to the beach cove.

Sat across from them was the delegation of the Kingdoms of Tanjung Naria and Inamaria. King Benedictus Sinaria himself was sitting next to a middle-aged looking lady and another woman who looked positively ancient to Josias' eyes. The Sinaria King along with many of the men of Tanjung Naria were clad in western-style outfits while the women retained traditional Halak items of clothing.

It went without saying that the joyful mirth and relaxed atmosphere of the beach cove was now gone. The adults had stopped their game of sepak, the children were now with their parents, and Josias' peers had also ceased their activities. Everyone had gathered around near the carpeted areas with many of the younger folk standing around them. Looks of intrigue and suspicion could be seen on the faces of many of the people there.

King Parhal had eyed King Benedictus a little with a smirk before he cleared his throat and spoke. "Horas ma tu laekku dohot tu namborukku na hinaholongan na nga ro tuson… (I greet my beloved cousin and aunt who have come here…) To what do we owe the pleasure of your visit."

King Benedictus laughed as he scratched his grey goatee beard. "Need I any reason to give my greetings to my hulahula (mother's family)?"

King Parhal scoffed while shaking his head before he got up from the ground with the help of the other kings. He then made his way towards the Tanjung Narian delegation. However, instead of going to greet King Benedictus, King Parhal instead approached the old woman next to the king. He got down to kneel in front of the old woman before holding her hand and bowing his head down to kiss the back of it with his forehead. He then exchanged a couple of cheek kisses with the woman.

"You've grown bloody old, Parhal! Hahahahah!!" The old woman laughed revealing her mouth that had quite a few teeth missing as she playfully slapped the old man lightly on his cheeks.

"...I would say the same about you, namboru…" King Parhal smiled "...But I know enough on etiquette… to not mention a lady's age…"

It was only after the old king gave his greetings to the old woman before Josias saw him exchange pleasantries with King Benedictus.

"...Father, is that old woman who I think she is?" Josias whispered to his father.

"I believe so…" Lord Parulian answered. "Well, we'll find out soon enough because I think your oppung is calling us over now."

Just as his father had said, his grandfather had beckoned them over to him.

"...All of you come… Ruli! Pauli! And all my grandchildren too…!!" King Parhal had called out. Immediately, Josias stood up with his family as they headed over to where the king was. This also included Hesekiel and his siblings along with Bou (paternal aunt) Pauli and Amangboru Hasudungan. Timotheus, Maria, and their little siblings were of course included.

As they arrived, King Parhal had began to introduce all of them to the old woman.

"...My family… I'm sure I've told all of you about her… but let me formally introduce her to you…" King Parhal said. "This woman is the last living sister of my late father… my namboru… Idaulina boru Sigumogo…"

"It is an honor to meet you, namboru…" Parulian greeted the old woman as he too performed the salim gesture to her.

"...This is my eldest son… Parulian… As well as his family. His wife, a daughter of Sabam's… And their four children… Josias, Jakobus, Julia, and Janus…"

"Oh my, how adorable and wonderful to finally meet you!" Lady Idaulina seemed absolutely delighted to meet the rest of her kinsman. She even pinched Josias' cheeks and told him he looked exactly like King Parhal in his younger years. She then turned her attention to Josias' mother. "...So you're baby Sabam's daughter, eh? Tell me, is your aunt here as well?" Lady Idaulina asked Hotma.

Before Josias' mother could answer, a voice had already shouted out from among the elders of Goria. "I'm right here, you old hag!!". Ompung Ester had shouted out to which Lady Idaulina perked her head sideways to see where the voice was coming from. When she caught sight of Ompung Ester, Lady Idaulina's eyes seemed to sparkle as she gave an incredulous smile.

"Hah! You're just as much of a hag as I am now!" Lady Idaulina mocked Ompung Ester "Not so pretty anymore, are we?"

"At least I still have all my teeth!"

"I'm nearly eighty-two years old! Cut me some slack, you monkey child!"

Josias couldn't help but laugh at their interaction. The two old ladies seemed to go back quite a bit. Regardless, King Parhal continued to introduce his grandchildren from bapauda Partogi's line before finally introducing the family of his daughter, bou Pauli who had married into the Rapmasari clan.

"...What a pretty lady we have here! You look like a far eastern beauty!!" Lady Idaulina praised her grandniece Pauli while pinching her too. "You look very much like your late aunt Romaito. Speaking of which…"

Lady Idaulina looked at Lord Hasudungan as she made clicking sounds with her tongue while shaking her head. "A handsome man we have here… And by your looks, you're definitely Rihar's boy! A spitting image of your father when he was young!"

At this point, Ompung Ester couldn't help but break protocol as she got up and approached the old Lady with gusto. Elder Rihar also got up exasperatedly as he tried to hold back his wife.

"He got his looks from me!" Ompung Ester said.

"Hard to believe a monkey like you gave birth to a man like him… Though considering his father… My, my, Rihar, still as handsome as ever I see!"

Elder Rihar smiled at the compliment as he instinctively slicked back his hair but he immediately turned his head away when his wife shot back a 'death glare' at him.

"Stop flirting with my husband, old hag!" Ompung Ester held Elder Rihar's arm possessively as she glared at the older woman. "And don't mention how handsome my son is! You have your own son there!"

"Seriously, Rihar. How you went from courting my beloved niece to… this is beyond me…"

As Lady Idaulina made that remark, Ompung Ester seemed to have popped a vein in her head. She immediately summoned a fireball and hurled it at the old Lady. Josias was so shocked that he even tried to stop it along with some warriors from Sinaria who witnessed it. King Benedictus merely laughed, however, as he waved his hand to stop them from interfering.

Seeing the fireball being launched at her, Lady Idaulina merely gave a small smirk before she raised her hand. In a split second, her hand shined with a blue-coloured aura around it. She let the fireball be sucked into her own hand before she redirected the projectile towards the sky as it eventually dispersed.

"I taught you better than that, monkey, hahahahaha!" Lady Idaulina laughed incredulously to which Ompung Ester merely rolled her eyes.

"I was going easy on you…" Ompung Ester said as she pulled her husband back to return to their place for sitting.

"I'm sure you were." Lady Idaulina said as she shook her head.

Soon enough, the atmosphere of the area began to lighten somewhat. Far more than previously. King Benedictus also used the opportunity to introduce his own family that he had brought over to the rest of the kings and elders there.

Josias greeted King Benedictus' three sons and two daughters as well as the rest of their families. The one who intrigued him the most was the direct eldest grandson to the king. A man almost twenty years of age, a slightly darker shade of tanned-brown skin, and a smile that could send even sirens to their doom. Josias didn't even think Sadrach could compare very much to him.

The Prince's name was Alvaro Damião Sinaria. He had a somewhat powerful aura to him and carried himself with a certain dignitas.

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Prince Alvaro had introduced himself as a participant within the Gotilon festival's tournament. Josias couldn't help but feel so pumped imagining facing off against the man within the festival itself. Besides him, the other Tanjung Narian warriors also looked promising. The tournament was definitely going to be exciting to say the least.

As the clan elders and adults started conversing with each other, they had instructed for the younger folk to mingle with the rest. Naturally, Josias was told by his father to 'play nice' with the Sinarian delegation. Josias complied with a roll of his eyes. As if he had ever not played nice with anyone before.

Josias had taken Alvaro and the rest of the Sinarian youth to introduce them to his own Gorian and allied companions. Most of them had splendid reactions to the new company. It was all going swimmingly and they even invited the newcomers to the cove to swim. All felt nice until the part where Josias saw the way Alvaro looked when he saw Serena.

"And this here is Serena boru Rapmasari…?" As Josias introduced her, he saw the Sinarian prince show quite a dumbfounded expression. Although that was only for a split second before the prince put on his most charming smile.

"It is a pleasure to meet you…" Prince Alvaro immediately took Serena's hand to kiss it before he slicked back his curly hair and looked at her. "Forgive me for being forward, but I must confess. I don't think I've ever seen a woman as beautiful as you, my lady. Everyone else here is beautiful, but you…"

"Ah, why thank you ito…" Serena gave a difficult smile as she slightly nodded to Alvaro.

Josias couldn't help but feel like something was snapping inside of him when he saw it. This man was obviously flirting with her. Regardless, he tried his best to keep a smile on his face but his eyes couldn't hide a slight show of contempt. It was the first time he's seen someone so openly flirt with his lover like that.

Within Goria, it had always been public knowledge that Josias was Serena's only lover. The two had been joined at the hip since their childhood and no one really questioned it. No one among Josias' male peers had ever even tried to do anything with Serena outside of some instances in their early childhood.

"Ah, it's a wonderful thing that I see Lae Alvaro has a working pair of eyes!" Josias said, his tone ever-laced with the slightest hint of contempt. "My betrothed here truly is the most beautiful creature any person would see here on Banuatonga (the mortal plane)."

Josias did his utmost to speak with calm but he also emphasised the fact that she was spoken for and that he was the one doing the speaking.

"Oh truly, Lord Josias?" Alvaro laughed as he gave Josias a friendly pat on the back. "You are indeed a most fortunate man, my friend. But only betrothed? My you have quite the impressive self-control, Lord Josias. If it had been me, I would've swept her off her feet and married her then and there. Find a priest and a church and have it be done right in the eyes of God – ancestral traditions be damned."

"Ooooh, why didn't we think of that, Josi? We could've just found a church to marry us as fast as we could and have Bang Timo bless us!" Serena laughed at what she seemed to think was the Prince's innocent joke. Josias played and laughed along with her but his eyes weren't laughing. The ones who were really laughing at the entire exchange were of course Josias' peers. They seemed to be having the time of their lives at his expense.

"That's quite difficult to do when, 1. Your father is the Archbishop of the entire Halak church and 2. Our families would kill us if they found out…" Josias laughed as he caressed his fiance's wet hair.

"Ah, that does sound like a difficult situation…" Alvaro nodded before he gave a friendly bump to Josias' shoulder "But honestly though, be careful. Wouldn't want anyone to 'steal' the princess away now, would we?"

Alvaro's tone was calm, friendly, and somewhat jovial throughout his statement. But despite all that, Josias couldn't help but feel half his head ache in a migraine from stress. However, he was still willing to 'play nice' as his father had told them to. That was of course until Prince Alvaro made one last remark.

"Oh, but now that I think about it, it wouldn't even matter if you two did marry in your so-called 'church'…" Though his tone was still friendly, his eyes now looked at the Gorian youth with an ever noticeable look of condescending. "A holy sacrament blessed by a 'priest' of invalid orders in a church run by an Arch-Heretic… You wouldn't be married in the eyes of God. I believe you should convince your grandfather to rectify that, Lord Josias. Come back to the true fold of Sanctum and give the good Lady a proper wedding free of your heretic and pagan influences… Unless another True Son of the Lord were to come and save her himself…"

With that remark, the rest of the Tanjung Narian and Inamarian clansmen had let out laughs disparaging the Gorian's protestantism.

Josias had tried to be patient. Perhaps his comments about Serena and the like were just playful and somewhat innocent. Josias had given the Prince the utmost charity up to that point, thinking it was probably just all in his head. But those comments? No, those were vicious and meant to get a reaction out of him.

He gave a look to his other peers there, including the young warriors of Hutangali and Rumaparau. Johannes and Mateus already had that look in their faces like they were about to kill someone. Josias had to be honest with himself. He was also this close to socking the pretty-boy princeling of the Sinaria right in the face. But he couldn't look like the aggressor.

"You hold your tongue!" Prince Panghirimon of Hutangali pointed towards Alvaro.

"You have quite the nerve talking like that to us here!" Johannes said incensed, adding onto Panghirimon's offense.

Serena's previous smile towards Alvaro had turned into the coldest scowl. "The Arch-Heretic? How dare you disparage my father like that!" The rage in her voice could not be contained.

Alvaro only gave a smile of confusion as he said, "What is with all of this rage? I only have the best interest at heart for the immortal souls of you schismatics! Return to the fold of Mother Church and together we can shine a beacon of light towards the rest of the accursed pagans on these islands! You've already accepted Christ, why not come into full communion with His church?"

"Forget about it, abang." A young lady of the Sinaria said with a cold sneer in her tone. She was attractive to be sure, but the sheer disdain on her face when looking at the Gorians had erased all sense of beauty from her face. If Josias wasn't mistaken she was Alvaro's sister Esmeralda. "What use is there to cast pearls on swine? Heretic whores are barely worth your time anyways. If you take the daughter of the Arch-Heretic, you'd only be inviting Jezebel upon our grandfather's courts!"

That was the straw that broke the camel's back. Josias still had a tiny inkling of hope that things could de-escalate, but to think this 'princess' would dare say something like that to his beloved? Josias threw away all pretense of civility from his mind as he looked to the smiling Alvaro.

"Alvaro, if you would be so kind to tell the tainted whore standing next to you to shut both her mouth and her bujjang (vagina), that would be most gracious. The odorous whiff coming from that reeks of the rest of your friend's seed stinking her up." Josias said with a sneer. Esmeralda's face couldn't be anymore shocked. Even some of the Gorian ladies had held their hands to their mouths.

Alvaro had stopped smiling. "What the fuck did you just say about my sister…?" Alvaro stepped forward but Josias didn't back down.

"Your eyes are working fine, but it seems you're a little deaf in the ears, Alvaro. I told your whore sister to shut up." Josias said as he looked the man who was a little taller than him dead in the eyes. He gave another sneer before he called out to his companions behind him. "Did you hear that, boys? It seems taking Papist Catholic Impotent penises up their asses have rendered our Sinarian friends deaf and imbecilic!"

Now it was the Gorians who were laughing. Prince Hagabeon Rumaparau even added, "Tell that pauper to shut his mouth up too! It reeks of Povorian catholic cock as well! Hahahahah!"

And it was then when the faces of the Sinarians had darkened. Alvaro had looked like he was about to strike out in anger and Josias was readying himself to take the first blow. If he were hit first, he could claim that what would then unfold would be an act of self defense.

However, just as he looked like he was about to throw the first punch, the adults had caught wind of their arguments and had immediately appeared between them. Lord Parulian had intervened along with the rest of the five-star Gorian warriors, their auras flashing.

From the Sinaria side, a middle aged man had appeared standing in front of Alvaro as well. The same dark expression upon the prince's face. It was Alvaro's father, Lord Bernardo Sinaria. Some other Sinarian warriors also appeared beside him. Around Lord Bernardo was an intensely wild aura.

From his aura, Josias could tell that Lord Bernardo was a five star warrior as well but he seemed to be newly ascended. The rest of the Sinarian warriors looked no stronger than four stars, thus they were still vastly underpowered compared to the Gorian warriors.

"Your son was insulting my children, Lord Parulian." Lord Bernardo squinted his eyes and kept a terrifying gaze over Josias, however, he was still being overwhelmingly pressured by the combined five star auras of the Gorians.

"They are still children, only their bodies have grown. My son will apologise." Lord Parulian said as he looked at Josias. Josias couldn't help but have a small smirk on his face as he noticed that Alvaro was being pressured by the aura. He couldn't be anything more than a second star.

Regardless, seeing Lord Bernardo also being pressured by his father, Josias complied and performed the somba towards the Sinarian warrior. "It was unbecoming of me, amangboru…" Josias said as he tried his best to sound sincere "I make no excuses except for the fact that I shall do my best to not do such a thing…"

"That hardly seems like a fitting apology." Lord Bernardo said but regardless he retracted his aura. "But Our Lord taught us to turn the other cheek and pray for our enemies. I will hold the young lord to his promise that this does not repeat. Come now, children, we must settle into our accommodations…"

Alvaro and Esmeralda looked like they had something more to say, but a glance from Lord Bernardo and the aura of five star warriors seemed to have quieted them somewhat. Regardless, Alvaro had to get something in so he turned to Josias to say, "I will see you all at the tournament… Be prepared." He then turned to follow his father.

Serena could only stick out her tongue at the Sinaria siblings. Soon enough, the Sinarian and Inamarian delegation had got up and made themselves scarce from the cove. Though no conflict actually happened, Josias and his peers couldn't help but feel like they had won a major victory. As they saw the backs of the departing catholics, they howled out in great cheer.

Lord Parulian and the rest of his lieutenants could only sigh as they looked at the youth of Goria celebrating the confrontation. He then pulled Josias aside before asking him. "Didn't I tell you to play nice with them?"

"I was 'playing nice' but then they started insulting us, calling us heretics and even disparaged the Lord Ephorus right in front of Serena! I'm sorry if I couldn't just stand by as I see my beloved insulted like that!"

"...God, Jesus Christ…" Parulian couldn't help but rub the bridge of his nose before he sighed out exasperatedly. "Just make sure to beat their asses in the tournament…"

"Oh, you can count on me, pap." Josias grinned.

And so the Gorians and their allies continued to enjoy themselves in the cove, the confrontation with the Sinarians notwithstanding. It wasn't until the afternoon and after watching the beautiful sunset did they finally leave the cove.

They had an eventful festival to look forward to, that was for sure. And Josias now had a new goal in mind for the tournament. He had to humiliate Alvaro in the worst, most public way possible.

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