The whole city turned lively. Many celebrities who were invited accepted the invitation quickly, but after the messenger left, they immediately visited their friends and discussed what Roland’s possibly malicious invitation meant.
After all, Roland killed the fellows from Silver Wings the moment he returned. Though those guys were soon resurrected, it was obvious that Roland had won the internal conflict among the Gold Sons.
The nobles who chose the right side were delighted, and those who didn’t were greatly worried.
The neutral parties were concerned too. They had no idea what Roland was going to do next, but since Roland invited so many people, he was clearly going to change some of the rules.
The whole city seemed to be caught up in a wave of anxiety.
In the evening, a heavy rain fell. Raindrops the size of beans hit the ground crazily, leaving puddles all over the street in no time.
Nobody wanted to go out in such weather.
However, Roland’s messenger had made it clear.
No excuses.
No excuses? Why?
Roland claimed that the banquet would be held in the square before the Magic Tower, which was too small to accommodate all the guests.
But if the banquet was held in the square, how long could they keep themselves dry in the storm even if they had umbrellas?
They might catch a cold if they were drenched.
Chances were that Roland was only screwing them over by doing this.
Some people, enraged, looked at the storm and sneered. They stayed at home and pretended that they weren’t invited.
But some others sighed and asked their servants to prepare umbrellas and carriages, before they set off for the Magic Tower.
Old Conan Doyle was one of them. Looking at the storm outside, he heaved a helpless sigh.
His wife said, “Roland is obviously giving you a hard time by inviting all of you to a banquet in such terrible weather without accepting any excuses.”
“I know, but I don’t have a choice. I chose the wrong side. Now that he’s back and sent an invitation to me, our family may be wiped out if I don’t go.”
His wife exclaimed in panic, “How dare he!”
“Why daren’t he? He’s a Mage,” Old Conan Doyle said painfully. “Even the royal family never did anything after he took the queen. Why do you think we can resist him? We’re old enough to die now, but our children deserve a future.”
The woman sobbed with red eyes.
She thought that her husband probably wouldn’t return from Roland’s banquet.
“Don’t cry yet. I don’t think he’ll go that far,” said Conan Doyle without any confidence. Then he spoke to the butler. “Let’s go.”
After that, the butler walked Conan Doyle to the carriage while sheltering him under an umbrella.
The storm was so powerful that the top of the carriage kept rattling.
Conan Doyle closed his eyes; his body was shivering along with the carriage.
He was completely at peace. For an old man who was ready to die, nothing could scare him anymore.
After a long time, the carriage stopped, and the butler said, “My lord, we’re here… But something is not right.”
“Something should be wrong.” Conan Doyle lifted the curtain of the carriage and said, “Roland said no excuses, and a huge storm has come in. It’s not strange that he predicted the storm as a Mage. Or rather, he may have personally evoked the storm to teach us a good…”
Then, Conan Doyle’s face froze too.
He saw the most magnificent light before his eyes.
The whole city had been covered in darkness under the thick clouds and the heavy rain.
But what did he see now?
It was a gigantic building that seemed like a temple, with nothing but a roof and dozens of rock pillars to support the building. It had no walls. In every direction was an entrance.
The building seemed simple, but it was truly enormous.
It was at least twenty-five meters tall, with an unbelievable presence. It would take ten seconds for one to move their eyes from the left end of the building to the right.
Luminous spheres that were emitting vivid light were floating under the roof.
Shouldn’t this place be the square of the Magic Tower?
Conan Doyle subconsciously looked at the back of the huge “pavilion” only to see the high-rising Magic Tower back there.
He was pretty sure that this building did not exist here half a day earlier.
Was this the splendor of a powerful Mage?
Conan Doyle stepped off the carriage and entered the massive building under an umbrella.
The building was shocking enough from the outside, but after he came in, he found that he had underestimated it.
He felt that he was nothing but a mouse inside a large garden.
Closing the umbrella, Conan Doyle saw many acquaintances. He wasn’t the first to arrive.
He looked around and found a few friends. He walked to them.
Before he joined them, someone from the Black Sand Gang approached him and said respectfully, “Your Excellency, please sign your name here. Mr. Roland would like to know how many guests are here tonight.”
He immediately wrote his name.
At this point, Conan Doyle had a feeling that the banquet might not be a disaster, as proven by the building and the signature.
If Roland intended to kill them, such trouble would’ve been unnecessary.
After he signed his name, two close friends came to him, and one of them whispered, “Old Doyle, do you have any inside news? Why has Mr. Roland summoned us?”
Conan Doyle shook his head.
Then, they began to throw out speculations.
There were other groups of people near them, all discussing similar things.
As time went by, all those who were willing to come to the banquet were mostly present.
Though there were more than a hundred of them, they were still too few to fill up the vast building.
When the banquet was about to start, the members of the Black Sand Gang, as temporary servants, served the wine and the food on the tables.
The stone tables and chairs in the building were in a crude style, but nobody dared to despise them.
The rear end of the building was connected to the Magic Tower.
Then, the people from the Magic Tower showed up.
Roland was leading the group, followed by Vincent and the queen. Vivian and Jerry were behind them. The other magic apprentices were at the back of the group.
Seeing the host, the hundred guests hurried to stand up and greet him.
Standing on a dais, Roland looked around and said with a smile, “I thought that the Magic Tower would be too small to accommodate all the guests, so I built a larger building with magic. But it seems that my appeal is much less significant than I thought.”
All the guests felt a cold sweat on their backs.
