The Ogre Strength Fairy and the Eldest 'Son'
Chapter 173 - An Advanced Ancient Mired In Modern Mediocrity

Chapter 173: Chapter 173 - An Advanced Ancient Mired In Modern Mediocrity

The cultivator’s steps carried her swiftly along the outskirts of the competition grounds. It had taken longer to shrug her servant off than she would have liked. The woman finally agreed when it was suggested that she could be of help by remaining available to assist Dima in handling the delivery at the branch.

The late morning air still held a bit of a chill and the Skydancer wanted to remain perched on her shoulder instead of flying on its own accord, but both of those things would change soon enough. The sun on her face was warm as she took stock of the grounds.

She could have taken a carriage all the way from the train station, but walking allowed her to better observe the layout of the temporary merchant stalls being erected along the roads. It helped her get a feel for the expected scale of visitors, even though she had read up on the numbers beforehand.

Not to mention that those vehicles moved far too slowly when she wanted to get a task finished. Even a motivated physical Enchanter could outrun the average horse pulled carriage or buggy. It also felt like she was taking something a mortal might need when she had two perfectly good legs.

The vehicles were also more prone to catching fire and breaking than she was. Altogether a nuisance that she had endured due to the expectations of an affluent household!

Her fingers absently touched her chest where the fragment of spirit connected to Qatrand lay. She prodded at it gently with her spirit, but felt nothing distinct in return. The distance was already too great.

It had been the *last* twelve times she’d done it since the train.

The grounds sprawled across a pretty massive section of level ground at the edge of the southern plains. Patches of scrub trees had been cleared to make room for the temporary structures. Of course, some of the well constructed buildings were not meant to be permanent either, but it sounded wrong when they were built so well.

Occasionally old grounds were reused the next cycle, but more often it was not so. If the chosen land happened to be nice enough - and it often was - it was usually divided up between the heroes of the regions as a reward and became a new town. The deeds were also quite regularly bought up by a single region’s bigshot so that there was no mixed governance.

Which worked out, considering that well more than half of the warriors wanted nothing to do with land or people management. They just wanted to fight the Voidlings and all the rest was propaganda politics. Unlike her father, Elua understood and accepted the reasons for it.

Which is why she had no qualms about raising Qat to be more in the public eye. As long as it was not against her desires she would work hard. Her beloved was already the Yecine ’heir’ anyway... for now.

’And whatever their scheme, being famous and well liked by the people will help her keep it that way.’

The low angled sun sent long shadows from the three regional towers and the pavilions that stretched between them. The Void Defense arranged the competition so that between three and five regions were included, depending on population.

Elua was sure that with the other two involved, the numbers were a little light. If the location had been different, a fourth region could have attended. Which wasn’t especially strange, but felt worth taking note of... so she did. After all, there was supposed to be a famous swordswoman in attendance.

’The number of stalls and amount of area that has been cleared is rather big for only our interested populations. They expect a lot of distant travelers, it seems. Honestly, that’s even better for me~’

She hopped up onto a cylindrical earthen structure after carefully fading out of sight. The cultivator looked down on workers that scurried about like ants as she scanned it all from a higher angle. Her mint eyes tracked the flow of supplies and warehouses, the separation of cultivator and mortal tent grounds, and the people already waiting for the event.

It wasn’t hard to pick out a lot of inefficiencies in their routes and see some disadvantages in the distances the mortals would have to walk. As well as the amount of shade cover available after midday. The mornings may be chill, but the afternoons would be blistering.

A flash of irritation crossed her face before her facade smoothed it away. The Void Defense Society had certainly made this grandiose without enough thought, but everyone else involved was equally negligent.

Even the defensive formations being sketched and chiseled visibly into the raised hard-stone seemed more focused on impressing the visitors with the *idea* of protection from the dangers of the Descent if it started than actual functionality. That the place wasn’t meant to be a wartime fortress... she understood.

But when it could be without much more effort, what was stopping them? She could see so many sigils that were wasteful - and there had been months for some of her simple ideas to spread. She sighed theatrically while ordering the Skydancer to fly and launching herself back to the ground.

’I sense difficulties ahead...’

She slipped between two empty guard posts while their occupants were distracted by a merchant’s cart having trouble with its wheel. Even when she dropped the illusion, the brunette’s small form drew no attention as she made her way toward the central administrative structure..

It was time to meet the lead sigilist and see just how much freedom she’d actually be given to ’help’. Her ’sweet’ smile grew and she expressed more ’innocence’ in her eyes... for being underestimated was the fastest path she knew to getting exactly what she wanted.

The air held traces of an incense meant to ward off biting insects and Elua kept her nose from wrinkling at its excessive amount. Sometimes less was more! The reception area also showed signs of hasty organization that ’impressed’ her just as much.

A harried-looking assistant noticed her entry and scrambled to his feet.

"You must be the young one they said was coming from the Coiled Serpent Guild?"

She wanted to leave... but she nodded. He gestured for her to follow quickly and led the heiress past more desks piled haphazardly with papers and half-drawn ritual diagrams.

The man in charge proved to be a tall, thin man that barely glanced up from the documents spread across his desk as they entered. A classic show of authority... that, on top of the rest of what she saw, just screamed ’annoying boss’.

"Ah yes, the prodigy who has supposedly been impressing everyone. Have a seat."

His tone suggested she was an inconvenience he was *obligated* to deal with. The brunette settled into the offered chair with poise, her ’sweet’ smile never wavering.

"Thank you for having me. I hope I can be of assistance."

"Yes, well-"

He shuffled some papers to look important before turning his gaze on her. The Goltbred heiress he saw looked small and harmless, wearing a pale red dress.

"Your work with large-scale formations has drawn attention. However, this is a delicate operation. It requires precise coordination between multiple sigilist Guilds."

Elua nodded attentively while noting the sketched diagrams visible on his desk. The base patterns were sound enough, but the essence distribution was inefficient like everything in this backwater. It was like they stopped trying once they got the thing to work the first time.

"While your... youthful enthusiasm is appreciated, try not to disrupt the established workflow."

"Of course! I wouldn’t want to interfere with your important work. I was sent to observe and suggest."

Her mint eyes widened like she was startled by his accusing tone and she held her hand to her chest to sell her ’childish’ but ’obedient’ behavior. She was actually ordered to make improvements if she could, so she would help for appearances sake.

Yet, the letters from the Guild leaders said nothing about getting along well with the event staff. Though she would be willing to try with others in the future... just not *now* with this man!

He seemed relieved by her apparent acceptance of such a ’minor’ job and she realized he was being petty with his display only because he thought she was after his role.

"Good, good. Just try not to make any major changes without consulting us first."

Elua rose and bowed... taking on the very image of a ’well-mannered’ young cultivator accepting valuable guidance from her elder. The assistant led her back out and provided a few copies of relevant documents she asked him for.

It was only after she left that the man in charge realized he’d forgotten to have her sign the standard contract agreements about responsibility and resource usage. He made a mental note to catch her later, already dismissing the matter from his mind.

---

Elua had made circuits around the entire area before her steps carried her back to the outer edge of the competition grounds. Fewer people lingered in the midday heat than in the cooler morning - though there were still enough out working to look busy.

Her slightly bored eyes tracked the movements of workers setting up more structures while she made mental notes about which of the areas would need the most attention for her planned comfort measures. It wasn’t like she had a special soft spot for mortals, but they gossiped a lot more!

Deep blue fabric unlike anything she’d noted in the grounds caught her attention. Through gaps between the tents, she glimpsed a woman in an ornate battle dress directing the placement of large ice blocks into one of the outer storage buildings.

The fluidity of her movements and the distinctive clothing marked her clearly as someone of note. Of course, there were plenty of other details that made putting a name to the cultivator easy.

’Ah. That must be the Frozen Duskblade. Yes, quite the presence she has.’