The banquet had been arranged on a broad stretch of grassland beside the lake. Craftsmen, chefs, and maidservants from Leyndell had begun preparations a full day and night earlier. By the time Lucia and the others arrived, the once-empty meadow had been transformed into an elegant, magnificent venue.
The venue had been laid out in a roughly circular formation. Royal court craftsmen had driven powerful Trolls to haul in vast quantities of granite, then used gravity magic inherited from the Onyx Lords to construct an imposing banquet platform. The grass at the center, intended for song and dance performances, had also been leveled and reinforced by monks using incantations, making it temporarily as sturdy as a city wall.
Beyond that, every dining utensil in the venue had been transported from the Golden Sanctuary. Dozens of court chefs stood ready in the temporary kitchens set up behind the grounds, waiting only for the guests to arrive before presenting hospitality worthy of a top-tier state banquet in the shortest possible time.
Lucia watched the scenery through the carriage window the entire way. Radagon had clearly put a great deal of thought into this feast; every aspect of the arrangements had been exceptionally thorough.
At the same time, he saw the Golden Dynasty's profound reserves of strength. If these numerous, well-coordinated craftsmen, sorcerers, and monks were deployed to a battlefield, building a war fortress that would be difficult to breach would not be much more complicated than constructing this venue.
The convoy traveled all the way to the banquet platform and stopped in an open area nearby designated for carriages and horses. Lucia first helped Miquella out of the carriage, then gently woke Malenia, carried her down, and carefully placed her in the wheelchair that had long been prepared.
Seeing that the gloom