A royal family banquet was held in the colorful palace gardens.
The main guests were Hades, Titan, his many wives, his mother Nyx, and his children.
It was a lively gathering.
Compared with how they acted at the Royal Military Academy, though, the children were a little reserved.
This was a rare opportunity: the Royal Military Academy granted a short break every three months.
That was the rule. Even Hades would not bend it, and he generally did not visit his children at the academy whenever he pleased.
That was despite also serving as its principal.
By now, Hades had eighty-one children.
Fifty-four sons and twenty-seven daughters.
Broadly speaking, his children had been born in three groups.
First came his eldest son, Kasa, born in 1474 and now eleven years old.
The first group consisted of twenty-five children born in 1475. They were all ten now.
Given how close he was to them in age, Kasa was counted among the first group.
The second group had been born in 1478: twenty-seven children, all now seven.
The third group had been born in 1482: twenty-seven children, all now three.
There was one more, Ouroboros, Shakky's child, born in 1484.
All of these children had inherited the Tartarus surname!
Two other children, however, had not inherited his surname.
Abel was Maso's son of the Fiorella Family.
Pujin was Ekaterina's son of the Vladimir Family in the Moscow Duchy.
Hades maintained his dignified bearing, a faint smile on his face as he watched his children enjoy the food, chat, and play together.
He played with them too.
Compared with the first two groups, he had spent more time with the three-year-olds in the third group. They were closer to him and more at ease around him.
Hades was happy to keep them company.