The two of them began to fly on their own as they adjusted to the effects of Rave's blows.
"What happened with the Hulk?" Za'Fia asked, rubbing her sore stomach as she flew.
I told them what he and I discussed while they were out and how he wanted things to get worse. Then I told them about how he insisted we leave after seeing I wasn't on board with the idea, so now we were in the Griffin District, heading to its central city, Rexa. I'd already read the brochure before they woke.
"The district's Crest Head is Raina. This is her direct territory outside her duties as Ryfi Theos. Her crest is comprised of over 800 pneumarians and 1,000 klevonians; they mainly use the wind element, and have an impressive crest worth over 1.9 trillion spendil," I told them.
"A Crest Head inherits a percentage of their crest's worth. With a crest worth that high, this would make her among the wealthiest Crest Heads," Avarice commented aloud. "I respect her a little more now."
"Really? Crest Heads inherit part of their crest's worth?" I asked. "I didn't know that..."
Unfortunately, your crest is in no state to generate any revenue at the moment, Viraa teased.
"It doesn't matter anyway," I waved off the thought. "We have plenty of money."
"You think a measly 87.5 billion will suffice?" Avarice stopped mid-flight and asked with irritation. "Michael, Tymon, and myself have the benefit of immortality. Do you think that will suffice for that long a duration? As for the rest of you, we're children of the previous Ryfi Theos – we are nobles. You are now Crest Head. Your status needs to reflect that."
"Money isn't everything," I replied sourly. "I'm fine with what I have. It's more than enough."
Avarice looked repulsed by my lack of ambition.
"You continue to show me that you don't have what it takes to bring our crest back from ruin. Ironically, you lack the foresight. You also lack the drive that wills forward the necessary innovative mind."
"You're right. I'm probably not the best ideal Crest Head," I admitted. "I don't care about bureaucracy or politics, or any of the other crap that comes with managing a large territory. But I know that giving that power to someone like you would eventually prove to be a horrible mistake. So, for now, I'll take it a day at a time and deal with things as they come."
I started to turn around to resume flying, then stopped and continued speaking.
"You know, since you know so much about this kind of stuff, it would've helped to have you as my advisor or something, but that'd require me to trust you. But you've proven that you don't care about what happens around you and take very little stock in other people's lives. So long as you're entertained or you get what you want, the end result is all that matters to you. I'll somehow turn things around without having to resort to harming the environment, hurting the animals, or making life more difficult for the people there already."
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Avarice started to drift forward but continued to look at me with contempt. As he passed me, I heard him say, "Inherited by a child...unbelievable."
After that, we flew in silence. At some point, we started to encounter several griffins of different ages flying around the pointed mountain tops.
"What else does the brochure say about the district?" Za'Fia broke the silence.
"Um," I thought, recalling what I'd read. "It has a nurture-ran governing – Raina ensures her district is run with the best intentions for future generations in mind. It earns a large percentage of its revenue from the famous theme parks, and it has a population of 44 million."
I was about to wonder why the number was lower than normal when I got my answer as we approached the city, Rexa. Its temple-like buildings were built into the sides of the tall mountains. I'm not sure how it all held up. It was both beautiful and stomach-turning to look at, despite my ability to fly. The wind howled as it blew between mountains, and bells rang in response. It was a pleasant place, really. Not too far away, I could see a thin hill rising and falling below the clouds. No, not a hill. That was the peak of a roller coaster! What kind of vertical drop rises above the clouds!?
No wonder the district had a relatively small population. You'd have to be able to fly or not be afraid of heights to live there. As for those going for the theme parks...I guess thrills are more extreme on Cindar. I laughed internally as I watched several klevonians and pneumarians dive bomb below the clouds as they flew about.
The Crest House was pretty obvious, being the only massive temple among the other buildings and mountaintops, so we headed there.
Sitting at the top of the temple was a klevonian in a green robe. He had short orange hair with green tips and emitted an aura of warmth.
As we floated up to him, I saw that he was meditating. His bio card revealed his name was Xiu, also known as The Antifrost. He was a 3-star threat with a base EQN of 47,300,000, and possessed two cintracies: the eutierric Blaze cintracy, and a temp cintracy called Cold Absorption. Apparently, it allowed him to absorb cold from his surroundings and others to fuel his thermal output. It also made his targets more susceptible to heat, essentially allowing his flames to burn them more easily.
He'd be a bad matchup against Naomi, then, Za'Fia commented. She'd only make him a bigger threat.
Lucky for us, we're not here to start trouble, I responded.
"Hello, I'm Xiu," he spoke without opening his eyes. "I'm sure you all are here to speak with Her Ladyship. Go inside."
"That's it?" Avarice asked, raising an eyebrow. "You'd just let strangers approach the Ryfi Theos so freely?"
"You all fought Rabae, correct? Though less powerful, Her Ladyship's abilities make her a uniquely dangerous individual that even the eldest among the Crest Heads acknowledges. Your Crest Head may be unique herself, and I mean no offense when I say this, but none of you pose nearly enough of a threat to warrant concern."
Ouch. Again.
"No offense taken," I replied politely as I grabbed Avarice's arm and forced him down toward the temple entrance with me and Za'Fia. He looked like he was gonna blow a fuse, but thankfully, he held it in.
Men and their fragile pride, Za'Fia rolled her eyes when she saw his soured expression as we landed before the door.
As we landed, the door was opened by another klevonian. He was dressed in a green robe as well, but had long, green hair that fell down his back. He was also a bit taller than Xiu. His name was Lei Gong (the first cindarian we'd met with two names), aka, The Warping Thunder. He was a 3-star threat with a base EQN of 47,210,000, and possessed two cintracies. One was a temp cintracy called Optic Warp, a much weaker version of Rabae's Warp cintracy. It only let him warp to where he could see and only allowed him to warp himself, not others. Still, among the klevonian society of Pneuma City, Lei Gong was revered as a martial artist. His other cintracy was the eutierric cintracy, Galvanize, which gave him control over lightning.