Succession Competition Rules

 The Second Prince almost crush the glass he was holding if he did not put it away earlier. It would have been undignified for him to crush a glassware at such a prestigious event yet his rage almost make him do it.

 "What should we do, Your Excellency?" his major supporter, the heir of a Duke Family, asked him. If he could, he want to make the man regret it, but...

 "We keep watch over him and my brother. But no touching anyone related to the man. If not, my chance of becoming the King will be gone," he said, before quickly taking the glass and pour down the drink into his throat.

-x-

 "So, he is the Crown Prince's man,"

 "No wonder he is allowed to have a dance with the princess,"

 "Poor Blas Family, all of the humiliation, for what, nothing,"

 "Not for nothing. At least we witness the Crown Prince's strongest young talent,"

 "And see the Blas Family got humiliated,"

 "You would love to see that,"

 "How about we talk business in a more... private setting?" Lariz offered. Ryker lazily nodded. He already prepared to be ask to help the other man. After all, he still the Crown Prince's ally, and he need to make due.

 Acknowledging his answer, Lariz was about to lead them away when the two female of the royal family's younger generation stop them both.

 "Do you mind letting us come and join in the meeting?" normally, Lariz would not refuse them, but this is something related to the succession and he did not want any of his dealing to be known by his younger male siblings and male cousins.

 In the end, he found no reason to refuse and reluctantly allow them to join the 'meeting'.

-x-

 The private place mentioned by the Prince is at the garden, which would allow people to listen if they get close. However, a snap of finger cause a formation to be appear, showing that the Crown Prince had expected such thing, and already make his own preparation.

 Aside from the four, Natali was also there, to carry desserts and drinks for the four people.

 "Let's talk about what you need to do Ryker," the Crown Prince said, after stuffing himself with some desserts. It is a good thing that Natali had took some storage rings filled with the sweet stuff so she could continue serving the four people without having to go back and forth.

 "The succession will be done in a competition like manner. It is mostly between the competitors, myself, my brothers and male cousins. So, most of it will be handled by me along with some of my entourage.

 However, that does not mean you will not join in. There will be some competitions between the factions, mostly to flaunt ones superiority. From hunting, subjugation, to dealing with bandits and other human's threat. It to show how capable the people under the competitor would be.

 After all, when father abdicate to focus on his cultivation, while there will be some senior officials to help the would-be-King, most of the job will fell on the subordinate of the would-be-King," he told him.

 "Your job is to join in during the event and try impress the one who oversee it," "So, just do my best on everything," Ryker summarized. Lariz nodded.

 "Also, that is what will happen on the surface," the other man whispered. "There is also spying and information gathering between each faction,"

 Ryker raised his brows at his words. "Think it like this. If the other faction manage to find some very embarrassing secrets or scandals among my retinue and supporters, they could force them to work with them instead,"

 Hearing Lariz pointed out such thing, Ryker nodded in understanding, "Of course, such taxttic will not just be utilize by them. We will also use it and reduce the number of supporters of my competition," 

 "So, do I need to sneak around or..." Lariz shook his head. "Just open your eyes. You don't need to involve yourself in such thing. I have my own specialist, I just want to inform you so that you at least knew to look out for anything out of ordinary of my brothers' supporters," he explained.

 "Alright, no need to get sneaky, go it," not that he would not not do it. After all, getting some more intels would give Lariz a lot more advantage. Knowledge is power, and all.

-x-

 When they five return, the Gala almost over, though the other Princes had already converged, along with their supporters. When his own supporters sees him, they converge on the Crown Prince, the three women quickly making themselves scarce.

 The two opposing faction had a brief stare-down. With both side confirmed as enemy, or at least competitors, Ryker take a brief look on them all. After all, how can he gain any information if he did not know who to look for.

 The stare-down ended when the King take the stage. The older man quickly gave his speech, to which Ryker tried to listen, though his mind still planning for dealing with the other side.

 "Let's talk about the succession competition," this cause him to pay attention. 

 "The succession competition is done to avoid to many casualties, one we could not afford to have. And so, the succession would be done as harmlessly as possible. Most of it would be between the competitors for the throne itself, so there is no need for the information to be divulge.

 As for the competition between subordinates, there will be three competition to showcase your strength and capabilities. First is a tournament. This will be done in two weeks, which will start two weeks from now. This is to show how powerful the younger generation is. So, there there will be an age-restriction, which is under 50,"

 At the mention of tournament, everyone stare at Ryker. After all, he is likely the one with the biggest chance to win it.

 "Then, there will be an army leading challenge. Every King need to have a subordinate that can command an army and lead them to victory. So, a company of newly inducted soldiers will be given to each princes and they will need to train them in 4 weeks. 

 After 4 weeks, the princes will lead the company in mock battle. Only the soldiers can fight, and they will be given the same amount of resource to avoid someone from curbstomping them all," everyone looked at Ryker, guessing correctly the reason for the rule.

 "And lastly, delegation, this will be of how one deal with an issue. The prince will be given different troubles and they need to help find the best solution to it. This replicate normal decision making so chose someone that will help in such thing.

 Aside from the tournament, the rest did not have any fix date just yet. So, prepare yourself for each trial,"