Chapter 268: Never Again
Benton was both worried and gladdened by the choice his council had made. They had chosen the path of danger, which came with obvious risks, but he felt like none of them were going into the situation blindly or taking the danger for granted. Instead, they’d given the matter consideration and decided that the gains were worth the potential price.
Of course, young people tended to think themselves invulnerable—sometimes old fools did, too, as he’d recently found out—making them prone to weigh benefits more highly than potential losses. And if their decision led to any of them dying, he’d never forgive himself.
Evelyn would have shared those exact concerns, and she would have told him that keeping the kids confined to the house and never letting them explore the world was bad, too. Which was worse—dying or never living?
Regardless, the die was cast. If he had been adamantly opposed to their decision, he would never have left it up to them in the first place, so now that they’d made it, he’d accept it.
“Gratitude to all of you for serving the sect in making this determination,” Benton said. “Now that it has been made, it is important that we all pull in the same direction. Even if you voted Stay and you unbendingly believe your position is right, I implore you to put aside those thoughts. The goal for all of us now is to make our participation in the tournament as safe and rewarding as possible.”
So far, the council members hadn’t shown much animosity when their choices were overruled. Which kind of made sense. Most of them were very young and had no experience with leadership. They were still getting used to the idea of being in charge, and the thought that everyone should be forced to do what they wanted was still a foreign concept.
Benton hoped it would be a long, long time before internal political divisions started playing a role in the sect administration. That such would happen was inevitable, but he’d fight tooth and nail to hold it off as long as he could.
Getting back to his address to the council, he’d already told them about which contests were being held and how they were divided by realm. Now, it was time to dive a bit more into the logistical details. “In no more than four months, we must send notice of how many of our members are competing in which contests and divisions. Approximately three weeks after that, we must send a detailed list along with names and realms. That’s the deadline for us to decide who is participating and for the chosen members to solidify their realm.”
He glanced at each of the councilors, assuring that he had their attention. “You’re probably asking—how are the participants chosen? The answer is easy. The pavilion heads will make that determination.”
As usual, Yang Xiu was the first to speak. “What’s the criteria, Master?”
“That’s up to the pavilion leader. How to choose the participants. How many participants. All of it is completely up to the discretion of the person or persons in charge of each of the relevant pavilions.”
Yuan Yaozu looked concerned about that proclamation.