There were two receiving areas inside the Tower of Conclave’s south tower. The first one was where guests usually go after arriving, while the second was a big room where only invited guests could enter.
This room was where Callan led Silas after entering the south tower. It was located in the back of the first floor and occupied almost a quarter of its whole circumference.
The room had a simple decoration. A red carpet embroidered with gold vines covered the floor, while the ceiling was bare with floating gold lanterns scattered around. At the center of the room stood a high chair on top of a raised platform. A long thin white fabric surrounded the platform, making it hard for anyone to clearly see the person seated on the high chair.
Callan and Silas entered the room.
Immediately, Silas’s sense of smell was assaulted with a vanilla scent.
He and Callan walked in silence, and he took his time admiring the simple yet elegant decoration of the receiving room.
While looking at the floating lanterns, a nostalgic feeling swept through Silas. He remembered how his big sister made floating lanterns and offered them at the Spirit Hall during the first snow of the year.
“Oh? Floating lanterns, it has been a while since I’ve seen these.” Lumi commented as she appeared on top of Silas’s head.
Silas could only nod in agreement.
While he and Lumi talked, a huge array appeared above the raised platform. A semi-transparent golden sphere descended from the array and settled on the high chair.
Silas squinted his eyes and tried to look into the sphere, but it was a little hard because of the fabric surrounding the platform.
“Lord of the Tower,” Callan knelt and lowered his head in respect.
Seeing this, Silas followed suit.
‘Inside that sphere was the ‘Lord’ the President talked about?’ He thought in surprise.
It would seem that the ‘Lord’ had a higher position than the Head of Conclave.
Silas’s felt nervous once again. It was very unexpected. He had no idea that there was a person higher than the Head of the Conclave.
“No need for formalities, Callan. Both of you may stand,” A soft feminine voice spoke from inside the sphere.
‘A woman!’ Silas’s exclaimed in his heart. He did not expect the ‘Lord’ of the Tower to be a woman. He was not a sexist. His surprise was a product of how Callan addressed her with a ‘Lord’ that threw him off guard.
“Thank you, Milord.” Callan replied and stood straight.
Silas followed his example and finally saw the silhouette of the ‘Lord’ after the gold sphere around her faded. Even with the fabric preventing Silas from getting a better look of the ‘Lord’, he could see that the woman seated on the high chair was a beauty with long wavy blonde hair and a flowing white dress. Her temperament alone reminded him of a Fairy Queen.
“Hm? You must be the new Time Keeper,” Lumi said with a slight sneer. She flew closer to the high chair. “Looking as beautiful as ever, it is almost hateful.”
Silas’s heart skipped a beat at Lady Lumi’s unruly behavior. He was too frightened that he did not react to how she addressed the Lord as a ‘Time Keeper’.
‘What in blazes was Lady Lumi doing and saying? Did she not care that if the Lord of the Tower heard her, I would be the one getting the brunt of her annoyance?’
Yes. Silas. Lady Lumi does not care one bit.
An internal voice told him.
It was indeed good that Lady Lumi was a Spirit, or else he would really be in big trouble!
The Lord of the Tower chuckled.
“I’ll take that as a compliment.” The Lord of the Tower replied and immediately crushed Silas’s hope.
She could hear Lady Lumi!
“You must be Lumi. It is an honor to meet you,” the Lord of the Tower replied.
Silas paled. While he did not hear any hint of annoyance from the Lord’s voice, when she addressed Lady Lumi by her name only, he felt a chill run down his spine.
Lumi raised her little brows in surprise.
“Oh? You can see me?”
“My grandfather had Fae blood.”
Lumi’s eyes narrowed at this information. “I never expected our precious Fae-Human bloodline managed to find their way into two families with Ancient Magic.”
Silas’s frightened expression turned serious.
‘Ancient magic?’ He wondered.
“Make that three,” the Lord of the tower replied in humor.
Lumi paused in confusion but then burst out into laughter.
“Right. Right. We have always considered the Void Master’s bloodline as our own. But you are right, Time Keeper.”
‘Wait, what?’ Silas thought and looked at Lumi.
The Void Master’s bloodline as her own? He knew Lady Lumi regarded the Void Master highly, but he never thought the Spirits considered him their own.
“I have been told,” the Lord replied. She then addressed Callan and said, “Callan. You may take your leave. I’ll handle the rest.”
“Yes, Milord.” Callan replied and bowed respectfully before giving Silas a slight nod.
Silas nodded in return and watched him leave.
As soon as the doors closed behind Callan, Lumi asked, “What is your name, child?”
Black lines appeared on Silas’s head as he looked back at Lady Lumi.
While the Lord did not add any honorifics when calling Lumi, she did not get angry. Was it because the Lord also had Fae blood? Was he not the same? What was this difference in treatment?
“Stella.”
“Oh? How nostalgic.”
“You seemed to know someone with a similar name.”
“I do.”
Their exchange seemed normal and yet brought questions to Silas. He also felt that he was an outsider.
“And I also know that you know who I am referring to.”
Stella chuckled and replied, “I can never be too sure.”
“Good. I like you.”
“Why?” Silas could not help but blurt out.
“Shut up, stupid Silas.” Lumi scolded without looking at him.
Stella chuckled at their banter and waved her hand.
A chair appeared in front of Silas and a floating cushion beside Lumi.
“Please, have a seat.”
“Ah~! How considerate of you. Stupid Silas’s head is already hurting my butt.”
“L-Lady Lumi…” Silas sighed.
His dignity was crushed time and again by her, and he could not refute it.
Stella chuckled at them again.
After the two were seated, Lumi got down to business.
“So, why do you want to meet us? That old man could not give us any hints at all.”
Silas could only sigh in his heart. He was not complaining. He was even grateful to her because his nervousness had disappeared.
“I’m sorry. It is not that he could not tell you but he only knows a little of the situation. I cannot subject him too much.”
“I can’t decide if it is because you care about your people or because you don’t trust them enough.”
“Pardon her rude comment, Lord of the Tower,” Silas finally spoke.
Lumi glared at him at once. Before she could scold him, Stella already spoke.
“I do understand. But for the record, I did not tell them much because they already have their hands full at the moment. As you’ve noticed, we have suffered an incident recently.”
“If I may ask, Lord of the Tower.” Silas started.
“What is it?”
“We heard that the Mercenary Hall was attacked recently, and seeing the damage at the entrance… Is it the same person?”
“Yes.”
“The truth of the matter, Lord of the Tower is-.”
“I think I know what you want to say. But you do not have to worry. What you see or hear is not the real story. Only a few knows the truth.”
“Not the real story?” Silas asked in confusion.
Lumi also frowned slightly.
“We have to keep up with appearances,” Stella answered.
Silas frowned slightly and stood. He took out his token and showed it to Stella.
“Lord of the Tower. The truth, I have become the Regis’s emissary and if it is alright for you to explain what happened, I can give you an account.”
Stella chuckled and shook her head.
“That is not necessary. But thank you for your concern. The appearance I said we have to keep, is to make the army think that we have no idea about the truth of their ‘request’.”
Silas’s eyes widened at once.
“Does this mean…?”
Stella smiled and nodded, “Yes. We know it was the army who sent the One million bounty request. But let’s discuss that later. Tell me the situation inside the Regis Estate. How are they?”
Hearing the concern in her voice, Silas and Lumi exchanged glances.
He knew the Conclave’s relation with the Regis. Patriarch Aron told him. Though they doubted why they agreed to post the One million bounty knowing that the image on the poster was Kyran eluded them. It was one of the questions Silas wanted to ask the president, but after seeing what happened to the Mercenary Hall, he decided to observe first.
“Can I first ask a question?”
“What is it?”
“Why did you agree to post the bounty?” Silas asked. “I’m sure you know about what the new Void Master looked like, so why?”
“Everything is because of the timing. Please do not blame Callan. The one who received the request was not him. And because of the bad timing, he unknowingly approved of the bounty.”
“I see.”
“But it was a blessing in disguise in my opinion. At least, because of this, Kyran made his way to us.”
“Attacking the Mercenary Hall and this place though…” Silas remembered the massive crater at the Tower’s entrance and could not help but shiver.
“It was… messy. But we managed to explain our side. The truth, the stories you hear about what happened to the Mercenary Hall was his idea. And now, he is helping restore this place.”
Silas’s eyes widened.
Before he could speak, Lumi beat him.
“Are you saying that he is here?” She asked, her eyes sparkling.
“Yes. Oh but not right now. He is out on an errand. He will contact us soon and will be back in a few days.”
Lumi glared.
“Why did you let him out on an errand? He is the new Void Master for crying out loud!”
Stella laughed uneasily, “Ahaha… the truth, it was his idea of ‘taking responsibility’ of what he did.”
“Humph,” Lumi suddenly beamed with pride. “As expected of the new Void Master.”
Silas’s brow twitched.
‘Are you angry or proud? Which is it?’
“Well, Silas. Can you tell me about the Regis’s?” Stella asked once more.
Silas nodded and lowered his head in respect.
“Yes, Lord of the Tower.”
==================
Byron turned out to have the ability to detect the scattered invisible detection arrays, which made his and Kyran’s journey out of the forest easy.
After confirming that there were no detection arrays around and no other humans nearby, Kyran grabbed Byron and warped at least 500 meters. He was really pressed for time.
The moment they warped, Byron’s eyes almost popped out of their sockets.
Questions popped out of his mind one after another. Was that teleportation or… warp? He wanted to know! Did this man, Nar, really tell him the truth about being the Void Master’s successor? He needed proof! If he really was the Void Master’s successor, how did he survive all this time? Was he part of a clan? What level was his magic attainment now?
Before Byron could ask any of these questions, ‘Nar’ grabbed him again and ‘teleported’.
Byron was dying to know more about ‘Nar’!
After almost two hours, they finally arrived a few meters outside Nhadal Town.
The two landed on top of a tree branch.
Kyran looked at Byron and said, “Change your face. Then we’re going in.”
“Yes.” Byron nodded at once and urged his magic and changed his appearance.
His blonde hair turned dark, and his eye color changed to dark brown from green. Then his tanned skin changed to a more fair tone. The contours of his face also changed.
Kyran nodded at Byron’s change. Transfiguration magic was really convenient, but he knew its duration was too short for his liking. Anyway, he planned to improve the array on his mask soon, and he could use the transfiguration magic as a reference.
“Good. Once we’re there, don’t speak my name. You can just call me… err.. just don’t say my name.” Kyran warned Byron.
Byron nodded enthusiastically.
“Yes, sir.”
Kyran twitched at the ‘sir’, but he decided to ignore it.
They both jumped down the tree and looked at the gates leading to Nhadal.
“Let’s go.” Kyran said.