Silas stood by the window in one of the guest rooms at the main family residence in Regis Estate and was staring outside absentmindedly.
It was already past midnight when he and Pheobe finished their talk about Kyran. Right after that, Silas went back to his room in a daze.
The truth, Silas was too shocked by the things he learned about Kyran. And his thought process kind of short-circuited when Pheobe showed Silas Kyran’s recent photo.
The young man he saw in the picture was nothing like the skinny, weak teen on the bounty poster.
And based on all the accomplishments of Kyran, it dawned on Silas that any person would really admire him.
But what really shocked Silas was Pheobe’s expression when she talked about Kyran. To him, it looked more than adoration of a relative.
‘They’re cousins, right?’ Silas thought with a slight frown.
But he remembered that it was not uncommon for cousins to marry each other, especially in old noble clans. Silas wondered if the Regis also had this tradition. He remembered Lady Rin was not a Regis, judging from her long silver-grey hair and light blue eyes, so maybe they didn’t have that kind of tradition.
‘No. Stop thinking about it. Focus on the task at hand! Do not let a woman hinder your thoughts…’
Pheobe’s smiling face crossed his mind, and Silas heaved a sigh once again.
“What the hell Silas? Do you really have the time to be thinking about a woman?” He scolded himself.
Soon after, his mind cleared, and he felt it cool down a bit.
But.
‘H-Heavy…’ Silas frowned and realized his head had cooled down because there was snow piling on top of his head.
“Humph! Stupid little Silas, why are you acting like a pathetic love-struck youth. You’re a grown-up man. Man up! Or do you want me to freeze your puny little d*ck-.’
“Okay! Stop! You’re a lady, for goodness sake. Stop using such vulgar words!” Silas interrupted and looked at Lumi, who was floating in the air and was showering him with snow.
“Humph. It’s your fault for swooning over that Regis woman. She’s way out of your league. You’re just little Silas. To even dare to-.”
“Okay! Okay! I get it. Will you stop? Why do you keep on appearing as you please? And why are you interrupting my moment? Besides, how did you even know that I… with Ms. Pheobe…” he slightly reddened at the thought that someone actually noticed his little crush.
“Sighing like a love-struck fool every few seconds after finding out that Regis woman likes another man, whose stupid enough not to realize how you feel? As for why I am here, though we had a contract, with your measly spirit affinity, I never recognize you as my master. I will appear anytime I want. Be grateful that I even allowed your lowly human eyes to see my noble self!”
Silas sighed. He was already used to Lumi’s verbal abuse. When he was young, and Lumi was still his sister’s contracted spirit, she found creative words to abuse him.
“I’m a little depressed here. Can’t you be kind to me for a moment?”
“And why would my noble self do such a tiring thing? Stupid! Stupid! Stupid!” Lumi ignored his plea and showered him with snowballs that did not even hurt.
Silas felt a small ache in his heart.
When Lumi was his sister’s spirit, she was not this small. She looked more majestic and powerful. Once she was in her true form, she was also extremely beautiful. And one snowball attack could turn him into an ice sculpture.
But now.
‘My spirit affinity was too little, to begin with… why did you let Lumi stay with me, sis?’ Silas thought sadly.
“Ahh! There it is again! Take this!” A concentrated ice ball converged in Lumi’s chubby little hands. She fired it at Silas and hit him square in the face.
“Oomph!” Silas winced. However, it did not really hurt.
“Stop looking like a pathetic man!”
A small smile escaped Silas’s lips. He belatedly realized that maybe Lumi’s way of cheering him up was by harassing him… Okay, that did not really sound happy to merit a smile on his face. Still, he appreciated it.
“Okay, I get it. Stop with the snow attacks. Do you realize that once your snow melts, it won’t disappear? I’ll get soak and might even catch a cold.”
“Why do I care?” Lumi harumphed and crossed her short arms.
Though she acted like she didn’t care, she did stop showering Silas with snow.
“And? What do you plan on doing? The Royal Army will not let this status quo with the Regis stay like this forever.” Lumi suddenly asked, turning serious while looking at Silas.
“I know. For now, I need to find the right timing to leave the inner walls. I’m sure Gage already left after you gave him the orb. Right at this moment, he is probably on his way to Valin Fort. If he takes the express train to Starhorn, he will reach the Mercenary Hall by night.”
“I’m not asking what you think that little man is currently doing. I’m asking what you plan on doing,” Lumi rolled her eyes at Silas.
Black lines appeared on Silas’s head as he thought of Gage. ‘L-Little man? Gage is?’
Shaking his head, Silas looked at Lumi and said, “Well. Like I said, I’ll wait for the right timing to leave the estate. I can’t afford the army to find me. They might connect me with Gage’s disturbance at the entrance. If that happened, it would be easy for them to know who we are.”
Lumi nodded in agreement and said, “I agree. It’s pretty unfortunate that both of you are Master mages. If they looked at their records, you two would be easily recognized.”
“What’s with the unfortunate? And don’t worry. The Mercenary Hall had not scheduled the assessment of their mages and combat mages at the Mage Hall yet. So our mage level has not been updated yet.”
“You mean you and that little man just got promoted to a Master?”
Silas smiled proudly and said, “Yes.”
“Pathetic.”
Silas almost fell.
“How old are you this year? And you just got promoted? Weak!” Lumi threw another snowball at him.
“Unlike before, it is not easy to be promoted to a Master, you know? I mean, we’ve got lots of mages and combat mages around now, and resources are scarce. Then the Royal Family is hogging all the ruins.”
“Humph. So many excuses. Ruins are called ruins for a reason. It previously had an owner, but due to neglect, it became a ruin. Just because the Royal Family claims it is theirs doesn’t mean they own it. If they did, then it is no longer a ruin!”
Silas scratched his head and said, “I kinda get what you want to say, and yet I don’t think I really get it.”
“It’s because you’re stupid! Stupid little Silas!” Lumi yelled at him and stuck out her tongue. “Anyway, I suggest you leave as soon as possible. Don’t get tangled with the Regis’s affair any further.”
Silas’s eyes narrowed. “I know, however, we have the same enemy.”
Lumi shook her head, “This is not the right time. You’re too weak even to make a difference. Just get your lowly human self out of here and find the son of the Spirit Child. I am very curious to meet the new Void Master.”
With a frown, Silas observed Lumi’s expression. “I knew you have your own ulterior motive.”
“Humph. As a weak lowly human such as yourself, you wouldn’t understand how important to us Spirits to have a new Void Master.”
“Wait. What do you mean? Aren’t you curious to meet him because he is the son of the Spirit Child?”
Lumi sneered at him and replied with a question, “Why do you think Rin is the Spirit Child? Use your brain, stupid little Silas.”
With a puff, Lumi finally disappeared.
“Argh! That little…” Silas bit back the curse word he was about to say. He then sat down at the edge of the bed and contemplated Lumi’s words.
The Spirit Child was a human loved by the spirits. Normally, there would only be one every hundred years. To be called a Spirit Child, Silas remembered a spirit user must have an excellent affinity with spirits. But from Lumi’s question, it seemed there was another reason for a human to be called a Spirit Child, which was connected to the Void Master.
‘But I don’t recall the Dark Sage ever having a connection with spirits,’ Silas thought in confusion.
He tried to rack his brain for any clue from the stories about the Dark Sage that might connect him to spirits or even the Spirit World, but he failed to remember anything.
“Argh!” he scratched his head and took a deep breath.
‘Let’s stop thinking of other things first. First things first. Plan how to leave here.’
Silas finally decided and took out a map of Meliora and looked at the area where the Regis Estate was located.
For the next hour, he focused on coming up with a plan to leave.
====================
Every council member present at the Tower of Conclave had been busy through the night dealing with the aftermath of Kyran’s ‘visit’.
The rest of the council members were currently on their way to the Tower after receiving the summon from Malek.
Hugh and Callan were particularly busy. They had to run around Starhorn and ensure there would be no leaked information about the Tower of Conclave’s attack.
They also rounded up any civilians who saw Kyran’s escape from the Mercenary Hall, and Callan manipulated their memories.
Just like how he manipulated the memory of all mercenaries, Callan changed how Kyran looked to them.
While searching, they also found Celine and Dante in the abandoned warehouse.
Hugh and Callan were relieved to know that both were safe. However, they did notice how shaken Celine was.
Hugh decided to let them rest in the meantime and question them the next day. Callan also decided not to manipulate Dante’s memories as he might be of help in the future.
After that, they had to deal with the request they received from the client who issued Kyran’s bounty. Since the request was anonymous, they were not really sure if the client was a high-ranked officer of the Royal Army or the Grand Marshal himself. However, they did not dwell on it much and reported to Malek directly, who contacted Stella for her opinion.
“Make them wait.”
That was Stella’s reply to Malek.
Hugh and Callan were confused. However, they also realized that making them wait might be Stella’s way of psychologically attacking the client.
Thus, Callan ordered Grand Master Soren to tell them the President was out on an important business trip and could not attend any bounty approvals if the client called again.
Soren was confused but did not question Callan’s order.
The following day, the rest of the council members had arrived one after another at the Tower of Conclave.
When afternoon came, almost all of them were aware of the gist of what had happened.
When night came, Malek only told them to stay for a few days and did not tell them when the Lord of the Tower would meet them.
It was the same the next day.
Sigma, in particular, was unhappy. Especially when he found out that the rascal who dared attack the Conclave was with the Lord of the Tower all this time. He decided to wait for an opportunity to meet the rascal himself, and then, he planned on teaching him a lesson.
Finally, the next day arrived.