The members of the Conclave Council arrived one after another at the conference hall.
Malek, who arrived, first sat at the left side of the head seat of the round table. He watched in silence as the rest of the members sat down in their respective seats.
“Head Master,” they greeted him.
Malek only nodded his head in response while he kept his attention at the conference hall’s entrance.
He was actually waiting for Sigma. An hour ago, he sent a message to Sigma asking him about Kyran. When Sigma did not reply, he sent another message and told him he would go to the conference hall early and wanted him to come early alone. That way, they could talk before the others arrived.
Unfortunately, the rest of the members started to arrive, and Sigma was still nowhere in sight.
Thirty minutes to eight, Sigma finally arrived with Noir.
Malek slightly frowned. Did he not receive his message earlier?
‘Something is up,’ Malek thought, his eyes narrowed.
When Malek and Sigma’s eyes met, Sigma nodded and greeted him normally, just like the rest.
“Head Master,” he said before taking his seat beside Noir.
Noir also nodded toward Malek and greeted, “Head Master.”
Malek also nodded at them.
Seeing that most of them were here apart from Stella and Kyran, he stood up and looked at all of them.
“Thank you for attending today’s meeting. As mentioned in the invite I have sent, tonight will be the first time we will finally meet our young friend from the Regis Clan.”
Every member of the council nodded in response to Malek’s introduction. It was evident that they were curious to meet the subject of their ‘business deal’ with the Regis Clan. Aside from this, they also wanted to judge whether their gamble was really worth it.
The truth, because of what Kyran did a few days ago, some feared that he might be reckless and unbridled. Wouldn’t that pose a great threat to the Conclave’s neutral status if they let him be? There was also the risk of their faction’s relationship with the Regis Clan being found out by the Royal Army and be branded as an accomplice and a traitor.
“I know some of you are worried about the Conclave’s future now that he is here with us. I do too. As someone who personally fought him, I feel that he is a considerable risk to the Conclave.” Malek continued with his speech.
At his words, Malia and Sigma could not help but glance at each other. Their unspoken agreement earlier flashed in their minds. However, their expression did not show any of this, and they remained silent as they listened to Malek.
“Of course, I also believe that he might become a great asset to the Conclave. That is why I agreed to take the gamble. Still, I encourage every member to think of questions you want to ask him. I believe that his answers will provide us information on what he intends to do in the future.”
Most of the members nodded their heads in agreement.
“Head Master,” Emery suddenly spoke.
“Yes, Emery?” Malek looked at her.
“I believe each of us already understands that the Lord of the Tower intends to help him. If in case some of us does not agree, will we really be able to defy the Lord’s wishes?” She asked.
Malek nodded his head, “A reasonable question. If you decide not to assist, the Lord will not hold it against you. You are all free to decide whether to help or not.”
“If I may speak,” Malia interjected.
They all turned to her.
“I think we are getting ahead of ourselves,” she started. “From what I have observed, our friend is not as reckless nor unreasonable as some of us might have thought initially.”
“Observed? Have you met him?” Noir asked.
“I actually did,” Malia replied with a knowing smile while looking in Sigma’s direction.
The rest of the members noticed this action, and they all turned to Sigma.
“Ahem,” Sigma cleared his throat and shifted in his seat.
Malek narrowed his eyes.
‘So something did happen,’ he thought.
Before Malek could ask about it, Malia continued. “Because of my short meeting with him, I’m able to gauge a little of his character.”
“And what do you think of our young friend?” Noir asked again.
Malia smiled and replied, “He really is a member of the Regis Family.”
If others heard her answer, they might wonder what she meant. But to the rest of the members, it meant a lot.
Who were the Regis Family? Everyone knew that they were an old noble family that helped shaped the foundation of the Ylfaen Empire. But to the Conclave, they knew that the Regis would never do things without reason. And when they act, they would face all consequences of their actions and would take responsibility.
Seeing that the rest of the members seemed to accept Malia’s answer, Malek could not help but frown. He glanced at Sigma, who remained silent even after what Malia had said.
‘Sigma was against that boy before, but now… What happened between them and that boy?’ He wondered.
At that moment, the array on the ceiling lit up, and a semi-transparent golden sphere descended, with Stella inside.
“Looks like everyone is here,” she said with a smile.
All of them stood up and bowed, “Lord of the Tower.”
“Please be seated,” Stella told them as she landed on the floor.
The members, except for Malek, who remained standing, returned to their seats. They waited for Stella as she went to the head of the table.
Some of them exchanged glances because Stella came in alone. They all thought Kyran would be with her.
Stella looked at them and noticed their expression. She smiled and said, “Rest assured that Kyran will come.”
They all looked at her.
“We still have some time, but we can start when he arrives.”
Malek, who was still standing on her side, frowned slightly. “I don’t think it is wise to let him walk around on his own, Milord.”
Stella looked at him and sighed.
“I know. But he said he had his way to travel so…”
Sigma sneered upon hearing this. “Humph, so he plans on showing off.”
Avrum, who was sitting beside him, heard this and asked. “Do you know something?”
“Just wait and see,” Sigma replied.
Suddenly, the whole room crackled as a fissure started to form behind Stella and Malek.
“What?” Malek exclaimed as he stared at the fissure in shock.
Stella also turned and looked at the fissure with a surprised expression. “This is..?”
“Show off,” Sigma snorted.
The others also stared at the fissure as it grew wider, a mixture of awe and fear shown in their faces.
Then, a silhouette in white emerged from the fissure.
It was Kyran.
As soon as Kyran got out of the fissure, he immediately noticed that every person inside the hall was looking at him. He belatedly realized, since the only place inside the conference hall from Stella’s past that made an impression to him was at the head of the table, it would mean his magic would connect to that spot.
And now, him appearing at the head of the table looked very… awkward. Especially when all of them were already present
‘Well.. isn’t this awkward?’ He thought.
The fissure behind him decreased in size, and soon the whole room returned to normal.
“Hi, I was not supposed to walk around, so I thought I’d warp in. I didn’t know everyone’s already here,” he said and looked at Stella, who was standing a few feet away from him, still with a surprised expression, then added, “I’m not late, right?”
Stella snapped out of her reverie and replied, “No. You’re not.”
Malek, who also recovered, said, “Humph. Compared with the rest, you are.”
Stella frowned and was about to tell him off, but Kyran beat her at it.
He said, “Hello to you too. How’s your body?”
Malek scowled. Instead of retorting, though, he simply sat down.
The other members who heard this exchange could not help but suppress their laughter because they knew what happened between Malek and Kyran.
Stella chuckled. She looked at the rest of the council and said, “Everyone. I want to formally introduce, Kyran Regis.”
Kyran also looked at the rest of the members and bowed a little.
The rest of the members nodded in response.
“Now that everyone is present, why don’t we start?” Stella said.
“Of course.”
The rest agreed.
Stella looked at Kyran and gestured at the seat to her right.
As soon as both of them had taken their seat, Malek officially started the meeting.
He first introduced each member of the council.
Kyran remained silent and paid attention to everything the members of the council said about themselves.
He was actually surprised that apart from Malek and Hugh, who were both Magus, the rest were either a High Master or a Grand Master only.
There were even two members, Vaness and Emery, who were combat specialists. And both were part of the Chamber of Commerce.
Kyran suddenly felt a little nostalgic. After all, a week ago, he believed he would have to live as a combat specialist for the rest of his life.
Now that Kyran knew the overall strength of the council, he was more convinced that he could proceed with his plan without a problem.