Solare and Montis jumped back, parting from the battle.
Lucian disengaged as well.
Confused, Aeon followed.
The four of them stared at each other in silence…
Solare was surprised!
How did Aeon Morgan know about the white-haired man? He shouldn't have said anything about it!
At that moment, Solare realized that he acted unnaturally in front of the Emperor. He was too surprised about what Aeon had said that he found himself being distracted. This distraction was enough to force him to disengage or else he might get hurt. The same thing probably happened to Montis too.
Without a moment's thought, he charged forward once more to cover up his weird behavior.
However, what greeted him was the Emperor slamming his scythe on the ground.
A fierce and heavy wind that blew outward forced Solare back and even the two others who were just standing by.
"Enough," Emperor Meredith said as the wind settled. "I'll accept that the words you have spoken in the palace are genuine."
Panting, Solare stood up. Hearing what the Emperor said, he bowed and replied, "Thank you, Emperor!"
"But… you're going to tell me more," Meredith put back his scythe, "especially about this white-haired man. Whoever he is."
When the white-haired man's expressionless face flashed in Solare's memory, his heart couldn't help feeling restless and started beating faster. It was apparent that he was traumatized by his experience months ago.
How could he not be?
The man was about to destroy his heart…
His emotions seeped through his actions.
How careless, Solare thought.
He inwardly sighed.
The Emperor had already realized that he had been hiding some information. The fact that he still chose to believe his words despite knowing this proved that the man was at least compassionate.
But compassion wasn't enough to guarantee their safety in the long run.
"Trust me, he's not someone important," Solare responded.
Lucian sighed. He hated playing these games. Solare's actions already spoke for himself. The General insisting that the information was irrelevant was just a blatant display of asking for a bargain.
Well, I don't have much to lose anyway.
"Tell me. I'll make it worth your while," Lucian convinced the General.
Solare was taken aback by the Emperor's statement and he wasn't sure if he was really serious.
Earlier, he had been talking about killing people in the camp. Now, he was trying to bargain with them. How fast could this man shift his attitude?
Then, Solare found himself contemplating. He was starting to think that he was being played. That the man wasn't showing his true nature. The man he was seeing now appeared to be considerate and gentle. A few years back, he remembered him as a cruel schemer.
Which one was his true persona?
In the end, Solare set these thoughts aside. The man said that he would make things worthwhile for him. He didn't know in which scale, but it was good enough for him since it was he who exposed their dishonesty anyway. He'll think about this after he crosses the bridge. He just hoped that he wouldn't get the shorter stick.
Solare appeared to be thinking about it, but in reality, he had already made up his mind. He would accept the request. He paused for a few moments, just for show, before replying, "Alright. Just know that hiding this piece of information was not because of any ill will."
"I understand," the Emperor seriously replied.
Then, a voice suddenly chimed it. "Was it something I said?"
Lucian and Solare turned towards Aeon morgan.
Then, Solare asked him, "You were talking about a white-haired man with a monk's clothing, yes?"
"Yes, that's the person. However I only got a glimpse of him," Aeon answered. He responded rather seriously, feeling the atmosphere.
"Then we might've seen the same person," Solare replied. "But it's somehow strange. Where did you see him?"
"Back in Mt. Eirene, before I 'died.' The platform there started glowing then the man just appeared right on top of it."
Throughout Solare and Aeon's conversation, Lucian just listened. However, he found something weird. The two were talking about something completely unusual. Popping out of thin air, appearing on top of a glowing platform. The likes of those that do not happen on a day to day basis. But the two did not find it rather weird. The two casually spoke as if it were normal.
Interesting, Lucian thought.
Suddenly, General Samo turned towards him and said, "Emperor, we may have to involve some other people in this conversation."
Aeon stood on the side, smiling. He thought that he had contributed something by sharing some information. But then his expression turned rather weird.
Now that he thought about it, don't his words sound like those of a mad man?
Shit!
Maybe for him, his words were quite normal. Because he had seen too many unusual things inside the labyrinth. He had been stuck in that place that hurt his brain for too long that he thought the place was normal.
Aeon ended up with a crooked smile. When he snapped back to reality, he saw General Samo leading Emperor Lucian towards the edge of the frozen barrier they were in. His two guards followed as well.
Suddenly the Emperor stopped and turned around. He looked at Aeon and yelled, "Hey follow me, you brat!"
….
The ice dome crumbled, slowly revealing their figures.
The mages outside saw the Emperor and the General walking together and were dumbstruck. All they could do was look at each other with questioning looks.
Is everything settled?
General Samo waved his hand, telling everyone to disperse. And they did, just like that.
Montis suddenly appeared beside Aeon and smiled. "You're alive."
"I couldn't believe it myself," Aeon said with a grin. Then he hugged Montis tightly.
Then, Suri and Korona approached the two, utterly confused. They basically had no idea what happened.
Aeon filled them in with the details as they walked to follow the Emperor and General Samo. It turns out, Aeon just faked passing out earlier and was listening to the conversation the entire time.
Montis didn't join the three.
….
Not long after, they arrived outside a large tent. It was probably the second largest one in the camp after the storage tent and had a few people guarding it. Based on these details alone, one could already assume that the people inside were quite important.
"This is where Toran Fiore is staying because he's separated from the other patients. And this is also where a certain prisoner is being kept. We'll be talking to the prisoner," Solare enlightened the Emperor.
The Emperor was surprised that, in the state of disaster, they didn't even forget to bring a certain prisoner with them. He felt rather curious about the man.
Seeing Solare, the guards didn't bother with them. However, they gave weird looks towards the Emperor and even the kids. They didn't mind though. They proceeded to enter the tent.
The tent was fairly large, but this was only because its size was relative to the others. In reality, its area was only around ten square meters. So, the moment they stepped inside, they could already see everything that the tent housed.
The left side looked like it was transformed into a clinic with a lot of medical apparatus set up. There was a curtain that hid a patient, and that patient was obviously Toran Fiore.
The right side looked like a warehouse. Tons of boxes were stored there, probably full of magical and alchemical items. At the very corner was a cage that housed an old-looking person, a pitch-black ring attached to his neck. The man was sleeping.
They didn't bother with the patient and quietly headed to the right.
Hearing faint footsteps, the old-looking man slowly woke up. Then, he appeared really excited. As he looked up, he smiled and said, "Is it finally time to eat?!"
The smile on the man's face froze when he realized that the people he was looking at were not the guards. Instead, it was the General of Sera City, and a few people he didn't know. "Che! I thought it was finally time for me to eat. Run along now if you don't have anything for me to eat."
"He's usually like this," Solare informed the Emperor. As if nothing happened, he casually left the tent.
Solare returned five seconds later, now carrying a sword. He examined its tip with satisfaction. Then, he banged its flat side on the rails of the cage producing a loud dinging noise.
The person inside was naturally affected and his head sunk. When he opened his eyes to peek at what was happening, a sword was already pointed at his face. He immediately shut his eyes in fear.
Solare glared at the man and said, "We need you to tell us something."
Hearing that something was needed from him, the prisoner felt empowered. He got furious because of the General's words that lacked respect. Nerves started popping out of his temple and forehead. What disrespect! He yelled, "How could dare you talk to me, Wilhelm Hu—"
"Save it," Solare interrupted. "You're nobody now."
The old man gasped exaggeratedly. He turned his head and said, "Then good luck making me ta—"
Ding!
"Alright, alright! I'll talk! Just please don't hurt me," the man begged.
Solare pulled the sword away from the railing and placed it back in front of the old man's face. "What do you know about the platform in Mt. Eirene. I heard you were responsible for researching its purpose."
"Oh, ho, ho," the man twisted his body to turn towards Solare, appearing to be interested, "you must be talking about Project Eclipse. Hehehe!"
"Yes," Solare answered curtly.
"But are you really okay talking about it in the presence of a person who I think is a Meredithian?" the old man answered with a mysterious smile.
Looking behind him, Solare saw the Emperor paying complete attention. He faced the prisoner and said, "This person right here is the Emperor of the Florentine Empire."
"Gah! Eeek! Stay away!"
The prisoner backed into a corner.
"Don't worry," the Emperor smiled, "I just need some information."
Seeing that the Emperor was rather calm, although he was uneasy, the old man straightened his back. "Ehem. I see. By the way, my name is Wilhelm Hugh, I'm a researcher. It's nice to meet you, Emperor."
The Emperor simply nodded.
"The information about the platform," Solare reminded.
"Ah, right," Wilhelm Hugh cleared his throat. Then, he began narrating everything he knew.
….
He started with how their Emperor found several books written in a foreign language a couple of decades back. Then, as they went deeper into the study, they realized that, although the writings were quite unclear, some characters matched a certain historical material. The unknown platform in Mt. Eirene.
That time, Wilhelm Hugh was still working for the Academy in Lerith, the capital city of Florentine. Because the Emperor trusted him deeply, he was sent to the city closest to the mountain where the platform was, Sera City. There, he started working in its academy while secretly observing the platform at the same time.
For a long time, their research for the platform bore no fruit. Not until thirty years later when a phenomenon started occurring.
The phenomenon prevented people from casting magic in random areas during random times of the day.
Their goal then leaned towards the discovery of how to make this phenomenon consistent. They wanted it happening all the time and not just in random areas. So they focused on how to trigger it.
After a few months, a researcher suddenly stumbled upon how to activate the platform by breaking the rules.
One of their rules was to not use magic on the platform unless every other solution had already tested. They didn't know how the platform would react to the magic, so they enacted that rule.
Then this researcher came. The man was quite a rebel. He was a Seran so he injected some magic into the platform with the intention of enchanting it.
And strangely, it worked.
The phenomenon that canceled magic occurred.
Some others also attempted to do it to keep the phenomenon alive for a longer duration, but it only seemed to work when Earth Serans enchanted it.
In the end, their research was a success. But it wasn't perfect.
Those mages who enchanted the platform all died.
The story stopped there because what happened afterward was unrelated.
….