Callan closed his communication device and leaned back on his chair. He had just arrived from the three-day monthly meeting of all Conclave constituent leaders when he received the emergency-coded message from Marley.
He immediately replied to Marley and asked her what happened. The moment she mentioned Kyran and the bounty, Callan almost fainted.
Normally, the Managers who handled all the requests sent to the Mercenary Hall would inform him of such a high-profile bounty. Unfortunately, because he was too occupied with the affairs discussed in the meeting, he only browsed through the report and did not pay much attention to the details. The report he received also did not show Kyran's photo. If it did, he would have personally handled the request.
It was a good thing that Kyran came to the Mercenary Hall.
After going through the report submitted by Marley, and personally hearing the details from Celine. He could understand why Kyran would do a roundabout way to get the attention of a higher-ranked officer of the Mercenary Hall. Kyran did not know who to trust. Callan also deduced that Kyran probably planned to reveal who he was if he failed to meet a high-ranking officer.
But Callan wondered how he came up with the idea to use the platinum badge while emphasizing his identity as a Regis.
Could it be that Aron managed to instruct Kyran what to do before he escaped the Regis Estate?
Callan immediately rejected the thought. If Aron did tell him beforehand, he only needed to write a letter to meet him. Even if there was no time for him to write a letter, he could simply give Kyran the token issued by the Mercenary Hall to confirm his identity.
To be honest, he had some doubts about how to deal with Kyran. The fact that he escaped in such an auspicious way meant he was not afraid of exposing himself to the public. It also meant that he wanted to attack the army.
'If the public finds out that the army hid the fact that they are hunting a mage with a forbidden magic, then he would attract all those groups,' Callan thought.
By those groups, he meant those people who lost everything because the army raided their clan and killed their family that was suspected of practicing forbidden magic.
'Is that what he was really after?'
If it was, then Callan had underestimated Kyran's determination to save his clan.
'Let's not jump to a conclusion here. First, I will let Celine meet with Kyran and see what he wants. As for me, I need to inform the Chairman and arrange an audience with the Head of Conclave,' he decided.
=======================
Gage looked at all the officers lying on the ground. After almost five hours of fighting these guys, most of them were already passed out.
Those who were still conscious were too exhausted to attack and were waiting for Gage's next movement.
"What? Are you done? Where is your leader? I am done playing with you all, small fries!" Gage roared.
Although he had been using his magic for almost five hours, Gage was not exhausted. It proved how great his stamina was. Of course, being a mercenary also honed his ability to conserve his strength while dealing with enemies. He was particularly fond of taking requests where he had to deal with a group of bandits or illegal traders, after all.
"J-Just stay where you are! Y-You are not allowed to enter the Regis Estate!" A still standing, but already worn-out army officer told him.
"Humph, I wanna see you try and stop me!" Gage retorted.
Both his axes blazed once more and all officers took a step back at once.
However, his bracelet suddenly lit up.
This bracelet was a magic item that Silas made him wear. He told him that the spirit stones embedded on the bracelet would light up if it was time to leave.
'Tsk. I haven't even started yet. These small fries are not even enough to warm me up!' He thought clearly displeased, but he undid his magic and put away his axes.
"Humph. Tell your leader that I will come back! If not I will tell everyone in town how he hid behind his men's back like a wuss that he is!"
Of course, Gage did not forget to 'pretend' he was here for the Regis leader. After saying his line, he turned and left. He did not even bother checking if the officers would plan a sneak attack.
The army officers did not plan a sneak attack, however, two of them followed Gage.
Gage already expected it. Thus, after making a turn, he immediately used a teleportation token to gain some distance. Once he appeared at least fifty meters away, he went to the place he and Silas had agreed to meet.
=======================
At the abandoned blacksmith warehouse.
Beads of sweat, filled Kyran's forehead as he focused on keeping the purple rings inside the magic orb. For almost two hours, he was finally able to keep them inside without any accident for 30 seconds. As for how many magic orbs he had destroyed, there were still seven pieces left.
To make sure he made good use of an orb, Kyran would first meditate and let his magic flow into his body. After that, he would do simulations with his hand. When he was ready, then he would try it on an orb. And now, after a few trials, he finally could keep the rings for 30 seconds.
'28... 29... 30–.'
Sizzle!
Kyran let out a sigh of frustration. He just could not go past 30 seconds.
'Why?' He pondered as he watched the orb on his hand disintegrate. In truth, he had a vague understanding of why he could not control it for more than 30 seconds. It was more with his concentration. The more he concentrated, the rings would become more excited. It was very contradicting
'Rest first,' Kyran decided and stood up. He stretched for a while as he wandered his eyes in the room.
Nolan was nowhere in sight.
Kyran vaguely remembered him leaving while saying something about putting up some 'defensive' measures.
While he was pondering whether to look for Nolan, a voice spoke from behind him.
"What, are you done?"
Kyran turned and saw Nolan appeared amidst his black mist.
"I can only control it for 30 seconds," he answered.
Nolan was surprised. He immediately looked at the magic orbs on the ground and counted seven pieces.
"Not bad," he nodded and looked at Kyran. "How many rings can you keep inside?"
"Five."
"Okay, with the remaining orbs, make sure to add 10 more."
Kyran's eyes almost popped out of his sockets and exclaimed, "Ten?"
Nolan raised an eyebrow, "What? Too much for you?"
"Well..." Kyran fell silent and thought for a moment before replying, "More like I'm not sure I can create ten rings at the same time."
Nolan sneered, "Really? I remembered there were at least five of those rings circulating on each of your wrists back at the Mercenary Hall."
"True, but..." Kyran looked at his hands, "I am not sure how I did it."
He looked at Nolan once again and added, "Besides. Even if I managed to summon them at the same time, that will only be ten rings. How can I make it to fifteen?"
Nolan looked at him innocently, "How would I know? My magic does not appear like rings."
Black lines appeared on Kyran's head. He really could not understand whether Nolan was willing to teach him or not.
"Everyone's magic manifests differently. Mine is through these black particles, yours through rings. I can't teach you how to control it. I can only tell you what you can do to control it."
"Familiarize myself with my own magic," Kyran suddenly remembered.
Nolan nodded, "Yes. Anyway, we'll take a break for now. We'll go hunt for something to eat. You know how to hunt forest beasts?"
Kyran nodded at once, "I do."
"From military school?"
"No, my father... I sometimes go with father and my uncles," Kyran answered, trying to reign in the sudden sadness he felt.
The subtle change in his mood was noticed by Nolan. However, he decided to ignore it.
It was better for Kyran to deal with his own emotions. He did not need empty sympathy from Nolan or anyone.
"Good. I don't know what you have been taught when hunting at military school, but I don't trust it. Cade, however, now I feel more assured."
"What forest beast are we going to hunt?"
"Hmm. Well, a huge one would be nice. I'm starving," Nolan answered vaguely.
Kyran remembered something and immediately touched his pouch, "I have some food rations here–."
"Keep it for an emergency."
"But if we don't eat it soon..."
Nolan looked at him incredulously, "It's inside a space storage. It will not go bad. Items you put inside a space storage are preserved, with the exception of living things."
Kyran was surprised. He really needed to learn a lot of things about magic and items related to it.
"Anyway, the more you have life and death encounters, the more you will be familiar with using your magic in combat."
"Y-You keep on saying that," Kyran said, feeling an incoming headache.
"Don't worry, after we get our answer from the Mercenary Hall we'll go find a ruin for us to ex–, hm?" Nolan suddenly stopped and looked outside the window.
"Someone's coming," he frowned. "Make that two."
Kyran's eyes narrowed, "Is it her?"
Nolan only nodded and turned to look at him with a serious expression. "I will only observe. It is up to you how to deal with them," he reminded.
"I know," Kyran replied.
"Good."
With that, fog-like shadow surrounded Nolan and he vanished from sight.