"This is nothing like Smithy," David said out loud
"No doubt. This city is funded by all three countries since it's where all the talented mages with potential go to study. Since it's so important, it only makes sense for merchants to come and make it the most prosperous city on the continent." Jess explained.
"Although the capital city of the Zesian Empire is also amazing…" Jess felt forced to say after seeing Brad's glare.
"Enough standing around. We're not sightseeing here. We're on a very important mission. Let us head to the Council building immediately." Lucius reminded the group
"A very important mission? I wonder what the Lurris Kingdom ordered them to do. Who exactly is Mr. Lucius to be leading the Salamanders anyway?"
David's curiosity only grew as they grew closer to Elderglow.
He had felt like he had troubled Jess and Cassie too much with his questions so he kept this one to himself.
He also believed the truth would reveal itself soon enough.
When they had reached the outer wall of the city, they were met with guards.
After taking one look at the faces of the group's members and landing on Lucius's, they all bowed.
"Welcome back, Lord Lucius! Please make your way in. Identification will be foregone."
David's suspicions were confirmed. All he knew about the lords of Elderglow was that there were 6, and two were from each country.
"So he must be a lord from the Lurris Kingdom if the Salamanders are working with him." David deduced
As they proceeded through the city's first layer, he noticed many shops and smaller residences.
It looked much cleaner than the town of Smithy, and the amount of people was far greater than he had ever seen.
Reaching the end of the road, he noticed the city was similar to a mountain.
There was a large sign above a huge entrance into the mountain reading:
"Residential District"
As the group entered the unnatural cavelike entrance Lucius stopped the group.
He began speaking to a guard standing near the entrance, and after a few bows, the guard led them to a room separate from where everyone else was going.
"This is the direct path to the lord's district. Thank you, lord Lucius."
David wondered why the guard thanked Lucius as he walked past him.
The guard gave David a look of confusion before returning to duty.
As the group walked onto a large square platform, David was surprised to feel it rise.
"What the hell is this?!" David exclaimed
The others just ignored or laughed at him.
As the platform raised, he began to see light rays once more.
"Listen, boy, past this point, my power is no longer enough to protect you."
As Lucius said that to David, David saw a huge marble castle with seven huge crystals. Each crystal had a different color light shining within.
The one that caught David's attention the most was the light blue one.
After the initial shock of the castle and confusion from Lucius's words wore off, David began to notice the rest of his surroundings.
The guards of this district seemed to be knights rather than trained citizens.
Instead of just one castle, there were many more miniature castles on either side of the road.
The extensive road was paved directly to the largest castle.
As they walked, David noticed they weren't taking any turns.
"Are we really going to the biggest castle in the city?" David thought
David began to reminisce about his childhood in the slums.
Frequently stealing from food stands and people, always forcing himself to sleep to avoid hunger, and seeing the people with parents and food always filled him with strong jealousy.
As he grew up, he understood that he shouldn't blame the kids with parents.
The jealousy dwindled and was replaced with hopelessness.
Seeing the castle filled him with hope.
As David was enjoying the warm feeling in his chest, he felt a pressure on his wrists.
Looking back, he saw Ray holding a rope.
"Don't worry, kid. We're not gonna do anything bad to you, but the other lords might not feel safe if you're not bound. Lucius's orders."
David tried to remove the rope with all his force, but the rope hardly budged.
"What is this stuff made out of?" David pondered
His inspect skill automatically turned on.
[Mana Rope]
[A rope infused with the mana of the individual "Ray." It cannot be broken at your current level of strength.]
The rest of the Salamanders had no problem with David being tied up and kept moving along.
After entering the castle, they walked until they got to a huge wooden door with two knights stationed outside.
"Greetings, Lord Lucius. The rest of the lords are already inside."
"Perfect. Now let us in."
As the door opened up, David saw a large room, on their own elevated platforms were four older people and one younger woman.
Three old men and two women.
Most of them were dressed in the finest fabrics David had ever seen.
They sat in pairs, surrounding one throne higher than the rest.
The two seats, including the throne, were empty.
David watched Lucius walk up to the empty chair and sat the only young woman.
"Shall we wait for the Overlord or commence this meeting immediately?" asked the woman next to Lucius.
David noticed she had a different expression from most of them.
She looked kind and tired.
As if she didn't want to be there.
Two of the other lords raised their hands right arms, and three raised their left.
Within the lord's chambers, everything is settled as a majority vote, with the right arm being the former and the left being the latter.
A fat lord with a balding head opposite Lucius took charge of the meeting.
"Now, Lucius, explain what's going on here. Why did you suddenly disappear, and who this peasant is."
David then looked into the eyes of the man who was calling him a peasant and was reminded of an unpleasant memory from his past.
Once, he had met a nobleman who was riding by in his carriage, and the eyes of the nobleman glaring at him and the rest of the slum dwellers will never leave his memory.
Unbridled disgust.
He saw those same eyes within three of the lords.
David heard Ray say something under his breath.
"Damn those stupid Zesian nobles."
"My fellow Councilmen. You all know who my late mistress was. I was simply on an errand on her request." Lucius replied
His words made the rest of the council go silent.
David saw the fat, balding councilman turn red and clench his fists.
"DO NOT LIE LUCIUS! DON'T LET ME FIND OUT MY SUSPICIONS ARE CORRECT!"
"Calm down, Councilman Greg, the elderly lady next to him chided.
She seemed to be from the Theocracy of Chosen Faith, judging from her priestess clothes.
"Do not hold me back, Rebecca. If he's done what I think he's done, he may have doomed us all!" Greg angrily exclaimed
"Just calm down, Greg. Now please, Lucius, tell us exactly what happened while you were gone. I think I have a good idea of what you've done, but know that stalling will give you any leverage, old friend."
After Rebecca calmly took over the situation, Greg calmed down, and Lucius began to fill them in on the details of the story.
David had learned many things about the kind of person Lucius was.
He had watched David for multiple days before David's adulthood and awakening to see if he was worthy of Astraphobia.
After Lucius finished his speech, the room was silent.
The looks of disgust and contempt were replaced with fear or curiosity.
David believed he had a grasp on the Council.
"So the left side, which has the Zesian lords, hates the right side with the Lurris lords, and the middle, with the Theocracy Lords, mediate."
David's head was filled with many questions.
David still wondered what the "Overlord" did in this council.
He wanted to know how Lucius knew of Astraphobia.
He wanted to know why he was even being brought into a room like this.
And he wanted to know why he was tied up.
Each of the lords began speaking to the other within their pairs about the news Lucius shared.
Lucius seemed to be getting chewed out by his partner.
The Theocracy lords were split between acceptance and fear.
The Zesian lords were both angry about the ordeal.
"My fellow lords. Please listen to my plea before we begin any voting. As we know, the Dark forces that we thought were sealed are being seen again. Even I had to face off against many of them. They are not weak. I know we may have great sources of power, but some of the greatest sources of power are in the room with us. However, as we know, those with pure elements are far stronger than us. They grow faster, they live longer, and if trained properly, they can be indispensable for humanity!" Lucius declared
"BLASPHEMY! THEIR POWER IS DEMONIC! HANG HIM NOW!" The lord beside Rebecca angrily screamed.
"Please calm down, Nathan. I know we don't see things the same, but even you must know that the power itself isn't evil." Rebecca comforted
"Whether it's the power or person, there has never been a time where trusting one of his kind has brought us power," Greg stated
This made all of the Salamanders except Brad angry since they were all commoners.
"If we understand that the power is not evil, all we need to do is see if the boy is or isn't." The lady beside Lucius said.
"I concur, Alexa," Rebecca agreed.
The final lord to cast his opinion was the Zesian lord beside Greg.
"You all know my opinion is the same as Greg's on this matter. However, I wouldn't trust him even if he was a noble or even royalty. Those with that power will always be controlled by it. I will not lose my family members to them again."
The lord beside Greg, Benjamin, casted the final vote.
"Okay, since we've stated our beliefs, let us vote," Lucius said
Three for killing David.
Three of letting him live and training him.
David was relieved to see that he wasn't going to die just yet.
"So it really has come down to this…" Greg muttered
"Call for the Overlord!" Lucius exclaimed
In the frequent event that the council is tied on a decision, the Overlord, an individual voted on by the council every seven years, will be the tiebreaker.
The current Overlord was a former lord from the Lurris Kingdom.
After he became Overlord, his daughter, Alexa, filled in his seat.
Almost randomly, David began to feel a tightness in his chest area. Specifically his heart.
[Emergency Notification: You are under a Metaphysical attack. Consume all mana to repel attack.]
After reading the notification from his system, David moved his mana around his body and focused it toward his hands, remembering how it felt when Lucius channeled his mana into David's body in Smithy and shot it out as a lightning bolt from each hand.
[Skill: Lightning Bolt (lvl 1) Unlocked]
[Mana Insufficient]
After trying a second time, he received the mana insufficient notification.
The pain in his heart began to disappear, and he was finally able to breathe again.
"What the hell was that?" he said as he panted
"YOU SEE?! HE DARED TO USE MAGIC IN THE SACRED COUNCIL ROOM!" Greg shrieked.
"HOW DARE YOU DO THAT?! I KNOW IT WAS YOU, BENJAMIN," Lucius yelled back.
Lucius knew Benjamin was the only one in the council who was skilled with metaphysical magic, which directly attacked the spiritual body made of mana within mages.
"Whatever do you mean, Lucius? Where is the proof I did such a thing?" Benjamin said as he feigned ignorance
At that moment, the doors opened once more.
The man who came in looked very different from the other Council members.
He wore a black robe like the rest, but he was embroidered with purple, gold, and red patterns, representing each country's color, which the normal councilmen only wore one of.
What was even more eye-catching was his physique.
He was clearly a muscular giant.
He stood four heads above David and was three times as wide.
David noticed that he wore the same tired expression as Alexa, the other Lurris councilwoman. Yet he covered it with a serious demeanor.
"Overlord Furland…" Greg muttered as his face paled.
Benjamin's face was growing even paler than his Zesian counterpart.