Lucas nodded to himself as he entered the local town hall. It was nothing special, most people working here weren't mages, only the security had some. The workers here did most administrative jobs that kept pilling up no matter how much time they worked.
If they were mages, they could skip a few nights and work at a consistent rate, perhaps the work would've slimmed by then. But these normal men and women were stuck in a never ending bureaucratic nightmare, not that Lucas noticed.
Walking up to one of the freed up booths, he found a middle-aged man with a tired face filling out some papers.
"Excuse me, I wanted to contact someone from the military. Could you help me out?"
The man looked up at him before flashing his professional smile that already looked worn out. "Contacting someone from the military is a vague request. Do you want to enroll in the military academy to join the army? Or do you have someone in mind that you wanted to contact that on the front?"
'Front?'
'These dipshits already fighting?'
'No, Avesta looked peaceful, that wouldn't make any sense.'
Lucas had just come from warring countries, and while he was expecting some bad blood between the countries in the world above, it came a bit sooner than expected.
"I wanted to contact Kasto or Cal if possible.", the names felt fresh in his mouth. It had been quite some time since he met them, yet his entire plan hinged on meeting one of the two.
Back during the competitions in the academy, he was given the chance to join the military once he graduated. And while Lucas officially graduated since he left after the first year, he was ready to accompany them.
He was even willing to pay them if necessary because of a single reason. Immunity. When they offered him a position, Kasto had promised him immunity from other noble families, and that's exactly what he needed now.
"Kasto or Cal? Would you have a last name? There are probably dozens of Kastos or Cals in the military. I'm afraid I'll need a full name, preferably with a title before I request to make contact."
Lucas almost clicked his tongue before remembering the conversation he had with them. If he wasn't a mage with a functioning Mental Sphere, he probably would've already forgotten it.
"He was a commander I believe, and Kasto is a commoner, so he doesn't have a last name."
The man's professional smile had already faded by a lot, but he didn't have the energy to keep it up. He scratched his head as he proposed a deal. "Look, I can try to come into contact with them, but a Kasto, that's a commoner and also a commander? That seems hard to believe, but if you pay the charge, I'll request what you've asked for."
If the man was well rested and in a good mood, he would've advised Lucas not to waste money on something so uncertain. But after meeting so many people, many of which asked for the most unreasonable things, he got used to useless requests.
"That's fine."
The man nodded before moving away from his desk. Behind him stood a bookcase filled with different instruction books that seemed so disorganized he needed a separate sheet of paper to understand the bookcase.
Pulling out the correct one, he took his time to look for the right page. All the while, Lucas was waiting as a line started to form behind him. There were only a few booths available, and the people making requests at them always asked for something specific. The time it took to solve one man's problems was enough for two new men to join the line.
After a while, the man came back to his chair behind the booth and sat down.
"That'll be 5 silver coins please."
Lucas didn't have any silver, so he pulled out a gold coin. "Keep the change.", Lucas said with a smile, in the hopes that it would improve the man's mood or efficiency, yet all he got was a "We're not allowed to take bribes.", before he received the change.
"Is there a specific message you'd like to send?", the man asked as he filled out a form. To him, the chances of even finding the right person was impossible, but he still had to fill out the entire form.
"Just tell him that Conrad from the Blue Fire Academy wishes to join him."
"Okay, then could you fill in the rest please.", he was handed a piece of paper with a bunch of boxes to fill in.
"Why do you need to know where I live to send a message?"
"Just fill in the form please.", his tired response filled with a sigh was clear enough signal to Lucas.
Lucas did as he was asked off, clearly filling in all the fields and checking the boxes that were applicable. After he was done the man left to get another paper and presented it to Lucas. "Take this to the communication officer that's over there."
Moving down the hall, following the badly created signs, Lucas found a mage among men. It was just a Rank 1 mage, but still.
"Good afternoon, have you brought your form with you?", the man was all smiles as he recognized Lucas's Rank right away. Giving him the papers, he looked through them and frowned after seeing who he was supposed to contact.
"A commoner as a commander? Excuse me sir, but are you certain this is the person you want to contact?"
"Yes, I'm certain.", and even if he wasn't able to contact Kasto, there was still a chance to get Cal, his attendant or advisor.
The mage frowned, but continued. Moving to a separate room, the mage contacted the army using spells that were hidden from the public.
Lucas was forced to wait even longer before the man came back. "I wasn't able to contact Commander Kasto himself, but an underling answered. They'll send someone to pick you up."
"Good, thanks.", Lucas nodded as he thought about what he would have to do next.
"If I may cross my boundaries, sir. Why are you interested in a commoner? There are plenty of Noble Commanders who have shown plenty of result on the battlefield. Someone of your Rank doesn't need to stoop so low. I-", the man chocked on his words as Lucas didn't hold back his aura.
"I suggest you keep quiet for your own wellbeing.", Lucas was annoyed, tired of waiting and irritated of people speaking lowly of commoners. To him, they were all the same, if their guts spilled out, they would look exactly the same.
Influenced by his aura, the man saw his wife getting raped in front of him while his kids were abused before they got their heads ripped off. Then it all vanished, leaving the man in the same room as before, only this time without the visitor.
Sweat beads formed on his forehead as he stared at the exit. Swallowing his saliva, he wiped the sweat away as he made a mental note not to ever mention this commander again. Nothing good came out of mentioning commoners.
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In a forgotten land, dried of resources and life, a single black castle stood strong. The entire environment was drained of water, leaving nothing but a desert-like ground behind. Not a single insect, fly or weed survived in this harsh land.
Yet at the very center, a tall castle stood strong. Even if there were barely any inhabitants, one of them was sitting on a balcony, looking over the land. The master of the castle had grown excited lately, things were moving along greatly.
As he was watching over the dying land a maid came next to him, she made absolutely no sound nor did she have any presence, yet the man instantly noticed her.
"My lord.", she bowed slightly, her movements perfect. The man only uttered a single word, "Report?"
"Yes, my lord. We have gathered three points of intel worthy to be mentioned."
"Go ahead."
"Before I do so, the other head members have asked to convene again."
"Clear up a 7-star danger area, we'll meet there. Begin the report.", the maid nodded as she quickly conjured a spell to distribute the orders. Last time they used a 6-star area and some people noticed them, making the master of the castle choose a harder to reach place for their security.
"Control over the Undead Heir was lost. We have tried every possible method, to no avail.", she bowed as if she had to apologize for their lack of success, but the master only nodded slightly.
"This was expected, inheriting The Great One's Anger is a blessing and a curse. For his rationality to stay strong until he reached Rank 6 was already commendable. Status?"
"He is walking towards the Holy Kingdom. It will take a few months before he reaches it."
"A few months?"
"He has unregulated outbursts of anger where he destroys his environment and flies towards the Holy Kingdom. It is hard to calculate when he will arrive exactly."
"It's fine, the Holy Kingdom won't let him live long at this point. Although he's still useful, try to pull him towards the west if you can. Next."
The maid nodded as she relayed his orders through the spell. "The lab was able to create what you requested."
"Good, put the other requests on hold if possible and focus on mass production."
"It will be done, my lord. The final piece of intel is about the youngest heir. He has succeeded in the second stage and survived the trial."
The master grinned widely, it was a long time since he was so openly happy. "Good."
"The report states that his wish wasn't what we calculated. He asked that the Heir who received The Great One's Logical Thinking receives a Mental Sphere. If the reports are accurate, he's planning on creating an army in the Underground."
"An interesting move, even if it is useless in the grand scheme of things. Reasoning?"
"We believe he either has noticed our presence and wants to rebel or he took pity on the other Heir."
"Knowing his past behavior, it's both. Pull all the men that come in direct contact with him back. I'll tighten up the plans on my end. Remove all the low ranking spies and replace them with the highest rank we have."
"But, my lord, that would slow down the information gathering on the other Heirs."
"The other Heirs are nothing compared to him. He's already inherited two aspects of The Great One, which is unprecedented. If we can awaken a third, all the other Heirs will have lost their value."
The youngest Heir was only Rank 2, the lowest of them all, yet he was valued the highest according to this man. The maid nodded slightly.
"If he is the True Heir, then our plans will finally come to fruition."
The maid almost flinched, they had nurtured many heirs throughout the thousands of years. Her organization was immensely powerful, capable of anything, yet they were missing a single piece in their plans, a True Heir.
Now, their grand plan would finally come to a close, they only had to wait for a tiny bit longer. She gained a massive surge in her motivation as she realized the importance of their current situation.
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A large black carriage was going north, maneuvering between the mountains wasn't easy without a beaten path, making it hard for the coachman to travel. Luckily, he had done this plenty of times and found the best route.
Inside the carriage sat two men, one donning a red mask decorated further with a few lines and a swirl. Wearing a black robe, his posture was relaxed, despite the bad news they were about to bring.
Beside him sat another man, he wore a dark red robe and a similar mask. The silence in the carriage was broken not long after they almost reached their destination.
"Your pupils have failed."
"They weren't the best I had to offer, but the only ones with the correct bloodline."
"Excuses are worthless, a fledgling Rank 2 is the easiest to kill, why did they fail?"
The man kept back a sigh, his master was correct. His disciples failed a simple mission, excuses were unacceptable.
"The moment they entered the Underground, we lost contact. I have trained them to be very capable in their respective fields. If they failed it can only because there is something in the Underground we don't know of, or our intel on Conrad is incorrect."
"The Underground only houses defective mages, this hasn't changed over entire centuries and won't change anytime soon. They have gained some strength due to experiments performed by some rogue mages, but even then. Don't tell me your pupils would get killed because of a simple sneak attack."
"No, of course not!", the man almost panicked. The idea of assassins being assassinated would be a massive stain on their reputation. "One of them was Grok, he was trained to take attacks head on."
"Was he trained in withstanding poisons?"
"Yes, he has immunity against most."
The man in the white robe folded his arms as he went into deep thought. "The Bailey family won't welcome us with open arms."
"I have committed a grave offense, master. I'll strive to do better."
"Can you?", his question was laced with a deadly poison. Making false promises was worse than failing a task for the master.
"No, I don't have any other pupils that have the correct bloodline. They are extremely scarce. If you order it, I'll start to create a breeding program that will allow us to send more."
"There's no use."
It didn't take long before they arrived and were guided inside. Arriving at the same dining hall, everything was perfectly set up. Not a speck of dust in sight, the people here were perfect at their jobs.
In front of them sat a butler with a small mustache. He looked extremely displeased to be sitting here again.
"We have paid you a considerable amount to avenge the young Lord. Yet now you come here empty-handed?"
The man with the red mask felt ashamed. His pupils were his creations, yet they failed at a seemingly easy task. He wanted to answer, but in the presence of his own master, he couldn't take the initiative.
"Due to circumstances and the provided intel, it appears that we have underestimated the target."
"Hah! What circumstances? Besides, the intel we provided was perfect."
"What you didn't mention was the fact that he wasn't alone but was backed by a few noble families.", he said confidently. "We prepared an attack force that was more than enough based on the intel, yet they were easily bested. This was not because of our underestimation of Conrad himself, but rather his backing group."
The butler wanted to speak up, but the man wasn't finished yet. "By providing incomplete intel, we have lost two very precious pupils in our group. The loss of which cannot be understated. We have received a lot of critique about why we weren't informed enough."
The butler felt angry but also a bit confused. He was certain the intel he received was more than enough, yet they failed to mention his backing group. He had to give an answer to the man's argument, but had no idea where things went wrong.
"We asked the beggar guild for the info, they researched him thoroughly."
"Apparently you didn't provide enough funds for them to find everything. It is saddening."
The butler realized they were blatantly lying to his face. The beggar guild were the best at gathering information, there was no way they wouldn't realize he had a backing. And even so, they fought in the Underground, chances of his backing having an army there is close to none.
Yet he couldn't refute what they said. Lucas or Conrad was a newly formed Rank 2 and barely had any experience. Even so, he killed off two other Rank 2 mages, it bordered the impossible. Seeing no way forward, he could only progress the discussion towards the next step.
"Either way, we paid you a ton to kill him, yet you didn't. The Lord said that he noticed his beacon has arrived back on the surface, so we'll give you another chance."
"If you think we can try to-", the man was interrupted by a communication spell. He moved his hands quickly, sealing off the surrounding space before answering the spell. Listening to the information while in a meeting royally pissed off the butler, but he couldn't just attack them.
The man in the white masked nodded to himself while the one in the red mask could only hope that what his master was doing took priority. Removing the sealed space, he directed himself to the butler.
"We have decided to stop this mission. We'll reimburse you for your wasted time. If you'll excuse us.", the man suddenly got up as he prepared himself to leave. The butler barely understood what was going on, but knew that message must've been important.
"Wait!", seeing the men leave, the butler had to keep them here. Seeing their argumentative statements and their discussion leading to another payment to the Cult, the butler thought he could keep them if he provided what they wanted. "We'll pay you again."
Yet the man in the white mask kept walking away. "We're not interested, good luck on the path."
Leaving the castle behind, they traveled in their carriage back. The man in the red mask felt admiration for his master. To not only lead their discussion so well, but easily convince and deceive the butler was a skill worthy of jealousy.
"Why did you suddenly drop the case?"
"The higher ups said to not involve ourselves. Seeing how that boy killed two of our disciples, it won't come to an end here, but it seems they have a bigger plan for us."