Legacy of the Dark Sage

Kyran's eyes narrowed after the woman unhesitatingly revealed who she was. He recognized her name from the Conclave's record Stella had showed him.

The Aureole faction had a rocky relationship with the Royal Army, especially with those stationed in the north, Deputy Marshal Ingrid's force. There was a rumor that the feud between Deputy Marshal Ingrid and the Head of Aureole, named Lauren, stemmed from when the former was only a General and tried to recruit the latter when she was only a new graduate. Lauren rejected Ingrid's invitation saying, she did not want to submit to someone weaker than her. When Ingrid heard that, she felt insulted, afterwich she did everything within her power to hinder Lauren's progress. Apart from that, in just a short ten years, Ingrid became a Deputy Marshal and was given jurisdiction over the the northern part of the Ylfaen Empire.

As fate would have it, even with Ingrid hindering Lauren's progress, the latter managed to get into the Aureole faction, where at that time was slowly growing. Soon, she became the previous Head's successor. Lauren's succession happened almost at the same time Ingrid became the Deputy Marshal.

But although Lauren became the new Head, there were speculations that she was not the strongest. In Aureole, there were three Deputy Heads, two of which were active, and one, was low-key. That low-key deputy, was Olivia. According to the rumors going around, she was also the daughter of the former Head of Aureole and was the strongest among the current generation.

As for why Olivia did not suceed her mother, publicly it was said she was never interested in becoming the Head of Aureole and prefer to  immerse herself in improving her magic. However, according to the the Conclave's record which was backed by information of Olivia's visits to the Alchemist Association, the real reason for her disinterest in the Aureole's affairs was because she was busy searching for a cure to an illness that had tormented her mother for a long time.

Unfortunately, even Chairman Malia could not help. It was not because she did not know the illness, but because even to this day, there had been no known permanent cure to it. Malia could only provide a temporary remedy to stall the progress of the illness.

Recalling this information, Kyran immediately guessed Olivia's reason for aiming to conquer the tower. But he could not reveal this to her. After all, the information came from the Conclave and he did not want her to think he had ties with them. His cooperation with the Conclave had to remain in the shadows.

Besides, Olivia might have a different 'desire' he was unaware of. Either way, Kyran could use this. Malia might not be able to cure the illness, but he knew someone that had a far advance knowledge in Alchemy that even the Alchemist Association was trying to win over, his godmother Anette.

On top of that, Anette's Alchemy knowledge likely had a boost from her experience inside the tower. Kyran also gained at least 80% of Alchemy knowledge and if the worked together, they might be able to produce a permanent cure to the illness of Olivia's mother.

All these thoughts flashed through Kyran's mind in an instant. Though he already had a way to get Olivia to his side, he would not actively propose a partnership. After all, he was still unsure of the extent of Olivia's influence inside Aureole. She might be the previous Head's daughter, but since she was not interested in the faction's affairs, her power inside might not be good. At most, she would only end up being a mole he could use to slowly acquire the Aureole's cooperation.

Nevertheless, now that Olivia was the first one to step down and reveal something about herself, they were already in a good start.

"I don't know how you guess my plans on conquering the Tower, but you're right. I can't afford to die. At least not my essence," Olivia started.

"As one progress into the tower's training, at some point, if you continue to produce good results, the Tower would present an option to start with the path to conquer it. Once you accept, the Tower would give you a challenge. My challenge is to endure in this special place. If I achieve a record of 1,000 battles without dying, then I can continue with the next one."

Kyran frowned at this. The tower's challenge was not difficult. Achieving a record of 1,000 battles did not mean she had to win all of it. But the question here was, how long would she be able to complete 1,000 battles in this place? The tower had been here for more than a thousand years, and Kyran's participant number was 7621. If that was the case, there were only 7-8 participants entering the special place!

"That's why I can't afford to die. I can lose, but not die," Olivia affirmed with a sigh. "But I am guessing it is also the same with you. Maybe its not about dying in this place, but you can't afford to stay for long."

She paused before continuing, "Let's say my guess about your identity is correct. But contrary to a possible threat to the whole world the Royal Family made you out to be, when you found the tower it already proved them wrong. A person with no ill-intent will never be a threat, unless, provoked.

"Then you said you don't plan on conquering the tower, which means you are here to improve yourself. Putting the two together, I can draw a vague conclusion. To date, the Royal Family is not aware of your existence, but someone else does. That person, was likely to be backed by a large force to be able to hide your existence even to the Royal Family. I am guessing, that person is from a big faction, or possibly... even the Royal Army."

Olivia paused trying to sense a change from the young man's emotions. However, from the moment she started talking, he had only remained silent. If she the blade was not pointed at her neck, she would have even think he already left.

Since Olivia failed to sense any change from him, she continued, "If it was the former, it would only be a matter of time before the Royal Family or the Royal Army finds out because of a change on their forces' activities. But so far, there is no news. The only ones who had a change in activities these past month, were the Royal Army and the Mercenary Hall.

"With this, I am guessing the ones who discovered you is either from the Royal Army or the Conclave. But the Conclave has always been a neutral force and even if they discovered you, I reckoned they will not hide it. The Head of Conclave doesn't want any complications, so they will definitely report you. In the end, I can only guess that the ones to discover you is part of the Royal Army, and that someone has a high position. For that person to not report it to the Royal Family, or even issue an open manhunt means, that person has other plans.

"My conclusion, you are here to hide from those people after you. At the same time, you have a reason to improve yourself in a short time. Most likely, the Royal Army has gotten hold of something... or even someone important to you. That's why you are in a hurry to finish your training here and go back," Olivia concluded.

A smile tugged at the corner of Kyran's lips. He did not expect Olivia to actually draw such a conclusion. There were misses, but it was because she did not know anything about his background. If she was aware he was a Regis, and that what the Royal Army got hold of was not just 'someone,' she would probably flip.

Finally, after a moment's pause, Kyran said, "Did it ever occur to you, if your guess is correct, revealing your thoughts only gave me a reason to kill you? You may think you're just an essence, and your original self will not really be affected, but... is that really the case with me?"

Olivia's expression suddenly turned grim as her heart began to beat erratically once more. He was right. She also thought of that possibility, but she had gambled on the fact he found and entered the tower to gauge his character. He was not evil... or was he?

Kyran chuckled at Olivia's sudden silence.

"Alright, enough fooling around," he suddenly said.

"Fooling—?"

"Deputy Head, Olivia," Kyran cut her midsentence and continued, "I still have your life in my hands. As for whether your guess about my identity is correct, from the things you already thought of, I'm sure you're aware that you can't use it against me."

Olivia's frown deepened. What he said was true. She could not report the fact she knew about him when the Royal Army already knew of his existence. If she reported it to the Royal Family, she would only incite an internal strife between the two. But depending on the truth of the rumor about the Grand Marshal, once the strife between them escalated, it would affect all other factions within the empire.

There would be a great war.

Unbeknownst to Olivia, Kyran would also be affected if a war did happen. The first casualty would definitely be his clan.

"Fine. What do you want?" Olivia finally relented.