Gage arrived at a dilapidated shack a few kilometers outside of Aeren Town.
He and Silas found this shack before going to the Regis Estate. After confirming that the shack was hidden and had not been visited for years, they decided that this would be their meeting place after their investigation.
Using his magic sense to check for any hidden danger, Gage walked over the path leading to the shack’s porch. After confirming there was no danger, his brows creased because it also meant that the place was empty.
‘Damn that Silas, why is he still not here?’ He cursed.
When he was on his way to this place, Gage made a detour to make sure he had no pursuers. He also thought that Silas would be later than him since he went inside the Regis Estate while he was only at the entrance. So, he decided to take his time going back.
How come he was still the first one to arrive?
‘Did he encounter trouble on his way out?’
Gage immediately rejected the idea. They agreed that Silas would only activate the bracelet once he safely completed his task.
‘Forest beasts?’ He pondered some more.
Although rare, there would be cases where some low-level forest beasts would venture around the outskirts of Aeren Town.
‘I’ll just have to wait then,’ he finally decided.
Gage was normally hotheaded, but when he was on a job, he could be very patient.
He arrived at the door and carefully opened it, if not, he could easily break it down.
As soon as he stepped inside, a light-blue array suddenly appeared and hovered vertically in front of Gage.
“Hm?”
From the middle of the array, a beautiful small female ice spirit emerged. She had deep blue eyes and similarly deep blue wavy long hair that flowed all around her like snow. There was a small diamond tiara on top of her head and her pointy ears had intricate ice ornaments on them. Her flowing white and blue tulle cape dress fell down her body like a small snow mountain. Small snowflakes fell and glistened beautifully around her, but, as soon as it veered too far from her, it would melt away.
Gage’s eyes almost popped out of its socket as he stared at the Ice Spirit in fright. “W-Why is there a spirit here? More importantly, how come I can see one!” He exclaimed.
It was said that those who could see spirits were very rare. Only those with a rare bloodline could see them. If a human without this bloodline saw a spirit it meant that person was the spirits’ subject of their little ‘play’. And their play might seem fun to them, but not to that person.
In an instant, Gage racked his brain if his family had a hidden relation to the two families in the empire that was known to have this rare bloodline.
This bloodline was called the Fae bloodline. The origin of this bloodline came from a union of a Fae noble and a specially selected human from ancient times.
In the whole empire, there were only two families known to have this bloodline. One was a small family located at the west of the empire, the Mavin Family. And the other one was more famous. They were one of the Three Noble Families that had great ties with the Royal Family, the Dinaeri Family.
Gage immediately shook his head. His family had no relations with them! But more importantly, were their spirits associated with ice?
Thinking of ice, Gage suddenly thought of Silas and cautiously looked at the female spirit who had her eyes half-closed.
Another thought crossed his mind.
The truth, there were three families who had the bloodline to see spirits. However, twelve years ago the Royal Army raided that family, claiming that they were practicing forbidden magic on top of building an army of spirits to overthrow the Royal Family. In that raid, the whole family was almost wiped out. Even those who survived were said to be imprisoned on the Island.
And that family was famous for their Ice Spirits.
‘Svell Family… Could it be that Silas..?’
“Little boy, are you Gage?” A cute yet cold voice interrupted his thoughts.
Gage had to blink twice because he was not sure if it came from the Ice Spirit. He did not see her open her mouth.
“Answer me. Are you Gage?” The voice came again.
A vein appeared on Gage’s forehead.
Although the Ice Spirit was not looking at him directly, he knew it was her this time, because she had pointed her cute little finger at him.
Why this little – who’s she calling a little boy? And what kind of attitude is this?
But Gage knew better than retort back in anger. After all, everyone knew the spirits had the worst temper of all magical creatures in the entire world. If you angered a spirit, which most of the time was unintentional because few could see them, with their own travel means, they would be able to follow you and haunt you for years. Most people had no clue about what was happening and would blame it on being cursed or falling sick.
“I am.”
“Receive this. It is a message from little Silas,” the Ice Spirit opened her small palm and a three-inches wide ice orb appeared on top.
Gage held out his hand to receive the orb. It flew to his hand with snowflakes trailing behind it.
“Are you Silas’s contract spirit?” he asked as soon as he received the orb.
White steam puffed out of the Ice Spirit’s ear and her surrounding started to freeze.
“Why would my noble self become a contract Spirit? Humph! Ignorant little human. Just because I am kind enough to deliver something for him does not mean I am his spirit!” She started to throw small snowballs at Gage.
The snowballs hit Gage’s head, but it was too small that the moment it landed on him, it melted from his magic defense.
‘Weak!’ Gage could not help but think.
“I have done what I came here. Humph! Stupid lowly ignorant human! Don’t let me hear you say that blasphemous notion again or I’ll turn you into an ice sculpture!”
The light-blue array glowed and soon the Ice Spirit disappeared with a small puff, leaving a few snowflakes behind.
Such a weird spirit. Why did he have to meet a weak and weird spirit the first time he saw one?
Gage had never met a mage with a contracted spirit, but from what he heard they were very hard to deal with. But after seeing that spirit, he wondered if it was really true.
So was Silas from the Svell Family? Gage realized he knew little of him.
With a shake of his head, he turned his focus on the orb in his hand. He urged his magic and soon the orb lit up and Silas’s image appeared.
“Gage. I am currently inside ‘you-know-where’,” he started to speak. “I cannot give you the full details in case this gets into the wrong hands–.”
(“What? Did you really just say I am incompetent? You are just a lowly human! How dare you act arrogant in front of my noble self! Stupid little Silas!” A cute little voice was heard in the background.)
“–Get in touch with Hall Master and inform her we need an audience with the President.”
Black lines appeared in Gage’s head as he faintly saw the head and shoulders of Silas’s image slowly filled with snow.
“This matter is of utmost importance. Head back to the Mercenary Hall as well. Once you meet with them, show this orb to the President. He would know what to do.”
Then the orb started to blink.
“Remember, only show this orb if you are in the presence of the Mercenary Hall President. I can’t leave here yet. There are things… Anyway, I know I can trust this to you. I’ll also come once I am finished here.”
The light slowly faded and Silas’s image disappeared.
Gage frowned. That’s it? Not even a clue of what happened? And what’s with the ‘you-know-where’ talk. Trying to act all mysterious.
“I am not your errand boy! Stupid little Silas!” He growled. But he hid the orb in his pocket and went out of the shack with a thoughtful look.
It seemed, the high-profile bounty really had something to do with the Regis Clan. This would be big news if the whole continent found out.
=========================
Starhorn City, inside the Chairman’s room at the very top floor of the Mercenary Hall.
Callan sat on the long couch and looked at the older man who was seated at the study table opposite him.
The man was in his mid-fifties with long gray hair and dark green eyes. He was wearing the same robe as Callan, but with an additional linen vest made of gold and diamond.
While Callan covered his head with the robe’s hood, the man kept it down. That’s why his grave expression was clearly seen on his face. This man was the Chairman of the Mercenary Hall.
It’s almost late in the afternoon when Callan managed to get hold of him.
The Chairman of the Mercenary Hall rarely appeared in public nowadays or even meddle with its affairs, but that was only because he was busy with his work as a council member of the Conclave.
Even today, he was dealing with some conflicts from a branch outside the empire. But after he received the emergency coded message from Callan, he flew back to Starhorn as soon as possible. It took him at least four hours. And finally, he arrived.
Now, after Callan told him of what happened and also read the report of the Blacksmith Order’s Master Artisan regarding the damage on the Mercenary Hall’s defensive array, he felt he had aged at least twenty years.
“Chairman Hugh, would you like me to prepare a potion for your…health?” Callan asked cautiously.
The old man, named Hugh immediately raised a hand at Callan.
“It is okay Callan. I am only exhausted from traveling back. It has been a while since I’ve used all my strength just to get back here as fast as I can.”
Callan lowered his head, “I’m sorry. If I had properly checked the documents our managers submitted regarding the bounty, we might have avoided this situation.”
Hugh shook his head, “You cannot possibly know that the army would do something like this. Besides, if the bounty did not happen, he might not have come here.” He took a deep breath, “You said Celine already went to meet with him. Have you established a communication channel to get news from her as soon as possible?”
“I did. Although there is a risk that other spies might find out about our meeting with him, Celine will be able to hide her trail.”
“Yes. She’s a support mage which makes it almost impossible to become a Magus, but because she’s capable she was able to–.”
“C-Chairman! President! It’s an emergency!” A panic-stricken male voice sounded from behind the office’s door.
Both men exchanged worried looks.
Immediately Callan stood up and with a wave of his hand, the door opened and a young mage in a gray robe with white linings, the uniform of an Apprentice mage from the Mercenary Hall, came in. Because he was too anxious to get in, he tripped and fell face-first on the floor.
Without even bothering to fix himself up or wait for Callan or Hugh to speak, the young man looked at them and stammered, “T-The Tower of Conclave! The headquarters of the Conclave is under attack!”
“What?” Hugh and Callan both exclaimed.