Seeing Hugh’s expression, Kyran felt a little guilty. He did not offer to help get samples of the miasma to get to his good side. He was only thinking about the military strength he could form after completing the first part of his plan.
Kyran only planned to work with The Conclave secretly during the first part of his plan. Once he moved to the next step, he would have to use them openly. Particularly their combat force.
In Kyran’s understanding, The Conclave’s primary combat force was the Mercenary Hall. They held assessment tests to filter casual applicants who wanted to become mercenaries, and then they would recruit those with potential into their internal combat force. Those mercenaries recruited by the Mercenary Hall could still do regular bounty works. Still, once the Mercenary Hall and The Conclave High Council leaders summoned them, they had to obey. Dante was an excellent example of this. That was how Celine made use of him to ‘assess’ Kyran.
Hugh was the Chairman of the Mercenary Hall. Although they had another Magus, Celine, Kyran had not considered adding her could into his military strength. Celine was too weak, in his opinion. If Hugh were back in his top condition, having him lead the combat force of The Conclave was far more assuring.
As for Malek, Kyran might feel resentful because of what happened between them, but he was aware of Malek’s strength. If they did fight to the death that time, Kyran was not sure he could win. Though it looked like he had the upper hand, he was actually at his limit. In comparison, Malek could still laugh after having his internal organ taken out. But if Malek were included in Kyran’s military strength, he would not complain. For now, however, that was only a thought. He knew Malek would disagree even if Stella told him to.
Outside The Conclave, there was Nolan. But that guy was too unpredictable. Even now, Kyran wondered whether Nolan was a calculating person or he just enjoyed acting spontaneously. So Kyran had not decided whether Nolan could be part of his strength in the future.
Ignoring the look of gratitude from Hugh, Kyran directed the subject back on topic.
“Anyway, the bark of the Duali Tree is priority,” he said and looked at Noir and Vaness. He asked, “Can you tell me how to recognize the age of the tree?”
“It is very simple,” Noir replied. “A thousand-year-old bark will have a faint golden glow. Once you take it off the tree, it will also turn into gold dust. However, that is the tricky part; collecting its dust while making sure it is not contaminated by the miasma.”
He looked at Vaness and added, “Vaness can teach you how. Although, their method normally works during the normal environment in the Chaos Palace.”
Kyran nodded his head in acknowledgement and said, “Don’t worry about it. I’ll figure something out. Just teach me how.”
Vaness nodded, “Alright.”
He turned to Emery and said, “Emery. Contact Hayden to bring the materials tomorrow.”
“Yes, Chief.” She replied with a nod.
“Okay,” Kyran said.
Then he looked at each member of the council.
After a short pause, he took a deep breath and said, “Now that more of less I have discussed how I plan on providing for The Conclave’s needs, is anyone among you who objects to my proposal?”
Apart from Malek, the rest of The Conclave fell silent.
They belatedly realized that Kyran was only supposed to tell them his plan. However, during their conversation, it already turned into a discussion of how to proceed.
The confident way Kyran talked and carried himself significantly affected why they forgot they were supposed to observe first.
Malek even reminded them to come up with questions to gauge Kyran’s intentions before the start of the meeting. But they were not even given a chance to ask questions because it was no longer necessary. Kyran’s ability to plan out a solution to their current needs was enough for most of them to gauge his character and have an idea of what he planned in the future. At least, they did not foresee him using The Conclave for his benefit. But it was still early to decide because he had not told them what he needed from them. They also had not heard the full detail of his plan, so they still had reservations.
Looking at Kyran’s profile, Stella was feeling a little proud. She was surprised at how he managed to handle the council without her or Malek’s help.
Stella had to admit that she was worried at first about the council’s reaction. Now, she was glad that they were most receptive to Kyran’s proposal.
“Then I will leave you first to discuss what I have said,” Kyran said after a moment’s pause.
He said this to give the council members a few minutes to digest what they discussed. He might have spoken confidently about his proposal, but in truth, he left some holes for the council to question.
After hearing this, the representatives of each constituent of the Conclave first joined their heads and talked among themselves. After that, Hugh, Malia, Noir and Vaness, discussed a few more things together.
Kyran took a deep breath and finally sat down. He leaned on his chair and silently observed them. Although he could hear some of their conversations, Kyran refrained from listening in completely. Right now, he was discreetly looking at one of them, whom he noticed had said a lot.
It was Emery.
During Kyran’s discussion with Noir and Vaness, most members had spoken or shown a strong reaction. Except for her.
Because Sigma had not spoken as well, Kyran observed him and Emery. After each representative had talked among themselves, he noticed that Sigma only said a few words to Noir, so he was no longer worried. Compared to Emery and Vaness’s conversation, she had spoken more.
Now that the leaders were talking among themselves, it was Vaness who was leading the conversation.
Kyran was not worried, though. Although Emery spoke a lot, he did not sense that she was against his proposal. Most likely, she saw the holes in his plan and raised it with Vaness.
After almost half an hour, Hugh, Malia, Noir and Vaness finally finished their discussion and looked at Kyran.
Then Vaness said, “After hearing what the rest had to say, we have no problem with your proposal. You already noticed that we welcome each of your questions and your request for assistance. Of course, we still have some doubts because we have not heard the details of your plans. You did mention, for example, that you will only discuss your plan regarding the bounty reward with the Mercenary Hall, and we understand your reason and we respect that. Still, there are some that involve us all, and we want to raise a few details we want some clarifications.”
“Please go ahead,” Kyran replied with a slight nod.
“First would be, the matter of deadline in acquiring the additional materials.” Vaness said and looked at Emery.
Emery nodded and continued, “As mentioned by Chairman Noir, the additional materials are needed, a week from now. You are able to address the transportation of the first materials which in turn will also lessen the demand for manpower, however, if we want to acquire the additional materials Chairman Noir needed in a week’s time, the manpower we have to use will be doubled. Maybe even tripled.”
A smile escaped Kyran’s lips as he leaned forward and rested his arms on the table.
He looked at Emery and said, “Your concern is justified. You’re right, I will still need manpower. But I think you misunderstand what I said earlier. I don’t plan on using your people to ‘acquire’ those materials, I did say ‘I’ will get it for you.”
Emery’s eyes widened, and she also leaned forward and said, “Alone?”
Kyran paused for a moment and replied, “Well. I have a person in mind who can help me but… he’s not here yet. Anyway, whether he arrives or not, I will go. So what I will need your help with is providing information. For example, I need to know a good location where to hunt the forest beasts you needed. In this way, it will save me a lot of time looking for them.”
Sigma scowled, “Aren’t you overestimating yourself? Even we have to gather an elite team to hunt those beasts. Did you forget that they also move together?”
“Rest assured I’m not. I said I’ll do it because I know I can.”
“Kyran,” Malia said, looking concerned. “Hunting alone is not very wise. Those forest beasts are really dangerous. Maybe we can arrange a few of our high-level members to accompany you.”
Kyran shook his head, “No. If the level of your members are the same as the ones who tried to stop me a few days ago here, then please don’t waste your time.”
“You!” Sigma glowered and slammed his fist on the table. “Are you saying our men are weak?”
Kyran looked at him with both brows raised.
“I’m not. I noticed that your men maybe experienced in fighting ‘humans’. Stella mentioned they participated in joint activities with the Royal Army. But fighting forest beasts are different. I can’t leave my back on people who have little experience in fighting beasts.”
“Humph. And what? Are you telling us you are? You’re family might have trained you well and even brought you along when they hunted beast. But that’s it. You were ‘brought along’. I’m sure they never really let you hunt a beast by yourself,” Sigma pointed with a sneer.
Kyran sighed. Sigma was the type who got easily provoked if he did not like what he heard. Kyran had trouble talking to people like him. It was not that he could not handle it but because it was exhausting.
Stella also shook her head. She felt an incoming headache just by looking at Sigma’s stubborn expression. Better make him shut up as soon as possible.
“Kyran, take out your badges.” Stella said in a voice loud enough for the two of them to hear.
Kyran frowned a little as he looked at her. However, she only nodded her head in encouragement.
Kyran already had an idea of how Stella wanted him to deal with Sigma. He did not like it, though. But he knew showing the rest of the council his badges would also ease their worries.
Without further ado, Kyran took out a container and placed it on the table.
He said, “I do have experiences dealing with forest beasts. Most of the quarterly practical exam in military school requires it. And we had to do it alone. Will these proof be enough?”
He pushed the container toward Sigma.
