Unsealing Emptiness

——–

– In a room with a long round table –

A couple of middle and old looking men sat around the table, each having a solemn expression on their face, not letting the others get any read on them.

“He is only an arrogant brat! No need to accept anything,” an old-looking man commented, breaking the stillness.

“Exactly. After advancing to Rank-9, he thinks too highly of himself already,” the middle-aged man with shiny red hair expressed his agreement.

Another old looking man also chimed in, “I also have the same thoughts. There is no need to invite such a presumptuous person. It will only ruin the good atmosphere.”

.....

All of them had previously forced the mercenary guild to invite the Leader of the Three-Eyed Strangers to get a chance at making an alliance with them. However, if he had put his demand to have Emperor Luthien attend as well, it could only mean that he was planning to ally with the Silverbird Kingdom.

Only four people there remained quiet. One of them was the Main Leader of the mercenary guild, one of them represented the Leonhard Dynasty, one was the Archbishop of the Church, and the last was Alver.

Even among other Rank-9 Mages, these four stood out the most because of their aura and temperament. In 1 on 1 fight, they could beat any one of those present here.

“I don’t think it is necessary to fulfill some childish demands either,” after a while, the Leader of the mercenary guild spoke. His words satisfied most of them but the Archbishop and Alver.

Archbishop naturally wouldn’t want to lose the opportunity to get into contact with Ozul, while Alver wished for things to turn out the way his nephew wanted.

“Since everyone agrees, I hope to-” the Guild’s Leader had thought that everyone was of the same opinion. However, his words were cut off by the Archbishop who said, “I don’t agree.”

“Huh?” the Guild’s Leader naturally didn’t like anyone interrupting him. He turned towards the Archbishop and said, “And why so, Archbishop Lammert?”

“In my opinion, inviting Emperor Luthien isn’t such a big deal,” Archbishop Lammert completely ignored the Guild Leader’s question.

The Guild Leader stared at Archbishop Lammert as he thought, ‘Why is he taking such a sudden interest in that new kid? Previously, everyone had proposed that we invite him, but he hadn’t said a thing... If it was anyone else, I could have ignored it, but the Church is also the part of organizers.’

Although the final decision would still be up to him, the Guild Leader couldn’t just ignore Lammert’s words either.

Before he could think things through, Lammert pressed them, “If you decide not to accept it, I am telling you; I will do so personally. And I am pretty certain that Emperor Luthien would agree as well. However, it would then be unfavorable for everyone, and the God of Light has certainly taught me compassion.”

Unlike others, the people present here all knew the true face of this kind middle-aged man. They couldn’t ignore the hypocrisy in Lammert’s last sentence. Instead of compassion, it was rather a threat. He was simply telling them to listen to him, or he will do it himself.

However, if he did what he had said, the situation would really be unfavorable to them. If it was the Church that had personally accepted that new Rank-9 Mage’s request, then the latter’s judgment would most definitely be in the favor of the Church.

On the other hand, if it was the mercenary guild accepting his demand, everyone would have a fair chance at it.

With such thoughts in their mind, the people who had opposed the idea of accepting didn’t speak up. They didn’t know what had gotten into the Archbishop, but if they let him accept the request personally, they would lose the chances of allying with that new Rank-9 Mage. Even when they called Ozul a brat just a moment ago, a Rank-9 Mage’s strength was not something to be joked about.

The Mercenary Guild Leader, being the only neutral party, still didn’t want to accept Ozul’s demands.

‘Only that could work now...’ the Guild Leader thought as he glanced at Alver sitting on the opposite side of the Archbishop. Everyone knew the animosity between the two was such that the Ashin family would go as far as to bear some losses if it meant pushing down the Church another notch.

Trying not to make it so obvious, the Guild Leader first turned towards the middle-aged with unruly long orange hair. He was the man representing the Leonhard Dynasty. He asked, “What are your opinions, Emperor Elsug?”

“Whatever,” Emperor Elsug shrugged his shoulders. He didn’t really care about this small matter that everyone seemed to be making such a big deal out of.

The Guild Leader nodded his head, it was as he expected; Elsug would have a neutral opinion on this. With a small smile, he then turned towards Alver.

Everyone understood what the Guild Leader was trying to do. Even Alver knew that the Guild Leader was hoping for him to stand against Archbishop Lammert. That way, the Guild Leader wouldn’t have to take the responsibility of declining the demands.

Archbishop had also prepared himself to have a harsh battle of words with Alver, however, it was unexpected when the latter spoke, “I don’t have any opinions on this matter.”

Immediately, the Guild Leader’s eyes narrowed at Alver. ‘No way the Ashin family would miss a chance to go against the Church... Is there something about that new Rank-9 Mage?... I will have to discuss this with others...’ he thought inside his mind.

‘I don’t know what you are thinking by inviting him here, nephew. I am trusting you on this...’ Alver had put his faith in Ozul. He was clueless about his reasons, but at least he was aware that they had a common enemy.

*Sigh*

‘But for now, I will have to accept it...’ the Guild Leader internally sighed, not having any other choice but to send another invite to Emperor Luthien.

“Since that’s the case, we will send another invitation to Emperor Luthien, together with a brief context of our reasons. However, that is all we would do. If Emperor Luthien rejects it again, that will be the end of the matter,” the Guild Leader finally relented.

All other Rank-9 Mages nodded their heads simultaneously.

“I hope to see everyone in 50 days,” the Guild Leader said before standing up and walking out of the room.

One by one, others left as well. Before Archbishop Lammert stood up, he stared at Alver for a couple of seconds, keeping his thoughts to himself.

. . .

As Lammert arrived back in the Church, he seemingly spoke to the air, “Inform Emperor Luthien to accept the invitation. Tell him it is important.”

“As you command, Master,” a man appeared beside Lammert and bowed before disappearing again.

‘What are you thinking, Alver...’ Lammert didn’t understand nor could he think of any reason for him to take a neutral stand.

From the moment Alver had said those words, Lammert had his mind fixated on it. With an enemy like the Ashin family, he could always predict their actions to a certain extent. That is why he always had an upper hand. So it was alarming for him that Alver had suddenly changed his way of approaching the matter.

——–

Meanwhile, Ozul was laying in his room without any worries. He also had another way to make Emperor Luthien leave the castle as well, only it was a little more risky.

Fortunately, he didn’t have to use those means because when he went out of his room that day, Irvin excitedly came running towards him.

“Young Master!” Irvin was not only excited but also a little relieved. In his mind, their demand could have very well offended the mercenary guild.

Even when their own influence had reached to the far corners of the Mainland, the mercenary guild was not an organization to be trifled with.

“Calm down. What is it?” Ozul asked even though he could already guess from Irvin’s expressions.

“The mercenary guild has accepted your demand. However, they say that they will only invite Emperor Luthien once, if he rejects the invitation, they wouldn’t take any responsibility,” Irvin explained the contents of the scroll in his hand.

“Alright...” If Archbishop could make the mercenary guild send the invitation again, then it wouldn’t be stupid to think that he would also make sure that Emperor Luthien accepted it this time around. Their alliance played an important role in this, hence why he had confirmed from Raymond previously.

‘Although he will be suspicious, but if I don’t take any risks, I might never get my arms back...’ Ozul thought inside his mind.

“Make the preparations, whatever they are. We will attend the tournament,” Ozul ordered before walking away to his room. After working continuously for years, he had again remembered the joys of not doing anything, all day and every day.

Irvin was overjoyed, he immediately bowed his head towards Ozul who was walking away. However, just then, he remembered something. He hurriedly caught up to him and asked,

“Ah yes, Young Master. I almost forgot; are we going to participate or just watch the event?”

They did have a couple of free slots that would let them have any of their people under a certain age to directly join the finals.