Chapter 31: Twelve Years Ago

After Dante left, Celine entered her private quarters through a door in her office.

Once she was inside, she went over to the bookshelf opposite the door. Runes were written on the bookshelf's frame. After she tapped a couple of runes on the frame, the displayed books rearranged themselves to the side and revealed a drawn array.

Celine placed her right hand on top of the array. Faint golden light emitted from it as it came to life, the runes written around the edge hovered and circled her forearms.

After all the runes had transferred on her forearm, Celine removed her hand on the array and looked at her palm. The runes started to form on her palm and created a miniature version of the array on the wall.

"Connect me to President Callan."

The array on Celine's palm lit up and soon a silhouette of a man in a gray and red robe appeared. His face was hidden under the robe's hood.

"Marley told me what happened, but I want to hear the details from you."

Callan wanted to hear the details from Celine not because he did not trust Marley, but because he was still confused. In order to fully understand what happened, he had to hear it from those who were inside the stadium.

"Yes, President."

It took Celine a quarter of an hour to tell Callan what happened. After she was done, he remained silent. Because his face was hidden under the hood, she could not guess what Callan was thinking.

After a moment's pause, Callan finally took a deep breath.

"Celine. Seal off all sound coming in and out of the room," he ordered.

"Yes."

Celine did what she was told. An invisible barrier spread out and enclosed the whole room.

"Now, will you swear a Soul-Binding Oath? Because whatever I am about to say must be kept secret at all cost. If you believe it is something you cannot do then I will have to manipulate your memories right now."

"P-President?" Celine was speechless.

Callan's request was too sudden for her. It made her wonder what kind of secret the President of the Mercenary Hall had to protect that he would even ask her to swear a soul-binding oath.

A soul-binding oath was a very dangerous spell that must not be broken. If the person involved broke the oath, his soul would be destroyed and his body would become an empty shell. What was worse, that person's soul would never be able to reform.

If it was another person who requested for her to do the oath, Celine would have hesitated. But President Callan was her Clan's benefactor. And knowing his nature, he would never ask for an unreasonable request from her.

"I will. I, Celine of the Canere Clan, swear a soul-binding oath to Callan of the Moretti Clan and will not tell others about the things he will impart to me in this very room. That, if even the thought of speaking it to others crosses my mind, my soul will be bound for eternity."

A red rune appeared on Celine's forehead, and at the same time, a golden rune appeared on Callan's.

"I'm sorry Celine. Thank you."

Celine smiled, "No matter what, I have sworn my allegiance to the Mercenary Hall and you, President. So you don't really have to apologize."

"Very well," Callan nodded. He paused for a moment to sort his thoughts before speaking.

"I believe you are aware that the Mercenary Hall has some business deals with the Regis Clan."

"Yes."

"The contents of the deals itself are classified even to you with a level one clearance. Only a few Honorary council members, as well as myself and the Chairman, know about it. Now you will also be included. I am sure you are wondering why our Mercenary Hall, would do everything to protect all information on our business with the Regis. For now, all you need to know is that the Founder had a very deep connection with the Regis Family, and thus part of The List."

Celine was shocked. When someone spoke of the Founder, they did not refer to the person who started the Mercenary Hall. The Founder was the person who established the Conclave of the East. For this person to have a deep connection with the Regis, it should have been known throughout the empire. How come this information was never known to the public?

And The List was actually written by the Founder. It was a list of instructions left to all constituents of the Conclave on how to deal with certain people or Clans. For example, when Kyran appeared with a platinum badge, he was considered part of The List, because of its special existence.

However, Celine did not know that the Regis Clan was part of The List. It seemed there were more to The List that only those with higher clearance within the Conclave could access.

"As to how this connection came to be, I am afraid I cannot say. Rest assured that whatever it is that we deal with the Regis Clan is known by every successor of the Founder."

Celine nodded her head, "I understand."

Callan fell silent. He was contemplating where to start and how much he should tell Celine. Although she already swore a soul-binding oath, he was afraid to implicate her by telling too much.

"This may take a while, do bear with me."

"Yes, President."

Taking a deep breath, Callan finally started. "Twelve years ago, the Regis Patriarch and his son came to visit the Alchemist Association. They requested for a Saint Alchemist to have a look at the Patriarch's grandson," he started.

Celine remained silent as she listened to Callan's explanation.

"At that time, the Patriarch's grandson was suffering some kind of unknown disease, where all energy around him seemed to... disappear"

Celine's eyes grew wide, "Disappear?"

Callan nodded, "Yes. You know what happens if the energy around us disappears?"

"Energy is everything to us. It is what nurtures life and magic. If it disappears then, there is only death." Celine answered with a heavy heart. She could not imagine how hard it would have been for a person to be in such a state. Even his family would be in pain because of his suffering.

"That's why they were desperate. I was there when they visited the Association," Callan paused as if remembering what happened. He sighed and continued, "Patriarch Aron is a very strong man, even his son Cade, and yet that time they were in despair. Chairman Malia also felt their desperation and so she decided to personally come and see the condition of Patriarch Aron's grandson."

Chairman Malia was actually an Emperor Alchemist, two levels higher than a Saint Alchemist. If she came herself, it was almost assured that Patriarch Aron's grandson would be saved.

"Chairman Malia also asked me to come. Since my magic might be of help to understand how Patriarch Aron's grandson got his disease."

'Memory magic,' Celine also agreed to Malia's judgment.

"Unfortunately, after meeting the boy, even we could not do anything."

"Even Chairman Malia?" Celine frowned. Then she recalled something from Callan's words, "Wait boy?"

Callan nodded, "You probably had an idea who I am referring to. He is the same man who came to the Mercenary Hall, Kyran. Twelve years ago, he was only six years old and almost lost his life."

Celine's brow made an involuntary twitch. She already expected that Callan's story was about him. But knowing about it and even confirming Kyran's age because of it really hit a nerve.

However, when she imagined the suffering a young Kyran had to go through, she could not help but feel bad for him and his family.

"In order to understand what was happening, I used my magic and finally confirmed that he was not suffering from a disease, but that it was his magic that was causing the problem. And the energy around his was not really disappearing, but was being 'absorbed' by him."

Celine's eyes grew wide, "Absorbing?" To think that the initial manifestation of Void magic had such a dreadful effect on a mage.

"That's right. At that time we were still unsure of what kind of magic he had and if it continued, his small body would not be able to hold that much energy. After confirming that it was magic that caused his suffering, Cade decided to seal it. It worked at that time, but it also caused young Kyran to lose his ability to sense the energy around. Patriarch Aron requested that I also manipulate young Kyran's memory so he would not remember what happened that time, and they did everything to hide Kyran's magic until he would be ready."

"So the business deal we had with them is...?"

"We provided information to the Regis about similar magic that caused energy absorption. Of course, the Regis Clan dispatched their own people to look for the clues, we just provide the locations where we found the information. Aside from that, the seal Cade performed only lasted for a few months and so in order for him to reinforce the seal they needed some rare materials from us."

"Those issued bounties looking for rare materials, are for them?"

"Well, not all. But some," Callan nodded. "Then eight years ago, we finally confirmed young Kyran's magic. It came as a shock, but knowing the Regis Clan's protectiveness to their own kin, we already expected they would not give up on Kyran."

Celine became thoughtful. With the threat of being branded as accomplices by the Royal Army, there would definitely be people within the Conclave who would object and even thought of selling out the Regis Clan. But it did not happen. She became even more curious as to how deep the connection the Founder had with the Regis.

"You may be wondering why we haven't fallen out with the Regis Clan even when they decided to protect Kyran."

"Yes," Celine nodded and did not hide her curiosity.

"Contrary to what you may have thought, not all of us have a noble reason." Callan's voice was full of disdain. "It is expected, however. We are talking about a mage with Void magic. Even in history, who was able to subdue the Dark Sage?"

Celine frowned, "Kyran is not the Dark Sage."

"Of course he is not," Callan replied with a hint of a smile in his voice. "Do not get me wrong. I never want to take advantage of his magic. But the Conclave decided to support the Regis Clan to gain their favor. You know how bad the power struggle between the factions within the empire had been for the past few years. Knowing that in the future, we have someone powerful to back us up, was a temptation for all Conclave council members. We also believed that even if the Royal Army managed to find out about Kyran, it will not be easy for them to take him. Not to mention kill him."

"But the Royal Army is now using us."

"Yes," Callan nodded. "And we will not really dance in their palms. I will let the Chairman know about this. You can go and meet Kyran. It is best to let him know our stance. He is smart to come here and seek our help. However, he probably does not know about the Conclave's relationship with the Regis. Listen to what he has to say. But tell him we will not openly expose the Royal Army and will play along. I am sure he will also agree to this. His main concern is the Regis Clan's safety. If we openly expose the Royal Army's scheme, the Grand Marshal will have to openly admit to the whole truth and the Emperor might even issue execution of the whole Regis Clan. Of course, the execution is only so Kyran will use the platinum badge. You may not know about this, but anyone with the platinum badge can use it to request one thing from the Emperor. And it can be anything. But after that, the platinum badge will be nullified. And Kyran will be exposed with nothing left to keep his clan safe. After all, the Conclave will probably not stand for the Regis Clan when everything is exposed."

Celine nodded, "I understand. The best thing for him now is to get stronger."

"That's right. Tell him we will support him in any way possible."

"Yes, President."

"If he needed a new identity to move around, we can give him one."

"I will work on it."

"As for all the mercenaries who were present at the stadium, gather them. I will have to manipulate their memories."

"About that, there is one mercenary I would like to accompany me."

"Oh, who is he?"

"Terra Mavin Dante," Celine answered.

Callan nodded, "Very well. But make sure not to tell him about the Conclave and the Regis."

"I won't. I have made the soul-binding oath after all," Celine smiled.

"Alright. Then I will leave it to you."