Chapter 37 Brewing Tension

"This is but a passing issue, our real battles will come when we unleash our might to conquer all of the Sarifal region."

The prince must be bragging but could he actually be talking about his actual ambitions?

"You must be joking, how could the Sarifal region be at war? The Octarine tower will not allow it." Esdras probed.

"Ah, this won't involve any mages though, the mages will agree beforehand hand to stay out of it. Then we will use all the gold we hoarded in the old castle and then conquer the region!"

"But even if it was then it's not easy to do something like that…" Esdras was unconvinced, it's a fantasy to do something like this so soon after the orc invasion.

"No, nooo, you're an idiot" the prince muttered sluggishly, "you, you have no idea we have sooo much gold in the old castle you can swim in it."

Esdras smiled warily, he didn't know what to think about that. In fact the Elbrim kingdom had some qualifications to think like that.

After all, it was a great kingdom with vast territory and their armies were strong. If not for the fact that most of the standing army was already in the midst of an ongoing campaign in the Sarklin desert then the orcs would have never been a threat.

And moreover, the Elbrim kingdom had a special connection with Master mage Ashran Avantes. It was said that it was his hometown.

In the past when the Master mage was but an apprentice he left to learn magic at the Crimson tower. The land here was uncivilized, full of barbarism and strife.

This was before the five towers joined together to form the Octarine tower, similarly, the kingdoms and tribes in the Sarifal region were scattered and warred with one another frequently.

Ashran who was heartbroken at the loss of human lives decided to step in after he became a Great mage. He went to the court of one of the tribe leaders and demonstrated his power to the tribe leader, Elbrim.

That was how he was appointed first court mage, and he personally crowned Elbrim first of his name king. Then he advised him to make friends with some tribes and war with others.

In a short twenty years the Elbrim kingdom was formed. But that was only the beginning. It is said that he then taught the people civil and military manners.

The greatest threat of orcs, beastmen and monsters were quickly subdued. Some were killed off and the others enslaved, in time the kingdom achieved great strides under the teachings of the Master mage.

However even if Ashran had this ambition, this was not the right time. In fact the right time would have passed by now, considering that he was at the end of his lifespan.

He already lost his youthful looks and is growing older by the day, how much longer did he have? Not much. So why would he plan to conquer the region knowing it would creat friction with the other Masters?

​ "Oh, uh what about the royal observatory? I heard they were all executed for treason?"

Esdras decided to change the subject since the first one seemed a little dangerous.

"Oh? Those fools? I don't know, they must have angered my— the king greatly. I don't know why we kept them in the first place… they should have all been killed! B-but some of them actually managed to escape…"

The prince surprised him once again. The news about the observatory was old but it was thought that all of them were killed. He did not expect that some of them actually managed to escape.

The so called seers of the observatory were just a bunch of hacks that would predict the weather and crops and so on. Typical medieval things.

Even though real magic exists there was still a great dose of superstition in this world. This was always a cause of displeasure for mages who thought they were more worthy of worship than the imaginary gods.

Even Master mages couldn't predict the future, so how could a bunch of idiots who kept gazing at the stars do so?

However, the kings of the lands liked their flattery and occasional correct guess so they remained around for many years.

The news of their deaths greatly pleased the mages, which Esdras thought might have been the reason behind the king's action.

Esdras left the prince once he fell over the table unconscious. While going to look for Celine or David he bumped into some old acquaintances.

"H-hey Esdras, long time no see. Can we talk? We have something to tell you."

"Reid?" Esdras recalled the name of the boy talking to him. Although the original host had no friends he had some acquaintances.

These guys were the unwanted, untalented bunch, they were between level 1 and 2. They were in the same boat pretty much so they shared some camaraderie.

Esdras followed them curiously. They took him to an abandoned shed, however, there were many of them gathered here and most of them were people whom he didn't even talk to in the past.

"What's this all about?" He asked.

"Esdras, you are one of us but we didn't have the chance to talk much in the past. Do see how many people we have here?" Reid gestured, "do you know how many of us died in these two weeks? Twelve! Twelve died in this stupid forest."

"Okay, and? What's that got to do with me?" Esdras answered sneering. He did not know why they seemed to be accusing him of abandoning them or something.

"And, we decided that we're going to make a run for it!" Reid said with determination.

"Make a run for it? You want to escape from the tower?" Esdras narrowed his eyes.

"We're going to die in the Rite of passage anyway! This is our chance now that we're outside and the chaos of the war will give us proper cover. Esdras I don't know what's gotten into you but I'm offering you the chance to join us."