Without taking his attention away from Byron, Kyran took out another bottle of energy replenishing potion and down it in seconds. His brows lifted when suddenly the wound on Byron's back slowly healed.
Kyran had seen a similar scene before when a Regis apprentice succeeded in taming a beast. After the Sigil integrated successfully into the beast, their physical body would improve. If they were wounded, then they would heal.
The back of Kyran's hand glowed, and slowly a mark of two intertwining dragons forming a circle, with a number one at the center, appeared.
'It worked,' Kyran thought with a smile while he looked at the mark.
This mark was proof that he had a Sigil and the number at the center was the number of his 'tad' Sigil.
Byron slowly stirred in his sleep, and he soon opened his eyes.
"Argh..." he groaned as he slowly got up. "My head..." he rubbed his throbbing temples and tried to recall what had happened.
"Good. You're awake."
Byron jolted back when he heard soone speak to his right. He looked at the man in black as his mories from earlier rushed into his head.
"Y-You! What did you do to ?" He asked and pointed an accusing finger at him.
Kyran frowned slightly. This reaction was not what he expected. When his family tad a beast, they beca docile as soon as the beast woke up, and so even beca affectionate.
'Docile is fine, I don't want this grown man fawning over ,' Kyran decided.
"Is that how you act in front of the person you've submitted to?" Kyran asked coldly.
Byron felt a sudden chill run up his spine after seeing the man in black's eyes.
"Sit properly," Kyran ordered.
"Yes, sir."
Byron replied and imdiately sat and faced the man in black.
"Ack!" The mont he did, he froze in mortification after realizing that he answered without aning, and his body moved on his own.
Seeing the obvious mortified look on Byron, Kyran chuckled. It would seem, a human Sigil would obey his words but still retain their self-consciousness. This behavior was unexpected and might bring trouble to Kyran if he was not careful, but it was okay. He did not want an autonomous Sigil. Co to think of it, maybe beasts also retained self-consciousness after performing the Sigil, but they imdiately ward up to them since there was no longer a threat to their lives.
But humans were different. They tend to overthink, making them wary of other people's motives unless they prove they could be trusted. That proof, however, depends on each individual. This reason was why so trusted others easily and got fooled a lot of tis. It was rare to et a person whose sensitive to other people's real characters.
Kyran studied Byron, who was looking at him in apprehension.
Getting into the Blue Lotus was crucial to Kyran's plans after leaving the Tower of Conclave. He had to be careful in dealing with this guy.
First, he needed to get this guy to trust him.
"What I did to you is insurance. Since you agreed in submitting to , I had to make sure you will not betray ," Kyran started.
Byron's brow creased slightly, and he said, "Is it similar to a Soul-binding Oath?"
"Yes."
Byron's expression turned ugly, but he did not say anything.
"Your soul is not bound. But your life is in my hands. If you do anything that would harm , you will die. If I am displeased with you, I can kill you in one word."
Byron shivered at how blunt the man in black said these words.
"My words are absolute. If I ordered you to do sothing, you will do it. Of course, I won't order you to your death because I will also suffer." Kyran added when he saw him paled again.
This guy changed color too fast. It was a little funny.
"In return, I had to share my life force with you. Didn't you notice your wounds are now healed?"
Byron's eyes widened, and he turned to look at his back. Sure enough, the pain in his back was gone. The man in black said he suffered a skin avulsion. Upon seeing the huge opening on his armor, Byron's throat went dry just imagining how bad it was. He also rembered the pain and felt cold sweat run down his back. This man shared his life force, and in return, Byron was healed. How terrible was this man's healing ability?
"I will know if you're lying to . Or if you're hiding sothing, so I suggest you answer well when I ask questions."
"I understand," Byron replied at once. This ti he answered because he ant it.
Byron was still alive, so this man was reasonable. As long as he did not give him a reason to kill him, he would be fine.
"I said this earlier, I'm in a hurry, so try to make it brief. Tell the real reason why you have to hide your identity."
Byron took a deep breath. He was already convinced that the man was not part of the Royal Army's Special Ops, so he did not mind telling him what he knew. Besides, he seed uninterested in harming the Blue Lotus.
"The truth, the magic residue we felt that attracted us to go deep into the ruins and found the underground grove was fresh. We feared that soone else already found the ruins and hadn't claid it yet so we kept searching. And soon we found traces of the Royal Army."
Kyran's eyes narrowed. So the underground grove was already found by the army. If that was the case, then the army should block the entrance to the ruins.
Seeing the man in black's thoughtful expression, Byron nodded and continued, "We feel sothing was off, so we checked again. Finally we found a transportation array. We don't know where it leads to, but we know it was an array setup by the army. It is also well hidden, and we only found it by luck."
'aning they setup the array to return in the ruin instead of publicly claiming it. The reason was simple, the army wanted to hide the ruin's existence. From whom? The mass? The fanatics? Or the Royal Family?' Kyran wondered.
He knew that the Three Noble Families had more power over the Royal Army, and thus, the most likely reason they wanted to keep the grove's existence was to hide it from the Royal Family. But he could be wrong. Right now, he lacks an understanding of the overall situation within the Royal Army. The Conclave's record he read only had an overview of its different relationships.
"So the army wanted to hide its existence."
Byron nodded in agreent.
"That's what we thought too. Anyway, we need to hide our identities in case if we are found we will not implicate the Blue Lotus."
Hiding their identity while using the hunters to explore and excavate the stones was reasonable if the army was involved. It was the sa tactic the army used when they requested a bounty on his head.
Kyran suspected that the army was doing sothing behind the Royal Family's back. He had this suspicion after reading through the report Stella gave him during the eting with the Conclave. This information proved his suspicion.
"The Royal Family hated the Void Master so much, but the Royal Army is hiding a grove that is related to him." Kyran sneered. "Hypocrites."
Byron blinked. He felt the man's words held so much weight. Then he realized he didn't call the Void Master the 'Dark Sage'.
'Could it be that this man...?'
His eyes glead in anticipation. Then he rembered the man ntioning that he should listen to him because he was a fan.
"Sir!" Byron exclaid and looked at the man expectantly. "Are you also a-a follower of the Void Master?"
"No."
Byron almost fell at the abrupt denial of the man.
"But-."
"I'm his successor not a follower."
...
Sounds of Forest crickets filled the silence.
...
The sound of forest crickets got louder.
Kyran's brow twitched, looking at the dumbfounded look on Byron's face.
"What?"
"EEH?"
Both of them said at the sa ti.
Byron's eyes almost popped out of their sockets in his delayed shock.
He t a few followers who arrogantly proclaid they were the Void Master's successor, but it was his first ti hearing a self-proclaid successor say it with a deadpan expression and tone.
"If you shout again, I'll kill you."
Byron imdiately covered his mouth. Then he cautiously approached the man and said in a low voice.
"Sir, if you say that, even in front of a follower, they will be hostile towards you."
Kyran sighed. He did not tell Byron his secret on a whim. It was intended. If Byron knew who he was, it would be easier for him to trust him.
"You don't believe ?"
Byron leaned back with black lines on his head. If he answered honestly, he would die. It might be interpreted as a silent acknowledgnt if he didn't respond, and he would still die.
How would he reply?
Not waiting for Byron to answer, Kyran stood up and brushed the dirt off his clothes.
"I don't care if you believe or not. Right now, we need to leave. I'm not sure how many bandits there are left but they have an annoying detection array all over the forest and I really can't be bothered to deal with all of them."
"Bandits?"
Kyran looked at Byron and saw his blank expression. He suddenly had a bad feeling.
"Those guys I killed are likely to be bandits that roam around this forest."
"Bandits?" Byron repeated as he absentmindedly looked back to the area where the corpses were lying around.
"Those guys were bandits?"
"I'm really going to kill you if you say that again."
Byron covered his mouth again.
This guy was hopeless.
"No!" Byron suddenly blurted while shaking his head.
He turned his attention to the man in black and said, "Aren't those guys from the group who was trying to-ah!"
He stopped abruptly. If this man in black was not from the group his employer had warned him, and those guys who ambushed them were bandits, did that an he jumped to conclusion and almost put all their n in harm when he decided to make a detour?
"I SSED UP!" He shouted.
"Shut up!" Kyran hit the top of his head.
"Ow!" Byron touched his head and winced, feeling a lump growing there. This man had a terrible fist!
"There might still be bandits around, if you keep on shouting you might draw their attention!" Kyran hissed.
"I-I'm sorry."
Kyran sighed. Was this man really the right-hand man of the leader of the Blue Lotus? He was starting to have doubts whether he did the right thing in making him his first Sigil.
"Let's go."
Byron nodded and stood up, and followed the man.
As they made their way out of the forest, Kyran asked, "Your people how are they?"
He was not worried about them, but if they were still alive, he did not want to be seen walking around with this guy.
"They already escaped and are on their way to Leycombe. I stayed behind planning to finish off those guys so they could not report back to their boss and plan another ambush... at least that was my intention."
"Good. I'm going to Nhadal and you're coming with . Just send a ssage to your second in command to wait for you until then."
Byron's eyes lit up. "You an you will let go?"
Kyran looked at him, "I need you to do sothing. Once I'm done with my business, I will find you."
"Um. I don't an to be secretive but finding will be troubleso. Our communication channel is being monitored. Even my personal channel is linked to my employer..."
"I have my ways. Just stay away from places with strong prohibition cause it would take so ti."
Byron frowned a little, not understanding what he ant. But he refrained from asking because he was afraid it would piss him off.
"I understand."
"Also, do you know transfiguration magic?"
"I do."
"Change your face before we enter Nhadal."
"Okay. Um, sir. Can I ask a question?"
"What?"
"What is your na?"
Kyran stopped and looked at Byron.
"You don't have to answer if you don't want to!" Byron hastily added.
"It's fine." Kyran replied with black lines on his head.
This guy was big but easily intimidated.
"I can't tell you my na yet. For now, call Nar."
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