[That… Is it already ti for its appearance?]
Kyran inwardly gave Shaiha a blank look, resulting in an awkward laugh from her. Before she could defend herself by explaining why she knew the Tower of the Ancients and yet did not tell him, Leif had gone ahead and continued.
"Given your age and possible roots, you may or may not have heard about the Tower of the Ancients," Leif started. "But that tower, as you may have realized from its na, belonged to the Ancients."
She looked at Kyran with a aningful smile and added, "I'm sure you now understand why my father wants you to agree to help us first before telling you anything."
Kyran fell silent. Information about the Ancients was not open to the public. This much he already knew after reading so many books in the city's library. But that was not the case with powerful clans. The fact that Leif spoke of Kyran's possible roots was proof that there were clans who had information about them.
From the little things Leif had said, Kyran managed to confirm sothing— Oceanus and Leif did not think he was part of a clan. However, they did not want to rule out this possibility and were determined to observe how he would react if they ntioned the Tower of the Ancients.
Leif revealing the Tower of the Ancients was staged by Oceanus. He knew his daughter more than anyone and waited for her to ntion it to him. Depending on how Kyran reacted to Leif's words, the next step of their negotiation would then happen.
However, Kyran still had his reservations about the whole thing because of his lack of knowledge.
Considering this, he directed a question to Shaiha.
'Does the Ancients really have such a tower?'
[Yes, and they kept quite a lot of treasures there. You could say that the tower was a haven for the many clans that wanted to acquire the level of Magic Knowledge the Ancients once had by acquiring their treasures.]
Kyran frowned, 'Didn't their plane get destroyed, and what was left fell to the Lower Realm?'
[That is true. When the Land of the Ancients was destroyed, bits and pieces of its land fell into the Lower Realm. However, a few have been lost in space— neither belonging to the Lower Realm nor the Higher Realm. The patch of land where the tower had been was one of those lost in that space. And that space can only be accessible by entering a special portal.]
'Portal?'
[Yes. But those portals only appear every five hundred years. I didn't realize that it was already that ti. That's why I did not ntion anything.]
Kyran did not respond to Shaiha's last comnt because he knew she would not have told him even if she knew it would appear. In any case, she already told him what he needed to know.
Oceanus narrowed his eyes as he observed Kyran. Since Oceanus was only looking at Kyran through Leif's tablet, it was a little tricky to glean clues from the younger man's expression. Nonetheless, the fact that the younger man had fallen silent after realizing the Ancients were involved in the matter Oceanus wanted to talk with him was enough to convince him the younger man was part of a clan.
Oceanus arrived at that conclusion because mages who did not belong to a clan would jump at any opportunity that involved the Ancients. It did not matter if that opportunity was simply to get information about them, as long as they got hold of it.
Seeing Kyran's reaction, Leif hid a satisfied smile. Instead, she put on a helpless smile before continuing.
"Will you be willing to assist us, knowing that the Ancients are involved?"
"What will I get out of it?" Kyran did not beat around the bush and asked the most crucial question if they were to proceed with their negotiation.
"You can na your price."
The one who answered was Oceanus. After all, even if Leif tended to act willfully, she would not get ahead of his father when negotiating important matters with a visitor. She might be interested in Kyran, but that would not cloud her judgnt. She was no longer a young maiden who could be swayed easily by her emotions.
"That's..." Kyran could not help but frown at Oceanus's answer.
Oceanus had set up such a high hurdle at Kyran by letting him na a price. In the first place, Kyran had just arrived in the Higher Realm. There were a lot of things he would want. But he had to keep a low profile. Thus, he needed to be careful about the rewards he would ask for from Oceanus.
"... you're putting in a tight spot here, Overlord Oceanus."
After hearing Kyran's response, a smile tugged at the corner of Oceanus's lips. Truth be told, if the latter had answered without hesitation, Oceanus would have been disappointed. But seeing the younger man appear troubled by his answer showed that he would not take advantage of them just because they were the ones who needed his assistance.
"To be honest, we don't know what kind of remuneration we should offer," Oceanus admitted. "But if you are willing to assist us..."
"Can you at least tell first what you needed my ability for?"
Oceanus looked at Leif and gestured for her to explain the situation.
"You may or may not know this, but the Tower of the Ancients can only be accessible through special portals," she started.
Kyran had already heard that from Shaiha, but he did not interrupt Leif and allowed her to continue.
"These portals... well they are hard to find. A few have been discovered over the past five thousand years, but most are situated in planes belonging to The Council… I'm sure you already get the general idea."
"The Council monopolizes the portals," Kyran voiced his understanding.
Oceanus nodded and heaved a sigh, "Correct. There was a ti when the Dragon Emperor offered to give three entry slots to Overlords of neutral planes like us. However, The Emperor forced him to rescind the offer."
Leif's brow furrowed as if recalling sothing from that ti, saying, "That ti had not been good.
The Dragon Emperor's daughter nearly caused a war between them and The Emperor's clan after accusing The Emperor of being a—" she heaved a sigh, avoiding saying whatever it was The Emperor was accused of, "—in any case, The Emperor forbade others who found these portals from allowing others apart from their clan mbers to enter.
That left us, who are not part of any clans under The Council, searching for other portals."
"…"
Kyran already knew As had a short fuse, but he did not expect her to be reckless enough to call The Emperor nas and cause a war.
Just as the thought entered his mind, he recalled her most recent exploits and retracted his initial thoughts.
Fine. As could really do sothing like that.
"We have found a portal," Leif continued, her voice lowering slightly. "However, before we could claim it, The Council got wind of it and were already making preparations to take it."
"Wait... The Council can claim portals that others found?"
Oceanus smiled wryly. "We are a neutral plane. They believe we do not need a reason to claim a portal and go to the Tower of the Ancients."
Kyran was speechless. He did not expect The Emperor and his council to be that brazen in monopolizing the Tower of the Ancients to the point where they would not allow neutral planes to claim the portals they found.
"Where do I co in the picture?"
There was a mont's pause before Leif answered, "We can only claim the portal if one of our people managed to enter it before any of The Council mbers did."
Kyran raised his brows, his mind working in full drive as he made sense of her words.
"... You want ... to enter that portal before they do?"
"Yes."
Kyran frowned as he realized sothing.
"You said The Council is already preparing to take the portal... aning... they already have it surrounded."
Oceanus nodded, "That's right."
"You want to infiltrate their camp and claim it."
"With your ability, they will be hard-pressed to track you down."
"You understand that I'm just a lowly Sovereign, right? Apart from concealnt, I have nothing to my na."
"You say that, but your eyes say a different story," Leif quipped with a smile. She did not want to give Kyran a chance to speak up for himself, so she continued, "You have the eyes of a confident person. That is the impression you give whenever you look at soone. See? Even now, the way you do not falter in front of my father or in front of ... said it all."
"I understand the risk," Oceanus said, following his daughter's comnt. "I assure you we will provide all the assistance you will need. If you succeed and the portal fully opens, we will grant you entry. You can also keep everything that you find inside the tower."
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