Following that, Abium's group entered the two-storied house and soon found themselves in a large hall. Multiple magic lights were attached to the surrounding walls, illuminating the hall in bright yellowish-white light.
A large rectangular table was placed at the hall's center, and five chairs were placed on each side. Moreover, the rectangular table was filled with unique fruits and sweets and gave the impression of a banquet.
Abium and others quietly walked towards the center of the hall and noticed that a few people were already seated on the right side.
'Three red robed mages and one black robed mage…' Abium realized that the red robes were Second-Tier Mages while the other one was a first-tier mage like him.
"Zivior, why are you bringing your student here?" A hoarse voice ca from the farther seat. Abium soon saw an 80-year-old man glancing at him up and down. He had long pure white hair and a white beard, almost shining due to the magic lamp lights.
He wore the sa red robe as others and had thin eyebrows. But what made Abium startled was that he had unique round pupil-less purple eyes!
"You will find out soon enough, Old man Idus," Zivior said with a proud smile and soon moved towards the opposite seats. Abium also followed him and quietly sat on the chair opposite Mage Idus.
After sitting comfortably, he shifted his gaze toward Idus's left side and looked at the black-robed mage.
'A woman?'
She looked around 25 years old, had blonde hair, azure eyes, an oval face, and fair skin and wore unique red earrings and a golden necklace.
Noticing Abium's gaze, she gave him a polite smile and greeted him with a bow.
"Oh, I didn't expect 'Prodigy' Anne to be here as well. Anyway, I will introduce my new student to all of you. He is Abium, a Royal Elf." Zivior paused for a mont and continued.
"He had already constructed two first-tier spell models despite being a newly ascended official mage."
"Cut the sweet talk, Zivior. Why is he here? This is not a eting where anyone could attend." Idus said coldly.
"He brought so information about the Necromancers." Tabitha finally spoke and silenced Mage Idus.
"What information do you have?" Another red-robed slim lady with black hair asked while squinting her eyes. She looked around 40 years old and had a lean face, hawk nose, and thick eyebrows.
'Ice Queen, Ovia.' Abium instantly identified her and was about to reply, but another male voice interrupted him.
"Do you guys really think the necromancers will attack during the Grand Nobles' Gathering? What will they achieve just by attacking the bunch of mortals?" Abium silently glanced at the person sitting on the other corner of the table and furrowed his eyebrows.
'He must be the Dark Mage Cole. Although I had heard of him multiple tis, I had never seen him in the past. He is the mage who dislikes public attention.'
Mage Cole had pitch-black eyes, long straight black hair, and a cold aura around him.
"My disciple confird that. He killed a necromancer a few days ago and used his identity to secretly infiltrate the Necromancers' eting to gather more information." Zivior said while pointing his finger towards Abium and started to explain Abium's achievents to others.
'Still, why they aren't they not surprised by my achievent?' Abium was slightly stunned.
While he was in deep thought, the Dark Mage Cole made a grunt and asked.
"Oh? Care to explain more about this eting? What is their motive?"
In truth, Cole didn't care about this eting at all. If not for their Teacher's arrangent, he wouldn't have attended it!
'After a long break of 50 years, Teacher suddenly showing interest towards the outside world. Sothing is not right. Does the Necromancers really making a move in the dark? There are also many anomalies happening like the assassination of Sewallus, mythical Demon's appearance in the Royal Palace, the appearance of necromancers during the Auction, Light Church's sche to kidnap that crafty kid Raollet, and finally this mysterious Elven kid. He appeared at all the places, which makes things more suspicious. But we don't have enough proof that he had ties with everything.'
Cole didn't understand what was happening right now.
'Ha! I now understand why Tabitha asked Teacher's permission to bring this kid to this eting. Moreover, he seems to know more about the necromancers than us. I'm very curious.' While Cole was deeply pondering, Abium started to speak.
"I don't know their exact motive, Sir. But the attack on the upcoming Grand Nobles' Gathering seems to be just a distraction to divert mages' attention."
"Distraction, huh? So, what about their strength? How many second-tier mages did you et?" Cole nodded at Abium as if he had guessed vaguely about their goal and asked while taking out a book from his spatial ring.
"I saw two second-tier necromancers at the secret eting hall, Sir. The one who organized that eting was a necromancer nad Rilos, who wore a black robe. He is a middle-aged man, around 40 years old, had a tall figure, Russel brown eyes, and brown hair." Abium paused for a second while thinking about that woman nad Yalya and continued with a frown.
"The other one is a lady necromancer nad Yalya. She didn't speak much and had gray frizzy hair, black eyes, and thin eyebrows."
"What about other first-tier necromancers?" Suddenly, the young 'Prodigy' nad Anne raised her hand and asked.
She knew those second-tier mages were out of the league and quickly asked for information about those first-tier necromancers. After all, a single piece of information or weakness about an important figure could change the tide of the battle!
"Except for one old guy nad Yozis, I didn't talk much with any of them. But I t Viscount Gauvain's youngest son in that eting." Abium instantly revealed the culprit's na to everyone.
"Robert?" A surprise flashed on Anne's face. She even considered him a genius mage like her and thought highly of him during the past few months.
'After all, he is the only mage who constructed his first zero-tier spell after enrolling into the academy. What a waste.'
anwhile, Idus's face stiffened all of a sudden.
He soon made an embarrassing smile and spoke while covering his face.
"Ahem, it seems he joined the academy to gather more information about all the mages. I was too naive to think he would be an ace of our academy in the future."
"You should've done so background check on him before taking him as your student!" Zivior gave a sharp glare.
"I just picked up him during the entrance examination. Moreover, I can't act just because your student says so, right? We need so evidence to arrest him." Idus clicked his tongue and suddenly thought of sothing before asking.
"What did you find during your mission, Zivior?"
"Except one page of Mage Novak's diary, I found nothing." Zivior's words surprised Abium.
'Novak's diary?'
Although Abium had expected that the mages might have known so information about the history of the lost Bidora Empire, he was still sowhat stunned.
"Even if we find more pages, no one will understand that strange language's words except for our Teacher, right? Moreover, he is also a beginner in that language. Digging out that lost empire's history is a waste of ti." Rune Mage Ubius, who had been silently listening to their conversation, suddenly spoke.
"Who said I'm a beginner? I had already deciphered five pages during the last two decades." Suddenly, an old but mystical voice ca to everyone's ears and started everyone inside the room.
A mont later, Zivior, Rune Mage Ubius, Lady Tabitha, Ice Queen Ovia, white-haired old man Idus, Dark Mage Cole and first-tier Mage Anna stood up instantly and bowed their head towards Abium's right-side wooden chair.
At that mont, a 60-year-old man with golden hair and a pale face appeared beside Abium and lazily sat on the chair next to him. He had a slightly wrinkled face, amber eyes, a snub nose, and upturned eyebrows. But what shocked Abium was that the person didn't have a real body but looked more like an illusionary figure.
'Incarnation!' That was the first thought that appeared in Abium's mind.
"Teacher!" anwhile, everyone greeted him respectfully.
Abium also stood up from his seat in a hurry and bowed his head.
'This is Lord Alius, the headmaster of Kaummith's Academy. I never thought that one day I would et and talk equally with all these power figures.' Abium took a deep breath and cald himself down.
"Sit down." An authoritative voice once again echoed inside the hall.
Soon, the golden-haired man shifted his gaze towards Abium and asked with a curious look.
"Who is this, lad? A Royal Elf?"
At that mont, Abium felt all his emotions and thoughts had been seen through by the man who stood in front of him. He felt like he was standing naked at that mont and felt countless probing eyes from all directions!
'He is just a third-tier mage, but seems to be hiding so secret. His eyes look abnormal. If it is his true body, I would've instantly guessed what he is hiding.' Azolla said in his mind.
'No, don't try to probe him further. It's better to be more cautious in front of these types of mages.' Abium said in a hurry and stopped Azolla's action.
"He is the student I told you about, Teacher," Zivior said solemnly and sat down. The others followed him and quietly sat down in their seat.
"Oh? You an the elf with unknown origin?" Alius asked while taking his seat.
After that, he swiftly moved his illusionary right hand towards Abium and placed it on his forehead. His action was so abrupt that it gave Abium no room for resistance. New ɴᴏᴠᴇʟ ᴄhapters are published on novel~fire~net
Without minding Abium's anxious face, he nodded his head and continued to talk as if he was reading Abium's mind,
"You don't have any ill intent towards our academy nor have any ill intentions towards this kingdom. That's a good start. Hmm? You also have a deep hatred towards the necromancers, huh? From the emotional fluctuations, I can tell that you have lost soone... No, you seem to have lost many important people due to the necromancers." Alius nodded with sowhat understanding and continued.
"I don't know what your motive is, kid. Your mysterious background makes us hard to trust you, so I have no choice but to put a mark on your soul until the gathering is over. You will die if you act against our academy mages or sided with necromancers." Alius's warning words caused Abium's heart to beat faster. A mont later, a golden cloud-like essence ca out of Alius's illusionary hand and rged into Abium's forehead.
'Oh? Essence of Chaos? Yes, more particularly it's an Essence of Wickedness. It seems this Alius guy is researching about an Abyssal Power. Be careful of him, lad.' Azolla's warning echoed in his head.
'Can you erase it?' Abium asked cautiously.
'I can. But if I do that, Alius will beco aware of my action and beco more suspicious of you. It's better to leave it alone.'
Upon hearing Azolla's words, Abium went silent for a mont and then agreed.
On the other hand, Alius shifted his gaze towards the other black-robed mage and asked with a smile.
"Now, let's co to the topic. Anne, what do you think about the Order of the Dead mbers?"
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