Chapter 224 - Intricacies of the War

XXXX Continent, Seraph Kingdom, Arcana Tower

After being intimidated greatly by Cerius's position in the tower, a wall inside Veriano's mind, which told him to not tell the truth to Dane and Cerius, had been broken. Veriano and Dane then went ahead and made a deal in which Dane would not demote Veriano's position in the tower, to which Dane agreed with a sinister grin.

Hearing that Dane promised to not demote him, Veriano let out a sigh of relief as he recollected all of his thoughts regarding what Dane wanted to know. Not only that, he decided to talk about other stuff that would benefit Dane, in the off chance that the information given by him was insufficient for the deal.

Taking in a deep breath as he sat cross-legged, Veriano went ahead and looked up at Dane once more and said in a slightly glum tone, "I assume you already know this, but I'm trying to poach Erea Magimillia as a part of the team of the prince I'm under."

"Of course, your body language and your expressions gave it all away," Dane said in response to Veriano's words, letting out a chuckle not long after. His expression soon changed to that of seriousness as he radiated a bit of killing intent towards Veriano, saying, "You do know that's not the information I want to know, right?"

"I'm just getting to it." Seemingly unaffected by Dane's pressure, Veriano responded to his words. In actuality, Veriano was inwardly shaking in fear, wondering how someone well-versed in teaching could have such intense killing intent. Scratching his head, he then said, "The team I'm under is the Tenth Prince."

"The Tenth Prince?" Dane could not help but tilt his head in slight confusion, wondering why the Tenth Prince was trying to get involved in the war for the throne. "Didn't he tell everyone that he's not going to join in the war for the throne?"

"That's what I thought as well," Veriano replied to his question before adding, "But one day, he announced all of a sudden that he was going to join in the war for the throne."

"Is there any reason as to why he's doing it?" Dane soon asked as he pondered over the Tenth Prince's motives, to which Veriano replied, "Fortunately, I'm the closest to the Tenth Prince, which means I know more than the others."

"He told me that he's doing it for his half-brother, the Third Prince," he soon added before continuing, "I don't know what happened between the two, but from the looks of it, the Third Prince and the Tenth Prince have struck a deal in the war for the throne."

"The Third Prince…" Dane muttered as he recalled all of his memories regarding the Third Prince. Trying to remember it correctly, he remembered that the Third Prince was the smartest prince out of the 13 princes of the Seraph Kingdom, with his strength not being far from the peak as well. Naturally, that meant that he was the most likely candidate to become the Crown Prince in the war for the throne since a king needed to have both brains and brawn to rule a kingdom.

'But why is he allying with the Tenth Prince?' This was the thing Dane did not get. Was he not assured of his success in the war for the throne? Just as he was about to mull on it even further, a thought related to what he was thinking about flashed in his mind, prompting him to ask Veriano, "Has the Third Prince made a deal with the other princes as well?"

"Hm?" Veriano raised his eyebrows in response before going ahead and pondering over the answer. A few seconds later, he then said, "As far as I know, I've heard that the Third Prince has allied with the Eleventh and Seventh Prince as well. He also told me that he has plans of working with the Fourth Prince."

"Oh boy," Dane could not help but mutter as he let out a sigh, thinking that the Ninth Prince would probably have a hard time in the war for the throne even though he had already ascended to a Rank 3 class. Feeling that the information he had obtained from Veriano was enough, Dane went ahead and told him, "Alright, that's all I'll ask from you. You can go ahead and leave."

Hearing that he could now leave, Veriano hastily stood up and ran towards the door that led out of the room. Just as he was about to continue running straight without hesitation, he suddenly stopped near the frame of the door before turning around and giving a respectful bow to both Cerius and Dane. He then said, "If you may excuse me."

Whoosh!

And just like that, he soon left the premises, leaving Dane and Cerius alone to themselves in Erea's room. They then looked at each other for a bit before simultaneously letting out a light laugh.

Dane took the initiative to start the conversation, saying to Cerius with a light smile, "The look on his face while he was running. Is that really how a High Official of the Tower should act?"

"That's because you have me, Dane," Cerius grinned as he responded to Dane's words. "If you had no backing in this tower, then you might have reacted the same way."

"Fair enough," Dane said before letting out a light chuckle. A few seconds later, Dane let out a sigh as his expression turned serious once more, asking Cerius, "Do you think that Veriano is telling the truth?"

"I had a truth-detecting spell activated while I was listening to Veriano talking," Cerius said in response to Dane's words before adding, "According to the spell, he isn't lying."

"Damn," Dane could not help but say. "An alliance of five princes. That's definitely a force to be reckoned with in the war for the throne."

"Fortunately, the First Prince hasn't allied with anyone yet," Cerius said after Dane was finished talking. "If you can get the First Prince to ally with the Ninth Prince, then the Ninth Prince could probably fight against the Third Prince on even terms."

"That's if the First Prince accepts," Dane replied to Cerius's words before adding, "He doesn't have any intention of joining in the war for the throne, even though he has enough strength to fight against the Third Prince with his sharp wits."

"Well, I hope the Ninth Prince considers allying with the other princes," Cerius said to Dane after pondering over Dane's words for a bit. "The Elder over me has high hopes for the Ninth Prince."

"Tell that Elder that I'm going to do my best," Dane replied to Cerius before adding, "Also, tell him that if he could spare some Executives or High Executives of the Tower like you in the war for the throne, it would be great."

In response to his words, Cerius let out a chuckle as he said, "I'd actually be glad to join in the war for the throne, but the companions of the princes can only be at a Rank 4 class at most. I'll try to ask the Elder if he could spare some other strong people though."

"Thanks for helping me out, Cerius," Dane soon said to Cerius with a tone of gratitude, to which Cerius responded with him extending his right palm. In response to this gesture, Dane tilted his head in slight confusion, eliciting a response from Cerius in the form of speech, saying, "Your payment."

"I thought we were good friends," Dane said, to which Cerius replied, "We are, but I can't do anything about the rules of the tower. I have to at least give something in exchange for my appearance here, instead of doing a mission for the tower."

Letting out a sigh, Dane went ahead and snapped his fingers, opening up a rift over Cerius's extended palm as a ball seemingly made out of stone dropped on it. Seeing that Cerius grabbed the stone ball with both hands, Dane then told him, "That's my payment. The egg of a Rank 5 Silver Boulder Arachnid. Will that be enough?"

"Did you just say…a Silver Boulder Arachnid?" Cerius could not believe what he was hearing. "A Silver Boulder Arachnid…considered as one of the best land mounts in the Seraph Kingdom, and you're paying with an egg? You do know that an egg of a Silver Boulder Arachnid is more valuable than a mature Silver Boulder Arachnid, right?"

"Of course, I do," Dane replied to his words before adding, "Give it to the Elder. I have a feeling that this will make him move his lazy bones to help me out."

"I see," Cerius finally understood the reason why Dane gave such a precious item to him, nodding in response. He then went ahead and formed a rift himself wherein he stored the egg before closing it soon after. After that, he then asked Dane, "I assume that this will be all for now?"

"Yeah." Dane nodded in response. "I'll contact you when something important comes up."

"Gotcha," Cerius replied to Dane's words before saying, "I'll be leaving first then."

Whoosh!

Snapping his fingers, Cerius disappeared in front of Dane's vision in an instant, leaving Dane alone in his student's room. After taking a good look at the surroundings of the room, noticing the great number of small burn marks on one wall in the room, Dane let out a chuckle as he said, "It's time to check up on my student."

Snap!

And just like that, with a snap of his fingers, Dane disappeared from Erea's room in an instant, just like how Cerius left the room. A few seconds later, he appeared in what seemed to be an extremely familiar room to him.

…

Whoosh!

Appearing in the center of a room extremely familiar room to him, Dane went ahead and lightly stretched his body, before going ahead and sitting down on a nearby chair. He then took a look around the room, eventually finding a young woman in a gray robe sitting on a chair far from where he was. Noticing how she was looking at him intently, Dane thought about something for a bit before changing his expression to that of slight anger.

"You've brought quite the dilemma, Erea," Dane said to the young woman, who was none other than Erea. He then added, "Fortunately, I was walking through the area at the time, allowing you to teleport to this room before you were hit by that official's attack."

"I apologize for giving you inconvenience, Teacher," Erea said after standing up and deeply bowing in front of Dane.

"Inconvenience?" Dane scoffed at Erea's words before saying, "You've definitely given me an inconvenience, alright."

After saying those words, he then went ahead and stood up from his seat, his aura gradually intensifying with every step he took to get closer to Erea, who was still bowing in front of Dane. At this moment, Erea truly felt that she had inconvenienced her mentor. But just as she thought that she would feel the wrath of her mentor, what she felt instead was her mentor's warm touch on her head, instantly making her confused as she looked up to look at her mentor, who had a light smile on his face.

"You should have told me that you were breaking through to the next rank!" Dane said in a slightly playful tone. "The aura you radiated was equivalent to a Rank 4 class holder's aura, but you're just Rank 3! Didn't the thought of asking your master to mask your aura while ascending cross your mind?"

"I…uh…" Erea had no words to say, not expecting the drastic change in emotion from her mentor. Noticing that Erea was still feeling apologetic, Dane let out a light sigh before saying, "Stand up. You didn't really do anything wrong. Veriano harbored malicious intentions towards you. To be honest, I should be the one apologizing."

"Eh?" Erea listened to her mentor's commands, standing up straight as she tilted her head in slight confusion, wondering why he should be the one to apologize. "It was my fault for inconveniencing Teacher. I could've handled it myself…"

"Although you say you could handle it yourself, remember that you're now part of the Ninth Prince's team," Dane said in response to Erea's words before adding, "If the Ninth Prince doesn't take care of his team members before the war for the throne, then would he be a great prince?"

"Uh…" Erea did not know what to say in response to Dane's question, to which Dane let out a light chuckle before saying, "As I've said, it's not your fault. The situation this time is actually more complicated than you think."

"Anyways, you've broken through to a Rank 3 class, right?" He soon changed the topic of conversation to that of Erea's advancement, to which Erea nodded before replying, "Yes, Teacher. I've obtained the class of Dual Cortex Mage."

"Dual Cortex Mage, huh." Dane grinned in response to Erea's words before telling her, "That's quite a rare class. No wonder why you exuded a Rank 4 aura while you were advancing."

"Go ahead and wear your black robe," Dane said not long after. "Even though Veriano did some sc.u.mmy stuff after officiating your advancement, it's still recorded by the tower that you've advanced to a Rank 3 mage class. Show everyone that you're now a Rank 3 mage."

"Er…but there's no uh…" Although Erea was quite eager to change into her newly obtained black robe, there was no place for her to change her clothes in privacy. Fortunately, Dane noticed this dilemma and snapped his fingers, conjuring a dark wall between the two of them as he said, "Alright, go ahead and change. If you want, I could close my eyes as well and turn around."

"No need for that, Teacher." Surprisingly, Erea responded to Dane's words not long after, saying, "I'm already done changing."

"You sure?" Dane asked Erea to make sure, to which Erea responded with affirmation, prompting Dane to remove the dark wall separating the two of them, allowing Dane to get a better view of Erea's new robe. Unsurprisingly, it suited her very well, with the seams of the robe being done with gold thread, giving Erea a slightly noble air.

"How does it feel wearing the new robe?" Dane asked Erea with a smile on his face, to which Erea said, "I feel…more important."

"Good to know," Dane said before adding, "You'll feel more important once you reach Rank 4 and become an official of the tower."

After that, Dane pondered over something for a bit before looking at Erea once more. He then called for her attention.

"Erea?"

"Yes?" Erea responded to her mentor's words.

"Do you want to go and meet up with the Ninth Prince? If you don't want to, that's also fine since you have to consolidate your power," Dane asked her this question, to which he added a statement that it would be fine if she declined.

Surprisingly, Erea acceded to her mentor's request, lightly smiling as she giggled, saying, "To be honest, I would like to meet up with the Ninth Prince."

"I have a lot of questions to ask him though."

"Would that be fine?"