Small Talk

Dante gripped the hilt of his greatsword that was propped on his back. He surveyed the premise of an abandoned warehouse in front of him with a slight scowl on his face.

"He had concealed himself well. I don't feel any presence inside nor on the surrounding area," he said and looked behind him.

Standing there was Celine, who was also looking at the whole place. She had used her magic sense to survey the place but failed to sense any 'human' aura.

"His magic is the void. There has always been a debate on its origin, and some fanatics believed that Void magic is an existence of complete nothingness," Celine said and continued to urge her magic senses to deepen its search. "They just might be right on this account."

With a shake of his head, Dante sighed and walked at the rusty gates.

"If that is the case, then how is he even using magic? We needed the energy around to sustain the use of magic. If the void is complete nothingness..."

"That's why it is being debated even now," Celine sighed. "But to completely conceal yourself like this, how else can you explain it?"

Just as she said those words, a thought came to her.

"Unless he is inside a domain...?" her voice trailed off.

Immediately she rejected the idea with a shake of her head. "No, impossible. But if it is true..."

How far had Kyran's magic level reached? No wonder the Dark Sage reached the higher realm that most Master Mages had been dreaming of.

'No. Stop. He has Void magic, but he is not the Dark Sage,' Celine scolded herself.

When the President talked about Kyran's future with such zeal as if he was the Dark Sage's reincarnation, did she not show him her displeasure? Why was she doing the same now?

"Hall Master, I can't help but feel that he is not working alone."

Dante's voice brought Celine out of her thoughts.

Her brow creased but she nodded slightly. She understood his doubts.

Kyran was only in his teens –Celine's brow twitched.

Based on his age, it was impossible to reach a level where one could make his own domain. If there was someone else with him who was a high-level mage then having a domain or even concealing one's presence would be easy. How he could plan and act as if he had complete control of the situation would also make more sense. After all, if you have a high-level mage with you on top of having powerful magic, then you could really act rampantly.

"No point thinking about it now. Let's go in," Celine finally moved and waved her hand.

The rusty gates opened with a creak and they entered while keeping their guard up.

At the same time, inside the spacious receiving hall of the abandoned warehouse.

[Once I undo my veil, they will be able to find your location.]

Nolan's voice spoke in Kyran's mind.

"You know, you should have taught me how to reply when you talk in my mind. That way I can at least ask you questions or tell you what I think," Kyran could not help complaining.

[Why? It's fun to see you talk to yourself. It can even lead to a very 'good' opportunity. Ahahahaha!]

Kyran sighed. Did Nolan really see him as his personal entertainment?

With a shake of his head, Kyran headed up the deck that was connected to the stairs leading to the second floor. This deck was facing the main entrance of the receiving hall.

He sat on the middle guardrail that was made of pure cement instead of the iron rod. After all, the structure was too rusty he was sure it would not be able to support his weight.

"Can you see them? Do you know who they are?" He asked Nolan.

[Don't worry. You know them. Just act the way you did when you first meet them.]

Kyran nodded. He understood who Nolan meant and why he still had to act boldly and indifferent. He had to be consistent. If he showed his true self, they might take advantage of it and try to get on his good side.

If he had to be honest, he actually did not want to talk to Celine again, or at least not this soon. Because he found her too... weird. He felt she's weirder than Nolan. He wondered if all Magus-level mages had such weird quirks. Apart from that, he still remembered her outburst and it sent a slight chill down his spine. Back in military school, he always had a low profile. But somehow, trouble always found him. And it was always connected to the opposite gender.

An image of a girl with wavy long blonde hair tied in a high ponytail and olive-green eyes, wearing dark green military combat clothes flashed in Kyran's mind. She had an angelic pretty face, but her temper was anything but angelic or pretty.

Celine gave Kyran the same feeling like that 'girl'.

'Why can't all girls, be like cousin Pheobe?' He grumbled with a sigh.

A picture of a young woman with short black hair and dark gray eyes, wearing a plain white dress crossed his mind. His cousin Pheobe was a very caring and kind person. Instantly, he felt a slight pain in his heart knowing that her status with the rest of his family and clan members was still unknown.

'Focus. You're doing this for them. Get your act together,' Kyran reminded himself.

Pushing all unnecessary thoughts at the back of his mind, Kyran focused his attention on the floor-to-ceiling-high main entrance door.

[They've entered the premise. I will now undo my magic.]

Nolan's voice came once again. Kyran nodded in response.

From Celine and Dante's side.

Celine felt a subtle shift in the air and immediately, her magic sense detected Kyran's presence. She knew it was him because of the similarity of the presence she felt from him back at the Mercenary Hall.

"Follow me," she told Dante and went to the tallest building in the middle of the whole warehouse.

They walked up the steps leading to the entrance of the building.

Dante removed the hook on his greatsword and was about to take it off his back when Celine stopped him.

[It's okay. If we show him a guarded stance, he will probably act hostile toward us. We also have to consider that he is not alone, and not knowing who is with him might become a problem.]

Dante heard Celine's voice in his head. He gave a short nod of acknowledgement.

Unfortunately, replying telepathically was not an easy thing to do. Only those who had reached High Master would be able to do so. Of course, there was a way to establish a similar telepathic connection between low-leveled mages, but the transmission could easily be perceived by other mages with higher magic attainments making it inappropriate in doing covert missions.

Although their meeting with Kyran was not exactly a covert mission, they were still in the dark about his purpose of requesting a meeting. Thus, they had to be cautious.

Celine specifically could not implicate Dante. She only brought him here because he personally fought Kyran and probably knew his strength more than her. Besides, her offensive capacity was limited. In order for her to use her attack, she needed to make physical contact with her target. And based on what they had seen Kyran could do, it was almost close to impossible to get close to him.

Dante was only here in case of an emergency. To avoid that, they had to act harmless.

Celine took the lead as they walked up the stairs and approached the door. With a wave of her hand, the door slowly opened. It gave off a loud screech as the door hinges were no longer maintained.

The two of them looked inside and found the whole place in darkness. Although it was still the middle of the day, little light penetrated the windows and broken gaps on the roof of the building.

Celine knew Kyran was somewhere inside, based on her magic sense. Without hesitation, she entered the building while taking out a fire scroll from her pouch that was tied around her waist. Dante followed after her.

However, before Celine could use the fire scroll to make a light, her eyes that already adjusted to the darkness, found a silhouette sitting on the guardrail of a deck that connected the first-floor stairs to the second floor.

The silhouette was Kyran.

Kyran sat patiently on the guardrail, with his left leg propped up on its edge and an arm resting on his knee. He had been waiting for Celine and Dante's arrival. Now that they entered the building, he did not make any movements and just observed them.

Celine used the scroll in her hand and slowly the light from the fireball illuminated a portion of the room.

"You found a very conspicuous place to meet," Celine finally spoke and looked at Kyran who remained hidden in the shadows.

"I think its conspicuousness makes it more inconspicuous," Kyran replied.

"Humph," Dante could not help but snort at Kyran.

[Dante.]

Celine warned him.

Dante did not reply. Instead, he took a deep breath and stood straight, then crossed his arms across his chest.

"I suppose it is. I remembered how the Blacksmith Order initially thought the location of this warehouse was good. Because it is near the forest, they thought it would be easier to find resources. But soon they had to abandon it because of the regular night attacks, they encountered from forest beasts," Celine said with a smile.

"Hm. Did you come here to tell me about the history of this building? I'm not really interested," Kyran unabashedly told Celine. He did not want to be friends with Celine or Dante thus he did not want to have idle chats.

"Y-You–!"

Celine raised her hand and gave Dante a side glance. Immediately, he stopped and snorted with indignation.

"Uninvited guest is free to leave," Kyran told Dante.

Dante swallowed the retort he was about to say because Celine gave him another warning look.

Celine put on a smile and looked at Kyran, "I'm sorry. I decided to bring Dante to get you two reacquainted."

"No, thanks."

Both men answered.

[Ahahaha. Good. Good.]

Kyran heard Nolan say, but ignored it.

Black lines appeared on Celine's head. If she insisted on this topic, this meeting might go downhill before it even started.

"Then, please ignore him. He can just stand guard in case of... emergency," she finally decided to say.

"Emergency... right," Kyran repeated with a sneer. However, he did not dwell too much on it. He cared less whether Dante stayed or not. To him, it did not make a difference if Dante would act hostile. Unlike the time he was at the Mercenary Hall, Nolan was close by to keep watch.

Kyran frowned a little after realizing something. Was he trusting Nolan too much so soon? He had to correct that.

"Fine. Your decision to come here meant you understood my intention of going to the Mercenary Hall," Kyran started.

Celine was a little peeved that Kyran wanted to start their conversation while she and Dante were still at the entrance. Was this distance too far? Was he being too cautious?

"Are we going to talk here? Like this?" She gestured at the distance between them as well as the whole place.

"I want to see the two of you from a distance," Kyran answered listlessly.

Celine kept a smile on her face, but inside she was fuming. "Very well," she relented after weighing the pros and cons if she let out her anger.

"And?"

"And?" Celine repeated as if she was confused.

[Tsk. Tsk. Seems she plans to get you talking first. I bet she just wants to know you more.]

Nolan could not help but tell Kyran. To him, Celine's pretend confusion was expected but unnecessary.

Kyran frowned at Nolan's words.

"Will you stop?" he told him.

"I'm sorry?" Celine's confusion became real.

[See? Here comes a 'good' opportunity. Come on, talk to yourself more. Ahahaha!]

Kyran gritted his teeth to stop himself from retorting at Nolan.

He looked at Celine indifferently and said, "Stop trying to make small talks. Let's get down to business."

'Tsk,' Celine reigned in her indignation.

President Callan told her to listen to what Kyran had to say, but it seemed he did not want to talk.

"Alright. You really are an impatient man."

Ignoring Celine's comment, Kyran started. "The army did not want my identity be known and even used your mercenaries to come after me, what are you going to do about it?"