Legacy of the Dark Sage

Kyran's eyes narrowed after hearing the female announcer's words. He already knew who was in the 'head committee.' The Crown Princess was one for sure, but that did not mean she was the only one. It involved some people from the Royal Family, including the emperor, and one or two elders from the Courtenay Family, since they were the host.

But Kyran was not in the mood to meet with them. To be specific, he did not want to meet any of the Royal Family.

The conversation he had with the empress was still fresh in his mind and if he had to be honest, the real reason why he did not want to do the mock battle was because that conversation bothered him and knew he would not be able to focus on the match.

A good proof of his lost of focus was when he broke the sword while inspecting it. It was the reason why he did not hesitate to let either Hamish or Owen do the mock battle.

Without waiting for Kyran's reply, the announcer turned and started to leave.

"Sorry, I'm feeling unwell right now and want to rest after reflecting on today's competition with the rest of the team," Kyran said, loud enough for the announcer to hear.

The people from the Lumley Family were within earshot and he did not want them to find another reason to harass him. He made Tyr appear arrogant and reckless, but that did not mean he was actively seeking trouble for himself.

Kyran's main reason for making Tyr act in this way was to balance out his good looks. Unfortunately, he underestimated Stella's preference— since she came up with Tyr's appearance he assumed that was her preference in men—, and now he only made trouble for himself.

Honestly, he wanted to switch identities as soon as possible because the attention 'Tyr' was getting was stressing him out. And he was not talking about Tyr getting attention because of his Array abilities. Because if it was only about that, he was quite happy with the results.

After all, his main objective in using Tyr's identity was not to move around freely but to spread his 'work' in the market.

However, Tyr's 'looks' were equally— if not better at, gathering attention and that was the stressful part.

Kyran was not good at dealing with the attention of the opposite sex. Well, if you count the female attention he get from his relatives then yes, he was not entirely clueless on how to deal with it— except those female relatives were around four to ten years old and were all Kyra's playmates.

In any case, the amount of attention Kyran was getting while walking around in Tyr's disguise was suffocating. It was a mystery why the opposite sex found Tyr attractive, to be honest.

The announcer stopped in her tracks and looked back at Kyran. Before she could open her mouth to speak, he noticed her four-leaf clover earing blinked a few times. Afterward, she smiled slightly and nodded, "Very well. The head committee extends their wish you good rest tonight. Hopefully, it will not affect your participation in tomorrow's competition."

Kyran gave a wry smile, "Such an understanding boss you have. Thanks."

The announcer simply bowed her head before turning to leave.

Hamish, who had only released the Field Array and acted inconspicuous behind Kyran, finally spoke, "Is it really alright to turn down the invitation from the head committee?"

Kyran looked at him with raised brows. He was surprised on Hamish's complacent attitude from what he just witnessed. It made him wonder if Master Noir warned them about who the 'head committee' were.

If this was a normal joint military exercise, one of the Conclave High Council should be part of the head committee. But since it was not, at the very least, the head committee members must be from an unrelated party from the Conclave and the Royal Army.

"Why? Are you worried they will cause troubles for us?" Kyran asked.

Hamish looked at him and shook his head, "No. Chairman Noir told us that no matter how unfair we find this competition, the Conclave will make sure we're protected."

"I see."

It was as he expected from the Conclave's council members. Being a neutral faction for so long, they knew how to assure their people.

Kyran looked over to the Lumley Family's corner and found a Courtenay Family medic already looking at Matias's condition. He found this excessive, since he only knocked him out with his staff.

Pushing the random thought at the back of his mind, Kyran told Hamish, "Let's head back. We still have things to reflect on."

Hamish could not help but sweat at his remark. This was till a competition and showing a Field Array right off the bat would only lead the other participants to raise their guards against them.

"Okay," he replied.

Thirty minutes later, they gathered in Chairman Noir's room.

The other council members, and acting leaders of each team were also gathered there.

Styx, was the acting leader in the Solo Competition and, Dante, was the acting leader in the Team Competition.

In the Material Gathering, it was the woman named, Carol. For the Alchemy Competition, the acting leader was a man in his late twenties, with wavy short blonde hair and light green eyes. His name was Emir.

The acting leader for the Smithing was a huge middle-aged man, with long sandy blonde hair tied in a black leather bandana, brown eyes, and a similarly sandy colored beard. His name was Decan. Last, Kyran was the acting leader of the Array Creation Competition.

As for the remaining two events that had yet to happen, Beast Hunt and Field Operation, the leaders would be discussed today.

Yesterday, the only one who had an event was the Mercenary Hall. That was why they did not hold a meeting after the match. Today, the Chamber of Commerce, Alchemy Association and the Blacksmith Order all had their events, thus, it was a good time to hold a meeting.

At least now, most of them had a good grasp of what to expect in the following days.

Kyran sat at one of the single chairs in the living room and remained silent as Noir opened the meeting.

It was decided that Carol would go first. Since the Material Gathering even was considered complete, it was only fitting to discuss it first.

They had won the event but they had a few things to reflect on especially after seeing how efficient Aki's strategy was.

Kyran tried his best not to show a pained expression. After all, Aki's strategy was only possible because that was how he programmed it.

After Carol, they let the Mercenary Hall follow.

The first one to report what happened was Styx.

Since all of them already knew what Kyran did in the Solo Competition, nothing much had been discussed. Apart from the fact that Callan suggested having Kyran abstain from participating on the next match. Styx also agreed. But Kyran did not agree nor disagree, he simply listened to their suggestion.

After Styx, went Dante.

This time, Kyran silently listened to his report. He had watched a recording of their match against the Montgomeray, in the disc provided by the Courtney family. But he still wanted to know what Dante had to say.

Nothing beats a first hand explanation of the match, after all.

According to Dante, their match against the Montgomeray was a close one. Though it ended in a tie before the timer ends, if it had continued, he was positive that they would lose.

The reason was simple enough. Dante and the rest of the mercenaries' stamina was limited.

But the members of the Montgomeray Family did not show any signs of fatigue. The only reason why it ended in a tie, because Dante summoned a defensive wall made of magma in which the Montgomeray members could not destroy.

"The Montgomeray Family is known to have ties with Spirits because of the Dinaeri Family. None of you seen one?" Vaness asked.

Dante shook his head, "We did not see one, Head Chief Vaness. But well..." He hesitated for a bit and gave a wry smile. "Who knows if they deliberately hid their presence from us."

Spirits were mischevious in nature. They tend to hide their presence especially when they were playing pranks on humans.

Of course, there were ways like an array, or item, even a rare flower, to provide humans the ability to see Spirits. But the materials required to make any of this, especially the flower was too expensive. Besides, once the Spirits realized they were seen because of such items, they would definitely destroy them first.

"Quite true," Callan agreed. He had watched the match yesterday and failed to find any traces of a Spirit's presence. "However, what's really troubling about them was their stamina."

"Well, if their stamina is not affected after such a long match, then we can rule out the possibility of them summoning Spirits, right?" Malia chimed in. "For one thing, Spirits tend to waste a lot of their 'master's' magic energy."

"The Solo Competition between the Royal Army and the Montgomeray Family ended with the former's defeat," Vaness suddenly spoke. "A young man... I assume he is already a young man, summoned a Fire Golem Spirit that defeated the Royal Army member."

As he said this, he waved his hand and a white orb appeared, hovering on top of the table.

The orb lit up and showed the recording of what happened.

Kyran watched in silence, a small smile tugged at the corner of his lips.