Shades of the New World

Chapter 223: Decision

"We'll go out with a bang, he says. I don't quite understand what kind of bang you are talking about? Us giving 15% of the Banking business to a human boy? Or the one where we get blown to smithereens by the other families? Heh, at that point, we'd be ones ripped into pieces, not the Banking profits," the old Cosmic said disdainfully.

Abvelgail sat in silence, waiting for his father to continue. Thanks to the experience he amassed over his long life, he knew for a fact that since the old Cosmics was joking about the matter, he was in reality, contemplating it inside. 

"Now that I think about it, it would be amusing to see their shocked faces as I reveal how I've sold the 15% for a dubious idea from some random kid. A Child of the Empress, for sure, but a nameless kid nonetheless," Lashvain chucked.

"In my opinion, our family would end up richer if we bet on Evin, instead of wholeheartedly relying on the group. After all, we've been doing the latter for a few centuries now, and there hasn't been much change in our situation," Abvelgail added.

"Heh, following Rithlaven, you too seem to have fallen for the Child's charms. It's honestly disturbing."

"It is not his charms, it is his capability and connections that I'm interested in," Abvelgail said.

"His capability is the knowledge found inside his head. As for his connections, aside from the fact that he works for a super-imposer, what's there to be impressed about?"

'Hmm? He can't be going senile now, can he?' Abvelgail thought with a frown.

"Have you read Rith's final report on the boy?" Abvelgail asked suddenly, a plan hatching inside his head.

A small rip in space appeared in front of Lashvain, as he pulled out a neatly enclosed letter from inside. 

"This thing? I was a bit too busy, and I also assumed that it was just the girl passionately writing about the boy's daily life, as always," Lashvain said offhandedly.

"I have a feeling you'll want to take a glance inside this one," Abvelgail urged.

The old cosmic pulled out a monocle from the same tear in space and after putting it on, started reading the contents.

Abvelgail could see his father's slitted eyes dart around the piece of paper a couple dozen times before an expression of shock appeared on his face.

"Lady Twelve Jokes? And she allegedly stayed next to him to protect him for half a day? Were the Authorities always this free and easy to employ??" Lashvain asked, as he furrowed his brows. 

'Well, another one of Rith's reports describe them to be a group of bored wastrels, but it seems that you haven't seen that one either Hmm this is definitely a chance for me to have him make up his mind,' Abvelgail thought.

Right after the mysterious organization attacked Rith and the others, naturally, Abvelgail received a report from his sister describing the aftermath. She had also mentioned how lax and carefree the Authorities seemed to be, compared to the unfathomable and domineering images the mage populace usually painted them in. She even added a line describing how the Ancestor personally comforted her for a bit.

Abvelgail remembered how shocked and jealous he was when he first read it. He also remembered how he carefully folded the same report in another piece of paper and sending it to his father, wondering how the old Feline would react. The old man obviously didn't show any excessive reactions and Abvelgail chalked it up to the wisdom and experience of the old...

'But it seems that he didn't only because he didn't see it.'

"The boy has a stronger connection to the Empress than any leader of the Four Countries. Even the current leader of our Group should only be knowledgeable of the things that our Ancestor let's him know. Although the Empress, in her never-ending glory, decides to stay peacefully inside her Tower most times, she does like to influence certain things and individuals that she finds interesting. The Authority of Storms would be the greatest example," Abvelgail said and watched as his father fell into a dilemma, granting him another moment to lose himself in random thought..

There were cases in history when the Empress' attention put certain individuals on higher pedestals. Some of them even reached heights that were just below the Empress herself. One such example was Ethez Serlant, the self-proclaimed 'Righteous Rogue of the West'. The man was no more than a glorified terrorist who spewed out some rather convincing bullshit about the nobles in the West acting a bit too tyrannical towards the commoners and mages under their rule. He then rallied the rogue mages across the World, staging a coup of unprecedented scale. 

He was actually one of the biggest reasons why the countries later decided to make the Oaths a thing that all mages had to take on.

As for Ethez himself, he was eventually caught by the Western mages after a rather uneventful and tedious chase. He was tried at court and it was decided that he would be executed by excessively overloading his mana-core over and over again. Probably one of the most painful ways to go, as he had to experience the pain of his heart literally exploding over and over again, until he died from either shock, or simply over-exhaustion.

But after his second overload, the literal Empress' voice appeared in everyone's head and told them to let go of Ethez and bring him to the Black Tower. Some were obviously unsatisfied with the sudden decision, but after a couple of deadly demonstrations of the ol' reliable 'divine punishment', the remaining people gladly brought the captured rogue to Tower City. 

A few decades later (ones filled with hot and spicy rumors about a certain terrorist and the Empress), the rogue reappeared in the World as the Authority of the World of Storms. Naturally, this didn't help to smother the problem of rumors.

And just like this story, Abvelgail was more interested in what kind of chaos Evin was going to bring to the World. There was something in his stars that was just telling him that shit would go down, if he let Evin do as he wished. This was one of his reasons for trying his damn hardest to sell Evin's idea to his father.

A couple minutes later, Lashvain glared back at his son, a deadly glint in his eyes.

"The more I think about this whole thing, the more I want to remind you to not bet your luck on assumption. I wouldn't have minded if any of your suppositions were based on facts, but I can't help but feel that you're stretching things a bit too thin here."

"You've also told me to trust my instincts if things start to become too enigmatic," Abvelgail retorted with an odd smile.

"15% of the business that practically defines our family is not something so "enigmatic", as you describe," Lashvain scoffed, but then fell back into silence, a deep contemplation apparent in his eyes.

Like previously, Abvelgail sat silently, waiting for his father to finish thinking. 

'Although he acts like he's against the idea, it's painfully obvious that he's dying to know what the idea is. After all, he's the one who felt the previous one's effects the most out of the entire Elmes Group,' Abvelgail thought gleefully.

"Can we add a clause that says we can implement his ideas after his death?" Lashvain asked suddenly, warranting a chuckle from Abvelgail.

"He'll most likely turn it into a proper time limit of some sorts, perhaps telling us we'll be able to do it 300 years in the future. And we can't really plan to implement whatever he decides to tell us, since he stated that he must get the 15% even if the Elmes Group is only at the development stage of a plan regarding his idea," Abvelgail reminded and saw his father groan in annoyance.

"Curiosity definitely killed the cat," Lashvain murmured, before glaring annoyedly at Abvelgail once more.

"Should I bring you to him now?" Abvelgail asked smilingly.

"No, we'll need to meet someone first. Our family can't handle the aftermath of this alone," the old Cosmic said with a wry smile.

...