Chapter 98: Chapter 94

The next hour was spent tensely waiting with Ethan, as more people slowly trickled into the house. A few of them paid attention to the ruined floorboards or the signs of a recent fight, and gave Ethan a slightly confused look before shrugging and ignoring the damage. Apparently, while they were curious, they didn’t care enough to ask.

Meanwhile, Alice took careful note of the levels and magic seeds of the newcomers. She was very curious to know how influential an Immortal was, and what kind of power Ethan could exert over Illvaria’s military and other influential people. While the people who came to this meeting wouldn’t be a perfect indicator of Ethan’s influence, it would still give Alice some extra clues about how Immortals worked behind the scenes.

The first three people to come to the house after Alice entered together, as a group. They were all non-Mages, and seemed to be moderately high level [Soldiers] of some sort. Alice estimated their level to be around sixty or seventy, and were in their late thirties or early forties. Each of them gave her a curious glance, before shrugging and turning towards Ethan.

“Honored Immortal Ethan,” one of them said, giving him a respectful nod.

“Ah, it is good to see you, Orith. I was under the impression you were with my father in the North?” said Ethan. Alice was a bit surprised to hear Ethan mention his family. She didn’t know much about Ethan’s family, since she and Ethan didn’t know each other very well yet, but she was suddenly curious. In her impression, most Immortals should be decades old at least, and possibly centuries old. Was Ethan’s family still alive? If Ethan was really centuries old, was his father an Immortal as well? Alice made a mental note to ask Ethan later, when she got to know Ethan better.

“I was, but your father heard that the Society has been ramping up their activity recently. He sent me and some of the men under my command back south to help deal with it. I just got here yesterday. I have also been informed that they kidnapped a Mage this time?” Said Orith, frowning. “If that is the case, they are truly intent on ramping up their conflict with Illvaria. If they dare to kidnap a Mage, they might even attack Nobility or the royal family in the future. Since that’s the case, I’m glad that my men and I returned in time to assist you.”

Alice realized that these people weren’t [Soldiers], as she had first assumed. Instead, they were probably military leaders or higher ups, and each of them probably had troops under their command or some sort of high rank. Although she had no idea how many troops each person had under their command, it was obvious that this group of three men didn’t just represent themselves, but a significant number of people who weren’t present in the room right now.

Ethan dismissed the man with a nod, and the three [Soldiers] stopped talking with Ethan and found a place to sit down at the edge of the room. A few moments later, they began talking with each other again, this time about much less serious topics. As far as Alice could make out, they seemed to be debating what supplies for the Northern forts would look like this winter, a topic which Alice knew almost nothing about. Apart from the fact that Illvaria had a Nomad problem to the north and the Sun Knight guarded the border, Alice didn’t really know much about the regions north of Metsel.

As Alice listened in to the conversation and tried to pick out new information about the North, another group of people walked in. This group was comprised of five elderly Mages. Alice was rather impressed by their levels when she observed them – each of them was probably above level ninety, and each of them had either a kinetic or organic seed, sometimes in addition to a few other magic seeds. Most of them also looked quite old, with physical ages approaching sixty at minimum. Even though Alice didn’t think they would reach Immortality before dying of old age, it was still quite impressive to see several Mages above level 90 gathered under Ethan’s command.

“[Teacher] Ethan,” said the five of them, greeting Ethan with nearly perfect synchronization. Their tone was much more casual than that of the military people who had entered earlier, and Alice could even detect hints of friendliness from their words and relaxed facial expressions. Clearly, they were well acquainted with Ethan, and didn’t feel the need to address him as ‘Honored Immortal,’ or even as ‘Sir Mage.’

“It is good to see the five of you. Take a seat,” said Ethan, gesturing towards the area Alice was sitting in as he gave them fond smiles. Seeing how high level the Mages were, and Ethan’s invitation for them to sit near her, Alice wondered if Ethan often tried to teach potential Mage Immortals. If Ethan had five older [Students] and was also teaching Alice, it meant that Ethan didn’t pick Alice as an apprentice Immortal on a whim.

The five elderly Mages took seats around Alice, before giving her looks filled with undisguised curiosity.

“Nice to meet you, little Lady. Oh, you’re a Mage,” said the oldest Mage as she eyed Alice’s mage emblem. The Mage was an elderly lady who looked to be about seventy. “Who might you be?”

Alice was vaguely reminded of her grandmother on Earth, and felt herself relax a little bit as she took in the elderly Mage’s smile. “I’m Alice. Nice to meet you.”

“I’m Sujia,” said the elderly lady, reaching out her hand for a handshake. “Why are you here? Are you Ethan’s new project?”

“Project?” asked Alice, who was caught off guard.

“Ethan’s new Immortal project,” said the elderly lady, cackling as she grinned at Alice. “The five of us were also people who Ethan hoped would reach Immortality, once upon a time, so he offered to teach us when we were much younger. We worked hard to level up, grow, and improve,” said the woman, her tone turning nostalgic as her smile grew wider. “Those were the days. These old bones probably won’t last to Immortality, even if I got most of the way there. I doubt a young Lady Mage like you is in charge of any significant number of troops, although do forgive me if I’m wrong. You probably aren’t incredibly high level, either, since you don’t move with the grace of someone who has survived lots of battles and lived to tell the tale. Your [Dexterity] is pretty good even for a normal adult, but rather lacking compared to top tier fighters. So I figure the only other reason you can be here is that Ethan is teaching you and hoping you’ll reach Immortality, as his latest project. Am I right?”

Alice didn’t see any way to hide this information, and if Ethan was having her attend this meeting he probably wasn’t trying to keep her totally hidden from the spotlight. Therefore, she nodded.

“That’s right, I just became Ethan’s apprentice a few days ago. I’m still trying to get my head around things right now.”

The old lady smiled at her. “Make sure to work hard and improve, then. I tried my hardest, but I won’t get there. But I have no regrets with how I lived my life, and the almighty System surely approves of my struggles and hard work as well. No shame in failing if you live your life the best you can, but it’s best to make sure you do your best, eh?” she said, grinning even more widely at Alice. Then, the old woman frowned. “You’re not dating anyone, are you?”

Alice suddenly felt like the conversation had taken a very strange turn. “I’m… I’m not. Why?”

The old lady smiled at her again. “Good, good. It’s good that you aren’t wasting your time on boys right now. Or girls, if that’s your preference. Either way, you should focus on training. Romance isn’t that important, and there’s always time to worry about that after you reach Immortality. So don’t worry about it until then, all right?”

“O… kay?” Alice was incredibly baffled by the sudden change of topics in the conversation. Even though she wasn’t really that interested in romance, she was quite confused about why the elderly Sujia had suddenly changed the conversation topic in such an abrupt manner.

One of the other Mages chuckled and looked at Alice in a much less strange manner. “Don’t mind Sujia, she’s just a bit miffed by Illa, even after all these years. Illa had an even better chance at reaching Immortality than we did… and then she just threw it away to marry her sweetheart.” The man sighed. “I don’t agree with her decision, and it really feels like a huge waste of the System’s gifts… but if she’s happy, it’s her right to be happy how she chooses to. Even if I don’t understand her choice at all.” The old man sighed.

Alice finally realized why Sujia had seemed so interested in the topic of her (nonexistent) romantic life. Even if the sudden conversation change still made Alice feel a bit odd, she also felt a bit amused by how much of an impact Illa’s departure from the Immortal scene seemed to have left on these people. Perhaps Illa had been another one of Ethan’s projects, and that’s why these five elderly Mages seemed so upset about Illa’s actions?

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 “Was Illa Ethan’s last ‘project’?” Asked Alice.

“No, but since Illa worked under Ethan’s father for quite a while, the two knew each other quite well,” said Sujia. “Ethan did have some hand in her military training, even though Illa spent most of her time learning under regular [Teachers] at a Magic Academy and only started interacting with Ethan after she joined the army.”

“Ethan’s father?” Alice finally started putting two and two together. Ethan was an Immortal, but his father was still alive, and Illa had worked under his father for a while. Ethan’s father had sent the first group of [Soldiers] who attended this meeting down from the North, and the Sun Knight was known to guard the Northern border of Illvaria during the part of the year the nomads were most active…

“Ethan’s father is the Sun Knight,” said Sujia. “Didn’t you know?”

“Is… is that so?” Alice had already started guessing what Ethan’s family situation looked like when Sujia had mentioned Illa’s training the military, but she was still shocked to have her guess confirmed. She took a few moments to process the fact that Ethan wasn’t just an Immortal – he was also the son of the most famous Immortal in Illvaria. Then, she nodded, doing her best to process the information and file it away without letting it rattle her. “Is he… I mean…” Alice had a hard time vocalizing her next question, as she realized she was suddenly much closer to meeting another of Illvaria’s Immortals than she had realized. Then, finally, she managed to push forward with her thoughts. “Is Ethan on good terms with his father? I mean, I just… I’ve heard a lot about the Sun Knight, and so I’m curious, and…”

Sujia, however, revealed a small, sorrowful expression, and Alice noticed a small bubble of rainbow mana cut off the group from the rest of the room.

“It looks like you really didn’t know about Ethan’s family. It isn’t really a secret, so I’m a bit surprised. However, if you’re Ethan’s newest project and you don’t know, there are a few things to keep in mind about his family. [Teacher] Ethan is on very good terms with his family – they love each other very much, as far as I have ever witnessed, and they have very close bonds with each other. Every year they make sure to spend a month or two together. However, Ethan isn’t an only child. Or, more accurately, he had several siblings. None of them reached Immortality, and so every single one besides Ethan died of old age. Being the child of an Immortal means that you have a lot of access to resources other people don’t – the best teachers, knowledge about how to get some Perks that aren’t recorded by the Church of the System, the influence of your parents… but even so, the odds of reaching Immortality are incredibly low. In Illvaria, we have a population of over a million people. And in all of the time this country has existed, only six Immortals have been produced, and Ethan and his father are two of them. This is incredibly unusual among most Immortals throughout the world, because the odds of reaching Immortality even with those bonuses are so low. His siblings are a sore subject, so don’t mention it with him or his father, if you see them. Or Ethan’s stepmother,” said Sujia, with a serious expression. “It’s less of a serious subject with her, because she’s a rather warm person, but it’s still not nice to poke other people’s wounds. Also, his senses are quite good, so if you don’t have a Perk like mine that prevents casual eavesdropping, he can probably hear you if you’re nearby. So don’t gossip about it with other people unless you know he’s somewhere far away, all right?”

Alice nodded, wondering how many of Ethan’s siblings had perished of old age before and after Ethan was born. Alice made a mental note not to mention the topic to Ethan, or the Sun Knight if she ended up ever meeting him.

After that, the five Mages and Alice began discussing more casual topics as other small time military leaders trickled into the room. Many of the topics the Mages spoke of were about more harmless topics, like Sujia’s bad habits when the five had been learning from Ethan, or one of the more embarrassing stories of Ethan’s misinterpretation of an article regarding kinetic enchantments from a hundred years ago. Ethan was a very battle-oriented Mage, and didn’t have a high level of specialization in Enchantments at the time, so his misinterpretation had caused a minor lab explosion. Ethan had shrugged it off with his Perks and high Stats, but he had done the experiment in the same building he usually taught the five of them in, so when they had come to class the next day they had found a rather embarrassing crater where they usually listened to Ethan’s lectures. Ethan had since improved his knowledge of the subject, but Alice was amused to see that, like Allira, Ethan also had a human side to him, for all of the extra centuries and power he had compared to most people.

As the group conversed, more people trickled into the room and greeted Ethan before settling into other groups to talk.

As the various small-time military leaders trickled into the base, Alice grew increasingly curious about how many people Ethan could actually command. It was clear that Ethan didn’t intend to treat her as some massive secret, even though he had hidden her participation in the fight against the Society member who kidnapped Samantha just a few days ago. Alice was a bit puzzled by this, but decided to wait and see what Ethan was planning.

The people who entered the house were very curious about Alice, as well. Many of them gave her curious glances from the corners of their eyes from time to time. Ethan, however, didn’t address Alice’s presence, instead simply leaving her to chat with his five [Students] on the sidelines.

Finally, after another half hour Ethan stopped talking to individuals who showed up and made his way to the front of the room. He turned to Alice and gestured towards her, inviting her to stand next to him. Uncertainly, Alice also made her way through the crowd towards Ethan’s position. The crowd of chatting [Captains] and assorted military leaders quieted down after Alice reached Ethan’s position and he raised his hand in the air.

“All right, now that everyone is here, there are a few things I want to address,” said Ethan, his voice amplified to reach the entire room via some sort of Perk. “First and foremost, this is Alice,” he said gesturing towards Alice. “She is my newest apprentice, and she stands a good chance of reaching Immortality if she continues to work hard. She has some specialization in combat, and has had the skill needed to acquire some pretty decent Achievements related to fighting. I intend to raise her for a while, and see if she can become Illvaria’s Seventh Immortal within a few decades. Now, as I’ve already told many of you, I intend to raid the Society today and have located one of their bases. I intend for my apprentice to join the fight and get some more combat experience, as well as hopefully a few levels and Achievements under her belt to help prop her up. She will be fighting with some restrictions, since I’ve forced her to use some Perks in advance, but she should still be able to make a decent showing of herself, especially compared to others in her age group. Are there any questions or objections?”

Nobody said anything, while Alice finally realized what Ethan was planning. It would be impossible to hide the fact that Ethan had a new person tagging along with him for an extended period of time, so Ethan instead decided to pretend she was a combat Mage. Since Ethan apparently had a habit of trying to raise Immortal Mages, nobody would look too closely at her as long as she could adequately mimic a combat specialist. And if Alice had an open reason to tag along with Ethan, any of her more unique abilities could be hidden as ‘Honored Immortal doing impressive, hard to understand stuff.’ This would make Ethan the target of potential [Assassins] and [Spies] instead of Alice, and Ethan was obviously much more well equipped to deal with any potential danger than she was. At the same time, it would give Alice a good reason to be near Ethan constantly. It wasn’t perfect, but it was pretty good, and should buy Alice quite a bit of time as long as nothing went wrong. By the time the Society realized something was wrong, Alice would have hopefully reached a high enough level to fend off [Assassins] and [Spies] without any need for assistance.

As Alice mused to herself, Ethan smiled and lightly clapped his hands together. “Good. Now that that’s out of the way, let’s start talking about the base we found. Through the tracking of Samantha, the young Mage who was recently kidnapped, we found a Society base near Metsel. It was hidden through the use of a large-scale optical illusion enchantment, and is out of the way of the main roads and near a smaller river. There should be around seventy or eighty Mages inside the base, based on the recount of the [Tracker]. We have about three hundred troops represented in this room, along with five high level Mages and a smaller number of average-level Mages scattered across various units. I will also be participating, but I intend to mostly take care of my new Apprentice, so while I will step in where needed, you should also take into account that my presence will be minimized this fight. I think it would be best if the [Special Guards] attack from the south, appearing behind this river bank…” Ethan gestured for Alice to sit down as he began to detail how he wanted each group of [Soldiers] and [Guards] to move during the attack at the base. Occasionally, a military leader would raise a question or make a suggestion for how to improve Ethan’s plan, some of which he added into his planning and some of which he rejected. After several minutes of discussion, the group left the out of the way house and began fetching a variety of [Soldiers], [Guards], and a few lower level Mages, before several Perks were used.

The group speedily left the city, where a few [Messengers] and [Scouts] who were travelling with the group used their Perks to speed up the group’s march. Alice was thankful the group was walking, because she had no idea how to ride a horse.

Eventually, the group arrived outside of the area indicated on the map. It was an area Alice would never have paid attention to if she wasn’t already aware there was something here – the Society had clearly used some sort of mix of enchantments to make the mana in this area look as natural as possible, disguising it from various types of Mana vision, and then disguised it from regular eyes as well. Alice swallowed nervously, looking at the dome of inconspicuous air she had seen on Ethan’s map. She knew that on the inside of that dome, the Society of Starry Eyes had set up a place to carry out their experiments. There, she would learn the fate of Samantha and any other victims of the Society.

As Alice mentally prepared herself, the dome of inconspicuous air suddenly fizzled, turning into a spray of jagged colors of mana before the illusion collapsed entirely. Then, a wave of giant boulders suddenly appeared in midair, flying towards the group of [Soldiers] and three elderly Mages Alice was standing near.

The Society knew they were here, and they were prepared to defend their base against the attackers.