Chapter 70: Chapter 70: Sizing Up the Opponent

"So you are claiming that 'something' has been lying underneath the tower for more than five hundred years?"

Kalman leaned in closer as Theodore spoke of his hypothesis regarding the tower's current state. As an alchemist, he had a decent understanding of leylines, the flow of which would allow him to narrow down where specific kinds of plant life could be found. However, this was the first he had heard about the leylines of the empire being twisted. The idea that there might be something under his very feet that was so powerful that it could bend the leylines throughout the empire towards it was a thought that struck a never known before fear in the elder's heart.

"Those are my conjecture, yes," Theodore calmly confirmed.

It was at this point that Theodore's calm became ever more so eerie to Kalman. To speak of the incomprehensibly powerful being with the gravity of discussing the weather, even if Kalman had not heard Theodore confess that he was the Demon Lord, this demeanor of his would prove it beyond the shadow of a doubt within Kalman's heart.

"But how could you know that the leylines were being drawn towards the tower? Perhaps it was merely a large leyline intersect and the Alva built the tower atop of it to take advantage of it."

"This world is made by Aether, maintained by it, and when Aether shifts, the world shifts with it. When a large flow of Aether is twisted outside of its regular flow, space itself begins to bend. The demonkins were sensitive to spatial distortions and could sense the abnormalities of the space within the empire's territories. A sufficiently powerful mage could do so as well. In fact, I suspect that the Archmage already knew about the abnormalities occurring. Other than that, I am afraid evidence is hard to show in my current situation, but if you must have one, I would point to the ever-increasing frequency of Abyssal rifts occurring over the last five hundred years within the empire."

It was known that naturally occurring Abyssal rifts would occur where they are spatial distortions. And though Theodore had no accurate data on the number of rifts that occurred within the empire's territory, he was confident that there were not few and the numbers ought to be increasing still.

"In that case, I'll have Fiana look into it later. Talking to you was highly educational, Demon Lord Theodore," Kalman said solemnly.

"Just Theodore is fine," Theodore replied, not fond of being referred to in as 'Demon Lord' whatsoever.

"That will be enough for today. There is much to think about with what you've just given me and none of us have had breakfast yet. All this thinking is leaving this old man famished."

Feeling that void that was within his belly, Theodore nodded. Perhaps it was the tension he felt within even as he spoke to the elder, or maybe it was because he was feeling comprehension at what might come in the future now that he has been caught, but Theodore had found himself surprisingly exhausted from merely speaking.

The truth was, Theodore was not as calm as Kalman believed him to be, but perhaps it was due to having the Demon Lord's memories and the vast experiences that Theodore instinctively draw from it, somehow Theodore was able to maintain his composure outwardly despite it all.

"I'll go make something," Fiana, who had been standing by the door in silence the entire time, finally spoke up before walking off to the kitchen, all the while hiding her distraught and desire to leave this space.

Neither Kalman nor Theodore said anything to her as she left, leaving the room with an awkward silence, filled only by the footsteps of Fiana going off into the hall.

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Kalman aside, Theodore found it difficult to speak to her after having his identity revealed. He felt as if he had been deceiving her this whole time, which wasn't exactly untrue, and came to believe that whatever he says to her from this point onwards would only sound insincere.

The breakfast that came after was eaten in silence, with both Theodore and Kalman using this time to sort out their thoughts as they absentmindedly chewed and swallowed their food. Meanwhile, Fiana watched the both of them with a deep wrinkle between her brow, barely touching her meal.

***

As he ate, Theodore contemplated how exactly Kalman was keeping an eye on him. An elder Kalman might be, Theodore had been careful, always covering his room with a soundproof web made of his Aethereal threads. It was to both prevent noises from leaking outside and to detect when others were sending their own Aether in. Theodore had never sensed anyone trying to probe into his room with Aether, which narrowed the means by which Kalman used to survey him down to a few possibilities.

One of the methods was to have another person monitor his actions. Of course, Theodore had never spotted another person within the workshop grounds that wasn't Kalman, Fiana, and Albatross on a daily basis. In other words, unless the said person was rendered completely undetectable to Theodore somehow, then the only possibility Theodore could think of was Albatross. It was possible that Albatross had been an agent for Kalman all along and got Theodore to expose himself.

If that was the case, however, then Albatross should have stopped him before he stole the Dandelion Mandragora seeds. Unless, of course, it had been Kalman's intention to have Theodore steal it all along so that he could threaten Theodore with the evidence.

Then, there was the other method, one that could only be used if Kalman was the user of a specific type of Aether-form.

Diffusive type, it was called. This category of Aether-form describes a form that spread over a wide area when deployed. In recent memory, Theodore recalled the Yulian, the apprentice of the Archmage herself, to be the possessor of this type.

Characterized mostly by its utter lack of power, the diffusive type shines in the most covert of ways, both figuratively and literally. Not only useful in gathering information in a wide area, but they could also disrupt the information sent from the Aether of other mages, causing the targeted mages to receive false feedback from their Aether. Also, due to its dispersed nature, the diffusive type could bypass the detection of other mages, allowing them to stealthily gather information. Finally, they could also slip by the magic resistance of another's body, making it incredibly suited for applying weak healing magic on another.

If Kalman truly has the diffusive type Aether-form, not only does it makes sense that he was able to know what he knows, but depending on the circumstances, Theodore could find himself either an extremely difficult opponent or someone even he in his current state could take on. If Theodore could only engineer a situation where it was advantageous for him, then, well... Kalman might as well be just another old man, not that it would be easy against an elder.

***

End of Chapter 70

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