Mad Instructor Ardent yawned and then he shrugged. "Real prisoner? You can’t hold me though, can you, Miret? I’ve always fancied fighting with people that are strong, and I’ve been bored all this while."
Miret narrowed his eyes. "Last we heard, you were wounded on the battlefield and were sent here to silently die, out of public eyes. That was after you denied the Emperor’s wish to have a glorious death in battle."
Ardent’s eyes darkened. "I don’t know how you keep up with what’s happening outside from that cave of yours."
Miret’s eyes shone. "The politics of the Empire affect even the tiniest blade of grass. If you don’t keep track, it’ll slowly creep behind you like a late tide and sweep you off."
Ardent smiled and then he pointed at Miret. "The children, if any of them die, I will be seriously angry. And I have only been angry once in my life. Ask the barbarians to the north how that went."
Miret went still. "Are you threatening Isolde Dusk?"
Ardent snorted and said flatly, "Yes. Don’t think you can’t be found in the sea that you claimed to own. I really don’t want to bother, so why doesn’t everyone be good? I need to sleep a lot on this vacation. This brat made me do a lot of work."
Miret’s eyes narrowed. He could see now why people didn’t have good things to say about Ardent. But then again, people didn’t have good things to say about him either. "You really are as people say you are."
Then Miret straightened and turned to Severin. "Severin... Reignhart. You have been chosen, together with your team, to join the Isolde Dusk as its guest."
Severin nodded his head solemnly. He took advantage of his knowledge of the book.
Because there is something that the Isolde Dusk was known for that was relatively unknown to the rest of the world. And that was the special training.
They call it Guest.
The Isolde Dusk is more than a prison.
It’s like this.
When you are an Emperor and you want to create a place where you train assassins and such, where you build and maintain your secret intelligence and all your important things that you don’t want to open to the world—
What do you do?
You find the most infamous place and people to do it. And that was the Isolde Dusk.
The ’official’ assassin base of the Empire is located there, as well as part of the command structure of the Headless Knight. Because the Headless Knights aren’t just created to be glorious and heroes that protect the Emperor, doing his bidding with honor and all.
They are actually trained to be more than Knights. They get part of their training from Isolde Dusk.
Also, the intelligence headquarters of the Empire is in Isolde Dusk, as well as the treasure hall of the Empire. The real one.
On the surface though, Isolde Dusk is just a notorious prison that even disobeys the Emperor.
But Severin knew otherwise.
More than often, the Isolde Dusk invites people to their place as Guests, where they would then try to see if they have the talent for all the things they specialize in.
But that was also where Severin was having issues. He had contacted Isolde Dusk before he learned just how deep the Emperor and the Empire might be in the issues of Pain and him.
In short, Severin had plotted himself into a hard corner. But he also had a safeguard, and that was the reason Miret himself was there and not just some official from the Isolde Dusk.
Miret, one of the five guardians and one that could be said to have one of the most terrifying powers as a ghost. And also, his near-immortality has granted him unparalleled influence over the Isolde Dusk.
Severin stood and clasped his hands together. "Thank you, Lord Miret."
His team stood up and did what he did, even though they were looking more and more baffled.
So why did a man with such influence personally come down to see Severin Reignhart himself? Why not send someone else? Even the idea of a security breach isn’t that good of an excuse to use.
Severin’s mouth curled.
People who have what they wanted are easy to move. Even Severin—he would go where he’ll be sure to get more power and would assure his survival. That was what he wanted.
And by giving people what they wanted, Severin has been able to move people as he wanted so far.
Just like now.
When he wrote to Miret, he had included something to make sure Miret even opened the message in the first place.
To start with, he named it, "How to search for one’s bones."
Then in his letter, after writing about the possible security breach, he had gone on about how one can become an Archlich. At the moment, Miret is only a Lich.
But what about becoming an Archlich?
That would mean getting his hands on his old bones. And for a ghost that couldn’t feel their body anymore, it’s not an easy task—almost impossible.
After death, before the ghost form at all, will take time, and before they get their memories will take even greater. Thus, they would have wandered far.
Some got lucky and met their bones where they were.
Some are unlucky.
Miret was very unlucky.
He had been searching for his bones. It was one of his greatest secrets that even his allies didn’t know. Miret could count the number of people that knew the way of becoming an Archlich.
And Severin Reignhart had written about it in his letter.
To say the least, it had caught his attention, and besides, Miret wanted to know the last of the Reignhart.
Their eyes met, and there was tact understanding.
Give me what you want, and I will give you what you want.
Severin cleared his throat. "We will be taking our vacation at Isolde Dusk. Our aim is to improve our overall power and move into advancing into the next stage in advancement."