"Hmm? I seem stronger than normal." Elyn internally examined her body, but she couldn’t find anything different about it. All she could feel was that her power was flowing a lot better than normal, and there was a lot more mana circulating through her body as well.
She glanced at Kai, who turned his head to avoid contact. Elyn wasn’t upset or anything, and she appreciated the little gifts Kai had given her. So, she smiled and didn’t bother worrying about it.
Elyn asked about what happened in the month when she was removed from power and left to rot in the dungeon.
Selena told her story, and once she finished, Seaweed told his story.
Elyn nodded. "First, I want to thank all of you for coming to my aid. I wouldn’t be here right now if it weren’t for you six. You didn’t have to come to my aid, especially since you’re mercenaries, but you still did, and I would like to repay you."
"Nah, it’s okay. We’ll just take the ten gold as we were promised." Kai quickly sent a telepathic message to Elyn after he finished speaking.
Her eyebrows rose, then she chuckled. "Alright, we’ll pay you the ten gold as promised, on top of your five gold reward from completing your initial task."
"Thank you." The six of them bowed.
"Now, on to more pressing matters. Our tower is in chaos. How many people are left on our side?"
"Around 300," Selena responded grimly. "Carlito took some over to his side and killed the rest who didn’t join him. I managed to retreat with a lot of people, but we lost a good bit of them during our attempts to reclaim the tower."
"I see. That’s not good." Elyn frowned.
Kai raised his hand. "May I ask why that’s not good? 300 people are a lot."
Elyn smiled. "Yes, that’s true, but this tower originally had over 5,000 people in it. This place isn’t just for research; it also serves as a school. To lose this many people is not something we can afford. Because of this, our image has been greatly tarnished."
"At least it’s known that it was Curtis behind all of this, right?" Abigail tried to stay optimistic.
"Yes, that is one good thing, but don’t forget that we also had people from our side join him." Elyn reminded her.
"They’re all dead, so you can say that you purged all the traitors," Kai informed her.
"Hmm. Yes, that is good. Still, our situation is dire. We lost a lot of our people, meaning our finances will also take a hit. Combine that with our new public image, things wont be looking too good for us. The other towers will try and extort us for our resources and research."
Everyone had grim expressions on their faces. Except Kai and his girls, none of this mattered to them.
"That really sucks, but we’ll just be taking our gold and leaving." Sasha stood up.
Kai grabbed her arm. "Hold on, hold on, we’re in no rush, Sasha. I’m sure Miss Elyn has something else to say."
Kyana squinted her eyes. "What did you do?"
"Me? Nothing. I promise."
None of his girls believed him.
Elyn cleared her throat. "Ahem. I have something to ask the six of you."
Amaya’s face beamed. "You want us to destroy the other towers? Count us in!"
"W-What? No, that was never something I wanted to do."
"O-Oh." She slumped in her chair.
"I would like you all to join the Blue Magic Tower." Elyn extended her arms as if she were welcoming them into heaven.
"Oh, that’s all?" The six of them got up. "No thanks. We’ll be on our way."
"W-Wait! Just hang on a minute!" She begged.
"Alright, fine, but if it’s not interesting, we’ll be leaving." Kai sat back down.
"Okay, hear me out. I would like you all to join the tower, but we wont restrict your freedom. You’ll be traveling mercenaries for the Blue Magic Tower, spreading our influence far and wide throughout the continent."
"We’re listening." All of them leaned forward.
"You’ll also be able to use the tower’s name and influence. Just not for anything crazy. And yes, I know that you don’t need our influence, but using it will be a lot easier than brute-forcing your way through things."
Elyn was making good points. Kai would be able to continue on with his mercenary journey while being able to use the Blue Magic tower’s name. It’s honestly a win-win, especially since he wouldn’t be tied down to them.
"What’s the catch?" Nadya asked
"No catch. Just don’t use our name for anything nefarious. Also, you might need to attend a banquet." She smiled.
"Why?"
"The other towers know what went on here in great detail. You’d be surprised by how information travels here. They most likely know of my ’condition’ from being injured by Carlito, and since we lost most of our people, the Blue Tower is easy pickings."
Nadya caught on to what she was saying. "So to prevent them from looking at your tower with greedy eyes, you’re hosting a banquet to show off your status and introduce us to the world, basically."
"Correct. It seems you know the way of nobles. Are you one, dear?"
"Used to be."
"I-I see." Elyn understood what that meant. "But this is what would need to happen. Is this alright with you?"
Gwen nodded. "I have the perfect dress for this."
"No one rocks a dress better than I do." Amaya smiled.
Sasha shrugged. "Well, a banquet is just a party, so I guess it’s okay."
"Kai, did you bring my dresses?" Kyana asked
"Yes. Why?"
"Just making sure."
"When will you hold the banquet?" Nadya wondered.
"As soon as the tower is cleaned and repaired." Elyn responded.
Kai snapped his fingers, and the tower was instantly repaired and cleaned. "Got that taken care of."
Elyn smiled. "I’ll send out invitations as soon as possible and set the date for three days from now."