Chapter 169 I Don't Agree To Child Labor
Anette looked at Silas after hearing his suggestion. She had learned of Lumi earlier while Nolan, Silas, and Gage exchanged information about when Kyran went to Noser. Knowing what Lumi was, Anette felt a little hesitant. However, her opinion on this matter was unimportant. What was important was to provide Kyran with all possible options to help him.
"Lady Lumi? She's your Spirit companion right?" Anette asked for confirmation.
Silas looked at her with a smile and nodded, "Yes."
Then his smile froze after remembering that Lady Lumi never considered herself his contracted Spirit. If this conversation got leaked, he hastily amended his words, "Ah... Actually, no. I mean, technically she is but—anyway, I can ask her for help."
After being reminded of Lumi, Kyran recalled that Spirits had their way of traveling. Still, he did not like the feeling of letting others finish his task. As much as possible, he wanted to deliver the rare stone himself. But in his current state, he was aware that if he still pushed himself and warped back to the Tower of Conclave to deliver the rare stone, he might end up passing out there.
Kyran did not want to stay there again. Although he could ask Stella to let him recuperate in a room where she could change the flow of time, so he did not have to miss much in real-time, he did not want her to know of his condition. She had already done a lot, and he could not afford to owe her more if she asked Malia to heal him again.
'If I let Silas deal with delivering the rare stone, I can rest now and have godmother look at my condition,' Kyran pondered.
After taking the Core Tonic potion, he was already convinced of Anette's ability. At most, she was likely to be better than Malia, and he might be able to recover sooner.
'But, if Silas failed...' Kyran's brow creased.
His grandfather granted Silas the title of a Regis Emissary, which meant he was trustworthy enough. But in terms of reliability, Kyran had yet to see it.
'I can't afford to delay the delivery of the stone, but I also can't afford to be unconscious for a long time,' Kyran thought, remembering that Cyneah was also waiting for him in Hanaan.
Silas had turned his attention to Kyran and silently waited for his consent.
After a few seconds, Silas sensed Kyran's hesitation. It was not shown in his expression, but Silas could guess what was on his mind. After all, Silas heard so many things about Kyran when he was at the Regis Estate.
Silas admitted that the Kyran he heard from Pheobe and the others was different from the person in front of him, but there were still similarities. One of them was Kyran's sense of responsibility.
After pondering for a moment, Silas said, "Kyran. I am the Regis emissary, remember? I won't ask you to trust me, but I will definitely help you the best I can."
Then he beamed and added, "Besides. I am also a mercenary. And I only take a job if I know I can accomplish it."
Hearing Silas's words, Kyran thought of something and could not help but say with a deadpan expression, "So when you took my bounty you also thought you can accomplish it?"
Silas's smile froze once again.
"Well... about that—," he suddenly frowned after realizing something before continuing, "—I don't remember telling you that I accepted your bounty."
"I don't need you to tell me. I could already guess how you suddenly became an emissary from the things I heard," Kyran replied with a wry smile.
Silas's brow twitched. It was really hard to meet someone who possessed a brilliant mind. They were no fun at all! In the end, Silas could only sigh in defeat and say, "Anyway. As I said, Lady Lumi may have a way to deliver the stone. If you can't trust my words, at least trust in her. If not, then I am not a man!"
Hearing his words, Anette and Kyran could not help but look at him incredulously.
Even Zephyr, who had been silently watching them from the sides, felt his words were too big and yet too... childish.
In order to fill the suddenly awkward atmosphere, Anette spoke and also tried to persuade Kyran.
"I also agree to seek Lumi's help," She said with a wry smile, "I had been around Spirits, and I know they can go to places in a short time."
"If you only need to deliver something as soon as possible I can do that," Zephyr suddenly said.
All three turned to him. But instead of looking surprised or agreeing to him, they immediately rejected the idea.
"No. You can't leave."
"Absolutely not."
"Yes, I totally agree. You can't."
Kyran, Anette, and Silas said one after another.
Zephyr frowned, "Why not?"
"Because I said so."
"You're too conspicuous."
"I don't agree to child labor."
Kyran, Anette, and Silas answered, respectively.
There was a moment's pause before Kyran, Anette, and Zephyr turned to Silas.
Realizing that his answer did sound outrageous, Silas smiled uneasily. "What I mean to say, as Ms. Anette had said, you are too conspicuous."
Ignoring Silas, Zephyr looked at Kyran and said, "If you are worried that I will take this chance to escape—."
"I'm not," Kyran replied with a slight shake of his head, "As long as you are my Sigil, I'll be able to find you."
He paused for a moment and took a deep breath because talking without pause started to exhaust him.
"I'm not sure how long you've stayed in the ruins, but the outside world has changed," Kyran started. "There are magic devices and items that can detect a person's magic signature, aura, and who knows what else. I'm sure the Templar Code has your information and if they detected it once you leave this cottage, it will attract trouble."
"Magic devices and items that can detect magic signatures and aura? Templar Code?" Zephyr repeated in confusion.
"Yes, for your first question. As for the Templar Code, they are the people who were after you," Kyran explained patiently.
Zephyr fell silent. There were spells and array calculations that could help detect these things. However, as a powerful beast, these spells or array were not enough to find him. Now it made sense how those people could find him as soon as he left the shrine. It was because of those magic devices.
"But this place is far from the ruins. Why will they be here? Is the range of those devices that big?" Zephyr asked, still a little skeptical.
"I can explain that," Anette volunteered with a faint smile. Then she looked at Kyran and added, "But first, let's agree with asking Silas's Spirit to help with the stone. You really need to rest."
Zephyr did not insist and also looked at Kyran. Now that he became his Sigil, his connection with him was evident. He agreed with the female human. Kyran did need rest because his complexion was getting worse by the second.
Kyran took a deep breath. As much as he wanted to argue, he knew his body well. A few minutes ago, he felt he could still warp one more time before completely exhausting himself. But now, he could barely stay awake.
"Okay."
Anette and Silas could finally sigh in relief after hearing Kyran's consent.
With a bit of difficulty, Kyran took out the piece of Zephyr's horn from his pouch.
Zephyr's expression immediately changed upon seeing this, and he asked, "You're delivering a piece of my horn?"
"Horn?" Silas asked in surprise.
"Who are you giving it to?" Zephyr demanded, his reptilian eyes narrowed as he looked at Kyran.
"Don't look at me like that. I'm not sure why the Templar Code wants your horn, but this piece, will only be used for Array creation," Kyran assured him.
"Array creation?"
Kyran only nodded his head and did not elaborate. It was not because he felt it was troublesome to explain but because he found it harder to talk.
Zephyr also sensed it and did not feel offended. He just made a mental note to talk properly with Kyran once he recovered his strength.
To be honest, Zephyr did not expect that the person he fought earlier and even overwhelmed him with brute force looked so weak right now. But from what he had gathered from the conversations he heard while Kyran was turning him into his Sigil, it appeared he was already in a bad state even before they had met.
Kyran turned to Silas, reaching out his hand that held the stone.
"Here. I'll leave it to you," Kyran said.
Silas nodded his head and took the stone.
"I'll take care of it."
Silas did not call for Lumi immediately. He first helped Kyran to the bed.
After that, Anette checked Kyran's condition and started taking out some herbs from her coat pocket. Then with Silas's help, she began to prepare a potion for Kyran.
Meanwhile, outside the cottage, Nolan successfully reinforced the cottage's array.
Being an Abjurer, Nolan was also versed with Array. Any array that would not go above saint-tier level was child's play for him. Still, he was surprised at how advanced the cottage's array was. It had so many advanced formulas he never thought could be put into one formation. And it was made possible because of the flowering tree at the center of the array.
'I managed to reinforce the array,' Nolan thought, sighing in relief. 'Unfortunately, I can only reinforce it, if I want to improve it I need the full authority of this place which I don't have. Anyway...'
Nolan looked at a distance to his left and frowned, 'That baldie had better lure those bastards away, or else, reinforcing the array will be useless.'
Nolan turned his attention back at the cottage with a thoughtful look. He had been listening in on what was happening inside.
With his magic, it was easy for him to spy on them. After all, his magic was practically everywhere.
Anyway, he was glad that Anette and Silas managed to convince Kyran to stay put. If not, he would've gone inside and knocked him out cold. Seriously. The kid just kept on giving him headaches.
'Still... Taking a Quilin as a Sigil,' Nolan could not help but sneer. 'You're recklessness is worse than your parents!'
With a shake of his head, Nolan made his way back to the cottage.
He was looking forward to meeting the Quilin kid Kyran had just 'tamed'.