2119 Four is a Party (Part 3)

It was of paramount importance for the Eldritches to find their mark before they could reach the Vip Room on the third floor and disappear.

Kelia had expected to be intimidated by the gala, its important guests, and the luxury of the place, but after her visit to the Kingdom, she found the experience underwhelming.

In the Empire, where a household was born and died with the mage, people saved as much as they could to allow their future heirs to have everything they needed to practice magic in case they were talented as well.

House Orovis had nothing of the splendor of the Kingdom's households, the furniture was remarkable at best, and the floor was made of white polished stone instead of marble.

Even the dresses were plain in comparison, making her sigh from time to time in disappointment.

"How powerful are you, mage Dimrus?" The girl between Kelia's arms wanted to sound flirty with her question, but she just made Kelia cringe.

'Gods, I hope I don't sound like that.' She thought.

'That would be a huge improvement.' Dusk replayed in her head how Kelia had acted upon meeting Lith, squealing in embarrassment without forming an intelligible word until he had taken over.

'We agreed on never talking about that again!'

'No, you asked me to, but I never said I would.' The Horseman made a loop of her squeals, making Kelia grit her teeth.

"Very." She replied to the girl, lighting her eyes with a bright cyan light to at least impress someone and regain some face.

The color of the mana coming out of the eyes was the business card of every mage in the Empire and if someone were to be found out to fake their level like Kelia had just done, they would be sentenced to jail.

"Oh, gods! Already?" The girl's overexcited voice painfully reminded Kelia of her own. "Do you really think you might be the second Verhen?"

"No." Kelia said, making the girl's smile disappear. "I want to become the first Supreme Magus of the Empire and surpass Verhen, not follow in his footsteps."

Kelia's confidence and determination made the girl look at her in a way that creeped Kelia out. Not with love or admiration, but with the desire to own her, like she was a thing instead of a person.

'Get used to it, kid.' Dusk sighed. 'The higher you rise, the more often you'll meet people like her. Finding someone that doesn't look at you like a sack of gold will become nigh-impossible by the time you leave the academy.'

Kelia inwardly gritted her teeth at the idea, but she focused on the mission and kept smiling.

'Right there! Found him.' Dusk said to the whole team via the mind link.

Kelia left the dancefloor the moment the music stopped while the hybrids disengaged from their respective conversations with an excuse and converged on the target.

The man who Dusk had pointed out to them was a middle-aged gentleman who was currently standing on the edge of the circle of people surrounding the dancers. He had pale blonde hair, a monocle, and wore a tuxedo bearing no family crest.

His façade was amiable, but he had no interest in the social event.

The man was just keeping company to his host who was about to make her son debut in society. The moment the runt went dancing with some magically talented girl, they would be free to move onto the third floor and do business.

"Your son looks like a promising young man, milady. Is he magically talented?" Xenagrosh said to buy Kelia a few minutes.

"Sadly, no. Neither he nor I have inherited my father's power." The woman said with the shame of someone confessing a crime of passion. "But I'm confident in the next generation.

"Sothim failed to reach the requirements for the great academies, but he's been talented enough to join the army as a Spellsoldier." In the Empire, magical talent dictated even the military ranks.

To join an elite unit or reach a rank above first lieutenant, one needed to at least be capable of performing tier three spells. While regular soldiers were considered barely more than meat shields, Spellsoldiers were the true backbone of the Empire's army.

"Oh gods, where are my manners?" The dame said the moment she turned around and recognized Xenagrosh's uniform. "I'm Lady Graham, daughter of Archmage Graham."

"Professor Denator, at your service." Xenagrosh kept her busy with compliments while Kigan moved to the back of their mark, ready to intervene in the case something went wrong.

After a while, the rest of the youths could join Kelia on the dancefloor, but it would have taken a few minutes before she could ditch her partner. Kigan was worried that their mark could get nervous and sniff out the trap, but nothing happened.

'What the fuck?' He thought after getting close enough to the middle-aged gentleman. 'This guy is just a regular human, with no trace of a blood core or of any interaction with the Undead Courts. How can Dusk be certain that this is our man?'

The answer was that there was nothing in the person of Sakim Caltem that would have raised any flag, even if examined with an Awakened's breathing technique. It was exactly the reason the Undead Courts of Xaanth used him as a middle man for their most important operations.

If not for the fact that the Red Sun was one of Caltem former employers, he would have no idea of how important such an ordinary-looking man was. While his sisters had neglected their respective Courts until the undead invasion from Jiera, Dusk had guided his eponymous Court for centuries.

He had dealings with all the most important undead of the Garlen continent, no matter to which Court they belonged, if any.

Luckily for Xenagrosh's team, Caltem was in no rush, and getting in the good books of academy staff was too good an opportunity to turn down.

'If I get free access to one of the great academies, I bet that a lot of youths would gladly swear their allegiance to us. Once they experience the boost in magical power that the blood core gives them after they become Thralls, they become addicted to it.

'Their grades first and then their entire careers rest upon a constant supply of power from their master and at that point, they are our eyes and hands in the Empire, no matter who sits on the throne.' He thought.

Kelia arrived soon after the music stopped, yet her pace was calm and controlled, with no sign of sweat from the dance.

"There's such a bright moon tonight that it looks like a sun." She said with a warm voice after being formally introduced.

Caltem furrowed his brows hearing the code word of the upper echelons of the Dusk Court. His brain refused to believe that a runt could have gotten so high on the political ladder, but he was too prudent a man to dismiss even such an improbable event.

"Indeed, but thank the gods it isn't, otherwise I'd have to go back to work. Tonight, I'm here just to have fun." He replied.

"Me too." Kelia said with Dusk's voice. "I wish this night never ends."