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"This is rare. What's brought the two of you old codgers to me together?" In the Capital Governor's Mansion, Aldric Ashford regarded the two old men on the light-screen, looking every bit as unflappable as a man settled in at his fishing perch.
The thing was, had any outsider laid eyes on the two old men on that light-screen, they'd have been thrown into utter shock, because these two were none other than the remaining two Capital Governors of the Eastern Region's three Capitals: Vivienne Thorne, Governor of Mistral, and Gideon Storm, Governor of Farhaven.
"Aldric, an honest man doesn't speak in riddles. You ought to know perfectly well why we've come to you." The first to speak was Gideon Storm, Governor of Farhaven, who had the most volatile temper of the three.
"I'm not the worm in your gut. Who's to know what you're after, coming to me?" But Aldric, a rival of many years' standing, didn't buy into Gideon's approach in the least, and the single line nearly set Gideon off on the spot.
The three Capital Governors held a united front in matters of grave importance, but in private there was no shortage of jockeying between them. After all, every one of them wished to see his own record outstrip the other two's, and Luke's performance in this exam, dominating from start to finish, had given Aldric's standing a hearty boost.
A rout this thorough hadn't appeared in the exam for a very long time. Soldier against soldier, general against general, even between prodigies the gap in strength was usually narrow. But the Luke who'd burst onto the scene had plainly soared past the level of a general into that of a king, which left no suspense to speak of.
"Enough. Can the two of you not rein in your respective tempers a little?" Vivienne Thorne rubbed at her forehead. "You're neither of you young anymore."
An Immortal Realm Card Master like Aldric, and a Capital Governor besides, Vivienne and Gideon had naturally heard the rumors of the Millennial Sovereign and the Original Card crafter as well.
Unfortunately, they didn't possess the authority to view the footage of the Capital's examinees, so they hadn't witnessed the scene of Luke crafting Sistermon Blanc in the first phase.
But Sistermon Blanc's performance had already roused the suspicions of both Governors. Even they had never seen, nor so much as heard of, a card so singular. Within the Ancient Kingdom, at the very least, nothing comparable had ever appeared.
The Sistermon Blanc that Luke had summoned in the exam was very likely an Original Card. It was precisely because of that conjecture that the two Governors had each come knocking on Aldric's door.
"Old hag Vivienne, don't go thinking I can't read what's on your mind. I'm telling the both of you, this matter, you can't handle it." Aldric, however, kept up his original attitude, and the words he spoke set the Governor of Mistral's brow twitching wildly.
Were they not currently separated by the distance between two Capitals, Vivienne would absolutely have let Aldric taste the bite of her dragon-head cane.
Drawing a deep breath, Vivienne pressed down the urge to thrash him. "Aldric, what exactly do you mean by that?" He had clearly guessed at her and Gideon's purpose. But an attitude like this was thoroughly intriguing, and that line about them being unable to handle it, more so still.
What manner of identities did she and Gideon hold? They were among the mere twelve Capital Governors of the entire Ancient Kingdom, existences second only to the Undying Realm Region Governors. And Aldric claimed the two of them couldn't handle it? Then who in the world could?
"Old man Aldric, don't forget that you're scarcely any different from us." Gideon's voice took on a sliver of chill, as if Aldric's words had left him deeply displeased. "You say we can't handle it. Does that mean you can?"
"Old man Storm, drop the act with me." Seeing this, Aldric curled his lip. "Others might not know, but do you really think I don't have your number?"
This bastard pulled the very same routine every time to fish for the intel he wanted. A pity that he and Gideon were rivals of long years, so naturally Aldric wasn't going to bite.
"In any case, don't go reading too much into the matter of Luke. Besides, he's a Card Master of my Capital. Even if you've got designs on him, you're a long, long way from being able to reach him."
"You're serious?" Gideon, who'd seemed an instant from an unstoppable eruption, had his fury vanish in a blink, his brow knitting tight instead.
Just as Aldric had said, Gideon's behavior from the start had all been an act. To have ascended to the seat of a Capital Governor, even if not every last one of them, then at the very least the overwhelming majority were old foxes, their composure honed to an absurd degree. If a line or two were all it took to provoke them, then such a temperament could never have held the seat of a Capital's lord.
"So what you're saying is that the matter of Luke involves Lady Lilith?" Vivienne suddenly spoke up. For Aldric to be so tight-lipped, even going so far as to say they couldn't handle it, the only thing Vivienne could conceive of was that something one tier above them was tangled up in this. And among such people, the Eastern Region's Governor, Lilith Crescent, was without question the most likely candidate.
"I said nothing. Don't go speculating wildly, the lot of you." Aldric waved a hand, offering them no clear answer. "If you've got the idle energy to sit around guessing, you'd do better spending it elsewhere."
His reasons for staying cagey were several. For one, the three of them had been competitors to begin with, so Aldric had no obligation to disclose intelligence about Luke. For another, he was well aware of what Selene had gone through back when Lilith took her on. And for a third, the matter involved Lilith, the existence of a Region Governor, which carried no small number of considerations besides.
Go spend it elsewhere?! As if we're old. We've only got four generations of great-grandchildren! Vivienne and Gideon couldn't help ranting furiously in the privacy of their hearts, but hot on the heels of that came a chest full of shock.
The two of them were ancient old foxes who'd lived for who knew how long. Even though Aldric had offered no direct answer, Vivienne and Gideon had already, vaguely, arrived at the answer they'd been after.
In such a short span of time, Lilith had taken on yet another student, and among the possibilities, the most likely by far was Luke.
Which meant the matter tied into Lilith, and into the sniping Selene had suffered a century ago. That was why Aldric was carrying himself so cautiously, hiding it even from the two of them.
A complicated expression crossed Vivienne's face. It was precisely because Mistral had once produced a Selene Dawnford that she understood the weight of it all the more. And so she, too, refrained from pressing any further.
It was only that Vivienne had never imagined the long-solitary Lilith would take on two students in so short a span. Set against years past, it was something she'd never have dared even to dream of.
As for Gideon, he was genuinely on the verge of jumping out of his seat now. He couldn't shake the feeling that he simply wasn't of the same breed as Aldric and Vivienne.
Damn it all. Why do all the good things end up landing on the Capital and Mistral? Where are Farhaven's prodigies? Have they all dropped dead?! In that moment, Gideon secretly resolved that once he returned, he'd comb through Farhaven's next generation of students with the finest of teeth. He refused to believe that Farhaven couldn't turn out prodigies on the order of Luke and Selene.
"All right, I promised that boy Victor I'd attend Ashenvale's closing ceremony, so I won't keep chatting with the two of you. And don't go hatching any crooked schemes." With that, Aldric gave the pair no opening to respond, and cut the communication outright.
A short while later, Aldric's roaring laughter rang out from the hall of the Governor's Mansion, leaving those who heard it exchanging glances, each guessing at what good fortune the Governor might have run into.