Legacy of the Dark Sage

One hour ago...

Alta glanced at Cyneah sideways as they were escorted by Marigold and a couple of other Crepuscule mages to the transmission room. She did not know how they ended up in such a tricky situation when they kept as low a profile as possible while the open auction was in progress.

They bid on some items and even won a couple to keep up appearances, but when the items were delivered to their room, to their horror— luckily, it did not show on their faces— Estrid was the one who came.

Maybe it was because of Cyneah's innate magic, but when Estrid exerted her magic influence on them, she did not affect her. In fact, Cyneah had cast an invisible veil around the four of them and protected them against Estrid's magic influence.

Fortunately, Estrid did not notice her magic influence failed to affect them. Unfortunately, she invited them to her mansion for dinner because of that, which they could not readily reject if they wanted to fool her into believing they were already under her control.

Alta noticed Leif shifting uneasily in her seat when Estrid invited them for dinner. Alta remembered wanting to smack Leif for failing to rein in her unease because if Estrid had noticed that, she might have realized she had failed at taking control of their consciousness.

While this thought crossed Alta, Cyneah had already responded to Estrid's invitation and agreed with an unsuspecting smile. Seeing Cyneah's smile made Alta realize that she was no coward. Even before a powerhouse like Estrid, an Overlord with the power to control others, Cyneah did not cower but instead played along.

Alta noticed Leif's face distorted slightly, but she was still a High Sovereign and quite familiar with the mind games between the large clans in the Higher Realm, so she composed herself right after. Alta even wondered if she had imagined the distortion on Leif's face instead of truly seeing it.

Anyway, Leif seemed to have placed her trust in Cyneah and decided to act accordingly. And since she chose to trust Cyneah, Mira also followed along. Alta even felt Mira trusted Cyneah more than Leif because she remained calm even when Estrid appeared.

After Cyneah accepted Estrid's invitation, the latter called for two more mages to help Marigold escort all of them to the transmission room. And that was the situation right now.

Estrid did not go with them because she had to meet with the other VIPs who attended the open auction first. In any case, they were not keen to be in the same room with Estrid, so they just let her do her job.

While Alta, Cyneah, Leif, Mira, and Marigold, along with the two mages assisting her, made their way to the transmission room, the seemingly stifling situation the former four were in suddenly made a strange turn. To be precise, the drastic turn of events came right after they arrived in front of the transmission room.

Marigold and the two mages stopped in their tracks and faced Cyneah. After that, they knelt respectfully before her and said, "We await your orders, mistress."

Their action caught Alta, Leif, and Mira off guard. Before they could understand what was happening, Cyneah spoke in a tone the three never expected her to possess.

"Continue to do what that woman asked you to," she replied in an uncharacteristically cold voice. We'll observe the situation and adjust our actions accordingly."

"What about changing clothes? She said that because she knew your robes were enchanted. Even if she believed you four had already fallen into her control, she is still cautious about what the enchantments' effects are," Marigold pointed out while keeping her head bowed.

Alta, Leif, and Mira were surprised to hear Marigold's stuttering stop. The way she responded to Cyneah made her appear as an entirely different person.

"You three don't have to worry about that," Cyneah replied dismissively. "Let's not dally here. Otherwise, the mage inside might notice something amiss if we don't enter soon."

"We understand."

The three then stood up and acted as if the conversation had not happened as soon as they entered the room. Moreover, when Marigold talked to the mage in charge of the transmission array, she started to stutter, making it seem like her fine talking with Cyneah had been an illusion.

Another two mages were waiting for them in Estrid's mansion. They were then escorted to a room with four female servants waiting for them. The four servants were there to help them change their clothes.

The two mages that came with them from the open auction stayed outside the room while Marigold joined them inside.

As soon as the doors closed behind them, Marigold suddenly said, "There is no active formation here, mistress."

The four servants looked at each other in confusion, but then Cyneah waved her hand, and suddenly, their eyes cleared up. Like Marigold and the two mages earlier, they knelt respectfully before her.

"Please give us your orders, mistress," the four servants greeted, their voices brimming with enthusiasm as if they could not wait to serve Cyneah.

Only then did Alta, Leif, and Mira confirm that Cyneah had been using her magic, and no one noticed it.

"You..." Leif looked at Cyneah with fear in her eyes.n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

She had known Kyran was an anomaly— ignoring any mage level difference between him and the mages in the Higher Realm— because of his identity as an Ancient Magic user. But what about Cyneah? She was a mage from the Lower Realm. How could she ignore the level of the mages in the Higher Realm and easily control them with a wave of her hand? What about Marigold and the two mages earlier?

They did not even see Cyneah make a move, nor had they felt any magic fluctuation, so when did she manage to take control of them?

Leif and Mira's confusion and fear were reasonable. Unlike Alta, they did not know Cyneah's innate magic. They only knew that she was Kyran's significant other. Leif had some ideas about what Cyneah could do because she witnessed her using healing magic. However, she never expected the latter's magic to be far more complex than healing.

"How did you...? What exactly did you...?" Leif was so rattled that she could not formulate the question she wanted to ask in her head.

Cyneah looked at Leif and Mira and smiled faintly as she said, "I'm sorry. Please don't ask questions because I won't be able to answer them."

"..."

"For now, we must do everything we can so that woman can't use us against Null."

Before Leif could say anything, Alta chimed in and agreed, "She is right. I don't know how long we can stay out of that woman's radar, so we have to do what we can not to escalate the situation."

"You don't have to worry."

To their surprise, apart from Cyneah, Marigold spoke just then.

Alta, Leif, and Mira looked at Marigold with furrowed brows.

Marigold then looked at them. Gone was the seemingly innocent young look reflected in her eyes. Instead, there was a determined glint in them, unbefitting of her child-like appearance.

"I will conceal your movements from that woman."

After a few minutes...

Cyneah had the servants destroy the dress that Estrid wanted them to change into after she had them 'copied.'

Alta was already aware of Kyran's proficiency in Array and was no longer surprised that he included a transformation array on their clothes. However, Leif and Mira were left speechless because they never knew Kyran could put together so many enchantments on their clothes without destroying them.

It should be noted that an enchantment was dependent on the clothes' materials and quality. If the materials used in the clothes and the quality of those materials were inferior, the clothes would not be able to support the enchantment's effects.

But forget about supporting the enchantment's effects; Leif and Mira could not fathom how Kyran combined so many enchantments in the clothes.

In any case, with their clothes transformed into the clothes Estrid prepared, no one would notice that they never really changed their clothes.

"Where is she now?" Cyneah asked Marigold.

Marigold looked at Cyneah and replied slightly worriedly, "She had taken sir Null to her room."

Cyneah frowned at once, "Her room?"

"That woman's power is amplified inside her room," Marigold explained, frowning as well. "I believe she is intent on controlling sir Null."

"..."

"Should we go there and disrupt her?"

"No," Cyneah shook her head at once. "Null can't be controlled easily. If we go there, we'll only get in his way."

"So what do you intend to do now?"

"We came here for only one thing."

"You mean..."

Cyneah nodded, "Take us to the Crepuscule Clan's Treasure Vault. Since the situation has taken a strange turn, Null will be forced to make a drastic move. He'll be swamped dealing with the aftermath of that move then."

"So you intend to rob their vault once the commotion explodes," Alta guessed with a faint smile.

Cyneah turned to her and smiled, "Yes."