Supreme Magus novel Chapter 268

"Please, enough with honorifics and pleasantries. It’s already late and it’s just the two of us, dear friend."

"As you wish, Sylpha." The two knew each other since their time at the White Griffon academy. It was a well kept secret, since Mirim had attended the courses under a fake name. She wanted to avoid receiving a special treatment as the daughter of the ruler of the land.

The two of them had both inherited their respective bloodlines’ talent for magic and that, together with the long years of friendship, had created a bond between them almost stronger than blood.

After achieving the role of Lord Commander of the Queen’s corps, Mirim Distar had chosen to keep the pretense of being magicless to make her enemies underestimate her, making it hard to believe she was more than just a medium importance noble.

Her only regret was that life seemed to have an odd sense of humor. Her daughter was the only member of the family born without any talent for magic. It was something that had not happened for generations.

’It’s almost like Brinja is being punished for my deception.’ She would think from time to time, before shrugging off all that superstitious horsesh*t. Inheriting magic was a matter of blood and luck.

Having mages in the family made it easier for descendants to be more attuned with the world energy, but it wasn’t an ironclad rule. That was the reason why despite having many heirs, sometimes the ancient noble households bore no mages, even for decades.

"So, how was your evening?" Sylpha asked.

Marchioness Distar told her everything, putting emphasis on Lith revealing the ability to use Gravity magic and the discord that followed.

"Amazing. That young man has a talent for angering people. The most fearsome aspect of his character is that Lith is aware of who and when to provoke. He causes almost more troubles than he solves."

Sylpha laughed when Mirim told her about Lith forcing Archmage Ejar to kneel in public.

"It sure humbled her without causing any physical harm." Mirim nodded.

"I managed to turn the following quarrel into a debate, forcing the two parties to find common ground. I can assure you that most of the guests left on better terms than when they arrived."

"That’s the advantage of knowing when and where conflict is about to happen." Sylpha grinned. "The more hot-headed people get, the easier is to manipulate their reasoning. I’m not concerned by such small stuff, though.

"Tell me about your plan."

"As you know, I made sure that all those who knew about Linjos’s anti Balkor protocol learned about the existence of the list and that I am about to decipher it. I assumed that whoever is the traitor, would try to learn about it as well.

So, I orchestrated the gala to give them an opportunity to enter my house. The celebration of the top rankers was the perfect excuse to request for an invitation. As I expected, many of our enemies took part in the banquet.

Even with so many people, they couldn’t roam free, so I asked Mage Lith to cause a ruckus. He is notoriously unaligned, no one outside the three of us knows of my special relationship with him. No one suspects everything was staged."

"Good! Does he know about the plan?" Sylpha asked.

"No. He didn’t even ask for an explanation. Only to strengthen the defense of his family, more money, and materials for his research. He said, and I quote: ’We already have a target on our backs, making it bigger changes nothing. As long as you pay me, I’ll get the job done.’"

"Cynic and expensive for someone so young." Sylpha raised an eyebrow in disbelief.

"If he was some idealist fool, I wouldn’t have trusted him. As for the price, if you pay peanuts you get monkeys. I consider it an investment. If he sees us as the last line of defense in front of his family, he’ll never turn into another Balkor."