Silence.
Nothing?
Did they all hear that correctly?
"Nothing?" Jerald asked with a deadpan voice, showing that he didn't fully believe her.
"Well, we would like to survive, but that's about it," Sylvia said with a chuckle.
More silence.
Shang furrowed his brows.
This couldn't be that simple.
"You do realize that I will have to read your mind?" Jerald asked.
Sylvia nodded. "Yes, I know."
Even more silence.
"And you are fine with that?" Jerald asked.
"Yep."
…
"And if I find out that you have done something horrible in the past, I might directly kill you. You know that, right?" Jerald asked.
"Mhm," Sylvia said with a nod.
Everyone kept inspecting Sylvia and the seven Mid High Mages.
Even the Mages didn't show any reaction.
It was like they had accepted everything that would happen.
Jerald looked at the Mages.
"Yes, I know," Sylvia said. "You can read their minds too. They've already agreed."
Jerald furrowed his brows.
This situation was more than suspicious.
For some seconds, Jerald evaluated his options.
After a while, Shang arrived beside Jerald, the three High Mages behind him.
As soon as the Mages arrived, they started to create several Magic Circles.
"If your intentions are as you claim, you surely won't mind if Count Sword enters his strongest state, right?" Jerald commented.
"Go ahead," Sylvia said.
The surroundings fell into silence again as the Mages created their Magic Circles behind Jerald. If anyone tried to attack them, Jerald would be between them and the attackers.
Some seconds later, the Magic Circles were ready.
If necessary, the Mages could supplement Shang with Mana and life energy.
In this state, he could even win against someone from the Council.
"Alright," Jerald said as he lifted his right hand. "I will read your mind now."
Jerald had already activated his Mana Shield, just to be safe.
Additionally, he was ready to use Mana Step in an instant.
Sylvia lowered her head with a smile.
The atmosphere was even tenser than if this were a battlefield.
Shang used all his concentration to check the surroundings.
The Mages still didn't move.
They just waited.
Then, Jerald's hand touched Sylvia's head, and he began to read her mind.
She didn't resist.
All of Sylvia's life shot through Jerald's mind.
This was the mind of a Council member, which meant that Jerald now got information about every single meeting the Council had had ever since Sylvia had become a member.
As he continued reading, he also saw their reactions to the war and what they had planned.
Sylvia hadn't lied.
She was supposed to come here to distract Jerald while the other seven Mid High Mages were supposed to kill Shang.
But Jerald saw all of this from Sylvia's angle.
She had intended to betray the Council even before she had come up with that plan.
She had created this entire plan just to screw the Council as much as possible.
By proposing this plan, she managed to leave the Skythunder Kingdom without any suspicion with her seven most powerful High Mages. Even more, by having Susan cast Darkness' Veil, Jerald could even claim that the Council had broken the agreement.
Lastly, by taking so many Mages from the frontlines with her, Sylvia had forced the Council to send even more of their forces to the frontlines.
After a couple of minutes of nothing happening, Jerald retracted his arm.
Shang released a deep breath.
The last couple of minutes had been tense for him.
Sylvia opened her eyes and smiled at Jerald.
When Shang saw Jerald's expression, he raised an eyebrow.
Jerald looked uncomfortable.
"Take this as a confession," Sylvia said with a chuckle.
Then, her cheeks turned red.
Jerald took a deep breath.
A Mind Read couldn't be faked, at least not by someone in the Skythunder Kingdom. Maybe King Skythunder could do something like that, but he wouldn't get involved.
This meant that everything Jerald had seen was the truth.
Sylvia had honestly only come here to survive.
She had been unhappy with the Council for several years now. In her mind, suppressing the warriors was doing more damage than good.
Sylvia wasn't against it due to some moral issue but due to her concern for the Kingdom as a whole.
The warriors were on the rise, and everyone knew that Jerald was on the warriors' side.
She had still been uncertain about how things would turn out until just recently. After all, the Council was extremely powerful.
But as soon as she heard of Count Sword, she knew that the Council was already doomed.
Additionally, she knew that the man she idolized wouldn't make such a childish mistake.
Yes, Sylvia had a crush on Jerald.
Sadly, due to her position, she had never been able to spend any time with him or confess her feelings.
After all, her job and responsibility were more important than some crush.
She had also always tried her best to stop the Council from making all of these stupid mistakes, but she had been alone against four other members.
But now, she realized that her only chance at survival was by joining Jerald's camp, and she actually didn't feel that bad about this development.
Sure, it felt a bit bad to be beaten by Jerald in warfare and politics, but he had won fair and square, in her opinion.
She could accept a loss.
After some seconds of silence, Jerald released a sigh.
"We will talk about this later. I don't have the time or resources to think about such stuff at the moment," he said with an exhausted voice.
"I know what you mean," Sylvia said.
Sylvia continued smiling, but she also twiddled her thumbs now.
This was a sign of nervousness.
Earlier, Sylvia hadn't been nervous, but as soon as her feelings were out in the open, she became nervous.
"Jeremy," Jerald said as he looked at one of the High Mages. He had learned all their names by going through Sylvia's memories. "You're next."
The Mage stepped forward and lowered his head.
Jerald went through one mind after the other until he had read every Mage's mind.
They were not all completely clean, but they also hadn't truly supported the Council's decision to suppress the warriors.
In a way, they had all resisted these decisions in their own ways.
But that was already better than most Mages.
After everything was over, Jerald looked at the eight Mages.
"Welcome to my Kingdom!"
Today, Jerald had gained a powerful Late High Mage and seven Mid High Mages.
