The crack of dawn. 5.45 AM.
Nightshade Duchy. House Montmorency estate.
A muscular man in his late 40s was swinging his two double axes in empty air. He was practicing his weapon arts atop a relatively small mountain top that had a small house at its other end.
This man had long white hair that was tied behind his back. His face was like that of a hawk, with his sharp nose, sharper eyes, and even sharper jawline. His muscular and well-defined arms looked intimidating. Through his pants, his legs appeared equally pumped.
His musculature was that of a man who lacked any fat in his body. This white-haired man was not wearing anything to cover his torso. As if he was proud of the way he looked and wanted the world to see his pro-testosterone physique.
The house he was used to living in was small and only had basic amenities. He didn't wear or flaunt any fancy artifacts either. It looked like the man was used to living a simple life. A life meant for warriors.
Yet only those who knew him knew how much power he held over his clan or its wealth. In a sense, he was a fine specimen of a human male that seemed void of any worldly attachments. A serious and upright-looking man.
Yet if Levine was asked what she thought of this man, she would describe him as the most conniving son of a bitch. She would then curse the person who had asked her this question which made her talk about him.
This man who was wielding dual Labrys and practicing his weapon arts in silence was none other than Ottoman de Montmorency. He was called something different by his subordinates though. A kingdom-bonafide title that served as his unique identity.
A man who was riding a condor-type demon beast suddenly appeared in the sky before jumping down from his mount. He landed a few meters away from where Ottoman was practicing.
He kneeled before his Lord and spoke up.
"Lord Demonmir, We found out that Lady Levine was up to some unusual activities these days. I'm here to inform you of the same."
When Demonmir AKA Ottoman heard the name Levine, his wind and lightning element duality manifested around him. He was practicing his weapon arts without the use of mana till now. So the guy who had taken the knee hadn't felt threatened after landing a few meters away from Demonmir.
But now the condor-owning messenger felt like maybe landing this close to the Demonmir was a terrible idea. Because he felt threatening vibes coming from him as he swung his dual Labrys with a tinge of mana that leaked from him unwittingly.
Wind and lightning elemental fusion.
A gust of blue wind was generated all around the Demonmir before it took the shape of a flying attack. This attack closed in on the condor-type demon beast owner so fast that he didn't have a chance to react despite being an Adept rank.
The demon beast would have turned berserk and launched a suicide attack on the Ottoman if the beast owner had died in front of him. Thankfully for both of them, Ottoman quickly took control of his inadvertent attack and dispersed it in thin air before it could hurt his subordinate.
The Demonmir did not own any fancy artifacts for the most part. However, his ancient-looking dual Labrys set was the only exception to this rule. The white-haired man looked at his weapon set and pondered a bit as if revising what he had just done. He then closed his eyes while putting this set back into his storage.
Demonmir only replied when he was ready.
"Hm? What is my dear cousin up to these days?"
Demonmir flashed a cunning smile after he had said that. That smile completely broke the earlier image of him as an obedient yet upright man. His voice was deep and produced subtle vibrations in the surroundings due to his attainment in the wind element.
The listeners would feel the vibrations and electric discharge in the air whenever Demonmir spoke to them. Similarly, his recent achievement in the elemental fusion of wind and lightning should not be ignored. Despite his serious looks, the guy was very happy with the fruits of labor his isolation had brought him this time.
Practicing his weapon arts was Demonmir's way of celebrating his success.
The flying type demon beast owner quickly got over the life-threatening crisis he had just faced and turned to his Lord obediently.
"Lord Demonfir, Lady Levine had taken a few substantial steps while you were busy in your isolation. I came to meet you as soon as you got out.
Lady Levine has gotten herself and her faction of the Montmorency clan involved in a tri-party deal. This deal is regarding the management of land that hosts the entrance to Minerva's Utopia.
Here are the details."
A runic scroll was made to approach Demonmir as it levitated in the air. The latter caught it effortlessly and imbued his mana into it while closing his eyes.
The runic scroll established a connection with Demonmir's mana sense and started painting the recorded visuals of a city under construction. The visuals also contained distant footage of spatial tear and the golden gates around it, which served as the entrance to Minerva's Utopia.
"Minerva huh? She was a Sage, right? What do we know about her?"
Demonmir didn't flinch after he saw the visuals of Levine's faction getting so active these days. He liked challenges anyway. And he loved breaking people's confidence when they thought they were at the peak of their life.
A new scroll was given to Demonmir. This scroll contained information that was related to Sage Minerva. Ottoman had a surprised expression on his face as he browsed through the information with his eyes closed.
"Hoah! My dear cousin has landed on a gold mine it seems."
Demonmir scratched his white stubble as he said that. He then walked toward his subordinate and asked him.
"The report mentions the White Raven guild and Eren Idril. But there's not much information about them. Why is that, Colton?"
Colton, the condor-owning demon beast tamer sighed and spoke truthfully.
"The report doesn't have much on those two because they don't have anything on them in their official or non-official records, my Lord. Eren Idril is the founder and guild master of White Raven.
If I had to guess, Eren must be the pawn of House Derringer. Maybe House Derringer had internal conflicts of its own. And hiring some unknown guild to be the face of this thing is a way for one of their factions to keep the profits to themselves."
Colton gave his conjecture to Demonmir that he had come up with after studying the information related to this case. Not knowing that the one who he had called a pawn was the mastermind behind the whole thing.
