Free Web NovelChapter 47: Chapter 47: Moving pieces
Arthur and Elsa asked the question they were all thinking about.
Who would they pursue?
Roe with his immense potential, or Zach with his never-before-seen skill set?
"I mean, do we even have the resources to cultivate a talent on the scale of Merlin’s?" Elsa asked.
"What’s that supposed to mean?" Arthur asked.
"Yeah, I don’t follow, Elsa," Bill added.
"We’ve all read it, right?"
"We’ve all read at least one of the biographies."
"Merlin grew up with little guidance."
"Talent of such proportion barely needs to be nurtured to bloom."
"It just does."
"It just blooms," she said.
"Well, I mean, there’s the wielder of a system all of humanity has collectively wished for."
"We’ve already had a Merlin."
"SSS-rank is a big deal, but I don’t think it’s all that novel anymore."
"Hold your horses," Sun said.
"I think we need to remind you just who Merlin is," Arthur added.
They were not making progress.
They continued arguing.
The SSS-ranker or the God-Tier System wielder.
There was something they were not considering.
The only one who even remotely did was Elijah.
He finally spoke.
"We could win."
"If fate’s fair, then we should win."
"This doesn’t factor in every variable, however," Elijah said.
"I mean, let’s not fail to consider the possibility that Merlin’s faction are the ones who do the choosing."
"They might just be asked to relinquish one," Elijah said.
The others paused.
They all knew his words reflected a very probable truth.
"Then there’s also the possibility Solomon employs the Code of Mages for combat."
"If they do, there’s no one here who can stop him."
"If it gets to that."
"If they can bait one of us, it’s over," he added.
"Well, that’s only if we get baited," Arthur said.
"I wouldn’t put it past them, though."
"I mean, I heard Arthur has some kind of pocket dimension."
"A personal one not accessible to other space-type mages," Elsa said.
"He could be very persuasive if he were to get a one-on-one with any of us," she added.
"Well, that’s if it comes to that."
"If they ever go that underhanded," Arthur replied.
"So, in case that happens, what do we do?" Bill asked.
Perzeus turned to Elijah.
He nodded.
Elijah stood and walked up to Morgana’s seat.
A microphone was stationed there.
It was directly connected to her comms.
"I’m betting you’ve been listening," he said.
"The fact that I’m talking to you right now, I’m sure you know what’s up."
"I just got here."
"Thanks for asking," she said.
"I’m guessing you want me to ask the old man if he’d be willing to represent us," she said.
"Well, yes."
"But only if it comes to it."
"If they employ the Code," he replied.
"Well, I never thought I’d want to see this."
"But a match between Vlad and Solomon..."
"Well, that could be pretty interesting," she said.
"I take it that means you can make it work?" Elijah asked.
"I’m a daddy’s girl."
"Of course I can," she replied.
They were done talking.
Now it was time to act.
Elijah took it upon himself to assign roles.
Morgana was absent.
He was probably the most qualified to act in a leadership position.
It wasn’t a power play.
"Elsa, I need you to get in contact with the scholar."
"Sure. On it."
"I’ll give him a call," she said.
"No."
"That won’t be the way to approach it."
"If we’re reaching out to one, let’s do it the right way."
"Well, who do you have in mind anyway?" Bill asked.
"Morgana has a solid relationship with Wiz Valentine."
"Let’s exploit that relationship," he said.
"Reach out to him directly."
"Make your way to his library."
All scholars were granted the title of Wiz.
Upon receiving the title, the government would erect a building to congratulate them.
The building was always a library built in their honor.
"On it," Elsa responded.
She left.
"So what do the rest of us do?"
"We need counterintelligence."
"Perzeus and Bill, I need you to dig up information on their other recruits."
"Yes, we can exploit this."
"I believe there was even an S-rank recruited," he noted.
"This would create even more imbalance."
"That’s another card we can play should things not fall in order."
"An S-rank."
"An SSS-rank."
"And the System wielder."
"Everything seems to be falling out of order for Merlin."
"Let’s exploit these holes," he added.
"Got it."
"Sure."
Bill and Perzeus replied accordingly.
"Sun."
"I need you to run a paper."
"Run it anonymously to cover this."
"We want people discussing it before our meeting in court."
"Sure," Sun replied.
"Arthur, just do your thing."
"If we get hold of either of them—"
"When," Arthur corrected.
"Well, yes. When."
"You need to be ready."
"You’ll probably be the one to train him."
"You’re our mightiest, after all."
"I knew that," Arthur responded as he walked out.
Elijah had perfectly laid everything out for everyone.
He had just realized he didn’t keep anything for himself to do.
"I’ve done way too much thinking."
He grabbed his coat.
He was the last to leave the room.
He locked up the doors.
’I hope Morgana gets Vlad to cooperate,’ he thought.
---
Minutes later, Elijah had arrived at a restaurant.
He was there for ice cream.
Not for his kids.
This was his.
"Add an extra scoop."
The server did as instructed.
"That’ll be $5.99, sir."
"Sure. Here."
He paid.
He was seated by a glass window.
Ice cream in hand.
Phone on the table.
He was scrolling through Mage Chat.
The most popular social network for all things mage-related.
The biggest thing trending was, of course, the SSS-rank mage and the God-Tier System wielder.
"What’s this?"
"Fifty thousand related posts for the SSS-rank."
"The System wielder isn’t too far behind."
Scoop.
"Who’s that?"
"He’s trending almost just as much."
"What’s a Faith?"
"It’s trending with almost ten thousand posts." freeweɓnøvel.com
"Faith?"
"It’s not even spelled Fate."
He took another scoop.
He clicked on Faith to understand why it was trending.
"Wow."
Screams were heard from outside.
Monsters were raging and threatening civilians.
One had already killed someone.
"The barrier didn’t hold," he noted.
"I’ll have to get back to my sweets later."
He put his phone in his pocket and stepped outside.
