Chapter 278 – The Seed of Division (3)
Late at night, in the Tower of Stars, a brief debate followed before Modin took his seat. Gram imdiately glanced at Clarke, trying to undermine Modin’s innocence.
“Modin is a magician of artifacts! He might have a tool capable of circumventing the oath of truth!”
Trying anything she could to stop Modin from casting a vote, she began to tear him down. Modin curled his lips slightly in amusent.
“I risked my life to infiltrate the enemy’s core and identify the nature of the Tree. I’m disappointed you distrust so deeply.”
“I do trust you. But I believe we must clarify things for the sake of Demtor.”
“Gram Seraphim, you say you act in Demtor’s interest, yet you sacrificed mages with your mana bomb?”
“Wasn’t it sothing everyone agreed to?”
“We agreed with heavy hearts. And the plan failed. Your confident strategy resulted only in aningless deaths. That is a grave fault not easily excused by words.”
With Modin’s participation, the entire mood of the Tower of Stars shifted.
The eting was now clearly turning against Gram.
She bit her lip and launched a counterargunt.
“Do you rember what you said? That the Tree was too dangerous and had to be eliminated at all costs. That’s why I proposed the bomb. Everything started with your words.”
“That’s sophistry.”
“It’s not. You said it clearly, and a Star’s words carry weight. You want to hold accountable? Then you too can’t escape responsibility.”
I already knew she was cunning, but her persistence was remarkable.
Modin’s gaze shifted to Clarke. Gram’s authority was propped up by him, and his implicit agreent was the source of her voice’s strength.
To cut Gram down, Clarke would need to be pushed aside first.
“That was simply my judgnt based on visual inspection. Now that the investigation is complete, the Tree—no, the World Tree—must be preserved.”
“...World Tree?”
Clarke, who had been watching the eting with a bored expression, reacted visibly to that term.
He responded to the ntion of the World Tree.
“You an that World Tree? The one I’ve read about?”
“If you’re referring to what’s written in the ancient texts, yes, Grand Duke.”
The World Tree was a legendary being ntioned in ancient scrolls. Clarke, ever the mage, couldn’t help but doubt.
But Modin had sothing to prove its existence.
“This is the reason I was captured.”
As Modin’s cloak rustled, a small object tore through space and appeared in front of him.
A cloak of subspace.
From it erged a small branch with green leaves.
Modin placed the branch on the round table.
“This is a branch I took from the core of the World Tree.”
Modin possessed the “Eye that Reads Energy.”
The branch he broke off was the most potent one among those extending from the World Tree.
Because he tried to smuggle it out in secret, he missed the timing to escape and suffered the disgrace of being captured.
Vhuung!
“......!”
The branch on the round table let out a low hum.
A faint glow radiated from it, and just by looking at it, a sense of calm washed over the heart.
A mysterious and sacred item.
And one that would inevitably stir the curiosity of mages.
“I risked my life to bring it back. It’s an incredibly rare sample, so I will entrust this item to the Grand Duke.”
“The Grand Duke??”
“Ah, w-would that be alright?”
Clarke, without even a second of hesitation, asked for permission.
His eyes glead with greed.
For so reason, he couldn’t take his gaze off the branch.
His dazed expression made it seem as if he were entranced.
It was an odd sight, but Modin simply nodded and continued.
“Of course.”
“I only doubted you because of the circumstances. From the start, I had faith in you.”
The mont Clarke took the branch into his hands, his entire deanor toward Modin changed.
“The idea that the master of the Ivory Tower is a spy... If that were true, Demtor would have fallen long ago. I’m just grateful you returned alive.”
“Thank you for trusting . Then, may I formally participate in today’s eting?”
“You are a Star of Demtor—why are you asking ? Whether you attend or not is up to you.”
Modin’s participation was now officially recognized.
With Clarke’s approval, there was no one left to oppose it.
Gram let out a hollow laugh and glared at Clarke, but his attention was wholly consud by the branch.
Sensing that her shield had vanished, Modin signaled to Ren.
Ren’s expression noticeably brightened.
From Modin’s reaction, he could tell that Modin was leaning toward his side.
Ren glanced around, then slowly raised his hand.
“I’d like to reopen the agenda we’ve been postponing since yesterday.”
He looked briefly at Gram, then opened his mouth slowly.
“Can we hold Gram of the Black Tower responsible for this incident?”
A mont later, Ella and Modin raised their hands.
3:2.
The motion to hold Gram accountable now had majority support.
“What should the penalty be?”
“Please, hear out!”
Desperately trying to reduce her punishnt, Gram pleaded—but the one who nullified her attempts wasn’t Ren,
it was none other than Modin, the master of the Ivory Tower and the keeper of Demtor’s vast knowledge.
He knew a great deal about Gram.
In that mont, Modin recalled the words whispered to him by a man beneath the World Tree:
“Among the witches who serve the spirit nas, I heard sothing intriguing. A great serpent is currently devouring Demtor. And as ti passes, all of Demtor may be digested within its belly.”
“A great serpent.”
Modin stared back at Gram, who now glared fiercely at him.
“Who do you think the serpent is? Since the Ivory Tower is so well-inford, try solving my riddle.”
“Serpent.”
Yiik!
At Modin’s sudden remark, Gram’s eyes involuntarily twitched.
No one else noticed, but Modin, who was watching her closely, sensed it instinctively.
Unlike the other Stars, she reacted sharply to the word serpent. She knew sothing.
“Serpent? What are you talking about?”
“It’s nothing, Grand Duke. Just a stray thought that slipped out.”
Modin didn’t know why that man had spared him and let him go.
But one thing he now understood: ‘He’s wary of Gram Seraphim.’
Modin silently stared at her, then looked around the round table.
“May I propose what her penalty should be?”
He had also realized—he needed to check Gram now.
A master of artifact-based sorcery.
The queen of alchemy.
Their once separate domains had begun to overlap.
The rapidly expanding influence of the Black Tower needed to be curbed—at least once.
This was the mont Arthur and Modin’s thoughts aligned.
“...How dare you.”
Left behind in the Tower of Stars, Gram clenched her teeth and glared at the door the Stars had exited through.
Responsibility.
In Demtor, being held responsible didn’t an death or exile.
It ant publicly revealing the results of your secret magical research.
It was an ancient rule that had significantly advanced Demtor’s developnt, but for the one targeted, it was worse than death—having one’s life’s work stolen and exposed.
And she was a Star.
The value of her hidden research was imnse, and once her penalty was announced, all dissatisfaction from the defeat vanished.
Instead, excitent buzzed through Demtor.
The Black Tower’s secret achievents.
Modin proposed two things to Gram.
One was the formula for Blood Nature, the other was the thod for creating Black Butterflies along with all accumulated research data.
Gram fiercely resisted, but the motion passed by majority vote.
Result: 4 to 1.
Even Grand Duke Clarke abandoned her this ti.
“What were you thinking, casting your vote against ?”
Gram turned her head to glare at Clarke, who sat alone at the round table.
She had thought he was on her side.
The betrayal hurt more than having her research exposed.
Clarke was staring blankly at the branch.
He had been like that since Modin handed it over.
“Clarke.”
“Such a radiant fla... Don’t you think?”
“...Fla?”
Gram scoffed as she looked at the branch. To her, it was nothing more than a glowing leaf.
“What are you talking about? Are you using this as an excuse to abandon ?”
“Ah...”
Clarke finally looked away from the branch and t her eyes.
For a mont, their gazes locked.
Gram had spent a long ti with him to acquire true blood,
and Clarke had protected her in return for sharing her body.
He was the first to enjoy the results of her research—they were mutually beneficial.
That hadn’t changed.
Clarke had no intention of abandoning her.
Her body offered a pleasure no other woman could rival.
Taking the branch with him, Clarke slowly stood and said,
“The master of the Ivory Tower looks at you with hostility.
That’s why you detonated the bomb before he could signal anything. Because of that, you ended up captured by the witches.”
“At the ti, it was the best option.”
“The Ivory Tower master doesn’t seem to think so.”
Clarke stood before her and gently brushed her hair back.
“When we have the majority of Stars, the voting system is powerful. But when we’re the minority, we need to lie low for a while.”
“Who’s next in line to beco a Star?”
“Soone who’ll side with us. Convincing Modin won’t be that difficult. From the next eting on, things will move how you want them to.”
Running his hand gently down her waist, Clarke donned his robe and walked toward the door.
“I’ll visit the Black Tower tomorrow evening. Let’s talk then.”
“I’ll be waiting.”
“I liked the underwear you wore last ti. Wear the sa again, will you?”
After Clarke left, Gram’s face turned expressionless.
“What a foolish old man.”
The next Star would likely co from the Wind Tower, whose master, Lindbergh, had died in the war.
But would they show kindness to the one who turned Lindbergh into a bomb?
“I was trying to slowly absorb the Stars’ true blood and build up power... but I guess that’s ruined. Should I just swallow it all at once, even if it gives indigestion?”
It seed her plans needed to move forward faster.
“In trouble, are we?”
“Arcane?!”
The mont she heard the voice, she imdiately thought of him.
Gram turned to face Arcane and quickly scanned the surroundings.
Then she asked,
“You’re keeping Kal’s corpse safe, right?”
“Ah, apologies. It’s... rotted away.”
“...What?”
“A nearby shaman got to it. Couldn’t stop it in ti—haha.”
Gram’s expression stiffened.
At the twitch of her finger, Arcane instantly stepped back.
“Are you thinking of making your enemy? Things don’t look great for you as it is.”
It seed she had lost her temper amidst the chaos.
But as she looked at Arcane, she slowly lowered her hand.
Facing Arcane was more dangerous than all of Demtor combined—she had briefly forgotten that.
Until she was certain she could kill him, she couldn’t bare her fangs.
“We made a deal. I paid the price.”
“I know. That’s why I’m here to offer you a way out of your current ss. Will you hear my advice?”
“...I’ll listen.”
It was advice from Arcane, the one who governs fate.
Without hesitation, she nodded, and Arcane gave a thin smile.
“Examine the branch Clarke took with him. That will open the path for you.”
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