The crowd parted as the interview ended, leaving them a path to the apartnts. The crowd was already beginning to disperse, as they had gotten the basics of their questions answered by soone in charge.
Normally, they would get political non answers, and then it would be a day-long protest until people gave up, but today soone had just told them what happened, and then gave them gossip to share.
Everyone who had kids, especially ones whose kids would be undergoing the ceremony in the next few years, was excited to find out what the big news after the ceremony would be, as well as speculate on what the new record for advancent to Awakened was, and whether they knew soone who might be able to suddenly increase in power.
The Elite had said that it was a potion, so that ant anyone might be able to use it. Not just children, but perhaps their cousin's spouse who had been stuck at Awakened since the Academy might suddenly begin to make progress and bring pride and wealth to the family.
Little did they know that the Elite program was about to beco a significantly larger portion of the student body.
Once they were all in the lobby of the apartnt, and the crowd was safely on the other side of a soundproof wall, the Overlords turned on Karl.
"Did nobody ever teach you how to deal with the reporters?" Drath demanded.
"Relax, General. None of what I told them was an actual secret. If they had two functional brain cells, the reporters watching us train in public would have noticed the advancents to Awakening happening in real ti. In fact, they likely have it on film, and don't even realize it because they were more focused on the Cerro pack in the background playing with the smashing posts during lunch." Karl laughed.
"Did you have to tell them that there were spies in the city? That's confidential." Drath demanded, defaulting to his duties as First General.
"I'm fairly certain that they're all dead by now. Our friend Niall's comrades at the Inquisition should have taken care of that during the battle.
But the important part is that it kept the wealthy losers in the Capital instead of letting them scatter to all the small towns where they could ss up the economy or buy out a huge portion of the local small businesses.
I don't an to be offensive, but the rest of the country is happier not knowing that they exist."
The Overlords all began to laugh quietly.
Joram, the blonde Overlord Rank Ranger, smiled at Karl. "You've got a point. None of the smaller villages are ready for what would happen if they suddenly got an influx of bankers and influence brokers building vacation estates in the hills where they hunt and clear timber.
The cultural conflict would be an absolute disaster."
Everyone piled into the elevator to head to Karl's apartnt, where the staff had helpfully already sent an assortnt of snacks and drinks.
The Overlords all headed for the shower at the sa ti, then paused and laughed. If it was just the guys, they didn't care, they had all trained together and used the sa shower room in the gym. But as they approached, they realized that Tabitha was with them today.
"Overlord Tabitha, there is a shower in the ensuite if you would prefer. It's not as large as the one in the sauna and hot tub area, but well stocked." Karl offered.
Tabitha nodded, then changed directions to the master bedroom, while the others went to use the shower heads all along the walls of the hot tub room.
Karl had assud that they were mostly there for the steamy ambience when you had the sauna going, as one of them pointed straight at the sauna heater. But they did work as actual showers.
In his mind, Rae ca to the sa realization. They had just turned them on to get the air nice and humid before their bath. The showers even had a tir on them for that purpose. But she could use them for so much more.
Nobody took long. Three minutes later, everyone was back out in fresh clothes with wet hair.
Overlord Drath took charge of the conversation once they were all seated, with a nervous group of Acolytes sitting at the table behind Karl, next to the kitchen. The snacks and drinks were on the coffee table, so they were hoping that they would just be ignored. What was about to be said was likely super secret, and while they knew they shouldn't be hearing it, they couldn't resist.
"Alright, I will start with the obvious parts. Bishop Misty of the Divine Beast Nation arrived with two unknown Totem Rank or higher creatures. What do we know about them?" Drath began.
Karl considered his answer. "One was a four ard Titan, he arrived through a portal opened by a Monarch Ranked Giant. He was the first to arrive, and then Bishop Misty arrived with the second Totem, who I believe was a human. Possibly, a beastkin. But close to human."
[Technically not a lie.] Thor allowed in Karl's mind.
Karl was possibly a human. And possibly a beastkin. Or sothing that was neither of the above. But they were all still options until they had a definitive answer.
"And the attack that revealed the treasure?" Drath asked.
"The Giant launched it, and the other swatted it away. I think he was just aiming to send it into the sky, but there wasn't ti for much after that. Bishop Misty sent them all through ti. If I rember right, I believe she said that they were taking it ho. That makes think that they were all transferred through ti, and the Temporal Dragon was working to restore a tiline. Or prevent additional damage to it. I don't really understand how that works." Karl explained.
"Did they take anything before they left?" Overlord Joram asked.
"I don't think so. But the dragon's ti spell creates a thick white mist. I couldn't see the treasure location until after."
The Overlords nodded in understanding. "Great, more mysteries." Joram sighed.
Tabitha frowned, then her expression brightened, and she snapped her fingers.
"That location is directly above the Cathedral, right? Didn't there used to be a huge tower there? If I rember the history books, there were the ruins of a massive white stone tower at this location when the city was settled. That's why they picked the spot. The stones had a bit of lingering magic in them to improve durability, so they used them to build the Cathedral and the first few buildings."
Everyone else just shrugged, and she sighed. "Never mind. I will ask soone who has actually read a history book."
A knock at the door drew their attention, then Sybil opened it to let Lady Othello, Overlord Ahmad and the head Librarian from the Cathedral enter.
Karl smiled at Tabitha. "Ask and ye shall receive. If anyone has read a history book, it's the Librarian."
The Blue Dragon smiled at Karl. She had questions for him as well. Especially about that Runecrafting book that he had apparently made for the Archbishop, and why it didn't give the user knowledge of any of the relevant crafting specialties associated with the trade.
It was simultaneously the most useful and dysfunctional learning experience of her life.
User Comments
0 comments from readers