CHAPTER 75: YES

Zephyr stood holding what remained of his left arm, gazing at the mages. His weary appearance aroused sympathy from everyone nearby. They unknowingly overlooked the logical mistakes he made when explaining his side of the story.

At the same time, some of the royal academy mages gave Cedric a scornful look. The man had tried to portray Zephyr as a cowardly weakling by selectively mentioning what happened. This caused all respect they had for him to disappear from their mind.

Corvinus watched the events unfolding with great interest. Unlike everyone else, he didn’t believe every word that Zephyr said. But he liked the way Zephyr handled the situation. His interest in the young man grew exponentially.

Initially, he planned to let Zephyr explain and let him avoid punishment. After all, he was happy to do anything that could push down the Storm Tower from its high pedestal.

However, that later changed to genuine admiration when Zephyr explained his tactics and ingenious methods he used to defeat the necromancer. Though he failed at the end, Corvinus was sure no other mage in his position could have done better. Even he, when he was a beginner mage, would have failed at doing anything similar against an intermediate mage.

The foe was beyond Zephyr and his capabilities. And yet, he injured the necromancer, wasted time, and even saved the villagers he could. It was an achievement that deserved to be celebrated. The storm tower should have praised him for that.

However, they didn’t. In fact, by letting Cedric accuse him of crimes, they burned their bridge with him. That accusation broke any semblance of goodwill they maintained.

This made Corvinus even more interested in Zephyr.

The young man was talented. He seemed to have grown his mana pool by a bit. And he has the brains to use his abilities to his advantage. Moreover, he never gave up in front of insurmountable odds. All the qualities together make him someone destined for greatness.

It was enough reason to finally tilt Corvinus’ thoughts from ’saving the young man’ to ’recruiting him’. He smiled, watching Zephyr bathe in attention.

Aurelia, his dear disciple, was also looking at the young man in admiration.

’I don’t mind having one more disciple. It would be worth it.’ Corvinus’ smile widened.

—

Meanwhile, Zolt’s frown deepened. The realisation that the young mage they kicked out could achieve all that made him squint his eyes in discomfort.

They never expected Zephyr to keep at it for this long. After all, learning magic was an impossible task to begin with. By having a hopelessly small mana core, he was fated to remain in mediocrity, or even worse, remain in perpetual inferiority. So, they expected him to leave the tower and even stop learning magic altogether.

And yet, defying all their expectations, he seems to be persisting. When he looked closely, Zolt could somewhat feel the minute growth in the overall mana pool of the young man.

The change was not worth mentioning in the broader context. But it still amazed him.

To achieve that growth, Zephyr must have worked hard. Even if he was fated to be a mediocre mage, he was trying his best.

It was genuinely admirable.

Even Zolt was momentarily swayed and thought of bringing the boy back. However, he immediately slashed the idea.

Zephyr was still a weakling. Even if he grew a little, he would barely be an intermediate mage at the end of his lifespan. Looking at it from an investment perspective, he lacked sufficient edge over the general population. Zolt silently decided that the Tower didn’t want the tag of having the weakest mage in history attached to them.

Thus, he had to push him further away from the scrutiny of the world, away from prying eyes that could know about him.

The Tower couldn’t forthrightly dismiss him without a reason. Today was their chance to create a reason to dismiss him. But Cedric failed.

Unless Zephyr wanted to leave, they couldn’t kick him out.

Zolt let out a heavy breath.

—

Both Zolt and Corvinus had different ideas. Zephyr knew nothing of it and waited to see how they would respond.

As expected, Corvinus laughed while Zolt sighed.

He watched their expression with great interest. Both of these men had enough power to dictate his life and death. The scorched hill he saw to the east while he was brought here was proof of their strength.

At least, he should gain the approval of one to survive.

Seeing the laughing Corvinus, he thought he might have a chance.

"Zephyr, do you want to leave the Storm Tower and join the Royal Academy?" Corvinus asked, surprising everyone nearby.

Zephyr was taken aback.

He lifted his head and looked at the old man with the well-groomed, pointy beard. Corvinus was not joking. His eyes had an intense glow as he looked at Zephyr.

Meanwhile, Zolt frowned. He was thinking about how he should dismiss Zephyr. At the exact moment, Corvinus asked the boy to join the Royal Academy.

Why?

What was he trying to do?

Why do they need the weakling?

And...should he let him leave?

A multitude of thoughts flashed through his mind.

The room remained frozen until Corvinus spoke a second time. "Do you want to?"

His voice broke away the hesitation in Zephyr’s mind. He made a quick decision to jump ship.

"Yes." He replied, casting a glance over to Zolt’s side.

Most mages would never consider leaving the Storm Tower. The resources it provided were substantially superior to those of the Royal Academy, a reality compounded by the powerful ties of honor and loyalty.

Other than resources, there was also an emotional factor at play since each mage is trained by their respective master for years. The relationships built between different students and friendships could also act as chains to tie them close to the Tower. Breaking away from all of it to leave would not generally be possible.

At the same time, not everyone can leave as they wanted. The tower considers all the resources it provides to young mages as an investment. That could change into a debt trap the moment they want to leave. Unless they have enough money to pay off the debt, leaving would be impossible.

However, Zephyr still agreed to leave because the one offering to accept him was the head of the Royal Academy himself. Corvinus had the wealth and strength to redeem his freedom.

"Okay..." Corvinus nodded with a pleased smile. Then he turned to Zolt and spoke. "Does the tower have any problem with it?"

Zolt frowned.

"I disagree." He commented shortly after.

"I reject your disagreement." Corvinus, without skipping a beat. "I will take him as my own whether you like it or not." He added.

"You can’t until you pay off his debt," Zolt argued back.

Considering the situation, Zolt realised it was a good opportunity to recoup the money they spent.

"I can pay that. But are you going to fix his arm first?" Corvinus fought back with a question of his own.

Zephyr lost an arm while he was on duty. Thus, the tower had the responsibility to heal it. They would have to spend a hefty price to buy elixirs and bring a Master healer to heal him.

Were they willing to do that for Zephyr?

Corvinus didn’t think so. Therefore, he posed the question to verify it.

"..." Zolt stayed silent as he calculated in his mind.

Zephyr didn’t intrude on their conversation and waited. Corvinus was arguing at his behest. Even if he couldn’t get his arm fixed, the fact that he could leave Storm Tower thrilled him.

After a while, Zolt decided on something and began to speak.

"You can redeem him if you can pay 2 gold sol. We spent 4 on him. Healing the arms would cost at most 2 gold sol. So the remaining must be paid."

"Four gold sol?" Corvinus raised a brow.

Four gold sol equals four million sol. That was an exorbitant amount of money, enough to buy an entire castle. It would be the equivalent of a beginner mage’s income for a lifetime.

"How did you spend that much on him?" Corvinus couldn’t believe it. "Even if he took a shower in elixir for a week straight, it wouldn’t cost you that much, right?" He asked.

The showering in elixir was a hyperbolic statement. In reality, it would cost a lot, more than four million sol if he showered in elixir. But that was not the point.

No one bathes in elixir. So, he wanted to know how Tower spent that much on a beginner mage.

Zolt smiled and replied.

"We bought his family an estate and a castle for about three gold sol. The rest was for the elixirs and potions he consumed."

"Uh!"

The most shocked one was Zephyr.

"I have a family?" Zephyr widened his eyes.

Immediately, flashes of memories began to surface. For the past week, he had never thought about the possibility of Zephyr having a family. But now, with the revelation from Zolt, all of it was coming back to him.