Josef’s Schemes

Asher had secretly been keeping an eye and yet to spot Josef using the Eye of Saul, meaning that Josef might have planned to do so later. As for why this was so, part of it had to do with Asher keeping his mana flowing in an erratic mana and preventing Josef from squandering his mana. However, another reason had something to do with Josef's lack of information and experience in using the eye.

If he was very experienced with it, Josef would have unlocked the advanced version of the eye which lacked any of the weaknesses of the base form.

One might wonder why Asher was on guard against the Eye of Saul and the reason had to do with the public's perception of him. Since he was identified as a null, even if Asher showed potential, as long as it wasn't absurd, no one would care as much.

However, if the Eye of Saul managed to see his true strength, added to the information they have on him, the royals would realize that Asher had been hiding his strength. Although they would have no solid proof, there would be the suspicion that Asher might have somehow 'recovered' or broken the definition of what it meant to be a null.

While this sounded impossible to believe, the fact that the Arnhaunts had created three various potions with effects that can improve one's abilities considerably, would give more weight to this suspicion. When they now consider his growth speed too, the Castellans would feel threatened by the possibility of another 'Darius' rising.

In the terms of mages within the kingdom's sphere, Darius was merely a full-fledged adult in the society with space for growth. This was because mages at the ninth-stage of the Guardian realm could easily live up to one hundred and fifty years, and Darius was still in his early sixties.

That means that not only did Darius have a lot of time to progress higher, but with the existence of someone with the same or even greater potential than himself, the Arnhaunts would become a more troublesome thorn in the royals' ambition.

Asher had to remain under the radar to avoid being a target for them now that he was weak. However, Josef's Eye of Saul was a threat to that.

Another reason why Asher didn't want to get scanned by the Eye of Saul was that he could not ascertain whether the eye would see the orb within him or not. If it could then Asher's situation would become a lot worse.

'Killing him is out of the option and I can't keep this up. He's not suspicious now since he can presume that my actions are a sign of me being on guard against them, but if I keep it up for too long, he will get suspicious. Getting him to leave would also not solve the problem and is merely a delay.' Asher sighed inwardly.

'I need to solve the problem from its roots.'

"Well, if there's nothing else, I would take my leave now. Your men can enjoy the banquet; the servants would be at your service from now till daybreak." Asher stood up to depart.

"That's right, young lord." Josef suddenly called out.

"I remember a message I'm supposed to give to you."

Asher raised an eyebrow as he never expected Josef to say such.

Josef didn't keep him waiting as he continued.

"The king sends his regards for keeping his daughters safe. He had a gift sent over to you."

Josef signalled for one of the soldiers to come up.

The man held a palm-sized box which he presented to Josef, who then handed it over to Asher.

Asher didn't collect the box right away but had a servant by the side do so.

"I'm a bit tired now and I wouldn't want to accidentally drop a treasure from the king. My thanks to his royal highness. I'll now be retreating to my chambers." Asher said succinctly.

Josef was a bit shocked as he didn't expect that but he was unable to react in time as Asher had already departed.

'Dammit.' Josef frowned.

What was inside the box was a bracelet inlaid with a meditative-type gem. By clenching the gem in one's fist, it would calm one's mana flow.

Josef had already noticed that Asher's mana flow was erratic, preventing his Eye of Saul from doing much to him. He had prepared the accessory when he was still in the capital in consideration of such an event. However, he never expected Asher to have his servant receive the item instead, even after using the king's name.

'I can't remain here for long. I'll give it another try tomorrow.' Josef thought.

Never would Josef have thought that the reason for his consistent failures was because Asher was already aware of his plot. He couldn't be blamed, to be honest, as the information on him possessing the Eye of Saul was known by very few individuals, and no one from the Arnhaunt family or close to them knew of it.

Once he got to his room, Asher eventually checked out the box and saw the item inside. As he did, Asher immediately realized Josef's plot and was satisfied that his quick wits had made him call for the servant to accept the gift in his stead.

While the option of him accepting it and not opening the box at the moment existed, the effect of the gem was quite strong and the box wasn't anything special; just some fancy wood. As a result, even if he held the box in his hand and didn't open it, the mana-calming property would still have an effect on him through the box.

'I underestimated how prepared he is. I have to solve this issue fast.' Asher thought.

Even so, he couldn't come up with anything right away. The Eye of Saul had only one significant weakness apart from the ones mentioned before; in the basic version, it was only effective when the opponent was either weaker, at the same level, or one stage stronger than the user. However, Josef was a sixth-sage Guardian mage. Apart from that, if it was revealed that Asher was more than one stage stronger than he was (not that he was), all hell would break loose.

Asher dropped the box with the bracelet in his room and departed again. This time though, he was headed to a spot behind the mansion that was usually devoid of people. This location was a favourite spot of Ol' Fang.

"Uncle Fang, we need to talk."