I Reincarnated As A Stick

Chapter 215: Two Golden Leaves

XXXX Continent, Seraph Kingdom, Arcana Tower.

“I’m a Mage under the Tenth Prince. How about it, Miss Erea? Would you like to join the Tenth Prince’s team in the War for the Throne? I assure you that you would be treated nicely,” Veriano’s voice resounded in Erea’s mind as a light smile was plastered on his face. A few seconds later, his tone took on a lecherous note as he continued to talk in Erea’s mind, saying, “Especially with an appearance like yours, Miss Erea. I can say without a doubt that you shall be treated nicely by the Tenth Prince and even become one of his concubines!”

When Erea started listening to Veriano’s statements in her mind, at first, she was quite tempted to go ahead and accept the offer, only for her to remember that her mentor Dane asked her to join the Ninth Prince’s team, to which she had accepted already. At the instant she remembered that, Erea knew that she was going to decline the offer she was given by Veriano, but only after knowing the terms that came if she did accept it.

Rather than hearing about the terms of the deal, she instead saw what seemed to be a hidden side of the High Official in front of her, a lecherous side of the man as his eyes examined at her from top to bottom as he continued to talk. Hearing the next statements said by him, Erea instantly had the urge to decline the offer no matter what. She had entered the tower to become stronger and eventually become a Goddess once more, not to become someone’s plaything.

After Veriano was finished speaking in her mind, Erea went ahead and closed her eyes, giving off the feeling that she was thinking about it. In response to this, Veriano reverted to his previous self, a light smile plastered on his face as he waited for Erea’s reply. Fortunately, it did not take long for Erea to respond to his statements, asking him, “What would I get if I join the Tenth Prince’s team?”

“At the very least, a thousand gold coins, a staff at the Magic grade, and access to the Great Spell Library, as well as the ability to grab one Level 2 Spell from there,” Veriano replied to her question, keeping up a smile while he talked.

Hearing what she would get if she joined, Erea unhesitatingly shook her head left to right as she let out a slightly disappointed sigh before looking at Veriano and saying, “I apologize, Sir Veriano. I would like to decline the offer.”

“Hoh?” Not expecting Erea’s response, Veriano raised his eyebrows before asking in a slightly shocked tone, “Could you tell me as to why you declined the offer?”

“No comment,” Erea said in response to his question before going ahead and closing the door to her training room. She then turned around and shifted her train of thought back to the skill she had obtained after ascending, making her way to the center of the room…only for the door to open with a bang not long after, revealing a slightly infuriated Veriano.

“You’re the first one to decline my offer, don’t you know what?” Veriano told Erea as he slowly made his way towards Erea, the aura surrounding him gradually intensifying. In response to the gradually intensifying aura, Erea took in a deep breath as she thought as to how she was going to escape this situation. After thinking about it, Erea went ahead and responded to his statement, saying, “I didn’t know that.”

“You should be grateful that you’re offered something like this, you know?” Veriano continued to speak as the aura surrounding him had reached a peak. At this point, Erea found it somewhat hard to breathe, even though the difference between them was just one rank. Then again, Erea was just a newly ascended Rank 3 mage while Veriano was a veteran Rank 4 mage.

“Most mages would grovel in front of my feet just so they would be accepted into the Tenth Prince’s team,” Veriano muttered in a slightly annoyed tone while raising his left palm, a ball of mana slightly manifesting on top of it. He then continued, his tone now slightly infuriated, “And yet, here you are, declining my offer even though I went ahead and came on my accord to ask you to join the Tenth Prince’s team.”

Bzzt! Bzzt!

Not long after, the ball of mana started to create sparks as it took on a light blue hue. Looking at this, Erea then realized that Veriano was a mage well-versed in the arts of lightning magic, seeing as how he could control a ball of lightning very easily.

“You know what?” Veriano looked at Erea with a slight frown before saying, “People who don’t follow the strong should just disappear.”

Hearing Veriano’s last statement, Erea could not help but close her eyes, not wanting to see what was going to happen to her in the next instant.

Whoosh!

Unfortunately for Veriano, just as he waved his left arm to throw the ball of lightning towards Erea, any trace of Erea had disappeared in an instant, leaving the ball of lightning to collide with the walls of the room Erea was previously in, charring a great portion of it due to the power behind the spell.

“What…where did she go?” This was the first few words that came out of Veriano’s mouth as he asked himself in disbelief. He went ahead and looked around the room she was previously in, wondering if she was in some sort of hidden space where only she had access to. After using all of his mana to find out that there was no secret space in her room, the disbelief on Veriano’s face had intensified as he asked, “Where did that woman go?”

“What woman?” In response to Veriano’s question, a voice answered back with a question, originating near the door to Erea’s room. Hastily turning his head, Veriano soon saw a man who donned a red robe just like him, but his facial features were at the level of handsome, which was further accentuated by the black-rimmed glasses he wore.

After realizing who the man that responded to his question was, a slightly infuriated expression appeared on Veriano’s face as he said, “Dane Grossezauber, a Rank 4 mage under the Ninth Prince. What brings you here to a random mage’s room? Are you here to recruit that mage as well?”

“Hmm?” Dane could not help but tilt his head in slight confusion, processing Veriano’s question in his mind for a short bit before finally getting what he was trying to imply. Accompanied with a light chuckle, Dane soon answered, “By that mage, you mean my student Erea Magimillia?”

“Yes, your student Erea Magimilli—” As if it was instinct, Veriano responded to Dane’s question, only for him to realize how Dane called the mage he was recruiting a while ago. He then blinked twice in disbelief before focusing his vision on Dane once more. He then went ahead and asked him, “Wait a second…your student?”

“Mhm.” Dane nodded in response to Veriano’s question before saying, “I wouldn’t come to the lower floors for no reason if she wasn’t my student.” He then squinted his eyes at Veriano before asking him, “How about you? What made you come here to the lower floors?”

In response to Dane���s question, Veriano let out an awkward chuckle before replying, “Er…I was just here to officiate your student’s advancement to the next rank. That’s all. Trust me on this one.”

“Hoh?” Dane raised his eyebrow as he listened to Veriano’s answer, a light teasing smile appearing on his face. “Didn’t you just ask me a while ago if I was recruiting Erea? Are you really sure that you’re just here to officiate my student’s advancement?”

Realizing that he was caught red-handed with his previous words as evidence, Veriano could not help but softly shout the word “Fuck” as he turned his around for a short second. After that, he looked at Dane with a light smile before saying, “Eh? Did I say that? I think you’re mistaken, Dane. I truly came here to officiate your student’s advancement, I swear.”

Seeing that the man slightly far away from him was not going to confess, Dane could not help but let out a sigh before saying, “Do you really want to be demoted that badly?”

“Demoted?” Hearing this word come from Dane, Veriano could not help but lightly chuckle, which turned into slightly raucous laughter a few seconds later. He then looked at Dane before telling him, “Demote me? Someone who’s a High Official of the Tower? The only possible way to demote me is only if you have a higher position than m—”

Swish!

Just as Veriano was about to finish his sentence, a bright flash of light came from Dane’s robe, two golden leaves appearing on his robe not long after. A few seconds later, a golden engraving of an eye and a sword appeared below the two golden leaves as Dane looked at Veriano before asking him with a smile, “As long as I have a higher position than you, right? Would this be enough?”

“Two golden leaves…” Veriano’s eyes widened after looking at the engraving that had just appeared on Dane’s robe, his eyes fixating on a certain part of the engraving as he shouted, “An eye and a sword! Not only are you an Educator of the Tower, but you’re a Battle Mage as well?!”

Those with two golden leaves or more engraved on their robes are known by their collective term as the core officials of the tower. Of course, mages with two or more golden leaves are incredibly rare to find, the reason being as to why is that the minimum requirement for a mage to have two golden leaves is to be a Rank 4 mage.

These core officials are then split into two branches, those that are well-versed in teaching, which is symbolized by an eye under their golden leaves, and those that are well-versed in fighting, which is symbolized by a sword under their golden leaves. It’s more common to find someone who has an eye or a sword under their golden leaves when compared to someone who has both symbols under their golden leaves while exploring the Arcana Tower.

Thud.

Looking at the engravings on Dane’s robe for a bit longer, Veriano’s legs could not help but buckle under the pressure and fear of Dane actually acting upon his words. Seeing that Veriano’s legs gave way, a light chuckle resounded from Dane’s mouth as he made his way closer to Veriano while asking him, “So, are you going tell me what you were truly doing here?”

“I’m telling you the truth! I was tasked by the tower to officiate your student’s advancement!” Veriano responded to Dane’s question in a slightly desperate tone as he rummaged through his robe, bringing out a green crystal a few seconds later.

“Here’s proof that I was here to officiate! The Class Crystal! Only those who officiate advancements have these!” Veriano continued to speak, his tone gradually becoming more desperate.

“Oh, I don’t doubt you on that part,” Dane responded to Veriano’s question, telling him that he knew that part already. “I’m just asking about what you did after officiating her advancement. Were you recruiting her or not? Tell me the truth and I won’t demote you.”

In response to Dane’s question, Veriano decided to stay silent after saying, “I’ve told you all I’ve done.” Seeing that he decided to stay silent, Dane scratched his head as he looked at Veriano before telling him, “You know, I didn’t want to resort to this, but you leave me no choice if you’re not going to answer.”

Whoosh!

After saying what he had to say, Dane went ahead and snapped his fingers. Not long after, a cruel-looking man in what seemed to be in his 40s appeared beside Dane, wearing a green robe. Looking at the color of the robe the man was wearing, Veriano’s pupils instantly shrunk as he muttered, “Rank 5…”

“Indeed, he’s a Rank 5 mage,” Dane said in response to Veriano’s mutters with a light grin. He then went ahead and placed his hand on the man’s left shoulder before saying, “His name is Cerius Bruciari.”

“Cerius, that’s Veriano,” Dane soon said to the man beside him as he pointed at Veriano. He then added, “It seems that he came to my student’s room to recruit her to another team. I’ve already warned him that I’ll demote him if he doesn’t admit to it, but it seems he still doesn’t want to budge.”

“Could you take care of this, Cerius?” Dane looked at the man with a smile on his face. In response to Dane’s question, the man named Cerius acceded to his request as he said in a deep voice, “Understood.”

Snap!

As Cerius made his way towards Veriano, he snapped his fingers, revealing four golden leaves that surrounded a gladius on the upper left side of his robe. Since he was apprehensive of the man coming closer to him, Veriano’s senses were on full alert, hastily noticing the symbol that had just appeared on the man’s robe. After realizing what it was, a wall in Veriano’s mind seemed to have broken as he stood up and shouted, “Alright! I give up!”

“I’ll tell you what you want to know!”

“Just promise me that I won’t be demoted!”

Listening to Veriano’s plea, a sinister grin appeared on Dane’s face as he responded, “Alright.”

“I promise.”