Second World

"Your… Your Majesty knows our Head Minister?" Severus asked.

"Yeah. He is the one who gave me this title. We have a good chat almost two months ago," Jack replied jovially.

Severus didn't question Jack's claim that the leader gave him the title. Severus knew only the leader could grant that title. He was more surprised about Jack's claim of having a good chat with the leader.

Jack might have said it as if it was nothing, but Severus found it hard to believe. Even he had never had the chance to meet the leader, only the leader's copy. But then again, it would be impossible for the leader to give this Honorary Magi title to someone if the person was not close to the leader. Although it was not official, the one having this title could be seen as the successor to their faction.

Severus was baffled to silence. Jack might be the king, but the leader never deign to meet any country's sovereign. This had happened in the past. Whether when the leader was summoned or when the sovereign came to visit, it was always the copy who came forward.

He could hardly believe this young boy, despite being a king, had truly met their leader face to face. Furthermore, Jack was not yet a king two months ago. This meant Jack had met the leader when Jack was still a nobody.

"Have you truly met our leader?" Severus asked.

"Yeah," Jack responded.

"You must mean his copy, right? You are aware he has many copies, aren't you?" Severus asked again.

"I'm aware. I've met his old copy, his young copy, and also his real self."

"Are you sure? Can you just maybe mistake him for another copy?"

"Unless he lied to me, but why would he lie to me that he is the real one?" Jack asked back.

Severus thought back to one incident when the Queen of the elven country visited their headquarters in the Aurebor Dynasty. The queen had demanded to meet the leader's real self, but it was still a copy who met the queen. When the queen asked if the copy was his real self, the leader didn't even lie to save the queen's face. He just said directly that he was a copy and his real self was unavailable.

If the leader didn't even bother to lie to Aurebor's queen, why would he lie to Jack, who was not even a king yet at that time?

"You are not lying to me, are you?" Severus asked.

"Dude, you are one mistrustful person," Jack replied. "How about we go next door? Young Janus should be there, right? Let's go and ask him directly."

"Ah… No need, no need," Severus said. "So, what is our leader like?"

"Well, he is…"

The two started to hotly chat on the topic. Diana who stood behind them was speechless. Wasn't Severus acting hostile not long ago? Now, the two were speaking as if they were the best of friends. Severus even forgot to address Jack with an honorary title anymore.

"Ehem!!" Diana cleared her throat again when their chat seemed to be dragging on for too long.

"Oh," The two realized they were getting carried away.

"Hey, let's chat some other time," Jack said to Severus. "I will look for you if I ever visit the Order of Magi here. Are you only stationed here, or do you occasionally go to other branches?"

"I mostly stayed here. The task in this place takes a lifetime, after all."

"That is depressing. I suppose we can find a place to hang out when you are free. Do you know any good place in the city?"

"There is a good restaurant around the…"

"EHEM!!!" Diana was getting impatient.

"Okay, okay! We are on official business here," Jack said to Severus, changing into a serious tone. "Tell me, good Severus. How do you detect that the portal behind this seal is closing without a problem?"

Severus also cleared his throat and adopted a formal tone, "Reporting, Your Majesty. We detect it by reading the energies from the rune diagram which our ancestors had set up. My fellow mages here are channeling their energies to direct the flow within the rune diagram and make sure that everything works without a hitch."

"So, the portal is already halfway into completely closing."

"I say, around seventy percent. It might not need another century to complete this task. Probably around eighty more years, I dare say," Severus informed.

"Since the task is already half completed, do you still need two legendary artifacts to fuel your rune diagram?" Jack asked. "I mean, can you complete the remaining task with only one artifact?"

"Well, technically, it is possible," Severus said. "After closing the portal to this stage, the energy the portal emitted was not as powerful as when it was first opened. Theoretically, one artifact was sufficient for the job."

"That's great. This means I can take one of the artifacts away, can I?" Jack asked.

"Is that why Your Majesty is here?" Severus asked back. "Unfortunately, I must disappoint you."

"Why is that?"

"Because the artifacts are inside there," Severus pointed to the black dome. "They were within the heart of the rune diagram, which was right next to the portal. To go near that portal will require us to open this sealing dome. We don't know how many demonic creatures had slipped out of the portal. Although powerful ones should have been sucked back into their realm when the portal shrank, we can't know for sure. For all we know, there might be a mythical-grade demon behind this dome. If it gets out and causes havoc here, then all our effort these past two centuries will become wasted."

"Why does Your Majesty want to get the Boundless Cache?" Diana asked. "I understand the country needed funds after the war, but I think it doesn't worth the risk of agitating this demonic portal."

"What I want to take is the Totem Banner," Jack replied, which caused Diana's forehead to crease further.

"I need that artifact to make peace with Verremor," Jack said to her. "Trust me. If we don't resolve our issues with Verremor soon, we will be besieged from the front and the back when the enemy comes."