Sovereign of the Ashes

Asking for money from a Rank Five mage with an unruly personality was no easy feat.

Fortunately, the divine tower was ultimately Dark Flame’s property. No matter how much money was spent, it would inevitably go back to him.

Otherwise, convincing such a mage to part with his wealth would have been nearly impossible.

After a prolonged silence, Dark Flame finally broke it.

“Exactly how much more is needed?” he asked.

Sein and Keith exchanged glances before handing over the divine tower’s construction plan they had meticulously drafted.

“Another one million magicoins should suffice for now. Ideally, however, it would be best to directly inject two million magicoins into the tower’s public funds. That way, Keith and I wouldn’t have to trouble you over funding matters so often, Tower Master,” Sein replied.

After spending enough time working with Keith and the others, Sein had come to understand that Dark Flame was far from enthusiastic about his divine tower’s affairs and upgrades.

Unless an exceptionally critical matter arose, the tower master was hardly ever seen.

Even during the Regional Inter-Divine Tower Academy War, held every fifty years, Dark Flame had never attended once.

When the Divine Tower of Dark Flame Academy achieved the second-best ranking in the last academy war, the tower master did not even show up to acknowledge the initiates’ efforts.

Instead, he instructed the deans to distribute additional rewards on his behalf.

Sein knew better than to repeatedly bother the tower master for funds.

Securing a larger sum in one go seemed like the best solution for everyone involved.

Dark Flame’s eyes narrowed as he listened to Sein.

He picked up the crystal ball containing their proposed plans and skimmed its contents. After a moment, he spoke up with a firm voice that left no room for negotiation.

“The expansion of the divine tower library will be put on hold for now. Just maintain the status quo of operations as they were before.”

“As for the funds you need... I’ll inject... one hundred thousand... no... two hundred thousand magicoins.”

The reduction from the requested amount was staggering—Dark Flame slashed the budget by ninety percent without hesitation.

Sein suspected that if the tower master had not been so concerned about being “harassed” by him, Keith, and the other deans, he would have really invested only one hundred thousand magicoins.

While a hundred thousand was a significant sum for an individual, it was laughably insufficient for the expansion and maintenance of a divine tower academy.

In the past, when Sein had not been directly involved in such matters, he had little understanding of the massive expenses required to run a Divine Tower.

But now, having personally overseen various aspects of the academy’s development, he fully understood the challenges and costs involved.

After the tower master’s statement, Dean Keith’s expression betrayed a resigned acceptance. He was already well accustomed to Dark Flame’s stinginess.

However, Sein was not willing to back down so easily.

If it were merely someone else’s responsibility, it would not have mattered to him.

However, since he had taken on the role of dean, he was determined to fulfill it, using the experience to hone himself and prepare for the future.

He had no intention of giving up so easily!

If Sein had planned to approach this position with a lackluster attitude, he would not have accepted Dark Flame’s offer in the first place!

As expected, youth often came with a fiery temperament.

On the battlefield of the Gumo Plane, Dark Flame had proven his ferocity by defeating three Rank Four foreign gods in combat.

Yet now, he found himself confronted by the stubborn defiance of a younger generation.

“If you don’t give me this money, I’ll resign as dean of the divine tower academy!” Sein declared outright, his tone leaving no room for negotiation.

“Hehe, have you forgotten that you’ve signed a magic contract?” Dark Flame responded with a cold chuckle, clearly unimpressed by Sein’s threat.

“A contract doesn’t truly bind both parties. If it comes to that, I’ll simply ask my mentor or even my grandmaster to help me erase the penalties from any contract backlash,” Sein shot back without hesitation.

Sein’s answer made Dark Flame pause, his eyes narrowing as he scrutinized the young mage.

It was true that no contract could absolutely bind two parties.

Even advanced contracts imbued with the power of laws had been torn apart by Rank Four and higher gods in the Astral Realm, let alone an ordinary magic contract.

The mages of the Magus World were generally known for their adherence to contracts.

Unreasonable mages like Sein, who even thought about breaking a contract without hesitation, were an anomaly.

For the dean of a divine tower academy to so brazenly challenge his own tower master was almost unheard of.

Though Dean Keith supported Sein’s stance, he was far less assertive.

“Ah... he’s truly a young man,” Keith thought to himself as he glanced at Sein.

“Hehehe... I expected no less from a young man who had impressed me...” Dark Flame let out a low chuckle before continuing, “One million is too much. I can only give you half a million magicoins.”

This was as much of a concession as anyone could expect from the Tower Master.

Dark Flame was not stupid; he understood perfectly well that Sein and Keith’s proposals were for the betterment of the divine tower academy.

However, he had never been invested in expanding or improving the divine tower to begin with.

The fact that he agreed to inject half a million magicoins at all was largely due to Sein’s audacity in standing up against him.

Dark Flame was a Rank Five mage known for his poor reputation and unpredictable ways.

Keith and the other deans, who had always approached him with the utmost caution and respect, had never once earned this kind of acknowledgment.

Yet Sein, a newly appointed dean, had boldly challenged him and somehow won his admiration.

Neither the eccentric tower master nor the spirited young dean named Sein could be understood through common sense.

With the tower master making a concession, Sein knew better than to push his luck further.

Besides, half a million was still a significant sum.

Although It would not be enough to expand the divine tower library as originally planned, it would suffice to slightly increase the collection and perform a simple upgrade to the academy’s facilities.

Sein ultimately decided to leave the management of the funds to Dean Keith.

After years of working together, Sein had come to recognize that Dean Keith’s ability to handle specific tasks was far superior to his own.

This level of expertise, honed through years of experience, was not something a young mage like Sein could acquire overnight.

Just as when he had first accepted Dark Flame’s offer to become dean, Sein understood that his role was as much about learning as it was about leading.

***

After leaving half a million magicoins behind, Tower Master of Dark Flame quickly disappeared.

The Divine Tower of Dark Flame likely had a private subspace that belonged to the tower master.

The Divine Tower of Dark Flame was built near several active black volcanoes, their perpetual eruptions blanketing the skies in thick, dark clouds.

Sein suspected that the tower master had also established a private laboratory somewhere deep within the bottomless chasms of the volcanoes.

While the volcanic depths were unsuitable for an academy, they offered an ideal space for training and experimental research.

Sein himself had often considered excavating a private laboratory among the black volcanoes.

Such a space could provide him with the perfect environment to unravel the mysteries of pyro elemental magic.