Sovereign of the Ashes

Tourmaline was actually quite wealthy, probably even richer than Sein.

Still, like most dragonkind, she had a deep-rooted love for treasure and hoarding wealth.

She was certainly generous with Sein because he was her friend.

But when it came to anything else, especially if it meant dipping into her own stash, her pouty lips made it clear she was less than willing.

Of course, Tourmaline’s wealth did not exist in the form of magicoins.

Most of her treasures were gifts from her siblings and uncles.

Not only did those items have sentimental value, but they were also highly practical in nature.

To just exchange them for magicoins would have been a total waste.

Since it had been Sein’s idea to go to Beastmen World in the first place, there was no way he was going to make Tourmaline pay for it herself.

Besides, she had just done him a huge favor by taking down a Rank Four black mage not long ago. Sein was still thinking about how to thank her properly.

The group waited at the Order of Mayne’s teleportation hall for half a day. Hours passed, and still no official response came.

Just as Sein’s patience was starting to wear thin, and he began seriously considering whether they should find another knightly order, someone finally arrived.

A knight in ink-black armor, walking with a perfectly straight posture, appeared in front of them.

It was not that Sein was an impatient man; he just did not like having his time wasted. For a mage, time was an incredibly precious resource.

Fortunately, he appeared to be an important Rank Four knight—travel-worn and had clearly hurried his way here.

“Greetings. I am Mayne, a Rank Four knight of the Western Archipelago. I heard you’re headed to Beastmen World?”

Despite his higher rank and the imposing armor and cloak, the knight did not speak with arrogance. Instead, he addressed the group in a casual, approachable tone.

“Yes, Sir Knight,” Sein replied with a nod.

Since the knight introduced himself as Mayne, it was safe to assume he was the founder of this knightly order.

The fact that he named the knightly order after himself showed that he was clearly a carefree man.

What Sein did not know, however, was that Mayne had a very long full name. Among his many surname suffixes, one stood out as especially noble—Klopp.

Thanks to his noble lineage and powerful strength, the Rank Four Knight quickly recognized who Tourmaline was, even though she was trailing behind Sein like a little sidekick.

However, Tourmaline clearly did not know him at all.

The knight could also tell that Sein was their leader.

He glanced at Sein first, then at Tourmaline, and finally at Leena, who stood quietly by Sein’s side.

With a smile, he shook his head and said, “The Order of Mayne prides itself on hospitality. Since you’re heading to Beastmen World, we’ll cover the cost of your round trip.”

“You’re also welcome to return through any of our branch halls using the teleportation array,” he added warmly.

Before Sein could respond, Tourmaline clapped and cheered, “Yay, that’s great!”

Her eyes turned into crescents.

With Tourmaline’s wealth, the teleportation fee should have meant nothing, but she looked absolutely delighted just because she could save her money.

Since that was the case, Sein simply nodded and accepted the knight’s generosity. “Thank you for your kindness, Sir Mayne!”

Unlike Tourmaline, Sein showed proper respect toward the esteemed Rank Four knight.

Mayne gave a small nod, then personally escorted them to the teleportation array.

Teleporting Tourmaline to another world was a challenge.

The elemental hub next to the array was loaded with energy crystals, piled up like a small hill, just to generate enough power.

The value of those crystals was no less than ten thousand magicoins.

No wonder Sein had not been able to cover it.

In the end, it was Mayne himself who stepped up to the teleportation array, channeling his Rank Four battle qi directly into the system to send Sein and his group to Beastmen World.

Right before the transmission kicked in, Sein caught a glimpse of the immense dark energy gathering across the knight’s armor-clad form.

There was no mistaking it, he was a rare practitioner of umbra-attribute battle qi.

It was only after the group had vanished through the portal that Mayne finally let out a quiet sigh of relief.

To be honest, teleporting a Rank Four draconic creature like Tourmaline had pushed even a Rank Four knight like him to his limits.

If they had charged for the service, the Order of Mayne would have asked for around 30,000 magicoins, which was not even an unreasonable price.

As soon as Mayne stopped the flow of his battle qi, a demigod-level knight approached him from behind.

He hesitated for a moment before saying, “My lord... That female mage beside that man named Sein just now, she’s...”

The Order of Mayne was a well-known anti-black faction based in the Western Archipelago.

They were mostly active in the southwestern part of Blackhaven, with a long-standing mission to oppose black knights.

Having fought against Blackhaven’s black knights and black mages for years, this demigod-level knight had immediately sensed something off about Leena’s aura just by standing close to her.

It did not match that of a typical divine tower mage.

The black mages of Blackhaven, after years of ruthless killing within the Magus World, carried a unique residual energy that was absent in normal divine tower mages—an identifying trait that experienced anti-black knights could recognize on instinct.

The demigod-level knight, Hosain, was Mayne’s trusted right-hand man.

He simply could not understand why Mayne would willingly let a pair go, especially when the woman was clearly a black mage.

Mayne shook his head and sighed.

“Hosain, you wouldn’t be asking this question if you knew who that little girl was.”

“This world isn’t just either black or white. When things become gray, that’s when things get complicated,” he added.

He was, of course, talking about Tourmaline.

Hosain had sensed it too—there was something unfathomable about that seemingly innocent little girl.

He could already guess that Tourmaline was likely a Rank Four being, even though she had masked her aura almost flawlessly.

“I let them go because of her. Besides, that woman is just a Rank Three black mage. I checked her dark energy, it’s not strong,” Maybe continued.

“Besides, Grandfather will emerge from his seclusion soon. The gift I have prepared for him in Beastmen World is almost ready to be delivered.”

He exhaled deeply, then added, “Still... It’s strange. Why would Grandpa be paying attention to those half-beastmen?”

Hosain gave him a small smile.

“It’s probably because Sir Klopp cares for all living beings. Thanks to him, the Western Archipelago has prospered the way it has.”

When it came to contributions to the Western Archipelago, no one could hold a candle to that supreme knight overlord.