Sovereign of the Ashes

After parting ways with Bousse, Sein led his newly recruited initiates to the southern border of the Alveroth Empire, where he was set to rendezvous with the Divine Tower of Dark Flame’s airship.

The haul of nearly seven hundred qualified initiates, each with an initial focus score above 10 points, made Sein’s effort well worth it.

As for the magicoins paid to Bousse, Sein did not give them much thought.

In truth, the funds were not even coming out of his own pocket.

The expenses would be reimbursed upon his return to the Divine Tower of Dark Flame.

Before leaving, the tower master had entrusted an impressive amount of public funds to Sein and Keith, the two deans, as a system of mutual accountability.

The sum was astronomical—so much so that even someone as well-off as Sein was momentarily stunned when he first saw the figures.

With such a vast pool of wealth at its disposal, the Divine Tower of Dark Flame would not so much as blink at covering an expense this small.

Upon returning to the airship, Sein was greeted by Bob, the vice dean.

Bob was visibly surprised—not just by the impressive number of over seven hundred initiates Sein had brought back but also by Sein’s approach of “poaching” them from the Alveroth Empire.

Despite having lived for three to four millennia, this was Bob’s first time being involved in such a dubious scheme.

As soon as Sein boarded the airship, Bob did not bother with questions and promptly urged him to get the vessel moving.

“Those little ones are behaving themselves, right?” Sein asked as he stepped onto the deck.

As a Rank Three grand mage, Bob was pretty experienced in the ways of the world.

He took a deep breath before answering, “Most of them are aware they’re heading to the Divine Tower of Dark Flame to study next.”

“With the exception of a few who seemed displeased, the vast majority have gladly accepted their new circumstances,” he added.

Compared to the public magic academies of the empire, the teaching standards and learning environment at a divine tower academy were unquestionably superior.

Children with an initial focus level above 10 points were generally more intelligent than their peers who lacked the qualifications to study magic.

Setting aside whether they had the means to resist or not, the reputation of a divine tower academy far surpassed that of a public academy.

The only issue was that many of the children had never even heard of the Divine Tower of Dark Flame.

In fact, these young initiates were equally unfamiliar with most of the divine towers in the southern regions of the Alveroth Empire.

Yet, none of that mattered. All they needed to know was that a divine tower academy was an awesome place.

No matter where they studied, it was all the same in their eyes.

For children with humble origins like Vern, having the opportunity to attend a divine tower academy was already a stroke of incredible luck.

“Seven hundred initiates aren’t enough to fill the enrollment gap at our academy. In six months, I’ll make another trip,” Sein remarked to Bob.

“Huh? You’re coming back again?” Bob exclaimed, clearly shocked.

“I hope that chubby guy is reliable. We’ll need enough initiates and fresh blood to get the Divine Tower of Dark Flame back on track,” Sein said with a sigh.

Bob could not help but mutter under his breath, “He’s still young and reckless.”

The vice dean was determined not to get involved in another risky endeavor like this.

In fact, he had already started to consider his options if the Divine Tower of Dark Flame were forced to close down.

Perhaps joining a knightly order would not even be such a bad idea.

He had heard good things about the Order of Hurricane Knights in the east and they even offered lucrative positions for Rank Three grand mages as magic advisors.

***

After returning to the Divine Tower of Dark Flame, Sein once again immersed himself in the demanding task of rebuilding the academy.

The seven hundred magic initiates he had brought back were not a significant number, but they were enough to replenish the divine tower academy’s population partially.

At least the awkward scenes of two initiates attending lessons in a large classroom were now a thing of the past.

These new arrivals also allowed the academy mages who had remained loyal to the Divine Tower of Dark Flame to resume teaching their lessons.

Six months later, Sein was pleased to receive another 1,043 magic initiates from Bousse in the Alveroth Empire.

This time, Bousse did not work alone—he lacked the influence to accomplish such a feat on his own.

Following Sein’s suggestion, Bousse leveraged the power of magicoins and successfully enlisted the help of two fellow academy mages with whom he had good relations.

The 1,043 initiates they smuggled were gathered from the cities these two academy mages oversaw.

It was evident that anyone close to Bousse was not particularly affluent.

To reward their efforts, Sein distributed over two hundred magicoins, even allowing Bousse to take a share of the cut.

Despite their progress, Sein remained unsatisfied with their speed of gathering magic initiates.

It was not practical for a small group of academy mages to continuously embark on initiate escort missions either.

Sooner or later, such activities would attract attention and risk exposure.

In response to Bousse’s humble request for advice, Sein offered him a solution.

“It’s not like the Alveroth Empire has only one public magic academy in Francina City. There are others beyond the one you’re working at. You should expand your reach into those academies. You don’t need to recruit too many people—five or six underlings will suffice. Remember, discretion is the key,” Sein advised.

Whether Sein was a bad influence on Bousse remained debatable.

Under the allure of Sein’s magicoins, Bousse gradually transformed from an honest, unassuming academy mage into a resourceful and cunning one.

A fatty with a sharp mind—that was how almost everyone who came to know Bousse in the future described him.

***

After Bousse and his team found their rhythm, they managed to provide the Divine Tower of Dark Flame with over a thousand initiates annually from the second year onward.

This number was sufficient to saturate the divine tower academy.

Most other divine towers, on average, accepted just over ten thousand students every decade.

While Divine Tower of Dark Flame had new initiates joining every year, the cumulative total matched that of other divine towers.

The main challenge was managing the initiates arriving in batches, which complicated the lesson schedules and cohort structures compared to other divine tower academies.

This added complexity tested Sein’s leadership as dean and the abilities of the cohort leaders working under him.

Fortunately, the Divine Tower of Dark Flame had stood for twenty thousand years and retained a number of competent academy mages.

While their combat prowess might not rival those of war mages, their teaching abilities often surpassed even Sein’s capabilities as dean.

Each had their specialty, and while the Divine Tower of Dark Flame had endured significant changes, it was gradually stabilizing.