"How do you know that?" the Nox swordswoman and the Nox monk cried out in unison, their faces filled with shock.
A faint smile tugged at Nolan's lips as he answered lightly, "I know plenty of things. If I had to explain every one of them to you, wouldn't that exhaust me?"
His tone was relaxed, as if this were no great secret at all, but his words sent a storm through the swordswoman and the monk.
Nolan glanced at them and continued, "That is the Lord you created to imitate others, am I right?"
"But there can only be one Lord. How is that thing you created, something that merely imitates others, supposed to sit upon the one and only throne?"
His words struck like a blade, piercing straight into the hearts of the Nox monk and swordswoman, leaving them with nowhere to hide.
The Nox monk and the Nox swordswoman looked at each other, utterly speechless.
This was the Eternal City's highest secret. All research had been conducted under the strictest secrecy, and even among the Noxians, only the upper ranks knew of the plan.
Through countless dark days and nights, the Noxians had silently endured the suffocating loneliness of life underground.
They longed for freedom, for true starlight, for the chance to escape that self-deceiving false sky and gaze up at the stars and moon beneath a real night.
And so they had resolved to create a Lord, a Lord of Night who could lead them out from underground and back to the surface.
The Mimic Tear was the result of their Lord-making experiment, an artificial living weapon capable of imitating the power of others in battle.
But the plan had not succeeded. The Mimic Tear could only be considered half-finished, still far from meeting the Noxians' expectations.
Its power was not great enough to stand against the Stellar Beasts, let alone lead the Noxians out of their confinement and back to the surface.
But would another thousand years be enough for this Lord-making plan to succeed?
After a thousand years of research, they had long since lost confidence.
The Lord they had created could not compare to the war Lord of the Golden Order Dynasty. It could not even compare to that little girl named Renna from the Caria family.
Rulers capable of conquering the Lands Between, making all peoples submit, and compelling countless heroes to bow willingly had always been exceedingly rare throughout history.
Years of research had led them to one conclusion: man-made creations were simply too hard-pressed to surpass those monsters.
"Looks like you don't have much confidence in what you created either," Nolan said with a soft laugh. "Still, since you call that thing a 'Lord,' I assume you still have some expectations for it."
"If I remember correctly, you are a swordswoman and a monk. Your status among the Noxians should be fairly high." His gaze settled on the two Noxians before him. "What are your names?"
Nolan's stare made the swordswoman and monk tense. Their bodies trembled despite themselves.
The man was smiling, and his smile was gentle, yet for some reason his very presence pressed down on them invisibly, making their breathing quicken.
"Alexia."
"Olivia."
"Very good. Swordswoman Alexia, Monk Olivia. Now that Caelid's aftermath has mostly been settled, I have decided to personally lead the army in a campaign against Nokron."
Nolan's voice echoed through the spacious hall.
After he spoke, Nolan casually waved his hand. The maids moved swiftly and gracefully to his side, bowed slightly, and awaited his orders.
"You still have time. When I arrive in Nokron, you may give me your answer together with your kin. Until then, go and rest properly."
Nolan's tone remained mild. Without any delay, the maids led the two away.
Alexia and Olivia exchanged a glance, both seeing a trace of surprise in the other's eyes.
But they said nothing more. They merely nodded in silence and followed the maids out of the hall.
Nolan, of course, would not allow a force that could threaten his Dynasty to exist within his realm.
If such a threat existed, Nolan would give them only two choices: submit or perish.
Placing one's hopes in an opponent's mercy was foolish. Peace and beauty had to be created and defended with blades.
A ruler never carried only his own life on his shoulders, but the lives of countless people behind him as well.
A moment later, Nolan led Sellen out of the hall with a smile, his steps light. Everyone they met along the way bowed respectfully to him.
No Numen would ignore him. Many people came and went through the castle every day, but only he was worth such attention from the Numen maidens.
What a pleasant day.
Delighted, Nolan brought Sellen into the banquet hall to welcome her back.
The cooks had prepared a lavish meal, but Sellen disliked crowds, so aside from the Numen, only the two of them were in the room.
Nolan gently held Sellen's hand and led her to the table.
His eyes remained on Sellen, admiring her beautiful eyes and her slightly furrowed brow.
"You don't seem very happy, Teacher."
"This trip to Caelid was basically a waste of time."
Sellen sighed as she looked at her grinning student. She thought that perhaps her clever brain ought to take a rest and learn from this student's ability to be carefree at any time.
Although Stars of Ruin was no small gain, what Sellen pursued was not merely the strength of sorcery, but something more fundamental: the truth of the stars.
"In a couple of days, I'll go to Stormhill and look around. With some luck, perhaps I can find fragments of Teacher Lusat's body."
Are you planning to collect the fragments and put together a new Lusat?
Nolan muttered inwardly, helpless in the face of Sellen's persistence.
"That was my fault. At the time, I was only thinking about testing the power of the Gravitas attack, and I forgot to leave him a whole body for you," Nolan said, scratching his head in embarrassment.
"You didn't do it on purpose?" Sellen looked at Nolan suspiciously, clearly not quite convinced.
"Of course not. Do you really suspect your obedient student of deliberately causing trouble for you?" Nolan asked back with a wounded expression, as if he had suffered some great injustice.
"You've become a Lord, yet you still can't act properly?" Sellen was not wearing her helmet, and Nolan saw her roll her eyes.
"I've had enough of the miserable days of acting proper. Now I just want to live freely and laugh as much as I please every day." Nolan grinned, showing a mouthful of bright white teeth.
Sellen looked at her disciple for a long while without speaking. She had always felt this student was not a normal person, more like a madman pretending to be sane.
But she had no standing to criticize him. At the Magic Academy, she herself had been famous as an oddball. The two of them were simply a pair of oddballs thrown together.
"Always like this. When will you grow into a qualified Glintstone Sorcerer? When will you discover the beauty of the starry sky?"
At the words "starry sky," Nolan suddenly seemed to remember something important. He slapped his forehead and said excitedly, "Right! Speaking of the starry sky, I happen to have a gift for you. Consider it a small bit of compensation."
"Compensation…"
Sellen remembered that night in Caelid, when she had jokingly thought about asking this student for a little compensation.
Now that he had brought it up on his own, Sellen could not help laughing. This odd master and apprentice pair really did have an unexpected understanding at times.