Chapter 1058: I Am No Hero
Northern was a bit surprised.
"Professor Heimburger? Ah right! Professor Heimburger. Did he even survive the Academy crash? I don’t think so..."
Ilitis wore a soft, knowing smile.
"I am sure he did, my lord."
Northern studied Ilitis’s face for a couple of seconds, then turned and leaned against the railing, facing him fully.
"So... what do you have to tell me?"
Ilitis gently folded his hands in front.
"He has been to the Northern Continent more than once. And right now... he is also fleeing to the Northern Continent. Over the span of ten years, up until recently, he had been meeting with a strange young man at least twenty-six times."
Northern turned his head, a little shocked.
"That is surprisingly detailed."
He tilted his head slightly and bore his gaze into Ilitis.
"Ilitis... really, what is your talent? How are you able to know all these things? And why can’t I see it?"
Northern pointed to his eyes.
"I have special eyes, you see... even though now they are somewhat broken... to my eyes, you seem to be just an ordinary human. However, it makes no sense that an ordinary human can know all these things. We are getting back to the Professor’s issue, of course, but I’m just rather amazed..."
Ilitis smiled.
"I am as human as you think me to be. After all this is over, I shall show it to you."
Northern looked at him with a small grin tugging at the corner of his lips. Then he chuckled lightly.
"Then I have something to look forward to."
He exhaled and gestured.
"So what do you think Professor Heimburger is plotting? I mean, it’s not hard to see that he is plotting something. The guy has practically lived since Milhwa. I might not have thought much about it, but I didn’t entirely rule him out either."
Ilitis grinned.
"Sharp of you, my lord. What I have are very vague suspicions, but they are often more likely to be valid than not... simply because my intuition feeds on real information."
Northern’s face went blank, then he scoffed, causing Ilitis to raise his brows slightly.
"Sir?"
Northern scoffed again.
"Don’t mind me... you sounding so full of yourself just reminded me of how you were when we met. You were quite cocky. How did I not notice that?"
Ilitis’s face remained stone-cold despite Northern’s remark.
He adjusted his monocle.
"I apologize if I was rude at the time."
Northern scoffed and waved his hand dismissively.
"Don’t bother with that. It was fun. So... what do you think Professor Heimburger is up to?"
Ilitis paused.
"Everything..."
Northern raised a brow.
"Everything?"
"When I think about how complex Koll’s plan was, involving the government and using them as a tool to sow chaos and discord into the continent... it seems rather strange. I feel like there is more. The whole thing had to have been cooked up by someone who knew human society better—not someone who came from the underworld."
He paused to breathe.
"Besides, the Professor is wrapped in too much mystery. Not much history was explained to us about who Professor Heimburger is and why he is able to live despite being human."
Northern raised his brows.
’Wow... I am not shocked that he knew about that too...’
Ilitis continued, unaware of Northern’s thoughts.
"I am certain that Professor Heimburger plotted this whole thing with Koll. However, the truth of that information is useless to us at the moment. What we need to figure out is what he had to gain from it."
Northern looked down, lost in deep thought.
"So what do you think?"
Ilitis sighed.
"Sadly, I do not know yet. But I am sure that it has to do with whatever he goes to see in the Northern Continent."
Northern crossed his arms, carefully weighing Ilitis’s words.
He glanced down. The ship had long ago landed, and the crew had entered the citadel building, making their way up.
Now, they were about to enter the wide hall that led to the balcony where Northern and Ilitis currently stood talking.
The elevator clicked open, and people slowly poured into the hall.
Northern touched Ilitis’s shoulder and smiled.
"Keep doing what you are doing. Find out what he is up to and create a backup plan if Professor Heimburger turns out to be a problem for us."
Ilitis smiled and bowed as Northern walked past him.
He entered the hall, meeting back up with Eli, Raven, and the rest.
The air in the hall was thick and strange. Like invisible lightning charged to its peak crackling around them.
Helena had blended into the crowd. Lira and Nova seemed giddy as they explained something to her. Lira was slightly taller, but all three were around the same height. Helena, though, looked clearly older.
Eli and Thalen seemed to recognize each other as well. Annette, Raven, and Vida were the odd ones out, who slowly walked to Northern.
It was as hard as ever to read what Raven was thinking. Her face was as blank as Northern remembered it being. Or even more blank than usual, holding back something deeper, darker.
’How the hell did she become a Paragon? Did she make a deal with the devil or something... tsk... this is crazy.’
Northern, of course, was not bothered by the fact that Raven was a Paragon. That rank didn’t trouble him so much anymore. A Paragon didn’t mean much, because he was sure that he could teach a few of them lessons.
Again, Koll and Dante were able to use whatever method to quickly make a few people Paragons, so it was not completely impossible.
At the same time, Koll was perhaps hundreds, if not thousands of years old—a Tyrant—while Raven... she was just nineteen.
’Yes... crazy, very crazy!’
He was going to find out, but not yet. They had not had much time to talk because of the obvious reasons.
Raven looked at him, her face serious.
"Northern."
He responded with a brief glance at her and looked at Bairan and Annette.
"Things will be moving quickly from here..."
Annette grinned, her eyes sparking with energy and readiness.
"Of course, we are ready for whatever is coming. I believe we have rested enough."
Vida also stared with firm resolve.
"Anything you need us to do, just say it."
Northern smiled briefly. He was feeling a little shy and awkward, but the situation was kind of serious. Or he was slowly growing used to this position.
"We have to split ourselves into teams. Three, basically. One team will be in charge of protecting the Central Plains with whatever we have left here. The second team will focus on dealing with Koll and whatever backup plans he had put in place, while the third team will be dealing with Kryos."
All their gazes sharpened with intense focus and resolve as Northern continued.
"The team that will be staying back to protect the Central Plains will have the support of my summons. They will be here to help all of you. The team facing Koll..."
Northern shifted his gaze.
"Revant. You will be leading that team."
Revant did not seem bothered by the assignment. He just treated it with his usual disgust and ignored it.
Northern wanted Revant to fight Koll for it to serve as a challenge—to either help change the Tyrant’s outlook and help him become more active than passive, or he really could just be so overpowered that he simply ended Koll.
But honestly, Northern did not think Koll could be easily defeated. And Revant was not a full Tyrant right now. He was sure something was bound to change from the battle, but he did not know what.
He turned to Jeci and Lynus.
"Is it alright if you assist him?"
Jeci lowered her head.
"Of course, my lord. I am glad that I am useful to you."
"You have always been useful... please stop using self-pitying statements like that."
He turned away and looked at Annette.
"You will lead the rest—my summons and everyone that remains—and protect the Central Plains."
Annette’s face hardened, her eye glowing.
"Roger that."
Annette looked at him closely. She hesitated a little.
"What about you? Don’t tell me you plan to be the only one on the team that will be fighting Kryos."
Northern smiled softly.
"Of course not. This is not the time for me to be full of myself. I will be going to the Dark Continent with every Paragon that I can gather. Of course, I still plan to have a one-on-one trial with an Origin and measure how strong I am from the perspective of the grand scheme of things."
Annette looked at him for a couple of heartbeats and shook her head.
"You are very weird. Are you really thinking about that at a time like this? With an Origin?"
Northern grinned smugly.
"What? You saw me hold my own against a Luminary. Are you having second thoughts?"
Annette chuckled dryly. She seemed almost gripped by terror.
"Second thoughts? Am I crazy? At this point, I have no doubt you could single-handedly tear the Central Continent apart. I have no doubt, no second thought whatsoever. You have always been great, and I am glad the world gets to see that now."
Northern’s smile went soft and pleased.
"Thank you, Instructor Annette."
Her eye widened for a moment. Then she frowned darkly and pointed at him fiercely.
"You better not do anything reckless. You are not a hero, remember that."
Northern lifted his chin with a cocky grin.
"Naturally... I am no hero."
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