The Eldrim Cards Legacy

Chapter 228: Anticipation

Nero could not call himself an expert on foreign policy, nor was it a topic that was covered in school so far. At most they established, with broad strokes, the relationship Kolar had with the other countries.

Kolar was not on good terms with Saint Codale and Dolziya, considering the multiple wars they'd had in the past. The accusations against Kolar for assassinating multiple Saint candidates didn't help much either, nor did the fact that Dolziya was heavily suspected of sponsoring every kind of illegal activity that took place in Kolar.

The relationship with New Velariya was tense, but mostly neutral due to the fact that the residents of the country saw themselves as too superior to concern themselves with the rest of the world. It did not help that they were, in fact, at the forefront of Eldrim card research and manufacturing in the whole world.

They also didn't share a border with Kolar, so conflicts were usually kept to a minimum.

Nova was considered Kolar's oldest ally, and they had a long history of cooperation, mostly because the two countries were the furthest away from each other.

The relationship with Creta was once again neutral, mostly because it was treated with such disdain. It was the most barren of all countries, had the largest curse zone in the world, often suffered from invasion of cursed beasts through the fog clearing, and overall had the most deplorable conditions of any country.

All of that might not necessarily be true, but considering that Nero's only source of information were books and the internet in Kolar, it more or less covered the impression Kolar had of the country.

The fact that, for the ruins, Kolar had been willing to declare a world war, fighting multiple countries alone, dictated the enormous military might of the country. They did not take everyone too seriously, though they didn't ignore them outright either.

But it had not always been like this, so the fact that Kolar had reached such heights meant that it had been governed competently, with a clear vision and due vigilance against domestic and foreign threats. At least, that's what Nero learned from the little research he had done on his own.

That was precisely why Flintlock's claims about Unity sounded completely preposterous. If nothing else, the sheer arrogance of Kolar should have kept it from cooperating with any foreign powers operating within its own borders. That was his first thought.

But then he was immediately reminded of all that he had experienced in Lumina. The fact that different factions were competing with each other for artefacts, and that someone had been willing to bring in spies from Nova, and the countless other examples he saw of subterfuge and undercurrent gave him pause. It made him realise that maybe Kolar was not as united as he had always thought.

By now he knew it. In fact, he had even used that very fact to his own advantage when he used Unity to hide the secrets of Virtuous Moonlight, not to mention all that Whisper Guard had done for him. But it was just difficult to move past some of his conceptions from his childhood.

"Unity is divided into two distinct strata: an inner and an outer stratum. The inner level is composed of the core of the organisation.

They are the only ones who can issue missions, and they maintain the organisation, ensure it stays true to its mission, and basically ensure that none of its outer members use the facilities and services provided by the organisation to do anything counterproductive to the goal of the organisation itself.

With that cryptic prediction conveyed, Flintlock stepped back into the darkness of the corner, and disappeared. Even the flickering blue flames could no longer find his outline in the cell. A thin streak of pale moonlight suddenly slipped through his window, as if the moon was revealed from behind parting clouds, illuminating the cell.

Besides Nero there was no one else there, almost as if he had imagined the whole thing.

Yet the card, placed upside down on the stone seat was no illusion though Nero didn't move to pick it up just yet.

He reflected on his conversation with Flintlock, and came to the conclusion that the masked man more or less knew that Nero would not so easily agree to join. But he did not seem concerned at all. From start to end, it was as if he was acting out a formality.

His confidence that Nero would join, regardless of how Nero tried to distance himself from the shady organisation, was slightly worrying. What did he know, or what did he anticipate would drive Nero to them? His final hint was about their cross border intelligence.

Did this have something to do with Vanessa? Was she a part of Unity, or had she encountered some kind of problem?

Unable to come to a conclusion, Nero stepped forward and picked up the unassuming card.

Name: Flickering lantern

Image: A white candle, nearly used up entirely, inside a glass lantern

Type: Illusion

Star rank: 0

Ability: [Disperse the darkness of ignorance with the light of knowledge]

Flavour text: "As I sate my greed for knowledge, my power grows," - Iskunder Macedon

Nero put the card in his cardcase and sat down, beginning his meditation. Since he could not train his body, then he would continuously train his aether, reaching ever closer to the Initiate realm.