The old archmage woman brought out some sort of crystal globe that looked like a cheap prop that was used by fake fortune tellers but based on the two High Wizards’ reactions, it must be a valuable artifact.

“By the way, is that magical item that made the room cold yours, young wizard?” Archmage Voduria asked Frederick since the wooden board of air conditioner was beside him.

“Yes, madam. It was made by Sir. Anton,” Frederick said then he blushed.

They all agreed that they would be honest and even inform the city of Anton’s ability to create enchanted items if they were asked. That was the crook of the matter. They would answer honestly if they were asked but not volunteer any information but even though Anders glared at the mage, Anton didn’t fault Frederick since they were in front of a powerful archmage.

“Oh? So you are an artifact maker as well? What a talented child you are,” The archmage smiled.

The two high wizards Lurien and Bolat couldn’t keep their expression of amazement on their faces and the Zenoxus smiled widely again.

“We will begin with you young wizard. If we’re satisfied with the information we gleaned from you, we may skip asking your father and his assistant the questioning process but I’m afraid that we will have to conduct a very thorough questioning of the vampires since they were a part of the Undead Coalition,” Archmage Voduria said.

“We understand,” Anton complied.

“May we stay?” Lurien asked both Anton and Voduria.

Voduria looked at Anton as if saying that it was going to be his decision and he just shrugged indicating that it was fine with him and when the two high wizards saw that, they both smiled.

Anders, Frederick, and the three vampires joined the two high wizards by the side of the room, and the archmage and Voduria sat in front of each other.

The first part of the questioning was simple enough. Voduria told Anton to lie first so they would know if the orb was working. It was mainly for Anton and his group’s benefit, so they would learn that they couldn’t lie in front of the orb. Anton said a lie like the sky was green or that Frederick was truly a female and the orb flashed red. After that Anton said some true statements and the orb was silent. It meant that the orb of truth was functioning without any problem.

The old archmage then began the official questioning by asking him his name, his age, his place of birth, his father’s name, and all sorts of basic identity information. At first, Anton was worried that if he said that he was Anton, Anders's son the orb of truth wouldn’t accept it since he did transmigrate from Earth but since the orb didn’t react, it accepted the information coming out from him as the truth.

Anton was guessing that his old identity was not true anymore. What he was now was the simple truth. Anthony Saunders was dead and for a brief moment, he grieved again for a bit but then that moment passed.

The next question the archmage asked surprised everyone.

“Are you a high wizard?” Voduria asked.

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When Anton answered yes the orb of truth flashed red. The archmage gave him a questioning look.

“Well, to be honest, I don’t know what magic rank I’ve reached. According to Frederick there and the vampires, I’m as powerful as an archmage but even if I am, knowledge-wise wise I’m not an archmage so we settled on a high wizard.”

Voduria paused for a bit and everyone could see that the archmage was thinking deeply.

“On the next questions that I’m going to ask answer yes first then answer no regardless of what the orb shows, okay?”

Anton nodded to show his understanding.

Voduria then asked if he was a high wizard again so Anton answered yes. The orb of truth flashed red. When the archmage asked the same question, he answered no and the orb of truth remained silent. The archmage then asked if he was an archmage so as instructed, Anton answered yes and the orb remained silent meaning that the orb considered him as an archmage.

“I have a question, Madam. Will the orb react to a lie that a person deeply believes to be true?” Anton asked.

“No. We conduct thorough testing and the magic knows what is truth and what is not regardless of the belief of the one being questioned so that means that you are an archmage. Now this next question is important since if the answer that you gave is yes and is not true, we will need to do this again. Are you a first-level archmage?”

Anton answered yes as instructed and the orb remained silent. Voduria sighed in satisfaction.

“The reason I asked that question is Lurien should have mentioned that the orb should be operated by a wizard of higher rank than the one that was being questioned and since we’re both archmages, I needed to ask your level. Since I’m a third-level archmage and you’re a first-level, the questioning is valid. To be able to teach the archmage level at the age of seventeen, even though you’re not unique, in the history of our city, in the past thousand years, only two people became archmages younger than their twenties and our city’s greatest wizard became one at the age of fifteen. The second one became an archmage at the age of nineteen and now here you are, seventeen, and already an archmage. What are your plans in this city young archmage,” Archmage Voduria asked Anton.

Anton saw that the two high wizards Lurien and Bolat were looking at him in awe while Anders and Frederick had the look of pride on their faces. The three vampires were wearing the same jubilant expressions as if they had won the lottery.

“Me and my family are tired of running and would like to settle here in the city. Of course, my goal is to make sure my father and my sister live a life of safety and even luxury and I’m guessing that my power would allow us to do that.”

“Yes. The fact that you’re also an artifact maker would make you incredibly wealthy and as with any other city in this world, sad to say that there is still a dark underbelly that exists in our beloved city like gangs of criminals and some such nonsense who would seek out newcomers if they could earn benefits from them but the fact that you’re an archmage, you will probably encountered minimum disturbance from that sort of people. You may have to display your power once in a while to make sure that you will not tolerate any disrespect to you and yours but it is a given and we will not fault you with that. All the people in your father’s caravan will still need to register as citizens so you can legitimately run a business in the city but Lurien should be able to assist you with that. We will send someone at a later time to invite the vampires so they can share all their knowledge about the Undead Coalition with the city. ”

The archmage Voduria stood up and looked like she was about to leave but then she turned to Anton again.

“Welcome to the city. Please be aware that we do welcome powerful people like you especially if you will lend us your power to defend the city from invaders like the Undead Coalition.” Voduria then left without waiting for Anton to respond.

More than likely, the archmage knew what his response would be given that his family would be staying in the city and that Anton obviously deeply cared about his family.

“Sir Lurien, I know as a high wizard, you’re very busy so you can just lead us to a person from the city government that we could hire as our liaison so we can complete all the necessary paperwork to live and work in Zalnothel,” Anton said to the high wizard.

“Sir Archmage, I’ll be more than happy to assist you with that! I know you’re also busy so I will communicate with your father regarding those boring business,” Lurien replied.