Quietly, William stepped out of the cave and stopped in front of the abyss for a moment before walking quite a distance away from the group, so that he could just perceive them with his mana. Hesitantly, William retrieved his communication crystal as he glanced backward, examining it. He squatted on the cold floor, took one deep breath, and let mana flow into the crystal.

It wasn't half a minute before his friend's voice rang out softly.

"Will?"

"Hey. Keep your voice down and don't mention any names, please", William countered instantly, before watching Cale's nervous gaze and receiving an approving nod. "Sorry about that. I didn't intend to get back to you so soon. We found him, Basil. I have some questions for you, but they'll have to wait for now. Do you have time to talk to me for a few minutes?"

While he tried to stay calm and focus on his surroundings, the wind whistled around his ears, so he reflexively closed his eyes and pulled on his hood.

"Yes. I'm alone right now, my wife is in the room next door", Cale replied quietly, as if he too was worried about being heard. At the statement, William had to grin. Presumably Grischa was asleep in the next room, but he still found the paraphrase funny.

"The man's name is Basil Kama, he's a descendant of the blacksmith who forged your sword", William quietly gave in, and could clearly see the horror on Cale's face. His friend didn't even have to say it, William immediately guessed that Cale was unaware of his identity. The mage seemed to want to say something, but fell silent and looked around. Only then did Cale realize that William was sitting in his study. Presumably he was only now making a barrier appear around him, but whether his assumption was correct, William could not say for sure. "I was surprised, too. Currently, I am outside Basil's quarters and we have asked him for help regarding his knowledge. In doing so, we have encountered a problem. He doesn't want to tell us anything without naming Aaron's contact person, but he has made us a counter-offer. If we tell him the location of Karekama, he will tell us everything."

After the long statement, William fell silent, surveying the puzzled and thoughtful features of Cale's face. His friend seemed to understand why he did not call him by name. That Cale was a High-Magician and a swordmaster at the same time, he guarded very carefully. If there was even a chance that Aaron or any of the others learned about it, it would become unpleasant. William had never asked how it came about that he was both a master of magic and a master of the sword, but it seemed to be an important part of his past.

"All right", Cale finally admitted, pointing his finger at his dark hair before letting it grow shorter. With one, however, Cale's whole face changed and instead of the young man now looked at him a man in his 50s, but what surprised William the most were his bright build eyes. Cale seemed to move and the next moment all that was visible was sky behind his head.

"Let Aaron join the conversation, but send the rest of your group out, please", the High-Magician calmly explained. He didn't seem to want Philippa to know about the secret either, and Ben was merely to step outside with him as a companion.

"Basil currently has a visitor. This one is probably not supposed to be listening either, right?"

"Visitor?", Cale repeated in amazement, looking at him with the blue eyes that were strange to him.

"Yes. A young man in his early twenties is here, if I remember correctly his name was...Theorik?"

"Theorik? From the tribe of the gods?"

"Yes exactly", William admitted with relief before wondering if Cale knew the man as well.

"He's... what? Are you sure his name is Theorik? How does he look like?"

Slowly, William straightened up and looked off into the distance; the sun had already almost completely set. He wondered how Cale knew Theorik, but did not elaborate. Somehow, he suspected that Theorik was a deciding factor in his relationship with Basil.

"Tall, red-brown hair, dark eyes. He walks around a spear and a barb."

William could see Cale's eyes growing wide. He gave something to say, but choked and coughed. For a moment, only Cale's disguised voice echoed through the hallway, so William looked around in wonder.

"Send him out, too. Just...", Cale slowly raised his voice and looked forcefully into William's eyes. "... be nice to him. If he shows any signs of wanting to come to Altona, take him with you."

Astonished at the statement, William stared at his friend, finally nodded and went back to the cave. When he took back some mana, Cale's image disappeared, but the voices could still be heard.

Hesitantly, William re-entered the cave and was immediately looked at expectantly by all pairs of eyes.

"Have you been able to reach the swordmaster?", Aaron gave an interested word. With half his body, he had already turned to face William, as if he were about to get up at any moment. William interrupted this by walking toward them group.

"I was lucky, yes. I was able to reach him and he is complying with my request. His only request is for a private conversation between Sir Kama, him, me and...", William raised and directed his next words to the 3rd seat of the Magistrat. "Aaron. Would the rest please leave the room?"

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

Ben and Philippa stood up without any objections, which caused William's gaze to fix on Theorik. Apparently, he had no intention of leaving the room, but Basil's serious grumbling also caused him to stand up and back away. Once silence had fallen and William could be sure the others were far enough away, he dropped between Aaron and Basil and raised the crystal in the air.

"Good evening", was the first thing to be heard from Cale when his face could be seen. He seemed to have opened a window, for his short hair was fluttering in the wind. What surprised William, however, was that he was wearing a coat from what looked like it is from Sylve. Where had he suddenly gotten this one?

"Good evening. Please accept my apologies for this unplanned conversation", Aaron politely chimed in, which William found disconcerting.

"There's no need for you to apologize. I am merely doing Liam a favor. If I heard correctly, you must be Basil Kama."

Cale immediately got to the point and fixed his gaze on the giant. Basil, on the other hand, looked skeptically at Cale for a while, as if weighing whether the man before him was really a swordmaster.

"Not one of them after all", Basil muttered softly, putting on a relieved grin before speaking up in a strong voice. "I am, indeed. You are the man who currently owns Karekama?"

Cale did not answer, but let his actions speak. He distanced himself a few steps from the crystal and made the dark sword appear. It was hard to see at first, but then a source of light appeared and illuminated Cale's entire torso. Immediately William realized that his friend was no longer in the apartment and also that a luminous crystal provided the light. Where was Cale currently?

"You are a swordmaster, aren't you?", Basil gave in an unexpectedly calm tone.

"Yes", Cale confirmed instantly.

"Would you demonstrate it for me a bit?"

While Basil asked the question, Cale drew the beautiful sword from its scabbard and swung it back and forth with practice. Presumably, Basil could not believe his eyes, so he asked Cale to use the sword.

Cale seemed to have expected the question, however, because the next moment he was obviously sliding mana into the blade and making some graceful movements that reminded William of the sword dance from the royal palace of Sylve. No, not only reminded. It was the same routine, but many times more elegant and practiced than he had ever seen before.

"Is that man your father?", Aaron asked quietly as he leaned in a bit to whisper in William's ear. Almost shocked, he tried to avoid it, while his gaze remained fixed on Cale. Was that his intention behind it? He wanted to cover up that he was a High-Magician and pretend to be the King of Sylve instead?

Hesitantly, William dared to glance at Basil, who followed Cale's quick movement with fascination, before turning his attention to Aaron. The man looked him straight in the eye, but said nothing more. At the thought, William remembered something. His father was King Leonhardt of Sylve and especially a High-Magician like Aaron should know exactly what the king looked like. After all, they had all been present at the meeting. Had he realized it was Cale?

William swallowed as he considered what his intention was behind the question.

Aaron had not been present the night of the banquet and he had never addressed William by his real name, only 'Liam'. Even when they were among themselves. Was there any possibility that Aaron was not in the least aware that William was a prince? Even after the banquet and Edward's escort, had Cale never said a word about William's relationship to the royal house of Sylve? Not even once?

"Who knows", William replied calmly as he wandered away from the mage to hide his in his face. He couldn't judge whether Aaron would recognize his little lie. The whole situation made him terribly uncomfortable. He couldn't tell what Aaron was thinking right now and especially he couldn't judge what Cale was thinking about it. Therefore, he simply decided not to react at all.

For a while the three of them watched Cale, who in the meantime moved the wind with his magic and finished the demonstration with an elegant movement. He remained still in front of the crystal for a while before opening his eyes, swinging the sword several times and then lowering it in its sheath.

"Do you still have doubts?", the 12th seat spoke up while holding the weapon in front of his body and looking Basil in the eyes.

"No, not at all. I immediately recognized that it was Karekama, I just wanted to see it in action. A very nice display, you are swordmasters from Sylve, aren't you? How did it come into your possession?"

"I was entrusted with it by the Magistrat", Cale admitted truthfully, causing Aaron to shrug in surprise.

"From the Magistrat? Not from the Paserus? Really?", Basil threw back in surprise, but Cale didn't get around to giving an answer. "You must have a pretty good relationship with the High-Magicians if they just hand over the weapon to you like that."

"I never said it was one-sided. There is a reason, but I'm afraid I can't tell you", Cale replied as he wandered away from Basil and looked William in the eye.

"Am I correct in assuming that the Magistrat had previously hidden Karekama?"

"To my knowledge, this was the case, yes. However, I cannot say exactly for how long."

"Are you aware that Karekama originally belonged to Trista Paseru?"

"One of the Paseru triplets, yes. I know the stories. Trista Paseru was the first owner of Karekama, his older brother Gernoald Paseru owned Zurakekama and his younger brother Jegar was given Mirajokama."

"Correct. My grandfather Linus Kama was a good friend of the Paseru triplets and had bequeathed these three swords to them."

"I have heard about that as well."

"Do you know how the sword came to Altona and where Mirajokama is currently located?"

"Unfortunately, no. To my knowledge, Mirajokama has been considered lost since the Great War in Tsuke, so I cannot tell you where it is currently located. Regarding Karekama, I can only tell you that its previous owner had entrusted it to the Eldest. Unfortunately, I don't know what exactly happened. I would probably have to ask the Eldest about that if it is important to you", Cale explained. Nervously, William watched Cale as he skillfully dodged the awkward questions. No wonder he never lied, nor did he claim to be good at it. He never did. He skillfully dodged the prying questions without looking suspicious. Basil didn't seem to notice the ruse, only Aaron seemed a little concerned. But he had concealed the fact that he was a High-Magician, at least from Basil.

"Too bad. But it's good to know that at least one of the 3 swords is in good hands", Basil replied, which made William frown in irritation. If he didn't know who owned Mirajokama, was Basil talking about the owner of Zurakekama? What exactly had happened and why did he think the swordmaster of Zurakekama was incompetent? "Thank you very much for your time. Take good care of the sword, it has been through a lot."

"Of course", Cale replied, bowing briefly before giving William a final smile. "It's been a pleasure as well. Have a good night."