I couldn't hold myself back upon looking at Lillie's cuteness, so I subconsciously began patting her head. She closed her eyes and giggled.

Suddenly, a thing that I had forgotten for some time crossed over my mind. Guess, it’s about time to get the scientists into the base. Landon must have been grumbling by now.

Long story short, I had ATA docked the spaceship to the base. And in less than a minute, all the scientists entered the Headquarter.

Right before Landon got into the living room, I transmitted a voice to him, “Remember! Be sure not to call me by my name. You can call me sir or milord.”

“Hmm…? What are you tryin’ to achieve? Why with the sudden role-playing? Did you have an acute 8th-grade syndrome? And the native livi—”

“Okay, enough question! I'll explain it to you later. And no! I didn't have 8th-grade syndrome! You’ll know when you get in.”

Subsequently, Landon entered the room and glanced at me. His expression was initially confused before changing into a realization. Naturally, I had given him the translation, so he could speak in the Common Language.

“Vic… Mi… Milo… S-Sir… I didn’t know that you have this kind of preference…” Landon stupidly grinned while watching me.

“Hmm…? What do you… Ah!” Wait, why am I still rubbing her head? Well, her hair is so smooth and silky… She's really an epitome of purity, her charm is terrifying!

I swiftly stopped what I was doing and coughed; though there was a trace of a letdown on her face the moment my hand left her head.

"Milord. May I know who's this man with strange attire?" Brown asked, completely ignoring my previous action.

“Well, let me introduce you two. He is Professor Landon and he’ll be in charge of developing stuff…”

After the introduction, Landon and the other scientist settled down on the Headquarter since the laboratory and the special residence for them weren’t yet built. In the meantime, I went out to do some post-war inspection.

***

A Certain Group of Magus’ Perspective

Inside a certain badly illuminated conference hall, filled with an eerie mystical air, there was a big floating round table. It had twelve floating chairs that surrounded it, which housed exactly twelve silhouettes of figures. All of them looked obscure, if a mortal was to try to see them, they wouldn't find anything.

Out of the blue, one of the figures with eyes full of stars sitting on one of the three bigger chairs commented, “All right. Now that everyone’s here, I think it’s the right time to start the conference.”

“Hmph! Is there any point to discuss? He killed an honorary dean! Isn’t that enough to warrant a death sentence?” grumbled another figure with a hoarse voice, also sitting on the bigger chairs.

"Yeah, that guy tarnished the institute's reputation. I suggest that we dispatch someone to kill him!”

“I heard that he is a ‘legacy holder’, someone that holds the legacy from the past. And he commands an army of golems. Why don’t we demand him to give us the legacy?”

“Stupid! If we do that, he would just sell it to another party.”

The dozens of figures in the conference hall kept discussing in a loud voice. Magic fluctuations pervaded the hall, they did this so that no one spied on them and heard the content of their discussion.

“Enough!” The star-eyed figure said, “This isn’t the time to debate! He killed Arnold with ease… Moreover, he called himself ‘Cosmic Lord.’ We all know that only someone at the High Magus stage or above are permitted to call themselves as ‘Lord.’”

Hearing what he said, the figures in the conference hall continued to discuss in a hushed voice.

“I agree with Vice-Chancellor Michael.” A smooth, refined voice was heard as another woman figure sitting on the bigger chairs commented, “The ‘centennial war’ between the five human nations will come within a few years. If he gave that legacy to other factions, it might affect the equilibrium. We didn’t achieve a good outcome previously ‘cause of our lack of unity. Especially that someone that didn’t want to cooperate.”

“Hmm…? Are you tryin’ to blame me? You old woman!” The figure with a hoarse voice from glared at her with killing intent.

“I didn’t say that it was you, or are you feeling that those words fit your character? Oh, and please mind your words, I’m way younger than you.”

“Damnable bitch! Did you want to die?” Dark elemental power began to emerge around the hoarse voice figure, giving pressure to everyone in the conference hall.

“Heh… What a savage, uncultured old wretch. Are you dare to make a move here?” As she said that, light elemental power gathered around her and started clashing with his power.

“You!”

Two hidden sparks were clashing between the two figures. The others could only silently watch, neither having any courage nor any intention to interrupt.

"Enough you two!" The star-eyed figure let out a divine pressure, canceling the two elemental pressures. “Since the disappearance of the chancellor almost a hundred years ago, our unity started to falter. Other factions such as the Warlock Temple of the Gragon Empire were eyeing us to make an internal dispute and reap the reward.”

"Hmph! This can be simply solved if we select a new chancellor.”

"That won't do. The chancellor's mana imprint is still on. And I've made divination that he'll be back before the 'centennial war.'" Michael's figure shook his head and then said, "Anyway, I cannot divine this, 'Cosmic Lord.' It was as if he didn't come from this world."

“What?! Even Prophet Michael cannot divine him?”

“Isn’t there a possibility that he might be a ‘foreign being’?”

“Foreign being? Is it that… ‘being’?” The woman figure was a bit taken aback by that possibility but swiftly dismissed the idea, “No, is he a demon or a devil? Recently there’s a sighting of them in the capital of Raivia.”

“It’s neither… I can tell that for sure. I may be called a prophet, but my ability is limited.”

A Diviner’s power was against the ‘Prime Magical Plane’ itself. If a Diviner wanted to divine something from outside, the farther the target’s origin, the more immense power would be needed.

“In any case, there are countless planes out there. The ancient Great Magus Empire once controlled numerous worlds in the astral plane. And if we sum it up with him being a legacy holder and hold the title of ‘Lord’… It wouldn’t be a far fetch if he was a descendant that came from outside.”

If Victor was here, he would be impressed by how far the Magus guessed his identity. Nevertheless, they missed the fact of the possibility of another universe out there because of the lack of knowledge.

"Still, to cross between planes, one needed to be at least a High Magus or have the help of one and owned an astral gate. Unless he has the legendary 'Magic Ship' which the technology was lost."

“Magic Ship…” Almost all the figures there swallowed their saliva upon hearing those two words.

Traveling between planes cost a very high amount of resources. If they could lay their hands on a “Magic Ship,” they would have access to an unlimited amount of riches which would bring them to a new height. Heck, if they could mass-produce the thing, the era of plane colonization could begin.

The figures of the higher-ups on the round table continued their chatter but still hadn't come up with a conclusion. Some of them wanted to take the legacy by force, some were proposing to make a deal with him, while the rest stayed silent. The three figures sitting on the bigger chairs didn't join on the discussion though.

“I’ll be going there myself. I’ll demand that legacy he has myself. If he complied, I’ll spare him, and if he refused… Hehe-heh… He might have the power of High Magus, but so what? I can handle him with ease," one of the figures with an eerie air proposed.

“If we do that, he’d be offended. And there isn't a guarantee that he really has a ‘Magic Ship.’ If push comes to shove, he may also destroy those things with him.” The woman figure shook his head, but then continued, "Well, I'm certain that Vice-Chancellor Michael must have come up with a few means, right?"

“Indeed. Since we lack knowledge and information about him, I suggest that we send out an emissary to investigate and be our representative. The emissary's purpose will be to ask for his allegiance. Since his location is near the border and the ‘centennial war’ is coming, he can be a meat shield to hinder ‘them.’”

“An emissary?”

“Yes, and that someone is my student, David. He will take the job.” As that was said, a middle-aged man emerged from the entrance of the conference hall. He was wearing a round magician hat, a black tuxedo, and even a long cane, looking like someone that would do a magic trick.

David glanced through the twelve figures with respect before turning to Michael and said, “Mentor!”

“Mhm… David, I assign you to be our representative. Do the things that I have told you before. Especially the ‘special task.’”

“Of course, of course, my mentor.” David gentlemanly bowed to his mentor before backing away.

“I guess there’s no one to object, no?”

“Hmph! As long as it isn’t from that woman’s faction, I don’t have any objection.”

“Yes, none here. But it seems that you have been hiding something from us,” the woman figure said in a low voice.

“Hmm…?" The figure of Michael twitched before transmitting a voice to the two figures, “As expected. Guess… No, I divine that speaking now would be inappropriate. My apologies for not telling.”

“…”