“Very well, Sett.” Grandmaster Miles spoke with the same overly fawning voice that he had spoken with since he entered the room. “I look forwards to many years of cooperation and prosperity with you on our side.”

Sett forced out a smile.

“Likewise, Grandmaster Miles.”

The two of them shook hands and the deal was done. For better or for worse, Sett was now bound to the order. Something that he was not entirely clear on if it was a good thing or not.

For the next couple of minutes, they discussed small matters such as accommodation, daily allowance, and timetables, but nothing important.

As he walked out the door, Sett could not help but sigh deeply. He felt all the tension that had built up before and during the meeting flow out of his body. He had managed to look cool and composed during the meeting, true, but the indirect pressure of a fourth-tier ascendant was not something to scoff at. He had almost faltered and broken his cool demeanour multiple times.

Still, all things considered, it had been a fruitful meeting. He had gained countless benefits and had even managed to get the order to participate in his vendetta against the vampires who stole away his friends, while only pledging to join the order in return. As a person who had been an orphan only yesterday, this deal was the best he could ever possibly imagine.

Even better, the supposed contract had only been a verbal one. The Grandmaster, fearing that the council of Gliese Prime would discover their slightly illegal deal, had refused to file any kind of contract with the proper offices as he should have done. Thus, although the contract was still very much binding in the eyes of the Crusader Order of Gliese Prime, it held no power outside its sphere of influence and the council would certainly not step in to remedy the situation should either side not uphold their part of the deal.

But best of all, the Grandmaster had been completely unaware of his divine seed, having thought it to be merely some ancient power or bloodline instead. His divine seed and the chance of the Grandmaster discovering it had been his greatest fear walking into the meeting, yet it had turned out that he had worked himself up over nothing.

A small smile appeared on his face when they began to walk down the hallway. Adina, who had walked out together with him to guide him to his new accommodation, looked far worse for wear. She looked slightly shaken and almost ill.

“You…” Her words started as a whisper. “Do you realise what you have done?”

“Whatever do you mean, Adina?”

Sett eyed the Vice-captain, knowing full well what she was asking about, but feigned ignorance.

“Why did you ask to be placed with me?”

“Why isn’t it obvious.” Sett turned to her with a pleasing smile. “You are one of my few friends in this place, it is only natural that I asked to have you oversee me.”

Sett lied as naturally as he breathed.

The battle for supremacy that happened within the crusader order was not something that he was ignorant of. It was, in fact, something he was quite familiar with. Their squabble was only a little different than children fighting for the best toy, if only with a lot more firepower. In the orphanage, fights like these had been commonplace. Who would get the best rooms? How about the best chores? The best food? The Matron’s appreciation? It was farfetched but still comparable.

Knowing what he knew about internal squabbles and knowing that both sides desperately wanted him, Sett had decided to place himself with the weaker side. Why? Because it would stoke the fires. Adina’s side had been unable to make a move, but now that they had him on their side of the court, they had suddenly become a viable player.

For the Grandmaster to gain control over this newly introduced asset of the Crusader Order, he would have to incentivize Sett with more benefits. Adina’s side, while unable to offer as many resources as the other side, would certainly also do their best to please him.

It was a win-win situation for him.

Though if he had to be truthful, he did feel a lot better having Adina command him around rather than some random Captain of the Grandmaster’s choice. They were, after all, friends.

“Friends!? You would do this because you consider us friends?!” Adina almost shrieked. “Do you have any idea what you have brought upon the order?! The last time something like this happened it almost resulted in a war between the platoons, and you wanted to stoke the fires because you think we are friends!?”

Adina threw her hands up in the air and looked ready to tear her hair out, the only thing stopping her from further tearing into Sett being that they were still within the Grandmaster’s residence.

“Oh…”

Sett chose not to say anything more, fearing that he would give away his ploy and ruin their budding friendship.

Soon, they arrived at the doors of the residence and exited them. Sett took a large breath the moment they passed the threshold. There was simply something about that the Grandmaster’s residence that made it fell suppressing. Sett did not doubt that at least some of the blame laid with the countless runes that radiated essence into the air. Most of the blame, however, came from psychological pressure. The sheer display of wealth was not something that sat well with him considering his life thus far.

The pair quickly left the island that the Grandmaster’s residence resided on. Neither of them wanted to spend another minute on the rock. Both naturally had their own reasons for the quick departure.

The seventh Eden was made up of five large islands and fifty-seven smaller ones. Till this point, Sett had only been guided around some of the larger islands, but now their destination was one of the smaller ones. Specifically, it was the home of the 69th Crusader Company.

The islands that made up the Seventh Eden were a confusing mess. If you wanted to visit one of the larger islands that laid near the centre of the Seventh Eden, it was not hard to find your way. On the other hand, if you wanted to go to one of the smaller ones it would be almost impossible to find your way there unless you had a map or a guide. This especially rang true for the islands located on the outer edge of the Seventh Eden.

The 69th Crusader Company’s home was located on the outer edge. In their journey there, they had crossed countless islands and bridges just to get there. Even if Sett wanted to retrace his steps to where they came from, he doubted he could even remember half of the way.

“Alright, we have arrived.”

Sett was startled.

They had passed many islands on their way here and all of them held impressive buildings, with many facilities that allowed for both training and recreational activities. The home of the 69th Crusader Company was a stark contrast to all the magnificent islands he had seen earlier.

In short, the place was beyond rundown. The facilities, that was already scarce to begin with, looked to be barely maintained. Whereas he saw servants doing the work of cleaning up and such on the other islands, Sett saw no such thing here. The crusaders, who had just been on an active battlefield, had to pick up the broom themselves and scrub away.

Even the nature on this island was worse off. The grass was paler and the trees far less immaculate. The air, too, felt inferior, being far less pleasant to breathe than the air in the centremost islands. That being said, it was still better than the outside air of Gliese Prime.

A sudden thought struck Sett that could explain why it was so.

Sett’s mind’s eye spread outwards, scanning the area. It was as he thought. The amount of essence in this place was far less than the other islands. Looking towards the islands closer to the centre, Sett understood exactly why this was. The essence was strongest within the centre and would gradually dissipate as it spread further outwards, leaving very little for the outermost islands.

Was this not just clear favouritism? Some crusader companies got the luxury treatment while others were sent to the gutters. It almost made Sett want to run back to the Grandmaster to request that he be put in another crusader company’s care.

“This is your home?”

Sett asked Adina, hopeful that she had, against all odds, been playing a prank on him.

“Yes. Specifically, it is the home of the 69th Crusader Company and the 75th Crusader Company.”

Sett blinked his eyes as he stared at Adina.

“You share this space!”

It was unbelievable to Sett. Not only did this place house a crusader company of more than a hundred people, but it also housed two of them. It was beyond bad treatment at this point. How the hell had they not rebelled yet?

Adina simply looked at him without much reaction, seemingly having expected this reaction.

“Why do you put up with this? I mean you are ascendants for crying out loud.”

Sett had secretly been looking forward to living a life of luxury once he arrived at the order, yet this dream would quickly be shot in such a fashion. Ascendants were supposed to be the people that ruled the world from the shadows, yet how could they lead such a poor life? He simply could not comprehend how and why.

“Many share your thoughts, Sett. In my younger years, I too thought the same.” Adina explained with trained patience, clearly having been through this entire spiel before. “Ascendants, while rare in the outside world, account for many millions on Gliese Prime alone. Living in a place such as the Seventh Eden is a dream for many ascendants that many will never experience. Just merely standing still in the Seventh Eden will allow you to advance far faster than you would in the outside world.”

Sett nodded, comprehending Adina’s words. The conflict within the order once again reared its ugly head. The crusaders of the 69th company did not complain because they could easily be replaced if they gave the Grandmaster a reason. It was much safer to just bide your time until you outgrew the realm, or the company’s political situation improved.

“What about the servants?”

“Hmm…? Oh, you mean the squires. Those are the trainees of our order. They follow a full-fledged crusader, learning their craft from them. In exchange, they are often charged with looking after the menial tasks of the company.”

“But why does your company not have any squires?”

“That… the exact reason is a depressing tale.” Adina looked down towards the ground. “Just know that we had to promote most of our squires.”

Feeling that it was a sore subject, Sett decided not to delve deeper into the subject.

While they spoke, the two of them entered the building in the centre of the island, which looked to be some kind of dormitory. Soon, having passed many doors, they arrived before a hallway with doors that seemed slightly bigger than the others. Twisting a key in the lock of the door, Adina made the door swing open.

“This will be your home for the foreseeable future, Sett. Its size is only that of a sergeant’s quarters, but you will have to make do. Please familiarise yourself with it later.”

Sett nodded happily, simply content that he did not have to sleep in bunk beds anymore.

“Good. Now then, there are several rules that any member of the order has to follow. Please do your utmost to remember them.”

Adina then proceeded to go over every rule.

Most of them were mundane, to say the least, but some of them were quite significant. Some of them were important enough to warrant expulsion or even death if you disregarded them.

First were the obvious rules about treason. Working against the order was naturally a no-go. This included colluding with the order’s enemies or working against the order’s allies as well. A rather surprising part of this rules was that you were never allowed to disclose the location of the Seventh Eden to any person, enemy or ally.

The second was about infighting. All fighting that occurred with lethal force was illegal, resulting in great penalties or even expulsion. This rule could be disregarded if a sanctioned duel had been requested and approved by any superior officer of sufficient rank. Strangely, if the enmity between the duelling parties were bad enough, the Grandmaster could even approve a duel to the death.

The third was about contributing to the order. Other than a few mandatory raids, the companies themselves could decide what they wanted to do with their time. The only stipulation being that every member had to contribute a specific number of points to order each month. Points could be earned by doing mundane work, donating things to the order, hunting monsters and returning their meats to the order, or going on raids with the company as a whole.

Having spoken to Sett about the rules for a solid thirty minutes and seeing the dead look in his eyes, Adina decided that it was best to leave it at that and allowed him to gain some rest.

Closing the door behind him, Sett immediately fell on the bed with a content sigh.