Supreme Magus novel Chapter 3098

Chapter 3098 Binding Contract (Part 2)

"What about the Forgemasters?" Strider chimed in, sure that he wasn't interrupting anything. "Are you willing to release them?"

"We are no prisoners, hatchling." Barham said. "We came here of our own will. We have been paid to do a job and will leave when we are done. Not a second sooner. Our honor and reputation as Forgemasters are on the line."

"Does everyone share Elder Barham's opinion?" Strider patted the backs of the Awakened one by one, establishing a mind link to allow them to speak without being heard if needed.

"Yes, we do." Words and thoughts matched so Strider and Ryka could sigh in relief.

The mission was a success and no one was in danger.

Also, the Council would be pleased to hear that news and probably reward the two of them handsomely for their initiative. Unlike Lith, they were operatives of the Hand of Fate and loyalty had to be rewarded for it to be kept.

"How did you find us?" Erslan asked.

"I have my ways." Lith shrugged.

"Let me guess. You are the one who set the bounty for Menadion's book." The Dawn King was no fool and even though his information network couldn't trace the bounty back to Haug, Erslan could still connect the dots.

"Someone noticed the disappearance of the idiots and tipped you off. What a rotten luck we have." He sighed, looking at the scene of the battle. "As a sign of good faith, I'll help you. Cathras there has a book that matches your vague description."

He pointed at a woman who was over 400 years old but didn't look one day past thirty. She yelped at the accusatory finger followed by the greedy looks of her colleagues.

'If that's really Mom's grimoire, we might learn enough to restore the tower's Ears or at least I could recover more of my memories!' Solus thought as her heart started to pound in her chest.

"I stole nothing!" Cathras said while holding a grimoire the size of an encyclopedia volume. "My father was one of Menadion's apprentices and she gifted this book to him. He was an honest man!"

The other Forgemasters already knew about it because she consulted the grimoire often during their experiments but prolonged exposure had only aroused their interest more.

"Can I see it?" Lith asked, extending his hand.

"Fair warning. It's imprinted." Cathras grunted. "You can't store it and you can't read it. All of my father's notes are in code. Also, I want you to swear on your daughter you'll return the grimoire to me if I'm telling the truth."

"You have my word." Lith nodded.

He took the volume and started flipping through its pages. It was indeed coded and the penmanship was so bad that it reminded him of his own.

'Solus?' She was shoulder to shoulder with him, reading and exploiting the physical contact for an invisible mind link.

'That's not Mom's writing.' She inwardly sighed in disappointment. 'She had a beautiful penmanship with wide-spaced letters and vowels ending in a flourish that-'

Lith had reached the first page of the grimoire and there were a few lines in a writing that matched Solus' description down to a t. It was coded as well, but she could read it like it was Tyris' universal language. _{freёwebnovel.com}

It said:

"To Colmin, my good friend and student. May the foundations of your family be as strong as those of your Forgemastery. In faith, Ripha Menadion."

The final a and n in the First Ruler of the Flames' name ended with a wide flourish that looked like a mystical rune and took a lot of space. Lith needed to triple-check with the Eyes to make sure it wasn't some piece of the legacy she had left for Solus.