Genius Mage in a Cultivation World

Layn took two entire days to recover the major part of his strenght. Even though all kinds of medicine was literally at his disposal, his body had no other choice but to take its time to slowly regain its usual strenght. 

"Dang it!" Castor struck the stone wall with his bare hand. His forehead was full of sweat that slowly dripped down and fell on the source of his current, rare mood. 

"How bad is it?" Layn asked, not even bothered to ask for the specific content of the letter that made Castor so agitated. Whatever the reason was for it, it didn't really matter for Layn. Given that he was currently in the man's custody, Castor's problems were essentially Layn's as well. 

"The capital refused to enact the migration policy," Castor grabbed the piece of paper filled with small letters before throwing it at the nearby wall. "What's more, they sent an audicator in here to examine who you really are," Castor added, not hiding the unpleasant fact from Layn at all. 

"That would indeed be troublesome," Layn nodded his head before resting it back on the pillows. Unfortunately, while he largely regained his natural strenght, the same couldn't be said about his mana. 

Without any source of magical energy that could replenish his aura, he was stuck with just a few sparks of it, less than it would be necessary to invoke anything above the translation spell. 

"What are you going to do?" Castor asked after a moment, proving that he himself had no idea how to solve the current situation. "While I doubt the audicator will do anything harsh against you, you won't be able to leave the place for a while if he or she sees you," he added, striking at the point that Layn already claimed to be pretty important to him. 

"That would be pretty troublesome," Layn admitted, bitting on his lips. 

'It's not like anything will happen back at the camp in just a few days... But I just can't help but get restless whenever I think about Irea and the rest of the guys,' Layn thought while doing his absolute best to hide his worry from Castor. 

Up to this point, he had yet to reveal the reason for his presence at the sea of grass to the Slavian commander in front of him. While the two of them managed to hit it off pretty nicely, the fact that they had a pretty similar way of thinking didn't mean Layn was ready to endanger his existing friends and subordinates by revealing their presence just like that. 

"Hey, I know it will sound bad... But what do you think about just leaving?" Castor asked after a few moments of silence. Layn looked at the man, only to notice that his face was pretty tense, proving how desperate the man was. 

"Is that audicator guy really that bad?" Layn asked, hoping to clarify the situation a bit. Although the worry on Castor's face was pretty apparent, he couldn't judge the situation on his own without the information necessary to do so. 

"It's not about him being good or bad," Castor countered while shaking his head. "It's just that... Once they latch on you, they won't let you go until they squeeze every last bit of information they can," he explained before suddenly standing up and approaching the window of the chamber. 

A few more moments passed, yet Carted have yet to utter a word. 

"Okay, I decided," he announced after nearly five more minutes. "I will get Sitra and several more men to guide you back to the plains," he explained his decision without a care in the world for revealing the reasons for making it. "They will guide you all the way to where we found you, and if you are happy with it, they will follow you to the place where you toppled the Overlord," he added before suddenly turning around and looking straight into Layn's face. 

"And why is that?" Layn asked, moving out of the bed and standing up, unwilling to just take Carter's decision while lying down. 

Even if it was just a little psychological trick, Layn's words would have greater weight to them if he said them while standing up. 

"Right now, the capital doesn't acknowledge your achievement," Castor sighed before turning his face back to the window. He looked with longing at the outside as if the vast steppe called out to him. "The only way to avoid their meddling is to put them in a situation they can't ignore what you did," Castor explained as he tightened his fists. 

"Can't you send a party of your own to check the situation out?" Layn asked, puzzled by the lapse between what Castor decided on and what the archmage personally believed to be the best course of action. 

"Listen, while I do acknowledge your help and trust your words, the same can't be said about the top brass of my military," Castor countered while putting a sour smile on his face. "If I were to send a proper scouting party that would fail to return before the mission from the capital will reach this fortress, I would be likely to be accused of conspiracy and deprived of the command," he explained before tightening his fists even further. "And who knows what would they do if those idiots who never saw a battlefield were to take command of this place."

For a moment, the chamber turned silent. The only thing that the two men could hear was the whistling of the wind that entered the place through the open window only to sneak outside through the gap between the door and the floor. 

"Okay, I understand," Layn suddenly announced before shaking his head and approaching the door of the room. "Come on, let's stop wasting time!" he shouted to his recently made friend. 

"Ah, sure," Castor nodded his head and even approached the doors only to shake himself off his daze and look at Layn with a questioning look. "Wait, what are you going to do?" he asked. 

"Isn't that obvious?" Layn stopped only for a moment to turn his head away and look at Castor. "I'm preparing to leave. While I hoped to learn about the magic that you guys use, there is no time for it now," the archmage added before pushing the doors open and leaving the room.

"Wait, so are you okay with my plan?" Castor asked, clearly puzzled by the sudden energy in Layn's movements.

"Yeah, there is a place I'm quite desperate to check," Layn smiled as he came to a decision on his own. "As you likely figured out on your own already, I wasn't in that Overlord's land all alone. And I'm not going to waste my time dealing with the bureaucracy that even you can't handle when I'm not sure of the people I left there are okay," Layn revealed as he continued to walk down the corridor. 

Right now, there was no hesitation in Layn's movements. Once he made his decision, there were no words that could stop him. And with how he saved Castor's unit before, there was only a very little chance that the man would suddenly decide to use force to stop him. 

"I understand," Castor said without even a moment of hesitation, but rather than following Layn to the path that leads to the lower level of the castle, he stopped at the very first crossroad they appeared at. "You can go to the gate. I will go and get the people going," he explained before waving his hand and rushing to the side.

'He might have his problems, but I like how decisive he is,' Layn thought to himself before revealing a small smile. But rather than lingering on the spot, he continued to push down the corridor all the way to the staircase that brought him to the ground level. 

From there, reaching the outer gate of the fortress was an easy task... Or rather, it would be if not for the true genius of the man behind the fortress. Despite how massive and impregnable it was from the outside, the insides were still set like some kind of giant maze, making moving around extremely counterintuitive. 

"Fuck," Layn uttered once he finally reached his destination. While he followed the main path that most of the people in the fortress would take to descend from the middle castle, by the time he finally arrived at the gate, Sitra, along with three more men and horses, already waited for him there. 

And little to say, Castor was one of the three men at the gate. 

"Here are your supplies," the commander said while pointing at the sacks attached to the horses' saddles. "I'm not sure how far that place of yours is, so I can only hope it will be enough," he added with a sour smile. 

"Guys, are you really sure you want to accompany me on this road?" Layn asked, ignoring Castor and directing his words directly to the people he brought with him. 

"Do you really need to ask?" Sitra asked, putting a pouty expression on her lips. "You saved us all back then. Now it's the time for us to repay the favor!"