Genius Mage in a Cultivation World

"A powerhouse we won't be able to control," Arto concluded Sitra's report before rubbing his chin. "Do we know what he wants? How long will it take for him to become too strong for us to deal with him? How many men can he mobilize if we end up fighting?" He asked several questions, clearly not intent on giving up this insane opportunity because someone already claimed it. 

"Sir..." Sitra muttered, looking at the man with surprise. Her eyes wandered to standing near the rubble that used to be the doors to the place. 

But rather than encouraging the girl to change the general line of thinking, Castor only shook his head before lowering his eyes. 

"Child, I know that you already met with that man. I know that you don't like the idea of going against him," Arto said, proving that he was perfectly aware of what was going on in Sitra's head. "But we cannot let ourselves be driven by such things," the old general shook his head. "Right now, our nation is at the crossroads. And unless we find a place where we can rebuild our might, we will perish." The lenient look in the old man's eyes vanished without a trace, replaced with an insane determination. 

General Arto was a man who only the corrupted wave of officers didn't respect. He was a man who braved through the battles that would earn the name of cullings or massacres. He turned around the battles that any sane person would judge to be lost even before it would start. He singlehandedly managed to restore the quality to the third army he was in charge of.

But all those achievements had to come at a cost. And this time, he was clearly willing to go against the man that Sitra saved just because he deemed that the best chance for his people.

"Sir, from what I know, he doesn't mind allowing more people to enter the area." Sitra finally figured out a way to approach the topic after a short while. "The man himself only wants to build an academy and is open to the idea of settling the land with many others..." Sitra continued, but from how her expression soured, everyone could tell that it wasn't the end of the story. 

"But...?" Arto raised his eyebrow as he suggested the girl move on to the next part of her speech, one that everyone could already see coming. 

"I'm not so sure whether his people will accept us. But let me start from scratch," Sitra just teased the potential problems before suddenly shaking her head. She then looked straight into the eyes of the elder general. "You asked what does this man want, sir. And I can tell that he just wants to live in peace and prosper. What's more, he is more than interested in our magic. Why is that, though? I can't tell," Sitra answered the first of the detailed questions that Arto posed earlier. 

"How long will it take for him to become too strong for us to be able to challenge him?" Arto repeated the second question from before while resting both of his hands on top of his cane. 

"That question, I can't answer," Sitra said as she lowered her head. "The magic he uses is starkly different to what I know. Without the knowledge about his magic, I'm in no way capable of judging how long it will take him to restore his former level of power... But I'm worried that it might be already too late for us," she concluded her answer while looking straight into the general's eyes. 

"And why is that?" Arto pushed even deeper, unwilling to let the girl have any breathing room during this quasi-interrogation. 

"Because he dared to go against the neighboring Overlord while I was still by his side," Sitra revealed the important bit, one that Layn himself didn't spare much mind. 

Yet, the effects of her words on the people in the room were enormous. 

"What did you say?" Even Castor couldn't help himself and spoke up, only to violently shake his head and look at his superior before lowering his face in apology and backing off. 

"Do continue," Arto ordered while squinting his eyes. 

"The situation was like that," Sitra started before explaining everything that she could recall from those events. From their frantic rush to reconnect with Layn's subordinates, through the fight with the monsters... Even all the way to how Layn was set on using the strange abilities of those weird monsters! 

"What a madman," Castor muttered under his nose in a voice that just barely reached Sitra's ears. 'He doesn't sound shocked but more like... awed?' she thought, knowing her direct superior for long enough to be able to catch on clues like that. 

"That man... He is really going to be a problem if we were to confront him directly," Arto announced his verdict as he placed his chin on top of his hands. With his cane now supporting not only his arms but also his head, he froze into a perfectly still, too focused on thinking to bother with moving his body. 

"Yes, since the situation looks like that, I don't think it would be wise to enter those lands in force," Arto suddenly announced while raising his head. 

'Doesn't he look... relieved?' Sitra thought, watching at how relaxed the face of the general became. 'Wait, could it be that he wanted to find some ways to convince others that attacking Layn would be a bad idea?' The girl thought, suddenly realizing what could be the true intention of this legendary man. But just as quickly, her thoughts soured again. 'No way. There is no way a man like Arto would allow me to guess his intentions,' she laughed her own arrogance off before clearing her head of those useless thoughts. 

Whatever Arto's intentions were, it wasn't her problem to brood over. 

"But before we will conclude this meeting," Arto said as he moved his stare on Sitra again. "I have a feeling that it wasn't all you wanted to say about the situation on the steppe." The general's face once again turned lenient, as if he reversed back to his kind-uncle persona. 

"Yes, sir." Sitra straightened herself up as she replied to the man. "Everything that I said so far is centered around the person that bested the overlord. But given everything I heard and saw, he won't be the greatest problem we might encounter during our planned migration." Sitra suddenly threw a proverbial bucket of cold water on everyone in the room. 

"What do you want to say with that?" Arto asked, not even bothering to hide his own surprise. 

"I mean the other people that are going to arrive at that place soon," Sitra revealed the most problematic matter that she herself was quite worried about. "While I only got to meet the people that are directly following the man in question, I heard more than enough about the others that they are in cahoots with. And it's actually more than just a single group..." Sitra cut her own story short just to build up a tension a bit. 

Right now, the people in the room made up the entirety of the upper echelons of the third Slavian army. From its direct overseer Arto, through the high-ranking officers like Castor, everyone stood near the top of the decision-making chain for the unit. 

And in this kind of group, Sitra stood out like a sore thumb. While her status was already higher than normal, thanks to her position as the second-class mage in the army. However, it still didn't qualify her to be present in such a gathering. 

'That's why I shouldn't worry about what they are going to do with that information.' So Sitra told herself within the confines of her head, trying to push away the responsibility of reporting on the people she already started to make friends with. 

"From how you put it into words, I think it's safe to assume that it's more than just a single group involved," Arto somehow caught a detail that Sitra didn't intend to pass on yet. 

"Yes, sir." She obediently nodded her head, confirming the man's guess. "From what I learned, there is a massive gathering of people who rely mostly on their physical might, without any higher technology or magic. While I can only guess their numbers, I believe they could match the count of our third army," Sitra said before lowering her eyes. 

"What's wrong, child?" Arto asked, sensing that the next part of Sitra's story was quite hard for the girl to voice it out. 

"Sir, those people... I only saw one of them. While there was no grace to his movements, he could easily fight off the monsters that many of our best soldiers would struggle to defeat on their own. But that's still not the thing that worries me the most," she announced while averting her eyes. 

For a moment, no one dared to speak up, the old general included. But before long, Sitra couldn't keep her pretense any longer. The more everyone waited for her to gather the courage to speak the last part of her report, the greater the anticipation would be. 

And ultimately, the greater the disappointment once they would realize that she made this situation so tense with only her guess as a basis. 

"Sir, it's the other group that I'm seriously worried about. While I never had the chance to meet them personally, I got to hear quite a lot about them from the others in the camp." Sitra finally gathered her courage and started the last part of her story. "While there are only two of them... I believe those people could be a match for Layn. I believe they are a match for the man who took down an Overlord of Origin.... All on his own."