I Died and Became a Noble's Heir-Chapter 308: The Council

Not towering high, yet it felt disconnected from the world below. A chamber carved from impossibly dark stone so void of light that, even with a candle, you wouldn’t be able to see beyond your fingertips.

Nestled somewhere within the Four Kingdoms but independent of them.

Seven chairs encircle a circular table, with six of them currently occupied.

No windows broke the walls. No torches provided illumination. Instead, a pale blue light emanated from the table’s center—a glowing orb that cast everything in cold, shadowless radiance, making their faces look corpse-like.

"This is a waste of time," the first woman said, her voice sharp as broken glass. She was perhaps forty, with dark hair pulled back so severely it stretched her features into a perpetual scowl. "The report must be wrong. We eliminated the last practitioner generations ago."

"The source is reliable," countered one of the men. He was younger, maybe thirty-five, with a scar across his nose.

"Finn doesn’t make mistakes about magic. Not with his gift."

"Finn." The second woman spat the name like a curse. She was older than the first, gray threading through auburn hair. "A washed-up chosen one playing at being an oracle. His ’gift’ is unreliable at best."

"He identified three other awakened mages correctly," the third man interjected. This one was enormous, not fat, but built like a siege tower, with hands that could crush skulls. "All three matched his descriptions exactly. All three were eliminated before they could become problems."

The third woman hadn’t spoken yet. She sat perfectly still, watching the argument unfold with eyes that revealed nothing.

She was the oldest of the three women, perhaps sixty, with silver hair and a face that seemed to have been carved from stone.

"The boy’s name is Jack Kaiser," the second man said, sliding a parchment toward the table’s center. He was thin, almost skeletal, with fingers that moved like spider legs.

"Heir to a duchy in Elysium. Recently killed fifteen thousand mercenaries in a single engagement. Opened a portal to an unknown location. Demonstrated capabilities well beyond what a sixteen-year-old should possess."

The first woman leaned forward, her scowl deepening. "Soul Magic. You’re telling me a teenager in Elysium has awakened Soul Magic, and we’re only hearing about it now?"

"The awakening was recent," Spider-fingers replied. "Finn detected it during a court appearance. The boy demonstrated the ability in front of King Eric and his chosen ones. He was careless. Overconfident. Made no attempt to hide what he was."

"Because he doesn’t know," the silver-haired woman spoke for the first time, her voice carrying weight that made the others pause. "He doesn’t know what he is or that we exist."

Silence settled over the table.

"That makes him more dangerous," the scarred man said quietly. "Untrained Soul Magic is like a wildfire with no one controlling where it spreads."

"The Purge of Shadows eliminated this threat," the enormous man rumbled, his voice like grinding stones.

"We spent decades hunting down every practitioner. Every bloodline that carried the potential. We burned entire families to ash to ensure Soul Magic died with them."

"Clearly, we missed one," the first woman snapped. "Or this Kaiser boy developed it spontaneously, which should be impossible."

"Nothing is impossible with Soul Magic," the distinguished man said, his tone carrying the exhaustion of someone who’d argued this point before. "That’s precisely why it cannot be allowed to exist. SSS-rank magic. Superior to every other form of magical practice. One practitioner with sufficient training could reshape entire kingdoms. Could bind armies to their will. Could even turn kings into puppets."

"He could challenge us," the silver-haired woman added softly. "That’s what you’re really worried about. Not what he could do to kingdoms. What he could do to the Council if he learned what we are."

The distinguished man’s jaw tightened. "Our purpose has always been clear. Soul Magic threatens the balance of power across all Four Kingdoms. It creates tyrants. Monsters. People who believe themselves to be gods because they can bind other souls to their service. We eliminate that threat before it can spread."

"So we kill the boy," the scarred man said flatly. "Same as all the others."

"He’s not just some hedge mage practicing forbidden magic in a cellar," the skeletal man protested. "He’s heir to a duchy. Son of Alaric Kaiser, who commands dark magic powerful enough to level cities. Killing him will have consequences."

"Let it," the enormous man growled. "We’ve weathered consequences before. What’s one more noble house’s fury compared to allowing Soul Magic to flourish?"

"The fury of House Kaiser is not insignificant," the distinguished man pointed out. "I’ve witnessed his power once, and I’m not thrilled to go up against it."

"I don’t care if he’s related to every king in the Four Kingdoms," the first woman interrupted. "Soul Magic cannot be allowed. That’s the Council’s entire reason for existing. If we make exceptions, if we hesitate, we become irrelevant."

The third woman, who had been silent throughout, finally spoke. Her voice was quiet but precise, yet it had authority that made everyone stop talking.

"When he arrives," she said, "he will not be happy about who has it."

The pronouncement fell like a rock dropped down a well. Her voice echoed.

The scarred man shifted uncomfortably. "That’s... unfortunate timing."

"Unfortunate?" The first woman’s laugh was bitter. "That’s one way to describe it. How long until he gets here?"

"Unknown," the distinguished man replied. "He was in Caeloria and Krogar last we heard. Could be days. Could be weeks."

"We need to decide before he arrives," the skeletal man said, his spider-fingers drumming against the table. "If we’re moving against the Kaiser boy, we need to do it now. Once he’s here, once he learns the target is..."

"He’ll want to handle it personally," the enormous man finished. "And his methods are... less subtle than ours."

The silver-haired woman’s eyes swept across the assembled Council members. "So we vote. The Kaiser boy has Soul Magic. He’s a threat to everything we’ve built, everything we’ve protected for generations. Do we eliminate him now, before the seventh arrives? Or do we wait for his input?"

"We can’t wait," the first woman said immediately. "Every day that boy lives is another day Soul Magic exists in the world. Another day, someone else might detect it, might learn from it, might..."

The temperature in the room dropped.

Their breath fogged in the air. The pale blue light flickered.

The door, a door none of them had entered through, a door that shouldn’t exist in this space between spaces, opened.

A figure stepped through.

Old. That was the first impression. Ancient in the way mountains are ancient. His back was straight, despite his years; his shoulders were broad, despite the passage of time.

White hair, long and unbound, falling past his shoulders. White beard, carefully maintained, framing a beautiful face.

And his eyes were golden.

Burning with intensity that would shatter lesser men with a glare.

He moved into the room with the confidence. He didn’t even acknowledge the rest of them.

The one they’d been dreading would arrive before they made their decision.

He surveyed the table slowly, his golden eyes tracking across each Council member with the focus of a predator assessing prey. When he spoke, his voice carried weight that transcended volume.

"I’m told," he said quietly, "that we have a problem."

The six Council members sat in absolute silence.

Because the man standing before them, the one who would decide Jack Kaiser’s fate, was a monster among men.

His golden eyes swept the table one final time, then settled on the parchment describing Jack’s abilities.

"Tell me everything," he commanded.