I Reincarnated to Another World as a Woman-Chapter 160: Means to Survive

In a room somewhere in the city of Highcrest, Lucien Markov sits quietly, drinking hot tea while lost in thought. His phone beeps beside him. He glances at the screen and sees an incoming conference video call for Arcanus Verdant.

He taps answer. Holographic images of the other members appear around him.

"What do you think?" Richard asks immediately, skipping greetings altogether.

"Ludwig made a very good point," Lucien replies. His eyes glint with something sharp and hungry. The thought of getting his hands on heartstones makes his pulse quicken. He wants them. He must have them.

Richard nods. "I agree."

He scoffs. "But we cannot allow Ludwig’s apprentice to take all the credit."

"We do not need his apprentice," Nathaniel says, his voice tight. "We need to send someone else into the dungeon. Our own team. We cannot work with the Monforts."

"Linus Monfort is not someone we can cross," Nathaniel continues. "And I still stand by my opinion that Linus Monfort knows some magic too."

Isabelle Crowley speaks next. "I approached him a long time ago, because he is a Monfort. I did not expect him to be as stubborn as the records suggest."

"But we cannot ignore the fact that he belongs to the Monfort bloodline," Paul Harrington reminds them.

Isabelle exhales slowly. "A bloodline thick with magic."

Her eyes widen slightly. "Do you think his son, Liam, carries his father’s magic resonance?"

Paul nods. "Most likely. It is written in the ancient records that males of the Monfort bloodline carry pure magic resonance. And Liam is Linus’ son. Both of them come from the main branch of the Monfort family."

"So what is our next step?" Paul asks. "Do we approach Liam Monfort? Are we certain? He is Linus’ only son. I would rather not deal with Linus if it can be avoided."

"Everyone, we are drifting away from our main goal, which is acquiring heartstones," Lucien reminds them.

"We do not have anyone adept enough in magic to be sent into a dungeon. That is the first problem," Richard points out. "The second problem is that we do not have a Sentinel team to accompany our magus."

"We have Maristella," Paul says. "She is far stronger than that Collins girl. If Ludwig’s weak apprentice can survive, she surely can."

Silence falls.

"You really think she would go?" Nathaniel asks, unconvinced. "Besides, she is old, is she not? Martyn is well into his eighties, or even nineties. Maristella must be at least in her fifties. Her magic may be strong, but she still needs to be physically fit." Nathaniel’s tone is practical.

"I... might have a solution for the magus problem," Isabelle says suddenly.

Everyone turns to her.

"How could I forget? My own apprentice. He is slightly older than Maeve, but not by much. And his magic is stronger than Maeve’s. I have seen him summon fire as large as his fist."

The men exchange looks, then turn back to her.

"That’s it!" Lucien says, visibly energized.

"All right. That takes care of the first problem," Richard says. "Now what about the second one? The team problem?"

"We can hire Sentinels," Paul replies. "I have heard there is an NDA clause in their contracts. I will look into it."

"Excellent," Lucien says, clasping his hands together. "Excellent work, everyone."

------------------------------

"Jonathan, did Maeve receive any share of heartstones?" Victor asks, getting straight to the point. It is everyone’s concern.

Jonathan shakes his head. "I do not think so. But I never actually asked."

"Martyn, you raised a very important point. Heartstones," Victor says. "We have been exhausting ourselves trying to find ways to secure more resources to fund the Custodians."

"Yes, but that would expose the existence of magic," Edmund says.

"We have survived this long because of our secrecy. If we start acting out of greed, we risk exposure," Edmund adds, voicing his concern.

"Things have changed. The situation has changed," Martyn replies. "When I replaced my Teacher as a Custodian, nearly sixty years ago, I still remember what the world was like back then. It was barren. Countries were fighting over what little natural resources remained. Altheon was on the verge of total destruction."

"Some of you did not truly experience it, because you lived in Aurenvale, the strongest country in Altheon," Martyn continues. "You do not know how difficult life was."

"Exposing magic should be the last thing on our things-to protect list. Survival comes first," Martyn says, stopping to look at the other Custodians in white and red robes.

"I know that some of you, including those in green robes, have considered siphoning money from the Library to support our activities."

Several of them exchange uneasy looks. Martyn is not wrong. Lately, securing funds has become increasingly difficult. The world economy has been slowly shifting from traditional currency to heartstones.

Most people now accept heartstones more readily than regular currency. Gold, diamonds, and other gems cannot compete with them.

It has become a nightmare for the Custodians, most of whom work quietly as librarians within the Library. For decades, they lived inside their own insulated bubble, preserving history while ignoring the slow but undeniable changes in the outside world. Now, they find themselves late to the heartstone race, scrambling to catch up.

Martyn Voss had foreseen this long ago. That was why he taught his daughter, Maristella, to accumulate wealth as early as possible and in whatever way she could.

At present, Martyn serves as the unofficial financial backbone of the Custodians. He does not resent it. After all, the Custodians once saved both his life and Maristella’s. Still, he knows this arrangement cannot last forever. He is already eighty-nine. He does not know how much time he has left.

And he must admit, even to himself, that Maristella is not the right person to replace him.

He taught her magic long ago, not because he intended to make her his apprentice, but out of curiosity. One of his colleagues had claimed that magic had returned, and Martyn wanted proof.

When he discovered that his daughter possessed mana, he was ecstatic. He learned magic alongside her, not as a teacher guiding a successor, but as a man grasping at a truth he feared had arrived too late.

But he had never expected Maristella to grow arrogant because of her magic. The way she looked at people changed drastically. Her personality shifted completely.