Stripped City Adra: A Conspiracy That Wasn't Quite a Conspiracy

"Is that so? That's rather regrettable."

Though Michael said it was regrettable, he did not truly feel much about it. She was merely a highly gifted mage. What made her worth inviting was Lorelei's regard for her.

But the thought of Lorelei gave him a headache. She had already inherited the Bartholomew name and become the head of this generation's family, yet she always seemed to hold some prejudice against him.

If he could get Hishiri Adashino to join Animusphere, then seeing someone she favored become his subordinate would probably leave Lorelei frustrated for quite some time.

What a pity...

He looked at Hishiri Adashino once more. Though he still wore that gentle smile, there was no amusement in his eyes.

Hishiri Adashino shuddered. For some reason, she sensed tremendous danger from Michael, as though she stood in a boundless ocean with a bottomless abyss beneath her feet, ready to drag her down and crush her into pieces at any moment.

She knew perfectly well where that sense of danger came from: her earlier refusal.

She could not keep stalling.

Thinking this, she straightened her attitude once more. She decided to stop circling around Michael and openly state what she had in mind.

However, before that, perhaps Bartholomew and Animusphere had reached some agreement. Winhaun still worked for the Department of Law and Politics in secret, just as he had before.

"The Department of Law and Politics has examined him. That young man truly is Gewaiwen Winhaun's blood relative, and his background supports that as well. His mother came from a new-generation mage family, though that family is too young to truly be called a family. It has only retained a trace of Mystery."

"The letter I received differed from the Department of Law and Politics' letter in certain minor