Sovereign of the Ashes

When Sein began the construction of his divine tower, the changes he brought to those around him were significant.

Natalya barely knew what was happening. She was only aware that Sein had been promoted to demigod.

However, a demigod-level being and a Rank Four creature were two very different things.

Now, all of a sudden, her husband had become a Rank Four powerhouse and was about to become a divine tower master.

Though she had always been pretty thick-skinned, even Natalya felt a little dizzy from the news.

Even Sein's mother-in-law, Sia, looked completely dazed.

House Ernst and House Grantt were among those most affected.

But due to internal issues within House Ernst, the relationship between Wilson and Natalya had grown strained in recent years.

On top of that, House Ernst had long been closely tied to the Order of the Steel Fist. They even had several Sky Knights and one demigod-level knight in the family.

It was unrealistic for such a powerful family to break away from the Order of the Steel Fist and join Sein.

Even if they wanted to, it would not happen overnight. They would need to negotiate with the Order of the Steel Fist first.

While House Ernst had yet to take a clear stance, House Grantt had already made their decision: they would join Sein.

Despite having senior figures like Kelman and Julius in the family, House Grantt had pledged their allegiance to Sein, the newly promoted Rank Four mage.

Yes, pledged!

Since Sein had chosen to establish his divine tower in the Darwell Region, House Grantt would follow, leaving the Lysian Alliance behind to settle in the new territory.

They might not have been a major family, but they had several ranked knights.

When one person succeeded, everyone around them stood to benefit.

With Sein's promotion to Rank Four, even the status and future prospects of House Grantt's collateral members changed.

Of course, Sein would also need to rely on support from these family members.

The Darwell Region had long been plagued by black mages, and without proper oversight, banditry and thievery would eventually become serious problems.

Back when Sein was just a black magic initiate, he had already seen how poor the security and conditions in the region were.

That said, the Darwell Region was still considered "peaceful and stable" compared to Blackhaven.

Even so, the chaotic bandit situation needed to be addressed.

Most of the bandits and thieves hiding in the mountains were below Rank One—just a bunch of lowlifes that even a knight squire could take down.

There was no reason for Sein to waste his time dealing with vermin like that himself.

That was where members of House Grantt came in—they would be a major help in cleaning up the region.

Also, due to its unique geography and historical background, the Darwell Region had never seen the rise of any major human kingdoms or empires, despite its vast size.

Most human settlements in the region existed as independent city-states.

The few kingdoms that did exist were small and scattered.

Sein had spoken with several leaders of House Grantt, but none of them had any desire to establish an empire or declare themselves emperors.

House Grantt had grown and thrived within the relatively open structure of the Lysian Alliance from the beginning.

That was why, in planning for the Darwell Region's future, Sein and House Grantt preferred a more decentralized approach: an alliance of multiple coexisting city-states.

That way, when the Divine Tower of Ashes began recruiting, they could go directly to each city-state to seek out promising magic initiates.

When House Grantt relocated to the Darwell Region, not every member came along. A small group remained behind in the Lysian Alliance.

Still, there was no doubt that the family's future development would now center around the Darwell Region.

***

In addition to relocating House Grantt, Sein had also been busy advocating for the Maya Tribe.

Not long after returning to the Divine Tower of Verdant Spring, he had briefly mentioned the situation of the two female centaurs to Master Lorianne.

Lorianne had always taken an interest in Sein's affairs, but she had not paid much attention to the two centaurs, mainly because she had no personal stake in them.

Spellcasters were rational by nature, and as the seasoned divine tower master, Lorianne had no intention of getting involved over a fallen Rank Four centaur god like Hephaes.

More importantly, Lorianne had been incredibly busy lately.

Between the faction gathering, overseeing the Eversurge War, and helping her apprentice search for a suitable planar node, she had barely had a moment to breathe, let alone worry about two centaurs.

During the Eversurge War, Maya and Luna had been working with Natalya's group. Over the years, they had conducted themselves with remarkable discipline.

Now that House Grantt, Natalya, and the others had reunited with Sein, he finally remembered the pair.

He had honestly just been too busy and had forgotten about them...

"I'll do my best to protect the rights of the Maya Tribe, and that includes the late Hephaes. If the opportunity arises, I'll bring this to the Magus Alliance and push for a full investigation into the centaur gods who schemed against him," Sein said.

Lorianne had long since stopped valuing the centaurs. After all, she already had her own legion of plant giants cultivated in her world laboratory.

But Sein saw their worth.

As someone about to establish a divine tower, he needed a steady supply of enslaved creatures to serve as cannon fodder.

Advocating for the Maya Tribe was not just about helping Maya and Luna, it was also about helping himself.

Hephaes might have been Maya's lover and Luna's grandfather, but in truth, neither woman had strong emotional ties to the deceased god.

Hephaes had plenty of lovers. Rather than seeking revenge, Maya and Luna were far more concerned with reclaiming control over their tribe.

This was a pragmatic world. Mourning the dead was a luxury few could afford.

Besides, Hephaes did not deserve much sympathy.

Even if Sein used Hephaes' downfall to his own advantage later, it would be out of practicality, not kindness.

Without anyone's help, Maya and Luna would have had no chance of asserting their rights. In fact, they probably would have ended up as slaves.

But with Sein's assistance, things would be different.

Sein began by contacting Centaurworld through Magus Alliance's channels.

Since the matter involved her own apprentice, Lorianne had no choice but to step in and lend her support.

More importantly, she had been the one to sign a contract with Hephaes. If she also got involved, the pressure on Centaurworld would be much harder to ignore.

Sure enough, with two Rank Four or higher mages applying pressure, Centaurworld soon took the initiative to reach out to Sein.