The Tower of Minerva is recognized by the High Court of the Society of the Sages of Myrddin as one of the most influential structures for academy students. This is because there isn't just one tower, but about a dozen spread across the continental territory.
However, the first of these towers was built within the Great Wall. Right at the center, among the castles of the Augustus Family — a collateral branch of the Imperial Caesar family, to which Theo belongs — the Imperial Caesar Family, the noble Trajano Family, and the Royal Severo Family, the pillars of the Three States of Romerian.
Thus, there, in a small plaza behind the castles, stood the first Tower of Minerva, designed over half a millennium ago. A place where the secrets of the world are divided across fifteen floors and studied by scholars graduated from the Five Great Orders.
At first, Theo felt intimidated when he arrived at the campus. Even accompanied by Stephany, who had authority to access the third floor, the apprentices of the High Court looked down on the Young Master Lawrence simply because he was a child.
He felt disgust and acted arrogantly at times…
"Damn it! I have more knowledge than all of you combined! I know a thousand ways to kill each one of you!"
Then, he realized that all his experience revolved around killing.
"Wow…" he muttered upon realizing it.
"What is it?" Stephany asked, holding the boy's hand.
Shaking his head to find an excuse, he quickly found one in the scenery.
"It's very beautiful. It really looks…" He furrowed his brows, noticing the natural beauty of the place. "Magical."
His eyes shone brightly.
Fragments of white pillars floated around the tower, held by an almost invisible current, manifested as wind. It flowed through the corners, creating an almost artificial mild climate.
It drifted among the students, who enjoyed the sensation as if savoring fine chocolate.
"This is where they study magic as if it were science," Stephany said, pulling him inside the tower.
And the tower was even more beautiful on the inside. From its external size, Theo had thought it would be smaller; however, it was such an unreal structure that it made him feel like an ant, even as a child.
Even in his past life, having visited countless structures in Egon, he had never seen anything as colossal as what he had encountered since arriving in Athenian. That made him realize how small the old continent had been; compared to the current one, it could be considered a large island.
He felt an old desire, almost irrational and instinctive at the same time…
"Welcome to the Minerva Tower lobby!" said the attendant, dressed in a suit and holding a notebook. "This is where all the curiosities of the world are ready to be revealed… or hidden."
The attendant added the last part quietly to Theo, almost planting a seed of doubt.
"Madame Stephany, should I register him as an apprentice?" he asked, opening the logbook.
"No, Mayzor. He will be a temporary visitor… I'll leave the enrollment for his father to approve."
"Oh, ho! I see. Sneaking around behind daddy's back, huh, little guy?!" he joked, trying to build familiarity. "What's your name?"
Before Mayzor could ready his pen, Theo declared:
"My name is Theo Augustus De Lawrence, second son of Duke Ethan Caesar of Lawrence."
Mayzor choked on his own saliva.
"I'm sorry?" he said, recovering and glancing at Stephany for confirmation.
She quickly confirmed.
"Am I allowed in?" Theo asked from below; however, Mayzor felt intimidated.
It felt as though Theo was looking down on him like an absolute king — or rather, a general of war.
Out of fear and respect, Mayzor quickly allowed him through after registering him as a temporary visitor with access only to the main hall.
The hall, in essence, served as a museum of legends or a study library. Even at the tower's lowest level, there was content that only graduates in medicine, astronomy, geography, history, physics, and other scientific fields could understand.
It definitely wasn't a place for Theo to be.
The real reason Stephany brought him there was secrecy and privacy. They were watched at every step inside the castle, both by Ethan's agents and by spies of Elijah and Leon. Not for nothing, the Caesar Castle's motto was: the walls hear and feel. Nothing happens without the Patriarch knowing.
The lack of privacy in Caesar Castle made Stephany frequent the Tower of Minerva almost daily. Sometimes she didn't even use her privileges; she simply went there to escape routine.
Her favorite spot was in a corner of the lobby, where a pillar connected to a bookshelf and created a kind of hiding place.
After seating Theo at a table, Stephany took half a minute before returning with a small hardcover book. Designed with golden patterns and a four-pointed rose at the center of a ruby-red cover, the title gleamed at the top, evoking the feeling the Young Master Lawrence desired.
The Great Orders.
A title that unleashed all the alarming curiosity of that world.
Since the boy had learned to read, Ethan had forbidden Theo from seeking books about the Great Orders or their respective domains. Having awakened as a Deviant at the age of three, Duke Lawrence feared his son would stray further at such a young age.
Thus, everyone in House Lawrence was forbidden from giving the boy any information about the Great Orders, by order of the Duchess herself.
"But I'm far from home…" he thought with a mischievous smile, radiating pure childish mischief.
Before he could grab the book, Stephany took it and began reading it herself.
"Do you know how large the Great Orders are?" she asked.
At first, Theo rolled his eyes at the interruption, but accepted it as a lecture.
"No," he replied, shaking his head.
"They are located at the center of the Great Empire, like a massive city that rivals the size of a medium kingdom…" she said, pointing at an illustration. "On the northern wall lies the Order of Myrddin, where scholars gather."
"That's also the order of mages, right?"
Stephany let out a small laugh.
"Broadly speaking, yes. The greatest masters of magic are there… Just like on the eastern wall, the Order of Fulmenbour, dedicated to science, economy, politics, and knowledge. But we cannot underestimate the greatest order of all, the one on the southern wall: the Order of Vagus."
"The explorers of the world…" Theo murmured.
"Exactly. Where all orders come together as one. A mix of study, knowledge, and actions that shape our world. Most great heroes, soldiers, and leaders come from there."
"That's the order I'm interested in…" he thought.
"The Order of Vagus, named after the revolutionary hero known as Vagus, the Faceless Man, in 322 after the Imperial Union, serves as the greatest academic center in the southern region of the Great Empire…"
Stephany continued reading and explaining, until the conversation shifted…
Later, Luanne joined them, and the discussion turned deeper.
"What if they're evil?" Theo asked.
"What if they're good, like you?" Luanne replied gently. "What if they're children who need help?"
"And if I save them and they become evil?"
"The future is far away, dear… But if you let them die, will you ever know what they could have become?"
Theo fell silent once more, trapped in his thoughts.
Stephany hugged him gently.
"You're not on the side of darkness, my love. But you need to find your own moral light."
"Exactly," Luanne added. "Now come on… your father is still in a meeting. I'll take care of you for now."
As they walked toward the exit, Theo asked:
"Where are we going?"
With sunlight pouring through the tower entrance, Luanne smiled.
"We're going to see the sea."