'Hello, Carl. This is me, Benedikt from the Koch clan. I'm speaking to you on behalf of the clan so you can give up your seat, and we would of course handsomely reward you; even make you a core disciple of our clan if you were to choose that.

As for the reason why you should give it up, sometimes knowing too much might bring unnecessary trouble.'

Carl didn't care much about his clan, because his plans weren't including the supreme-tier clans -- as when he rises to be an emperor, they would all be beneath him.

Because all supreme-tier clans have High Knight realm cultivators -- who in this world are the very peak of power-- but they are in deep slumber due to lifespan restrictions; only showing up if their clans were to face a big calamity.

-

"I'm sorry sir Benedikt, although I would love to comply with your clan's orders; I can't leave my current seat." Replied Carl in an awfully low voice, that would make only the elder hear him.

The elder was surprised at how Carl talked to him, but then frowned when he heard his reply, as he thought he would comply by words easily by a sentence or two, but it looked like Carl gave him the attitude that he wouldn't give up his seat no matter what...

'Your seat needs to be taken by a young master of our clan, and if you don't give it up you'll be considered an enemy of our clan. So think wisely, Carl.' Conveyed the elder to Carl with a slight bit of killing intent added, making Carl 'shudder'.

Of course, that was what he looked like outwardly, but he was inwardly sneering as he thought to himself: 'There's no way I would give up the seat after all the previous stuff I've made before. So I guess I will have to use that backup plan...'

A few seconds passed, before Carl replied in a relatively stiff voice, gritting his teeth: "It's not that I don't want to, sir Benedikt. It's that I made an oath on my knight heart that I would lose all my previous progress were I to fail to get one of the three top seats.

As for when I took the oath, I don't remember at all. Because I only remember taking an oath; not the when, why, or where."

The elder was slightly surprised as he looked at Carl's memories -- where he indeed found a seal placed on Carl's memories.

He then tried to peek into the hidden memories -- only to fail, which made him frown as he thought to himself: 'That's impossible! I should be able to manipulate energy, thus reading anyone's energy that is below high knight realm! Unless...'

The elder then paused, as he looked at Carl for a while, before his mind shook as he thought to himself: 'He can't also be some supreme-tier young master heir, right? But even then it doesn't explain how he got a seal on his mind placed by a powerful high knight realm practitioner...'

He then got in a daze as he remembered something: 'Wait, could it be he's someone from an ancient clan? That's the only reason I can think of...'

-

In the meanwhile, Carl was observing the elder's expressions with amusement; as they were going through myriad changes: confusion, shock, disbelief, etc.

He had indeed heard of hidden ancient clans -- who nurtured high knight realm practitioners but stayed hidden in the dark as they wouldn't interfere in the world.

He knew that things weren't as simple as them not interfering; because there would be some contract that's restricting them from ever getting included in politics or the other matters.

Albeit he indeed had the inheritance that he could use, it was only in extreme situations where his strength would be revealed.

So in order to not mess up with his plans, he had deliberately made the elder think he was a hidden young master of the ancient clans.

But the elder would still be able to tell his clan about his 'fake' background that he'd made him believe; thus he made it so whenever he thought of Carl's situation he would just forget about his background -- or not think about him anymore.

Though if there were anyone that was deliberately asking the elder about information about Carl, he would only praise him and make a public favorable impression of Carl on his clan; thus saying stuff like: " Carl? When I met him in the tournament he was very kind...", "That young man has a heroic spirit, he is selfless to the point of caring about others more than himself", etc. Making the clan one of his supporters in his rise to the emperor.

Therefore, the elder just nodded before leaving Carl, who had no idea the mess he'd done in that Supreme-tier clan...