Chapter : 1361

  "Lord Wilfred," Lloyd said, dropping his voice. "He isn't just a collector. He's a hoarder. My contact, Silas, told me Wilfred has been trying to buy the Golem Heart for years. He offered double the market value. Triple. The museum kept saying no because it's a 'national treasure' or whatever. But here is the kicker. Wilfred didn't stop at asking."

  "He stole it," Mina said. "I figured that out yesterday."

  "Yes, but it gets worse," Lloyd continued. "Do you know what Aethel-Quartz is?"

  Mina frowned, searching her encyclopedic brain. "Aethel-Quartz. It is a crystalline mineral. Rare. Expensive. It is mostly used for high-end jewelry or decorative windows because it refracts light beautifully. It has very low mana capacity, so mages don't use it."

  "Exactly," Lloyd said. "It's basically glittery trash for mages. But guess what? Wilfred has been buying all of it. Every single scrap. For six months, his mining company has been buying Aethel-Quartz from every mine in the region. The price has gone up four hundred percent. He has warehouses full of the stuff."

  Mina stared at him. "Why? If it has no magical use, why hoard it?"

  "That is the question," Lloyd said. "Why does a man steal a robot brain and then buy a mountain of useless crystal? Unless the crystal isn't useless to him."

  He looked at the book in Mina's lap. "I showed you my cards. Your turn. What is in the book?"

  Mina looked down at the cover. She traced the letters with her finger. She took a deep breath.

  "I found a fragment," she said quietly. "In the archives. It was a piece of Anubis's personal journal. It was burned, but readable. It talked about the Heart."

  "And?" Lloyd leaned in.

  "The Heart isn't powered by normal mana," Mina said. "Anubis wrote that mana is 'poison' to it. It needs a specific frequency. A vibration. He called it the 'Song of the Earth'."

  "Okay," Lloyd said. "So we need a singer? That seems easy."

  "No," Mina shook her head. "He wrote that the only thing that can amplify this song, the only thing that can bridge the gap between the stone mind and the ether, is a mineral he called the 'Whispering Crystal'."

  Lloyd froze. "Whispering Crystal."

  "It is an archaic alchemical name," Mina said. "I checked the cross-reference in this book. The modern name for Whispering Crystal is..."

  "Aethel-Quartz," Lloyd finished for her. The realization hit him like a physical blow.

  The pieces of the puzzle slammed together with a terrifying click. Wilfred wasn't crazy. He wasn't just collecting shiny rocks. He had the manual. He knew exactly how the Golem Heart worked, and he had spent months gathering the fuel before he stole the engine.

  "He knows," Lloyd whispered. "He actually knows how to turn it on."

  The silence between them stretched out, heavy and cold. The fountain burbled cheerfully, oblivious to the fact that two people were discussing a potential catastrophe.

  Mina looked pale. "If he has the Heart," she said, her voice trembling slightly, "and he has the Quartz... he can activate it. The legends say the Heart controls the Guardian. A construct of immense power."

  "Yeah," Lloyd said, rubbing his face. "This isn't a theft anymore. It's an arms race. And we are losing."

  He looked at Mina. She was smart. She was capable. But she was an academic. She wasn't a soldier. He wanted to tell her to go home. He wanted to tell her to run back to the safety of the Siddik estate and let him handle the monsters. That would be the noble thing to do.

  But he couldn't. He needed her. She had the knowledge. She had the books. She understood the history in a way he didn't. His engineering brain could figure out the how, but she understood the why.

  "Mina," Lloyd said seriously. "We have a problem. A big, fortress-sized problem. Wilfred isn't just going to put that Heart on his mantlepiece. He's going to use it."

  "To do what?" Mina asked.

  "To build a weapon," Lloyd said. "Or to wake one up. Either way, it ends with a lot of people getting squashed."

  He took a deep breath. "I need to stop him. I need to get into that fortress and get that Heart back. But I can't do it alone. I don't know enough about Anubis's tech. I might break it. Or worse, I might turn it on by accident."

  He extended his hand across the space between them. It was a gesture of peace. A gesture of partnership.

  Chapter : 1362

  "I propose a truce," Lloyd said. "A temporary alliance. We forget about the awkwardness. We forget about the proposals and the wives and the drama. Right now, we are just two people trying to stop a madman from turning on a doomsday machine. You help me figure out the tech, and I will handle the violence. Deal?"

  Mina looked at his hand. She hesitated. He could see the conflict in her eyes. She wanted to stay away from him. She wanted to protect her heart. But she was also a Siddik. She was brave. And she knew the stakes.

  She sighed, a long, exasperated sound. "You are impossible, Lloyd Ferrum."

  "I know," he smiled. "It's part of my charm."

  "Fine," she said. She reached out and shook his hand. Her grip was firm. "A temporary alliance. Until the Heart is recovered. After that, we go back to being strangers on a train."

  "Agreed," Lloyd said. "Strangers who saved the city. It has a nice ring to it."

  He stood up, his energy returning. He had a plan. Well, he had half a plan. But he had a partner, and that was a start.

  "Okay, partner," Lloyd said. "What is our next move? We know what he has. We know how he plans to use it. But we don't know where the weapon is. Is he building it? Did he dig it up?"

  "We need more information," Mina said, standing up and clutching her book. "We need someone on the inside. Or someone who used to be inside."

  "A disgruntled employee," Lloyd said, snapping his fingers. "Rich guys like Wilfred always treat their workers like dirt. There has to be someone he fired. Someone angry."

  "I can check the employment records at the archives," Mina suggested. "See if there were any high-level dismissals from his mining company recently."

  "And I'll talk to Silas again," Lloyd said. "See if anyone in the lower district has a grudge against the Lord. Between the two of us, we'll find a loose thread."

  "Then let us get to work," Mina said. She adjusted her glasses. "And Lloyd?"

  "Yes?"

  "Try not to blow anything up yet," she said. "I would like to study the fortress before it becomes a crater."

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  "No promises," Lloyd grinned. "But I'll try to keep the explosions to a minimum."

  They walked away from the park together, not touching, but walking in step. The awkwardness was still there, lurking beneath the surface, but it was buried under the weight of the mission. They had a job to do. The soap merchant and the historian were going to war. And Lord Wilfred had no idea what was coming for him.

  The search for a disgruntled employee took less time than Lloyd expected. Apparently, Lord Wilfred was not a very nice boss. Who would have guessed?

  Lloyd met Mina at their designated rendezvous point, a small noodle shop near the edge of the mining district. It was noisy, steamy, and smelled of garlic. Perfect for a secret meeting.

  "I found him," Lloyd said, sliding into the booth. He grabbed a menu. "I also found that I am very hungry. Do they have spicy beef?"

  Mina ignored the menu. She placed a piece of paper on the table. "I found a name, too. Jory. He was a foreman at the main quartz processing plant. He was fired two weeks ago for 'insubordination'."

  "Jory," Lloyd nodded. "That matches my intel. Silas told me about a guy named Jory who has been spending his nights at the tavern, drinking cheap ale and shouting about how Wilfred is 'dooming us all'. Sounds like our guy."

  "Where is he now?" Mina asked.

  "The Rusty Pickaxe," Lloyd said. "It's a dive bar about three streets over. He's there right now, probably on his third pint."

  "Then we go," Mina said, standing up.

  "Wait, can I get a noodle bowl first?" Lloyd asked.

  "No," Mina said sternly. "The fate of the city is at stake. Noodles later."

  Lloyd sighed and followed her out. "You are a cruel taskmaster, Mina."

  They walked to The Rusty Pickaxe. It was exactly as charming as the name suggested. The floor was sticky. The air was thick with smoke. The patrons looked like they chewed rocks for breakfast.

  Lloyd and Mina walked in. They stood out immediately. Lloyd looked like a lost professor, and Mina looked like a librarian who had taken a wrong turn. The conversation in the room died down. Fifty pairs of suspicious eyes turned to them.

  Chapter : 1363

  "Hello everyone!" Lloyd said cheerfully, raising a hand. "Lovely weather for mining, isn't it? We are looking for a gentleman named Jory. Is he the one face-down on the table over there?"

  A burly man near the bar grunted and pointed a thick finger at a corner booth. A man was indeed slumped over a table, muttering to a mug of ale.

  Lloyd and Mina walked over. Lloyd slid into the booth next to the man. Mina sat opposite, looking uncomfortable about the cleanliness of the seat.

  "Jory?" Lloyd asked gently.

  The man lifted his head. He had a bushy beard and eyes that were red from drink and lack of sleep. "Who wants to know?" he slurred. "If you're with Wilfred, tell him I didn't take the wrench! I left it in the bucket!"

  "We aren't with Wilfred," Lloyd said. "We are... concerned citizens. We heard you might know something about what he's building."

  Jory's eyes widened. Fear cut through the alcohol. "Shhh! Don't talk about it! He has eyes everywhere! The stone eyes!"

  "Stone eyes?" Mina asked. "You mean golems?"

  Jory flinched. "Not golems. Not yet. But soon. He's crazy. He's obsessed."

  Lloyd signaled the barkeep for a round of drinks. He placed a gold coin on the table. Jory stared at the coin like it was a religious artifact.

  "Talk to us, Jory," Lloyd said, his voice dropping to a serious tone. "We know about the Aethel-Quartz. We know about the Heart. What is he doing with them?"

  Jory grabbed the coin and hid it in his boot. He leaned in, his voice a terrified whisper.

  "He found the blueprints," Jory said. "Old ones. From the time of Anubis. He didn't just find the Heart to look at it. He's building the body. He's been building it for years, piece by piece, in the deep shaft."

  "The Guardian?" Mina breathed.

  "No," Jory shook his head. "Something worse. The Guardian was a defender. A shield. Wilfred... he altered the plans. He added weapons. Cannons that shoot concentrated light. Armor that can't be scratched. He calls it 'The God-King'."

  Lloyd felt a chill. "And the Quartz?"

  "Fuel," Jory said. "He's grinding it down. Creating a resonance chamber. He says when he puts the Heart inside, the Quartz will sing to it. It will wake up the stone. And once it wakes up... it won't stop. It will do whatever he tells it to do."

  "And what does he want it to do?" Lloyd asked.

  Jory looked around the bar, checking for spies. "He wants to secede. He wants to declare Ramos an independent kingdom, with him as the King. He says with the God-King, no army can touch him. He's going to threaten to level the city if the council doesn't surrender. He's going to hold us all hostage."

  Lloyd and Mina walked out of the bar. The fresh air felt good after the stifling atmosphere of fear inside. They walked to a quiet alleyway to talk.

  "It's worse than we thought," Mina said. Her hands were shaking slightly. "He isn't just building a golem. He's building a magical tank. A siege engine."

  "And he plans to use the city as a human shield," Lloyd added grimly. "If he activates that thing in the middle of Ramos, nobody can stop him. The Royal Army would take weeks to get here. By then, he'll be sitting on a throne of rubble."

  "We have to stop him," Mina said. "We have to destroy the weapon before he puts the Heart in."

  "Destroying it might be hard," Lloyd said. "If he's been building it for years, it's probably huge. And tough. We can't exactly sneak in with a hammer and smash it."

  He paced back and forth in the alley. His mind was racing. He needed a plan. A crazy plan.

  "We need to see it," Lloyd decided. "We need to know the layout. We need to know where the Heart goes. If we can intercept the Heart before he installs it, the machine is useless."

  "But how do we get in?" Mina asked. "Jory said the fortress is locked down. Mercenaries everywhere. Magical wards."

  Lloyd stopped pacing. A slow smile spread across his face. It was the smile of a man who was about to do something incredibly stupid and incredibly brilliant.

  "Jory said Wilfred is obsessed with Anubis, right?" Lloyd asked. "He's a fanatic. He thinks he's a genius for rediscovering this lost tech."

  "Yes," Mina nodded.

  "Fanatics have a weakness," Lloyd said. "Ego. They love to talk about their work. They love to show off how smart they are. They crave validation."

  "So?"

  Chapter : 1364

  "So," Lloyd said, adjusting his glasses. "We give him what he wants. We don't break in as thieves. We walk in the front door as admirers. As fellow geniuses."

  "A disguise?" Mina asked skeptically.

  "A performance," Lloyd corrected. "I am no longer Professor Ferrum, the humble scholar. I am... Lord Vane. A wealthy investor from the distant South. A man with too much money and a fascination for ancient technology. And I have a secret. A revolutionary new technique for refining Aethel-Quartz."

  Mina stared at him. "You are going to lie to him about rocks?"

  "I am going to bait him," Lloyd said. "I'm going to tell him that his current fuel is inefficient. That I have a way to make his machine twice as powerful. He won't be able to resist. He'll want to know my secret. He'll invite me in."

  "And me?" Mina asked. "What am I?"

  "You are my consultant," Lloyd said. "Dr. Mina. The world's leading expert on Anubis-era runes. You are there to verify his work. To flatter his ego. To tell him how brilliant he is."

  "I hate flattery," Mina grumbled.

  "Think of it as acting," Lloyd said. "We walk in. We get a tour. We find the weapon. We find the Heart. And then, when his guard is down... we strike."

  "It is risky," Mina said. "If he suspects us..."

  "Then we run really fast," Lloyd said. "But it's our best shot. We can't fight an army of mercenaries. We have to trick the commander."

  Mina thought about it. She looked at Lloyd. She saw the confidence in his eyes. He was crazy, yes. But he was also the man who had saved a village from a plague and outsmarted a demon.

  "Fine," Mina said. "Lord Vane. And Dr. Mina. We need costumes. Better clothes. We need to look rich and important."

  "Way ahead of you," Lloyd said. "I have a budget. A very large budget. Let's go shopping. If we're going to save the world, we should look good doing it."

  He grabbed her arm and pulled her towards the market district. The plan was set. They were going into the lion's den. Not with swords, but with lies and fancy hats. It was the Ferrum way.

  Lloyd stood in front of the mirror in the finest tailor shop in Ramos. He adjusted his cuffs. He was wearing a suit of deep crimson velvet with gold embroidery. It was loud. It was flashy. It was exactly what a man named "Lord Vane" would wear. He had added a fake monocle because he felt it added a touch of ridiculous authority.

  "You look... expensive," Mina said, stepping out of the changing room.

  Lloyd turned. His jaw dropped slightly. Mina was wearing a gown of midnight blue silk. It was professional but elegant. She had her hair pinned up with silver combs. She looked like a scholar who also happened to own a small country.

  "You look terrifyingly competent," Lloyd said. "Perfect."

  They left the shop and headed to the next stop: a jeweler. Lloyd needed props. He bought a small chest made of polished ebony. Then, using his [Steel Blood] power in a dark alley when no one was looking, he fused a handful of regular Aethel-Quartz crystals together, compressing them until they glowed with an unnatural internal light. It was fake, of course. It was just pressurized glass. But to the untrained eye, it looked like a miracle of alchemy.

  "This," Lloyd said, placing the glowing crystal into the ebony box, "is 'Refined Star-Glass'. The rarest fuel in the world. Invented by me yesterday."

  "It looks very convincing," Mina admitted.

  "Confidence is key," Lloyd said. "Now, we need a carriage. A big one. With horses that look like they eat better than the peasants."

  Two hours later, a magnificent black carriage rolled up the winding road to the High Crag. The fortress of Lord Wilfred loomed above them. It was a massive structure of black stone, bristling with guard towers and ballistae. It looked less like a home and more like a prison for a giant.

  Lloyd sat inside, tapping his monocle. "Showtime. Remember, Mina. You are unimpressed. You have seen better golems. You think his runes are 'derivative'. Poke his ego."

  "I can do unimpressed," Mina said. "I have been practicing on you for weeks."

  "Ouch," Lloyd laughed. "Good. Keep that energy."

  The carriage stopped at the main gate. A heavy iron portcullis barred the way. Guards with crossbows looked down from the walls.

  A captain of the guard approached the window. "Halt. State your business. No visitors."