I talked with Old Crow until dusk, until the setting sun dyed his entire shop the color of amber — and only then did I finally squeeze the last drop of palace secrets and shady dealings out of that calculating old mouth of his. I left thoroughly satisfied.

  As for why I suddenly purchased so many expensive magical instruments — that's a story for another time.

  ◆

  Over the next two days, I made a rare show of diligence and cleared every piece of administrative business that Feyburn City's lordship demanded of me. At the same time, I laid out every preliminary arrangement for an important alchemical task — airtight, without a single gap.

  The goods arrived the same day.

  Old Crow delivered every last material I needed, right to my door.

  The Empire's number-one shadow merchant. And he earned that title.

  I'd given him four days. He used two.

  I checked each item against the list, the corner of my mouth lifting slightly:

  New Green Emerald, Sea God's Guard Ring, Earring of the Wind, Golden Pearl, Ultra-E Steel — all accounted for. Titanium Alloy Collar, thirty thousand gold coins — paid out.

  A steep investment. But I was certain every coin was worth it.

  ◆

  With the materials ready, I summoned Emis to the office and laid out every remaining matter for her in one sweep.

  "Emis, starting today, I'll likely be in the laboratory for three days. I won't be surfacing. All internal affairs of Feyburn City are in your hands — full authority."

  She frowned slightly, flipping open a stack of documents, her expression a degree more serious than usual.

  "My lord, we should deal with that batch of magic stones first. The price was low and the quality holds up, but the provenance is murky. They won't be easy to move."

  "Don't worry. I've already moved them through a special channel." I waved a hand. "Made a little on top, actually."

  Emis swept back the golden hair falling across her face. The dissatisfaction on that beautiful face of hers was entirely unmasked.

  "My lord," she said, her tone level, each word deliberate — the tone of someone stating an irrefutable fact — "you are the most irresponsible lord I have ever encountered. Abandoning governance for a woman. And with the three northern clans growing unusually active of late — this is precisely the moment you should be holding the line yourself."

  I couldn't help but laugh.

  "My dear Emis, from the very first day you met me — when have I ever been responsible? Have you still not figured out how I work?" I leaned back into my chair, easy and unhurried. "If I truly committed to responsibility, I'd have a full household of wives and concubines by now, and the inner court would be in absolute chaos."

  "As for the three clans — don't lose sleep over it. I've made arrangements." I paused, then added with casual indifference, "I'll stake my most prized possession on it. They will not touch the border."

  She gave a tired smile and dropped the subject.

  She knew better than anyone — this lord of hers was all loose posture and unguarded mouth, every inch the useless young noble on the surface. But when real danger closed in, he was always the calmest one in the room. Always the first to move toward the front line.

  He simply never told her how.

  That had always left something unsettled in her chest — a breath held, never quite released.

  "My lord," she said, shifting tone, the tired smile gone. "When will you ever rid yourself of that silver tongue and wandering eye? One of these days, some woman is going to put a knife in your back."

  I threw my head back and laughed, the sound filling the empty office.

  "What's youth without a little indulgence? And if I really do die at a woman's hand —" I paused, something unreadable flickering through my eyes. "That's not necessarily a bad ending. Better than dying on a battlefield, wrapped in a horse's hide. Don't you think?"

  Her expression shifted into something altogether impossible to describe.

  She wanted to laugh. She was fighting it with everything she had. The corners of her lips trembled like a string pulled to its absolute limit.

  If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.

  "Go ahead and laugh," I said, waving her off. "Holding that face is the most exhausting thing in the world. You take everything too seriously. You live too hard."

  She held it together in the end — but the laughter in her eyes had nowhere left to hide.

  ◆

  Once every matter was settled, I didn't linger. I went straight down to the underground laboratory and locked the door behind me from the inside.

  For that impossibly beautiful elven warrior — it was time to show what I was truly capable of.

  ◆

  The next three days and three nights, I barely closed my eyes.

  Medicine, alchemy, and a mountain of expensive materials — all three interlocked, precise as a machine balanced on the edge of collapse. The laboratory filled with the smell of scorched metal and heavy medicinal herbs. I built alchemical arrays one after another. Even someone of my considerable talent nearly let one accident unravel everything.

  But in the end — it held.

  Her injuries stabilized.

  Those broken vital signs were drawn back from the edge, one thread at a time, like a candle flame that had nearly gone out finding its footing again in the wind.

  After that, only two things remained:

  First — let her wake on her own.

  Second — let me fall into bed and not move for a very long time.

  ◆

  I slept for a full twenty hours.

  No dreams. Too tired to even turn over.

  I was still drifting, half-seriously considering stealing another hour or two, when the door was knocked — three times, measured and precise, carrying their usual discipline and restraint.

  "Who is it... come in." My voice came out like gravel dragged across stone.

  The door opened.

  It was Emis.

  I blinked.

  She almost never entered my bedroom. That was a rule she had set from the very first day, and she had kept it without exception for years. Walking in here, for her, was rarer than the sun rising in the west.

  Yet now, she didn't have room for awkwardness. She walked directly to the chair beside the bed, sat down, opened the document folder she'd brought, and her expression was more serious than I'd seen in some time.

  "I apologize for disturbing your rest, my lord. Several things can no longer wait." She went straight to it. "The less critical first — two days ago, there was a collapse in the mine. Four workers died on site, eleven were injured. The situation is being managed."

  She paused.

  "That isn't the main point, however."

  "At the site of the collapse, we found some unusual metal fragments and carved markings."

  I sat up a little straighter, one eyebrow lifting.

  "Carvings?"

  "They resemble ancient script. I've searched through every reference I have and cannot identify them. There's a strong possibility it's the entrance to some kind of ancient ruin — or something that goes considerably deeper." Her voice dropped. "I've sealed the site quietly. Only a very small number of trusted people know anything about this."

  "Good." I gave a short nod.

  And then —

  A cascade of images surged through my mind without warning.

  Ruins.

  Darkness.

  A shattered ceiling vault and a silence that stretched without end.

  And a face — breathtakingly beautiful, perfectly still, like a deity forgotten for a thousand years. That face carried a gravity that defied language, as though it were reaching across time and space to pull me somewhere, wordlessly, without waiting for my answer.

  My pulse quickened for no reason I could name.

  A second later, the images pulled back like a receding tide, gone completely, leaving nothing behind but a faint residual feeling — like the warmth that lingers at your fingertips after you've touched something burning.

  I shook my head lightly and pressed the images down into the back of my mind.

  "Keep it sealed for now. We'll deal with it later. This isn't the moment."

  I paused, then shifted subject with the same unhurried ease.

  "The second matter — is it that the Dark Elf Clan and Beastkin Clan have begun their move against the Holy Elf Clan?"

  Emis froze.

  Two seconds of silence.

  "...Yes."

  There was a flash of something she couldn't quite conceal in her eyes — but she pressed it down quickly and continued her report, voice steady and composed.

  "The joint forces are camped one hundred fifty leagues outside the Silver Leaf Forest. Current estimates put them five days from breaking through the forest and reaching the sacred site, the Ridge of Gaia. Total strength exceeds four hundred thousand — approximately eighty thousand cavalry, one hundred twenty thousand heavy infantry, and the remainder composed of auxiliary troops and mage battalions."

  Four hundred thousand.

  The number settled into the air between us. Heavy.

  I wasn't surprised in the slightest.

  From the moment I'd pulled that elven woman back from death's edge, I'd known this war was coming. I simply hadn't expected it to arrive this quickly. Or this large.

  Emis watched me with a grave expression, waiting.

  I let out a slow, lazy stretch, joints popping softly, and gave the empty space beside me on the bed a casual pat.

  Her expression changed instantly. She shot to her feet and stepped back half a pace, like a startled cat.

  I spoke at my own pace.

  "Why is there still a mosquito by the bed..." I tugged the corner of my mouth. "Never mind. Forget it." I looked back at her. "Has word been sent to the capital?"

  She drew a slow breath, settled back into the chair, and let her expression find its composure again.

  "It has. But even by fast courier, a reply will take at least two days."

  "The Holy Elf Clan has been our ally for fourteen years. If we hold still and do nothing, the imperial family will not be pleased."

  I gave a quiet laugh.

  "They have four hundred thousand troops." I spread my hands, tone entirely unbothered. "Feyburn City has thirty thousand garrison soldiers. Is the imperial family expecting me to send thirty thousand against four hundred thousand? Win, and it's a miracle. Lose, and I'm a fool — no matter how you count it, the numbers don't work."

  "That said —" I turned the thought over, and something settled into my voice. "Sending word to the capital was the right move. Well done. That gives me a perfectly respectable reason —"

  I let the pause hold.

  "To take a little trip to the Holy Elf Clan."

  Emis's eyes went wide.

  "A... trip? Now? With four hundred thousand troops on the doorstep — you're calling it a trip?"

  I shook my head. For a brief moment, something genuine came through.

  "No."

  "Not until she wakes up."

  "She? My lord, who are you referring to —"

  And then —

  BOOM!!!

  A thunderous explosion tore through the air from somewhere outside, deafening, as though something had been blasted clean through. The entire manor lurched with a violent shudder. The paintings on the walls swung crooked. The tea set on the table clattered and crashed into itself.

  Emis and I looked up at the same moment. Our eyes met.

  Her expression was complicated.

  Mine settled slowly into a smile.

  Well then.

  She's awake.