Flania was besieged with countless questions, all of which she tried to ignore.

It was the first time the princess had ever felt herself limited by what she could do. Flania had always been gifted. A wise leader that succeeded at everything she put her mind to and received praise for everything. But now she knew what it meant to truly be a genius. It had been arrogant for her to assume she was a leader in this regard compared to someone like Hecaris III. The man in front of her was a veteran of politics whereas she was merely a newcomer. 

Without Charle, without Madoshi, Flania was nothing. Without them, she would’ve died a long time ago in the wastelands. 

She needed their people by her side more than ever now to solve this latest problem. And for the first time in her life, she wondered if it had been the wrong decision for her to be this mission’s leader.

The first informal contact between Flania and Hecaris III ended soon after with the latter listing his many grievances to the former. The sheer amount of troubles the emperor was facing frustrated Flania to no small amount and required her to consult with Charle for almost every issue. After a series of diplomatic promises and such, the princess finally gave thanks to the emperor for his hospitality and left.

Escorted by paladins, Flania left the hall to where the rest of the Sovereignian envoys were already waiting. She glanced at the members, but someone was missing! Flania studied their faces carefully. She knew it—Elric and his two friends who besmirched the honor of their nation earlier—were gone. 

Flania felt her mood drop even more. The people she was planning to vent off her anger to had cleverly scampered off the moment she was gone so they wouldn’t be targeted.

“Where has Elric, Kite, and Jerry run off to?” She glowered but no one dared to respond. Then Charle walked up to her.

“Elric and his friends were personally invited by Myron to see his laboratory. We can head over now if ye like.”

“Hmph, you mean they took this opportunity to flee.” She grumbled.

“Hey now, does it really matter if they did or didn’t? Ye can settle whatever grievances ye have when they return without trouble.”

Now more than ever, Flania thought her uncle was truly someone she could respect from the bottom of her heart.

The ease in which Charle managed to mitigate Flania’s anger had been so smooth that immediately, all the envoys began to hope that they’d never run afoul of this man in the future.

With her mood much better than before, Flania led the envoys and their escorting paladins to a palace in the southern quadrant of Waldsk. This entire palace was given from Hecaris III to the Sovereignian envoys to stay in for their time in Karth.

Straight away, Flania had the more essential envoys convene with her to discuss the issues she discussed with Hecaris III. It was only a shame that two vital members were missing: Jerry and Kite.

The two, coincidentally, were taking a stroll just as Flania expected. Neither those two nor Elric wanted to be anywhere close to the palace in fear of facing Flania’s wrath. 

Aside from Kite and his unshakeable faith as a knight, Elric and Jerry were both considering the perks of trying to seek asylum in Karth. An act perhaps limited to only people as unscrupulous as Jerry and Elric.

None of the three realized that two other men had entered Myron’s laboratory when they left. One of the two men had a few subordinates follow the three youths even.

The ones who entered were Emperor Hecaris III and Archmagister Kebrilio.

“What in the world happened, Archiereus?” Hecaris III asked once he stepped into the laboratory.

Myron slowly rose from his seat at his liege’s question. He walked to his window-side desk and retrieved a crystal mirror. Turning around, he walked back to the center of the room and looked up for a beam of moonlight to suddenly drop down from the skies. Basked in moonlight, the mirror slowly began to float and rotate in the air as if suspended by the light. 

A golden beam of light suddenly erupted from the mirror. Fractured by an invisible prism, the golden light began to show hazy visions of something neither Hecaris III nor Kebrilio could understand at first. At first the group could hardly make out what was going on, but eventually the two began to see visions of Elric’s meeting with an old wolf.

Myron skipped through several scenes before eventually the golden beam of light revealed the scene where Vantus was fighting Crazy. Though hazy, each scene still had enough clarity for Kebrilio and Hecaris III to see enough of the magic being thrown about. The both of them were experts in magic and even more knowledgeable in warfare, so the visions they saw were far more mind blowing than it had been for Unluck and his friends.

The battle between Crazy and Vantus continued with a series of flashes before fading away into darkness. When the darkness faded away, the battlefield was no longer in sight. In its place was the eponymous capital of the Sovereign Kingdom, Sovereign. 

Myron grabbed the mirror then, causing it to halt its rotation and the burst of golden light coming from it. Once the light was gone from the room, all that was left were the tense expressions of Hecaris III and Kebrilio.

“I never imagined that Sovereign would have a powerful magus like her hidden away.” Kebrilio sighed. “I’ve never heard of such a person before.”

“Our intelligence is lacking, it seems.” Agreed the emperor.

“Archiereus, surely you know who this person might be.” He asked.

“The answer is truly a strange one. She is the younger sister of the current Sovereignian king, princess Crazy.” 

As expected, the answer shocked the both of them.

“I wonder if the hard-liners would make an attempt onto Sovereign should they learn of her.” Kebrilio wondered aloud.

“Indeed. We should take this into consideration. Magic has been a field Sovereign has remained dominant in since their conception, it should be a non-surprise that they have a plethora of talented magi. An attempt to conquer them with forbidden magic may bode badly for us. I fear allowing the hard-liners their invasion of Sovereign will lead to Karth becoming no more in the future.” Hecaris III stated.

“I concur. Madoshi was able to phase an entire division of soldiers across Valkner’s Mountain by himself. The trainee magus Elric was somehow able to break my forbidden spell and destroy Melkruth. And now we have a magus that fears neither forbidden magic nor a legendary hero. Those three alone are threatening enough, but there is still the Archmagister Naga whose magic we have yet to ascertain. I fear there are still many unknown and powerful magi we must attempt to find out about first. Given what we know now, it is a blessing that Sovereign hasn’t preemptively attacked us yet.” 

“What is your opinion, Archiereus?” Hecaris III asked.

“Your Highness, I believe you have already an answer in mind.”