Chapter 2852: A Lesson to Learn (part 2)

Lith knew of Kelia's background from Solus and due to Kelia's symbiotic relations.h.i.+p with Dusk, Lith felt an affinity toward her. He was aware that the Empress was raising Kelia as her successor and that she probably had been sent to Jiera on some mission.

What he suspected and Kelia wasn't aware of, was the fact that part of the mission was gaining field experience and witnessing the consequences of bad leaders.h.i.+p. If Lith was right, the Empress wanted Kelia to become more than just a powerful mage who hosted Dusk in her body.

If she ever became the next Empress, her actions would affect the whole Garlen.

***

Once they reached the meeting point, Lith and Kelia had a pleasant surprise.

Just a few dozen kilometers from their initial landing point there was an unused mana geyser. Farg had found it by following the river through the mainland. After that, she had scouted the area surrounding the geyser for signs of the presence of monsters or lost cities.

After finding plenty of wildlife and no traces of recent struggles, she had activated the homing beacon for the rest of the expedition.

"This was a lucky break." Orion said. "Tonight we'll sleep here and tomorrow we'll proceed to scout the entire region thoroughly. I'm not taking a single crate out of the Wayfinder until we make sure there's no one around here or coming this way."

The Train was already in its village mode, setting a safe perimeter with the arrays that allowed everyone to rest and relax during the dinner.

"Do you need our presence after the construction process begins?" Tista asked.

"No, unless there's an emergency. Why?"

"Well, I came to Jiera to check on the merfolk and to meet Bodya's relatives." She pointed the Nidhogg to Orion. "I would like to bring Lith and Kamila along. Also, we could use this time to check on Vladion and the others."

"Fine by me." Orion sighed. "But keep your amulets at hand and consider yourselves on call."

The evening was quiet and the night pa.s.sed without incidents. The following day, the Wayfinder and its occupants kept guard to the geyser while checking for magic crystals and magic metals while the DoLoreans checked the perimeter for dozens of kilometers.

The recon took until dusk because the mages had to often come down and use earth magic to search for caves hidden underground and cast life-sensing arrays. n(-/(-(.-/)()I)-n

Only after they found no traces of settlements and the presence of wild animals confirmed that there had not been a monster horde in a long while did Orion contact the Royals to share the good news.

The following morning, the construction work started. The portable village had been arranged so as to keep the site of the future Warp Gate at the center of the arrays.

Mages were sent out to find an alternative source of water to the river and set temporary arrays to warn them of the approach of enemies while the soldiers looked for a steady supply of food for the expedition.

Game, fruits, edible herbs, anything that would make the provisions brought from Garlen last longer in case they had underestimated the time necessary to complete the Gate or something delayed the construction.

Only the members of the White Sword Squad and the Queen's Corps unit were present when the Forgemastering materials were unloaded by the Awakened by using Spirit Magic. Tista, Lith, and Bodya also gave a hand by carrying the heaviest crates with ease thanks to their strength. Inxialot could have contributed as well, but no one trusted him near the priceless components and rare ingredients.

There was the concrete chance that he might steal them, lose them due to his forgetfulness, or steal them and then forget about doing it so that even if Raagu questioned him, the Lich King would have been unaware of his own actions.

Believing himself innocent, there was no telling how he might react to accusations but no one believed for a second that Inxialot would never agree on revealing the contents of his dimensional amulets.

Even worse, even if he did and was caught red-handed, the Lich King would believe to have always owned the stolen items and fight to protect them with everything he had gotten.

"I still don't understand why we brought the undead with us. He brings more trouble than help." A guard from the Empire commented drily.

"Me neither." Said a mage. "Even worse, the more I see how a Lich operates, the more embarra.s.sing is the thought that we came this close to losing against Veeza."

The rest of the unit on scout duty muttered in agreement.

"We brought him with us because he can stand guard alone night and day without rest and cover one side of the camp by himself." Harun, a female member of the White Sword unit said while pointing at the figure of Inxialot and Nero watching the south entrance.

"Also, you guys are making a big mistake if you think that a Lich is just a clumsy oddball. If that was his true nature, Inxialot would have never become so powerful or risen to his position.

"His ridiculous behavior means that he doesn't give a d.a.m.n about us and you should thank the G.o.ds for that. Veeza was a threat to the Empire because she had a goal and we were an obstacle to her plans. Once a Lich puts their plan into motion, they never stop and never waver.

"So shut up and don't give him a reason to focus."

Everybody was flabbergasted but after a while they swallowed a lump of saliva, finding themselves covered in a cold sweat. They remembered well how Inxialot had single-handedly disposed of all the magical beasts attacking the Wayfinder with a single spell.

On top of that, he was an Awakened and the representative of the undead in the Council whereas Veeza had been just one of the many affiliates of the Dusk Court. Nonetheless, it had taken the direct intervention of the Empress to kill her.

The guards from the Empire stared at the figure of the Lich King one last time and decided that it was better to leave the sleeping Dragon alone lest he woke up.

"Thanks for the help, guys." Orion triple-checked that everything necessary to build the physical foundation of the Warp Gate and only that had been brought out of the Wayfinder.

This way, if something went amiss or was damaged, the sabotage would be immediately discovered. By keeping a limited number of components at hand while the rest was locked in the wagons made it hard for any enemy to deal a crippling blow to the expedition.

Orion had brought spares of everything but only he knew what was where.

"We'll start right away and even though the area is secure, I'd sleep more comfortably knowing that you are here. Please, come back as soon as you can or our estimates about the construction time might become nothing but wishful thinking."

"There's something I don't understand." Lith said. "I thought that after arriving to Jiera, the people of the Empire would have gone separate ways and built their own Gate. Why are they still here?"