"Don't worry, between her prices and her travels, Hossa is a flash in the pan. Once she's gone, everyone will return to their senses and stop wasting money."

Lith attempted to take her hands again to perform the treatment, but Jirni stopped him.

"That can wait. I didn't call you for your gifts, nor just for cosmetic magic. I need your a.s.sistance with a couple of things. First, since you are good with holograms, I'd like your help to make the event memorable."

"I've already tried to ask Manohar, but he ran away the moment he heard my voice over the communicator and I'm not going to chase him over such a trivial matter."

"Consider it done." Lith nodded.

"Second, I'm worried about the girls' boyfriends, especially Phloria's."

Those words stung at Lith's heart and Jirni rejoiced for it.

"What's the matter with him?" He had suddenly found his old glare back.

"His name is Kallion Nuragor. He's a powerful mage from a n.o.ble family that has done nothing bad in the recent past but nothing good either. I have a strong suspicion that he's just using her.

"If anything happens to Gunyin, my oldest son, Phloria is the next in the line of succession. I can't rest easy until I discover the game he's playing."

"Have you told Phloria?" Lith clenched his hands hard enough to turn his knuckles white.

"What for? If you were in her shoes, would you listen to your paranoid and manipulative mother? Besides, forbidding a relations.h.i.+p is the best way a parent has to make it thrive. Phloria needs to burn her hand to learn her lesson."

Lith had to admit that she was right.

"What do you want me to do?" Lith asked.

"I'm sorry to have to ask this of you, but I need you to do nothing." Jirni sighed.

"What do you mean, nothing?"

"If I'm right, Kallion will try to provoke you. Nothing big, just enough to look good at your expense. You're going to become the youngest Spellbreaker of your generation. Ever since the plague in Kaduria, you've kept stealing the old n.o.ble households' spotlight.

"There are many who resent you for that and would do anything to destroy your reputation. Whatever Kallion does or says, I need you to stay calm and endure. I'll do the rest."

"What about Friya and Quylla?"

"Quylla may have gotten herself another gold digger. His name is Anathor Voross. He is an a.s.sistant Professor at the White Griffon and comes from a minor n.o.ble family. His background check is clean, but he's been avoiding me too much.

"I'm afraid he is just playing with her feelings. I need you to grill him in my stead. Quylla will not be on guard against you. She loves you like the brother she always wanted. As for Friya, alas, she's got no one. Can you introduce someone to her?"

"Sorry, but no. In my line of work, I don't get to know many people and Kamila mostly has female friends." Lith shrugged.

"You know what the worst part of cosmetic magic having your seal of approval is? That now I'm going to have to waste a bucket of gold coins for my daughters and to avoid my poor husband looking like my father while standing by my side."

***

Contrary to what many would expect, the use of the Warp Gate Lith had used just a few days earlier was reserved for the arrival of guests of secondary importance. During big events, members of the Royal family or special guests would walk a red carpet.

According to tradition, they had to arrive by stagecoach and walk their way to the entrance, where their host would personally receive them before they would be announced to the other guests.

It was intended as an opportunity to flaunt one's wealth and status. The later a guest arrived, the more important they were. The last ones to come were always the members of the Royal family so that they were the only ones who didn't have to introduce themselves.

Lith would have gladly pa.s.sed as a minor guest rather than waste so much time in the stagecoach that Orion had waiting for him outside the local branch of the army. For warriors like Jirni and him, being rejuvenated was a priceless gift.

After Lith had restored Orion's vigor, making him feel like he was twenty again, the Commander of the Knight's Guard had been adamant in a.s.signing Lith the best stagecoach and the best honor guards his Grand Duchy had to offer.

'I can't believe I treated him so badly in the past.' Orion inwardly griped.

'He could've asked me hundreds of gold coins and I would've gladly paid the price. No amount of gold is worth making sure that I come back home to my lovely wife and children.

'Yet he gave it freely to me, even though he knows it's easier to find a unicorn than a rejuvenator. I take back at least half of the bad things I thought about him.'

Yet Lith didn't do it out of the goodness of his heart. The Crown had finally granted him access to several forbidden books about souls, allowing him to take a new step forward in finding a solution for his reincarnation problem.

Unfortunately, most of them were very obscure. They would constantly quote other books or complex theories that Lith had never heard about, requiring him to further expand his research.

To do that, he needed to prove his worth as a Healer. He couldn't afford to be considered just an exceptional diagnostician. Revealing that he was able to Rejuvenate made him the fourth most important Healer at the Crown's service.

Only Manohar, Marth, and Vastor were known to be capable of using rejuvenation magic. This move had allowed Lith to help his friends and make the Crown grant him more privileges without him even asking for them.

Two birds with one stone.

Lith had discovered that souls were a controversial matter. Only Necromancers and Healers who had sought the perfect resurrection had thoroughly studied them, but each one had a different theory, which made things even more confusing.

The silver lining was that thanks to his resurrections, Lith had practical experience on the matter. It allowed him to rule out all those paths of research that weren't able to explain his condition.

"This is bulls.h.i.+t!" Lith lamented for the umpteenth time since the carriage had started to move, making his family and Kamila groan. He was wearing a very expensive and very formal suit, closely resembling White Tie attire from Earth.

It consisted of a black dress coat with tails over a white s.h.i.+rt, a piqué waistcoat, and a white bow tie worn around a standing wingtip collar.

"I spent months learning how to open dimensional Gates, why do we have to waste all this time? Isn't it much fancier and more practical to Warp to their doorstep?"

"Not at all." Kamila explained. "This way our ident.i.ties have been verified and our possessions searched before the Gala. Otherwise every guest would have to be detained upon arrival until they are cleared.

"Unlike those who take the Ernas's Gate, we get to skip all of the security checks. Use this time to relax, or at least try to not upset me more than I already am. I can't believe I'm going to meet the Royals at my very first Gala."