Inside one of the studies room. Henry closed the old book, his fingers lingering on its worn cover as he took a deep breath. He would need ti to assimilate all the information inside this book. It was not only about the magical fire, but also about the continent's history, information that Henry had no access until now.
"This world is large…" Henry murmured, his fingers tapping lightly against the book's worn cover. "Larger than I thought… This region is nothing but a well…" His lips curled into a self-deprecating smile. "And I am the frog. I am the King of the Well"
The words felt heavy, and for so reason, he didn't like them. King of the Well. The title felt small. Insignificant. It stirred sothing deep within him. A feeling he couldn't quite place, was it his own? A remnant of the old Henry? Or perhaps a whisper of Caelum's lingering and ancient will?
He wasn't sure.
Shaking the thought away, Henry leaned back in his chair. - "Well, at least I gained sothing from tonight." His gaze flickered toward the dying embers in the fireplace. "The dinner went well enough."
A few hours had passed since the al had ended. Eleanor had been escorted to a guest chamber, with Zolun standing guard outside her door, still as an iron statue. As for the coachman, Oben, and the rest of the princess's entourage, they had been allocated rooms at the local tavern. There was no need for more than one guest and her protector inside the castle walls.
Three knocks echoed through the study, breaking the silence.
"Enter," Henry commanded.
The door opened, and Leier slipped inside, her steps creating no sound whatsoever. She closed the door behind her and stepped forward, stopping just in front of his desk. Without hesitation, she began to report.
"My liege, the Shadow Guards have confird that five of the princess's soldiers left the tavern," she said, her voice low and steady. "They changed their clothes and blended in with the people of Hidden Stone. It seems they have been asking around about you. After that… they vanished."
Henry's fingers tapped idly against the worn cover of the book on his desk. His expression remained calm, but the emotions from earlier still clung to his mind like a lingering aftertaste.
"Seems like the princess has so capable people in her entourage," he mused. "The mont our eyes left them, they started gathering information."
He glanced up at Leier. "Have the Shadow Guards located them?"
The Shadow Guards, Henry's hidden blades in the dark. An elite, all-female unit trained personally by Leier to act as spies and assassins under his direct command. Unlike knights, they did not rely on traditional training thods. They neither accumulated mana in the usual way nor followed conventional combat techniques. Instead, their strength ca from the Tribal Tattoos etched into their very flesh, which granted them enhanced speed, strength, and unique abilities to fight on even grounds against First and Second Stage Warriors.
But power always had a cost.
The mortality rate was imnse. It was difficult and costly to produce even a single one of them.
Them being woman, it was easy to embed them among the noble houses. It was like this in Luak and Aritreia, where they acted as maids, watching, listening and informing Henry's forces of everything. They had helped him anticipate his enemies' moves before they could strike. Now, he had them keeping a close watch on The Agents, particularly the Darus Household, whose patriarch, the Iron Agent, was already under Olaro's scrutiny.
"Yes, my king. It took so ti to locate them, but the Shadows found them." Leier responded, her voice low yet steady. "They are all concentrated around the castle's walls. It seems like they are on edge and preparing for any kind of distress signal that the princess could have"
Henry smirked. Of course, they were being cautious. They were not fools, at least, not that knight guarding the princess. A man did not reach the Sixth Stage by sheer luck. They were in unfamiliar territory, surrounded by potential threats. Staying on guard was the only logical move.
"Let them be," Henry said, leaning back slightly. "Just keep watch on them, and especially that coachman. I do not have a good feeling about him."
That coachman's eyes were filled with sothing more than loyalty. He seed more like a poisonous snake than a faithful servant of the princess. Henry could recognize it. That man was trouble and he didn't like trouble.
Henry shifted to another matter. "Have Zahra and Agusa left for Obex Forest?"
"They departed earlier tonight," Leier confird. "They took their horses and provisions and should reach the forest in a week."
"Great." - Henry said as he leaned forwards, his voice lowering slightly - "I also want you to take so of the Shadow Guards south. Infiltrate one of the kingdoms bordering the Frozen Forest. If we are going to march down there and take their heads, we need information first, don't we?"
Leier knew exactly who he ant.
The ones who had butchered her family in cold blood. The traitors who abandoned the crown and fled south, vanishing into foreign lands. Her fingers twitched at her sides, her body betraying the hunger for vengeance that had burned inside her for years.
Henry flipped open the worn-out book, retrieving a folded map from its pages. With a flick of his wrist, he passed it to Leier.
"This should help you," he said. "It details all the kingdoms north of the Sylvanhart Empire. Your target is Askiv. According to the princess, their king died because of a mysterious disease, and the kingdom has been thrown into civil war."
His gaze sharpened. "The surrounding kingdoms are circling like vultures, but that chaos should make infiltration easier. The castle will need maids and the strategic people might need mistresses to relieve their stress, use that to your advantage. However, be cautious. We do not know their true strength."
Leier took the map without hesitation, her grip firm.
"I understand," she said, her voice steady - "When should I leave?"
Henry didn't hesitate - "Tomorrow morning."
-x-
Leier left the study, her heart pounding in her chest. This would be the first ti she had been away from the king for so long, but the burning desire to hunt down those who had slaughtered her family ran deep.
Without hesitation, she grabbed a torch from the wall and moved down the dimly lit corridor. The castle's stone halls stretched endlessly before her, lined with countless identical wooden doors. She stopped before one, unremarkable to anyone else.
Pushing it open, she was t with darkness. The hallway beyond seed to stretch into nothingness, swallowed whole by the shadows.
"I need to choose those fit for the mission," Leier murmured, stepping inside. The torch in her hand cast flickering light just a few steps ahead, but beyond that, the void remained in place.
She continued to walk, her footsteps silent against the cold stone floor, until she reached another wooden door. Without hesitation, she pushed it open.
Warm light spilled out, revealing a spacious training hall hidden within the depths of the castle. Above, the ceiling was open to the night sky, the stars shining down like distant, unblinking sentinels. Though to the rest of the castle, this was rely an old, abandoned tower, inside it was one of the Shadow Guards' training ground, filled by a few woman sparring against each other.
"Gather up!" - Leier commanded.
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