Rick’s first thought when he woke up was that the left side of the bed was gone.
Well, it wasn’t gone in real life. The mattress and pillow were still there, and the soft blue-gold light coming through ridia’s crystal walls was still making its usual peaceful patterns on the ceiling.
He could no longer get to any of it because Sylvia had taken about seventy percent of the available sleeping space without any trouble, as if she were a god who thought all land belonged to her.
The other thirty percent was split between Rick and Zara, who had apparently fallen asleep in the sa position she would use to stop a defeated enemy.
Her arm was around his waist. Her knee pressing against his side felt uncomfortable. She was sound asleep and looked very happy about it.
Sylvia’s hair was spread out over the pillow and most of Rick’s arm in a way that was both beautiful and very annoying. At so point during the night, she also took his other pillow, which she held under her chin with a firm grip, as if she didn’t want to negotiate.
Rick looked at the ceiling for a long ti.
Then Sebastian showed up, sitting cross-legged at the foot of the bed with a small chalkboard in one hand and a monocle in the other. The chalkboard said, in very neat handwriting:
"SYLVIA: 1—ZARA: 1—RICK: DECEASED."
"Oh my fucking milfs... this old son of a bitch..." Rick said, "Don’t you fucking dare..."
Sebastian thought about this for a mont. Then he turned the chalkboard over.
It said on the back, "Congratulations on your survival."
Rick said, "I fucking hate you."
"That makes sense." Sebastian took the chalkboard away and pulled out a folded piece of paper with a wax seal on it from his coat. "But I need you to be able to work for about five minutes because you have mail."
"A mail...? That’s new, and if the inside is related to your fucking jokes... I swear to fucking MILFs that I will murder you in your sleep!!!" Rick scread in his mind, where Sebastian could hear it clearly.
"How edgy... just read the fucking letter." Sebastian gives the piece of paper to Rick.
Rick grabbed it. Then he looked at Zara, who was still fast asleep and completely committed.
Then he looked at Sylvia, who had moved a little. Her red-gold hair caught the light in a way that was too pretty for soone who had just stolen two pillows.
"Is it okay to wait...? I want to enjoy this piece of heaven right here, and it’s not often they sleep across from each other with between them."
"It cos from Grand Magister Fredrich."
"Fredrich...? Oh man... this is probably going to be so kind of my next problem, ain’t it?"
The na had a certain kind of weight. It’s not scary nor wrong, but just a little bit worrying of what’s inside the letters.
Rick carefully sat up and moved Zara’s arm little by little until he could get up without waking her. He got about halfway through when she made a noise and tightened her grip without opening her eyes.
"Um... Zara... can you let loose for a bit?" Rick said softly, "I have to read a letter."
Zara’s grip got about two percent weaker.
"Political letters."
Then... one eye opened. She looked him over for a mont, then let go of his arm and buried her face in the pillow again.
Rick took this as permission and completely got free.
The seal on the letter was made of official Mage Council wax, which was deep purple and had the formal crest pressed into it. Rick opened it up and read.
"Hero of Mature Hearts, Rick Rolland, I write to let you know that your long absence from Valdris has caused so problems with the administration."
"The Council of Ancient Mages t two days ago without you, and several important issues were brought up."
"I have taken the liberty of managing affairs in your absence, as befits soone of my experience and standing."
"And I’m sorry that you have to enjoy the peace on such short notice... I hope you will return as soon as possible. — Grand Magister Fredrich Thornfield."
Rick read it two tis. The letter was businesslike with the polite touch. The wording was the kind of careful, thought-out language that diplomatic letters needed, and there was nothing wrong with it in a technical sense.
Fredrich was a seasoned politician who had been in charge of complicated alliances for many years. He would, of course, take care of business matters when Rick wasn’t around.
That made perfect sense.
There was sothing about it that bothered Rick, like a pebble in his shoe that wouldn’t go away.
Sylvia’s voice ca from the bed behind him. She was wide awake and not in a hurry, even though she had seed to be asleep thirty seconds ago.
"He took care of things without your help," she said, "and he made it sound like it was a favor to you."
Zara, who was also suddenly awake, said from her side of the bed, "That’s what people do when they don’t need you anymore."
Rick looked at each of them. Neither of them was sitting up.
Both of them had their eyes open and were staring at him with the kind of alertness that cos from being awake the whole ti and just being done pretending otherwise.
Rick said, "I thought you were asleep."
"We were comfortable," Sylvia said. "That is not the sa thing as unconscious."
Zara sat up straight and rolled her shoulders. "So, are we going back?"
Rick put the letter down on the side table and folded it. "Yeah... the break ends here, I guess. We should probably go back to see what’s up."
...
After that, the morning went on in a way that was quick and useful, like a group that had learned how to go from resting to moving quickly. Before Rick was done washing his face, Zara was already dressed and going over sothing.
Sohow, in the ti it took him to find his boots, Sylvia had made her hair look perfect. So things about having ancient, powerful won as partners were truly amazing, like how they could be ready before he was.
Before they left, Sebastian showed up one last ti, looking like soone who had been saving sothing.
"New skill notifications," he said. "From last night. Two of them."
Rick paused. "Both from them?"
Sebastian pulled out a scroll and said, "The bond network recorded the simultaneous resonance of two Spirit Bonds again, like the Carmilla-Natasha synchronization..."
"But the output signature is different."
"When Sylvia and Zara are in sync, they create a very different kind of power. It’s less tactical and more... absolute."
[NEW SKILL ACQUIRED: SOVEREIGN CONVERGENCE]
[Type: Bond Combination Skill — Tier 2]
[Activation: Requires active Spirit Bond synchronization with Sylvia Flaheart and Zara Bloodthorn simultaneously]
[Effect: rges draconic sovereignty and demonic authority into a unified field of dominance. For 90 seconds, all enemies within a 100-ter radius are affected by compounded Draconic Presence and Demon Queen’s Authority simultaneously. Enemies below Rick’s power level are imdiately suppressed. Enemies above his power level suffer significant stat reduction and psychological disorientation.]
[SECONDARY EFFECT — INFERNAL DRAGON’S DECREE: Once per activation, Rick may issue a single absolute command that both the dragon and demon power networks enforce. Duration of command effect scales with combined bond depth.]
[Note: Unlike Resonant Convergence, this skill does not require close physical proximity. Synchronization through the bond network at any distance is sufficient.]
[Cooldown: 45 minutes]
"W-Whoa...! What the fuck...?!" Rick looked at it for a long ti. "That’s more terrifying than the ones I got from Carmilla and Natasha."
"Well, no shit, Sherlock." Sebastian agreed happily, "And congratulations!"
"You now have a skill that lets you tell an enemy to stop and have both the Dragon Queen’s and the Demon General’s entire power history backing that instruction." He rolled up the scroll. "Just try not to abuse it too much."
Zara, who was reading over Rick’s shoulder without warning, said, "That’s a pretty good skill."
"It’s more than enough too," Sylvia said, as if she were also reading over his other shoulder.
Zara and Sylvia stared at each other. Rick had learned that when they both looked away, it ant they agreed.
"Well... at least it’s sothing for to use against a new threat."
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