"I'll have a manor more fitting for an Archmage built nearby. We'll start with something simple that can be expanded over time so that new rooms can be built as soon as the core building is secure." The Queen said.
"But, Your Majesty-"
"No buts." Sylpha cut him short. "Once you have a family of your own, I expect you to move there. Until that moment, we've got nothing more to talk about except for your summon to the Royal Court tomorrow morning before dawn."
"I beg your pardon?" Lith asked.
"We have to check if that… How is the flying device called?"
"DoLorean."
"We have to check if the Dolores poses a threat to the safety of the Kingdom or not. You're due to Valeron's Gate at 6 AM sharp. I'm glad we had this conversation. Queen Sylpha out."
"F.u.c.k me sideways! The Queen didn't even let me point out that she got the name wrong." Lith said, but only after putting the army amulet in his pocket dimension, just to be safe.
'Look at the bright side. You're going to get a nice place without even having to pay a dime for it.' Solus chuckled. 'In your shoes, I would check for mana geysers the available locations the Queen is going to make you choose from.'
***
The following morning, Lith reached the Royal Palace early via his personal Gate. The Guards checked his ID and scanned him multiple times before allowing him to sit.
The moment the Royals appeared, the Guards kneeled and Lith followed suit.
"You can stand, Archmage Verhen. Since you already know all of those present, there's no need for introductions." King Meron said, waving at his wife, the Ernas couple, Marchioness Mirim Distar, and Constable Tyris Griffon.
"With all due respect, why so many people?" Lith asked.
"Archon Ernas has offered her considerable skills at handling magical devices while Royal Forgemaster Ernas is here to evaluate the quality of your work. Marchioness Distar and my Niece are here for personal interest." Meron said.
Valeron's Gate brought them to Othre. Once outside the city walls and its dimensional sealing arrays, Lith took the DoLorean out of his pocket dimension.
"It sure is ugly. It looked better from the holograms." Marchioness Distar said.
"If you can suggest me any shape that can accommodate so many people without compromising aerodynamics or making it look like a metal suppository, I'm all ears." Lith said.
The Marchioness thought about many possible shapes, yet they were either tacky, like that of a Griffon, or impractical, like a sports car.
"My thoughts exactly." Lith said after the silence prolonged for several seconds.
"Okay, this will be our route." Jirni tapped one of the gemstones on her amulet, making a 3D holographic map that led from Othre to Belius and then past the border.
Along the flight path, there were several red zones circled in black.
"What's there?" Lith asked.
"Those are the areas where I set up roadblocks to stop us. We're giving them all the possible advantages so that we can safely assess how much manpower takes to stop one DoLorean. Now explain to me how this works." Jirni sat on the driver's seat and pointed at the dashboard.
After Lith finished showing her around, she clicked her tongue.
"Just as I suspected. No tactical awareness. The extras, if you please, dear." Orion handed Jirni what looked like rear-view and side-view mirrors that she adjusted so that she could see around without moving her head.
"While we are at it, we'll also see if it's possible to use your car to smuggle goods." He said to answer Lith's silent question. "Most of what we are about to attempt can be done even by a magico able to fly, but they couldn't carry more than one of these.
"With the DoLorean, instead, even if dimensional magic is sealed, regular people can smuggle a significative load at a time."
"I never thought about stuff like that." Lith replied. "I just wanted to make something for my parents that would be safe and allow them to move around freely."
"The most terrible things are born out of good intentions." Tyris's eyes became veiled with sadness. "Forbidden Magic started from mages who didn't want to outlive their loved ones and were willing to shorten their own life span to achieve such a goal.
"Arthan took that idea, perfected it, reversed the process, and you know the rest."
Jirni flew a bit around with the car, to get accustomed to the controls before starting the real mission.
"Okay, I'm done and the change of guard is about the happen. Daybreak is when sleepy guards are replaced by even more sleepy guards." She said while bringing the DoLorean high enough to not be affected by the dimensional sealing arrays of Othre.
The guards looked at the sky in front of the walls so they entirely missed the small dot among the clouds. The DoLorean's air core kept it pressurized so that they had no trouble breathing.
Jirni used the view from above to make the city's outline match with the map and find the drop spot quickly. Once the dimensional sealing array shut down the Warp Drive, the air core replaced it with a mix of Float ad Flight spells.
The soldier on the other side took the crate and started a timer, to see if in the time to unload a full cargo they would be discovered. After the timer run out, Jirni left the way she had got in.
"Be proud of yourself, Lith. We have just simulated a delivery of enough alchemical weapons to take Othre." She said while moving the speed lever from 1 to 5 one notch at a time.
Tyris was there for two reasons. One of them was to allow her fellow Guardians to follow the events through her eyes.
"I would never move on something like that, but my people could really use DoLoreans instead of carriages. Moving from one oasis to another would take hours instead of weeks and it would be much safer." Salaark pondered.
"They wouldn't be afraid of sandstorms or marauders because they would just fly over or outspeed them." Using Warp Steps to move a tribe was impossible.
Oases were distant from one another and keeping a Steps open long enough for an entire tribe to pass through would take a toll on the mages. On top of that, many oases remained empty for most of the year so they couldn't have a permanent Gate.
"Agreed. With proper restrictions to its power core, the DoLorean could usher in a new era of safe transport for goods and people. Winter wouldn't isolate cities anymore and in the case of an emergency, the troops could mobilize without being forced to wait for the mages." Milea glared at Leegaain.
'If you really can't keep it in your pants, couldn't you at least keep your offspring within the Empire? Why did you make gifts to our enemies?' She said via the mind link.
