The blinking rune belonged to Marchioness Distar, the ruler of the Distar region and the person in charge of the security of Lith's family. Lith immediately picked up the call, fearing that something bad might have happened again.
"Nice to see you, Lith. How are you doing?" The hologram of the Marchioness asked.
She was a woman in her early forties, but even with the little makeup she wore, it was hard to imagine her a day older than thirty. Mirim Distar had a beautiful face with great proportions and eyes that brimmed with intelligence and curiosity.
She had waist-long dark brown hair streaked blue all over and only a hairpin to adorn it. It was almost hypnotic to look at her whenever she shook her head. She wore a simple pale blue day dress with no neckline that despite its simplicity emphasized her lovely features.
"Is everything okay?" Lith said.
"Always skipping pleasantries and getting straight to the point, huh? It's nice to see that some things never change." She sighed. "Of course everything is okay, otherwise instead of wasting my time with chit-chat I would have simply sent you a threat report."
"Then I'm glad to see you again, Your Ladyship. I'm doing fine, thanks for your kindness. How are you?" Lith replied while giving her a deep bow.
"Please, let's drop the formalities. We know each other for a long time and you're an Archmage now. You have the right to call me Mirim." She said while giving him a curtsy.
"Okay." Lith felt a bit embarrassed by the sudden mood change of the conversation, but being from Earth, noble titles never struck fear into him. He followed the etiquette solely because it suited his agenda.
"To what do I owe this p.l.e.a.s.u.r.e, Mirim?" He asked.
"You are still too formal, but we'll get there. I'm calling you because I need your approval before starting the construction works of the Verhen Mansion. There are several available locations and since you're the one who's going to live there, I'm letting you take your pick." She said.
After witnessing with horror how small Lith's house was, the Queen had ordered to build him a residence worthy of an Archmage and of a hero to the Kingdom. Lith wouldn't be paying for any of it, but he still considered it a hassle.
Just the thought of having to pay for the house staff necessary to keep it clean, made his wallet shiver in horror.
"I received no map nor blueprint." He said, raising an eyebrow in surprise.
"That's because I choose the blueprint and you can't pick the location based on a map. I know how paranoid you are. I bet one month of my annuities that you want to check the surroundings in person." Mirim said.
"I don't take bets, especially losing ones. When do you want me to come?" Lith asked.
"Now would be perfect. Just take the Gate from your house to the branch of the Mage Association in front of mine. I'll meet you there." She replied.
"Let's meet there in ten. I'm in dire need of a shower."
"Let's make it twenty, then. It will give me time to deal with some paperwork. Mirim out."
Twenty minutes later, the two met in front of the very same Gate that seven years back had led Lith to Linjos's office. The death of the Headmaster of the White Griffon had never stung at Lith's heart, but that was before Lark's murder.
Lith remembered all too well how much the Count loved harassing the poor Linjos with an endless stream of questions about the most trivial aspects of magic. The Headmaster had been too kind of a man and respected the elderly too much to disappoint even such an annoying guest.
"I know. I miss them too." Mirim said, snapping Lith out of his reverie.
"At least Lark had a long happy life, but Linjos died too young. As far as I know, he left no heir to his legacy nor did he even fall in love once. F.u.c.k Nalear." Mirim said with a snarl.
"F.u.c.k Nalear indeed." Lith snarled as well.
The first location the Marchioness led him to was well connected to one of the main roads of the region, but Lith didn't like it exactly for that reason. Anyone could just pretend to be a traveler and scout his house unnoticed.
The second was atop a hill, but Lith discarded it because he wanted the children to have an inner garden where they could either play with their friends or practice magic safely.
"Great Mother almighty!" Lith said after several hard passes.
There was a huge clearing on the east side of the Trawn woods, where once stood the Rath Household. Lith had a long history with them. Years back, their firstborn had tried to rob him of his snow-white bunnies and had ended up becoming Lith's learning tool about human anatomy on Mogar.
The Royals didn't like someone attacking the relatives of a promising mage, not with Balkor as the living proof of the consequence that such an act might cause. They had made an example of the Rath, razing even their home.
Lith didn't care about the past massacre that had taken place there. Worst case scenario, it would give him plenty of Demons to conjure. Being so close to the woods meant keeping his army of magical beasts, having plenty of space for a garden, and staying relatively close to Lutia.
Even more important, under the rubbles of the main building, there was a magnificent mana geyser. It would allow Lith to fuel the tower and leave plenty of world energy to spare for fueling the permanent arrays of the house.
Even though their spells had the same effects, there was a significant difference between temporary magical formations like those that had been used to protect Lark's house and permanent ones like those surrounding Lith's house.
Both needed a lot of time to be cast and a proper energy source but while the former once damaged needed to be redone from scratch, a permanent array would self-repair just by replacing its energy source.
Magical formations like the one that had surrounded Kolga would need maintenance only if it had taken damage beyond repair or if it endured an attack for too long. Both events could be prevented by simply switching the near-exhausted mana crystal with a new one.
The presence of a mana geyser, however, would cut off the mana crystals' expenses and provide the arrays with a steady supply of world energy. They would need maintenance only in the case a powerful attack crippled their runes' integrity.
On top of that, thanks to her tower form, Solus would be able to integrate herself with the formations and activate them at will without the need of keeping the control device on her and so would Lith as the tower's master.
'This is frigging perfect. It has everything I need in a home.' Lith thought.
'Not really.' Solus replied. 'Don't you remember what Tista learned in Jiera?'
