"Useless to say, in the case of failure, it's better if your family never returns to the Kingdom. You have my word that the Crown will not harm them but we will not protect them any longer.
"You have made plenty of enemies during your short life and many of them wouldn't miss the opportunity to strike the moment you leave Lutia." Meron's words made Lith feel as if the King had hit him in the guts with a sledgehammer.
What he had considered as another bargain with the Kingdom had turned out to be a double-edged sword that was now pointed at his throat. All of his life work was at risk and the worst thing was that it was a nightmare of his own doing.
"That said, I want you to know that your plan will have my full support. I've sent hundreds of scouts to surround Phresca and they will report you the moment Quaron leaves the city. Assuming he is there, of course.
"If you can kill him before he reaches Zeska, it will save us a lot of trouble. If you can't, make sure to prepare the battlefield to your advantage. Use your time wisely and remember that if you manage to force Quaron even to seemingly violate the terms of your deal, it would still be your victory." The King said.
"I understand." Lith gave him a bow.
"By the way, I'm impressed by how easily you infiltrated Zeska first and then even the City Lord's office. Do you mind to explain to me how you bypassed so many arrays and how did you come back to the camp so quickly?" Meron asked.
"I got out the same way I got in." Lith replied. "Under the cover of darkness, I waited for a gap in the patrol rounds and used a hard-light construct to reach the top of the walls. Another to get down and here I am." Lith replied.
"As for the office, I simply used Light Mastery to keep the lock from clicking once it had been opened with its key. I didn't bypass the arrays because they were still inactive once I came out of my hiding place."
"So you used Light Mastery to leave a decoy in front of your tent, to get in and out of Zeska despite the dimensional sealing arrays, and to violate one of the allegedly safest places in the city. It's no wonder that Manohar manages to escape so often." Meron sighed.
"I'd put light blocking arrays in place in every city of the Kingdom as well if that didn't also mean to cripple our hospitals and- Did you say a key? Can you show it to me?"
Lith conjured a hologram accurate down to the smallest detail of the artifact that Solus had witnessed.
"That's no key. It's the Royal seal entrusted to all City Lords. Why didn't you mention in your report that Quaron's corruption has reached Zeska's highest official?" Meron said in surprise.
He would have never expected Lith to make such a blunder.
"Because that was no City Lord. I have studied the mission's files thoroughly and memorized her appearance." Lith conjured from his right hand the hologram of a scrawny old lady in her mid-eighties with a hunched back and a wig.
"The people I saw, instead, were much younger." The image of the couple appeared above his left hand, showing that there was no resemblance between the two women.
"This makes no sense." Meron said in confusion. "The Royal seal is no common trinket. It cannot be imprinted without the supervision of the ruler of the Kingdom."
"If Quaron or this so-called god have cracked the seal's security, then they pose a threat second only to Thrud!"
***
City Lord's Mansion, a few hours earlier.
The couple that Solus had briefly followed and many other nobles of Zeska stood in a circle around one of the many Warp Gates that had opened the moment the arrays surrounding the city had been deactivated.
They had chosen the ballroom to meet their god because it was the only room of the house big enough for the purpose. While the last batch of riches and magical weapons floated through the dimensional corridors, the nobles kept their forehead on the ground.
In the middle of the circle stood a man of exquisite beauty, about 1.92 meters (7') tall with such delicate features and long silky raven-black hair that it would have been easy to mistake him for a woman if not for his deep voice.
He wore a loose white shirt over pitch-black pants that made him look even taller. Behind him there were mountains of riches and magical treasures arranged to form the walls and the furniture of his home.
He sipped wine from a red crystal glass that had actually been cut from one giant ruby and the handmaiden serving him was of a beauty worthy of a god's dream. Yet she paled in comparison with her master.
"This is everything we had promised you and even more, my Liege." The blonde woman said while putting on the floor all the papers accounting for their offers.
The documents floated on their own, flying through the Gate in an orderly manner for the man to examine them. From time to time, he would move his eyes to the crates that were being delivered, to make sure that nothing was amiss.
A warm smile appeared on his face when he finished checking the goods. The crates contained enough gold to form a small hill and the artifacts emitted such a powerful magical aura that it made even his skin crawl.
"You have proven your faith and are worthy of receiving my gifts." At a snap of his fingers, a golden light enveloped the convened nobles.
Their skin became more elastic and their bodies toned while even the bald ones grew a thick mane. When the light disappeared, the god allowed them to stand up and conjured a mirror of ice in front of each one of them.
"I'm back to my prime!" A nobleman said while looking at his arm that had gone from thin to muscular.
The faces in the mirrors that returned their gazes were those of people who looked to be in their mid-twenties, with perfectly fit bodies as if they had trained regularly instead of suffering from the ailments of old age.
On top of that, they didn't just look young, they also felt full of energy like it didn't happen from decades.
"In the world that I'm going to create, my loyal retainers will be blessed with an eternal life full of pleasure and joy." The god said. "All that I ask of you in return is loyalty and trust."
"All hail Syrook!" The circle of nobles fell to their knees again, slamming their heads against the ground with joy.
"Soon the true Queen will return." Syrook continued. "She will rule under my guidance and make you members of her court. Your families will regret banishing you to a remote corner of the Kingdom, even the founding pillars like Household Myrok."
The blonde woman whose resemblance with Jirni had become even more apparent couldn't help but smile at the thought of the suffering she would inflict upon her relatives.
