"I made a deal with the creature here." she said.

"What kind of deal?" Gerard asked.

"The kind where, in return for hunting down the person responsible for destroying the Air trees, we get these fruits." she said.

“And how do we find the person responsible?” Isa interrupted. Althea had noticed that she had spoken little since they had met here. A strange thing. Isa wasn't the most talkative, but she seemed overly reserved at the moment. Did it have anything to do with her guests? Isa could be feeling uncomfortable talking about things in front of someone that could be their enemy in the future.

There was little they could talk about that wasn't somewhat sensitive to begin with. Not Verest or what she learned from him. County matters were out of question. Even talking about their companions could lead to them talking too much.

Heck, the two of them had quite literally never talked about anything but business before. A thing, it occurred to her, she should fix. Althea knew that Isa and her father had a difficult relationship from her early talks with her father, but the subject had not come up again. Had they made up with each other? Or did she have to worry about her Minister of Justice having an issue with his daughter, the Viscountess? This was exactly the kind of stuff she should know!

But back to the topic. The three of them had no idea where the attacker was. Or what they looked like. The only one that saw them may be the creature, and she doubted it wanted to share.

"I am only aware of its mana signature. If you happen to meet it, I can point it out to you. But I have to warn you that it is masking its presence somehow."

Althea nearly jumped in surprise? Why was it using 'it' when referring to the attacker? Was the attacker a beast? And it could contact her across the entire island?

"I am an Adept, Ms. Countess. I can project my power across the entire island if I wish to. As for the attacker, it was humanoid, but I would not call it a human. Not anymore."

On that happy note, a branch cracked in the forest, making her turn towards it far too quickly.

"What happened...your grace?" Hei asked hesitantly. Althea concentrated on the disturbance, but she could not sense anything out of place. There was no disturbance in the mana, the source of the sound appeared to be a rabbit that was chewing on grass.

"The creature says that it can identify the attacker's mana signature. But apparently the attacker is masking it at the moment." she said.

The frown appeared again. "How are we going to find the attacker if they are making their presence? Asking everyone we come across to expose their mana is hardly doable."

Althea disagreed." I doubt it will be difficult. Have you met anyone here that doesn't attack on sight? This is a competition in mana, anyone we meet is sure to try their hand at beating us."

"Perhaps you should stay hidden for that, your grace." Sun stated, earning himself a glare from Gerard. Althea felt that he was being too careful, she wasn't going to take offense for some random comments.

"What?" Sun stated, glaring at Gerard. "I doubt anyone is going to wanna try their hand against a half-step Master. Journeyman 3 is rare among the candidates, her grace can probably beat every other candidate put together by now. And then beat every beast on the island for an encore."

That...might not be an entirely inaccurate description. As much as she wanted to protest, the truth was that she was more than a bit overpowered here.

"I can try to suppress my presence." she said, trying to affect the surrounding mana as little as she could. An activity made harder by the sheer ease by which mana reacted to her. The elemental manas surged around her, eager to work with her. The more she tried to make them act normal, the worse it got. Mana just seemed to get an extra kick to it when she focused on it.

Sun was looking with a 'I told you so' painted on his face.

Gerard had a hesitant expression on his face. "Countess, you are assuredly the most talented person in our generation. And without a doubt the strongest person on the island. But I fear that subtlety is not one of your talents. At the moment you are akin to a mana bull in a forest, your grace. I could sense you coming from a mile away…perhaps a bit farther.”

"A Master stage mana bull." Sun muttered under his breath, prompting Gerard to try to cover his comrade's words up with coughs.

"I am not made of glass, Gerard. I can take criticism." she said. Gerard just forced a blatantly fake smile on his face, obviously disbelieving her. As much as it pained her to admit, she really was horrible at being subtle. There just hadn't been a need for her to be subtle before.

"What do you suggest we do then?" she asked. "Should I just leave?"

Isa spluttered, trying to hide her giggles as the three boys vigorously shook their heads.

Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

"I think you forget that you are the main combatant, your grace. The rest of us." Hei gestured at the three of them and Isa "Don't really expect to fight."

"I can fight." Isa said, but she did not argue that she had expected to fight. Althea sighed. Of course, they expected her to handle it, she had been doing exactly that until now.

"Perhaps I might suggest something?" the beast interrupted.

"Please." she said, looking at the trees around her. Were they even real? How much of the island was an illusion made by the beast?

"Not much. I would recommend you head to the gorge. The river is not easily destroyed, but the gorge is still susceptible. If I were the attacker, I would head there."

Of course. The attacker had already attacked the Lake of Alto and the Air trees. The gorge was probably next on their list.

"The beast thinks the gorge might be next on the attacker's list." she said.

"Oh." Hei said, looking ashamed. "Of course, that matches up with what we know of them."

"The beast says that the attacker wasn't human anymore. " she continued. "Perhaps I should head into the gorge alone."

Hei looked at her in surprise. "Not human anymore? I was not aware that one's species could be changed."

"The magic was lost long ago. But it is possible that the attacker simply found an old magic and attempted to use it. The beast implied that the transformation was distinctly strange. Perhaps the magic was incomplete, resulting in some kind of strange result."

"An insane result?" Isa asked, her eyebrows rising into her hair.

"Perhaps. Attacking the Air trees is not a sign of great sanity. There is little chance whoever it is will get away with it." Althea said.

"With three half-step Grandmasters observing the spacial island, I would say they are utterly insane. There is no chance they can escape." Gerard muttered.

Althea frowned. The strange mana made her suspicious. The person that planned the beast tide had used some old forms of mana too. And they clearly had half-step Grandmasters on their side.

"I wouldn't be so sure." she muttered. The mutter was of course caught by everyone in range.

"Countess, do you think there is something more going on?" Isa asked, her eyebrows furrowing

"A beast tide involving a half-step Grandmaster beast, the son of a Beast Emperor and the inheritance of the last Druid Grandmaster occurred not too long ago. The magic involved was old, strange and difficult to deal with. There are simply too many similarities here for me to not be suspicious." she said.

Gerard looked pale. "A half-step Grandmaster beast? I thought all of those were dead!"

Althea looked at him strangely. This was the opposite of what Diery records said. "Of course not. The beasts live longer, and that gives them a much greater chance of reaching higher stages. The fact that humanoid races have survived is due to us having the ability to strategize and kill them before they get too powerful. And our ability to work together, of course."

Hei nodded. "The Southern Empire is guarded by several half-step Grandmaster beasts."

The southern Empire, the Empire that ruled the entirety of the Southern Continent. But only had a little over a hundred Adept stages. The Southern Empire simply lacked legacies, the oh-so precious manuals that were so crucial to human progress. The Steward had given her a rundown on it.

Even after the burning, the Northern continent had more manuals. The reason was simple. The Grandmaster Clans had nearly all been in the Northern continent, and they had held a veritable monopoly of power. A monopoly that definitely extended to manuals.

There were only two human half-step Grandmaster stages on the Southern Continent. And neither of them was the Emperor. That was the limit to her knowledge. How the Emperor held power was unknown to her, until now. Perhaps the Emperor was some kind of beast trainer.

"The Emperor rules because of his beast's, doesn’t he? How does he tame them?" she asked.

Hei shrugged as they continued to walk, not particularly caring how much noise they were making. As already established, she had enough of a presence that it made any precaution meaningless. "I only know that they were a gift from the Warrior."

"The Warrior?" Gerard asked.

"The Patriarch of the Warrior clan." Hei said. "The last Grandmaster of humanity."

Althea turned to Hei before the others could interrupt. If the shocked expression on Gerard's face was any indication, he was not aware of this information.

"Don't speak of the Warrior on the Northern Continent. The Empires don't take too kindly to it." she said.

"There is a living Grandmaster on the Southern continent?!" Gerard exclaimed, apparently unable to hold back anymore.

"There are living Grandmasters on every continent except the Northern Continent." Althea interrupted as they approached the gorge.

Gerard was not satisfied.

"What?! How can that-"

"The Fae have two, the Elves have three." she interrupted. "Humans are barely even one of the three great species. With the Warrior nearing the end of his life, we will soon lose what little claim we have to it."

The gorge once appeared before her. But the landmark was different. Mana leaped from wall to wall, chaotically jumping around as it was called in seemingly every direction. The last time she had been here, there had been a battle. This time, the battle was even bigger.

A huge arc of purple mana cut through the battlefield, teleporting quite a few out of the island. Althea recognized the mana almost instantly. Vanessa. But she was not the only one here. More arcs of purple mana followed, probably from the Zerolian duchy. Vanessa had teamed up with them? How unexpected.

Athena would have expected none of the Duke's people to ally with her.

The response from the enemy was almost immediate. Althea looked down at the gorge, recognizing what she was sure was the leader on that side.

Crown Price Elrad Zun of the Zun Empire

"There! Just behind that fancy brat! I sense it's mana!"

Althea looked where the beast indicated, finding a young man dressed in the Sel Empire's garb beside the Crown Prince. An alliance?

Well, whatever it was, it wouldn't matter. Even teamed up, they were not a danger to her.

What was a danger to her was the woman behind them. This time, her senses told her this woman was the one she was looking for. There was just one problem.

The woman was from the Leria duchy.