"The carriage passed the front gate, your grace." Mira said, entering her room. Althea had promoted her to something of an assistant from a maid. The county had come a long way in the month, there was actually something of a structure to the loose administration in place previously. And she finally had people to do stuff for her. But there was still stuff that she must do personally.

"I know. The carriage wasn't very subtle." Althea said. "Did the front gate get damaged?"

"No, your grace. The defenses activated and bounced Lord Garron back." Mira said.

Althea tried, and failed, to suppress a smile. So that was why there was a sudden consumption of ambient mana. The city and palace's old, mana driven functions were coming back now that mana was increasing. The increase had slowed down since the tide, but it wasn't even close to stopping.

The Empire as a whole was a net importer of mana, but the county was currently attracting far more than any other. The Emperor suspected that she was somehow boosting the county's ability to attract mana, and that was having a multiplicative effect with the increased usage of mana in the county. And the many, many breakthroughs that it brought with it. And hence greater usage of mana. And…the cycle continued.

"Have them brought to the main hall, I will get the book." Althea said, walking out of the balcony. "And the Empress and the Zerolian Duke are likely to pop in, so be ready for that."

"Yes, your grace." Mira said, following her out.

The two of them went in different directions as Althea walked to the lift. The lifts could actually take you up a floor without asking for mana now. But then they couldn't be used for ten minutes until ambient mana recovered. Thankfully, there were quite a few of them.

"Steward Ven, if you would please." Althea said, stepping into the lift.

The Steward pressed the button, and they were off to the twenty-first floor.

"What do you know of the situation?" she asked.

"The Admiral's wife and heir Lady Malerice is dead." the Steward said. "The poison got her shortly after midnight yesterday. There are three heir candidates, of which only two are likely. The first and most likely, is Lord Garron. The Admiral's bastard brother, who earned his title in the pirate wars. An excellent affinity for wind, but not a lot of control. A capable Adept in most ways."

"I think the gate experienced the result today." she quipped.

"Yes, that was quite a suitable demonstration. The next is Matilda, the eldest daughter of Admiral Garron. But her taking over is unlikely, the Garron family has been patriarchal since its founding. And she focuses in the opposite direction than her relatives, concentrating on control instead of sheer power.

There is only one recorded instance of her casting any spell of worth, but she made quite a demonstration while rejecting her fiancé." The Steward said.

"Oh, fiancé?" Althea raised an eyebrow. "I think there is a story there."

"An interesting one, the Countess can hear it another time. The third and one that would usually inherit in cases like this, is Jaris. The least talented member of the Garron family to be born in generations. The child was nearly declared legitimate, but his weak mana affinity, and unfavorable element destroyed that chance."

"Hmm, is it safe to presume that none of these three are favored by the Garron navy?" she asked.

"Lord Garron may be accepted, if grudgingly, and Matilda would be accepted if she were male. Jaris…would not last a week." the Steward said as they arrived. "I would recommend not interfering, your grace. The Zerolian duchy is quite close to the Garron family, and has been trying to control them for centuries."

"And that is exactly why I want to be on top of this. The Zerolian duchy isn't a friend, and we have people there now." Althea replied, walking into the vault. Taking the book out barely took any time, she knew where it was now.

The past month had been spent practicing her skills, learning more about the county, and learning history. Even if she hadn't broken through once, she was confident that her foundation had been strengthened greatly. There shouldn't be a problem breaking through now, but she should probably continue practicing her skill either way.

"Come on," she said, coming out of the vault.

The two of them entered the lift and the Steward pressed the button.

"How do you use this thing?" Althea said, trying to open the book.

"I would imagine it is just like the Solerian version, try thinking to it." the Steward added helpfully, trying to hide his laughter. The ‘thinking to it’ had become a running joke, mostly cause the palace defenses, and any other palace function followed the same manner of running. That meant that she was needed whenever a new function showed itself and was making trouble.

"I would, but there isn't enough mana in the lift." she said. "I just don’t want to while others are watching."

"Failing would be unpleasant." the Steward said as they arrived at the ground floor.

The servants were running around, or rather, running away from the main hall.

"What happened?" Althea said, stopping a random maid.

"The Empress and Duke Zerolian have arrived ahead of Lord Garron and the rest, your grace." she replied. "Duke Zerolian has demanded that we supply refreshments."

The maid ran away, probably to get refreshments, or more likely given the sheer number, to hide away from the Duke. Althea could sympathize, high-level events like this were a maid's worst nightmare. The Empress was still polite. But people like the Duke would demand the sky if you let him, and get angry when you said no to their unreasonable demands.

The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

Althea walked towards the main hall, keeping her pace steady. Asking for refreshments was the Duke's right, but it was a pretty shitty thing to do given that the event would probably take just a few moments.

"I greet her majesty, the Empress of Soleria." Althea bowed to the Empress, giving her a proper greeting.

"Duke Zerolian." the Duke just got a nod. The stare did not increase in intensity, not that it could. The Duke was looking at her like she had killed his family. That was untrue, she was just making a concerted effort at bankrupting his duchy. The effort might just be an irritant right now, but to a man like him, an irritant was a huge insult. The real insult would come with time.

The Duke grunted as they waited for the subjects of interest to arrive. The wait wasn't long, Deadre was old, not big. Lord Garron and the two children were there soon enough. Calling them children was really a misnomer, one of them was older than her, and the other was a teenager.

"I greet her majesty, the Empress of Soleria." Lord Garron bowed.

"I greet his grace, the Duke of Serolia."

Althea just stood there, waiting for a bit. Greeting Duke Zerolian before her was one thing, the Zerolian Duchy was certainly more powerful than her county. But she still outranked him by quite a bit. At least until he became a guardian of the Empire himself.

"I greet her grace, the Countess Guarding Diery." Lord Garron finally said it, and Althea gave a reassuring smile. The greetings were repeated by the other two in the room, and they could finally move on after that.

"I ask the Countess Guarding Diery, in her position as keeper of history, to reveal the Garron family's path of inheritance." Lord Garron said.

"I would be glad to, Lord Garron." Althea replied, removing the book from her storage and channeling mana into it. But her eyes were glued to the guests.

Lord Garron was just as she had expected, a huge collection of mana, with little control over it. The gruff appearance seemed to be reflected in his affinity, like two clouds clashing. But he was still attractive to mana. A man with a lot of talent, more than most of her college students.

The boy, Jaris, was opposite. Mana did not avoid him, but it did not pay much attention to him. Althea could sense mana's disinterest towards him. But there was one particular mana that was very attracted to him.

What did the Steward say his type of mana was? Sea Wind? Althea hadn't interacted with that kind of mana before. Not unexpected given that she hadn't even seen the sea before in this world. There shouldn't be a lot of this kind here in Diery, and yet it had found his way to this guy.

Perhaps this was the way. Even in science, the world sought balance. Newton's third law. The cycle of mana. The kid had barely any talent or affinity for other kinds of mana. But his affinity for Sea Wind was truly extraordinary. To call for it even here, over a thousand kilometers away.

Althea felt her core tremble. The breakthrough to the next stage had been needling her for a while now, and apparently this had pushed her through. Hmm, this would be a nice show.

Althea shoved examining the girl for later, concentrating on the book. Mana answered her call, her core rotating as it grew.

"Open" she said to the book, both in her mind and aloud, as mana of her elements revolved around her. The book flipped open, pages flipping. Mana poured into her core, needing little guidance.

"The Garron family." The pages flipped faster, silver page after other flashing as elements combined in the air. Fire soured through air, Air currents fell below water, lifting the liquid higher, Water seeped out of earth, and Earth began to make wave-like motions.

The phenomenon disappeared as soon as it began, leaving just her and the book.

"I apologize, I just couldn't stop it anymore." she said, trying to look aggrieved

"Yes, yes. Now, what is it?" the Duke asked. What? That was the truth. Don't look at her so suspiciously, just because you can stop breakthroughs doesn't mean she could.

Althea read the page, searching for information on inheritance. There was a lot of information, on its founding, on the intentions of the Garron family ancestors, and so forth.

Not on the first page. Not on the second page. Not on the third one, either.

Did she mention that the author had a tendency to babble? And illusions of grandeur? The author had apparently wanted to imitate the Grandmaster clans. There was even an old style name. Seeker of Storms.

"Countess?" Lord Garron asked when she finished the seventh page.

Althea looked up. "I fear this will take a while. There is quite a bit of information here."

Duke Zerolian was merely looking bored. So was the Empress. Althea wondered if they had expected this. This was probably not their first reading. Did every family have so much information?

The minutes passed awkwardly as Althea finally found what she was looking for. On the seventh page, between two paragraphs on something called the Prince of Storms.

"If there is ever a question of who shall inherit the family, let the family pass to the most powerful of the children of the previous head." Althea read, wondering why in the world would you put something like this?

What happened to bolding the important stuff? Organizing the way one presented information? The teachers back on Earth would throw fits and not check papers if she wrote in paragraphs.

The words came so suddenly that the people in the room did not have time to realize what she was talking about.

"What?" the Serolain Duke asked.

"The title passes to the strongest child of Admiral Garron." Althea said, feeling something tickling at the back of her mind.

"Well then, I suppose it is decided. Jaris is the heir. Matilda, child, I would recommend you hand over the guardianship to your uncle. This is for the good of the-"

The Empress looked like she was about to protest. A competition for control now that the title had landed in the hands of someone that couldn't protect it. But Althea still had something to say.

"That is not true, Duke Zerolian." she said. "I have just verified it. There is no exception for women. Matilda takes the title, not Jaris."

"This is ridiculous!" the Duke exclaimed, looking at her with great irritation. "The Garron family has not had a female leader in its history. The Garron family ancestor must have thought it obvious that a female could not inherit."

"That may be, Duke Zerolian. This cannot be decided by me or you. What is written in the book decides how the title passes down." she said. "I shall read the rest of it to make sure, but my preliminary analysis as keeper of history is that Matilda Garron is now the Admiral Guarding Garron. And thus a member of the royal council and our equal."

Althea gave the girl a look. And for the first time since she had gotten it, her skill [Acceptor] showed its power.

"Are you seeing what I am seeing?" she asked Pulsie.

"Not sure what you are seeing, but no, I do not see anything special in her." Pulsie replied. So, this was either the System Skill was wrong, possible, but very, very unlikely. Or the girl had something very rare, and hard to detect. An affinity for water that went beyond just water, but to liquids. And combined with her control, she met the requirements for one of the manuals in the vault.

The maids holding the refreshments at the door stepped in as Althea gestured to them.

"Tell me, how would you like some refreshments while we discuss?"