A knock filled the castle hall, where some of the most powerful and influential people in the world stood in front of a wooden door built into a stone frame.

It wasn’t King Lucian who knocked, though. Emilia stood close by his side, giving her easy access to the same door as her prince.

“Ah, coming!” A muffled, feminine voice came from behind the door.

It was followed by the sound of solid objects hitting the ground. Though the noises were just as muffled as the voice since they originated from within the room, as well.

Finally, the door opened, revealing the face of a young woman with shoulder-length brown hair and a pair of fluffy ears like a squirrel.

“Oh! King Lucian!” Lily bowed, her fluffed tail rising as her head lowered. “I didn’t expect a visit today, so…”

Lucian looked beyond Lily, where a pile of books sat atop her desk. “Hard at work, as usual. You should take a day off sometime, Liliana.”

“Haha.” Another book fell from the table, joining several others that had already fallen victim to Lily’s poor housekeeping. “W-well, maybe I’ll think about it.”

Emilia raised a fist. “Don’t worry, Lily. I’ll take care of this right away.”

“You don’t have to clean it up, or anything. I wouldn’t want to keep King Lucian waiting.”

“No problem. It won’t take long.”

“Umm.” Lily looked to Lucian, who nodded. “I guess it won’t hurt to put a few things away.”

Emilia got started immediately, first picking up the books on the floor. After a quick scan of their titles, her arms moved like a professional librarian, sliding them back into their appropriate locations with absolute confidence.

“She just can’t help herself.” Aelia shook her head as she stepped into the room.

“She cleans up after you, too!” Teflyn bounced in behind her.

“You don’t have the right to say that when you’re the one who leaves the most mess.”

“Uwah…!”

Minerva followed behind the two bickering girls. “Perhaps you should both strive to become more organized.”

“No way.” Aelia denied her immediately. “Emilia would go as battle-crazed as an enhanced white hair without something to clean and organize.”

“Hmm.” Minerva looked at the white hair foxgirl who was ignoring them as she efficiently cleaned the room. “Perhaps you’re right.”

“I remember this office.” Archmage Vera scanned the room as she entered. “Used to belong to some arrogant paper pusher who always made everyone’s lives a pain.”

Lutz walked in beside her. “Looks like that guy’s long gone now.”

“Yeah.” Vera’s eyes settled on Lily. “It’s rare for a beastfolk to get high ranked positions in the castle. Did the Council of Elders send you here?”

“Um, I’m Special Administrative Officer Liliana.” The squirrel-eared girl greeted the two newcomers. “And I technically work for the Council of Elders, maybe?”

“Archmage Vera.”

“Lutz, a foreign royal.”

The two introduced themselves back at the same time. Having a famous, long-lost Archmage return was a shock, and hearing that a foreign royal accompanied her only added to the surprise.

“Special Administrative Officer.” Vera repeated Lily’s rank. “That’s a rare rank to hear. Does that mean you’re outside the normal command structure?”

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“Yes. According to King Lucian, I outrank all other officers when it comes to giving orders to those under my command.”

“And who do you command?”

“The white hairs. Both those in King Lucian’s special guard and the new recruits at the nearby training camp.”

“So that’s it.” Vera nodded. “Did the Council of Elders gain more power during my years of absence?”

“No, I didn’t get the special rank because of the council. King Lucian himself gave it to me.”

“Really…”

“It was a necessity.” Lucian was the final one to step into the room, just behind Mia. “The white hairs who guard me needed a direct superior officer they trust that would always be available to them. Liliana was the administrative officer in charge of the camp where the white hair recruits train, and her popularity amongst the white hairs made her the perfect candidate.”

“I see. It does make sense when you put it like that.” Vera eyed Emilia. “But giving so much power and autonomy to white hairs couldn’t have been a popular move.”

“That’s quite an understatement. In fact, I had built up so much animosity amongst so many fringe groups in the kingdom that had I lost the battle against the Esgares Empire, I would have likely been deposed.”

“Then why risk it? Are you expecting a rebellion in the city?”

“I seem to attract daggers more than pitchforks, a fact that has been proven by what happened today.” Lucian turned to the Special Administrative Officer. “Liliana.”

“Is there something you need, King Lucian?”

“Yes. I have an operation planned for my white hair guards, and I’d like you to assist.”

“That means battle, doesn’t it?”

“It does.” Lucian motioned to Mia.

“My carriage was attacked,” the princess said without any strong emotions.

“Oh no!” Lily finally understood why they had arrived suddenly and unexpectedly. “Are you alright, Princess Mia?”

“I wasn’t injured.”

“That’s a relief. Everyone would feel horrible if something were to happen to you.”

“I don’t think people would feel much of anything.”

“Eh!? That’s not true at all! I know a lot of people who would be sad.”

Mia looked away. “I don’t know about that…”

Lucian gave her a couple pats on the head. “Just accept it already. You’ve gotten popular around here.”

Mia accepted the headpats with a resigned expression.

“But as for my white hair guards,” Lucian continued, “they’ll just be continuing the clean-up mission from before. The remnants of those criminal gangs have begun to gather up into an organized band, going so far as to attack Mia’s carriage while she was visiting the orphanage. Sigurd will lead the operation, with your support. Do you have any objections?”

“Let’s see.” Lily went to a nearby shelf and pulled out a notebook, one Emilia had only recently put back in place.

Her hand moved along the page, writing down parts of the operation that Lucian had already outlined. There were still some blanks, but Lily had enough experience with helping organize the white hairs that she already knew how to fill them.

She looked back to Lucian. “I’ll need the most up-to-date information on the criminal activity in the city.”

“You have full permission to meet with all personnel tasked with keeping order, including those above your official rank.”

Lily’s hand moved again, recording his words. “Do you have any preference on which personnel I acquire from outside my command?”

“The captain of my regular guard has a list of units who are unavailable. You can choose from any soldiers who aren’t on that list. If there’s a problem regarding availability, come see me again.”

“Understood. I’m also adding the full release of all restrictions on enhancing the white hairs. Is that a problem?” Lily’s hand began writing even before Lucian could respond.

“That’s not a problem.”

“Alright. Those are all the special permissions I need at the moment. If anything else comes up during the planning phase of the operation, I’ll speak with you about it at your convenience.”

“Good. But feel free to interrupt me, if needed. I want this problem solved.”

Lily’s hand moved one, final time. “I’ll add it to the permission list.”

Although there were many more privileges given to Lily during operations like the one she was starting, she and Lucian had already gone through the process many times. The rest of the permissions she had available to her were essentially set in stone, no longer needing to be clarified.

Even other officers and generals rarely asked her for proof of command, knowing that Lucian would back up her claims, no matter how out of the ordinary they seemed.

Though because of Lily’s reservations about certain privileges, she always made sure to clarify them beforehand. One such example was releasing the restrictions on enhancing the white hairs, something that was rare outside of war.

“If there’s nothing else…” Lily closed her notebook and put her quill away. “Then I will speak with Sigurd and begin organizing them for the operation.”

“Please do.” Lucian gave her a nod.

With the pieces set into motion, Lucian opened the door to Lily’s office, letting everyone file out just like they had done when entering.

“And that’s the last one.” Emilia lowered her arm, which she had just used to put the final book back into its place on the shelf.

“Good job, Emilia.”

“Thank you, Prince Lucian. It was rather fun to organize literature again.”

“Looks like I need to make a mess of the royal study, for old time’s sake.”

“I’ll gladly clean it up!” She said it without the least bit of reservation.

Lucian shook his head. “You really do love cleaning up after others, huh? Well, not that I’m surprised.”

The two of them were the last ones to leave the office. With the door shut behind them, Lily bid them farewell, going off to begin her tasks.

As for the rest of them, Lucian had other plans, knowing that Lily would perform her job with the expertise he had come to expect from her.