The Capital of the Glorious Empire was called the Palace of Gold. This was something that bothered me because the Palace of Gold was actually only a small part of a very large city that was once the stronghold of a much less corrupt government. What this place was called beforehand, of course, is something that no sane man would use in the presence of loyalists.

My sanctum and living quarters were located in what many called the Obsidian Halls. These halls were many and came to about fifteen floors in total. That may not sound much height wise but length wise they were absurd. Now generally speaking the Obsidian Halls consisted of offices and living quarters for people who weren't directly related to the Palace of Gold. Mine was more of a library.

As I marched along I could see many people of various ranks in the hallways going about their days. Some dressed in the kind of linen and outfits that a boy could only dream of and some dressed in the rags that boy probably had at home. A handful even wore the painful slate black collars that marked them as the cogs of the Glorious Empire. Slaves.

"I see that the owl has awoken. During the day, no less." I heard a voice from behind that I knew very well.

"And I see that the Captain of the Royal Guard is pestering me instead of guarding his charge. How is the Prince anyway?"

"Fat and lazy. At least you share a similar speed with the bastard."

Appearing at my side as I walked was Royal Captain Zoma Weiss, also known as Captain Weiss of the Glorious Guard. The latter name was something that the brute faced and remarkably sarcastic Weiss disliked. It may be because Glorious Guard was a little too flamboyant but it also may be because Weiss didn't like his position that much to begin with.

Being a Royal Guard means being away from the battlefield, and Weiss was nothing but a soldier. One could go as far to say that he wasn't a soldier but a warrior or barbarian. Weiss lived for battle and the slaying of worthy opponents. I didn't see much merit in trying to find someone capable of killing me just to do battle with him, but I suppose we all have our quirks.

A quick glance at his visage and I saw the bored face of a leashed dog. His tanned skin was apparently a common quality from his home region, though I couldn't remember the name of that region for the life of me, and his short hair that seemed to slowly be turning white was also a genetic trait. I thought he looked incredibly easy to spot in the pale noble crowds.

He wore the ceremonial armor of a Glorious Guard. The armor was gold, albeit not real gold of course, with a black cape. It had a variety of emblems and symbols that I couldn't identify nor did I particularly care to learn their meaning in the slightest. The uniform itself came with a helmet with a giant black plume, though Weiss refused to wear it.

"What brings you to the Obsidian Halls, Captain Weiss?" I asked with my usual attempt at being genuinely polite. "I thought you'd be in your office deep within the heart of the Palace of Gold."

"I've come to deal with Iris and her Brood. I just finished meeting with her, actually."

"How did that go?" I asked, despite knowing the answer and unable to hide the almost bored tone that escaped with my words.

"Poorly." He retorted with a similar tone "I can't convince her to cage those freakish creatures."

I began to read off the names written on the doors that I past as Weiss spoke. The creatures he spoke of belonged to another member of the Black Sorcerers who raised them as sort of pets. They were giant spiders and I didn't care much for them. All that skittering about this way and that. Not to mention the webs... I much prefered the company of the undead.

"The Brood rarely leave the Upper Tier. Why send a Royal Guard?" I asked while stopping at a certain door. "Actually the real question is why send the Royal Guard Captain?"

"You haven't heard? When was the last time you left your sanctum."

"Don't be dramatic, I spoke to you only last week."

"Wulfram." I heard Weiss speak my name with a level of exhaustion. "That was three months ago."

"Oh." I replied with a raised eyebrow "I suppose it's been about three months, then."

I tapped on the door of the Master of the Post a few times, despite the fact that I knew he wouldn't answer. I knew that balding bastard was actually in his office, I could hear him. I knew he thought I'd go away if he waited long enough, so I just used my magic to open the locked door. Unlike Aragor I had some class and style.

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"Thaddius!" I yelled in a cheerful tone as I entered. "I have a job for you!"

"M-Master Azalea!" I heard him reply as a girlish scream almost drowned out his voice "I-I didn't-"

"Spare me the usual charade about how you didn't know I was knocking and about how you were busy reading your daily scripture. I'm only here to gain your aid, not question your life choices. Well, not vocally." I shrugged.

I saw the situation rather clearly. This office belonging to the Master of the Post for all the Obsidian Halls had two current occupants. The balding and nebbish Thaddius, a spherical shaped middle-aged man, who wore a buttoned up shirt with no colour that fit a dullard like him, and a girl who was currently very naked and very much on top of him. She was blonde.

That's pretty much all I cared to take in.

"Mone's Bones, Thaddius." I heard Weiss exclaim as he covered his eyes. I couldn't particularly blame him, since the idea of Thaddius doing anything physical was repulsive even to a Black Mage.

"I was just... I was just, uh-"

"It doesn't matter. I need you to focus on me now, Thaddius." I spoke, trying to keep things rolling as the call of my sanctum and its soothing atmosphere grew stronger.

"For the next... month. Yes, a month will do. For the next month, I want you to redirect all of Aragor's mail to my sanctum."

"W-What?"

I noticed the girl trying to cover herself and avert her gaze from my presence. I did not know if this was because she was caught in the primal act of mating or because she knew exactly who I was. The latter was something I very much enjoyed as a perk of being a Black Sorcerer. Nothing amused me more than seeing someone run away out of fear of being "cursed."

"Hm?" I came back to my senses, rubbing the lower part of my mask where my mouth would be. "Oh. I said redirect his mail to me. All of it, even the brothel fliers I'm sure this woman will be mailing us all. And it should go without saying that you shouldn't tell him this."

"I'll do as you ask, M-Master Azalea." Thaddius spoke, wiping the sweat from his brow. He found it difficult to oppose the Seven Sorcerers, and I knew that Aragor would be unlikely to drop by Thaddius' office. It was the perfect setup for a devious amount of mischief.

Spinning on my heels just as Aragor had done to me, I left Thaddius and his woman to their own devices. Weiss followed me behind, barely able to contain his sighs of disappointment. Of course someone like Weiss who cared only for the sword and battle would be annoyed by the carnal desires of those who were supposed to be doing their duties.

"You were saying something earlier?" I asked in an attempt to get things back on track. The most important thing I could do at that moment was forget the mental image of Thaddius' spherical body slapping against another living creature.

"The Palace of Gold is going to be hosting the Red King and his men for the next two weeks."

"Not a fan of demonic spiders?" I asked with a smile under my mask.

"Apparently not. My superiors shoved me towards Iris the moment we spotted one of her freakish monsters skittering around the grounds." He let out another sigh. "It seems they can scare guards and nobles alike, but foreign lords are a no go."

"Poor Captain Weiss. I forgot about your fear of the Brood."

"It is not fear, Azalea." He spoke, with the kind of tone one does to convince themselves more than anything. "It is a deep mistrust. I do not like fighting monsters."

While there were many kings and warlords across this realm of ours, each fighting for control of the land, the initiated knew that there was only a handful of factions in the realm of Amon that were actually capable of winning what was known as the Great War. The Glorious Empire was an obvious one, albeit not exactly a favored one in the grand scheme of things.

The other major force that was relevant to me at the time was the Red King and his men. I knew him as King Aurellius of House Aurellius, which was extinct even at that stage. Supposedly the Red King had purged his own family due to a mutual hatred or some such. The details were murky at best, but they were gone all the same.

He was known for his bright red fashion sense and legion of elite soldiers who dressed in crimson armor. They were a fierce fighting force, and capable of great feats of what we mages refered to as deadening. To explain what deadening was would take quite a while, and was irrelevant to my current tasks at hand. But it was essentially a form of anti magic.

Needless to say it was of course big news that the Red King, who was not a particularly friendly associate of the Sun Emperor, would be staying within its walls. The problem was, it was simply not in my nature to probe into such affairs. Now if the Red King was a secret tomb or a shard of some powerful ancient orb, then perhaps the probing would be worth it. Politics bored me.

Most things bored me. Even that line of thinking.

"I assume this is the part where you ask me to talk to Iris on your behalf?"

"What do you want?" Captain Weiss asked without hesitation as if this was a routine. That tone was reasonable because it was a routine, albeit the Brood aspect was relatively new.

"Since the Captain of the Royal Guard is asking? I should say I'll do it for free but I'm not that kind. I can't really think of anything now, so how about we call it a favor to be paid in the future?"

"I hate owing you favors." Weiss had a look of disgust on his face that amused me greatly. "But, for the sake of order, fine. I don't want to see the Brood until the Red King is gone."

"Then consider the spiders no longer a problem, Captain Weiss."

"I have some more business on this floor." Weiss spoke with a respectful bow as we reached the staircase at the end of the hall. "I'll leave you to your day, Master Azalea."

"And I yours, Captain Weiss." I responded with an equally respectful bow and made my way down the stairs.

"Dealing with Iris..." I grumbled to myself. "What a distasteful task."

"I don't see why you hate Iris so much." The ghostly voice spoke out after quite a bit of silence. "She seems quite affectionate towards you."

"That is why I hate her. I can't stand the way she looks at me with those eyes of hers. Not to mention the fact that she sends her spiders, the regular ones I mean, into my sanctum to watch me."

"That's sweet. Creepy, but sweet."

"I don't do sweet and I fulfill the creepy quota. You should know that, dear sister."