*A few days ago*

Marquis Anthony Gilham Rothberg was frowning as his grey eyes looked at the letter in his hand. 20 years ago, when his imperial majesty—may his reign last forever—assigned him the duty of settling in this desolate island to build and manage the flamestone mines, he knew his political carrier was over. Even though the mines would make him rich it would take him years to develop before seeing any profits and most of that profit would have to be sent back to the imperial coffers. Additionally, the distance from the imperial heartlands and capital meant that he would have no say in any new policies. And yet, his loyalty never faltered. He knew that his imperial majesty was angry with him, but he wasn’t exiled as was customary. No. Anthony was too capable to be wasted like that. His imperial majesty gave him a way out by sending him to this desolate island. Anthony knew that his house would never rise again in his lifetime. However, at least his successors could reap the benefits of his labor now.

When he first arrived on the island the native population didn’t even reach 10,000 people. Winterport wasn’t even on the map then. After 20 years of back-breaking work and deteriorating health, he finally managed to raise the population to 70,000 people. Admittedly, a large portion of that number are mining slaves, but it was still a huge achievement. Most of those people were located in Winterport and its surrounding villages. Winterport was a bustling port city now. Even though crime was rampant due to gang activity, it was still a success story. Even his imperial majesty was impressed by his achievements and decided to name the island after his family, forever immortalizing his family name.

And yet, Anthony’s stress and anxiety were only increasing as the years passed. Something was deeply wrong with this island. 10 years ago, when they discovered the deep mines, everyone was worried that mining-related injuries would see a rise due to the difficulty of mining in the dark. But that was the least of their worries after the first shade encounter. Now it had become a war for resources with whatever supernatural creatures surfaced from the deeps. However, that wasn’t the end of their difficulties. Whatever supernatural infestation afflicted the deep mines was expanding each year. Left to its own device it would consume the whole mine—maybe even the whole island if it wasn’t hindered by sunlight. He had temporarily tackled the problem of shades by setting up the enforcer squad, but that led to a whole other issue of organized crime. For now, the enforcers still had their values so they couldn’t be disbanded. However, this status quo can’t last for long. The gangs are getting more and more restless every day.

That was why Anthony send frequent requests to the capital to send the imperial army to deal with the deep mines. Over the years his requests were denied and the reason they gave him was that the imperial army was stretched thin and couldn’t send soldiers to an island with no external threats.

Anthony knew that it was a logical reason. Over its centuries of existence, the Flamengard Empire had pretty much angered all of its neighbors. Most had hostile relations with the empire. It has only been 2 years since the war with the Fruysia Kingdom had been settled. The peace treaty only went into effect a month ago. With the southern border of the empire no longer being a warzone, the empire could now divert most of its attention to its northern neighbors. At the same time, some of the army divisions were freed up since they no longer had to heavily guard the southern border.

With that in mind, Anthony sent another request a month back for reinforcements. Thankfully his request was approved a week ago and a messenger arrived with a letter stating that the 16th imperial army division would come to take care of the deep mines in a month. But today another letter arrived that was now sitting on his hands.

“From: The Office of Imperial Defense Bureau

To: Marquis Anthony Gilham Rothberg

Subject: Request for the extermination of supernatural threats

We are sorry to report that your previous request approval for the dispatchment of the 21st imperial army division to Rothberg Island to deal with the supernatural phenomenon within the flamestone mines has now been retracted.

The request has been intercepted by the Church of the White Flame and shall now be carried out by the Knights Templar and High Priestess Aurelia. Please prepare to correspond with them within a fortnight of this letter’s arrival.

Signed by The Secretary of Internal Defense.”

Anthony sighed after reading the short letter again. He could not fathom why the church would put its hands on this matter. The Knights Templar were an insular bunch who rarely left the Gleaming peninsula. And then there was this High Priestess Aurelia who was no doubt the one who would spearhead this force. But that wasn’t the reason for his headache. It didn’t matter who was sent as long as they could deal with the deep mines. However, the Knights Templar were known to be severely low-staffed due to their high standards. What he needed was an army not a few dozen knights. And if this High Priestess somehow died in his land, then the backlash he would face would be huge. Rather than solving his existing problem, the Empire had sent another one to him.

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

‘The Internal Defense Bureau must also know this. Why didn’t they send the army along with the Knights Templar?’ Anthony thought in confusion. ‘Either way, I must prepare to receive them. They would also need someone to guide them through the deep mines. It's easy to get lost when you are closer to the abyss since the paths are always shifting around there.’

He heard a knock on his office door as he was contemplating.

“Enter.”

Commander Iris entered the room after being given permission. She was a tall woman with grey eyes and black hair tied in a bun. She had above-average looks, but it was her strength that she was known for. She was the only person on Rothberg Island who created her mana heart. Anthony had spent a fortune 3 years ago to buy a wind mana core so that Iris could advance. While the expense set him back months, he was still glad that he made the investment.

His sister wasn’t really the political type, the only thing she was interested in was training. He had long given up trying to find a spouse for her. She was already approaching her 30s and if wasn’t for her adamant denial he would’ve thought that she was interested in the same sex. So many times, he tried to appeal to her to get married but to no avail.

Besides, now he couldn’t afford to lose her to some other noble houses since he had no one more capable to command the guards.

“You called for me my lord?” Iris asked.

“You don’t have to be so formal there is no one else here,” Anthony said before handing over the letter in his hand to her. “Read it.”

Iris took the letter from his hands and read it. She displayed the same frown that was on Anthony’s face a few minutes ago. “This seems like a downgrade. I’m sure they won’t send more than 20 knights when what we need is an army. Are you going to accept their help brother?”

“It’s not like I can send them away, it will take years before the empire approves another request to send the army and I don’t think the church would just leave if I asked them to. They must have their own agenda for intercepting my request. But what exactly do they want? Publicity?” Anthony asked but he knew Iris didn’t have the answer to his question.

“We can ask them when they are here,” Iris said.

“That is if they even bother to entertain our curiosity,” replied Anthony and sighed. “Well, it’s out of our hands now, but there is something else that you still do not realize Iris.”

“What do you mean?” she asked.

“The High Priestess must not die in my territory. The masses will start protesting if they learn that a Priestess died due to my negligence. We must do our utmost to make sure she survives. They can’t put the blame on me if she still dies after all the support. Gather up all the enforcers and clean up the deep mines. Make sure that our guests arrive at the abyss without losing too much stamina. Also, assign one of the captains in charge of the mines to guide the High Priestess and her entourage into the deep mines and the abyss,” Anthony ordered. “Preferably, I would also send all the enforcers with them, but I don’t think they would want so many criminals following them.”

“As you command,” Iris said with a salute, but she didn’t leave immediately. “Would it be alright if I suggest something brother?”

“I told you to stop being so formal. Speak your mind,” he said.

“I know you said they don’t want criminals following them but there is an enforcer that I would like to add on this expedition.”

“Why?”

“The captains stationed there rarely go out into the deep mines, so they aren’t that familiar with the environment. Only the senior enforcers know the lay of the land and even they get lost sometimes,” Iris reasoned.

“That makes sense. Alright, let’s add a senior enforcer to the group. Who do you suggest?”

“Callahan,” she said without pause.

“Hmm. If my memory serves me right, then he is that enforcer that you wanted to recruit into the city guards. He is still an enforcer? This must be his fourth year, that’s a first. How did he survive for so long?”

“He’s got talent. I have never seen someone with such fighting instincts before. And he’s hard-working as well. I would’ve been sure that he was a manaborn if he didn’t have the light aspect. If he only accepted my offer to join the guards, then it would’ve been perfect,” Iris complained. “He also has the best record amongst the enforcers, and you know how he killed that shadow last year. People even started calling him the Dawnblade after that. Aaahh!!! Why won’t he accept my offer when I am giving him double the salary of regular guards? I even assigned him to a bully captain after he rejected my offer so many times just so he would give in due to all the discrimination. But he just takes it. He doesn’t even quit for some reason. It would be such a waste if he died in the mines.”

Iris’s real personality was starting to show as she talked about something that she cared about. Anthony smiled as his sister finally started loosening up and complained about her frustrations to him.

Iris wasn’t really known for her brains. Anthony already realized that money wasn’t what motivated Callahan after hearing her complaints. He pointed it out to his sister.

“Then what else could he want? The only thing in that mine are flamestones and shades. Does he really love fighting that much to risk his life every day?” Iris mused.

“Maybe. Maybe not. What is certain is that he really wants access to the mine for some reason. You should go with that angle when you make your next offer,” Anthony advised. “But that’s if he returns alive from this expedition. Though if the expedition succeeds then this would be a moot point.”

“Alright then. I will go and get the enforcers ready for the clean-up,” Iris said before taking her leave. Anthony watched her go and then continued to finish his remaining paperwork for the day.