Liliane took a sip of tea. The cup and the rest of the china were unremarkable — but the tea was excellent. She also didn’t miss the etched infinity symbol on the teaspoon. Perhaps it was the butler’s way of telling her that he knew she was from the east.

“Honey, lemon, and something else.”

“Ginger,” the butler added as he put down his own cup.

Liliane felt trapped. She was effectively cut off from mana and all her magical items — even the ones given by the prince that were made for the King himself — failed to operate.

“This room sure is secure.”

“Yes,” the butler frowned. “The master uses it to host his more problematic guests.”

“Am I problematic?” she teased.

“Of course not,” Sebas smiled. “Compared to our last guest, you would be a mere trifle.”

The butler obviously meant his answer to be reassuring — especially with that jovial tone. However, Liliane couldn’t help but feel small and insignificant.

What kind of people did the Blackstaff’s son meet with? Was this out-of-the-way place a mere cover for a diplomatic post?

She spotted the butler turning to the windows to look at the farmhands — as if worried.

“Is there something bothering you?”

“The man you came in with — you two didn’t know each other, right?”

“No,” she answered.

She wondered if enlightening the butler would put her in his good graces and decided to tell her more of what she found out.

“He is an assassin named Sacher.”

Liliane saw the butler frown — the name probably didn’t help. Sacher was a common name among adventurers, same with Masock and Sade. She herself knew six assassins, four guards, and three wizards named Sacher.

“This Sacher was a namesake of his twin,” Liliane smiled. “The twin was a close associate of the Blackstaff, your former liege.”

She was hoping to get a reaction from the butler — perhaps a hint of surprise, astonishment, or even fear. There were no such reactions from him — though he seemed to sit straighter than before.

“Master Jeremy would like to keep his identity secret,” Sebas spoke in a low tone. “He would be very upset if the matter leaked out.”

Was that a threat? Liliane could feel the sincerity of the butler’s words — but she had no idea how far this Jeremy would take things if his secret was exposed. Why would he even hide his identity?

She paused. The Blackstaff’s son had no reason to hide his identity — he should be flaunting it wherever he went! The only reason she could think of for such secrecy was that it was necessary to perform certain duties — ones that were handed to him by his father or indirectly, the King.

“What identity? I forgot about it already,” she smiled uncomfortably.

The butler raised an eyebrow before nodding. “That would be for the best.”

Liliane exhaled. She didn’t mean to stir up a hornet’s nest — at least she got herself out of the mess with just a warning.

“Let’s go straight to business then,” she straightened up. “The drops, the Lifesavers, and the Longswords — my employer would like to have them.”

“We could certainly provide you with the drops and the Longswords,” the butler seemed to frown at mentioning the name. “The Lifesavers are a bit more complicated though — they require a vial of the client’s blood as part of their creation, and they’ll only work for that specific person.”

“My employer doesn’t want to buy them. He wants to buy the secret of making them.”

“That would be a problem,” the butler sighed. “We could instead allot half of our production to your company if you buy in bulk. Having our products in the capital would certainly benefit both our companies.”’

Liliane didn’t miss the butler’s hint that he knew where the products would be heading — but the prince’s demands were for the formulas and not the finished products.

“We would be willing to buy the secret with gold,” she explained. “20,000 gold for each one — five for you as an incentive.”

The butler paused — seeming to be in deep thought.

“It’s not that we don’t want to sell the formulas,” he started. “I doubt you have the people to replicate it.”

“Please explain.”

The prince had a horde of alchemists at his beck and call — kingdom-certified ones! How could formulas created by a simple wizard be beyond their ken?

“Hydra blood.”

“Impossible!” Liliane blurted the words. Hydra blood was volatile, requiring the purest of mana to manipulate. There was no way the wizard could find a clean source of mana.

Sebas turned to the door and called one of the farmhands. He shook his head and said something about getting one that wasn’t empty.

She watched as the boy ran to the gargantuan snail that guarded the compound. Such a monstrosity serving as a pet should have been enough to prove that the butler and his master were working for higher powers.

The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.

The boy returned to Sebas with a piece of stone no larger than a fingernail.

“Here,” the butler placed the stone on the table, gesturing for her to check it.

What she saw was a miracle. Never had she seen mana so pure. There were no traces of earth, fire, water, or any such elements. This was pure quintessence — it was sacrilegious to even call it mana.

“Where?” Liliane’s hands were shaking as she held the small stone.

“It’s a secret of the Elswind’s — something the King himself forbade to be revealed.”

She stared at the butler knowing all hope at negotiation was gone.

“You can keep the stone. It is yours and yours alone.” the butler added. “We can still provide the capital with several batches of healing drops….”

The butler’s words died out as she stared at the stone. How could she keep such a precious thing secret? And would her life be in danger if she revealed it to anyone?

***

Warden stared at his brothers and cousins. He had failed them. If Shelby wasn’t tracking every one of them, they wouldn’t have realized Dylan was taken. During the rescue, their lot couldn’t even overpower a few assassins — even with their enhanced strength and agility.

Weapons and armor certainly had a lot to do with it. Their foes were armed with swords and armored in mail. All they had were cudgels and staves.

He found himself standing outside the smithy. It was strange not to hear loud banging sounds or see smoke coming out from a chimney — but strange was a given once they apprenticed themselves to a giant snail.

He knocked on the door.

The door was opened by an eager-looking dwarf.

“Finally!” the dwarf grabbed him and pulled him inside.

“So you want to make swords?”

Warden was still confused at what was happening. The room felt strange. The dwarf’s voice felt strange. He could hear the blood rushing to his ears!

“Give it a while, boy,” Siege advised. “The room gets to you.”

Warden shook his head, trying to banish the uneasiness. The three doll-like figures in the corner of the room grinding blades didn’t help.

“Yes, swords and armor.”

The dwarf frowned.

“You see, boy,” the dwarf sighed. “If only you came earlier. Now I’m practically done with everything. Thirty hell-forged swords and six daggers. I’m out of ores.”

“What if we can find ores?”

“Then we can start,” the dwarf smiled.

Warden left the strange forge — he didn’t even see a furnace! There were stories of dwarves molding metal with their hands — surely, that wasn’t what the dwarf intended to teach them. He saw hammers and tongs lying around so there must have been a hidden furnace somewhere.

He went back to his cousins and told them his predicament. Fortunately, Rikki remembered Shelby talking about a cave that she found with lots of metals.

Warden and Rikki approached the snail — still a little reverent from the rescue of Dylan.

“Uhm, Mistress Shelby, can you lead us to the place with lots of metals,” Warden asked, unsure of how to talk to the giant snail. “The one you told Rikki about.”

He could hear a flow of clicks and whistles as the snail gave her answer. He turned to Rikki, watching as his youngest cousin listened to the snail’s unfathomable speech.

“She said she would take us,” Rikki interpreted. “But only if we had an S person with us.”

What was an “S” person? Things were probably lost in translation — did she perhaps mean supervisor?

“Would Mister Siege count?”

Warden didn’t need Rikki to understand Shelby’s nod of approval.

He found himself standing outside the smithy once again. He braced himself for the strange room before knocking.

“You again?” the dwarf said as he opened the door. “Back so fast?”

“Shelby said there was a place with lots of metal — but she’ll only take us there if we had a supervisor.”

“Smart snail,” the dwarf beamed. “Wait here.”

Warden watched as the dwarf sped into the Corner Shop™ — coming back with his arms laden with several pickaxes.

“Grab one,” the dwarf urged.

Warden took one. He watched as the dwarf gave orders to the three feature-less golems, giving them a pickaxe each.”

“Now where is this mine of metals?”

It was early in the day. They should have enough time to check the place and go back. Warden stared at the pickaxe in his hands, wondering if they could do actual mining that day.

Most of his cousins were eager to go exploring or try their hand at mining — but Warden kept their numbers small.

He took four of his cousins. Robin and Fisher for their brawn, Glim for his enthusiasm, and Rikki for his invaluable interpretation ability.

Shelby could certainly take six of them — but he forgot about the golems. He was about to send his cousins away when the snail just ate the three golems — telling Rikki that she stored them in her home.

Siege merely laughed at the act, climbing up the snail and taking a spot close to where the Scourge usually sat.

Warden stopped Fisher from taking the Scourge’s spot — not knowing how Shelby would react, only for Rikki to casually sit on it without whatsoever consequence.

He waited for Glim and Robin to find their places before climbing and finding a spot.

Once they were in place, Shelby started moving. She moved slow enough to make sure they didn’t fall off — but fast enough for them to feel the wind on their faces. Siege was laughing all the way, but Rikki seemed genuinely concerned that one of them might fall off.

Warden marveled at how the snail traveled. It was like skimming on ice. Sure, they could replicate it — but the initial application of earth magic seemed too novel for a snail to come up with.

Then again, Shelby was no mere snail.

They arrived at a crevice. Shelby stopped at the edge, allowing them to see its depths.

Instead of scaling the wall, as most snails would do, she sank into the earth.

It was a strange feeling. Warden could feel the soil and stones passing through his body — it was terribly itchy. It lasted for a while and then Shelby moved — emerging through a wall and into open air.

The Scourge was here. The cave’s opening was scorched with hellfire — a sign that their benefactor exterminated a few undesirables.

Pathways seemed to appear as the snail went further into the cave — the ground parting and opening to let them pass.

Warden noticed that he was using his earthsense instead of his vision — noting how colors were dulled and how he could see the density of the ground.

The snail stopped.

“She said it was up to us now,” Rikki said as he hopped down the snail. “Helping us too much would be cheating — and she said Master Jeremy always wanted to use his toys here.”

Warden wondered what the snail meant by toys, when Shelby belched out the three golems and their pickaxes.

Each of them climbed down the snail. Siege offered to light a torch, before realizing that none of them had problems seeing in the dark.

“Hmm, this place has plenty of iron and silver,” Siege noted. “There might be mithril — but it’s too deep for us to reach. Perhaps Shelby could get some in return for some —“

“Feathers,” Rikki finished. “Shelby wants their weight in feathers.”

Warden smiled. They had dozens of chickens on their farm. He just needed to pluck fifty of them to get a pound of mithril.