"They do now that all the spying spells have been removed. Oh, you should warn the council that anyone who enters the secret alcove hidden behind the bedroom wall will die."

Almort says "What? Seriously?!"

"Yes. I just removed over thirty hidden spells from these rooms. I am tempted to just go back to my hotel. Or find an empty spot and set up my castle."

Almort says "That many?! Alright, I will talk to the council. Wait, did you say castle? What is that supposed to even mean?"

"It means I have a portable castle."

Almort says "Is that even possible?!"

In answer I take out the castle and let him take a look at it, but he almost blinds himself. He makes the mistake of trying to look at it with magical sight, which hurts. Unfortunately, instead of turning it off he looks away and just happens to end up looking at Lin.

That is almost as bad and he ends up just covering his eyes until he can cancel his spell. When he takes his hands away, his eyes are bloodshot and tears are streaming down his face. It is something of a struggle not to laugh at him.

"That was pretty stupid."

Almort says "I realize that now."

Lin says "Ash, be nice."

"Oh, alright."

Almort says "I am going to go talk to the council. I will have lunch sent up and I will have their answer by the time you finish eating."

"Alright. I will wait."

Almort leaves and a few minutes later a train of servants enters carrying trays. They lay out the food on the table, almost completely covering it, and then they leave. Lin and I start eating, and the food is amazing, enough that about half of it gets put into the pouch.

Almort returns and says "The council knew about the spying. Apparently it is standard procedure to monitor visiting royalty to gain advantages in negotiating. They were not happy about the fact that the two mages assigned to monitor these rooms died."

"They should have thought of that before inviting me to stay here. It is their own fault for underestimating me."

Lin says "It isn't Almort's fault, don't take it out on him."

"You are right. Sorry, Almort."

Almort says "It's alright. I am not exactly happy with the way the council does business either. Here, these are your badges, they grant you full access to the library. Now, the question is are you going to stay here or leave?"

"I have no choice now. If I tried to leave before Lin had a look through the library I would suffer for it."

Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.

Lin smiles and says "Yes, you would."

Almort says "So, you will be staying then?"

"For now, yes. I will ask Zachariah about finding a plot of land I can put the castle on. Since we are probably staying for a while I would rather stay in it."

Almort says "Fair enough. Although, if possible I would love to see you set it up when you do."

"Sure, that's no problem. Zachariah will probably want to as well."

Almort says "I'm sure he would, and he will also want to buy one knowing him. Anyway, is there anything you need?"

"Nope. Lin will be heading to the library and I will go see Zachariah."

Almort says "Alright. If you need me at any time, any member of the staff will be able to find me for you."

"Okay."

Lin says "Where is the library?"

Almort says "The library covers the entire fourth floor."

Lin says "Thank you."

Almort says "You're welcome." and then leaves.

Lin says "You are not coming to the library with me?"

"Not right away, no. I will go speak with Zachariah and then join you when I get back. I am not going to have the time to go through the entire library, so that is going to be your job."

Lin says "We probably won't be here long enough for me to go through the entire library."

"Not for you to read the entire thing no, but you should be able to figure out what books are worth copying."

Lin instantly realizes what I mean and she gives me a huge smile. The council probably has no idea that we can copy books so easily. Meaning we can steal everything of use from their library without them knowing.

Lin says "What if they have observation spells in the library?"

"Just disable them. We have already shown that we don't like being watched, so it shouldn't raise any suspicion."

Lin says "Okay. What do you need me to look into first?"

"Weapon enchantments, especially those specific to demons."

Lin says "Okay. I will see you later then."

Lin leaves to head to the library and I leave for Zachariah's building. As I leave the suite I put a thread of mana across the door so I will know if anyone enters. At this point, I can't trust the council not to send someone in to replace the spying spells.

If they do, then I will know that they aren't worth dealing with and we will leave. They don't really have anything that I need, just that will make things easier. I would rather do things the hard way than have to watch for betrayal at all times.

That would certainly keep me from relaxing and it just wouldn't be worth it. When I walk into the merchant group building Clairette spots me and takes me to Zachariah. This time I am taken to his actual office, which isn't as fancy as I was expecting.

Zachariah says "I heard you had a busy morning. Rumors about you are spreading faster than people can listen to them."

"That figures. It was all the association's idea."

Zachariah says "As expected. Sadly it will work, people will be focused on you instead of the attack."

"That will only work until I leave though."

Zachariah says "By then memories of the attack will have faded. Then the council just needs to make a token attempt at improving the aerial defenses and everything will go back to normal."

"Assuming that demon doesn't come back with another swarm."

Zachariah says "True, but without you around we will probably lose no matter what we do. However, I think the demon is more likely to track you and attack you as you head west."

"Yeah, I think so too, but I will be ready for him. That doesn't mean you shouldn't try to improve your defenses."

Zachariah says "I would like to. I am hoping you have some ideas along those lines."

"Actually, I do. Those weapons you use are decent, but way too slow to reload. Using just them leaves you vulnerable. You need a second type that is faster firing to cover while they are reloaded."

Zachariah says "Could you design something like that? Something that the same craftsmen could make?"

"Sure, that's easy."