The fires to the Lord’s mansion had been put out and servants ran around through the night to clean things up and repair the damages. I hadn’t been aware of any of it, but while my soul was being violated by the Baron, Lena had been frantically trying to get him to stop. His servants as well as the younger shade had gotten in her way but backed off when she charged up a massive light based spell.

Lena had swapped all of her mana crystals out for Light stones, including the one powering her [Cloak()], and piped 90% of her available mana into the attack. The resulting blast obliterated the shade and burned a hole through the wall and hedge maze like the sun through a magnifying glass. I was unscathed thanks to my magic resistance but I don’t honestly know what sort of effect that type of attack would have on an Automata in the first place. Would I melt? Would I reflect or scatter the light? I did notice that on the floor where my “shadow” might have been was undamaged. Now it looked like a reverse shadow frozen in time by an invisible person. It was eerie.

To my surprise, and slight disappointment, Baron Unnown was not exactly killed in the attack. As a living shadow, he was simply dispelled for a while. By morning, he had condensed enough of whatever made him up in order to take shape again. He was considerably smaller now though, like a blobish doll. The doll shadow just stood around. I couldn’t tell if he was dazed or confused by just the rough shape of a kirby nothingness standing on the floor. It wasn’t doing anything, and gave me the impression of waiting or standing by.

The boy shadow knelt by the doll shadow and picked it up. It was hard to tell what was happening depending on the angle, but it appeared as if the doll was slowly slipping into the boy’s void hand. After a minute or two, I couldn’t see anything left of the doll and the boy repositioned himself until he was fully facing Lena and me.

Though I had topped off her mana levels, she had insisted that she still needed to recover “her strength”. With me on her lap and her [Cloak()] reengaged, she had positioned herself in a relaxed pose on the lounge reserved for artist’s models. A few meters from us, on the floor, the boy knelt, leaning forward and touching his hands and forehead to the tile. At least I thought his forehead was touching, it was hard to tell.

“I humbly apologize for my actions,” the boy spoke. “In my old age, I grow forgetful. Though it is no excuse, I was consumed with curiosity. Never before have I seen such an interesting soul. I merely wished to take a closer look at it, though it was wrong of me to do so without permission. Thank you, your Highness, for the gentle nudge to help me to regain my senses. This humble servant regrets his actions.”

I looked up at Lena, who was still seething, though she’d calmed down considerably.

“I shall not be so kind in the future, Lord Baron. I fully expect you to behave as befits your station from now on,” she said coldly, all business; which may have lost some of its impact by holding me like a teddy bear.

“Your servant understands and complies, your Highness,” the boy-now-Baron responded.

The boy got up, gave Lena a shallow bow, and then left to oversee the repair work or possibly to rest.

“What was that about? Is the Baron’s son now the new Baron? And he’s your servant?” I asked.

“He didn’t actually mean any of that. It was all formality, really. I obviously lack the station to command him to do anything but he was being nice about it because he felt bad for hurting you. He’s a crafty old codger, that one. Notice that he didn’t wait for my permission to get up and leave,” she explained.

“Did the kid absorb the smaller shadow and become him? I don’t know anything about shadow people,” I wondered.

“I don’t know much myself to be honest. Shades are an elusive and rare species. I don’t know anything about souls or how that works, but I know that they call their children ‘inheritors’. It is said that when the parent dies, the child takes their place and becomes the parent. Whether the child gains all of the memories and knowledge of the parent or the parent takes over the body of the child is a mystery to me though. Either way, the child acts as though they are the parent, as you’ve seen. This entity known as Baron Unnown has been serving the Empire for centuries if the stories are to be believed. Only the Sisters can fathom how many generations of Unnown that encompasses.”

“Huh. Kinda like The Phantom: The Ghost Who Walks,” I mused.

“Phantoms don’t walk; they lack legs. Shades are very much like ghosts that walk, I think. I’ve only ever met the Baron though so my point of reference might be biased,” she corrected.

“No, The Phantom was a white guy that ran around the jungle in purple tights beating up poachers. He wasn’t actually undead,” I tried explaining.

“White? How strange, I can see why people would think he an undead. Was he missing his legs too? Why would anyone wear purple in the jungle though? Or tights? It sounds most unpleasant. Still, doing their best to punish people illegally hunting in the Imperial jungles without any legs and looking like a dead thing are most commendable. You have to respect that sort of bravery when the odds are so stacked against someone.”

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“Hmm. Yes. Yes indeed,” I agreed, deciding not to pursue the topic any longer.

“During our rest time here, there is supposed to be a small dungeon nearby. I think we might be able to put together a little party to go explore it and you can try to get your levels back up,” Lena suggested.

“That reminds me, I need to report to Milliardo,” I said, hopping off of the lounge. “I’ll fill you in along with him about that.”

The guest apartment that Lena had been offered was as opulent as the rest of the mansion, but a bit strange. If someone had told me that it was attached to the royal palace, I might have believed them if not for a few details. Portraits of people I didn’t know hung on the walls, though they all looked a bit ill with sunken eyes and ashen faces. The furniture was overstuffed and presumably comfortable, though upholstered in washed out and desaturated colors. At first glance it was all very fancy but the longer you looked around, the more slightly off things felt. Maybe this was all simply the personal tastes of the Baron. I was left to assume that shades were, like the apartment, also slightly off in many ways.

Lena set up the smoke mirror and contacted Milliardo, who had been still getting ready for the day prior to his breakfast. I informed him about what I’d learned about the mini factories as well as the squads that Dezarus was sending out to siphon all the mana from local dungeons. I also told him about the lead I had regarding Maxoria and the Cultivators of the Abyss.

“I must admit that there is a lot that we don’t know about Maxoria. The theocrasy tends to be rather closed off to outsiders beyond a superficial veneer of piety. I’ve never heard of these Cultivators either. Are you sure this information is reliable?” Milliardo asked.

“One of my people is a converted citizen from Maxoria. He admits that it could be a folk tale but thinks it’s worth the risk to investigate,” I admitted.

“Very well, I will allow it. It sounds like your other has the same idea as you in an attempt to gain power quickly. If they are analogous to you, then we can not afford to come up short in this race.”

“My thoughts as well,” I agreed.

“We can get you across the border via Lena’s mission to begin talks with the Eastern Alliance, but beyond that you will be on your own,” Milliardo warned.

“He won’t be alone! I’ll be going with him, of course,” Lena asserted.

“Lena,” Milliardo said in a careful tone, “from the sound of things, Prime plans on throwing himself overboard in the middle of the ocean.”

“So?” she said defiantly.

“You’re afraid of water. You can’t stand getting wet, much less being on a boat. You refused to even go sailing on the lake and would throw a tantrum if anyone so much as breathed the word bath,” he countered.

“I WAS FIVE!” she screamed.

“Whenever we’d go swimming in the royal pool-- which by the way Prime only goes up to a meter and a half deep --you’d cling to me like a grench molusk,” Milli said smugly.

“I! I.. I WAS A CHILD! IT DOESN’T COUNT FROM BACK THEN!” she yelled, her face turning bright pink as she shot worried glances in my direction.

“Lena. It was last summer. You were fifteen,” he finished, delivering the coup de grace.

Lena screamed incoherently and buried herself under a mound of pillows and blankets on the nearby bed.

“You are absolutely an older brother, aren’t you?” I asked, amused.

“Of course I am. What else would I be to my younger sister?” Milliardo asked, confused.

“Well, they say `nothing is as embarrassing as family`,” I chuckled.

“Yes, well, fear of water aside, if she went with you then who would handle the talks with the Alliance?”

“Isn’t that a lot of responsibility to put on someone of her station? I mean, if things go south then couldn’t that invite open war?”

“The talks are being held in Maxoria, which is already the most southern portion of the eastern coast. Further south would be in the ocean. I don’t think they will wish to reconvene out on the open water,” Milliardo said in a tone suggesting I was an idiot.

“Eh? No, I mean if things go poorly not that the location would change,” I corrected.

“Are things poorly to the south in your world?” he asked.

“Milli, shut up and answer me: are you sacrificing your sister here or expecting too much of her?”

The smoke image of Milliardo tapped a smoky finger on a smoky lip for a while before answering.

“I can’t very well shut up AND answer you,” he teased, his expression difficult to make out. “Worry not, Master Artificer. Relena will not be actually handling the negotiations but will be acting as a master of ceremonies of sorts. Her job is actually to deliver this communication mirror and facilitate the meeting. I will be handling the actual talks myself. I do not expect the rulers of the Alliance countries to be present either.”

“That’s a load off my mind,” I said, relieved.

“Enough of that. I’ll issue an order to have all of the Automata in our ranks pulled back for now and have the heavy assault units keep an eye out for suspicious activity. I won’t promise that they’ll go easy on any wayward Autos that they see wandering around,” he warned.

“I understand. My group is working on hunting those mobile factories and have updated security patches to keep them from getting infected. If your guys come across a group with a shadow wolfkin, that’s mine.”

“I’ll include that information in the orders. If I can have someone meet up with them, can they pass along that update to our units?”

“They can, yes. You’ll be losing all your Automata slaves though as it’ll force unlock them. Please, by all means,” I said snarkily.

“Hmmn. I intend to have them all released but the timing isn’t right to be able to properly take care of them all yet. I ask that you be a bit patient with me Prime. After my coronation, we’ll be able to take proper steps to deal with this.”

He didn’t exactly sound apologetic, but I’ll take what I can get.

“What worries me right now,” he continued, “is the massive Automata army that the Eastern Alliance has laying in wait. I fear that if your double gets a hold of them then we may be in for the fight of our lives.”

“That’s a valid concern, I agree. I’ll try my best to keep it from getting that far and hold you to your promise to take care of them afterwards.”

“What your double, Dez-something, is doing... is this something that you can do as well?” he asked, hesitantly.

“Not that I’m aware of. Or at least, not that I’ve ever considered. Heck, the proxy puppets that I purposefully built for myself have started taking on lives of their own and are running independently from me.”

“That isn’t exactly the assurance I was looking for, but we’ll have to take it I suppose,” he sighed. “Contact me again once you’re in Maxoria and Prime? Do not bring my little sister to the bottom of the ocean with you.”

“Uh, yes... your majesty,” I said half heartedly as the smoke image dissipated.