“Run it by me one last time,” Lucille said, tapping on the table she and her guest were sitting at.

Kozzazan nodded and put down his cup of coffee. It seemed he had taken a liking to the drink.

The two of them were sitting at a small table in Lucy’s large bedroom. It was before seven when none of the others would be up and about yet, so it allowed them to meet in privacy, even if that was while she was wearing her pyjamas and a dressing gown.

“Five members of the House will be dispatched to go with you to the demon clan part of the Malediction Society,” he stated smoothly, repeating the information he had memorised. “They want your presence as they deal with the clan so you can act as a witness, to ensure they only did what they said they would. The demon clan they’ll attack are vassals of the Infernal Dukedom.”

Lucy paused her tapping. “The largest demon Duchy… their rank?”

“Demon Count,” Kozzazan replied.

“Hm… strong enough to be a considerable threat. No wonder the House of Wordless Observers wants to cut off this demon clan’s support.” Lucy sighed and swept her hair over her shoulder. “That means the five coming will be true wraiths instead of shades or phantoms. Their leader would have to be a 1st Sector Vigil to command a group to enter another realm.”

Kozzazan silently nodded. That immediately showed Lucy that she was wrong because he normally would’ve made a rude remark such as ‘of course’ or ‘obviously’.

“It’s a member of the Court, then. Who is it?” she asked pointedly.

The dark-haired man grimaced and rubbed his neck. “I wasn’t meant to say anything unless you specifically asked… urgh. It’s… the Tainted Peony Blademistress.”

Lucille crossed her arms, thinking deeply. “The Blood Lord Rouge Ellsinore?”

“One of the three undead vampires of the Court of Ninety-Nine, yes.” He nodded. “She’s part of the Marquis of The Hunt’s faction.”

“I thought all members of the Court supported the Death Monarch,” Lucy said, raising an eyebrow.

Kozzazan quickly shook his head. “They’re all undyingly-” He hesitated at the turn of phrase. “…ceaselessly loyal to him and his authority. But they all have different definitions of what they consider ‘loyal acts’. The Marquis of The Hunt’s faction is notably composed of former mortals and involves itself the most in politics,” he explained.

The Marquis of The Hunt, the ghoul I saw last time. Reznor. He was the one to show the most scepticism of my intentions. Reznor must want to place someone nearby to observe me and see if I’m worth working with.

Lucy nodded as she continued thinking.

I do know of a very hostile force within the Court to all those who are mortals. They’ll be the only group I can’t work with due to their preconceived notions of my capabilities. Gylbarde, the Dark Night of the Legion of the Abandoned, is one of them. Working with a force made of politically inclined former humans and others will be beneficial, considering my status as a Count of the Empire.

“I see. Will Lady Ellsinore require anything of me?” she asked.

Kozzazan dipped his head. “I haven’t heard anything about that, so if she has decided on something, I wouldn’t know. Even knowing about the movements of 1st Sector Vigils and… a member of the Court is...” He shuddered. “…more than a low-ranked Captain of the Wordless Observers should know.”

It appeared that discussing the most powerful members of his organisation so freely was draining for him. Lucille nodded and stood up from her chair, pushing it in. “Thank you for your time, Kozzazan. I appreciate it, even if I know you were ordered to answer all my questions,” she said with a wry look.

With inhuman agility befitting his race, he slid into the shadows and reappeared near her balcony. “I’ll take my leave now if I have your permission, Count Goldcroft.”

She shook her head in amusement. “Off you go. Do you really hate being in my presence that-”

In the next breath, he had completely left her spiritual perception. Lucy rolled her eyes and went over to her walk-in wardrobe to find her clothes for the day. She was anticipating the finished result of Sedric’s treasure hunt in the Supreme Serpent’s Silent City.

…

A silver-haired boy with slitted eyes flopped over the back of the couch, squinting at the door. He rolled back around and elbowed the woman next to him. “Didn’t Sedric say he’d be done today?”

Lucille checked her pocket watch. “Perhaps he realised it’s missing something and requires more time to complete it. I’d rather have a finished piece than an artifact that requires me to return it to him for frequent adjustments.” She snapped it shut. “Oh well. As I’m busy, I don’t have time to wait for him. I’ll return to my stud-”

“W-w-wait, wait, wait, wait-” The door of the living room burst open as the Commission’s resident crafter stumbled in, holding the brass-embellished briefcase with two hands. He sat it down on the coffee table and then leaned against it, taking a deep breath. “I-I’m done. You can take a look now.”

Lucy eyed his flushed face from running there with the artifact, the way his eyes quickly flicked from her to the briefcase and back, the nervous tension in how he kept touching the tools on his belt and determined he seemed to be very eager to show off his modifications. She felt the urge to be a slight bit mean to him.

“Thank you, Sedric. I’ll put it in my room and return to working in my study,” she replied sweetly.

He hesitated. “You… You’re not going to check it out?”

Lucille raised an eyebrow. “Why would I do that? I already know what’s inside the artifact’s pocket dimension.”

“Yes, but…” Sedric groaned and rubbed his neck. “I’ve added some… stuff…”

“I’m sure I’m intelligent enough to work it out at the moment when I need to use it.” She pretended to get up to pick the briefcase up, but Sedric blocked her way.

“I still think you should let me demonstrate its abilities to you,” he stubbornly argued. “Didn’t you say it’s tradition for the crafter to offer the item to its new owner?”

Lucy smirked and crossed her arms. “Sedric, that rule applies to those who made the item. All you did was take an existing artifact and put it inside of something.”

“But…”

“I don’t doubt your abilities to make this a highly useful item, though, which is why I plan to use it as soon as I need to without demonstration,” she continued, casually walking up to the briefcase and picking it up by the handle. She looked back and noted Sedric’s twitching expression, indicating his frustration. “Are you not happy that I trust your abilities that much?”

“That’s not the problem!” Sedric let out a groan and placed his hands on his head.

“Lucy, I just want to see what’s changed, so could you put it down?” Scytale spoke up.

“Hmm…” She glanced at her bond and then pointed at Sedric. “Only if Sedric promises that whatever changes he’s made are worth me pushing my work off for.”

“Of course!” Sedric replied with indignance.

She narrowed her eyes at him. “Really?”

He opened his mouth to confirm it, and then hesitated, thinking about the consequences of showing her a ‘boring’ artifact.

Lucy shrugged and put the briefcase on the table again. “Alright. I’ll wait for you to show it to me. But be prepared for what will happen if it’s not interesting enough.”

Sedric grimaced and then coughed into his fist. He gestured to the case. “As you wanted, I used the canvas of the scroll to create the inner layer of the case. Instead of being a painting, it’s now the exterior layer of the cushioning inside the briefcase. Just like normal locked briefcases, this one only opens to the mana of those registered with it and…”

He placed a hand on the embellished dark leather cover. Brass gears inlaid into the case whirred until it opened with a click. The two halves folded out, letting Lucy and Scytale see that the upper compartment contained custom-made pockets for her belt, sheaths, and even her mask and cane. The bottom compartment, however, showed…

…the normal contents of a case. Sedric had filled it with some blankets from one of the rooms to demonstrate.

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Lucille raised an eyebrow and walked closer when she realised she wasn’t looking at an illusion, but she could still sense the illusion mana. She pressed a hand down, but none of the blankets could be pushed through to the pocket dimension. Removing the blankets, she stepped back and became curious when she noticed a replica of the artifact’s painting on the inner layer of the briefcase. She looked to Sedric for an explanation. “This is…?”

“I did use an illusion mana-circle inside, but here it’s only to project the painting onto this layer of canvas, just to make it seem like it’s an aesthetic choice,” he told her. “But watch this.”

He flicked a tiny lever hidden behind the upper compartment’s pockets, and the sound of whirring began. The cogs in the briefcase spun until they came to a swift stop, revealing that the lower compartment slid back and revealed the dimensional artifact painting. “I built-”

“You built a false compartment that can physically store items so I don’t have to risk someone discovering the dimension behind an illusion of a compartment,” Lucy interrupted, a hand on her chin as she gazed at the case in thought. “This means that I can store objects for easy access, as well as enter the dimension within. A very interesting solution.”

Sedric scowled and crossed his arms. “…that was what I was going to say.” He sighed and looked away. “Should’ve guessed you’d work it out with just a glance.”

“But to create a mechanism that works across two different dimensions at the same time, even if it’s only a pocket dimension, you would need to use specific spatial mana-circles, most of which require complex calculations,” Lucy mused. She looked at Sedric. “How did you do it?”

He blinked. “The mechanism? Oh. I, ah, used the… ‘underused’ part of my class a bit. The magic engineering stuff.” Sedric sighed. “That and a bit of the stuff my grandfather left for me. As for the mana-circle, you remember you gave me a collection of books with crafting mana-circles from all the elements, right?”

Lucille nodded. “But I never expected you to learn how to use them. Even Grandmaster crafters are careful when it comes to using spatial magic with machines when they can get past the complexity,” she warned.

Sedric pinched his nose bridge. “Tell me about it. That book was a headache to read, and I bet I only got a tenth of it.” He shook his head after shooting Scytale a dirty look, who was noisily sipping fruit juice through a straw. “No, I got that mage, Marellen, and his elf girlfriend-”

Scytale’s fruit juice went down the wrong pipe and he spat it out, gasping for breath. Lucy stared at him. “Girlfriend?”

“What, they’re not a couple? They’re always hanging out together though,” Sedric said with suspicion after seeing their reactions.

“…I’m sure that’s just them bonding over magical theory,” she replied, but inwardly, she was feeling bemused.

Sedric’s not the most socially adept, so whatever I hear from him can be taken with a grain of salt, but them being a couple? I mean, I’m not against it- no, actually, I’m all for it, considering the man Trisroa Vel-Winteridge’s loyalties lay with last time, but the thought of his party members leaving because they find someone else is… not a concept that occurred to me.

Maybe I should facilitate this for the others? Lucille Goldcroft, Matchmaker Supreme. Foiling the Hero’s plans with the power of romance, one party member at a time.

On the couch, Scytale burst into guffaws. Lucy sighed and rubbed her temples.

I can’t consider it even as a joke. Besides, me? Knowing about romance? Scytale has more knowledge than me on that subject.

“Lucille? Is everything okay?” Sedric asked.

“It’s fine.” She gave him a wave to let him continue. “Marellen and Roa’s help?”

“Yeah. So, because I didn’t get the terminology, I asked them for some help.” He gestured to the room’s door. “In the end, they got interested in what I was doing so they spent a few days in my workshop with me, getting these spatial mana-circles to work in the jewels. The result is that.” Sedric pointed at the case. “I only used the simplest mana-transfer circle because dimensionally transferring matter is way beyond me, and after applying what I learnt from Sameul O’Dearvy about mana turning into mechanical energy and vice-versa…” He spread his hands. “Hey presto! I got it working.”

Lucy hummed. “I can tell there’s a second illusion mana-circle in there, however.”

“Oh, yes.” Sedric pressed a button, and an illusion appeared to mask the contents of the upper compartment. “Just to, you know, protect stuff like your mask, watch, cane, and so on.” He stepped back and crossed his arms. “It took way too long, I had to scratch several prototypes, and there’s probably a simpler solution to the engineering behind it out there, but at the end of the day, I’m very happy with my work,” he finished with a grin. He hesitated when he saw her staring at him. “…Lucille? What is it?”

“Hmmm…” She walked around the type, leaning forward to study the case. “Passible craftsmanship… decently creative design solutions…”

He stiffened up when her gaze returned to him. Lucy stayed silent for a couple more seconds, just to make him that more nervous, and-

She gave him two thumbs up and grinned. “Very well done, Sedric. And to think that all I said was I wanted a briefcase with illusion spells.”

“Yeah, well…” He rubbed his neck, looking awkward from the unexpected praise. “It was, uh, nothing.”

Scytale, always willing to ruin the moment, cupped his hands around his mouth. “You still suck for being a so-called Legendary crafter!”

Sedric’s expression went cold and he dashed towards Lucy’s bond. Scytale vaulted over the couch and sped out the door, Sedric following close behind. The two immature individuals left Lucille alone, who shook her head and walked closer to the table to admire her new dimensional artifact.

He’s come a lot further than I first expected. I’m sure if he ever realised how unusual it is for an accessory craftsman to use spatial spells, let alone be capable of altering an artifact when normally only Artificers can do that, his progress would fall behind as he became overconfident. Right now, his competitive attitude is the motivating factor to improve, but I’ll tell him about his talent when he gains a new motivation. Competitiveness can only last for so long.

It was also possible that with Scytale around, Sedric would never lose his sense of rivalry to finally prove how good he was to the snake.

Scytale, a good influence on someone. Who’d have ever thought?

She shook her head again and sat back down. From even the items he was crafting, to his method of going about it like asking Marellen and Trisroa for help, Sedric had greatly improved. He was very different from the rebellious and dismissive young man she had met a year earlier. For a brief moment, Lucille wondered if she had changed, but dismissed the idea because she knew that a year wasn’t enough for someone her age to change. Her soul constructs tracked her personality characteristics and could tell that nothing was different. The people around her, however, were a different situation.

Vincent had become more confident as her aide, Annaliese had become bolder, Raegan – well, he wasn’t on his deathbed anymore. Trisroa seemed to view her favourably, if only as an enigma to study, and had yet to meet the Hero. Hargrave was less wary of her and had begun to enjoy the company of the others…. However, sometimes she felt he still overthought a lot of her actions. Scytale seemed to be on a path towards gaining even greater strength.

The people around her had all changed slightly, and mostly in positive ways. But was positive personal growth in the people around her enough to support her schemes against the Hero who would spell danger for someone even faintly acquainted with his enemies? Lucille didn’t know.

That was why she couldn’t ever tell the people around her of the Hero, because if by some small chance, he began to consider ‘Lucille Goldcroft’ as his enemy… the people around her would suffer for it in ways nobody could control. Not even the System.

She had thought about it once before and thought about it again, but she wasn’t happy to be back again. In the past, she had a group of people to confide in who wouldn’t have their lives ruined due to the Hero’s attention, but that group didn’t exist anymore. Some of them didn’t exist anymore. They weren’t exactly friends, but at least she felt like she had a place to belong, a place she and Scytale had built for themselves.

Now, it was just her and her bond. She was sincerely grateful that for whatever reason, the System let Scytale be beside her in the new timeline. Otherwise, she would truly, truly be without hope. She went without contact with people for years before they came across each other again by complete coincidence.

Now it was just her and him against the Hero and the forces of the new timeline. Difficult, but not impossible.

Because Lucille knew ‘Conlan Griffin’. She knew every single one of his personality flaws and weak points. But her enemy was ‘The Hero’ and the one behind him.

…

“-and so based on my theory of elemental harmony and causal impact, I’ve concluded that the laws of the element of space lie outside of the elemental laws of the six essential elements!” a navy-haired mage proclaimed passionately.

Beside him was a sighing snow elf, while in front of him were three others. Two were the Barbosas siblings, playing a game of cards while giving Marellen half-hearted ‘Mhm’ and ‘I see’ ‘s.

The third was Hargrave, sitting on a couch while polishing his demonic Origin weapon. He put Eolith down for a moment. “Outside?”

The others winced, as they knew that a slight bit of encouragement was all the mage needed. Marellen swiftly pointed his staff at Hargrave, who blinked.

“Exactly!” Marellen exclaimed. He pulled back his staff and put a hand behind his back as he mused out loud to the others, pacing back and forth. “If the six essential elements are all that’s needed to create elemental harmony, then space mana must have a different purpose than the other elements. Wizards and Archmages cannot be using it to its full potential! But what other purposes could exist?” He placed a hand on his chin a gave a large nod. “No, this isn’t my speciality. That will be for other researchers to discover. I should be creating hypotheses about the role of spatial mana in elemental harmony. I need to see if there are examples in other phenomena of the realms-”

Hargrave stared at the mage as he began his crazed mutterings. Garthe looked over his shoulder and waved Roa over. “Roa! C’mere and place your bet on how long it’ll last this time!”

Roa glanced at Marellen and then let out a light scoff. “I do not partake in ‘betting’ or gambling of any sort. It is a waste of well-earned income. I especially do not partake in gambling when it is at the expense of another.”

“We’ll be waging our chores instead of money!” Garthe stage-whispered.

Roa hesitated. “…do not think you can sway me with such promises, but… which chores?”

“The tax reports for our Guilds,” he said with a cheeky grin.

The elven mage considered it. “I failed to mention that I have no experience in ‘placing bets’ and so any opinions I have of gambling are that of preconceived notions gained from other’s biased opinions,” she announced, sitting down next to them. “I believe Marellen will be interrupted before the hour is up.”

“Really? Final chance to change your mind~” Garthe smirked and scribbled down a note saying, ‘One Adventurer’s Guild Tax Report from Roa’. “Then it’s final. Larena bet an hour and a half, I bet three hours, while you’ve bet he’ll be interrupted before the hour is done. Get ready to do my paperwork, girls.”

“You’ve got to be insane, Garthe, if you think I’d ever do your paperwork-”

“Overconfidence has caused many a warrior to fall in Glenheim, Garthe.”

They looked up when they noticed Marellen had stopped pacing. The navy-haired young man snapped his fingers. “Yes, that’s it! Yin and Yang!”

“Yeng and what now?” Garthe repeated.

“No, Yin and Yang! The negative and positive energies found in the Heavenly Realm! It makes perfect sense!” Marellen renewed his pacing. “They are part of the cycle but exist as independent energies too. You can have Yin wood and fire, but Yang wood and fire as well. It’s just like spatial fusion elements – Ruination for fire and space, Maelstrom for water and space, Cloudburst for wind and space, Quake for earth and space, and finally Radiance for light and space. They’re fusion elements that use the Yin… or possibly Yang, of the positive and negative elements!”

Then he frowned and rubbed his chin. “But if that is the case, what element contrasts to the space element? It has to occur naturally, or else my theory falls apart, but I don’t know of any element with the same properties as space…”

“Have you considered that like space mana, it always exists, but we naturally wield it as the ‘Yang’ version of our elements?” a new voice asked lightly. “I think the theoretical element of ‘time’ fits that description.” Lucy poked her head in. “What are we up to in here?”

Marellen froze to the spot, but Garthe just rolled his eyes. “Shouldn’t you know already? Wha- hey!” He stared at the two other women as they dumped their ‘bets’ on top of his lap.

“I believe that is my victory, Garthe Barbosas,” Roa announced slightly haughtily. “Enjoy submitting my tax report to the Adventurer’s Guild.”

Larena stood up and walked off with a shrug. “I came second, so you get my share of the work too.”

“That is not how it works!” he yelled, pointing at her. Garthe pointed to Roa as well. “And we never established what the rules of the bet actually were, so this doesn’t count, I say! Hey! Are you listening?!”

“Chaotic as usual, I see,” Lucy stated flatly. She walked in and crossed her arms as she followed Hargrave’s gaze over to the muttering mage.

“I’d heard rumours, but… nobody uses a dark-space fusion element, huh…” Hargrave murmured.

Lucille looked at him and nodded, while Marellen looked up and stared at Hargrave. Then Marellen groaned and ran a hand down his face. “I’d forgotten about that! If no dark-space fusion element exists, then space can’t be the Mystical Realm’s version of Yin or Yang. Maybe if… no, but-”

“Were you curious about the space fusion elements, Hargrave?” Lucy asked.

He nodded. “I wouldn’t have been able to do it with only my blood element, but now that I have an affinity for water, I’ve been wondering if it was possible. I’d like to use space fusion elements for all the essential elements too.”

Lucille shook her head. “I wouldn’t hold onto hope for that. Space fusion elements are powerful, yes, but at the cost of the user having only one space element ever. Each of the space fusion elements essentially grants the user only one single effect, and…” She turned to him. “Well, if you manage to obtain a small portion of space essence within you to materialise a space fusion element, can you imagine how dangerous it would be for your body to have each of those elements within you?”

Hargrave considered it and nodded with a grimace.

“There’s a reason why any space element ability has only ever been a Penultimate warrior ability or a Grand Spell,” Lucy warned. “They are the most catastrophic of abilities to be found in all the Mystical Realm.”

He sighed and leaned back. “It would be a useful tool for my rev- for my goals.”

Lucille smirked. “I wouldn’t worry about that. You’re no longer classed as just part of the Mystical Realm now. Draconic magic is easily on par or far exceeds spatial abilities.”

Hargrave gained a look of deep contemplation after he heard that, but Marellen had quickly rushed up to Lucy.

“You know the most about elemental laws out of anyone I’ve ever met,” he began hurriedly. “Please tell me, is it true that a dark-space element doesn’t exist?”

She raised an eyebrow and observed him but then smirked and shook her head. “No, that’s not true. It exists. Ironically, it’s one of the most common naturally occurring space fusion elements. Most members of the Violet Order and Spatial Tower know about it, but they can’t do anything about it. It’s not something that can be wielded by mortals.”

“It’s… common?” Marellen hesitated. “How common? And where is it?”

“Oh, it’s everywhere. We’re surrounded by it on all sides.” Lucy’s smirk grew wider as she raised her hands. “We’d never see it, but in this infinite realm, it’s more common than the planes. What is the largest and most destructive natural phenomena in the entire realm, capable of destroying planes in the blink of an eye?”

“Destroying planes…” Marellen paled. “But that’s…” His words trailed off and he furrowed his brow. “But… has nobody been able to wield it? What about nonmortals?”

Lucille tilted her head as she thought about it, and then turned to leave the room. “Someone was able to come close. It was barely a phantom, little more than an illusion of it, really. Someone in the past.”

Someone in another timeline, we might say.