Stan said this was above his pay grade, and Arthur had to talk to the Regional Manager, the new name for the League's Branch Leader. He the telephone for an internal call, and Alexia returned shortly to lead Arthur and the others through the visitor entrance.
They found an expansive common room on the other side of the door. It had multiple snack aisles on the sides, and the middle had a dozen small wooden center tables surrounded by modern-looking white armchairs. A wall had five lifts, and Alexia pressed a button to call one of them.
Arthur was initially surprised by feeling the thick steel wires moving the lifts but quickly recognized it was more convenient that way. There were ways to ensure people's safety when a floating enchantment stopped working after a while, but it was easier if the metal wires simply didn't move up or down if no magic was forcing them to.
The lift went all the way to the last floor, which had a small reception room with a couple of doors, one leading to a guest bedroom, the other to a wide office. One of the most beautiful unawakened Arthur had ever seen was standing behind the wooden counter.
Amanda Huston was thin without sacrificing sensual curves, with long brown hair and green eyes. The twenty-year-old's body and features were so symmetrical that it was hard to believe she wasn't an awakener. The tall woman smiled brightly and happily, no surprise considering she was exhaling pheromones and the smell of sex.
In fact, the smell of sex was so strong it had assaulted the awakeners' noses as soon as the lift's doors opened, though Alexia seemed not to notice.
The prince and the others had repeatedly felt that odor as the truck moved through the city. Their sense of smell was just too heightened, and they had to just get used to it. However, it had never been this close or this overwhelming. Arthur didn't want to know how enthusiastic Amanda was to the pleasures of the flesh, but his senses and Tamara's training let him conclude nothing else. It was even worse because he could feel her body and guess exactly what she had...
He closed his eyes and sighed. Tamara had said healers often got more than what they bargained for. It had never felt so real.
The unsuspecting girl greeted the newcomers, "Welcome! Master— I mean, Mister." She blushed, but only slightly. "Mister Chapman is thrilled to meet you. Please, go in." He gestured to the door on her right.
Contrary to her words, Arthur knew Mister Chapman was not thrilled to meet them.
The prince could feel the man and see him with his Mana Sight. Chapman hadn't even pulled his pants up. He had either undressed more than the girl during their adventure or was worse at dressing himself.
The Tome of Laws contained a dozen pages on general modern customs. One of them was wearing wedding rings. Chapman wore one; Amanda didn't.
The prince was very offended at such blatant disrespect for Chapman's wife and the institution of family itself. As a royal, maybe especially so because of Tamara's teachings on propriety, he had a great appreciation for family ties and doing things right. Having a mistress went against his beliefs, except maybe if the man's wife was one of the cases that didn't partake in men.
However, according to the Tome of Laws' cultural introduction, modern society was generally very open about same-gender love, and divorces didn't carry the stigma they once did. Few people remained in unpleasant marriages for honor nowadays because vows carried little weight. Instead, most repeating cheaters remained married for concerns about the costs of an unfriendly divorce, while the cheated that found out and didn't do something about it cared more about keeping the appearances.
The latter was more common among people of status. Arthur suspected that to be the case here. A Regional Manager—as current Branch Leaders were called—should have some status, and he doubted the man was good at hiding his affair, considering how lousy a job he did to recompose himself.
To be fair, there was an alternative: his wife might be okay with it. The tome said it was a recent trend, but Tamara had taught the prince that awakeners who lived too long with too much vitality sometimes agreed to seek intimate novelty elsewhere. She had personally confirmed that at least one in every fifty marriages lasting over one hundred years went through it.
Lastly, Chapman might have recently divorced or become a widow and wasn't over it yet, at least not enough to remove the ring. The Tome insisted that society had grown more complex. It also heavily suggested not to "judge a book by its cover" regarding social interactions and moral values.
Arthur judged Chapman anyway.
Principles were the main thing that set the Fated Races and monsters apart, especially the monsters that could talk and reason. When people interacted, both sides needed to follow a shared code of ethics to interact with reasonable expectations of not being fooled. When that fell apart, civilization was quick to follow. It wasn't the prince saying that; history was on his side.
More importantly, sex was never only sex. Although Arthur had never experienced it, he understood the hormones involved in it better than most. Bathing in too many chemical substances heavily affected a person's brain.
According to Tamara, the steps leading to sex, especially when cheating, were heavily integrated with local culture and one's personality. Said personality, expectations, and perspective usually changed when someone found a new partner, even if not cheating. Their relationship with their spouses and even their inner selves were inevitably affected.
That said, Arthur would be willing to ignore it. It wasn't his place to tell people how to live. Not here, at least; these people weren't his subjects. But the way the man sat behind his large wooden table, sure the wood protected his lower body's privacy, and was willing to talk to people like that... To make matters worse, Chapman was hastily sorting the objects on the table and using a rag to clean the eventual residue he found.
Yes, residue from his earlier adventure. On his office table. In the office that Arthur and Sophie were to go in to meet him while his pants were lowered.
That blatant disrespectful behavior told Arthur everything he needed to know about the likelihood of the man not being involved in an immoral relationship with his secretary—or about how willing Arthur was to meet such a person.
All that went through the prince's mind instantly, then he replied to Amanda, "The Tome of Laws contains guidance on how to present oneself to an awakener. They are not laws, but your boss clearly doesn't understand how important the recommendations are. Or, more likely, he completely missed that awakeners were coming because he was otherwise entertained. We won't be meeting Chapman." He didn't hide the contempt from his voice. "Also, inform him that I'll take personal offense the next time he invites my suitress to meet him while he has no pants on. And yes, that's a threat."
Amanda's mouth opened in a perfect O, and she blushed furiously. Alexia's eyes widened in shock before she smirked, enjoying the secretary's embarrassment—further evidence that Chapman was a cheating bastard. The awakeners didn't have his Mana Sight or domain but shared his sense of smell. Sophie also smirked, Graham didn't react, and Tamara had been pursing her lips since the lift's doors opened and the smell assaulted her nose.
Arthur had felt very offended about everything, but that the man would meet anyone like that made it much worse. The thought of Sophie even being in the same environment as such a scumbag got close to making his blood boil. The prince only didn't act on it because he could tell the man's bad decisions were partly due to the chemicals in his brain. While Chapman hadn't been compelled to have intercourse with Amanda, the experience had been marvelous enough for her to be very happy and him entirely out of sorts.
"Give me a piece of paper and an a-pen," the prince continued. "I'll write a report down." He turned to Alexia. "I apologize for troubling you to lead me here, but this is as close to the Regional Manager as I'll get."
The enchanted pen Arthur had used to sign his forms was relatively expensive when it came to the price of pens but not too bad for enchanted items. It was popularly called c-pen, short for anchor pen, and used in almost all official documents.
Two hundred years ago, researchers found that every person's anchor to their homeworld was unique and immutable. Anchor pens checked if the one holding them was alive, read their anchor, translated it into a special code, encrypted it into a 2048-character-long alphanumerical string called anchor key, printed it into microscopic crystals, and added the crystals to the ink. It was one of the best proofs that someone had written or signed something. The signature's shape was also relevant, but not as much.
The Tome of Laws didn't go deep into an a-pen's inner workings. For instance, how did the encryption work? What were the crystals made of, and how long did they take to decay? Also, what stopped someone from taking the crystals from one's signature and placing them elsewhere?
Arthur was interested in it, but until he found evidence otherwise, he would trust the current methods. Writing a report using an a-pen should be enough.
His words froze Amanda in shock and embarrassment. Alexia had to clear her throat for the girl to react. Blushing furiously, she said, "Sorry, sir, but Mister Chapman said—"
"Paper and a-pen, now," Arthur demanded firmly as he interrupted her.
He had been making a lot of concessions for local culture and current age sensibilities, but his bottom line had been crossed. He wasn't in the mood to entertain nonsense anymore. It didn't matter what Chapman had said or wanted.
Amanda's eyes widened in shock and even a little fear. With trembling hands, she took a notepad and an a-pen from her desk and placed them on the counter. The prince knew he should feel bad for affecting her so, but he just couldn't find the empathy to care about someone who felt no compassion for a cheating man's wife.
Arthur kept his report simple. He first identified himself, including his League Identification Number, or LIDN, the serial number on his card. Then, he revealed that he had been in the Institute's dungeon for twelve hundred years and had come out from an unknown exit in this country. The dungeon wasn't sealed as the League believed it to be and might overflow. He would stay the night in North Lake and head to the Institute the next morning to help destroy the core. Lastly, he explained what he knew from his father's actions, shared his suspicions, and signed the report.
He wrote the same words on three different sheets and gave one to Amanda. "Make sure Chapman gets this," he said seriously, staring into her teary eyes. She clearly wasn't used to being talked to firmly. She nodded and took the paper.
Then, he turned to Alexia. "I want you to forward this to the National Branch for me."
Arthur was in a Regional Branch. The National Branch ruled over all Regional Branches in a set country. He wasn't sure if Chapman would do his job, so he would prepare accordingly.
Alexia shook her head. "I can't. Only Chapman can contact the National Branch."
"I wasn't asking," the prince replied firmly. "I'm temporarily conscripting you into the Awakener Division and commanding you to forward this to the National Branch in my name. I'm also ordering you to call the National Branch right now and read the report's contents, even before you can personally deliver this sheet to them."
Arthur had read the Tome of Laws and understood the League's rules well. Any awakener could conscript anyone during a Class-5 emergency or higher, and he wanted the League to be prepared for his arrival for three reasons.
First, he wanted to see how the League would react to it. It would likely reveal inconsistencies between the written law and practice. A few rules were especially unnerving and suggested that the League wasn't as united as before, which could spell doom for the world.
Second, while Arthur could destroy the dungeon alone, he suspected that current days' awakeners were weak. The Tome of Laws confirmed that most dungeons disappeared on their own. The few hundred that didn't were always booked, and the queue for a dive was months long.
So, he intended to also let awakeners join him as they moved deeper into the dungeon. If that dungeon was really responsible for lowering the world's mana, destroying it might revert the process, and strong awakeners would be needed to protect the populace again.
Dealing with the dungeon wasn't so urgent that he couldn't take a few days to get there, but it was urgent. He had been forcing the dungeon to waste mana on level 95 dragons, but now it could freely absorb as much mana as it wanted. Just to be sure, he had to get rid of it within the week.
Arthur would mail the last sheet of paper himself, which reminded him, "Before that, take me to the Exchange Department," he ordered Alexia.
It was time to get himself some money.
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The Exchange Department only exchanged old money for new. It was considerate enough to offer better rates for coins that might interest collectors, but it stopped there. It didn't buy any old items.
The League no longer minted official coins accepted in the entire world, and it hadn't transitioned into printing fiat money either. Each branch dealt in the local currency, in this case, dollars. Over thirty human nations belonged to the Central Union and used it. In this country, Luvy, each Regional Branch was limited to exchanging two and a half million dollars per awakener per month.
Gold and silver were more valuable nowadays than in the past, and Arthur's coins were antiques with even greater value. The prince learned that Tamara had been given ten thousand gold coins and a hundred thousand silver coins for Arthur's future expenses before she entered the dungeon. Sophie had similarly been given a lot of funds from her father. Tamara and Graham had prepared by liquidating most of their assets.
A silver coin from the extinct Golden Kingdom, now the Avaria Regulated Region, was valued more than similar antiques. Each sold for over five hundred dollars. The gold coins were fifty thousand dollars a piece, though selling too many might drop the price, especially if they sold everything in the same place.
Arthur and the others took as much money as they could. Half a million was in printed money in a briefcase, and the rest in multiple heavily enchanted black metal cards. Each card could be exchanged for a hundred thousand dollars in cold cash in the bank they had been issued, the Conet, no questions asked. The Conet Bank was a business behemoth with at least one branch in over eighty percent of the world's countries.
Sophie felt embarrassed at the beginning of her transaction, and Arthur mentally slapped himself. While she wasn't royalty, she was the last heir of a High House. Unlike him, it was alright for her to carry pocket money, but not too much, as she realized when she took her coins out. It was unbecoming of her station. It might not be a big deal nowadays, but it had been in the past, and they weren't sure if they would change their customs.
He offered to have Tamara carry her money for her. Sophie accepted with a sigh of relief. She didn't even keep a single penny on her in her hurry to get rid of her remaining coins and new dollars.
The clerk hid his thoughts well enough for an unawakened, but Arthur could detect the greed in the man's eyes. There was also a surprisingly large amount of anger, which the prince guessed came from seeing more money than he had ever owned thrown around like poison.
The four people had entered the League with plenty of assets but no local currency.
Less than an hour later, they left millionaires.
Tamara had said nothing about his affairs until they left through the League's doors. Then, she immediately asked, "Master, are we on the run?"
Arthur understood where she was coming from and shook his head. "No. Reporting my father won't see us detained for investigation. The rules changed. My father's known past crime is making a deal with a dungeon, but researching dungeon cores can be done without prior authorization nowadays. That includes communicating and negotiating with them. Unfortunate consequences are just that: unfortunate. The consequences must be reported so the League can deal with them, but there is no need to reveal how things became the way they are. There are no punishments for it, either."
"That sounds absurd, master."
That was putting it mildly. The League of Fated Races had been created specifically to prevent monsters from infiltrating the world unnoticed, which they had unanimously agreed required tight restrictions on dungeons, especially attempts to exploit cores or monsters. It didn't matter if it was for research or recreational purposes; any non-combative contact with the planet's invaders had to be supervised.
Seeing such laws reversed was the greatest disgrace of everything Arthur had seen until now.
"Indeed," he said. "The Tome of Laws doesn't explicitly state it, but the undertone of desperation is evident in many new rules. They don't believe they can revert things; dedicating a hundred pages to ensure past awakeners adapt to the present also points that way. I bet even the high-mana regions are also getting drained of their mana. They want a solution, whichever it is, however it's found, no matter the costs. In the end, Jorge wasn't so wrong about the League's depravity."
Tamara hesitated, then said softly, "Your father fell before these rules were in place, master."
Arthur sighed. "That also changed. Non-retroactivity now only works in an awakener's favor. Any new rule that makes a past transgression legal is now retroactively applied."
"Lunacy," Graham said at once. "Any individual must be beholden to the rules of their time! Can't a criminal just get away with anything if they control the ones making the rules and change them after committing a crime?"
The prince nodded. "I suspect that's exactly what happened when the mana levels lowered. Everyone tried to fix it their own way, and the League just changed the rules so it didn't have to deal with it."
"Master, may I ask what your plans are to deal with the unofficial backlash?"
His father was one the greatest offenders against the world as far as Arthur was concerned. Yet, the League couldn't officially punish him.
Oh, an argument could be made that the king hadn't researched a way to solve the mana issue; he had caused it. But the rules remained the same. The League would have to twist its laws to officially condemn the man—beyond a simple statement—or investigate Arthur, much less demand anything from the prince.
Of course, the Joint Command could declare him a criminal, but he didn't think it would happen. Not at first. They would at least pretend to be polite before bringing out the stick.
Arthur was willing to heed any summons for a hearing or even an invitation to help with investigations. While not currently illegal, his father's actions had been despicable. He wanted to help the League understand how and why that terrible criminal had done what it did. The king had told him not to investigate it, but Arthur wasn't in the habit of taking advice from people that might've been responsible for breaking the world.
That last part was crucial for his decision to not put himself at the League's disposal right now. They believed the level 95 dungeon was responsible for lowering the world's mana. Said lowering made the League so desperate that they trod lightly around unawakened and changed important rules to find a solution. When they found out Arthur's father might be the culprit for the lowering of the world's mana and that Arthur was behaving like a timid child with a guilty conscience waiting for rightful punishment, they might do something foolish.
Arthur wouldn't be against being punished within reason. However, he had made clear that he had bottom lines—another thing behind his decision not to enter Chapman's den and to have Alexia report to people higher in the hierarchy.
The prince didn't like politics, but Tamara had trained him well enough for when he had to deal with the barbarian republics in the south.
Speaking of which, few nations were kingdoms nowadays. Most nations were republics in some form. A few were the communists that Jorge hated. The Tome of Laws only briefly introduced political concepts, so he didn't know what was good or bad about anything. His understanding of a democratic republic was likely also terribly outdated, though he hadn't been impressed by what he had seen and heart until now.
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Arthur shared his reasoning with his people, adding, "So, we'll start with a strong position and check if it's reasonable or we should change our stance. The Tome of Laws only said the Golden Kingdom became the Avaria Regulated Region. Jorge said my father betrayed his kingdom and gave it to the League. If that happened, I want a copy of the agreement. I have no misguided thoughts on rebuilding my kingdom, but it might give me a stronger position when the League calls for us. From everything my father did, from buying many divinations to his meticulous planning, he might've sneaked some seemingly insignificant clause in the agreement that we can exploit."
Tamara gave him a dubious look, and he explained, "I don't plan on extorting the League or anything. I just want to make sure they won't extort us. Remember, they made an agreement with the man who might be the world criminal in history and gained a lot: the world's highest orichalcum deposit and the region with the third-highest mana concentration. They might attempt to blame me just to divert attention from themselves. I won't let them do this. My father was a criminal, but I won't let anyone profit from my misery."
The maid's eyes widened slightly in realization. "That's why you had Alexia Neal forward your report, master?"
"No," Arthur replied. "I just want to make sure the report gets to the right hands." He shared his thoughts on training a few awakeners with them. "I admit I like the idea of more people knowing about my father's sins, which will likely happen as word moves up when Alexia calls the National Branch. But I would like it more if that didn't happen. We can see it as a test of sorts. If the League can keep it under wraps, it'll mean it can still get its job done, despite its weak stance on some matters. It will also suggest they would rather no one knows the truth, so they wouldn't publicly move against me."
"But, master... Hiding the truth..."
The prince smiled sadly. "I feel as conflicted about it as you do. But if the League learns of it, we did what we should. If they keep it silent, that's their decision to make." He sighed. "You saw how public opinion can be manipulated. If the League doesn't inform the world, I won't either. I'll start a family sooner rather than later, and I must protect them. As my battle maid, I'm sure you understand." He hesitated, then added, "But I'll make things right. I plan on working for the League, depending on how things go. It might be a little arrogant of me, but I feel they could benefit from having me in a leadership position."
The League's leadership, the Joint Command, was formed of awakeners representing the three Fated Races. They ruled over the League, including the Unawakened Division—also called the Management Division. They could change laws, pass judgment, and even declare a state of emergency that gave them unlimited power to save a country or the world.
Arthur had no proof, but he felt they might be bowing to stupid notions out of weakness or corruption. What if they didn't have the power to punish illegal dungeon research? If that was the case, a level 100 awakener could help them do what they knew was right but didn't dare to. If they were corrupt, he wanted to fix things.
He wouldn't go prepared to revert every decision he disagreed with, though. While he had his beliefs, he had to understand the circumstances first. He had been in a mana-rich region for over a thousand years and didn't know what horrors might've happened in the meanwhile. He also didn't have to care about mana madness because it couldn't hurt him. His opinions on the danger of unsupervised dungeon research would differ from someone who had experienced chaos.
Arthur wondered if the Joint Command would change their stance on unsupervised research when they learned the current state of affairs came from a rich man negotiating with a dungeon. That is, if their suspicions about the dungeon being responsible were correct. The prince had still to see any evidence.
Speaking of making things right, Arthur still planned to use some of his father's dirt money to compensate for the man's actions. Only, after what he had seen in the Regional Manager's office, he definitely would not let the League decide how to spend that money to improve the world.
He hoped the storage safe his father had left him had more money because ten thousand gold coins at fifty grand each was only five hundred million dollars. That sum might impact many lives but wasn't nearly enough to change the world. Unfortunately, the more he thought about it, the weaker his hope became. King or not, forking half a billion dollars in cash to Arthur might be the extent of the man's help after all the expenditure on the prince's training and purchasing the rare materials to pay the dungeon.
"I think you would be a great leader!" Sophie immediately gave him her support.
She was excited about it, too. Fate, she was such a ray of sunshine in his life.
"Thank you," he replied. "Let's find a book to buy and get someone to read it for us. We all need to be able to speak and read Allon. The entire Central Union speaks it, including Avaria."
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They found a bookstore not too far from the League's branch after asking around.
The clerk was surprised at being asked to read a book out loud for up to thirty minutes but accepted it when Arthur offered her fifty dollars—which the Tome of Laws called "greasing hands." He kept whispering while she spoke, translating her words to Carnan so the other understood what she was reading. Half an hour later, he asked her to read a book on another subject, then another. Three hours later, he was satisfied with everyone's mastery over Allon, both in spoken and written forms.
They checked into a hotel afterward, as the Tome suggested. The clerk's eyes widened when they presented their LID, which worked as a mix of a passport and local ID and was accepted in every nation in the world. The guy called the League to verify if the name matched the LIDN and get a description of the League's registered picture. He checked the description against the photos in the four awakeners' silver cards, then proceeded to do business with them.
Arthur went with the penthouse, the only "room" that accepted pets. It had three master bedrooms, and Arthur and Sophie agreed to share one with a single glance. Both blushed and firmly clenched each other's hands.
The prince ordered Tamara and Graham to secure the penthouse, then finish reading the Tome of Laws. After that, Graham would stay there to protect their quarters, while Tamara would head back to the bookstore and likely visit numerous others.
Arthur wanted her to purchase as many books as needed for him—and anyone else interested—to understand the world's geopolitical, economic, and cultural history. Those were the priorities. Below that came important political theory and philosophical writings followed by as comprehensive a course on magitech and magichemistry as she could put together with books. Lastly, she would gather information on recent events in those same topics, a relation of prices for just about everything she could think of in as many cities, states, and countries as possible, and take note of anything she might find relevant.
The Tome of Laws had touched on many of those subjects but lacked much depth, and he wanted to double-check anyway.
As a good battle maid, Tamara tried to protest to leaving his side, but he insisted. He would protect him better by bringing him information. He would only be away for nine hours at most, too. He would return by midnight or at least call the hotel—he got its number—if something happened.
Arthur then asked Tamara for ten bank cards for a planned big purchase and twenty thousand dollars for pocket money. Despite being a royal, he didn't feel as strong about carrying cash as the others, but doing it for the first time felt positively awkward.
Lastly, the prince convinced Sophie to part from Mr. Mustache for now and left the hotel with her.
As soon as they were out of the doors, she whispered with a tomato-red face, "Archie... Are we...?"
He smiled, feeling fuzzy inside, looking at her hopeful and apprehensive eyes. "If you want to," he said softly. "Or we might just sleep on the same bed. Or, if you don't feel comfortable, I can just read all those books this night."
Extramarital intimacy was an aberration among people of their status. However, premarital intimacy was somewhat acceptable if they understood this meant marriage, and both Arthur and Sophie did. It was as binding as a contract with a High House, and one didn't just break such a contract.
The two had crossed some barriers already, but if they went all the way through this night, their relationship would change forever.
That said, while binding, it wasn't an official contract. It wouldn't be fair to Sophie. She would have to wait for him to ask for her hand in marriage because she couldn't negotiate her own wedding with someone from a higher status. It would shame her High House. Until he proposed, they would be considered scandalous lovers. Then, until they actually married, it would be frowned upon.
While the current world might not care about most of that, the four awakeners did, including Sophie.
Arthur wanted to protect Sophie from her physical desires but understood it wasn't his place. Sophie was her own woman. She decided whether she wanted to bear the weight of her informed decisions.
He knew he was definitely willing to carry that weight. As a prince, his shame would be much greater than hers. A royal was supposed to resist immorality even better than a noble.
Yes, Sophie also respected his decision. They were in this together, conscious and willing.
As for marrying her, he would propose at the right time, in the right place. They would head to Avaria the following day. Arthur would find exactly where her house had been, visit it, and recognize her as the official Head of High House Brimstone. Sophie was the de-facto head of her High House yet had never been formally introduced as such, which he could fix for her, even if no nations could back his words. It would be an important symbol to the four of them.
A few days after the emotional turmoil he expected, he would bring her back there to dine, then propose. It would be his way of trying to make it as proper as possible—premarital experiences notwithstanding.
"I want to, but I'm a little scared," she admitted, despite her bashfulness when he used her urgency for intimacy to get her out of his lap.
To think that had happened this very morning! So much had happened in less than a day! And Arthur still had so much to understand about and do in this new world!
"We can wait for as long as you want," he replied, caressing her face. "We talked about it. I'm okay with waiting for marriage. Not thrilled—Fate, you're gorgeous—but willing. I can't have a good time if you also aren't having one." They stared into each other eyes for a few moments; then, he softly pecked her lips.
Sophie immediately blushed and looked sideways. "Archie, we're in public!"
Contrary to her words, she crossed her arms but gently pushed her body against his, finding support in him. He smiled and very improperly embraced her sideways. They only stayed there for a while, looking at the few people walking the street and the many cars.
Jorge hadn't been lying; Sophie made heads turn. She also gave everyone bold enough to stare at her face an ugly stare back.
That was enough for Arthur. He had always believed he would marry a beautiful queen and expected people to look. Her reaction to it was more important than anything.
"Can our house have an LP player?" she asked.
She had phrased her question like she had asked if she could keep Mr. Mustache. However, unlike with the cat, she wasn't asking for his permission out of habit. Instead, he wanted his opinion on it. They were supposed to make many decisions together after they married.
And Arthur loved to discuss their future together.
He chuckled. "Let me guess: you'll buy every rock'n'roll LP in the world."
She smiled brightly. "You bet!"
"Well, milady, we'll have to see if our finances can sustain such an expanse."
Sophie giggled and turned to him, still in his arms. "Really, Archie? You dare to use that as an excuse to keep me from my rock'n'roll? Do you remember the guy in the Exchange Department? I thought he would punch me."
"Wait, you were just pretending to hate the money?" He hadn't noticed that.
Arthur had a lot of wisdom, but he had been sidetracked by the man's reactions and didn't notice Sophie's amusement. He would better fix that so no one could use it against him.
"Well, not at first, but I may have exaggerated a little when I noticed it."
Sophie's words and facial expressions were half-bashful, half-daring. There was also expectation in her eyes. She wanted to know what he thought of her little play.
Arthur chuckled again. He did a lot of smiling, chuckling, and laughing when he was with her. "Poor guy," he said with mock pity, then lightly admonished, "Just remember never to mess with important matters or be too improper. Err on the side of caution. These people are nothing like what we're used to. You might be forced to subdue someone to protect yourself, and you would feel bad about it."
She nodded, "I guess you have a point."
He gently led them to start walking and took a fifty-dollar bill from his pocket, the lowest denominator he had. He offered it to a hotel staff member who opened the door when a car stopped in front of the hotel.
"A taxi, please," Arthur said, once again acting according to what he had read in the Tome of Laws.
The staff immediately whistled with impressive skills for an unawakened, and one of the yellow cabs parked on the small street beside the hotel came. The street was out of regular sight, so the innocent would be tricked, but his Mana Sight let him notice it. The prince shook his head at the little scheme. It was just too shameless.
The staff held the door for Arthur, who first helped Sophie, then followed.
"Where to?" the fat driver asked.
"The closest Conet," Arthur replied.
The driver looked at Arthur from top to bottom. "Watch out for your toys. You'll pay for damages." Despite his rudeness, he was surprisingly professional. He never glanced at Sophie after Arthur got inside.
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The Conet Bank's branch was built to impress, big and wide, with a lot of golden metal and paint. The prince was asked to disarm to go inside until he showed his LID. Awakeners were living weapons; taking their possessions wouldn't make any unawakened safer.
His LID also let him receive VIP treatment. While the security guard went to a telephone to check if his LID was legitimate—all from memory, as they didn't take his LID card—an anxious manager came to meet him. He led Arthur and Sophie to his office, where a secretary was waiting with flavored water and cookies. Arthur wasn't impressed by the cuisine; Tamara could cook much better than that. Sophie loved the sugar explosion.
"I want to exchange these for cash," Arthur said, placing the ten black cards on the manager's table.
"At once, sir," the thin guy replied, making some calls while Arthur and Sophie tasted the food. Minutes later, someone brought two briefcases, placed them on the table, and opened them. "Please, feel free to count, sir," the manager said.
Arthur shook his head. "I don't think the Conet became a big bank by short-handing awakeners," he replied while standing up and closing the briefcases. He was starting to wonder if everyone had a pile of briefcases for large monetary transitions. "Can you help me get a cab?"
He carried the two cases by hand instead of placing them in his spatial storage. Many of the new rules in the Tome of Laws upset Arthur, and one of them was to ask for people's permission to access his spatial storage while on their private property. Some places even had signs saying whether it was allowed or not.
That was counterintuitive, considering he hadn't been parted from his weaponry. However, weapons had immediately visible consequences, while spatial storage could be used to smuggle things. For Arthur, that evidenced that people cared more about money than lives nowadays. The "greasing hands" thing, while convenient, didn't help either.
A security guard got him a taxi without whistling this time. Instead, he made a hand gesture to catch the attention of a cab driver on the street.
"Where to?" the driver asked with a bored voice.
"The closest Kayant shop," Arthur replied.
He had noticed Sophie's eyes grow more interested in the convertible automobiles when she first saw them, especially those from what the Tome introduced as Kayant Motors. Her initial excitement was gone, but he was betting on her still wanting one of them for herself.
Sophie was by no means stupid, but she hadn't read enough of the Tome to recognize the brand. It would be a surprise when they got there.
Two hours later, the sky was growing dark as Sophie excitedly drove a red Kayant Bello Deluxe out of the car shop.
There were laws on getting a driver's license for unawakened, but no one wanted to tell an awakener they couldn't drive. The LID would suffice. Well, at least the League didn't accept it yet. Awakeners still had to obey the local traffic laws, but Arthur and the others had gotten the gist by observing Jorge and the other drivers on the street. He would eventually read about it when he had the time.
Sophie had liked other models more, but only three had backseats, and she picked this one when Arthur pointed out that having Graham and Tamara run beside them would be rude.
Arthur approved of her choice; it matched her eyes.
The Bello was longer and broader than most sedans, making maneuvering harder. No awakener would care. Sophie had already pressed the button that retracted the roof and braved the beginning of the "rush hour." She didn't mind that either. She was ecstatic and couldn't stop smiling or looking gratefully at Arthur.
It was a bit unwise for the prince to spend a lot of money on a fancy car, but it wasn't even that expensive, only two hundred thousand dollars. That was four gold coins. It was costly, of course, but the palace's stables had had horses worth more.
Arthur had also managed to grease a hand to get ten rock'n'roll LPs for Sophie while she was signing some papers. She hadn't seen it yet. He smiled as he opened the glove compartment, picked an LP, and placed it on the player.
Her smile became so wide the prince worried she might pull a muscle.
There was also more in her smile, eyes, posture, and inner feelings. A silent promise of good times to come that night. The prince hadn't planned for that, but he wouldn't refuse her gratitude. It was about the gesture, not the money; she could buy many such cars herself. And there was nothing wrong with returning nice gestures with other nice ones, especially between family. Of course, he would make sure to make things clear for her so as not to have her make a decision she might regret later.
He had also greased a hand to get a city map. He located Emily's address and guided Sophie there.
It was time to capture two illegal awakeners.
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Jorge lived in a lovely suburban region. Nothing too fancy, primarily single-story houses, but everyone had nicely cared-for front yards and nice homes.
There was plenty of parking on the streets. The Bello made head turns once, and when people saw Sophie driving it, they turned their heads again. Many people were getting home at this time, and they became curious as Arthur and Sophie approached Jorge's home and rang the bell, an interesting enchanted device.
Jorge's truck was nowhere in sight. The man hadn't directly stated it, but he wasn't bringing his pears to North Lake. He didn't sound like he would take long to return after the delivery, though.
The prince was glad when he didn't see the truck driver home. He was less pleased when his Mana Sight let him notice Emily was nowhere in sight, either. A woman sat on the only single bed in the house, crying her heart out, holding a piece of paper.
Something had obviously happened to the girl.
Vivian almost ran to the door when she heard the bell. Her hope-filled face turned into disappointment when she found Arthur and Sophie instead of Emily.
Vivian was exactly as Jorge had described, brown-eyed with long wavy red hair. She was in her mid-thirties and remarkably well-preserved for her age. Her beauty was nowhere close to Sophie, but Arthur could see how the old man had kept himself fascinated enough not to get distracted by the half-vampire; even the tears didn't manage to make her look ugly. She wore a sleeveless white dress and a cute brown apron that did little to hide her curves.
The woman smelled of Jorge, but Arthur didn't feel offended. That was only to be expected in an unawakened's family house. In fact, he was glad to find Jorge indeed loved his wife very much, and she reciprocated.
Unfortunately, when Arthur took his silver LID from his pocket, Vivian's disappointment turned into horror. "No," she mouthed, taking a step back.
"Vivian, I'm Arthur." It felt weird not to give his full name, especially his House, but that's how unawakened did in informal settings in this country. "This is—"
She didn't let him finish. She tried to close the door on him, but he moved and grabbed it. "Listen—" he tried to say.
"No!" she screamed. "No! Get out of my house! Get out now! You have no right to do this—"
She stopped when she noticed she had no voice.
Vivian was smart. She wanted to cause a commotion so her neighbors would come. She was lying, too; any awakener had the right to get into an illegal awakener's house to investigate or apprehend them. It was one of the few tyrannical rules remaining in the League.
Unfortunately for her, Arthur had acted quickly. He pushed the door open while coming inside. Sophie closed the door after also letting herself in. No neighbor noticed anything wrong.
Vivian tried to run, but he froze her body in place. Sophie wordlessly went into Emily's room. Arthur hadn't discussed things with her beforehand, but she had been trained as a battle maid and knew what to do. She could also tell Emily wasn't home using her pendant's blood vision.
"As I was saying," the prince said while calming Vivian down. "I'm Arthur. The woman who went to Emily's room is Sophie. Jorge gave us a ride to this city. He probably spoke of us to you."
He saw recognition in her eyes, but it only made her more scared. No wonder; she certainly suspected a ploy from the League, like Emily had. Vivian was so terror-stricken that his domain wasn't enough to keep her calm; he lacked life comprehension. He had to prehend her and use mana.
Arthur sighed. "The League doesn't kill illegal awakeners, but you obviously think they do. Emily was sure, too. Your fear doesn't come from people accidentally killing illegal awakeners during capture, does it?"
He let her move her head and gave her voice back so she could reply. Unfortunately, she wasn't willing to cooperate. Instead of answering, she asked, "What do you want? Where's Emily? What did you do to her?"
The prince gave her a sad smile. "I apologize in advance."
He suspected her memories might also have been altered, but just prehending the woman hadn't been enough for him to detect anything wrong with her brain. He had to use one of the spells he had learned but never practiced. It was risky because it dealt with the brain; she might lose her memories if anything went wrong. He could heal a brain, but most memories didn't return with it.
Arthur carefully triple-checked the life runes he had drawn on her brain, forced himself to carefully recall everything he knew about each of them, and activated the spell.
The magic didn't let him see Vivian's memories. As far as he knew, no magic had that power. At most, a spell or enchanted item might read one's brainwaves to guess one's thoughts, but delving into anyone's past was impossible.
Likewise, altering someone's memories wasn't anything like finding a picture in the brain and changing it. It required someone to be mind-controlled and answer questions so the awakener could locate where a specific memory was stored. Then, a new memory was given by describing it, usually with the visual aid of pictures or moving illusions—or videos these days—and forcing it to replace the original.
Those changes always left signs that could be found with the right magic. It was like feeling a string with one's hand and finding places where it got thinner or thicker.
Arthur also found knots in Vivian's memories.
She had gotten lucky. Instead of having her memories replaced, the original ones had been blocked, and she had gotten new ones. On the other hand, her brain was a mess with hundreds upon hundreds of knots.
Her most recent memories had also been blocked. Arthur couldn't trust any information he might get from her. And if the perpetrator had been here recently to mess with Vivian's brain, Arthur also couldn't trust the note she had been reading while crying. Whatever was written on it should be false.
"Compromised memories and evidence," Arthur said as he put Vivian to sleep.
The conclusion was obvious. Emily had likely been taken from his house by the awakener—or unawakened with an enchanted object—who had changed the two women's memories.
Unfortunately, Arthur couldn't just pry the truth from the blocked memories. The brain was delicate, and undoing a single memory block might take up to an hour, even with Arthur's comprehension. Healers usually did it in small bits over multiple weeks while monitoring the patient's mental state. No one reacted well to finding out they couldn't believe their memories. She might go psychologically crazy, and he had no magic to heal anything that wasn't biological.
The prince could circumvent that by controlling Vivian's emotions tightly while unblocking a memory, but it would be a temporary solution. She would still have to deal with it eventually or learn to live without emotions. He wouldn't resort to it unless he couldn't find Emily without unveiling Vivian's memories.
Regrettably, he had no spell to instantly pinpoint Emily's location. Direct magic was limited to an awakener's mana reach. Finding Lana first and going from there also wasn't an option because her memories were probably also affected.
So, Arthur had to take it into his own hands first and only resort to potentially destroying a witness's mind if he really needed it to avoid a potential awakener going mana mad.
"I hate playing hunting dog," he complained and used a smell-tracking spell on him and Sophie.
It heightened their sense of smell, made it easier for them to separate one scent from another, and assisted them in telling in which direction the scent was more recent if it came from living matter. Using it in the dungeon had been terrible because monsters usually stunk. It wasn't that bad here, but it still wasn't pleasant.
That might still not be enough. In a city this big, and with Emily likely going into a vehicle, she might be lost to them forever. That was especially true if the car had been perfectly sealed, she had been gone for long, or the wind had blown too strongly. Magic was terrific but not omnipotent.
Arthur had to try it anyway. So much for leaving the League to take care of it...
Speaking of the League, it certainly had access to more resources to make a search easier, but he would only ask for help if he couldn't find Emily himself. What he had seen in the Regional Manager's office made him unwilling to trust anyone with guns working for that man.
As soon as Sophie heard him talk about becoming a hunting dog, she changed clothes into her battle maid suit, including the helmet. She was done within seconds. Arthur also put his sorcerer's robe on. He was powerful, but according to Tamara and Graham, overconfidence had been the downfall of many mighty figures.
Sophie brought Emily's pillow and a pile of clothes from the bedroom. Arthur and her would use it for reference. It likely wouldn't be necessary because they could recall Emily's smell well enough, but it was just in case something messed with their memories or senses.
Arthur didn't think a biomancer could go past his mental defenses after bypassing his robe's enchantments, but it never hurt to be careful. That's also why he kept his body and Sophie's prehended after casting the spells. He even prehended her mythril necklace. He hadn't worried about it being stolen due to the lack of awakeners, but now they had to be careful.
Arthur placed Emily's mother on her bed, then left the house with Sophie.
The two said nothing; there was no need to. They focused on the scents in the air and disappeared into the night, silent hounds going after their prey.