Lorvan hesitated, looking back and forth between the subdued but still dangerous enemy in the distance and his right gauntlet. He flexed his fingers, and Carlos sensed his mana touch something in the gauntlet. One of the enchantments in it trembled briefly, but nothing more happened. "My lord, I cannot guarantee your safety in present conditions if you approach that man while he is conscious."

Carlos chuckled nervously. "I'll still respawn if he kills me with lightning, won't I? It's the ambient mana level that's truly dangerous, and we stopped that soon enough." He grimaced. "Barely, but still soon enough."

Lorvan nodded. "Very well. I advise that you let me speak for you with the prisoners, however."

"That's probably for the best. Can one of you get Esmorana and see to her health?" Carlos nodded in the direction of where Esmorana had fallen.

"Ordens."

"Yes, sir!" The junior guard rushed off in the indicated direction.

"Amber? Are you ready for this?" Carlos held out his right hand to her.

Amber looked at his hand contemplatively for a few seconds, looked towards where Noralt was still wrapping herself around the man who'd thrown so much lightning, then looked back and smiled. "At this point? Yes. I think I actually am. The hard part is over now." She took his hand, stood up, and stretched. "Lorvan, shouldn't you go in front to guard us?"

Carlos and Amber both looked at Lorvan expectantly, and Lorvan bowed slightly and started marching. Leaves and sticks crackled underfoot, and Carlos shivered a little as they walked. He almost tried casting his warmth spell before remembering that it wouldn't work right now. The air was temperate and the afternoon sun felt warm on his skin, the new gap in the forest canopy letting it shine unobstructed from the clear sky, but he was wearing only light nightclothes and a breeze was blowing away his body heat. The utter wreckage surrounding them was a constant reminder of how far they still had to go, and he shivered again as he imagined being targeted by a tornado like that. He was glad these powerhouse adventurers were on his side this time. Hopefully they'd be able to protect him until he could grow enough to match their power.

Haftel and Sconter stood on either side of the small pile of Noralt and her captive. They each held a weapon ready, prepared to strike the captive in an instant if needed, while they waited for the trio of Lorvan, Carlos, and Amber. Noralt had her armored legs locked around her captive's legs, her left arm behind his back and holding him against her chest, and her right arm pressing lightly on his throat. He was not struggling against her, seemingly content to wait and see.

Lorvan stopped a few feet away and scowled at the insignia mounted on the man's shoulder. "Mercenaries. I see." He shook his head in disgust. "Are you the leader of this company?"

"I am. Captain Granlan of the Black Blades, not at your service. I am occupied with a well-paid mission at present. Paid in advance." The man's voice was calm and deep.

"You should not have taken this job, and if you truly knew just what you attempted to do then you would have known that. What lies did your client tell you?"

Granlan laughed. "You must think us amateurs if you expect me to divulge information about a client."

"Perhaps you will change your mind once I inform you of the gravity of your error." Lorvan raised his right hand and opened it to reveal a token. It was a circle about two inches wide with an engraved image on it. The image was painted with a dark rich orange on a black background. The dark orange and the engraved lines depicted an armed and armored warrior with wings spreading wide from his back.

Granlan said nothing, but Carlos sensed a sudden ripple in the man's mana the moment the token was revealed. He didn't feel any danger from that ripple, though; maybe it just indicated surprise?

"You have been caught in the act of attempting the soul dissolution of two high nobles, including the head and founder of their house, who are under the protection of the Crown. As a mercenary leader, your penalty for this high crime is the disbanding of your company and the seizure of all company property, the crippling of all company members who participated, and the dissolution of your own soul. If you cooperate and willingly aid in bringing your employer to justice, however, the Crown may be merciful to you."

Granlan's helmeted head rotated slowly to face Lorvan, and a tense silence descended as the two men stared at each other. Carlos shifted uncomfortably and looked at Lorvan, wondering how long the royal guardsman would wait for a response. The mana layer on the surface of Lorvan's soul had its ripples and ridges moving in a superbly disciplined pattern that focused forward and moved with slow but implacable patience. Carlos's eyes widened in realization. He could sense Lorvan's soul!

A flash of memory came to mind. Ressara had said that Lorvan and Ordens had disguises on their souls that diverted attention away. Only now, when that disguise was disabled by the system outage, did Carlos finally comprehend how effective it had been. He should have been curious about that disguise and about what it concealed. He should have thought about how he'd never really noticed or reacted to Lorvan's soul. He should have remembered and wanted to ask questions about it, persistently bringing it up until Lorvan either answered or definitively refused to ever answer. Instead, he'd put it out of his mind without even realizing and never thought about it again until now.

This realization even distracted Carlos from the mercenaries and the whole surrounding situation, and he focused his mana sense on making the most of this opportunity to unobtrusively examine the royal guardsman's soul unveiled. Lorvan's mana was dense and powerful, more so than anything or anyone he'd ever sensed except the high lady who'd inspected his soul in Kalor City. Lorvan was definitely the highest-level person here, substantially above even the mercenary leader and the elite adventurers. He was at least level 40. Maybe even 50, or higher, it was hard to be sure. On top of that, Carlos felt a sense of solidity, an impression that the underlying foundation within the soul was stronger by far, even relative to his level, than any other soul present. Maybe that was because of synergy unification? Lorvan wasn't a noble himself, but his level was easily high enough for a good platinum-rank soul plan to plausibly have reached that.

Granlan's voice interrupted Carlos's contemplations and brought his attention back to their current situation. "A Crown Guard. Hmm. I don't know which is more implausible: that you are genuine and the two whelps behind you who were renting space at an inn are indeed high nobles, founding a new house at their age and with no backing of their own; or that someone not in the Crown's service who reached your level would risk being caught and punished for the treasonous forgery or theft of the Crown's insignia. Wait…" His head turned to glance at where the portable prison lay on the ground for a moment. "How did they get out? It's still closed, and they don't have nearly enough power to cast teleport. And they should have been asleep anyway."

Carlos spoke up. "House secret."

Lorvan took the interruption in stride. "Indeed. Further proof can be provided once we return to Dramos. The House Carlos plaque is secured in the city treasury. Once you have seen that proof, will you cooperate? I will not ask again."

"…Yes. I would never knowingly oppose the Crown."

"Good." Lorvan nodded firmly and started giving orders to the others. "Noralt, make sure he doesn't run. Haftel and Sconter, strip his gear and prepare him for transport. We can put him and the other two survivors in the same container they used to carry their victims. I'll go see what Esmorana's situation is."

The three adventurers nodded and industriously set about removing Granlan's armor, but Lorvan had barely begun to turn when Ordens announced her presence. "I have Esmorana, sir. She's unconscious and in bad shape. She'll need strong healing to avoid scarring or a respawn, or to be able to fly us back." Ordens was carrying Esmorana draped over her shoulder. Haftel rushed over, leaving Granlan to Sconter and Noralt, and carefully took hold of Esmorana and gently laid her on the ground. Her dress was in tatters, a section of her hair was gone, and a curving line of ugly burns marred her skin from her scalp to her left foot.

Haftel quickly pulled a cloth bandage out of a pocket on his shirt and placed it on Esmorana's head, covering the burn on her head, then got out another to put on her side where the burn line was widest. Each bandage held a powerful enchantment. He pressed the second bandage into place, then looked back at her head and frowned. "Why isn't it working?"

Carlos sighed. "Because of a side effect of something I did. We need to move her away from here. I'm not sure exactly how far, but I'll know when we're out of the affected area, and the bandages' enchantments might just start working automatically the moment she's moved far enough."

Lorvan stepped forward. "We'll use our own supplies for it. They're better, and she's more than earned it. Ordens, see to it and come back with her when she's healed."

"Yes, sir."

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By the time Esmorana returned, with her body healed but her dress still torn and charred, the adrenaline sustaining Carlos had run out. He felt ready to crash into bed and sleep for a week, and he could barely muster some idle curiosity about the contraption of four chairs attached to each other that Noralt carried while following behind Esmorana. Four of them had to sit in the other four's laps to fit on the four available chairs, but Esmorana's winds flew them back to Dramos by nightfall. Carlos and Amber stuffed themselves ravenously, having gone hungry for two days, and then went straight to bed. Carlos was dimly aware of someone reassuring Amber that another abduction attempt was incredibly unlikely to happen again so soon, and that even if it did Purple would notice and alert everyone immediately, but thinking about that felt like too much effort to bother with just then.

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The next morning, Carlos was lying in bed thinking about how comfortable it would be to just stay there another hour when three loud knocks on his bedroom door startled him into full alertness. "Lord Carlos! Your presence is required, with haste!" It was Lorvan, speaking with a demanding insistence that he'd never directed at Carlos before.

"What?" Carlos blinked and tried to calm his suddenly racing heart. "Required? For what? What's going on?"

"An investigator finally arrived shortly after dawn in response to my signal for the Tostral incident. I informed him about the abduction and the unknown sabotage that prevented me from calling for aid, and he immediately returned to report. Now a Prince of Kalor is coming and wants to see all of us at noon, which is in half an hour. You have ten minutes to dress and come out before I come in to hurry you up!"

Carlos stared for a moment, then closed his gaping mouth with a snap and flung the bedsheet aside. "I'll be quick!"

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Twenty minutes later, after throwing his clothes on and bolting down a hasty meal while walking, Carlos was standing nervously in the teleportation receiving room, waiting for the arrival of royalty. He was holding Amber's hand on his right, and he honestly wasn't sure whether he was reassuring her or she was reassuring him. Lorvan and Ordens stood on either side of them, holding perfectly still and straight. Mayor Stelras, the adventurers, and Ressara were arrayed behind them, along with the investigator who had delivered news of the visit. They'd all asked Lorvan what to expect, but he only said that the Crown wanted to meet them personally.

The minutes ticked past slowly and in silence. No one spoke. At precisely the stroke of noon, the ritual circle flared to life with a radiant white glow, and when the light faded four people had appeared in the circle's center. The two on the left and right wore gleaming armor covering them from head to toe. Their helmets had only eye slits in the front, hiding their faces completely, and if Lorvan and Ordens closed their helmets too Carlos didn't think he would be able to tell them apart by appearance. One stood in the back wearing the robe that Carlos recognized as the uniform of a Crown Mage. Carlos noted the three of them peripherally, but the person in the front and center drew his gaze instantly.

She positively radiated the presence of power, and Carlos belatedly realized that "prince" and "princess" translated the same into this nation's language; the word had no relation to gender. She was tall and superbly fit, like an Olympic gymnast. Her brown hair was cropped short, framing her piercing blue eyes that almost seemed to glow, but leaving her ears and shoulders clear. She wore no armor, but Carlos inexplicably felt certain that this did not in any way leave her vulnerable; she had no need for armor, because any armor she might wear would be weaker than her own skin. Instead, she wore a collared shirt and thigh-length leggings, both woven entirely in the same dark orange color that featured in decorations on the guard uniforms and insignia. Her clothes looked designed for freedom of movement and left her well-toned muscles plainly obvious. On her right hand she wore a plain ring, also dark orange, and the simple band of metal seemed to almost be made of mana. Except for the color it looked just like the rings Carlos and Amber were given to show their nobility, and he remembered Varlinden suggesting that they eventually replace those rings with adamantium to match their soul rank at the time. Was that ring forged of orichalcum metal? It would certainly explain the use of that color in everything associated with the Crown.

The newly arrived guards tapped their spears on the ground loudly in unison and spoke. "Presenting, Princess Lornera Kalor, third child of His Majesty King Elston Kalor! Attend!"

Carlos tore his eyes away from the sight of her and hastily bowed to the 45-degree angle Lorvan had instructed him was appropriate. A high noble's bow toward royalty was to show respect and to acknowledge the Crown's superiority, but not so far as to humiliate himself. Amber matched his bow, and everyone else in the room dropped to their knees.

While his eyes were on the floor, his mana sense was not limited by direction. He could feel a staggeringly immense amount of power in the princess's soul, and he felt like a particularly intriguing insect being examined curiously by a giant. He could hardly even guess at her level, and the sense of solidity he'd felt in Lorvan's soul was a great deal stronger in hers. It was like her soul was solid steel all the way through, absolute and unyielding, while Lorvan's soul was merely a mildly porous rock.

"Rise." Princess Lornera's voice was melodious and gentle, but commanding. Carlos stood straight and watched as she rose off the floor and floated through the air toward him. It was like she simply decided to ignore gravity, and gravity complied; she chose to move forward, and her body was moved. "Second stage at level 15? Impressive." She floated around him and Amber, inspecting them from all sides briefly before returning to in front. "I hear you have suffered an unconscionable failure of Crown protection, and proceeded to achieve a number of impossible things to save yourselves. The report was rather light on details, however, and mentioned multiple things regarding your enemies that seem deeply concerning to the Crown. Let us first proceed to a more appropriate venue, and then I want all of you to explain your perspectives on these events to me." She looked at Stelras. "Mayor, one of your conference rooms should do. Lead the way."

Over the next few hours they went over everything, from the adventurers' initial suspicions and the confrontation with Jamar Tostral through the abduction and eventual rescue. Carlos was very nervous the first time he declared that the means of achieving a particular thing was a house secret, but Lornera simply accepted that without pressing for details. He held back that Purple was sapient and how he helped find them, the method of how they managed to gain 6 levels in a day and a half, how he was able to learn the Sight Gate spell from nothing but a brief description of it, and a few other things. When they told about Ressara noticing something amiss in the guards' enchanted gear, Lornera ordered an immediate repeat of the analysis scan. Everyone watched closely, but only Ressara noticed anything wrong. Ressara reported numerous tiny and momentary attention-diverting wards activating when Ordens scanned Lorvan's armor. Then again when Lorvan scanned Ordens, when one of Lornera's guards scanned Lorvan, and yet again when Lornera's two guards scanned each other.

Lornera's frown sharpened when Ressara reported that last result, with the issue appearing even with neither Lorvan nor Ordens involved. "Ressara, either you are lying - and I do not believe that you are - or this is larger, much larger, than any mere squabble between rival noble houses. I will have to investigate and confirm this, but if we find proof of what you claim then you will have our thanks. The Crown will reward you appropriately for discovering and reporting such a plot against us once the true magnitude of it is ascertained."

Ressara stared with her eyes as wide as they could go, stuttered something a few times, then gave up on speaking and just bowed so deeply that she fell over. Lorvan caught her before her face could hit the floor and set her back on her chair, where she blushed mutely for the rest of the meeting.

When they finally finished telling of their return to Dramos, Lornera stood in front of Carlos and Amber, held the palms of her hands together in front of her, and inclined her head to each of them. "The Crown promised you protection and failed to fulfill that promise. You have my apology for that, and you may request a reasonable favor from the Crown in recompense. In light of Ressara's discovery in their equipment, I do not believe the specific guards are at fault for this, but I will give you this choice: Do you want new guards assigned to replace them?"

Carlos shook his head and noticed Amber shaking hers as well. "No. Colonel Lorvan and Major Ordens are satisfactory, and I would prefer to keep them."

"Very well. I will see to it that their equipment is prioritized for fixing whatever the issue is and that you are informed of the results of our investigation. I will be keeping an eye on news of your development from this point; you have already shown intriguing potential. Lorvan or the mayor can relay a message to me when you decide what favor to ask for. Now, I have other business to deal with, and I will be taking the captured mercenaries with me for questioning. Good day." Lornera nodded to Carlos and left with her escorts with no further ceremony.

Silence reigned for a moment in the wake of her departure. Then Carlos cocked his head while looking at Haftel and Esmorana. "So, you four decided to work for me long term?"

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Two days later Carlos was sitting in the guest room of Mayor Stelras's home and busily going through the long, long list of spell effect keywords, trying to assess each one and organize his own classifications of them, when a servant knocked on the door. "Message addressed to you from today's teleport exchange, Lord Carlos."

"Hmm?" He looked up from his notes. "Oh. Who's it from?"

"Lord Merchant Darmelkon, my lord."

Carlos blinked. "What? How does he even know where to send it? Nevermind, just give me the letter."

The servant handed him an envelope, and Carlos quickly tore it open and pulled out the paper inside.

> High Lord Carlos Founder,

>

> Congratulations on your new station in life! Investigating your background has proven quite the unexpected adventure. I sent someone to check the Crown's records in Kalor City for what house you might be part of. Imagine my surprise when they returned to report that you are the head of a brand new house, not yet announced, that had not even been founded yet at the time of our encounter! If I hadn't been searching so very specifically for you they would not have even let me know your house exists.

>

> Your bluff was impressive, threatening me with "the wrath of your house" and offering "a favor from your house" when your house wasn't even registered yet and consisted entirely of yourself, held captive and helpless in front of me. It has been a long time since anyone outwitted me that badly. That said, it just so happens that despite the near-penniless state of your fledgling house you may actually have something I want.

>

> You have devised a new soul plan of sufficient rank to qualify for nobility. Can you do it again? My son Kindar has long played at pretending to nobility, and after our misadventures involving you he has set his heart on making it truth. He envisions himself as a supreme warrior and a master swordsman, and you would have to somehow accommodate the soul structures he has already made. However, your status might also make you privy to some secrets of nobles regarding precisely what the requirements are and ways to more easily satisfy them.

>

> If you do this for me I will count your favor fulfilled, and I will also pay you well. Send a letter to me in Erlen with your decision. If you accept, I will send Kindar and an escort to you with strict instructions to cooperate and to follow your orders within reason for the duration.

>

> Lord Merchant Darmelkon

Carlos gaped at the letter for several seconds. "That idiotic jackass Kindar wants me to help him become a noble?! What?"

The servant just stood and waited with polite deference.

Then the door slammed wide open as a flamboyant young man marched in and flung his arms wide for a grand proclamation. "Carlos, there you are! Your weeks of tedious waiting in boredom are over at last, for your teacher Trinlen has arrived!"