Standing in the doorway was the elderly Cithlar, wearing his standard orange robe and conical hat, a grumpy look on his ancient face. Not waiting for a reply, he shuffled into the room and sat heavily onto a recliner.

Although it had been some time since anyone present had seen the recluse, he appeared to be aging rather poorly. His skin was an unhealthily pale, and his deep wrinkles made it hard to make out his facial features. His wild beard and shaggy hair made discernment even more difficult.

"Well?" His croaking voice and way of speaking was familiar to all present, however. To Cithlar, anything that distracted from his research was an unwanted irritation, and he was more than happy to tell you so.

"Long time no see, Cithlar." Magnus nodded and smiled at his fellow Great. Cithlar turned his eyes towards Magnus, but replied only with a grunt.

Guy Fallow finally broke the silence. "There was an incident at the dungeon today. Some of the soldiers died."

"And why should I care about some soldiers dying? They knew the dangers when they signed up for the job. Besides, that hole in the ground is Mr. Ghul's responsibility, isn't it?" Cithlar pointed an accusatory finger towards the imposing black-armored man sitting on the nearby sofa.

Fallow quickly cut off Ghul's retort, not wanting the conversation to devolve too quickly into a shouting match. "This matter concerns you, Great Enchanter, because we found a curious artifact in the lowest floor of the dungeon. One covered in advanced enchantments. You wouldn't happen to know anything about that, would you?"

Cithlar seemed taken aback by the question, and hesitated for a moment, staring off into space. After a moment of blank-faced silence, he took on a more calculating look. "So you want me to examine it and help you figure out who might have placed it there? If you brought it with you I could-"

"Bullshit!" Ghul stood up and took a step towards Cithlar, but was stopped by the dainty hand of the guard captain sitting beside him. Swallowing down his anger, the Leader sat back down, speaking with subdued anger. "This thing is incredibly advanced. We know it was you who put it down there, for one of your weird experiments."

"Hoh?" Cithlar crossed his legs and steepled his fingers. "So any device you don't immediately understand must have been made by me? Surely you understand how absurd that sounds. I'm already busy enough making swords and such for you lot. When's the last time your records even show me entering the dungeon?"

Ghul didn't back down, but seemed less sure. "Getting past the guards without being noticed would be easy for you."

Cithlar let out a sigh and rolled his eyes. "Look, just let me see the damn thing. Maybe I can figure out what's going on here."

Fallow turned towards the guard captain and nodded. With an unsure glance towards the fuming Leader beside her, Lgur pulled the inscribed dodecahedron from a bag on her side. Accepting the artifact with both hands, Cithlar began to examine it in earnest, running a wizened finger across the countless tiny runes.

"Well? What does it say then, old man?" Magnus asked casually, taking a sip from a flask he had pulled from below his own orange robe.

At the question, Cithlars face again went blank. For a long moment, there was no reply.

"Cithla-?" Fallow's concerned question was cut off as he suddenly continued talking.

"Right, I obviously knew what it does, but needed to think about what the effect would be you see. Hmm. I believe this device was made to increase how quickly monsters spawn in the dungeon. Yes. I would like to keep it, to examine it more. Perhaps I could discover who made it."

"More like you don't want us to find out you made it!" Leader Ghul turned towards Mayor Fallow, agitation clear in his voice. "Guy, we can't leave this thing with him. It's our only evidence of his involvement."

"Ghul," Fallow spoke slowly, looking down at his hands. "Even if it's true that Cithlar made this, and we could prove as such... what do you think the King would do?" Fallow lifted his gaze, looking directly into Ghul's eyes. "Who's more valuable to our nation; the most skilled enchanter in the known world, or a few dozen soldiers?"

Unauthorized usage: this narrative is on Amazon without the author's consent. Report any sightings.

Thagi clenched his fist in rage at the unfairness, but shifted his gaze down to Lgur. She was the only who had actually trained and lived with those dead guardsmen. A look of despair was on her face. The reason for her lack of anger all this time; she had known from the beginning that there would be no justice for her men. She had resigned herself to the fact.

"For the record," Cithlar added lightly, "I maintain that this was not my doing. As you yourself have just explained, there is no purpose for me to deceive you. I will look further into this device, and try to discover the enemies who might be behind this."

----------------------------------------

"-and try to discover the enemies who might be behind this." Sitting in a lotus position on the roof of the basement, in complete defiance of gravity, was the demon Jabrax. Clutched in her hand, a string of beads made from trees with psionic abilities.

While it was possible to intercept such mental messages, doing so was incredibly difficult when the spell traveled a very short distance. The distance between where she held the beads against the roof and the foot of Bark where he sat on the floor above made the messages effectively impossible to detect.

It was a lucky break that none of the elites that had come were experts in detection or information. The two meatheads and the politician had no hope of uncovering the demon's ruse. Magnus was the only risk, but it seemed as though he was convinced. Ever since entering the building, he had refrained from using magic. Likely as a show of respect. If an Association clerk or the princes' bodyguard had come along, her careful preparation of a decoy would have been useless.

Perhaps the greatest contributor to the success of the plan was Cithlar's reputation. He was already known as an anti-social kook. He was even known to act strangely for the sole purpose of upsetting and unnerving people. As a result, even the occasional hiccups in Bark's programming could be overlooked.

Far below, on the cold stone floor of the basement, lay the preserved corpse of Cithlar, stripped naked. His enchanted robes were needed to complete the illusion. Even if Magnus didn't notice the replacement, he would certainly grow suspicious if he saw fake Great robes.

At times, Jabrax wondered if perhaps she had an unhealthy love of overly complex deceptions. Many of her fellow demons had expressed such concerns to her in the past. While others of her kind preferred to destroy, burn, and kill with their own claws, Jabrax had always preferred to drive the Archon's cattle to destroy themselves. On multiple occasions in the past, she had been banished as a direct result of overcomplicating a matter that had a simple solution. Still, there were also times when her overcomplicated plans had come to fruition with such delicious results.

And what a wonderful chance had appeared before her now. Her efforts would not be in vain this time. Not only were the assembled elites tricked by her doppelganger, but she now had a chance to point a wrathful Leader towards whoever she claimed to be the crafter of this artifact. This could even lead to war if she played it right!

Unfortunately, although the sounds of conversation could just barely reach her through the floors, she could not actually see the artifact from her position in the basement.

Considering how well the current deception was going, Jabrax decided to push a bit farther, and resolve a few more problems which had appeared lately.

----------------------------------------

"By the way, I understand that priest tried to destroy that golem I made for my niece." With that sudden change of topic, Cithlar casually placed the dodecahedron on the table in front of him.

"That's rather irresponsible of you to just let a construct loose in a city, Cithlar!" Magnus laughed, clearly not actually concerned about the irresponsible action. "What's next, are you going to start summoning demons? Maybe a Taegul engine in the basement?"

"Oh I would never do something that dangerous and irresponsible!" Cithlar waved a dismissive hand, earning a fresh round of laughter from the Great Magician. Turning towards Fallow, Cithlar delivered even more stress for the overworked man. "About that ego sword you told me to make..."

"You gave it to that stupid golem, right? I'm constantly amazed at your irresponsibility, Cithlar." Ghul spoke venomously. "Why we still bother to ask you to do even simple tasks is beyond me."

Cithlar simply shrugged in reply. "Because no one else can do it? Look, just fix it so my golem wins the contest and it's not a problem, right?"

"Like hell-!" Ghul was again held back by Lgur.

"You were already planning on fixing it, right? So don't act all morally superior now." Cithlar's mouth twisted in what might be a grin.

"I think we should go. We've done what we came for." At that, Mayor Fallow stood up from his seat, followed shortly by the others. "Before we go though, Cithlar... if you don't have a sword ready to present to the prince when we finish the tournament, whenever that is, you're going to have the King after you. You already have the church on you for making that construct. They're willing to look the other way for an ego weapon since it lacks autonomy, but a golem... I have no idea what you were thinking. Even you can't just get away with anything. I hope you appreciate how much of a headache your arbitrary choices are going to be for all of us."

At that, the group left the mansion, Ghul slamming the door much harder than necessary.