Lurona city [southern shores of Fuminao Legacy Kingdom], local time [1794.01.23]

Zeph made the right choice.

Seeing the ferocity with which Danette engaged Kwan, it became clear that he had miraculously avoided a freight train coming their way.

The woman was all he imagined; his paranoia proven right. She showed her true colors by fighting for her perceived rights unrelentingly.

The only reason he wasn’t sucked dry from information earlier was that Danette was already satisfied with what she had learned during their talk. That and the fact that she couldn’t simply barge into their Guild, request a face-to-face meeting with one of the Department’s Heads, and interrogate them to her heart’s content. She was pushing the boundaries, sure, but she didn’t want to antagonize them.

That would have shattered the ‘neutral’ narration she was trying to sell, after all.

The same rules didn’t seem to apply when she was negotiating the terms of their cooperation with a Landlord, though. But that didn’t give her an advantage. The opposite happened, actually.

Kwan was quite angry at her already and wasn’t going to play nice.

They agreed, as a Guild, to work with her to study the ‘Force Storm Incident’, but Kwan pushed the woman into a corner. In the first place, Danette wasn’t able to recreate the event without their help and Zeph’s knowledge. Kwan stated in not-uncertain terms that they would NOT help her in this endeavor without a proper recompensate and a chance to recreate the conditions themselves. Moreover, she would count Zeph’s knowledge as a part of the official deal, not simply as an unofficial, private exchange.

The whole discussion was more convoluted than expected, but Zeph easily caught on to the most important fact – there would be NO private dealings with the woman until she proved herself trustworthy. Somehow, Kwan reversed all of Danette’s arguments entirely. She changed their ‘mutually beneficial arrangement’ (as Danette herself called it) into the Guilds business. And suddenly, it wasn’t all flowers and goodwill.

To her credit, Danette didn’t even try to negotiate otherwise after hitting the proverbial wall of Kwan’s rightful fury. Nonetheless, she and Kwan were on the same page from the very beginning, it seemed. They both were planning a few steps ahead and it was merely an inconvenience that Danette’s trap has been discovered. She still held the higher ground by virtue of her position in the wider politics in the city, which she advertised almost openly.

But that also backfired splendidly.

It was enough that Kwan showed mercy to people involved in the not-so-legal artifact trafficking, which Danette’s organization was part of. The difference in their culture was strikingly clear – Kwan would never involve people who weren’t aware of what they were doing, which resulted in a kind of misunderstanding. Kwan wasn’t going to target whole organizations, but the preparators and governing individuals were a different kind of a cookie for her. In other words, she wasn’t going to press for a scapegoat to be punished—as it never was a person truly responsible for the actions of the organization—but that didn’t mean she would ignore or forget about their transgressions.

In a way, that was the worst kind of punishment – no matter how influential or important, Kwan was going to react every time the boss acted. In the worst-case scenario, she could always call for another Duel. And that was something the cunning leaders would try to evade at all costs. The Tournament showed them enough.

Seeing how useless he was in this kind of negotiation—his best efforts squished then rewritten indiscriminately as the two proceeded—he decided to leave the room and inform Aisha.

Danette Gildafi wasn’t a person he could work with in good faith. The old fox was guaranteed to gain some insights from him and information from the Guild, but she had overextended. Zeph no longer considered her a possible partner and was going to inform the whole Guild about that fact.

After a few short visits to the Guild’s offices to speak with the Heads, he decided to finally address one of the more pressing matters.

~~~

Irra was working on some kind of chemical in P’pfel’s laboratory when he finally found her.

It was a new one, hidden deep underground. As Ghrughah was finishing with the headquarters’ expansion, every important facility was moved into those rooms – Zeph’s lab included. The old laboratory building would still be used but only for production purposes and non-confidential experimentation. That said, P’pfel’s working area didn’t look any different than before. It was bigger, though.

He wasn’t that surprised to find her there. Despite officially belonging to his Department, she had a free reign when working on her inventions. Also, Zeph’s laboratory wasn’t equipped to hold the ‘alchemical’ part of the experiments.

That didn’t change the fact that their contract was void right now. She was only to work for them until the Tournament ended. It was as much allowed for her to be here as It was ill-advised.

He silently walked behind her, trying to see what she was doing.

Some kind of chemical extraction… is that a tubular chromatography? He wondered, seeing the setup. She sure isn’t wasting her time using my notes… But what she is trying to achi— oh!

“Wow, does it work?” he asked loudly, making the diminutive woman jump away.

He ignored her glare and moved closer to the station.

“Don’t do that when I’m working!” Irra shouted. “Do you know how much time I’ve spent setting this up?!”

“Around two days,” he answered immediately, professionally appraising her work. “You know that our contract has ended quite some time ago?” he asked absentmindedly while making sure his guess was right. “Are you trying to separate components containing iron from the blood of rakes?” The magnets set along the long tube the size of a straw were kind of a giveaway.

She was speechless for a moment, allowing him to study the contraption in more detail. She was using an acidic agent at the end of a long, coiling tube. Probably to see the change in color after the initial separation of the cells – he wasn’t going to assume that she was working on the molecule level just yet. The gel inside the tube didn’t seem thick enough, too.

She had to time it right for it to work as intended, though. The flow was constant, if slow, and would bring other separated elements with time. It was mostly a manually operated setup.

Maybe that was her intention from the beginning? She is testing things one by one, he thought somewhat disappointed.

“How did you—no…” she sighed and shook his head. “That’s exactly what I am trying to do. P’pfel allowed me to work here. I wanted to talk to you about that, too… Let me finish and we can move somewhere else.”

Zeph moved back to give her space and turned to her with a raised brow. “Decided to stay with us?”

That question made her uncomfortable. “Ugh… For some time… I want to finish my research first. And it would be much safer to stay here until Aisha and her Department help me deal with… Well, my past.” She started fidgeting, wringing her fingers. “Also… we need to talk about our future cooperation…”

Zeph hummed contentedly. “Sure thing, and the contract?”

“I have an unsigned copy. Me and Aisha have been working on it when you were asleep.” She explained while going back to work – preparing different reagents on the side that she would use to catch the fluid from the tube. “It will take a while. Can you prepare an initial list of what do you want me to work on, and what knowledge I should propagate?”

Unauthorized tale usage: if you spot this story on Amazon, report the violation.

Zeph happily complied.

Now that the Tournament was behind them, the old order started returning to their laboratories. No longer forced to work on equipment for the fights, it was time to further their own projects.

Zeph was ecstatic to be finally able to work freely, without a looming deadline or other responsibilities. He had a Mana battery problem to solve for Gru’s convenience, as well as a certain Manasolid to inspect – the one his companion ‘birthed’ after they arrived at Lurona.

Half an hour later, Irra grabbed the contract from her room and they moved to a meeting room on the third floor…

~~~

It took a few hours to read through the contract and determine the details for their cooperation. The Mana battery wasn’t a new idea, but the specifics were quite surprising for Irra.

She already knew about Gru – would be hard not to when she was helping during the open surgery on him at the Shrine in the past – and was under an agreement with the System, so Zeph didn’t have to worry about information leaks.

Gru had something resembling a Manasolid instead of a brain. It was more crystalline in nature, though. The System confirmed that much through his Ancient Civilizations Skill. Because of that, the most promising idea of implanting a Manasolid growth into him would have to be excessively tested first. There was a high chance that Gru’s body would simply assimilate it – either into his brain, or to form another Manasolid like last time.

Irra had the difficult task of inventing a biologically compatible and capacious battery that would work for the almost alien organism. It was a tough order but thankfully, she wouldn’t be working alone. Zeph’s main role was to gather information – from the Library, his Skill, Gru himself, and experiments. Irra had experience building such constructs but only for mechanical purposes, so she would start by experimenting on rakes to test her initial ideas and learn how to make a battery implant. Were she to successfully produce a prototype, then the new knowledge Skills granted by the System should help tremendously in the further steps.

After all the details were covered and the contract signed, they decided to grab a dinner in the canteen.

Irra seemed more open as they discussed idly the technological state of the city. Her worldview regarding society, scientific organizations, and knowledge distribution were very different from Zeph’s but they shared the same, deep-rooted hatred for how some organizations were trying to dominate certain fields of study. The business was never aligning perfectly with uncontrolled technological progress.

After that, he returned to his room to prepare for a small trip. He could finally move around the city without an escort and was determined to use this opportunity to have some quality time with himself. He still was wearing his armor and took his pistol along with a few knives – to be on the safe side – but he left the helmet in his room. It would be harder to recognize him in his everyday winter clothing, which would be nice for many reasons.

It felt like an eternity since he could simply blend with the crowd and feel like an unnoticeable, anonymous face in the throng of people. To have the privilege of becoming an irrelevant, unknown man whose affairs interested no one.

He packed two of his maps, some snacks, and other odds and ends. Another few tries in waking Gru – unsuccessful as always – and after making sure he had everything, he left his room...

~~~

Some water traffic had returned to the old ports surrounding the Rake River. After the political scene cooled down, the business started blooming once again in the Roaming Onsen Village.

Thanks to Kwan’s care and a ridiculous amount of gold, both mundane and enchanted infrastructure in the canals and on the banks of the river were restored to… usable condition. They didn’t have much time to repair everything before the winter hit, not to mention the number of intrusions that were constantly happening in the last month.

Either way, thanks to that and the lively water traffic, the river wasn’t frozen. That was why he decided to change things a little and instead of borrowing Ghrughah’s carriage, he went for the ports.

He could, technically, request a boat through their Guild, but he wanted to see how it worked normally. Also, it was quite possible that Darrah Vuld would try to weasel his way into transporting him. The man seemed to forget about Irra and their small tussle over her, but he was using every method available to raise his standing in the port and in their Guild, causing any interaction with him to be very unpleasant, at least for Zeph. Not to mention, the man was cunning and untrustworthy – Zeph would rather not deal with him if he could help it.

Finding transport to one of the mountainous islands near the Library’s district was easy. Using the snowy tunnels, he found one of many administration buildings near the river. After a few quick questions at the counter, he paid, was given a metal plate with a number, and was directed to the docks.

It was already dark – the few hours of light completely missed when he talked with Irra. The area of the docks was stripped of snow, but it and the river itself were surrounded by 3-meter-high walls of snow. The steep slopes were decorated similarly to the snowy tunnels – just without the colorful dyes – while the luminescent lamps left in small alcoves illuminated the valley that had formed around the river.

Zeph started to wonder how people were dealing with the snow accumulating on the rooftops. From what he noticed, not every building had it cleared, creating quite a hazard for pedestrians. Then again, maybe that was the reason for moving through the under-snow tunnels.

On the left side, along the pier, several boats waited for a customer like on a taxi parking.

Of course, all of them were of the enclosed type. It was partially forced by the strange construction of the boats. The sails were leaning back at steep angles, forming a layered canopy above the boats. Instead of using masts, each sail was rigidly affixed to an overcomplicated frame, and those required a hard surface to connect to. Thus, each boat sported a cabin crossing the whole deck. The framework mechanism was affixed to its roof and the sides of the boat. The sails arched from one side of the boat to the other, partially covering the field of view from the windows.

Not wasting any more time, he walked up to the first boat in line. A few knocks on the hard wood were enough to summon an older man to the deck.

After a quick exchange of greetings, he handed him his plate and was quickly ushered inside. It was really cold and the man wasn’t wearing anything appropriate for such a weather.

The cozy and warm interior of his ride was definitely welcome. Zeph took off his coat and took a seat at a table and near the window. For a boat, this place was quite spacious. There were eight thin tables affixed to the walls with two soft chairs behind each, plus some benches at the back. The floor level was below the deck, allowing for the ceiling to be around 2.5 meters high. The illumination was sparse, and the decoration was reminiscent of old boats on Earth – wooden cabinets, hanging lights, and quite a bit of nets, ropes, barrels, and strange tools. The old man was in an isolated space at the front – small doors connecting the two areas.

With the creaking of an old wood, the sails started to move above. Zeph could see through the window that they were changing angles slightly. Two dull thumps came from the outside and they started moving slowly down the river.

Zeph spent his time leisurely, admiring the views and relaxing. There wasn’t much to do anyway.

Their boat sped up after leaving the river’s delta. The sea was relatively calm despite the constant winds, but he could see that big chunks were frozen near the shoreline and around mountain islands, isolating the whole area from the big waves of the open sea.

Moving between the islands from this perspective was definitely more interesting than looking at those monumental creations of nature from afar. There were grottoes and natural bridges, tight passes under overhanging rocks, and all kinds of strange infrastructure that could be observed from the bottom side.

They stopped by a wooden gangplank lying on the ice surrounding one of the islands. He thanked the helmsman and disembarked. A lift already waited for him near the vertical, weathered cliffside.

It took a few minutes to arrive at the shuttle station at the top of the island. Mostly because he had to change lifts two times.

There wasn’t much traffic, so he found a line shuttle in moments with the help of the station’s worker.

The ride was much slower than the wild emergency flight he experienced right after landing in Lurona. This time he had time to observe the city’s landscape in peace. Despite how high he was, the visibility wasn’t the best, the falling snow and darkness obscuring everything in the distance. But the distant lights of the city made him nostalgic. Beautiful and organized, with a few enormous sources shining like solitary gems on the black canvas of the night sky…

He didn’t miss Earth, or the people he left behind. But the familiarity of the view brought to the surface old memories. It was impossible not to feel a little melancholic. No matter how bitter his past was, there were many bright moments as well. Even if some of them could only be considered ‘happy’ from the perspective of time.

This new world was constantly throwing something new at him, so it was nice to allow himself to get carried away by something that awoke his memories from Earth.

This bittersweet moment ended early when the shuttle stopped at its destination.

The way down to the ground level gave him time to fully wake up from his daydream. Then, the long walk through the tunnels leading to the Library allowed him to refresh his mind and focus on the reality around.

His visit was brisk. A package waited for him in one of the Library rooms. He could try to contact Onji Yuki again, but he had enough of meetings for today. He could ask for the books another time.

He found a silent corner in the Library’s reading room to study the contents of the thin box.

Inside, he found the original of the letter Ciriyal had brought to him during the Tournament, a small book containing a simplified map of the city, and something that looked like a leaflet promoting a Temple.

But no, the symbol in the background of the dark yellow leaflet was familiar. It was a template for a badge that would inform any member of their group that he was with them and ready to be invited. It seemed Alex and Alana wouldn’t be the ones to grab him, otherwise using a color-coded piece of fabric would be enough.

Also, the text revealed a ciphered message.

He quickly consulted the simple map.

Hmmm, this area isn’t far. Should I try contacting them today? It will probably take a few tries… Yeah, a stroll seems like a good idea.