“Hey Anniya! Sorry, I called you guys so late to update you on my situation… but I was a forced guest in, err... the Barony of Amadea,” I spoke into my armacus. “Everything's good. We’ll be in Lomb very soon!”

[Juni! We were worried about you! You went blank on the tracker for the entire night and morning!] Anniya’s voice resounded in my head. [We? Who’s we?]

“I’ve got the two lovely Amadea princesses with me and I want to show Lomb to them,” I said, smiling at Emerald.

[Damn girl, you work fast,] Anniya laughed. [Consider me impressed. Can’t believe you bagged both of them. Alright, yeah… I’ll update Lambert.]

The call disconnected. I leaned back into the leather seat enjoying the view of the Illatius Baronies flashing below us.

“Who was that?” Emerald prodded.

“My friend from Lomb,” I said.

“Is she a human?”

“Yes,” I said.

“A commoner?”

I nodded. Emerald’s expression soured the tiniest bit.

“What are we doing about the Vow bound maid?” Agatha asked, pointing at Arouetta. “She’ll be asleep for the day, but if she lives long enough she could become a problem.”

“Didn’t you erase her memory?” I asked.

“Yes, but the Vow will inevitably recall things,” Agatha sighed. “Vows can remember what their hosts forgot. If the information falls within the Vow’s prerogative, it will bring it up to the host, remind them of it. For example someone can’t make a Vow not to do something and then erase their memory and do it. If my mother interviews this maid, she will confess everything.”

“That could be a problem,” I nodded. “Right. Can you wake her up earlier?”

“I can,” Agatha nodded.

“Great,” I said. “I can carve it out of her after lunch.”

“Can I watch?” The future Empress asked. Agatha tried not to sound too elated at the prospect of seeing impossible magic, but she was definitely very interested in observing it.

“Sure,” I nodded. “We’ll keep her asleep inside Saccy while we eat.”

Emerald looked at me with begging kitten eyes.

“You can watch too, little princess,” I said. “I promised to teach you magic, didn’t I?”

She excitedly bobbed up and down, making me smile.

It didn’t take us a long time to get to Lomb - the glider’s pathfinder directed Galissi straight to Lambert's tower.

The two princesses, one maid and one starving chimera girl disembarked. The chimera girl in question, aka me, stared longingly at Galissi one last time before I followed my new friends into the station. As I left the glider behind, I pulled a very large beanie hat over my head to conceal my gemstone hair.

As was the apparent proper procedure for visitors to Lomb, all four of us barged into Lambert’s office.

“Princess Emerald and Agatha of the Barony of Amadea, it is a delight to see you in my town,” Lambert looked up at us from his desk, his silver spectacles glinting. “May I inquire as to the purpose of your visit?”

“Lunch at the world-renowned Lomb Creperie!” I declared, pushing everyone aside.

“Very well,” Lambert smiled at us. “You have my permission to occupy Lomb’s airspace with your glider. Alternatively, you can walk. My town isn’t very large. It’s only six minutes down Lord Nubbler’s Street from the station.”

“We’ll walk!” I announced.

The Inspector looked up at Agatha. She issued him a single nod.

“Is that a beanie hat?” Emerald noticed the oversized, lovingly hand-crafted hat that sat atop of my head.

“It’s my incredible disguise,” I said smartly. “Nobody here suspects that I’m a chimera.”

Emerald face-palmed. Then she cast a concerned glance at Lambert.

“The Inspector doesn’t need to suspect anything,” I said. “He works for me.”

“The Inspector of Lomb works for you?” Agatha squinted at me.

“We solve crimes!” I said with a grin.

“You solve… crimes?” Agatha tilted her head.

“Lots of humans work for your mom,” I pointed out. “Why is it so hard to believe that I can’t hire people to do my bidding?”

“He’s not Vow-bound,” Agatha said. “He’s completely clean. I don’t understand. How can you trust him?”

“I trust him just like I trust Voltara. The whole Vow-binding business is the peak of idiocy,” I said. “Yes, it makes people extra obedient, but if I can carve Vows out of people then so can anyone else. If you become Empress are you going to bind your subjects with Vows?”

“I was considering it,” Agatha sighed. “But the more time I spend with you, the less I am invested in such.”

“Good,” I nodded. “Cus I won’t tolerate Vows on anyone. I would un-Empress you in five minutes if you even consider putting Vows on people.”

“I’m not an Empress,” Agatha sighed.

“Well, I’d make you Empress first and then I’d un-Empress you,” I waved my hand. “While doing a whole ‘I’ve made you and so I shall un-make you’ dramatic speech.”

“I see,” Agatha uttered.

“Nobody gets my excellent humor,” I rolled my eyes. “Lambert, are you coming to lunch with us?”

“I get it,” Voltara snickered.

“If my Lady desires it, then I shall leave my post at once,” Lambert bowed to me.

“I don’t understand. What are you paying him?” Agatha demanded. “Surely, you didn’t find a mountain of gold in Undertown under all that garbage?”

“Secrets,” I said with a grin. “I’m paying him in secrets.”

“Not good enough,” Agatha shook her head. Her armacus unfurled and she aimed it at the Inspector. Lambert didn’t move a muscle. I knew that he was probably very safe behind his desk. The entire tower was a marvel of exceptional magitek, lovingly crafted by Antoine.

“My apologies, Inspector, but I must make sure that you’re on our side,” she said. “Please answer my questions honestly. There’s a truth-rune powered by my glider in my armacus.”

If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. Please report it.

Lambert nodded.

“Do you work for Juni?” Agatha inquired.

“Yes,” Lambert said simply. “Although on paper she’s the one working for me.”

“Why?”

“Like Juni said - I’m an eater of secrets,” Lambert smiled. “And she brings me really big ones to devour.”

“I don’t understand,” Agatha shook her head. “She’s not paying you? She’s not holding your family hostage? She hasn’t bound you in some way with magic? Why should I trust you? What prevents you from selling us out to another party?”

“This is really derailing my lunch,” I mumbled in annoyance.

“No other party can offer me what Juni can,” Lambert said.

“Which is what exactly? What can she offer you that’s so exceptional?” Agatha demanded.

Lambert looked at me.

“Feel free to tell her my secrets,” I sighed. “I want to establish trust with our future Empress.”

“Juni is the only person on Andross who can read Inarian. She holds the keys to the city of death, to the lost knowledge which our world orbits endlessly,” the Inspector said. “The greatest of secrets that lie buried beneath the infinite city.”

“You crave the power of the dead gods?” Agatha asked. “Magic of the builders of Andross?”

“No,” Lambert shook his head. “Only their secrets. Even the tiniest crumb of understanding, of secret knowledge about the lost city of the gods could feed me for aeons. Millions of people look up at Inaria in our sky and yet none of them have the answer to how it came to be, none of them know the purpose of the infinite city or even its name.”

My eyebrows went up. I saw a new, unexpected side to my Sherlock. At the same time I realized my own worth. Inaria, Endy, the Shogun Gate, Infinity. I had a connection to it all. In magic true names of the old gods could evoke power. Without even a second thought, I told Lambert a single name I had read on the rooftop. "The Good Directorate."

The Ending-knife wasn’t the key to the End-Gate. It had always been me.

I was the key.

My stomach grumbled, interrupting my train of thought.

“I’m literally going to die of starvation at this rate,” I said. “Come on you guys, crepes are waiting.”

“Annya, watch the tower,” the Inspector spoke into his armacus. He stood up and put on his bowler hat. “Shall we?”

Agatha’s armacus folded up. She nodded.

“You expect to run the Empire alone?” I asked, grabbing Agatha's elbow and dragging her to the door that led us to the stairwell.

The eldest princess nodded.

“You’ll snap under the load, break before you know it, make a mistake that will doom us all,” I said. “You need to build a net of reliable humans and artifacts, talented people and specialized entities that you can trust and rely on.”

“Entities?” Agatha raised an eyebrow.

“Let me introduce you to Dawn,” I said. “A depictomancy artifact. She’s the future of running Empires - the best secretary you’ll ever have.”

By the time we had reached Lomb Creperie & Patisserie, Dawn and Agatha were introduced to each other and had a bit of a small chat.

“Did you get any more copies of Dawn?” I asked Lambert.

“Yes,” he nodded. “We are now in possession of four more posters. Antoine is already attaching crystal batteries to them - we’ve brought them to his shop for safe-keeping.”

“Excellent,” I smiled. “Keep it up.”

After five minutes of a brisk walk, our group ended up crowding the corner of the creperie’s glacier-view balcony.

A magical, slightly shimmering sphere went up around us as we sat down and ordered the crepes. I could feel its deep thrum in my soul, the energy cast from the tower this time was noticeably stronger.

“Did you crank up the anti-spy shield?” I asked Lambert.

“Yes,” he nodded. “I’ve made the shield absolute so that our two princesses can feel at ease. We have much to discuss, yes?"

I nodded.

“So, Juni,” Agatha said. “You want me to trust the future of the Empire to… a dress?”

“Yes,” I nodded. “Dawn is an artifact that can see the future. However, I’m not asking you to trust in her future-sight. I’m asking you to help me unlock her full potential.”

“Which is?”

“Dawn is a communication web,” I said. “I believe that she’s the key to optimizing person-to-person information exchange.”

“We already have the armacus for that,” Agatha pointed out. “I can use my armacus to connect myself to a large number of archmagi scholars to exchange information.”

“The armacus is just a dumb communicator,” I shook my beanie-covered head. “It doesn’t have the capacity to process information. Dawn is the next step in communication and information storage. She’s an artificial intelligence with a display. She’s what we really need to make a great step forward in the magitek revolution.”

“You want the magitek revolution to happen?” Agatha asked.

“It's going to happen regardless of what we do,” I said. “You can’t stop progress.”

“You want to accelerate it then?” The future Empress asked.

“I want to guide it in the right direction,” I said. “I know the pitfalls of civilization. I know which paths lead to a dead end.”

“How?” Agatha blinked.

“History,” I said. “History repeats itself. Yulia Ishenko, the one-hundred-million-year-old ghost that resides in my head, had never studied magic. What she studied was the cycles of history and how they impact people.”

“Tell me more,” Agatha said.

“What she learned at a non-magical arcanarium was ‘Sociology’, a study that focuses on society, human social behavior, social relationships and their interactions and how culture associated with everyday life changes the world. Sociology is knowledge about social order and social change and a deep understanding of underlying patterns of civilization.”

“I’ve never heard of such a thing,” Agatha said.

“That’s why you know so much about Revolutions!” Emerald declared.

“Illatius might have magic and flying machines,” I said. “But it is approximately a century if not more behind my knowledge in terms of Sociology.”

“Is this Sosh-i-ology a mental power of some sort over people?” Agatha tilted her head. “Are you planning to weaponize your secret, non-magical knowledge to gain power?”

“No,” I laughed. “I don’t seek power over anyone. I don’t want to be an Empress or even a Baroness. I simply want to build a better future for everyone. Dawn is the foundation of this future.”

“You trust a painting to guide us?” Agatha asked.

“I trust the people to guide themselves,” I said. “Dawn is more than just a painting. She’s what’s necessary for running an Empire with optimal efficiency - an analytical database.”

“An analytical database?” Agatha rubbed her chin. “Explain.”

“A lot of civilizations and ideologies throughout history have failed to reach their promises and lofty goals because they couldn't properly analyze, organize and coordinate their people and resources,” I said.

“I’ve been trying to see the best future with precognition,” Agatha mulled. “But there are so many paths… so many choices and you aren’t even in them for some stupid reason!”

“The precogs can peer into the future, sure, but can they really understand the complexity of steps necessary to reach the best, most optimal future for themselves?” I asked. “Can they grasp the full scope of the lives and talents of a million people? Can you tabulate the result of a billion future actions performed across the Empire by its citizens, predict all of their needs and wants with precognition?”

“No,” Agatha shook her head. “I cannot.”

“Dawn could do it, someday,” I said. “There’s only a thousand-ish of her now, but if we can expand her network, if we can give Dawn to every citizen, then we can analyze and improve the lives of everyone from the lowliest Undertown denizen to the Emperor.”

“This is putting a lot of trust into an artifact,” Agatha mulled.

“Dawn, who do you serve?” I asked.

“I serve all of you,” Dawn said. “I want to help all of my friends.”

“What if she’s lying?” Agatha asked.

“What does your truth-rune tell you?” I raised an eyebrow.

“The truth-rune isn’t designed for evaluating talking dresses!” The future Empress shook her armacus exasperatedly. “I’ve made it based on existing magitek hexagrams, on the study of truth-spheres that evaluate people.”

She pointed at the truth-sphere in Lambert's table.

“Lambert is a talented, high-level Scrutimancer,” I nodded towards the Inspector. “The more time he spends with Dawn, the more of her secrets he will uncover. If Dawn shows even the remotest leaning towards evil, then I will end her myself. She can’t physically interact with the world - she can’t hurt us just like a book can’t hurt us. Dawn is an Astral Tree - she’s not something that can attack or run away from us. It is absurdly easy for me to chop her down, to burn her paintings down to ashes.”

“Gee, thanks,” Dawn muttered sarcastically. “I feel so safe right now.”

“You’re not evil, right?” I peered at the painting.

“No I am not,” Dawn shook her curls woven from astral constellations.

“Then you are safe from the chopping,” I shrugged. “As long as you continue to serve humanity, I will pour all of my resources into making your tree grow bigger and stronger. Cooperation!”

“I get it,” Emerald said, her voice shy. “Dawn is your answer to guiding everyone to a better future. Dawn is the absolute administrator that will coordinate Illatius - a personal assistant for everyone.”

“That’s right,” I nodded. “People don’t operate well when bound into servitude, sometimes don’t work very hard even if they’re paid well. Money can’t buy happiness. Passion is what drives progress.”

“By the Astral depths,” Agatha muttered. She was beginning to understand what I was trying to propose.

“Future leaders like yourself can make horrific mistakes in directing society forward because you cannot possibly understand the needs of every individual below you. Everyone wants to reach their dreams. Everyone wants to be happy. Everyone has different wants, desires and passions. Inspector Lambert wants to uncover secrets. I want to make smart dresses. Voltara wants to be an Adventurer,” I hammered in my point. “Dawn is what was missing from your future plans, my dear princesses. You’ve been looking at the world from top down. To truly understand how to lead people you need to look at the Illatius from below, from the point of view of every individual from the smallest urchin crawling through the mountains of garbage in Undertown to the richest Baron who has a mountain of gold at their disposal. Neither is truly happy, I can guarantee it. You need to look at the Empire in a way that only Dawn can - from the side, to grasp the illusory gargantuan tree of connections between people. Dawn can do what Vows are failing spectacularly at - to guide everyone towards their passion, one individual at a time!”