Ariadne opened the door of her office and saw like any other day that Edmund was there lying on the couch to the side of her office. Leah today was not there. His eyes opened and he met hers with a smirk.

‘Duchess, after a week of spying on the people of the city...’ Edmund was interrupted by Ariadne raising her hand.

‘You didn’t spy on anyone, peasant; all I saw and knew was that you were walking around and trying to get free food from the shops and restaurants.’ She sighed, covering her face with one of her hands.

‘I need to eat, and because of it now I have my own money so that's a win for me too. Anyway, it seems like that in an organic way they fabricated this story and idea around you, some based on reality and others complete fantasy, to be honest? Is kind of amazing.’ He stood up and walked in her direction.

‘At least, isn’t someone building a religion around me, but I don’t think it's good to just let this be; I wonder what the consequences are in the long term.’ She passed her desk and sat in her usual chair.

‘Can I be completely honest with you, duchess? I’m asking this because I don’t want you to have the wrong idea of what I’m about to say; the people of the duchy are important to me; walking around the city only solidifies this feeling in my heart.’ He stood in front of the duchess desk by the side of a chair.

‘Ok, you are free to say what is on your mind.’ She held her chin, relaxing in the chair.

‘To be honest, having an army of religious zealots against the army of horros of the demon lord is the best outcome; you need to put yourself little by little in a position of a real goddess or, at minimum, continue the way you are as now.’ He spoke in a serious tone, looking into her eyes.

Ariadne frowned, her face showing anger as she listened to Edmund’s words. The hand that was not on her chin formed a fist and she squeezed with all her strength. She just stood there looking at Edmund, waiting for him to continue.

‘Look, aside from this connection that you have with them and they have with you, everything is fine; it will give them courage to fight in the future, more even to go into the dungeon; they are good people; I’m just pointing out the good points.’ Edmund lifted his hands and took a step back.

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‘I understand, peasant; this reaction now was outside of my control; I could only hold back, not because they are my subjects but something more, I can’t really explain.’ She took a deep breath of relief as she relaxed again.

‘Humm… Interesting, like when you used the slave magic to send me on a suicide mission to save your lovely followers. Those were the good old days. Anyway, again, better to continue as it is and try to control this impulse; that is bad.’ He crossed his arms.

‘I wonder from where comes this urge to try to be funny peasant; you never change, but I understand what you are saying; I will keep that in mind.’ She saw two tablets on the table and got one.

‘Alon left this one there; we need the crystals to transfer information between tablets in a more efficient way. Speaking on this, one of my students made something really cool; it captures light in a way that you can record moments.’ Edmund sat on the chair to his side.

‘It is here?’ She got the other tablet.

‘Yes, it is interesting; it can even record movement and transmit it; the possibilities are endless; I’m going to help him personally; it is a Socher device; I know that your money is not enough to fund everything; the idea to open for the companies was a smart one.’ He smiled.

Ariadne was listening to Edmund speak while looking at the moments he was talking about; they were like paintings put together perfectly; it was like those people were right in front of her; it was indeed impressive but the last one was the most impressive; it was like she was looking them through a small window, moving but with no sound; Edmund was in it too, doing somersaults in the class.

‘Now imagine recording your image and the sound of your voice at the same time and transmitting that through out the kingdom right now, the same as you already do with the phone at this desk, which I know is possible; it will spread your influence more and more.’ He leans forward, grinning.

‘Well, I wonder for how long we can do this peasant; we are receiving Nihilium from Markaz but for how long it will last? Going into the dungeon is our next step; you said it has crystals and Nihilium there.’ She put the tablet to the side and stared at the desk deep in thought.

‘Yes, but from the fortress experience, the soldiers need more training and you need to tell these people that going there is dangerous; everyone could die. From the books I read, this is basically suicide for us.’ Edmund had a worried expression.

Ariadne reached for the other tablet Alon left on her desk and started to read. The information was about a new fortress and was requesting Edmund’s assistance to guarantee success but not his direct intervention. It made her wonder what his intentions were.

Scrolling the tablet, he too put the total number of soldiers they had for the standing army of the duchy with a possibility of drafting more but now all were volunteers, a total of a thousand soldiers. scattered as city, town guards and soldiers patrolling the borders; for her surprise, even the ladies working the communication were part of this too; it was more detailed than she imagined.

‘I understand what you are saying; we need more time to consolidate what we have now, but in six months we need to enter that dungeon; there is no other option.' She looked into Edmund's eyes.

‘That gives me time to build another weapon that is going to be crucial inside of that dungeon; just you wait.’ He smiled at her.

‘But before that, peasant, Alon asked your help to clear some other fortresses, ok? not now but if he asks, you will go.’ She leans more on her chair, relaxing her body.

‘No problem; if those things get any bigger, we will have a problem on our hands; it will be a good testing ground for a new weapon.’ Edmund chuckled.