A few weeks passed and both Nova and Denewulf’s family decided to stay in the colony. The new monetary system was doing well, and the crossbows had been finished and tested. It was always in times like this when everything was going well that things tended to happen.

Almost perfectly at midnight, an envoy from the neighboring colony showed up. Neighboring meaning the last colony that Nova and the others had visited. It was clear what they came there for, but they seemed rather shocked to find another colony rather than Denewulf.

Since they had a lot of warning, all of those with red eyes had gone inside while James led the envoy to Selina, who was waiting in the Ceremony Hall. Howard and Dorian watched from a secret room behind the waterfall.

{I was wondering what kind of person would be foolish enough to allow exploding vines to grow on their walls, but it is just a child,} one of the envoy commented upon catching sight of Selina, {That should make things easy. Hand the boy over to your elders, little one.}

Selina smiled at them. {Greetings, elders, I am Selina, one of the three Sages of this colony. I am afraid you will have to be more specific with your request.}

{Three Sages?} they asked, {Ah, you must be an apprentice. Bring out your master.}

{All three Sages are on equal terms with each other. I was apprenticed to the Sage Veda in the Colony of Veda.}

{The Colony of Veda?}

{That is a more recent colony and I have heard they are a bit bizarre. I wouldn’t be surprised if this is the next generation from there.}

{If there is no master, then how did you name this colony?}

{This is the Colony of Concordia, named by the Oracle of Feroz when we created the fountain cores.}

{Cores? There is more than one. Let us see these cores,} they demanded, peering into the pool below the fountain Selina had made.

{I cannot. The cores must never be revealed to anyone but the Sages who made them.}

{It seems that they were trained with the laws in the Colony of Veda. That is strange. Normally Sages are careful never to give their apprentices any important information until they want them to start off on their own.}

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That sounded a great deal like what Veda had told them about her own apprenticeship. Howard wasn’t too surprised that most Sages wanted to keep all of the power to themselves. They were basically the politicians of this world.

{Well then, young Sage,} the eldest among them began, {Let us make this clear. You have stolen something that belongs to us, and you need to return it unless you wish to cause a war.}

That was when Dorian showed himself. He had the height needed to be considered an adult here so he was tasked with dealing with difficult situations like this.

{As Selina told you, we will need more information,} Dorian replied, {But if this property you believe your claim is a person then we will throw you out immediately and prepare for battle.}

The elder seemed completely shocked. {You would risk starting that horrific conflict again over one boy?}

{That horrific conflict was so horrible because of the mental and psychological attacks,} Dorian replied, {If we stick to physical attacks I am sure it is fine. Besides, from how I see it, people like you who threaten war to get what they want are the ones who are eager to start old conflicts.}

{You dare-}

{And this conversation is being recorded,} Dorian continued, {We have a reliable way to send it back to Veda where it will be copied and sent out to other colonies. What colony did you say you were from again?}

{You callous monster! Next, you are going to say you kept those cursed children here as well,} the elder growled in fury. The rest of the envoy was pale and looked as if they wanted to run.

{You mean the ones who have awoken to Dream?} Dorian asked, {Why shouldn’t we. They have incredible talents even if it isn’t Wisdom. After all, what use is knowledge if you can’t imagine what to do with it?}

{Awakened to Dream? What nonsense are you talking about now?}

{Perhaps you should try contacting the Oracle of Feroz to find out for yourself, though I think your colony might be a couple of Sages too short.}

{We should leave,} one of the others pleaded the elder, {If we keep arguing we will have to spend the day in this place.}

The elder grimaced. {True. This must be another colony that is forsaken like the Crimson Colony. Let them boast for now, but reality will hit them soon once they realize they cannot provide for themselves.}

The elder left with the rest of the envoy, but it was very clear that they were not out of danger. Since they were clearly not friendly, Howard allowed the exploding vines and the many thorns to do their job. He had been carefully keeping their guests safe before.

“That was eventful,” Selina sighed once Howard joined her, “but what if they really do proclaim war on us? We don’t have the weapons or manpower we would need to survive.”

“I have an idea on that,” Dorian said, “I really did record that conversation and I really do intend to send it. What if we also send an invitation to the Crimson Colony and explain to them what they really are.”

“They may not join us, but at the very least they might be one our side,” Howard agreed, “Unless we have been misled and the Sage there is our enemy after all.”

“There was one more thing I wanted to try,” Dorian brought up, “I want to have another conversation with the Oracle to see if we can get some more answers.”

Selina nodded, looking nervous. “I still think it would have been better to have Denewulf leave for a little bit and then come back when those guys were gone.”

“In order to prove he wasn’t here, we would have had to let them look too closely into our secrets. From Veda’s reaction, they may have panicked and tried to purge us all on the spot and we don’t want that kind of fight in our current condition.”

Selina cleared her throat. “Ugh, I haven’t used my voice much lately. It is kind of hard to talk. Do you think they are far enough away that they won’t be able to listen in yet?”

“We should check for ourselves just to be safe,” Dorian suggested, “We have no idea if they had any intention of leaving the area at all. Once they find safe shelter they likely won’t move until tomorrow.”

Howard looked in the direction they had gone. He had known something like this was going to happen eventually, but now that it had he began to wonder if they really had made the right decision.