Chapter 22: The Royal Inspector
Knock. Knock. Knock.
The heavy, rhythmic pounding echoed through the grand foyer of the Valerius manor.
In the dining room, the air was thick with tension. Kira stood between Ren and the hallway, her silver fur standing entirely on end. Tiny, blue arcs of electricity snapped across her fingertips. Her superconducting nervous system was screaming at her, registering a massive, oppressive mana signature just on the other side of the oak doors.
"Kira, step back," Baron Valerius said, his voice tight with worry. He had no idea the five-year-old fox-kin in the maid uniform was a Mythic-tier assassin capable of breaking the sound barrier. To him, she was just a frightened child. "I will handle this."
The Baron stood up, smoothing his worn coat, and marched into the foyer.
Ren followed quietly, signaling Elara and Lyla with a subtle hand gesture to stand down but remain alert. Elara instantly shifted into her perfect Head Maid posture, though she quickly reached out and adjusted a slightly crooked painting on the hallway wall to perfectly symmetrical alignment before falling into step behind Ren.
The Baron pulled open the heavy front doors.
Standing on the porch, illuminated by the moonlight, was a tall, sharp-featured man in the pristine, gold-trimmed robes of the Capital’s Royal Magical Inquisition.
But he didn't look majestic. He looked ill.
The man was sweating profusely. His skin was pale, and his hands trembled slightly as he leaned heavily on a silver-tipped staff.
Mana Burn, Ren analyzed instantly, his high Intelligence stat reading the man’s biological distress. He used high-tier Wind magic to travel from the Capital too quickly. He forced too much mana through his biological circuits without proper cooling. His internal organs are essentially suffering from radiation sickness.
"I am Inquisitor Vane," the man wheezed, pulling a gold medallion from his robes. He swallowed hard, trying to suppress the nausea of Mana Burn. "By order of the Crown, I am investigating a Class-4 seismic and hydrostatic anomaly detected in this sector yesterday."
The Baron blanched. The Capital had felt the river being un-dammed.
"My Lord Inquisitor," the Baron bowed deeply. "Please, enter. It is freezing out. Elara, bring hot tea."
Vane stepped inside, his nose wrinkling in disgust at the drafty foyer and the worn rugs. He looked at the Baron, then glanced down at Ren, Kira, and Lyla. A poor lord, a 'Trash Class' son, and a motley crew of beast-kin servants. Pathetic.
"I don't have time for tea, Valerius," Vane snapped, leaning on his staff. "The Capital’s scrying orbs detected a massive spike in kinetic force and a sudden release of water pressure. The King demands to know if a high-tier monster or an unregistered Archmage is operating in your territory."
The Baron opened his mouth, completely lost for words. He didn't know what had happened to the river.
Before the silence could grow suspicious, Elara stepped forward with a silver tray holding a steaming cup of tea. Her brown eyes flashed with a faint, imperceptible gold light. Her Statistical Probability Mapping was running in overdrive.
Target is fatigued. Aggression is high. Patience is low, Elara calculated. He desires a mundane explanation so he can return to the Capital and heal.
"My Lord Inquisitor, if I may," Elara said, her voice the perfect picture of subservient respect. "The Baron dispatched the village Earth Mage yesterday to deal with a pack of migrating Silt-Drakes. They had built a massive mud-dam across the Eastern River."
Vane raised a skeptical eyebrow. "Silt-Drakes? That doesn't explain the kinetic spike."
Elara didn't miss a beat. She placed the tea on a side table exactly centered between two candlesticks. "The Earth Mage, Harlen, attempted to use a Tier-3 Stone Rupture spell to break the dam. He miscalculated the water pressure. The dam exploded catastrophically. The sudden rush of water caused a localized seismic echo in the bedrock. Harlen is currently bedridden with severe Mana Burn."
Vane stared at the nine-year-old maid. The logic was mathematically and magically flawless. A localized mudslide, a botched spell by a rural idiot, and an entirely mundane disaster. It perfectly explained the water pressure and the seismic reading.
The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.
Ren watched Elara weave the lie, suppressing a massive smile. She was a genius.
To sell the performance, Ren purposefully widened his eyes, grabbing the Baron's pant leg and hiding behind him, trembling like a terrified, helpless eight-year-old. "Father, is the scary man going to take us away?"
Vane looked at the cowering 'Trash Class' boy and scoffed in absolute disdain.
"No one is taking you away, boy. There's nothing of value here to take," Vane sneered. He turned back to the Baron, his nausea flaring again. "A botched spell by a hedge mage. Typical rural incompetence. Reinforce your borders, Valerius. The Crown will not send aid for your mud-puddles."
Without another word, the Inquisitor turned and swept out of the manor, eager to find a soft bed at the nearest luxury inn to sleep off his Mana Burn.
The Baron closed the heavy doors and let out a long, shaky breath, sliding a hand down his face. "Thank the gods he believed that. Elara, quick thinking. But Harlen didn't blow up the dam... did he?"
"Just a rumor I heard in the village, My Lord," Elara smiled innocently.
"Well, it saved us from an audit," the Baron sighed, looking completely exhausted. "I am going to bed. Lock the doors."
Once the Baron’s footsteps faded up the stairs, the atmosphere in the foyer instantly shifted. Kira stopped sparking. Elara dropped the subservient posture. Ren let go of his father's coat and stood up straight, brushing off his sleeves.
"Flawless threat neutralization, Elara," Ren praised quietly. "Now, to the cellars. We need to finalize the defense grid before the Capital starts looking closer."
Ten minutes later, the Vanguard was gathered in the subterranean laboratory. The glowing white runic lights illuminated the sterile glass walls.
Lyla was sitting on a massive block of excavated stone, scratching one of her polished horns. She had been thinking about the dinner conversation before the Inquisitor interrupted them.
"Master Ren," Lyla spoke up, her deep voice echoing slightly. "I don't understand the light trick. Why use an optical illusion? With my hammer and Elara's earth magic, we could just dig a massive moat around the barony and build a stone wall. A really thick one. We could funnel the stampede away safely."
It was a highly logical, traditional tactical question.
Ren smiled at her, walking over to the chalkboard. "A very smart thought, Lyla. But you are thinking of the stampede as an army of soldiers. I need you to think of them as a fluid."
Ren drew a large circle representing the estate, and a thick wall around it.
"A moat and a wall act as a dam," Ren explained, drawing a massive wave of arrows hitting the wall. "The stampede is a pressurized fluid containing millions of beasts. If we build a physical wall, the first wave will hit it and die. But their dead bodies will pile up against the stone, creating a physical ramp for the ones behind them."
He tapped the chalk against the board sharply.
"The sheer kinetic pressure of a continent's biomass pushing against a static object will eventually shatter any wall we build. Plus, as we just saw with the Inquisitor, massive earthworks and giant walls draw the Capital's attention. If we build a fortress, the King will claim it."
Ren erased the wall and drew a faint, dotted dome around the estate.
"Instead of stopping the water, we are going to make the water think there is nothing here to hit," Ren said, his dark eyes gleaming. "If they can't see the manor, they will flow right around it, like a river flowing around a smooth stone in the current. They won't stop to attack what isn't there."
Lyla’s eyes went wide with understanding. "Oh! So we just... hide the stone in the river!"
"Exactly," Ren nodded. "We are going to use the subterranean hot springs. I will calculate the exact thermal output needed. Lyla, you will dig a network of micro-vents around the perimeter of the estate. We will vent the super-heated steam into the air in a perfect dome, creating a mirage effect that violently alters the refractive index of the light. From the outside, anyone looking at the barony will just see an empty, slightly blurry forest."
"Master Ren?"
The soft, slightly fearful voice came from the corner of the lab.
Ren turned around. Kira was standing near the containment jar holding the purple, parasitic crystal they had pulled from the Alpha Drake.
Since Kira had entered the room, her static electricity had flared up again, her hair puffing out. But this time, it wasn't because of an intruder.
Ren walked over quickly. His breath hitched.
Inside the thick glass jar, the purple crystal was reacting. It was no longer pulsating with a slow, sickly rhythm. It was violently vibrating, matching the exact frequency of the microscopic blue electrical arcs dancing across Kira’s fur.
The crystal was trying to align its magnetic polarity with Kira's superconducting nervous system. It was trying to interface with her through the glass.
"Fascinating," Ren whispered, his scientific curiosity instantly overriding his fatigue. "It responds to electromagnetic fields. It’s a receiver..."
Before Ren could finish his sentence, his vision suddenly swam. The room tilted. His eight-year-old knees buckled, and he collapsed toward the floor.
"Ren!" Elara shrieked, diving forward.
She caught him just before he hit the obsidian tiles, cradling his small body against her chest. Lyla rushed over, her massive face pale with panic.
Ren blinked heavily, looking up at Elara’s terrified face. He wasn't injured. He wasn't under attack.
"I'm fine, Elara," Ren mumbled, his eyelids drooping uncontrollably. "Biological limitation... I missed my afternoon nap... brain requires REM sleep to process..."
And with that, the terrifying Archmage who had just outsmarted the Royal Inquisition fell fast asleep, snoring softly in his Head Maid's arms.
Elara let out a shaky breath, hugging him close, a soft, helpless smile breaking through her panic. "He is too smart for his own body."
"I'll carry him up to bed," Lyla offered gently.
But Kira remained standing by the glass jar. The little fox-kin stared at the purple crystal, watching it vibrate, a deep, primal chill running down her spine. The crystal wasn't just a parasite.
It felt like it was listening.