Chapter 411: Volume 8 Gathering of the Storms - 6 Filth_2
Against Tracy, Komer realized that his longing for her remained. That feeling had even grown stronger than before their conversation, though it was now purely a physical attraction and yearning. Tracy’s skillful teasing and insinuations had several times set Komer’s desire ablaze. Her body, delicate as porcelain, and her soul-stirring, plaintive moans echoed more than once in Komer’s mind, making the notion of having this woman submit under him once more an uncontrollable desire.
However, Tracy’s few well-timed comments had halted Komer on the brink of eruption. Komer wasn’t opposed to such a bare transaction, one bordering on the physical and political, yet now wasn’t the time. Vero, with her keen intuition, had already taken a special interest in the relationship between him and Tracy—a good omen, which he did not want to turn sour. Perhaps another time and place would present the best opportunity, but not now.
The response Komer gave to Tracy was naturally ambiguous. He presented his demands: lifting the embargo on food and weapons from the other regions of Homer and reinstating the tariffs to their original levels. This was a precondition set by Komer, to which Tracy also responded that she would convey these views to Duke Philip after returning to Cyprus. Komer held no hope for such diplomatic promises, suspecting that everything would stay the same.
Walking around the square, Komer felt an indescribable comfort suffusing his body, as if someone had suddenly entered the warm ocean naked—a sense of returning, as though even the air turned lively and vigorous. The sunshine seemed to lose its scorching heat, becoming somewhat dim and pale, yet it was a bright kind of dimness that brought no sting or scorching. Bathed in it, one might even feel cleansed of all dust and impurities.
Komer looked up at the sky in surprise. The sky had turned an odd shade of light blue, completely different from the clear azure it had been just outside the castle. Meanwhile, something unusual seemed to be happening to the obelisk in the middle of the square, with auspicious Qi Lights encircling it. Successive distortions appeared in the space, but they didn’t last long. As a sharp, piercing noise erupted, the lights vanished, the space blurred and wavered, and everything returned to calm. The sky was again a deep blue, the statues remained statues, and the stele still stood at the center of the square.
It was then that Komer noticed several men dressed as mages standing around the center of the square, still inspecting something along the outskirts of the boundary gutter. It turned out these fellows were up to mischief.
The center of the square had always housed an Ancient Starry Sky Magic Array, but without a divine artifact and magic incantations to channel and guide it, this huge Star Magic could not be activated. Both were indispensable. Nevertheless, it seemed that these men had just been on the verge of activating the Magic Array, only to ultimately fail. Komer realized what he had seen and felt was a spatial distortion triggered by the initial release of magic power during the attempted activation of the Star Magic Array.
Rebry looked at his Magic Wand, now turned to ash, with annoyance.