Supreme Magus

Chapter 4423: A Friend in Need (Part 1)

"Nice toys." Lith refused to admit defeat. "Where did you get the idea, and what are they made of?"

"Fine, I’ll play along." Brinja turned to look at the blue gemstone of her amulet and took off her glasses. "I didn’t make those toys and have no idea what they are made of. Manohar, I mean, Dhiral gifted them to Milla after their last playdate.

"He called them ’an interactive aid to grasp the elemental structure of the world around us’. He said he shaped them from some kind of foam he grew himself. I was too stunned to follow the rest of his lecture."

"You’re kidding, right?" Lith could see the first magic rune of each element engraved over and over into the texture of the corresponding toy, forming cartoonish patterns that a baby like Milla would memorize by both touch and sight.

"I wish." As Brinja spoke, Milla squeezed the red toy that emitted a sound that sounded a lot like a baby word for Infiro. "That boy terrifies me, but if he can help my daughter learn magic, Dhiral will always be welcome in my house.

"Now, if we have talked long enough to ease your guilty conscience, do you mind telling me what you want? I have work to do."

"Okay." Lith told her about Locrias’ conversation with the man from Ghishal and the news he had delivered.

He also shared with Brinja the results of his research and the impression he had gotten after talking with Keyla.

"At that point, I thought that if she’s not willing to open up with me about her problems, calling Jadon would have been useless. He and Keyla are a tight team. He would have stuck to her same story, and I would have started to second-guess myself."

"It happens when you’re paranoid and see shadows lurking around every corner." She nodded. "Except that, in your case, most of the time you’re right. Calling me was the right thing to do.

"The Larks and all the minor nobles in the Distar Region answer to me. They need my permission to make any significant change to their fiefs. If something fishy is going on, someone must have mentioned it."

She stored the mountain of paperwork inside her dimensional amulet, making space for the most recent accounts from the Ghishal County. It was barely enough. Brinja’s desk was even more cluttered with piles of documents than before.

"That’s the recent paperwork from Ghishal only?" Lith was flabbergasted. "Isn’t it too much?"

"No, if you consider that this is a record of everything that happened in the County during winter. From the small villages to the cities, everyone has to report to the local lords, who in turn report to me.

"It’s one of the many reasons having loyal retainers like the Larks is so important. Since I trust their judgment, I don’t have to read every detail of their reports. They don’t embezzle funds and don’t harass commoners, so they barely need my supervision."

Her expression hardened as she sifted through the documents. Brinja organized the reports into several piles, and the more ordered her desk became, the more her eyes narrowed and her frown lines became deeper.

"I didn’t remember anything noteworthy happening in Ghishal, and I was right." She said after a while. "That man was telling the truth about the criminals of Lustria moving, but it’s not a phenomenon limited to Ghishal.

"They spread evenly in all the neighboring territories. They caused a spike in the local crime rates and many people got injured in the ensuing power struggle, but it was nothing dramatic.

"Just the aftershock you’d expect from the sudden influx of powerful players with the means and manpower to carve out a place for themselves in Ghishal’s underworld."

"Then why are you making that face?" Lith asked.

"Because these reports are months old." She replied. "Nobles don’t call me every other day unless there is an emergency, especially during winter. The man Locrias met in Lutia is bound to have more recent information than I do.

"Moreover, even before the snowstorms cut all communications that didn’t go through amulets, there was one oddity that I missed in the reports. The caravans attacked by the bandits were mostly domestic trade.

"Only a few of the richest caravans moving out of Ghishal suffered more robberies than usual, and none of those coming and going to Lustria were affected. I have too few elements to assess the situation yet, but I can see a pattern already.

"I’ll have to make a lot of calls to get a better picture of the situation."

"Thanks." Lith nodded. "Please keep me posted. I’m going to pay the Larks a visit and see if they keep lying to my face even after I reveal the few pieces of the puzzle already in my hand."

"I’ll do better." Brinja replied. "I’ll keep you posted and share with you the merits for any issue we might uncover. The Crown made you the Protector of Lustria and a Spellbreaker. This counts as taking care of the Kingdom."

"Thanks, Brinja. Lith out." He warned his family of his departure but not the Larks of his arrival.

Lith moved to the tower, using the Warping Mirror to cover a long distance in a single step.

"Wait for me!" Solus appeared right after he finished inputting the dimensional coordinates. "The Larks are also my friends. I want to come too."

"Then I must ask you to take your ring form." Lith replied.

"What? Why?" Solus blinked several times in confusion.

"Because even though you know the Larks as well as I do, they barely know you." He sighed. "You didn’t get your body until recently, and Jadon and Keyla haven’t met you outside of Royal Galas.

"Whatever is going on, they don’t feel comfortable enough to share it with me. Now, things might change if I see them face to face, but not if I bring along someone that they consider a stranger.

"They would take my interest in their trouble as an active investigation instead of the wish of a concerned friend to help them."

"Damn, if I hate it when you’re right." Solus gave up on her physical body and entered the stone ring. "Leave the tower here. It won’t help us, but it will protect everyone else."

Lith needed less than a minute to cover the hundreds of kilometers that separated the Verhen Mansion from the Lark Household. He landed at a safe distance from the main gate, giving the guards time to recognize him before he got too close.

"Magus Verhen, we weren’t expecting you today." A blonde man with captain’s stripes on his shoulders gave Lith a salute. "Is there something wrong? Do you need assistance?"

"Not at all, Captain." Lith returned the salute. "I just decided to pay a visit to Count and Countess Lark. I hope they can spare a few minutes for me."

"Most certainly." The man nodded. "Please, wait here."

Normal guards couldn’t afford a communication amulet, so the captain had to send his fastest soldier running to the main building to relay the request. Lith could feel the gazes of young and old men sizing him up like an exotic beast from the legends.