As Hei Yang stepped out of a burning shadow atop a mountain within the Sixth Forbidden Zone, she found Morgan waiting for her.

“Had a nice chat?” asked the Black Widow.

Hei Yang nodded. “It was nice. We came to an agreement. I’ll be guarding his family against up to two attempts against their life and joining his team for the Swayamvar. I’ve done what we agreed upon. Now it’s your turn to uphold your part of the deal.”

Morgan felt a strong urge to rub her forehead. She had been the one who had negotiated the deal with Hei Yang, and the Council of Demigods had voted that she be the one in charge of all future dealings with this Demigod of new promote.

Hei Yang had been the only winner of the war. What was supposed to be a confrontation between Regiis and the Shogunate had become an opportunity for her to butt in and extort both parties in return for her continued non-interference.

In the end she had managed to finagle the Crimson Coyote Territory out of Regiis and extracted a promise from the Shogunate to never attack any territory under her control during her lifespan. And if the information Morgan’s clone in the Heavenly Court had passed on to her recently was correct, Hei Yang had even convinced Huaxia into granting her the Heavenly Wolf territory.

But these were only the primary conditions of the deal. The full document had consisted of several additional pages of economic and political transactions.

Morgan had very little time for careful consideration when she had accepted the terms of Hei Yang’s deal and it was only now that various troublesome facets of it were making themselves known. The entire thing was a logistic nightmare.

“Yes, yes. Regiis will keep its word. The Emperor has already been informed. A decree will be passed within a month, granting you dominion over the South-eastern Province. There will be no objections raised as long as you accept that your entire territory is a vassal of Regiis, pay your tithe on time…”

“…and help Mars Felidae win the Swayamvar while keeping him out of harm’s way.” Hei Yang completed the sentence for her. “Done.”

The corner of Morgan’s lip quirked upwards. “This is the busiest I’ve been in the past century… you sure know how to give an old lady a hard time.”

“A bit of mental activity is good for the elderly,” Hei Yang shot back. “It keeps them from going senile.”

The two Demigods stared at each other for a tense moment before both of them broke into soft chuckles.

Despite her animosity towards Hei Yang for the losses Regiis had to shoulder because of her, Morgan couldn't help but admire the woman a little. All her conditions had been just right. They had perfectly touched upon the bottom line of the nations involved, never exceeding them. And each condition was a setup for the one that came after.

Take for example, the agreement with the Shogunate that they wouldn't attack any territory under Hei Yang’s control. If it wasn’t for that, Regiis wouldn't have been so amenable towards giving up the South-eastern province despite her promise that it would remain a vassal state. After all, giving her control over the province effectively stopped the Shogunate from taking any action against it in the future after they had rested and built up their strength. That in turn had freed up the armies that were currently assigned to guarding the border. Losing the Marine Palace had weakened Regiis’ combat potential. The possibility of freeing up some military force wasn’t something that could just be ignored.

And, come to think of it, wasn’t it Hei Yang who had ensured that Regiis lost the Marine Palace by interfering in the war...

Link within link within link…

Morgan smiled. “You’re quite interesting, you know? We might just end up as friends.”

“We just might.” Hei Yang agreed.

A large cloud passed by overhead, dragging a thin veil of shadow across the land. When the sun finally peeked out from behind it, there was no one left on top of the mountain.

//

After the conclusion of my talk with Master, he left through a portal of black flames. Soon afterwards, the monochrome barrier that blocked off my room dissipated and the colours rushed back.

‘Maybe I should call him the Shogun now… or the Grand Vizier of the new nation Hei Yang is going to found.’

I ran a hand through my hair and sighed. It was a lot to take in at once. After all, it wasn’t every day that you learnt that the man you thought was your most intimate teacher, was actually the exiled leader of an enemy nation in disguise. I was feeling overwhelmed.

I looked down at the thick journal lying down upon the table. According to Master – I keep thinking of him as that, don’t I? – it contained all of his attainments on magic. Including his current path of the Warlock. In it, he had also described the process of how he had survived the shattering of his mindscape. Something which was extremely valuable – priceless actually – for any Tier 5 peak mage who wanted to promote to the next stage. For father’s sake, it wasn’t something I could actually refuse.

‘Master probably calculated that,’ I couldn't help but suspect. Knowing that he had been lying to me for years on end meant that from now on, I would be taking each word and every action of his with a pinch of salt. I would be looking for a plot behind every gift.

Trust is something very difficult to regain once lost.

Leaving the journal there, I returned to my bedroom to address the other consequence of this sudden visit. I found only one clone of the Dark Sun sitting on my bed looking rather bored. The one that was a spitting image of Hei Lian.

“Where did she go?” I asked about the other one.

She shot me a disdainful look. “She didn’t want to waste time sitting around while two grown men swapped sob stories. She’s probably infiltrated your housekeeping staff by now.”

The corner of my eye twitched. Yeah… not only did she look like Hei Lian, she sounded like her too.