Alvis was waiting impatiently for us, and opened a portal the moment we returned. “Come. We have no time to waste.”

“Shouldn’t we at least plan something in advance?” I argued quickly.

“No need. We’ll be found out as fake servants if we spend too long here. We just need to find Alois without drawing attention to ourselves,” Alvis replied coldly, “Though if you insist on some form of a plan, we’ll split up.”

Alvis walked through the portal without giving me a chance to reply. He easily regained his perfect butler poise and there was nothing unnatural or suspicious about his movements other than the fact he had just walked through a portal.

I took a deep breath and followed him through with Storm at my tail. We exited in a large corridor with no one around. The style was far different than Tethia or Beraud and perfectly suited a military kingdom. That being said, I had no idea which direction to head in and settled with the direction opposite Alvis.

The further I walked I began to realize that I was heading towards the core of the palace. Defences were higher and the people in the halls looked more and more important. Luckily, their servant uniforms seemed to be enough to allow them to be completely ignored. However as we continued I started to feel Alois’ unique magic.

This was going to be difficult. We were surrounded by enemy nobility and I couldn’t tell exactly where Alois was. If we guessed the wrong room it could end badly for us. No, even if we guessed the right room it could be bad.

As I was worrying, Storm suddenly took the lead and opened door to one of the rooms. It appeared to be some sort of study, and Storm began to neatly stack and organize the books on the desk. I followed suit by cleaning up trash and organizing papers. The door shut behind us, and as luck would have it, no one was in the room.

I could feel Alois’ magic even more strongly now. No, rather than his magic, what I was feeling was the magic of the Eye. This room only had one door, but I felt Alois’ magic here far stronger than in the corridor. Perhaps was there some sort of secret passageway?

I scanned the room carefully, especially the bookshelves. Bookshelves were a classic for secret passageways. Other than bookshelves there was always trap doors since they could be easily hidden. We likely didn’t have long to search for it. I quickly searched the bookshelves while Storm carefully examined the floor.

Storm suddenly gestured to the legs and I noticed something strange. They seemed to be attached to the floor. I moved to assist Storm in trying to move the desk. We were surprisingly able to move it. The floor under the desk slid up slightly and then aside to reveal a stairway. Storm instantly leapt down and gestured for me to follow.

The stairway led to a secret dungeon lit by torches. Currently, the dungeon seemed to only have one occupant. Alois. I rushed over.

“Alois! Are you alright?” I demanded.

He looked up with a wince. “Be careful,” he warned, “I don’t think she left yet.”

I whipped around just in time to see Primera approaching with a knife. She missed me and stopped. When she turned back to face me she looked a little sad. “I’m sorry,” she whispered before diving at me again. She was fast, but not as fast as Storm.

Storm grabbed her and pressed her into the wall before pricking her with a needle coated in some kind of poison. “Don’t worry. I haven’t killed her,” he assured me, “I likely would have if she was acting of her own will, though.”

“Are you sure that’s wise?” a woman asked as she stepped down the last few steps. “Right now you are invading and damaging royal property.”

“Who are you?” I asked, instantly on edge.

The woman smiled. “As I thought. You aren’t real servants. You must be Tethians. I don’t know how you got here so fast, but you should surrender while you can. Alvis is already in our hands,” she warned, “As for me, I am Kalorvia's queen.”

“There is no way Alvis surrendered to you,” Alois growled.

“You certainly have a lot of faith in your mentor, but there is no other possible outcome. He walked into the trap we laid for him in the dungeon. It was lucky that we happened to have a prisoner resembling his prized apprentice there already.”

Storm hummed. “Interesting. Not a bad plan, but I think it might backfire if he actually falls for it,” he mused, “You should hope that he does not. This kingdom doesn’t seem the type to keep their prisoners in good condition.”

The queen frowned. “You are bluffing,” she accused.

However, that was when a large explosion shook the entire castle. I shivered as I could not imagine the Alvis that avoided violence at all costs creating such destruction that sound must have caused.

I quickly tried to contact with with a communication charm. “We found Alois. He is being held in a secret dungeon.”

There was another bang, smaller but closer, and the steps leading to the secret dungeon crumbled. After the steps were gone Alvis jumped straight down and immediately met eyes with the queen. “So this is where the last rat was hiding,” he muttered, his tone dark and chilling, “I would like to avoid dragging innocent civilians into this matter so let’s settle things here.”

With a tug of magic a man who was likely the king was dragged down into the dungeon. The king was pale and trembling even though he appeared uninjured.

“What do you want?” the queen demanded, her face harsh.

“Simple, two things,” Alvis replied, “First, I wish for my pupil back. Second, I will take you two as prisoners of war and only return you when a new ruler is crowned and they sign a nonaggression pact with Tethia.”

“That is absurd,” the queen spat.

“You simply set your sights too high,” Alvis told her, “If you had left me out of it, I would have restrained myself and remained uninvolved. You would have last anyway, but it would have been a fair victory at war. Now you will lose your kingdom and be black marks in the history of Kalorvia forever. You might even be erased from that history to hide their shame.”

“No one will agree to do what you want,” the queen growled, losing her formal elegance and regality and seeming more like a wild animal.

“You have five children. I am sure I can convince one of them,” Alvis replied calmly, “And if that doesn’t work there is always the branch family.”

Storm approached the queen and stuck her with another poison needle and quickly did the same to the king as well. “We should leave for now,” he pointed out.

“Yes,” Alvis agreed and broke the bars of Alois’ cell before opening a portal for them to return. Storm took Primera and the queen and Alvis continued to drag the king behind him.

As I helped Alois through the portal I glanced back at the destruction that had been left behind. Even though Alvis had still not taken any lives, his power was certainly chilling enough to be mistaken for a deity.

“Cassandra,” Alvis called once we were through the portal, “I am letting you know now, but I will be reporting the details of this incident, including your mistake. You need to take responsibility for your carelessness.”

“I will,” I promised. I had also been torn by the guilt.

“Good,” Alvis replied, and he finally seemed to relax.