Gaius nibbled on his smoked sausage as Isabelle recounted the events of the past few months. She had metaphorically leaped through a whole bunch of flaming hoops in the past few months, and had managed to delay the execution of her family as a result. It was an admirable effort, but judging from the haggled look on her face, the Knight was at the end of her rope.

“Nagi’s been helping me the whole time, and—"

A messenger appeared from nowhere, interrupting her sentence to whisper something to her. Isabelle froze up at these words, her face a shade whiter than the snow in Heritage.

“Bad news, I presume.” Gaius looked at Isabelle, his face solemn.

“Yes.” Isabelle’s voice choked up. “They’re allowing me to see them before they head for the gallows.”

The boy was silent. “Then let’s go. If I’m to break them out, it’s best if we do this as stealthily as possible. I’m not going to make any promises, but I should be able to get them out of their current prison, at least.”

Isabelle’s gaze was slightly uncomfortable, but the boy forced himself to endure the overwhelming mix of emotions in her eyes. Taking a deep breath, he said, “Let’s go. Before we run out of time.”

He stuffed the rest of his sausage into his mouth and stood up. It was a waste of great-tasting food, but subordinates with tragic backstories usually never ended well. It was better if he could nip the problem in the bud…and watching people get killed for no legitimate reason was something he had no issue with preventing. Isabelle had explained it to him earlier — the new administration was clamping down on Houses who didn’t fall in line with them, and excuses like bad governance had been dumped onto the dissidents.

According to the Knight, House Lorenze had been administrating their namesake city well, to the point that when the Second Extermination started a decade ago, that House was the only one that had paid their dues to the South’s war council in time. In a cruel twist of fate, it was this phenomenal success that had drawn the eyes of many a tier-two city…and had served as fodder to justify the city’s mismanagement by House Lorenze.

Baits like amnesty and a stay of execution had been dangled in front of the members of House Lorenze once they had been captured and imprisoned by the mysterious helpers of the South’s new administration, a reformed Southern Assembly. As to how the Assembly was reformed, Isabelle was clueless, but it had dangled the possibility of letting them go free if House Lorenze renounced their rights of governance over their domain. The Knight had convinced the new Assembly to delay their sentencing by promising to get her family to follow the Assembly’s orders.

But once they did…

Gaius shook his head as he walked. It was a case of “You live as long as you resist”, but Isabelle was too inexperienced to know that. Coupled with the desire of her imprisoned family to get out of captivity, it didn’t take long for her words to find purchase.

The little boy had no doubt that if she were to come clean to her family at this juncture, all she would face were curses and accusations. Gaius narrowed his eyes somewhat. It wouldn’t do for that to happen.

“Isabelle,” said Gaius, “there’s a change of plans. We’re going to break your family out the moment you meet them. Between the two of us, we should be able to hold off the guards and escape in time.”

She looked at the boy, confused. Gaius, ignoring her inquisitive look, said, “I’ll have to make a detour for a moment. Go back to your lodgings. I’ll be back soon enough.”

At those words, Gaius turned invisible, tossed a teleportation marker at where he was at, and flew off.

The boy had long prepared an escape route for himself, by preparing a teleportation marker outside the city with the Astral Wind. But he needed to verify a few things — the number of people he could bring along with him for a single Blink, as well as any effects on the range. The first was easy…and the second required nothing short of extensive testing.

But both of them were tiresome. The boy shook his head and dived deep into his consciousness, bringing up the interface for the Astral Wind. He’d created a fair number of teleportation markers — one at Desin, one at Elinaris, and one at a clearing in the woods outside Lumari.

Gaius relaxed, and let the pulling sensation from Desin’s marker engulf him. A moment later, he’d returned to the fortified town, before making his way to Tetsu for some help.

“You need to test a teleportation artefact?” asked the man. “But these things are rare.”

“I’m trying to see if I can teleport multiple people with it,” said Gaius. “And you know how important keeping secrets like these are, so I came to you. It’s not going to take long, anyway, but I’m going to need forty volunteers.”

“Forty.”

“Yes, forty.” Isabelle’s entire family…or those who hadn’t succumbed to their wounds, anyway, numbered slightly less than eighty. If teleporting this many people worked, Gaius would only need to make two round trips, which would take less than five seconds, if everyone was cooperative.

“Alright,” said Tetsu. “This is not exactly part of our, uhh, employment contract, but we aren’t just bound by a master and follower bond, are we?”

“I’m quite sure I’m actually in a sponsor role, rather than anything else,” Gaius replied with a smile. “But thank you for your help anyway. I might be bringing back some manpower for administrative duties in a day or two too.”

“We’ll…cross that bridge if it comes,” Tetsu said. “For now, let’s get your experiments running, Your Excellency. And if possible…”

“Hmm?”

“Well, one or two of these artefacts might come in handy for us too.”

“I’ll think about it,” said Gaius. “It’s a proof of concept thing. If it works, and I succeed in pitching the idea to prospective manufacturers, getting you a whole bunch will be no issue.”

Obviously, it’s not going to succeed, thought Gaius. The whole thing is just a lie, but I guess they won’t need to know that. I’m sorry for lying to you, but I prefer having my capabilities hidden…I’ll try to get you lot some artefacts like that, though.