Janie and I got into the carriage, at Vodurn’s invitation. I could have run to the Palace faster, but I suspected that any time I saved would have been lost in convincing the guards to let me in. Vodurn sat across from us, wearing a genial smile.

“This is a surprise, Councillor,” he said. “I was under the impression that you were saving us all in the Maze of the Forsaken Giant.”

“Everyone in the castle got notified that the Break was over,” I said. “I got out sometime last night, and went straight to bed.”

“Have the rest of your party been hiding themselves as well? The King is most eager to hear the tale of your bravery.”

“We met up with Duke Finley, but got separated after that,” I admitted. “I managed to acquire a token that teleported me out, so I don’t know how they fared.”

“I see.” He paused, looking at me intently.

“You’ve dropped your rhyming thing,” I said, to fill up the gap. He smirked.

“I had thought my affectation was seen by you more as an affliction,” he said. “If it’s not amusing, then alterations must be made, to retain your affections.”

I grimaced. I could hear it that time, though I still didn’t see it as funny. A glance over at Janie, though, told me that he still had it.

“That wasn’t a complaint, and I’m not sure that now is the time for wordplay,” I said.

“Oh? Is not now a time for celebration?” he asked.

I stared at him. “Do you… not know that another obelisk was sabotaged?”

“Ah, that. While it is concerning, it’s a matter for the King and his Order of the Long Name. Reserves are dwindling, but I’m assured they will have things fixed before things get desperate.”

“Will they?” I asked. “How long has it been since the first one failed.”

He shrugged. “The King has made his displeasure known— all efforts are being turned to the problem, I am assured.”

“The King… I need to speak with him, right away.”

Vodurn waved a lazy hand, “He wishes to speak with you as well,”

“Not at his earliest convenience. I need him to authorise a Guild deployment on the streets.”

“The Guild are not entirely in favour at the moment,” Vodurn said with a thin smile. “The Guildmaster’s actions may have proved necessary, but they were hasty and ill-thought. Many of his men are still under arrest from that night.”

“He’ll need to release them, we’ll need everyone for this,” I muttered.

“I find that idea highly unlikely. And what would he need them for?” Vodurn asked.

“You’re not a mage, you can’t see it… but the King has mages, right? To advise him?”

“Of course, but…” Vodurn hesitated. “His most trusted magical advisers were sent to King’s Isle, to fight off Shadthe.”

“Of course,” I groaned. “Well, the problem is that all this loose mana spilling about is causing knots and vortexes, which are going to start Spawning monsters soon.”

“Oh, I wouldn’t worry about that,” Vodurn said with relief. “The wards on the walls prevent any Spawn Points from forming.”

“Wards on the walls,” I said, as if this wasn’t news to me. “That filter incoming mana. They don’t do anything if you dump a load of mixed mana inside the walls.”

Vodurn looked at me, his air of unconcern slowly fading away.

“Perhaps we can go a little faster,” he said, standing up and thumping three times on the carriage roof.

* * *

Despite the urgency, I still had to wait for a while in the dining hall. It meant I got to eat, at least. The rest of my crew found me, and I caught them all up on what had gone down.

“Which reminds me… can everyone [Identify] this?” I asked, pulling out the Aegis. There was a long pause as everyone with the skill took in the description. The long, useful description.

“That can’t be right, can it?” Felicia said. “I’ve never seen an [Identify] like that.”

“It seems powerful… if expensive to use,” Janie mused. “And… not very useful, under most circumstances.”

“Yeah. If I had to guess, this is—” I was gong to say more but Felicia gave me a significant look. Turning to look in that direction, I saw that Aubert was approaching the edge of our [Privacy] bubble. He started when I looked at him, but swallowed and kept moving forward.

“Lord Aubert,” I said, when he had come close enough to hear me. “You’re looking well.”

I kept the bubble up— no reason not to, and you never knew when someone might say something that shouldn’t be overheard. Particularly when that someone was Aubey.

“I heard,” he said, “that you might have news of Lord Finley. Did he really stage a coup?”

I blinked. The coup was such old news that I’d forgotten about it.

“Is the King keeping everyone in the dark?” I asked.

“Yes,” he said, simply. “Ever since the fighting, there’s been no announcements. People— important people— are just missing, and there’s been no word on what’s going on.”

“I see…” I thought for a minute if I wanted to spill the beans. It wasn’t like I’d signed an NDA or anything. His majesty really should be getting ahead of this, I thought.

“The short version,” I said, “is that his coup was sprung early. The Guild-master attacked Finley’s men and they defended themselves… but despite what the Guild-master thought the soldiers weren’t on the streets to start the coup. So it’s all a bit of a wash, and I think Finley will get away with it.”

“What? Why? Surely the King won’t…”

“You were the one who told me,” I explained. “No evidence… if Finley says the men were there to help with the Break, then no one gets to deny that, right? So he’ll walk.”

“Walk where?”

“Walk away from this, without any consequences,” I said, irritated at having to explain the idiom.

Aubert cursed furiously. “His majesty can’t let him get away with this! An attempt on the throne…”

“Don’t ask me what the throne is going to do,” I said. “But his Majesty has bigger problems at the moment.”

“What could be a bigger problem than treachery?” Aubert asked.

I paused before answering him, struck by a sudden thought.

“You’ve got guards with you, right?”

“They’re not necessary in the Palace, but I have ten men as an honour guard in case I need to go anywhere,” he replied.

“And there are a lot of useless nobles like yourself, just sitting around court waiting for the King to notice you.”

He bristled at being called useless, but he didn’t actually protest. “There are a number of nobles waiting at court for one reason or another— as are you.”

“How many of them are you on speaking terms with?”

“Perhaps fifteen or twenty? Where are you going with this?”

“In a few hours, or maybe less, monsters are going to start spawning in the city,” I told him. He stiffened with shock.

“What? How?”

“Never mind that right now. I’m trying to get the King to approve deployment of the Adventurer’s Guild… but if you and your buddies can get two hundred guards out on the streets right now, you can save a lot of lives.”

“I don’t think…” he glanced at my expression, and quickly qualified, “…Yes, yes, saving lives, I’m all for it. But most of my peers…”

“Fine. Three things,” I said, ticking them off on my fingers. “One— I’m guessing most of them don’t have slots in the local dungeons, so this is experience there for the taking.”

Aubey nodded thoughtfully. “Most of us are a bit stuck while they stay here.”

“Two. Being seen on the streets, saving people, will make them seem like heroes to the people,” I said. “Whatever it is they’re here to achieve, will be easier for them if there are people cheering their name. Save enough people, and the King might notice.”

Aubey pursed his lips, but nodded thoughtfully. I could see the idea blooming in his eyes. Making a name for himself with the people might just be enough to get the King to confirm his title.

“And finally,” I added. “If they do this through the guild, and I get this deployment authorised, they can get paid for it. It might be not much, compared to what they’re used to, but it will be more than they normally get for killing monsters.

“I will gather them, my lady,” Aubey said. From the look on his face, he seemed to immediately realise his slip, but he pressed on. “I’m not sure how many yet, but we will be on the streets in two hours.”

He started to bow, caught himself, then turned on his heel and left.

“Remember when you asked if your Level was showing?” Janie asked as we watched him leave.

“What of it?”

She pointed to his retreating figure. “I’ll admit, you had him eating out of your hand before, but he would never have called you lady, before. You took control at the Guild like you were Voight himself. And you’ve got the King’s Fool running off to let the King know what you’ve got to say.”

“I’m being a bit more forceful, is what you mean?”

She sniggered, and the rest of my team broke into chuckles.

“Just a tad, yeah. The tiniest little bit,” she said.

“Well, you may have a point,” I admitted. “It’s just that since I woke up, there’s been this crisis and nobody except me seems to know about it, or what to do. Present company excluded, of course.”

“So, what do we do, then?” Kyle asked. “All this urgency, it seems strange to be sitting in a dining hall.”

“Yeah,” I sighed. “I have to stay here, in case the King wants to see me, but can you all go and defend my dungeon?”

“Are you sure?” Felicia asked. Janie didn’t say anything but looked mulish.

“I’m sure,” I said. “I’ll be safer here than anywhere, but Isabel’s all alone, defending those kids. Plus if any of the creatures gets into the Tower, Rhis will go insane.”

“Ugh, when you put it that way,” Janie said, “I guess we don’t have a choice.”

* * *

I never actually saw the King, at least not that day. A messenger from Vodurn found me after about an hour, letting me know that authorisation had been sent. Breathing a sigh of relief, I headed for the palace wall to see the results.

The Palace had its own wards, apparently, that ensured no Spawn Points would form within them. I could see with my own eyes that what little mana made it this far became thinned and orderly. So I focussed on the rest of the city.

It was chaos. Cities— at least cities in this era— were designed to keep threats like monsters out. They weren’t equipped to deal with them once they got inside. By the time I got to the wall, monsters had started spawning, slowly at first, but with increasing speed.

Many of the points had an adventurer, or a team, there beforehand. Those locations were a bit of a gamble. You didn’t know what kind of threat would come out, at least not at first. A few teams were overwhelmed by the monster that spawned, falling back or dying. That monster then had free range to terrorise until a higher-levelled defender could be found.

Most of the Guild members knew what they were doing though. Once formed, Spawn Points were fairly stable, putting out monsters at a constant rate and within a range of Threat values. As information came back to the Guild, patrols became more focussed, and bad match-ups became fewer.

The worst ones though, were the ones where no-one got to them in time. There just weren’t enough people. Between the town guards, the adventurers and the roving bands of nobles, there were perhaps seven hundred people to cover a huge, twisting network of streets and houses.

I wondered why the King’s guard weren’t being sent on the street, and from the looks on the faces of the men next to me on the wall, I wasn’t the only one. Discipline was held though, and I didn’t make things worse for them by voicing an opinion.

Things were… mostly under control, or getting there, when I spotted a small procession approaching the Palace. A small team of ten, moving with purpose. They weren’t patrolling randomly— though they did take care of a monster that happened to be nearby. It was only when they started fighting that I recognised them.

Kaito and his harem were out of the dungeon.