“On my way.” Cruz replied immediately with the other soon confirming the call as well.

The loremaster and the paladin made their way over to the manor, Euric greeting them as they entered.

“Please tell Dana to prepare some tea. The others will be here in a few minutes.”

“Of course, sir.” The butler acknowledged as he turned around and left toward the dining hall.

A few minutes later the rest of the outlanders had arrived as well, all of them visibly nervous. They all gathered in the dining room, the air almost tangible with the silence that lasted for a few moments.

“What is it this time?” Cruz broke the awkward silence as they sat down.”

“Prince Merron is dead:” Regis stated.

“That’s the bad prince, right?” Sophie asked back.

“Yes. He was said to be the more troublesome one.”

“What happened?” Osmond questioned. “Did he get assassinated or something?”

“Not exactly.” Quentin remarked as he turned to the loremaster.

After Dana brought the tea for them, Regis proceeded to explain what Zola and the others had told him along with his own theories. Throughout the explanation, the group’s expression slowly morphed from mildly relieved to downright troubled.

“Someone’s definitely planned this,” Valerie remarked with her brother nodding in agreement. “This is a clear generation switch strategy.”

“Agreed,” Osmond spoke up. “They took out the old dogs in one fell swoop and replaced them with a bunch of loyalist descendants. I bet you ten gold the so-called ‘liberation’ they decreed is meant to kill off the last few opposing old lords and put more compliant people in their positions.”

“Most likely the prince’s trusted bootlickers or a few upstart outlanders who are eager to prove themselves.”

“So… what are we going to do now?” Mary asked the important question.

“First of all, we’ll call for a gathering at the town hall and declare the end of the succession war.”

“Are you sure that’s a good idea? I mean, it’s clear that someone is pulling the strings behind the scenes. Shouldn’t we instead prepare for the worst?”

“There’s only so much pressure and bad news the people can handle,” Quentin stated. “They need something to give them hope and the end of the succession war should give them just that.”

“It should calm down the people,” Fabien agreed. “In the meantime, we should prepare for any unwelcome visitors.”

“Does this mean that we can open the trade channels again?” Tristan asked, looking at the dark elf quizzically. “We built up a large stock of goods during these past few weeks and we desperately need the coin.”

“Yes,” Regis nodded. “Trade can continue, but we must first make sure that the market is ready. We need to make the most out of our stocks. Valerie, could you take Nina to East Fork and Rust-well Keep to see what’s in high demand?”

“Sure thing. I wanted to see if there was a market for my wine anyway.”

“I guess that’s it for now,” the dark elf said as he stood up from his seat. “Thanks for dropping by.”

“What should we tell the people?” Amanda stopped for a moment. “When will the meeting be held?”

“Noon, as usual.”

“See you there, pal.” Osmond patted his shoulder as the rest of the group left the manor.

Once everyone was gone, Regis slumped down on the chair and let out a deep breath.

“Are you alright, milord?” Euric asked in a worried tone, earning a sigh from the dark elf.

“I’m fine, just a bit tired is all. On the bright side of things, we can all breathe up a bit for now.”

“Indeed. If you don’t mind, I’ll go and tell the good news to my wife.”

“Go ahead,” the dark elf nodded. “I’m sure she’ll be happy to hear it.”

Euric left toward the kitchen and Regis too found it best to take his mind off the recent events. He had a few more hours until the supposed gathering at the town hall, so he might as well put it to good use. Being the workaholic he was, Regis relaxed by spending the following hours tinkering away at enchantments and spell scrolls until he heard a knock on the workshop door.

“Milord,” Euric called out to him. “It’s about time to head out.”

The loremaster looked at his arcane wristwatch and noticed that it showed a quarter to twelve. He put down the ring he was working on and headed toward the door.

“Thanks for reminding me,” he said after opening the door. “I almost forgot about it.”

“Don’t mention it, sir. And good luck.”

Regis gave the butler a slight nod before leaving the manor and heading toward the town hall. The place was already full of nervous people, the suddenness of the gathering doing no good for the people’s mood.

“Greetings everyone and thank you all for coming, despite such short notice.” He started his speech after reaching the small podium.

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The townsfolk quieted down as they looked at him nervously. Regis let out a sigh as he decided to keep it short and simple this time.

“I called you all here because we have received news that the succession war has ended.”

His words earned a hushed murmur among the people, the tangible nervousness not lessening at all.

“We have been told that the winner of the succession is Prince Mikkel the Second. I hope I don’t have to explain that this is good news for us as he is said to be a rational and just person like his father was.”

Now the atmosphere started to change for the better with the people simultaneously letting out relieved sighs.

“Although there is still some tension throughout the kingdom, we have agreed on opening the trade channels once again. Valerie will help Nina reach out to our trade partners to see what’s in demand and we’ll hopefully have what they need, but that’s a matter of for the following days. For now, what’s important for you to know is that the war has ended and it did so with far fewer casualties than anyone would have expected.”

The explanation gave way to several excited whispers, the thought of commerce returning to its original flow making many of the townsfolk excited. Trading was the third main life source of most settlements after agriculture and hunting. Even temporarily losing it would put a town at risk of running out of important supplies. Regis could only hope that Nina managed to jump-start her trading contracts as soon as possible because both his wallet as well as Thornfell’s treasury were utterly empty.

“This is all for now.” He ended the meeting, the people taking this as their cue to leave.

Their happy chattering as they left made the dark elf let out a relieved sigh.

“All things considered, it went pretty well.” Osmond remarked as he and Cruz walked closer to the loremaster.

“Part of me wants to say we should celebrate,” Cruz added. “But another part of me is just happy that this shit is finally over.”

“You just want an excuse to have a drink.” The bone puppeteer rolled his eyes as the three of them joined the crowd that left the town hall.

“I don’t need an excuse for that. Besides, we have things to do.”

“You do?” Regis asked with a genuine surprise.

“Os has lessons to hold and I promised Durnan that we’ll help out Druig with a rather nasty and oversized mole he wants dead.”

“Sounds fun.”

“What about you,” Osmond asked the loremaster. “What’s your plan for the rest of today?”

“I… I don’t really know. I haven’t thought about it yet. To be honest, most of my daily tasks revolved around war preparations for the past few days. Now that it’s over…”

“Feeling a bit lost?” Valerie asked as she joined the group with her brother by her side.

“Yeah. Sort of.”

“Maybe you should take a bit of time for yourself,” Fabien remarked. “Relax a bit. Leave the official matters to Tristan and just kick back for a day or two.”

“Regis, lazing around? Is that even possible?” Cruz joked as she looked at the dark elf.

“Very funny. I know how to relax, okay?”

“I know that you know how to do it,” the wood elf shrugged. “I just doubt that you’re capable of doing so.”

“Yeah, yeah. Laugh all you want.” The loremaster flipped the bird toward Cruz as he left the group behind.

He made his way toward the manor where he was greeted by Euric, the butler ever so busy keeping the place in top shape.

“Would you like some tea prepared, milord?” Euric inquired as the dark elf opened the door leading to the hallway where his study and workshop were.

“That would be great. Thanks.”Once he entered his study, his eyes wandered to the nearby bookshelf. ‘There are a few pieces I haven’t had the time to read yet. They might actually prove to be a decent enough distraction’ He thought as he stepped beside the bookshelf, picking up a few of the lighter tomes. Regis sat down behind his desk, leaning back on the sturdy yet comfortable chair as he turned to the first page of a book which recorded the misadventures of a dwarf druid called Dortmund Shale. It was hard to decide whether the book was a biography or a nature guide, but it mattered little as the loremaster found the tome to be good read.

Euric soon brought over the tea with some baked tea snacks. Even though the books he picked were interesting, barely two hours later he put down the one he was holding while letting out a sigh. ‘Fuck it.’ He thought as he put the books back in place before leaving and locking up his study. Cruz seems to have been right about him not being able to sit idly by for long. Regis didn’t know what to make of it. He knew he was somewhat of a workaholic, but this was something else. He had to admit that the second prince had pulled an excellent scheme. Prince Merron was dead and most of those who were loyal to him were also dead, replaced by their descendants who swore their allegiance to Mikkel the Second.

All in all, the kingdom would face relative stability now, yet he was anxious. ‘Am I really getting overly paranoid?’ He thought to himself as he headed over to his workshop. It all felt too fast and smooth. How did the prince manage to not only plan but execute his plan so fast? Dozens of theories coursed through his mind as he grabbed materials and drew wards on his work tables, his focus evenly split between what he thought and what he did. ‘Could he have planned all this from the get-go?’ He mused as the runic circle came to life beneath his touch. ‘Damn it! This is getting annoying. It’s none of my business. As long as he keeps himself to his kingdom, that should be good enough for us.’ Regis closed the discussion in his mind, turning all of his focus to the matter at hand.

The ‘domain heart’ was the most powerful diagram the dark elf got from his encounter with the arcanite monolith and now that the immediate threat of the war no longer loomed over them, he finally had the time to try and recreate it. Of course, that was easier said than done. From a technical standpoint, this 'heart' was an oversized arcanite crystal ball surrounded by several rune-infused rings, making it look similar to a gyroscope. Just the part of it being made out of a basketball-sized arcanite made the endeavour quite difficult for anyone to pull off. Even with his crystal magic and transmutation alchemy combined, it would take him a lot of time to create and fuse together enough of the precious arcane crystal. From the time he started working on it until dinner, Regis only managed to create two apples-sized arcanite stones.

‘This is going to take a day or two.’ He remarked after Euric came by to inform him that dinner was ready. It went by peacefully with the warm food and the vine Valerie sent over being a perfect combination. The quiet of the night allowed for a good rest and the following three days passed by uneventfully as well for the people of Thornfell. Regis finally managed to create and fuse together enough arcanite to finish the core of the domain heart he’d been working on. He had already used transmutation alchemy to shape the three steel rings that would rotate around the core and was about to re-read the runic diagram in his book when the far-caller in his ear began to hum with power before Quentin's voice resounded in it.“The soldiers at the mountain pass just sent word over that we have visitors. They are set to be friendly, though I wasn’t told anything else about it.”

“Give me a few minutes and I’ll be at the gateway.” The dark elf answered as he put down the book and stood up from his seat.

“I’ll meet you there.” The paladin agreed as his voice faded from the magical earpiece.