When the loremaster reached Landwaker Square after a few minutes of walking, he found three of his companions waiting for him. Beside Quentin whom he was supposed to meet, he found a fully armed Amanda and Osmond standing there as well.

“Are you expecting trouble or something?” He asked the others, earning a slight head shake.

“I just wanted to get some fresh air,” Amanda replied. “I noticed Quentin and Osmond when I came out from the smithy and asked them what was going on. When Osmond told me that you were heading toward the mountain pass, I figured one more person wouldn’t hurt.”

“Ask for me,” the bone puppeteer sighed as the barrier around the gateway got deactivated. “Quentin dropped by to have a look at Cruz after she returned from her hunt with Durnan and that’s when he received the news about our visitors. I tagged along instead of Cruz since she’s dead tired.”

“Let’s hope it’s going to be a quick trip then.” Regis shrugged as they stepped onto the runic circle.

The light of the runes lit up and swallowed the group, spitting them out into the secret room of the mountain pass. As the four got out to join the guards atop the battlements, the sight of a fancy carriage and a couple of knights wearing the coat of arms of House Andrade greeted them.

“Why the hell are the royal family’s people here?” Osmond asked surprised as they noticed one of the guards knocking on the door of the carriage.

It opened up and a well-dressed man got out of it, walking closer to the gates with well-measured steps.

“Open the gates!” Regis commanded with a sigh as he and Quentin walked down to meet their visitor.

Once they were a good five or so metres away from the elegant man and the knights, Regis stopped.

“Greetings, Lord Regis Thorne!” The man said as he walked closer, escorted by a pair of knights, only to stop at a roughly two metres distance from the dark elf and the paladin.

“And a good day to you as well,” the loremaster replied with a slight nod. “My apologies for the... strained atmosphere and a lack of proper etiquette, but recent events made us slightly more wary of visitors.”

“An understandable sentiment, your lordship,” the man nodded amicably. “I would also like to apologize for appearing at short notice. I am here on behalf of King Mikkel the Second.”

“I must admit,” Regis sighed as he heard the name. “I didn’t expect a visitor on his majesty’s behalf so soon after his rise to the throne. If at all. I did prepare a congratulatory gift for his ascension, although I planned to pass it along through Lady Vidal at a later date.”

“That is mighty kind of you,” the messenger replied with a surprisingly genuine smile as he pulled out a sealed scroll from the embroidered satchel on his side, breaking it open. “His Majesty wishes to express his gratitude for your aid in the defence of the territory of Lady Zola Vidal. He understands that you wanted to stay unmentioned regarding the matter to uphold your ‘supposed’ neutrality in the succession war, yet still provided aid to her ladyship as her ally in her time of need. King Mikkel would also like to express his gratitude regarding the matter of Lord Graham Avellanet.”

“He also knows about that?” Quentin couldn’t stop himself from asking.

“Both His Majesty and the lords of the surrounding territories were informed about the matter regarding the demonic collaborators of the Avellanet territories. It didn’t require too much effort to find out the whole truth of the events.”

“Did this ‘truth’ also include the origin of the collaborators and the reason behind their attacks on my territory?” Regis asked with his tone turning slightly colder.

“Indeed,” the messenger nodded. “Our investigation revealed the third prince’s involvement in the matter. As you must be aware, the third prince had been banished from the royal family by the late king, but it seems that his sentence of solitude was not enough. King Mikkel the First banished him to a small and remote territory to live out his life in exile, but there was a condition to that.”

“Let me guess,” Regis cut into the man’s explanation. “He was to behave himself and not to do anything that would make the crown look bad.”

“It is an adequate summary. Now that the third prince had broken the condition of his exile, King Mikkel had no other choice but to follow his late father’s pre-rendered judgement in case such a thing would happen and execute his brother.”

“Damn.” Quentin hissed from the side as the messenger dropped the news bomb.

“In recognition of your exemplary aid to the kingdom of Ecragurne despite not being a part of it, King Mikkel wishes to grant you the honorary title of Grand Magus of Ecragurne as well as the bounty meant for ridding the kingdom from the unseen threat of demons.”

While saying that, the man handed over another scroll that was fastened onto an ornate silver scroll case. Meanwhile, a knight brought over a half cubic metre-sized metal chest, placing it on the cobblestone ground between the two parties.

The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.

“Although he wished to express his gratitude in a more coin-based way, the royal treasury is in great need of that. As such, the king asked his mages to prepare a small cache of resources instead that a skilled arcane craftsman such as yourself would require.”

“That’s quite generous of him.” The loremaster noted, still waiting for the inevitable catch.

“King Mikkel also wishes to express his hope for your continued support of his people through the infusion enchantment contracts from Rust-well Keep. Of course, properly compensated for your efforts this time.”

“Of course,” Regis nodded sagely as he let out an inner sigh at the much-awaited catch. “The royal army was always my main customer when it came to military equipment and I doubt that would change any time soon.”

“I’m sure King Mikkel will be glad to hear of that.” The man remarked as he watched Regis pull something out of his satchel.

It was a golden brooch depicting the head of a horse. The loremaster handed it over to the man with measured movements to indicate he meant no harm. The messenger accepted it with a slightly puzzled look on his face.

“I didn’t have the time to procure a gift box for it yet, but since you’re here, I hope you will pass this on to His Majesty on my behalf. It’s capable of summoning an ethereal mount for an hour.”

The man’s hand slightly trembled as if the brooch grew heavy in his palm after hearing what it was meant to do.

“I’ll pass it on to him as soon as I report back to him,” he replied. “I’ve no doubt he’ll be excited to have such a treasure.”

“Sir…” One of the knights cleared his throat, pointing toward the sky.

“Oh, it seems we have overstayed. As much as I wish we would have more time to talk, I’m also expected to visit Lady Vidal today before heading back to the capital. Thank you for your time and your reassuring words, Lord Regis!”

“And I thank you for the visit and his Majesty’s goodwill. Please, have a safe trip home!”

The man and his escorts nodded before turning to leave. They got back inside the carriage and rode away with the knights following them.

“I have to admit,” Quentin let out a content sigh as they watched the carriage and the knights fade out of view in the distance. “This was a lot more civilized and pleasant than I expected it to be.”

“Either the prince is an excellent diplomat or he has some very smart advisors,” Regis replied. “Not to mention having a lot of spies.”

“Spies?” The paladin asked puzzled.

“He knew about our involvement with Zola even though I’m pretty sure none of the soldiers would say a thing and those soldiers he stationed at her territory had no means of informing him either.”

“Which means that he already had someone spying for him.” Quentin deduced.

“Exactly. Either way, he made his viewpoint about us pretty clear.”

“He needs us. Or to be precise, he needs you. That’s a good thing though, right? It’s not like you wouldn’t accept enchantment contracts anyway. And from what that guy said, they would be willing to pay a bit more for it.”

“There was a reason why I only accepted low-ranked contracts and asked for less than their worth,” the dark elf admitted as he slowly opened the crate their visitors left behind. “Even an idiot could figure out that I tried to form a good relationship with them. However, there’s a chance that they will expect me to work more on their behalf.”

“You can always leverage your position as a lord to make sure they don’t overstep the line. After all, you have only so much time between your lordly duties and your studies.”

“True enough,” Regis nodded as the chest finally opened, revealing several small boxes filled to the brim with different elemental crystals, along with a couple of fancy-looking tomes. “At least they know how to bribe people. Just give me a minute to check for hidden enchantments or traps.”

“Do you think they would risk doing something that stupid?” Amanda asked from the side as she and Osmond joined them.

“Not with the intention of harming us, but rather to track us or to get access to our gateway.” The bone puppeteer noted.

“Is that even possible, sir?” One of the soldiers asked as they came closer in order to help carry the chest inside.

“I wouldn’t be surprised,” he admitted. “Magic has a lot of possible applications and I barely scratched the surface of it.”

Saying that he tried to feel for any trace of magic that would be different from the elemental crystals he took out from the chest. The only magical imprint he found was the one meant to preserve the tomes. He let out a sigh as he put everything back in the chest and closed it.

“Just bring it over to the manor when your shift is over.” He said to the guards.

“Understood, sir!” They acknowledged before bringing the chest inside.

The outlanders headed back to the secret room of the guard post while the gates of the mountain pass got closed and barred. After using the gateway to teleport back to Thornfell, Regis let out a sigh of relief.

“Are you alright?” Amanda asked as she looked at him a bit worried.

“I am,” he replied. “It’s just that I’m a bit relieved. It looks like we really did manage to get through this stupid succession war unscathed.”

Regis looked at the Prismatic Landwaker with a small hint of a smile as he watched the budding fruits grow on it.

“I guess, we can all breathe up a bit now and look toward the more important matters.”

“Which are…”

“The same as always,” he looked back at his friends. “Making Thornfell a better place to live for all of us.”

“Amen to that.” Quentin agreed with the others nodding along as they too looked at the heart of their new home and its bright leaves, expectant of what the future had in store for all of them.

End of Book 4