The tunnel was pitch black, the kind of darkness that pressed against the skin and swallowed sound. Ludger crouched near one of the support pillars, touched the wall, and grabbed a nearby torch, with a small flick of mana, he lit it. The sudden orange glow spread through the tunnel, casting long shadows that danced over the rough stone. The twins gasped in delight.

“Fire!” Elle pointed.

“Hot stick!” Arash added, eyes wide.

“Yes, very amazing,” Ludger said dryly, standing as the light flickered over his face. “Don’t touch it.”

He turned toward the tunnel’s central passage and placed a hand on the ground. A dull hum of mana ran through the floor as stone shifted and compacted, rising up beneath his will. In seconds, an improvised cart took form, smooth, low-sided, and just big enough for three passengers.

He added a groove to the front and fixed the torch there, its flame casting a warm glow ahead. Then he scooped the twins up and set them inside before climbing in himself.

“Hold tight,” he said calmly.

Elle looked up at him, giggling. “Why?”

“Because,” Ludger said, placing both hands on the cart’s edge, “this might get bumpy.”

The ground shuddered. With a pulse of mana through his gloves, he activated [Stone Surfing].

The cart jerked forward, slowly at first, barely a meter per second. The tunnel walls creaked as it rolled across the stone, the motion smooth but deliberate.

The twins leaned over the edge, watching the earth flow beneath them like a living road. “Moving!” Arash shouted, laughing.

Ludger adjusted his focus, pushing more mana into the spell. The cart’s speed doubled as [Stone Surfing] gained its first level. The air around them shifted, the light of the torch stretching into streaks as they picked up momentum.

The twins squealed with delight, clinging to Ludger’s coat.

“Faster!” Elle shouted.

Arash stomped his tiny foot on the floorboard. “Go, Lulu, go!”

Ludger couldn’t help the faint smirk that tugged at his lips. “You asked for it.”

He tilted the stone under them, letting the slope carry more of the motion. The cart surged forward, gliding smoothly through the darkness like a ship cutting across a sea of earth. The torchlight flickered wildly, illuminating fleeting glimpses of the tunnel, carved walls, reinforcing beams, old marks of his handiwork from months ago.

The speed climbed again, three meters per second, then four. The twins laughed louder with every lurch and bump, the echoes of their joy bouncing off the stone walls.

Ludger kept one hand steady on the edge, the other pulsing mana to maintain control. He could’ve done this without [Stone Surfing], but that wasn’t the point. Every curve of mana, every vibration through the earth, it was training, refinement, improvement.

Still, even he had to admit the laughter beside him made the tunnel feel less like a cold shortcut and more like an adventure.

By the time the next skill notification flickered faintly in his vision — [Stone Surfing] has reached Lv.03!  the cart was gliding fast enough that the air whipped against their faces.

Elle threw her arms up. “Again!”

“Not yet,” Ludger said, a small grin slipping through his calm tone. “We’re not there yet.”

The tunnel curved upward in the distance, torchlight spilling ahead as the hidden route carried them closer to the Torvares estate, and closer to the unsuspecting Viola, soon to be ambushed by two giggling “reinforcements.”

The tunnel kept stretching ahead, long and steady, its air cool, its silence broken only by the rhythmic hum of moving stone beneath the cart. The torchlight flickered over the carved walls, making it feel as if they were gliding through the veins of the earth itself.

But halfway through, Ludger felt a change — a thick layer of compacted soil blocking the passage where the tunnel had shifted from months of seismic pressure. He slowed the cart to a halt, the motion smooth but final. The twins groaned in unison.

“Why stop?” Elle pouted, her tiny hands gripping the cart’s edge.

“More ride!” Arash demanded, kicking his feet.

Ludger didn’t answer immediately. He stepped off the cart, the earth solidifying beneath his boots with a faint grind of stone. With a practiced motion, he extended one hand forward. Mana pulsed through the tunnel as the wall ahead trembled — the rock folding inward, reshaping itself into a new, stable path. The noise alone made the twins fall silent for a moment, eyes wide as the earth obeyed him.

“Whoa…” Elle whispered.

Ludger glanced over his shoulder. “See? That’s why we stopped.”

Arash tilted his head. “Now go fast again?”

“Not this time,” Ludger said, brushing dust off his gloves. “We’re almost out.”

When the new section of the tunnel finished forming, the faint light of the surface began to filter through — soft daylight spilling down from an exit ahead. Ludger caught a glimpse of the open world beyond, and just off to the side, the distant shimmer of rooftops and towers. Meronia.

A few hundred meters away, its high walls gleamed faintly in the morning light, a proper city, larger and far more structured than Lionfang’s frontier sprawl.

He crouched down and gestured for the twins to climb onto his arms again. “Come on. We’re walking from here.”

Elle frowned. “No cart?”

Arash crossed his arms in mock outrage. “Cart fast!”

“I know,” Ludger said dryly. “But I can’t show that to others.”

“Why?” Elle asked.

“Because,” Ludger said, as if it were the most obvious thing in the world, “it’s an industrial secret.”

The twins blinked at each other, completely lost.

“Inbustial…?” Arash repeated slowly.

Ludger sighed. “It means people would try to steal it.”

That seemed to confuse them even more. But by the time they reached the tunnel’s mouth, they’d already forgotten the question, too distracted by the view outside.

The moment they stepped into daylight, the twins gasped. Ahead lay Meronia, bustling streets, tiled rooftops, and tall white buildings with banners fluttering from their balconies. Merchants shouted from the plaza, guards patrolled the gates, and the faint scent of baked bread and spices drifted through the air.

Compared to Lionfang’s rugged frontier charm, this place looked polished, alive with the rhythm of trade.

Elle clapped her hands, eyes wide. “Big town!”

“City,” Ludger corrected automatically. “It’s a city.”

Arash tugged on his scarf. “We live here now?”

Ludger’s lips twitched. “No. We’re just visiting.”

He shifted the twins on his arms and started toward the main road, the hum of Meronia’s life surrounding them. For now, the hidden tunnel behind them sealed quietly, leaving no trace of the earth road that had brought them here.

They found Viola and Luna in the garden, exactly where Ludger expected them to be. The air was sharp with the scent of cut grass and steel. Viola’s sword carved a precise arc through the morning light, her stance steady and measured, while Luna stood opposite her, focused and calm, friends and at the same time, maid and mistress, both sweating under the discipline of repetition.

The sound of their blades cut through the quiet, until a new sound broke it.

“Vi-Vi!”

“Lu-naaa!”

The twins’ voices echoed through the courtyard like gleeful war horns.

Both froze mid-swing. Viola turned first, her brow twitching as she saw Ludger striding across the garden with a twin tucked under each arm. Luna blinked in surprise, lowering her weapon.

“…Ludger,” Viola said slowly, holding her sword at her side, her tone halfway between disbelief and mild threat.

“Morning,” Ludger said simply, not slowing his pace. “I came to talk with your grandfather.”

She blinked. “You—what are you—wait—”

Before she could finish, Ludger reached her, lifted Elle slightly, and passed the squirming girl into Viola’s arms with practiced precision. “Hold this.”

“What—wait, what?!” Viola stammered as Elle giggled and latched onto her braid.

“Vi’s hair pretty!” Elle chirped, tugging experimentally.

“Don’t—pull—!” Viola hissed, trying to keep her sword from dropping.

At the same time, Ludger turned toward Luna, who had already taken a half-step back in reflex. “Your turn,” he said calmly, handing Arash over before she could protest.

“Wait—”

Too late. Arash landed in her arms with a delighted laugh, immediately poking the shiny guard emblem pinned to her uniform. “Shiny!”

Luna blinked, helplessly looking between the boy, Viola, and Ludger.

Elle laughed again, swinging one of Viola’s braids like a victory flag. “Vi strong! Lulu strong!”

“Lulu?” Viola repeated, staring at Ludger.

He exhaled through his nose, adjusting his scarf with the patience of a man already accustomed to chaos. “Don’t ask.”

“Don’t ask? You just handed me a child and—” Viola started, but stopped when Elle pressed her hands to her cheeks and beamed. “Viola pretty.”

That short-circuited her anger instantly. Meanwhile, Luna was trying, and failing, to pry Arash off her neck. “He’s heavier than he looks,” she said between grunts.

Ludger gave a slight nod, already walking toward the manor. “They’ll keep you busy.”

“Wait! Ludger!” Viola called out, still holding Elle awkwardly with one arm and her sword with the other. “You can’t just—hey—!”

But he was already halfway up the garden steps. By the time Viola turned to complain again, he’d reached the door, his calm voice drifting back toward them:

“Try not to let them climb the trees this time.”

And then he disappeared into the manor, leaving behind two flustered girls, two gleeful twins, and a garden that would very soon cease to be peaceful.

Ludger found Lord Torvares exactly where he expected, in his study, behind the wide desk of dark oak that looked older than most noble lines. The old man wasn’t writing or reading this time; he was standing near the window, one hand resting lightly on his cane, the other clasped behind his back as he looked out over the garden.

From where Ludger entered, the view was clear: Viola and Luna were doing their best to contain the chaos that was Elle and Arash. The twins were darting between flowerbeds like uncatchable spirits, Elle laughing wildly as Viola chased her, while Arash had apparently decided Luna’s sheathed knfe was the most interesting toy in the world.

Torvares didn’t turn right away. His shoulders shook with quiet amusement before he spoke.

“I didn’t expect you’d bring the twins,” he said. “And certainly not without a proper vehicle.”

Ludger closed the door behind him, the faint hum of the mana latch sealing it quietly. “I had one,” he said. “Temporarily.”

Torvares turned, raising an eyebrow. “Temporarily?”

Ludger gave a small nod, tone calm as ever. “It dissolved once we reached Meronia. I made it from the tunnel under my house.”

The old man blinked once, then chuckled. “Of course you did. I should’ve guessed.” He moved from the window, cane tapping lightly against the polished floor. “You’ve always preferred your own shortcuts. Still, I must say, you’ve returned much sooner than expected. I thought your visit to the Velis League would take at least another week.”

“I was in a hurry,” Ludger replied. “So I used a few magic tricks to speed things up.”

Torvares tilted his head slightly, a knowing smile playing across his lips. “Magic tricks. That usually translates to something I’d rather not see the mana bill for.”

Ludger didn’t deny it. “Probably.”

Torvares chuckled again, finally taking his seat. “Then tell me, Ludger, how did it go? What happened after we parted ways?”

Ludger stepped closer, resting a gloved hand on the back of the opposite chair but not sitting. “The League kept their word. Linne and Dalan were cooperative. They’re advanced, technologically, magically, but not without cracks. There’s slavery under a different name in their border cities. Maurien’s staying behind to handle the investigation into the smuggling routes between them and the Empire.”

Torvares’s expression sobered, his fingers tapping once against the desk. “Bonded labor,” he murmured. “Yes, I suspected as much. They dress their sins in elegant words. Anything else of note?”

Ludger nodded slightly. “Their academies operate like open markets for innovation. Knowledge in exchange for funding or influence. I attended two of their lectures, learned enough. The infrastructure there runs on overlapping mana networks. Impressive, but unstable long-term. If it collapses, the whole system burns.”

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