For the first time in a long while, Francis felt something close to incompetence creeping into his mind.

He sat behind the wide desk of the Grand Chancellor’s office, fingers folded together as he looked at the three apprentices standing before him. Each held a stack of documents.

And none of them were useful.

Francis exhaled slowly through his nose.

Since becoming Grand Chancellor, he had handled everything placed before him. The kingdom had been left unstable after the civil war, yet he had managed to keep it from collapsing into chaos. Supply lines had been rebuilt, rations distributed across the provinces, and when shortages appeared, he had turned to the Watchers’ knowledge reserves to locate regions dense with beasts so hunting parties could close the gap.

It had worked, and the cities had food.

Security patrols had been reorganized. The Enforcers had stabilized the roads. Even the countless empty estates left behind by defeated nobles were being repurposed into communal residences for the displaced. What had once been abandoned mansions were slowly becoming homes for people who had lost everything during the war.

Beyond that, new policies had already begun to spread.

A kingdom-wide awakening program for both Mages and Enforcers. Apprentice registries. Training systems that would identify talent early and place them where they could actually develop.

It had all moved faster than most kingdoms managed in decades.

Francis understood the fundamentals of rule well enough. A stable nation required four things above all else: food, safety, shelter, and hope for a better future.

He had delivered all four.

For the first time in his life, Francis had truly believed he deserved the titles he now held—Grand Chancellor of Lancephil, and a Count beside it.

Yet all of that confidence had been shaken by a single task Lord Arzan had left him with before departing.

Find a Shadow Mage, who is at least in the third circle.

Francis had searched everywhere.

Registries, surviving war records, noble houses, traveling Mages arriving in Veralt, even Watcher intelligence networks that reached beyond the kingdom. Every promising candidate had been investigated.

And every lead had failed.

There simply was no capable Shadow available for the ritual Lord Arzan had mentioned.Mage

In fact, the problem ran deeper than that. They barely had any Shadow Mages at all. The sample size itself was painfully small.

Francis knew that he did not have much time left.

Lord Arzan had been hunting elementals for several days now. The Watchers kept him informed through regular reports, and the latest ones made the situation even more pressing. He had already killed a sand elemental in the Ashari desert and a water elemental somewhere near the coasts of Vanderfall.

Only one remained.

Knowing Lord Arzan, he would finish that task soon.

And once he did, he would return to Veralt and ask the same question Francis had been dreading.

Did you find a Shadow Mage?

Francis leaned back slightly in his chair.

The thought of disappointing the man who had entrusted him with the position of Grand Chancellor sat heavily in his chest. Lord Arzan had raised him to power with full confidence in his abilities.

Failing such a simple request felt unacceptable. Still, brooding over it would solve nothing.

Francis straightened and looked toward the three apprentices standing before his desk.

“Well?” he asked calmly. “Have any of you thought of a solution?”

All three shook their heads almost at the same time.

Siton spoke first. “I still think we should expand the search to neighboring kingdoms, master,” he said, adjusting the stack of papers in his hands. “Within Lancephil, we have only identified a single Shadow Mage, and he is barely second circle. Even if we give him access to the best resources in the tower, it will take far too long for him to reach a breakthrough.”

Mina nodded in agreement.

“Yes, master. There really isn’t another option. Shadow Mages are already rare, and with Magus Veridia controlling the Archine Tower for decades…” She hesitated slightly before finishing, “you already know what she did.”

Francis nodded slowly and sighed.

There should have been far more Shadow Mages in Lancephil.

Historically, the numbers had been small but consistent. Yet after Veridia became Archine Tower Master, the records had changed. Shadow Mages had begun disappearing from registries, apprenticeships, and tower listings.

It was as if they had simply stopped appearing.

Recently, the Watchers had uncovered enough fragments of information to form a likely conclusion.

Veridia had something to do with it.

Francis doubted she had outright killed them—doing so would have left too many traces—but whatever she had done had clearly removed them from the kingdom’s magical institutions.

And now, years later, Lancephil was paying the price.

It was far more likely that Veridia had identified them early and simply erased their records, pulling them away to train in secret.

The attack on the estate before the assembly had already proven that much. Especially because it was led by an unregistered Shadow Mage.

That alone said enough.

Francis had no idea where the rest of them might be now, but he doubted he would find them easily.

Shaking the thought away, he looked back at his apprentices.

“There’s no point searching neighboring kingdoms,” he said. “You already know the risks.”

He leaned back slightly as he continued.

“Even Vanderfall—who we believe we are on good terms with—would seize the opportunity. They would demand concessions, trade advantages, political leverage. And the Mage they send would almost certainly be a spy. What we are attempting cannot be revealed to outsiders. I’ve already told you that.”

The apprentices exchanged uncertain looks. Their confusion was understandable.

Francis had never explained the real reason Lord Arzan required a Shadow Mage. And he had no intention of doing so. The fewer people who knew, the better.

After a moment, Mina spoke again.

“But we can’t find any rogue Mages either, master,” she said. “They’re extremely rare. Even if we search everywhere, finding a Third Circle Shadow Mage in such a short time just… feels impossible.”

Francis nodded slowly. “I understand that.” He paused before continuing. “But we don’t have another option.”

He lowered his eyes to the documents spread across his desk and rubbed his forehead slowly.

For a brief moment, a part of him wanted to simply accept failure, to lower his head and apologize to Lord Arzan when he returned.

But another thought lingered at the back of his mind. It was a small, stubborn idea, but it was also a solution that Lord Arzan would likely dislike. Francis disliked it as well, but despite everything, it was the only path he could still see.

But was it truly something he should do?

Francis did not like the thought of it.

His instincts resisted the idea immediately, yet the situation in front of him was far from ordinary. Lord Arzan had been clear about one thing—the Elder Tree did not have much time left. Delaying the ritual simply because the path forward was uncomfortable would serve no one.

And in the end, he would only be searching for information.

The final decision would still belong to Lord Arzan.

That thought settled it.

Francis leaned back slightly in his chair and studied the faces of his three apprentices. They stiffened almost immediately under his gaze, sensing the shift in his expression.

Siton spoke first. “Is there something we could do, master?”

Francis nodded. “Yes,” he said calmly. “There is. Find Veridia for me.”

For a moment, none of them moved. Then their reactions came all at once.

Siton’s brows shot upward. Darran blinked in surprise. Mina’s face went pale.

“Magus Veridia?” Mina asked carefully. “Master… are you sure about this? She hasn’t been seen since the explosions in the capital.”

Francis nodded again, unbothered. “Yes. I’m confident.”

He folded his hands together on the desk.

“I don’t know whether she’s dead or alive. But if she’s alive, I want her brought to me. There is no way she could have left the kingdom during the civil war without someone noticing. And if she somehow did manage to escape, then I want confirmation of that as well.”

Darran shifted slightly.

“But it won’t be easy to find her, master,” he said. “It has been a long time since anyone last saw her.”

“I know,” Francis replied. “But people rarely disappear without leaving some trace.”

He leaned forward slightly.

“Women do not travel across the kingdom as freely as men. And with rumors of the civil war spreading months before it began, movement across the regions slowed even further. Someone like Veridia would have had very limited options.”

Siton frowned slightly. “And how exactly are we supposed to track her?”

Francis allowed a small smile to appear. “We already have a clue.”

“What clue?” Siton asked.

“Her health.” Francis answered without hesitation. “Lord Arzan fractured her Mana heart. Someone carrying an injury like that cannot hide it forever. If she’s alive,” he said, “then she would need a steady supply of magical herbs and potions just to sustain herself. An injury to the Mana heart isn’t something a mage can simply endure.”

He leaned forward slightly.

“And there is no way such materials could be obtained repeatedly without someone noticing.”

His gaze shifted between the three apprentices.

“If such deals are happening, they are most likely being handled through smugglers. Didn’t the Watchers recently discover a smuggling network operating across several towns and cities?”

Mina nodded immediately. She was the one responsible for compiling the Watchers’ intelligence reports for Francis.

“Yes, master. They uncovered it after seizing records from a few fallen noble houses involved in illegal trade. According to the reports, a high noble is likely involved as well.”

She glanced briefly at the papers she carried before continuing.

“They believe the network may even be smuggling materials from the Archine Tower itself.”

Francis smiled faintly at that.

“Then there’s a good chance Veridia knew about it,” he said. “And if she did, she might have used that network to obtain what she needed.”

He folded his hands together.

“Do you remember one of my most important lessons?”

His apprentices exchanged glances before one of them gave a small, wry smile.

“You’ve given us quite a lot of lessons, master.”

Francis chuckled softly. “The one about crime.”

Their expressions shifted in recognition.

“That,” Francis continued, “is one of the few things that never truly stops—during war or after it.”

He leaned back in his chair.

“We have dozens of nobles and Mages who refused to submit to Lord Arzan’s rule. Many of them attempted to flee the kingdom despite knowing the strength of our forces.”

His voice grew more thoughtful.

“People don’t take risks like that without confidence. And I suspect some of that confidence came from these smuggling networks. We need to look at hidden routes, and paths we may not know about.”

The apprentices’ eyes widened slightly as they began to piece together the possibility. Francis himself knew the connection might not be perfect.

But he was not trying to solve the puzzle alone. He was giving them direction.

After a moment, he looked at them firmly.

“Bring me Veridia,” he said and paused before adding, “Or bring me solid information about her in a week. Understood?”

***

Three days passed quickly after Francis declared that Veridia had to be found.

All of his apprentices immediately set to work. They began searching through records, Watcher reports, old noble documents, and any other mention connected to what they had discussed earlier. Every small clue was noted down and compiled into organized reports, each trying to build a clearer path toward where Veridia might be hiding.

Once they gathered what they believed was useful, they moved straight to the Watchers to begin the next phase.

The apprentices themselves had too much work already and had little experience with field operations. That was exactly what the Watchers existed for.

Unfortunately, most of the Watchers were already occupied.

Many were searching for rare resources needed for Lord Arzan’s ritual, while several of their field agents were currently infiltrating noble houses suspected of holding information related to crimes during the civil war. Those agents could not simply be recalled without risking months of work.

The situation left the apprentices in a difficult position. Fortunately, one field agent happened to be available. He was Arel.

He had only just returned to work since he was on leave after his work during the civil war. Arel had been responsible for organizing much of the common population revolt against Thalric, making him one of the Watchers’ most effective field operatives.

He had just come back to headquarters the same day the apprentices requested a field agent.

Once he heard what the assignment was about, he accepted immediately.

After gathering all the compiled information from the apprentices, Arel wasted no time. He set out the same day, traveling toward a small town located in the eastern region of Lancephil.

According to the apprentices’ findings, it was the place where Veridia was most likely hiding.

The Watchers had already uncovered a large smuggling network operating there. Much of it existed because of the caves beneath the town. The underground tunnels stretched for miles and held strong mana saturation, making them ideal places for herbs to grow.

The town harvested those herbs regularly. But the same caves also created the perfect conditions for smuggling.

The smugglers used the caves with a simple system.

They would hide large portions of the herbs the town harvested by simply paying the man in charge of the storage. From there, the materials would quietly move through the underground routes and end up in nearby towns and cities where buyers were waiting.

The Watchers already knew about the operation.

The only reason it still existed was because they had been too busy to deal with it. With the civil war ending and the kingdom rebuilding itself, smuggling herbs had not been the highest priority.

But that did not mean Arel intended to let it continue now that he was here.

Still, the smugglers were not his immediate objective.

First, he had to confirm whether Veridia was actually hiding in the town.

And to do that, Arel decided subtlety was unnecessary. The fastest method was often the most direct one.

He did not have the luxury of time to slowly infiltrate the town and build contacts. Field agents of the Watchers were trained for infiltration, yes, but they were also trained to handle themselves in a fight. Even though Arel was neither an Enforcer nor a Mage, he had confidence in his abilities.

After spending a full day moving through the town, observing people and listening to conversations, he quickly identified several places where the smugglers regularly gathered.

One location stood out the most.

An inn.

It was one of the largest buildings in the town—three stories tall and well known for attracting every type of patron imaginable. Traders, travelers, hunters, and occasionally people who did not want to be recognized.

When night came, Arel moved toward it without hesitation.

v

The interior was loud and crowded. The smell of alcohol and food filled the air as people talked and laughed over their drinks.

Arel did not even glance toward the reception desk. Instead, he walked straight toward the staircase.

There was one simple rule he had learned during his time as a field agent: if you looked confident enough, most people would assume you belonged wherever you were going.

With the inn full and half the patrons already drunk, no one paid him any attention.

He climbed the stairs to the first floor.

Then the second.

Finally, he reached the third.

Unlike the floors below, this one was quiet.

The hallway was empty.

The moment he stepped forward, he heard voices coming from the third door on the right.

Arel walked straight toward it and raised his hand.

Then he knocked.

As he waited, he wondered whether the smugglers inside would play nice or hard.

***

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