Chapter 219: Alone Time!

Morning came quietly, slipping into the Northern Capital on pale bands of light that crept between towers and across glass-paneled avenues.

The city never truly slept, but there was a noticeable shift at dawn—a loosening of tension, a collective breath drawn by people who believed, at least for a few hours, that the worst dangers stayed in the dark.

Albedo hadn’t slept.

The illusion on the bed dissolved the moment Raven’s mana finished unwinding from his space. The disc of runes crumbled into harmless motes, leaving behind an untouched mattress and a room that looked exactly as it had hours earlier.

He stood by the window for a long while after that, watching the city wake up, Source Code idling behind his eyes as he quietly cataloged patrol patterns, mana fluctuations, and the faint ripples left behind by last night’s collapse.

The Everglade would already be scrambling after learning of what happened, but it won’t affect the natural order of the City at all, they’d remain under wraps.

However, Albedo had no doubt that messages would be flying through various secured channels looking for information about what happened, various handlers demanding updates that wouldn’t come, contractors who’d missed their check-ins being quietly marked as liabilities.

Somewhere, Magnus Everglade would be standing in a well-appointed room, staring at a report that said nothing useful and realizing, slowly, that something had slipped out of his grasp.

Good.

Albedo finally turned away from the window, rolled his shoulders once, and forced his expression back into something neutral.

~KNOCK~KNOCK!~

That was when the knock came.

Three light taps, familiar in their rhythm.

He opened the door without hesitation.

Lilian stood in the corridor, crimson eyes bright against the morning light, obsidian hair falling loose over one shoulder. She wasn’t dressed in formal BloodHaven attire, just academy wear, tailored and elegant even in its simplicity.

At her side was Elara, already animated, dark auburn hair pulled into a loose tie, eyes sharp with curiosity and just a hint of concern.

“There you are,” Elara said immediately, hands on her hips.

Lilian tilted her head slightly, gaze flicking past him into the room, then back to his face. “We thought you might still be asleep,” she said, voice gentle but probing. “Or avoiding us.”

Albedo stepped aside to let them in. “Neither,” he replied easily, “Just got caught up wandering around.”

Elara blinked, “Wandering?”

“Exploring the city,” Albedo clarified, closing the door behind them, “Couldn’t sleep. Figured I’d walk.”

That was true enough to pass most scrutiny. The Northern Capital had a way of pulling people into its streets at odd hours.

Elara narrowed her eyes. “You?” she said skeptically. “Going for a casual midnight stroll instead of tinkering with spells or doing something ridiculous?”

Albedo shrugged. “Even I need a break sometimes.”

Lilian watched him closely as they moved further into the room, her steps unhurried, her presence warm. She didn’t press immediately, but Albedo could feel it—the quiet assessment, the way her attention brushed against him like a fingertip testing a blade’s edge.

“And?” she asked. “Did you enjoy your… exploration?”

“It’s a big city,” Albedo said. “Easy to lose track of time.”

Elara snorted. “That’s not an answer.”

“It’s the only one you’re getting,” he replied dryly.

She huffed but let it go, flopping down onto the edge of the chair near the window. “Fine. Keep your secrets.” Then her expression shifted, brightening, “Oh, right. That’s actually why we came.”

Lilian nodded. “The academy finalized plans this morning,” she said. “There’s going to be a short excursion. Just outside the city.”

Albedo raised an eyebrow, “An excursion?”

“Field trip,” Elara corrected cheerfully. “Well. ’Educational outing.’ You know how they like to dress it up.”

“Nearby ruins,” Lilian added. “Old ley junctions, minor monster habitats. Nothing dangerous. Mostly observational.”

Albedo already felt the answer settling into place.

“When?” he asked anyway.

“This afternoon,” Elara said. “Overnight stay, then back by tomorrow evening.”

That was a problem.

Not because the trip itself was dangerous, he doubted anything out there would pose a threat to Lilian, let alone the class as a whole, but because time was the one resource he couldn’t afford to waste.

Raven’s warning echoed faintly in his mind. Magnus might move. Probes, provocations, tests. Everglade territory was already hot, and Albedo had no intention of being out of position if something snapped.

Elara leaned forward, eyes bright. “So? You’re coming, right?”

Albedo hesitated just long enough to make it believable.

“I’m going to pass,” he said.

Elara froze. “What?”

Lilian’s expression softened, but there was a flicker of disappointment there too. “Are you sure?” she asked. “It’s not often we get a break like this.”

“I know,” Albedo replied. “But I’ve got… other things I want to look into.”

Elara squinted at him. “Other things,” she repeated. “You mean more ’exploring’?”

“Something like that.”

She stared for a moment, then threw her hands up. “Unbelievable. You turn down a free trip, free food, and a night away from lectures to walk around dusty streets alone.”

Albedo smiled faintly, “You make it sound so appealing.”

Lilian stepped closer, lowering her voice slightly. “You don’t have to explain if you don’t want to,” she said. “But if something’s bothering you,”

“It’s nothing serious,” Albedo interrupted gently. Too quickly, perhaps, but he smoothed it over just as fast. “Just curiosity.”

She studied his face for another heartbeat, crimson eyes searching for cracks. Whatever she saw, or didn’t, made her nod.

“Alright,” Lilian said. “But don’t disappear completely.”

Elara crossed her arms. “Yeah. Some of us like knowing where you are.”

“Duly noted.”

There was a brief, awkward pause, the kind that formed when people brushed up against things they weren’t ready to say out loud.

Then Lilian reached out and adjusted his collar, fingers lingering just a fraction longer than necessary. “Stay safe,” she said quietly. “And try not to get into trouble.”

Albedo chuckled. “I’ll do my best.”

Elara rolled her eyes but stood, grabbing Lilian’s wrist and tugging her toward the door. “Come on. If we don’t leave now, the class will start without us, and I refuse to give those idiots the satisfaction.”

Lilian let herself be pulled along, then paused at the threshold and glanced back one last time.

“Be careful,” she repeated.

Albedo inclined his head. “Have fun.”

The door closed behind them, their footsteps fading down the corridor, voices blending into the morning noise of the academy wing.

Silence settled back into the room.

Albedo exhaled slowly, the faint smile fading as his gaze drifted once more to the window. Outside, the Northern Capital gleamed under the rising sun, beautiful and oblivious, its people unaware of how close something ugly was to breaking the surface.

“Sorry,” he murmured, though he wasn’t sure who it was meant for.

Then he turned, reaching for his coat, already shifting back into motion. There were still Everglade shadows to peel away, and he intended to finish the job.

Now that he was alone, Albedo planned to continue his investigation. He slipped his coat on and fastened it with practiced ease, the familiar weight settling against his shoulders like a promise rather than a burden.

The moment the fabric brushed his skin, his thoughts shifted, reorganizing themselves with quiet precision. The Everglade problem wasn’t finished, not even close, and Magnus himself was only the visible tip of a structure that had been rotting for far too long.

Power like Everglade’s didn’t operate in isolation.

Subordinate families. Vassal houses. Merchant lines masquerading as neutral entities. Blood banks registered under philanthropic foundations.

Security firms staffed by “retired” adventurers who never asked where their contracts came from. The Northern Region was built on layers of influence, and Everglade sat comfortably at the center of one such web.

Disappearances didn’t happen without cooperation.

Albedo leaned against the door for a moment, eyes half-lidded as Source Code flared softly behind them, replaying fragments of data he’d already collected. Shipment schedules that didn’t align.

Census records with too many “relocations.” Minor noble families whose territories overlapped suspiciously with reported missing persons, yet whose tax records showed steady, unexplained growth.

Someone had been feeding Everglade bodies long before the glassworks site ever came online.

And not just anyone.

“Subordinates,” Albedo murmured quietly. “Loyal ones.”

Families desperate to rise. Ones drowning in debt or ambition, willing to trade lives for protection, influence, or a chance to stand closer to the top of the Food Chain. Everglade wouldn’t dirty his own hands, not when there were so many eager to do it for him.

The thought didn’t anger him. It clarified things. If Magnus was infrastructure, then his subordinates were arteries. Cut enough of them, and the heart failed on its own.

Albedo straightened and stepped out into the corridor, locking the door behind him as the academy’s ambient wards hummed faintly in response.

Students passed by in small groups, laughter and idle complaints filling the air, blissfully unaware of how fragile their normalcy really was. He watched them for a second longer than necessary, then turned away.

He wouldn’t let Everglade turn this city into a feeding ground.

First, he’d map the subordinate families. Identify overlaps.

Trace money, mana, and movement. See which houses suddenly expanded blood-storage capacity under the guise of medical advancement, which ones hired too many guards, which ones quietly funneled people out of their territories at night.

Then he’d start applying pressure.

Magnus Everglade wanted to move in silence. Albedo would make that silence suffocating.

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