Yanis walked through the courtyard of the Court of Mists toward the Royal Palace as he watched the moon rise above the horizon. He'd been called to the Princess's office for a mission briefing that was to happen tonight, and the purpose was obvious.

Rumours had spread around the knight courts that Theodore deserted the kingdom after seeing the lucrative potential of being bandits. With 55 knights close to attaining their class to be part of the Golden Generation, it would take a kingdom's full focus to subjugate such a threat.

Did he believe it though? Definitely not.

Theodore wasn't stupid. He was born a noble. For what reason would he need even more gold while sacrificing his lineage?

The rumours were all nonsensical. Some said he ran away after being captivated by beauty. All 55 of them? Even if the woman was more beautiful than Aurora in her prime, only one man could have her. They would've all fought for her hand.

It made the rumour even more ridiculous.

Entering the Royal Palace, the Princess's office was just on the 1st floor by the east wing. Turning left, he walked at a brisk pace.

Though Yanis already had an inkling of suspicion. Theodore wasn't stupid, but he was as arrogant as he was smart. The king ordered him to subjugate the camps with only a squad, yet Theodore took 55 knights.

It was obvious why. The northern bandit camp housed former knights of the fallen Stormbringer. Nonetheless, the Stormbringer knights weren't a match against numbers. The king probably only saw them as a minor nuisance, making him a fool.

Should Lady Alizia take over the throne, this whole kingdom would be in better hands.

Yanis knocked on the princess's door three times.

"Come in," Princess Alizia said.

Pushing the door open, Yanis bowed to the princess before entering and standing in front of her desk. Stacks of papers scattered everywhere. By the corner of the room were unopened scroll sheets. The glowstone at the top of her room still shined brightly as the princess continued reviewing and writing.

What Yanis saw was just reality. The true ruler of this kingdom was her.

"Princess, I am at your command," Yanis said.

"What say you of the disappearance of Sir Theodore?" Alizia asked.

"I believe he may have defected to Pandor, my Lady," Yanis said. "The Hadstead Mountains are a known passageway for spies from both Lyra and Pandor."

"Would the Stormbringer knights let them through?"

"I believe they would. Their grudge is against our kingdom. They would encourage defection."

"You believe Theodore would leave his betrothed here in Dragus?" Alizia asked.

"Rumours abound, Lady Ida has been sending letters to Lord Noah frequently. I would say Sir Theodore's relationship with his betrothed is one not out of love."

"If not for love, then perhaps you accuse Sir Theodore of his weak loyalty?"

Yanis got caught. Sir Theodore's accomplishments were in the top ranks of Dragus. The knight's loyalty could not be shaken by mere gold, as he also grew up in the inner Royal Palace.

If his loyalty was weak, then gold would have caught his eye, yet that was also a paradox as the man had the unlimited backing of the kingdom for being a future challenger of the rankers.

Was he truly dead?

The Princess put the piece of paper she'd been writing on the right side of the pile. "Have you already been debriefed by Klaus?"

"Yes, Princess," Yanis said.

"Good," Alizia said, turning her eyes up. Taking something out of her pocket, she extended a Fraedium gem to him. "Wind's Haste gem. Investigate what happened to the knights, and come back no matter what."

"Princess, do not worry. The mission is simple. I shall come back no ma-"

"Even if you're missing a leg, an arm, or both your legs, you must come back no matter what. Crawl if you have to. Is that understood?"

"Yes... Princess Alizia. I shall come back even if my body is breaking," Yanis gulped.

"Should you not come back by dawn, I will pronounce you as dead."

"Yes, My Princess."

"Now go."

Yanis bowed, turning around and exiting the Princess's office. Exiting the Royal Palace and then heading to the inner Castle gates, he exited through the side door and into the public domain of Dragus.

What was that all about? Yanis snorted. The Princess was being too cautious. There was a reason why Klaus chose him. He was the current top veteran of the Court of Mists for gathering intelligence. All of his reports in the past decade were impeccable. He never got caught once, let alone run away for his life.

None of the Stormbringer knights and Theodore's men could ever catch up to him should he choose to run away, let alone using a Wind's Haste gem.

After exiting the kingdom's gates, Yanis looked beyond, seeing the foot of the Hadstead mountain range to his left. Putting mana into his legs, he ran across the farm fields and into the meadows, then into the rocky region that sloped upwards.

He stopped, noticing the Night Howlers moving through the dirt path. These creatures were at least 80 prowess and 100 prowess at most. They weren't strong individually. The issue was, they travelled in packs of 6 to 8.

Adventurer parties usually avoided travelling at night, as these were nocturnal.

Yanis didn't waste time, though.

[Sleight of Mist. Activated]

Charging straight at them, he threw 6 knives in the same time it would take an average person to throw one. All knives pierced through their heads. Yanis didn't stop running.

Extending his palm behind him, the daggers he threw bee-lined to him each flew into the air and holstered back the into his belt.

In this world of Nulfrae, Yanis knew that prowess wasn't everything. Having skills and knowing how to use skills were the ultimate decider of who'd win a fight as long as the disparity wasn't that big.

For someone to be able to match him in combat, they'd have to at least be as strong as the bastard named Rand, even though his own prowess was only 172.5. And to kill him? They'd have to be in the leagues of rankers.

Though the princess didn't know this. Even with all her capability as a ruler, she didn't know of the bloodiness that occurred on the battlefield. And that was fine. Her hands should not be tainted. She was where she should be.

Do not worry, Princess. I shall bring back every detail you desire under the moon and stars.

[Mist Arts: Cloak. Activated]

The southern bandit camp gate appeared in Yanis' view. On its walls were guards, awake and alert. Pitiful fools. They'd never catch him with his cloak on.

Throwing a knife at the mountain wall, it embedded itself into the rock. In one pull, he flew over the walls, landing silently on the other side while his grappling knife flew back to his hand.

Apart from the guards by the walls, there were no other guards that patrolled the insides. His mission was to search for any clue on where Theodore and his knights went. This camp was the first suspect as it was their first target. If they weren't here, he would move on to the northern camp.

What Yanis noticed first were the three huge buildings to his left in the wider area of the camp through the bandit camp square. They looked like storage houses taken to the extreme.

Maybe bodies.

Moving over to the storage houses, he slowly opened the door. The faint humming noise came through as soon as he cracked open the door, making him stop.

There was something inside. For 30 seconds, he stayed still, waiting for anything to come out, yet nothing came out. Peeking his head over the door, he smelled the stinging scent as he saw multiple metallic cylinders lined side by side with pipes connecting them.

It wasn't part of his mission, but his senses were tingling that something was happening in the bandit camp. Then what about the other 2 storage houses?

Closing the door behind him softly, he moved to the other storage house door. Slowly opening the door, the hum of this one was slightly louder but still faint. This one had a giant cylinder that had four sections towering up to the roof of the house right at the centre. A pungent scent mixed with what smelled like vinegar and the substance of the first storage house lingered in this storage house.

Yanis no longer needed to look at the 3rd storage house. There were clearly ominous events happening in this bandit camp. From the footprints laid down in the dirt paths of the bandit camp, there were no prints that looked like the greaves made by Dragus blacksmiths.

Then what was more important right now?

These things in front of him were oddities that he did not understand. The princess might know.

Mist of Courts had a golden rule: if a mission had oddities, immediately report, regardless of mission progress.

If this was connected to the missing knights, the princess might be right in her suspicions.

Turning back from the storage house, he went back to the square. He stopped before entering the light of the torches.

A woman stood in his way, looking directly at him. Her face was familiar, too beautiful to be out here in a bandit camp walking alone without a care in the world. Her brown hair fell down to her elbows with a slight wave at the ends. She wore a loose peasant's dress that was meant for working in the fields.

Aurora Sayon.

She was the wench who rejected the foolish king's advances. Yet her face was no longer marred. 

How?

"Are you going to just stand there?" Aurora asked. Her eyes looked at him full of apathy.

Yanis tried his best not to move. His Mist Cloak was still active. There was no way that she could see him. She was just pretending to look at something. Definitely not him.

"A lowly scout from Dragus' Court of Mist," Aurora smiled sharply. "Did I get that right?"

Yanis attempted to move, pouncing at her. At least that's what he tried. His feet didn't move. Looking down at his own feet, grass had entangled his feet, preventing him from moving.

Scanning the vicinity, he couldn’t find the lowly spellcaster that dared entangle him. But this itself was an opportunity for information.

The Mist Cloak deactivated. No point in wasting mana when he was already caught. On his status glass, Aurora’s prowess was only at 16. An easy kill.

"Tell me what those things in the storage house were, and I might just let you live," Yanis said.

Aurora's smile grew wider. "Let me live? You see, I don't actually care. I just need you to die."

"I take it that your head has already rotted from sleepless nights," Yanis said. "A pity that your repaired beauty is now used by a brute."

"It definitely is a pity that such a useful scout was sent as a sacrifice by Dragus, no?"

Yanis snorted. "Your posturing serves no meaning. I believe the king would welcome you back should you submit to him."

"Submit to the lowly king?" Aurora laughed. "It is indeed fortunate that the Lady is truly benevolent. Otherwise, Dragus would disappear tomorrow."

"The Lady of which house?"

Aurora yawned. "Dead men need not know of the Lady's grace. Don't you agree?"

"A foreign kingdom, I see. Lyra or Pandor?" Yanis asked.

"Even Pandor cannot touch her feet. The Lady does not bring herself down to the conflicts of mortals."

The woman in front of Yanis has completely lost her mind. They've drugged her out of her mind with narcotics. Might as well eliminate the only witness.

"Stupid wench. Blame yourself for meeting me today." A dagger appeared in Yanis' hand. In a flash, he cut the entangled grass around his feet and threw three daggers at the defenseless woman.

At the corner of his eyes, a blur came in to block the three daggers in quick succession. What stood in front of him was a full plated knight with a prowess of 210.

Yanis' eyes widened. The face was familiar. Stormbringer Knight Commander, Rand.

One unknown hiding somewhere used druidic magic, and a Knight Commander known for being large while being blisteringly fast. If Rand was here, so were all of his other men, who were all part of the elites.

Yanis was outmatched. Run.

Something about this camp was very wrong. The Princess had every right to be cautious. The storage house, the facility, the rare Golden Generation Druidic class.

Putting his hand into his pocket, he gripped the Wind Haste gem and activated it. His body felt lighter instantly.

Throwing a dagger at Rand's face, the knight blocked it. In that split second, Yanis turned and beelined for the bandit camp walls.

A wall of grass suddenly grew in front of him. 

Two slices cut the wall of grass. But as he moved through the cut grass, a metal glinted, mid arc aimed at his neck.

No time to dodge. Yanis blocked the oncoming sword. But as if his dagger wasn't even there, the sword cut through it like a hot knife going through butter, cleaving down to his neck.

Yanis vision suddenly spun as something thudded onto the ground. In his view was his own body, still standing but without a head. Despair set in as he couldn't relay the message to the princess.

Before his consciousness faded, his last thoughts were, just maybe, this was the princess' plan all along.

He was just a bird sent to his death to see if the mines were dangerous.

☕︎ ☼ ☕︎ ☽ ☕︎

Aurora picked up the masked head by its hair. "Follow me."

"Aurora, I believe we should report this intruder to the Lady," Grey said.

"And what would that do?" Aurora asked.

"Are you saying we should hide this information from the Lady?"

"What does the Director of Security think of this?"

"I believe we can report this intrusion at first light," Rand said. "Deal with the situation, report later."

"I cannot agree with what you say, Sir Rand," Grey said. "Information relayed as fast as possible would allow the Lady to calculate variables as fast as possible for her plans."

"That is true..."

"Do you two truly believe what you've said is correct?" Aurora asked.

"I apologize for my rudeness, Chief Product Officer Aurora. I believe that if we do not report this to the Lady at all, we would be in a treasonous situation," Grey said.

"Sir Grey is right. Should the Lady find out about our missing report, we would be put in jeopardy," Rand said.

Aurora threw the head at Grey's chest. Catching it, his eyes widened slightly.

"What is the meaning of this?"

"Bury it under the Hadstead stalks," Aurora said.

"We must present the body to the Lady first!" Grey yelled.

Aurora's hand came down on Grey's cheeks, the slap echoing in the empty town square. "Do you truly believe that the Lady does not already know of this lowly scout's presence?"

Both Grey and Rand remained silent. Of course they would. The Lady does not care for the meaningless singular present timeline. She looks infinitely far ahead.

"The Lady could simply snap her finger, and this scout would simply die. Have you no thought in that head of yours?!" Aurora asked.

Both men looked down at the bloody body on the ground.

"Grey..." Rand muttered.

"Yet the Lady did not. So tell me, why has she not dealt with this intruder herself?"

"The Lady was testing us," Grey said.

"Correct," Aurora said, her eyes narrowing at him. "Should the Lady have to lift even a finger to rid herself of minor nuisances?"

"No, Chief Product Officer. She should not," Grey said. "Asking the Lady to even lift a finger would be to sully her grace!"

Aurora smiled. "Would there be any meaning in reporting such an incident to the Lady?"

"No, Aurora. You are right. Such matters do not need the Lady's attention. She's already busy as she is," Grey said.

"The Lady could simply snap her finger, and in less than a second, the obstacle would disappear. We'd be deprived of the privilege of serving her," Aurora said.

"As expected of the Lady's benevolence. To think she'd allow crumbs through to let us serve her!" Grey said.

Tears fell from Rand's eyes. "I now see the Lady's grace. Her inaction itself was the hint! Thank you for opening our eyes, Chief Product Officer Aurora."

"Do not mention it, Director of Security. Now we must dispose of this fool ourselves. No need to involve the Lady."

"Then we shall directly bury this body. But why under the Hadstead stalks? Why not under the Star Seeking Flower field?" Rand asked. "It would be fertilizer for the Lady's most wanted product."

"Bodies are poison to most plants and flowers. On the other hand, the Hadstead stalks love dead bodies full of nutrition. It'll speed up their growth," Aurora said.

"We could put the body in soil first so the poison seeps out before we use it on the Star Seeking flowers," Grey said.

"You are correct, Sir Grey," Aurora said. "However, I have to reject the request. The Lady had told me to grow the other plants."

"Has she explained the reason?" Grey asked.

"She has not. All I saw was a smile on her face when she drank the sweetness of the Hadstead stalk mixed in with Arabelum berries and the 'caffeine water'," Aurora said.

"I see, and I assume she ordered you to expand the other 'products'?" Grey asked.

"She has, and the smile was the hint," Aurora said. "What we must do now is follow the Lady's plans. As her executive suite, we must not hold back the Lady and anticipate her plans."

"But the Lady sees too far ahead! How do we keep up?" Rand asked.

"We do not, Sir Rand. We simply must do what's best for the Lady and the Path. We must try our best to keep up, but have your minds not crossed yet that she is slowing down for us?" Aurora asked.

Rand's fist clenched. "As expected of the Lady! In her benevolence and patience, she has already planned for the limits of her own employees."

Grey bowed to Aurora. "I truly apologize, Chief Product Officer. Without your guidance, I was only looking at a tree and not the whole forest that the Lady has already planted."

"It's fine, Sir Grey. Let us make haste and bury the body," Aurora said. "The Lady has scheduled an executives-only meeting in the morning."

"Director of Security, please take the body, I'll keep the head," Grey said.

Crouching down, Rand picked up the headless body on the ground with one hand by the collar.

Aurora led the way to the rear of the bandit camp, through the flower fields, and to the small patch of the extra products. Still having half of her mana, she opened up the soil into a hole that funneled down to the roots of the Hadstead Stalks.

"Throw the body in the pit," she said.

Both men threw in the body. With a thud, it fell to the bottom of the pit at exactly 18 inches below the surface. With her remaining bits of mana, Aurora closed the soil up, making it look like nothing ever happened.

"Tell one of the janitors to clean up the blood at the square," Aurora said to Grey. "We mustn't allow the blood to tarnish the Lady's company."

"Right away, Chief Product Officer," Grey turned around with Rand. Both men left through the doors of the rear walls of the bandit camp.

Aurora looked down at where the body would be in the soil. Its nutrition would feed this Hadstead stalk, allowing it to grow at an alarming rate. How fortunate for this lowly scout that he gets to be part of the Lady's product. He should be thanking her for all her generosity in allowing his body to be one with the Lady's company.

☕︎ ☼ ☕︎ ☽ ☕︎

Alex woke up from a 3 hour caffeine nap. Even as a transcendent, she had to at least sleep once every couple of weeks to keep herself in tip-top shape, especially her skin.

It was the perfect time too. She had just finished the chemical reactor and the storage silos that would contain the caffeine powder. Although there were no coffee beans in this place that would mimic the taste of actual coffee, Aurora had given her a taste of the unique sweetness from Latia and Arabelum berries.

Latia would be used as a coffee flavour substitute due to its bitterness, while the Arabelum berries would be used for the Star Cubs refreshers. Neither actually had the aroma of real coffee, but it was the best thing she could get for now.

The aroma profile would be better researched later. Elador could probably mix a bunch of essential oils and create a scent profile to her liking to add to their caffeine drink product line.

Mixing those essential oils was never her strongest suit anyway. To Alex, that was basically black magic. How does one mix a couple of vials of liquid and create a complex scent of Baccarat Rouge 540?

If another witch hunt were to happen on Earth, Alex would put her pitchfork up against those scent mixing bastards.

On another note, it was time for the executive meeting. Sitting up from bed, Alex crawled to the edge and slid her feet out first and stood up. Taking off her nightwear and throwing them onto the bed, she floated the blouse, pencil skirt, tie, and blazer to herself.

After putting them on, she straightened her tie. In one snap of her fingers, her whole body was sanitized from its impurities, making her feel squeaky clean.She did miss having a nice extra-hot shower, though.

Note to self, make a water tank later to pipe the water byproducts to.

Walking to the door, Alex glanced back at the ridiculously big bed. It had a nasty smell before, but after three passes of the sanitation spell, it removed all of the nasty shit that ever happened on it.

The size of the bed? That was one thing she liked about this room. She could roll around it as much as she wanted.

Twisting the knob, she exited her bedroom behind the town hall's throne place. To her left, the seat was already there waiting for her to sit. And in front of the seat were her executives: Aurora, Grey, Fraser, Elador, Rand, and lastly, Yulka.

The full C-Suite was assembled. It was now time to give them real responsibilities for the retail launch of Star Cubs, owned by the Path.

Moving towards the bandit throne, she sat on it, looking at each of her competent leaders.

"Hello everyone, thank you for joining today's executive meeting," Alex smiled. "As you all know, today is a big day for the company."

"Yes, my Lady!" everyone shouted.

"I announce that the production pipeline is completed. We now have automated the pipeline to get Ethyl Acetate at scale. A big thank you to Fraser and Elador." Alex clapped, still with a smile on her face.

Everyone else clapped, other than Fraser and Elador, who bowed to everyone.

"Because of that milestone being reached a couple of months ahead of schedule, we are now extracting caffeine from the Star Seeking flowers. Which means, we shall now move on to Phase 2. Any questions so far?"

"No, my Lady!" everyone shouted.

"We are at your command, my Lady," Aurora smiled.

Sheesh. She had a crazy look in her eyes. What's up with that? Alex cleared her throat. "I shall now give you new responsibilities. I'll also be editing your contracts to add performance metrics."

Turning her head to Aurora, she said, "Your job is to research more plants or whatever that can be mixed with the caffeine water to make it taste better for our customers."

"Your wish is my command!" Aurora shouted.

"Grey, your job is to locate initial locations to set up our retail stores, ideally ones with lots of traffic. Also, start construction on the northern bandit camp's Star Seeking Flower field. That will become a satellite field for Aurora."

"I understand, my Lady," Grey said, putting his fist on his chest.

"Elador, your job is to create scents that can be mixed with our product to make it smell better."

"Yes, my Lady. I shall do as you say," Elador said.

"For Fraser, your job is to continue researching to get as high a concentration of alcohol content as possible. But in addition to that, you must work with Aurora to figure out the best mixture ratios for our products."

"The job will be done with haste, my Lady," Fraser said.

"Rand, your job is to set up perimeters on pre-existing construction areas. Make sure to guard ongoing construction sites from monsters or foreign entities. If there are any fights that break out in our company amongst employees, it is your task to solve them."

"Thank you, my Lady. It is a pleasure to do this job!" Rand shouted.

"And Yulka, your job will be pretty demanding. Your job is to scout with Grey for potential locations where we can set up our retail stores. If there are any competitors, your job is to help Grey 'negotiate' with the locals. Understood?"

Yulka crunched her fist, popping her fingers loudly in the town hall. "Loud and clear, goddess of might!"

"Good. Our retail store will be named 'Star Cubs'. Its slogan will be 'Seeking the Stars One Twinkle at a Time'. And its owner company will be the Path." Alex smiled. The first step to world economic domination was in sight.