Mike spent several hours training with the new bracelet. First, a simple release of the thread from the bracelet, hitting the target, and then the use of magic. Dealing with the thread was a little more difficult than he thought. The most difficult thing was to abandon the usual physical interaction with weapons. Efi was totally right. The thread is perfectly controlled by magic alone. Once Mike was able to control the thread freely with magic alone, the training went much faster. And by the end, he could more or less control the weapon. In confirmation of this, the last of the available dummy is cut into small pieces.

"It'll do for a start," Mike said as he finished his training. "The energy consumption is, of course, gigantic. I'll have to take that into account."

"I don't think that's a problem for you, Mike, with your abilities," Efi told him, pointing to the base around. "And with your level and precision of control, it will be a formidable weapon."

"Perhaps, time will tell," he agreed, and then added, "I understand that the bracelet itself can also display a shield."

"Yes, similar to your ring, only more powerful if needed."

Mike nodded in satisfaction.

"Good," he said and concentrated on the bracelet. A small impulse of energy and the bracelet slipped from the wrist. Then he laid it on the table.

"You don't want to wear it?" Efi asked in surprise.

"I do," Mike told her. "But not here in the capital. Too many prying eyes."

Efi sighed.

"I have two more gifts for you," she said and motioned to follow her.

From the training room, they went to one of Efi’s rooms. There she had set up a laboratory for herself. Inside the small room, there were a few tables littered with various equipment and unfinished projects.

They stopped near one table and Efi pointed to two objects lying on it. One of them looked like a crystal tablet, only much smaller. The other item looked like regular glasses.

Mike picked up a mini-tablet. It measured seven by twelve centimeters.

"Is that what I think?" he asked Efi.

"Yes," she confirmed. "I creatively reworked the idea of ​​large tablets. The functionality remains the same. The capacity is of course lower, in proportion to the size. I focused on the use in combat. In it, I wrote down many spells, both ready-made, and their parts."

Activating the mini-tablet, Mike began to browse the content.

"As far as I can see, it's not a replacement for a big tablet," Mike told her.

"That's right. This one is combat-oriented. I even made a special holder for it, which is worn on the forearm," she pointed to the leather case on the table.

Mike took it, inserted a mini-tablet into it, put it on his left forearm, and tightened the straps. Twirling his left hand and checking the reliability and convenience, he clicked on the mini-tablet with his free right hand and selected one of the simple spells pre-written in the tablet. Activating it, he saw a spell weave forming on the tip of his index finger.

"Interesting," said Mike. "The tablet does not give energy to the spell?" he asked Efi.

"Not. I considered it needless and left it up to you."

Mike reversed the spell, turned off the tablet, then removed it and placed it on the table.

"Is this the second present?" he asked, pointing to his glasses.

"Yes. Put them on."

Mike put them on.

"The right lens gives an image similar to magical vision. The display mode is changed by touching the temple of the glasses and using a magic impulse."

Mike followed the directions. In his field of vision, he began to see magical energy. By touching the temple, he quickly achieved optimal vision for himself.

"I've noticed that magical vision overlaps rather than replaces normal vision," he told Efi.

"Yes, that's how it's meant to be. The second lens gives thermal vision. It will be very useful at night and to identify warm-blooded creatures."

Turning off his magic vision, Mike did the same for the second lens.

"I see there are two small storage crystals built into the arms."

"That's right," Efi confirmed. "They are needed to work and save spells. The glasses themselves will draw some energy from you. When worn."

"Yes, I already felt it," he told her.

 

At the same time, in another district of the capital, the Lone Star bar. This bar is located on one of the side dimly lit streets at its very end in the basement of a two-story building.

It was not crowded inside, a one bored bartender at the bar, and a couple of raincoat-wearing individuals at one of the far tables.

A rare visitor came in. A man tall, lean, in simple travel clothes. He looked around the bar and then went to the bartender.

"What do you want," the bartender asked him.

"Is your boss there?" the man asked.

"And who asks?"

Instead of answering, the stranger pulled a coin out of his pocket and placed it on the table in front of the bartender. The bartender examined her carefully, and then looked at the stranger.

"Wait here," he said as he stepped out from behind the bar and walked towards the interior.

A couple of minutes later he returned.

"Far right door, knock twice."

The stranger nodded in the affirmative and headed towards the interior. At the indicated door he stopped and knocked twice. A few seconds later the door was opened by a bald-headed big man. He examined the stranger and then motioned to come in.

In addition to the big man, there was also a young dark-skinned guy in the room, who was sitting at the table and sorting through some papers. Seeing the stranger entering, he said to his companion.

"Johnny, leave us alone."

Johnny, the bald-headed big man nodded in the affirmative to his boss and left closing the door. The stranger, meanwhile, sat down in a chair.

"Hello, Nimble," he greeted the guy.

"I didn't call you."

"Why are you so rude," the stranger chuckled. "I came to see you on business."

"You are dangerous to do business with. It's too costly."

"Why are you like that? Have I ever deceived you?"

"No."

"You see now. You haven't even listened to me yet."

The boy sighed and looked into the stranger's eyes.

"What do you need?"

"Here. Much better,” said the stranger, then pulled a folded piece of paper out of his pocket and handed it to the guy. "Here are my wishes."

The guy unfolded the sheet and read the contents.

"Are you serious?" he wondered.

Instead of answering, the stranger took out a bag from his pocket and handed it to the guy. He took it and opened it.

"Yes, you are Serious," he breathed. Inside the bag were five crystals. That corresponded to about 100 gold coins.

"Do you have any suggestions on how this should be done?"

"At your discretion. But the deadline is two days."

"What if we fail to complete your order on time?" asked Swift.

"Have you ever let me down?" the stranger asked him.

"No."

"So let it continue like this," and grinning, he added, "There is no need to see me off."

 

14th day of the 5th month of the year 50143

 

In the morning Mike was awakened by the smell of food. And when he went downstairs to the dining room, the food was already set on the table.

"Good morning young master," Martha greeted him.

"Good morning Martha," Mike greeted

Doran was also in the dining room.

"Good morning young master," Doran greeted.

He was Mike's personal coachman when he was in the capital. They had known each other for 10 years, after Mike once helped him out, and then offered him a job.

"Good morning Doran," Mike greeted him. "Is your carriage ready?"

"Yes, sir."

"Okay, then we’ll leave in half an hour."

 

While Mike went to his work, in one of the mansions in the capital, several influential people gathered in a luxurious hall.

"Good morning, gentlemen. I'm glad you were able to arrive here so early in the morning,” an elderly gentleman in a stylish suit and with a cane near his chair addressed the audience. This elderly gentleman is the patriarch of the de Wolfe clan, Thomas de Wolfe. Under the control of the de Wolfe clan was the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, as well as all embassies in foreign countries.

Also in the hall were four others: Theodore de Wolfe, who headed the Foreign Office, James Talbot, his deputy who oversaw embassies and their activities, Janine de Wolfe, press secretary for public relations at the Foreign Office and the owner of several printing companies, and Craig de Wolfe, chairman of the faction in the National Assembly.

"I understand you have gathered us here because of the upcoming National Assembly."

"Yes, the demon takes you, you are as perceptive as always Craig," it was clear that Thomas de Wolfe was angry.

"It's not as bad as you think..."

"You think?" Thomas interrupted him. "Give me one good thing about what happened. Do you even know what's going on there?"

"Basically, yes," Craig replied.

"And you James, you knew," Thomas asked him.

"I knew sir, but..."

"Everyone saw, everyone knew, but everyone didn't do a damn thing," Thomas continued to flare up. “Are you told me at least once? Have you ever asked me?"

"We told."

"What did you told? That everything is in order, that there is no worry about."

"Yes, but..."

“I don’t care who and how much is taking bribes in your localities, and who is selling whom there, as long as it doesn’t affect my business. So, over the past month, there has been a 43% decrease in turnover in this region. This month the estimates will be even lower,” he tapped a heavy folder of papers on the table beside him with his finger.

"Do you have anything to tell me?" he addressed those present.

After Thomas fell silent, no one wanted to answer the question, until finally, Theodore de Wolfe was the first to speak up.

"I have something to say, sir," he said to Thomas. "It is true that we will have losses in that region. Probably long, up to a year. But the overall losses in all regions will be insignificant. We will transfer most of the transit through the northern prairie to other regions. I'll follow up on this."

"It's all?"

"No. I have already discussed the upcoming Assembly with Craig, and we have ideas on how to smooth the upcoming scandal, perhaps completely shifting the attention away from us.

"Yes, and in what way?"

"First, it is the northern prairie. The blame for what happened lies not only with us, but also with the army and, of course, with foreign intelligence. Although they reported that they had uncovered almost an international conspiracy, in fact, it all started with their people. They had three traitors to our country there, as far as I know. And one managed to getaway. And we can play it."

"Hm. This is already interesting. What else?"

"Second. As far as I know, foreign intelligence had a new embarrassment. One of their employees is killed in Artea. And then another one disappeared. Although there is little information so far, I can say that we are not involved here. This I know for sure. It will probably turn out to be another traitor or even a group. This case, too, we can play it."

"Farther."

"Third. Our valiant army. Turns out there was a theft at one of their bases a couple of months ago. I was promised more information soon. But according to rumors, very powerful weapons were stolen there."

"This is very disturbing news. We don’t need another surge of domestic extremism."

"None of the extremists took responsibility, sir. And the Army quickly hushed it up," Janine de Wolfe intervened.

"I don't like the unknown. Okay, that's not our concern anyway. What about positive news? There is something to discuss," he asked the others.

 

Morning meeting with Colonel Tirel. The Colonel heard reports from Mike and his group.

"So I understand you correctly that you didn't find anything significant," the Colonel asked at the end of the reports.

"It is true. We have found no corpus delicti in the actions of Captains Crocan and Drake, nor have we found their connection to other parties here in the capital. However, that doesn't mean it didn't happen outside of the capital," Mike disagreed.

"In addition, we have established that Lieutenant Selvi Meyer may be involved in the case. With her, the case began with sending to the kingdom of Irid. And she and Captain Crocan probably had a close relationship. The lieutenant lives alone, but neighbors sometimes saw men coming to her."

"And it's all?"

“That's all for now, sir. Allow me to organize surveillance of the lieutenant.

"Did you have a conversation with her?"

"Only the surface conversation, sir."

"Then let's do it this way," thought the Colonel. "If after a thorough conversation with her, suspicions remain, then I will then permit surveillance on her."

"Yes sir."

"All free."