Summed up, the letter Traysan sent to Gracus went like this:

[I will deny all formal ties with you. You will, somehow, keep this from ever breaking the surface and handle it cleanly, smartly, and discreetly.]

“Looks like big brother’s finally getting cornered.”

Andromeda laughed brightly as she looked at Traysan’s former attendant prostrate before her.

“When a ship’s in danger, the rats are the first to leave.”

Andromeda had been extending her hand to the staff of Traysan’s Senior Heir’s Palace for a long time.

The attendants who had ignored her began, one by one lately, to accept small and large offers.

And at last today, one came bearing a copy of a letter.

“You chose wisely. That ship won’t sail much longer.”

Andromeda passed the copy to her lady of the chamber with a glance.

“Because I’m going to make it so.”

The lady of the chamber tossed a new identity plaque and a purse of gold to Traysan’s former attendant.

He scampered off in a panic.

“Will he live?”

Andromeda asked the lady of the chamber.

“On paper he’s a completely different person. The Inner City Guard has Your Ladyship’s people, so that’s fine. The problem is when he passes the Outer City’s Goldcoin Brigade and the Outer City Guard. Those belong to Traysan.”

Sepeia, the lady of the chamber, answered without expression.

“If he’s been swaggering around as the senior foster heir’s attendant, soldiers will know his face.”

“So in the end, how you lived decides your fate.”

“Those who got drunk on another’s power as if it were theirs get what’s due.”

At that, Andromeda thought of the man who had become her half brother.

“Right. Maybe that’s why I like Kyrie. He never once mistook my favor for his right.”

She muttered it as if to herself.

“Pardon? I misheard.”

Sepeia asked again; Andromeda shook her head.

“No. Tell me more about the Royal Stellite Line.”

“Yes. Last sighted on the southwestern Astrion border; unofficial appearance in Spiramentaon; attempted a surprise attack on Young Master Kyrie. Locally the word is Gracus hired them or colluded.”

“The boy picked a good adjutant.”

“So it seems. Although, I worry whether he means to rely on opinion warfare going forward.”

Neither Andromeda nor Sepeia were fools.

They did not believe Gracus had hired the Royals’ Knights.

Per Kyrie’s report by courier dragon, the Royals’ Knights had come to kill Erica, princess of Rykenta.

The reason could be learned in time.

“Intangibles don’t carry much weight in Astreos. And from the eyewitness that he used Heavenstrike five times that night, he sharpens the tangible strengths on his own.”

“My apologies. I only meant…”

“I know. Why all the apologies? Set the odds and ends aside. What matters now is that a chance to take Traysan is right in front of us.”

Andromeda spoke words similar to her half brother’s.

Not because their temperaments matched, but because, being opposite, they had met again after one full circle on the same ground.

“Keep the Royals under watch as the Royals; we take Traysan here. The two colluded. I’ve decided it so. We can make the reasons later.”

“For that, Young Master Kyrie must break Governor Gracus. Is it within reach?”

At Sepeia’s question Andromeda’s eyes narrowed.

“Frankly, I’m uneasy. He may have netted Rykenta’s princess, but Gracus is a powerhouse on the cusp of the Spirit Realm.”

“I agree. He’s a brother you cherish—personally and politically. As good as this chance is, perhaps do not overextend and…”

“Since Kyrie gave his eye, how many times has he beaten someone it looked like he could beat?”

“…”

“You could grant the adjustment and initiation trials, but then—Rykenta’s Navigators, Epicus and Prokus, then again the Rykenta princess, the Musketeer School… every one of them a name that weighs.”

“Do you believe in miracles?”

The lady of the chamber sent a worried look.

“No. We make them.”

The duke’s daughter wore a similar look.

Only, the duke’s daughter believed that just because one might lose was no reason not to fight.

Sepeia, lady of the chamber, freshly recalled that Andromeda was fit to be the head of those fierce and headlong superhuman warrior-nobles.

“I will send a letter to Myriarch Izmael. I’ll also sound out any Blue Knights within reach at nearby forts. Governor Gracus will gather no more Blue Knights.”

“Good. And send the new elixir. We finished the final clinicals, didn’t we?”

“Ah, that. I’ll confirm the stock—and the number of courier dragons.”

As always, Sepeia bowed with meticulous courtesy.

“And… spread a rumor, to time.”

“What rumor, my lady?”

“My brother. Ah—lest you mistake me, I don’t mean Traysan. I mean Okeanos.”

“My lady.”

She jerked her head up at the command that followed.

“If you revive that matter in public, the house may split in two. Traysan still holds the backing of the key cadet branches. If you swing your blades at all cadets, then even if they dislike it, they’ll…”

If Sepeia spoke this much, Andromeda usually yielded.

“That’s why I’ve kept my mouth shut until now.”

“Pardon?”

“Now we have Kyrie. He’ll be the rallying pole for cadets and foster heirs in my place. Will the cadets still cling to Traysan the way they do? I don’t think so.”

Not today.

“Spread a rumor that Traysan killed Okeanos during the purge operation in the Corpse Wasteland. That’s an order.”

Today, Andromeda looked more vice-patriarch than young lady.

Another courier dragon came for Andromeda.

“Kaak! Kaaak!”

“Tsk, tsk, tsk!”

“Grrr!”

No—this time there were seven.

“How many letters did she write?”

They said training one of these cost its weight in gold.

I clicked my tongue at Andromeda’s largesse and took the letters and parcels tied to their ankles.

The letters, as ever, held long regards and word from the central court.

Surprisingly, news that Gracus had joined hands with the Royals to kill me spread fast.

The center was already wary of the Royals for other reasons, and the word from here had startled them.

Also, Andromeda said she would check the pro-Gracus Blue Knights through Izmael and the nearby Blue Knights.

Since the Royals rumor spread, Traysan seemed to be minding his reputation; the Three’s sortie prep had slowed—time would suffice.

Those alone were grand and weighty, but they weren’t today’s main news.

[…I’ve decided to call it the “Elixir of Sacred Light.” Unlike Thundercloud, White Lightning, and Sky-Thunder—which only thundercrafters can drink—soldiers, Retainers, and Knights can all drink this one. I’m researching further refinement to raise concentration. For now I’ll send several from what’s finished.]

Andromeda, in the end, had made an elixir from that liquid drawn from Mutated Beasts.

“Ha…”

I let out an ominous sigh and gazed at the small vial before my eyes.

A liquid of soft blue light swayed within.

I had considered that this might truly be harmless.

Those heretics had tried to make their own elixir and failed, and shunted the failures toward the Mutated Beasts.

With sufficient apparatus in the main house, those failures could be re-refined into the ideal result the heretics had wanted all along.

That line of thought.

But telling people to drink liquid taken from Mutated Beasts didn’t sound good.

Had Andromeda been even a little colder with me, it would have been reasonable to take it as: Go kill yourself.

“Joi!”

I had Joi fetch one of the Navigators we’d recently freed.

“You sent for me?”

“Yes.”

We were in a sort of near-alliance.

Erica would testify for me; I would protect her politically.

Of course, human feeling didn’t run that rationally.

So I forgave the fact that the Navigator before me looked like his face had caved in.

“What I’m about to ask—keep it from your lady.”

“She is not a ‘lady’ but Her Highness the crown princess.”

I kept the Elixir of Sacred Light hidden and asked:

“…Of late, while analyzing the liquid drawn from Mutated Beasts, some pharmacomancers at the Engravers’ Iron Citadel are saying they want to try making something like an elixir. Is it theoretically possible?”

I didn’t expect much.

“In fact, we used it a few times.”

I nearly fell out of my chair.

“What?”

“It’s possible. Some Knights even jabbed it straight from Beast to vein. We refined and used it once or twice.”

“Madmen. Won’t they turn into monsters?”

“No. As we felt it, it’s closer to amplifying one’s nature. The reason Beasts grow more savage and twisted is because that is their nature.”

I swallowed my surprise and listened.

“Then if a Blue Knight drinks it, he’ll grow more brutal and hasty.”

“Not necessarily. I think it simply runs along the essence of the power you have.”

“Understood. I’ll have it studied thoroughly.”

Silently impressed by the quality of the intel, I sent him out.

Rattle.

I opened a drawer and took out the “Elixir of Sacred Light.”

Crackle, crackle!

Bracing for pain, I focused mana into my right eye.

“O Dreaming Thunder Star. If I drink this elixir—will we end up like Mutated Beasts?”

Just one more verification.

【The Dreaming Thunder Star answers your question.】

【“You could become that even if you don’t drink.”】

I endured pain like branding my eye with hot iron and listened.

“Ghhhhh!”

An ominous answer: that even without drinking, we might become that.

I nearly asked one more, but the thought that I might die before I ever drank the Elixir of Sacred Light made me stop.

Right. Surely Andromeda wouldn’t send me something that would kill me if I drank it.

The Rykenta lot had used it, too.

And remembering that the Constellation had told me not to give Bishop Saturn proof tying Mutated Beasts to Rykenta—even in the worst case, the Constellation would warn me.

I uncorked the Elixir of Sacred Light.

I drained it in one go.

“Kirikiri! What are you guzzling all by yourself?”

“I heard you were swilling elixir solo! Isn’t that what Lady Andromeda, our vice-patriarch, sent to our army? Hand it over!”

“It’s elixir—after two or three bottles the effect drops anyway! Give me one!”

“I—I’m sorry about that night. I… I don’t have hands or feet or a brother anymore… One bottle of elixir would be nice.”

Blue Knights burst into my pavilion.

“Help!”

I surrendered the elixirs with a show of reluctance.

Truly, I handed them over because they had a point—not because I was scared of wild-eyed men.

And indeed, after two or three bottles, I felt the effect fall.

While I was at it, I gave Joi, Feijin, and several Knights a bottle or two each.

“It heats you up like good liquor! Thank you, my lord.”

“Tomorrow morning will be different. I’ll drink it well, my lord.”

“The heat lingers. If you sit cross-legged and breathe deep, it feels like it absorbs faster—keep that in mind.”

I shared my experience.

The Elixir of Sacred Light was wholly different from Thundercloud, White Lightning, and Sky-Thunder.

The latter refined mana from current and let you absorb it; the former put mana itself into the body.

We were used to handling mana in current form, which made it harder, paradoxically, to run.

But for ordinary Knights and soldiers—non-thundercrafters—that might actually be better.

“You are the first Blue Knight to share elixir with us, Sir Kyrie.”

“We’ll repay this grace with victory.”

The Knights sent me hot looks.

A temperature commonly called trust—or loyalty.

Privately, I repented of having thought, even for a moment, that if anything went wrong, I could die alone.

“My lord, my lord!”

A courier came running hard.

“Gracus has begun to move!”

Chapter 89

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