“Reward?” Nick asked.

  Of course, he had known there would be one. The Duke had been generous so far, and that was when his help was limited to gathering information and taking out one man.

  Since Xander had openly discussed his contributions as essential to stopping the Circle’s plans from succeeding, there was no way he’d be simply handed the orichalcum and sent on his way.

  I wonder if he’ll just give it to me without asking for gold. But then again, that would go against the spirit of the auction.

  “Yes, reward,” Duke Anton repeated, standing up. He cast a quick glance at the pile of papers waiting for his attention before visibly deciding it could wait. “A service like the one you provided could be expected from someone of Grandmaster Xander’s standing, but even he will earn the proper recognition for his efforts. For an apprentice, no matter how talented, to play such a crucial role in the city’s defense… I can't even begin to describe how important your disruption of the ritual was, young Crowley. Even now, the Keeper of the Tides bays for blood, but if the temple had been corrupted even more, there would be nothing I could do to control his fury.”

  It wasn’t a surprise that the high priests of Ulter would be furious, given that they had just lost their entire local clergy. But while that was a tragedy and a grave insult, considering they had been used as fuel for a ritual, it was nowhere near what would have happened if Alexander had successfully broken the god’s domain.

  As far as Nick knew, the Sunlands were still in an uproar about Eztie’s priests gathering and heading out into the wilds. And that was for a small temple out in the boonies!

  “I’m not going to lie and say it was no trouble,” Nick said, earning a soft snort. “Master Tholm instructed me to be direct and not diminish my accomplishments. But I did it because it was the right thing to do, not because I wanted a reward.”

  That was even true. At the time, it was more important to prevent the accumulated resentment from coming together and spawning an abomination.

  But now… Well, now he had to keep his salivation in check at the thought of being granted another boon.

  The Duke nodded, not appearing surprised, and led him out of the room and through several hallways, which turned out to be surprisingly deserted given how busy the castle had been.

  Nick only had to extend his senses slightly more to spot several masked guards guiding people away from their route.

  They really stepped up security, huh? I guess it makes sense. The Duke is as much a symbol of stability as anything else, and although everyone knows the Circle of Pure Souls primarily targets organized religions, they are also unpredictable enough that nothing can be ruled out. Assassinating the Duke now would throw the city into chaos faster than anything else they could do, giving them a chance to finish what they started.

  That was all assuming they still had enough assets in the city to carry out such an operation, which Nick doubted. They had sent the message they wanted to send, and lingering longer than necessary with more than the bare bones of a surveillance team would be foolish in the extreme.

  And although Alexander was clearly out for blood, he was no fool.

  “I considered offering you another boon, but with the one already hanging over my head, I would risk tipping the balance too far into your House’s favor if I did so.” Duke Anton continued as they approached a solid iron door, around which mana seemed to slide off.

  It was the same feeling Nick had experienced when he cracked the lock to retrieve his gold from the Southern Valis Consortium, but whereas that was just the locking mechanism, in this case, the entire door was made of the same material. If his senses weren’t deceiving him, the whole room behind it was also coated with that substance, as he could barely perceive it as a void in his senses.

  Has this always been here? It must have, but how come I never noticed? Admittedly, I was pretty busy every time I came here before, but I feel like I would have noticed such an obvious emptiness.

  However, he hadn’t realized this until just before entering the hallway. Whatever material this door was made of, it not only disrupted mana but also blended in so effectively that his sharp senses failed to notice it.

  Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

  [Empyrean Intuition] is mostly emotion-driven, but it’s also very responsive to changes in mana, which means this room is essentially a fixed point in both the physical world and the ether, without interacting with the ambient energy of either.

  The only thing he could compare it to was the Tower itself, but that was more a dimensional nexus that relied heavily on its power, a beacon for all. This metal was the exact opposite, and in such quantities that it could shield an entire storage room.

  Nick didn’t miss the Duke’s attention on him as they approached, and kept his features in a perpetual mild interest. He definitely didn’t want it known that he recognized the material or that he was starting to have ideas about how it could be used.

  They stopped in front of it, and Nick glanced around, noticing the clear absence of guards.

  If this were where the auction prizes were stored, then he would expect much tighter security, especially given how alert his men were at the moment.

  “Have no fear, young Crowley. Your orichalcum is safe.” Duke Anton chuckled, as if the thought of someone getting to it was laughable. “If the House Vault was penetrated, we’d face much bigger problems. Like the complete destruction of the entire city, given the enormous amount of power needed to even leave a scratch on it.”

  Nick hummed, unsure of what to say. He certainly didn’t know how to directly influence something that mana seemed to avoid at all costs, but he was sure someone as skilled as Tholm or as powerful as Bluetear would have a few ideas.

  Duke Anton seemed to realize he wasn’t convinced but just smirked mysteriously before placing his hand on the metal.

  He pulled back with a squelching sound, and Nick was disgusted to find that several layers of skin were still attached to it.

  Shaking his hand as if he’d just touched a hot stove, rather than almost brutalized himself, Duke Anton sighed. “It’s never pleasant, but it cannot be beaten.”

  A low groan sounded, and the door clanged open a moment later, revealing complete darkness inside.

  A flame appeared on top of his hand, and he wandered in. “Do not use your mana externally here,” he warned ominously, and Nick obeyed, pulling his active senses back in despite the overwhelming curiosity he felt.

  With only passive feedback, it wasn’t easy to discern anything as he entered the room, but he could tell that the amount of mana contained within was significant, even with the numerous suppressing charms layered on the rows of locked cabinets.

  Inside was neater than expected, and the fire in the Duke’s hands revealed enough to know it had to be large enough to hold an armory, though Nick couldn’t see any weapons lying about.

  Duke Anton paused before a seemingly random cabinet, since it was unlabeled and all looked the same, and yanked it open, revealing another dark space.

  Nick recognized it as a spatial container and was surprised to realize that the whole room was completely filled with such cabinets.

  At least a hundred of them, to be thorough. Without a more careful examination, he couldn’t determine how large the insides were, but even if these were the lowest tier of spatial artifacts, which he sincerely doubted, they would hold enough space to equal the entire castle.

  The Duke grunted, and soon a familiar and very welcome cube of dark metal floated out of the cabinet.

  The mana needed to lift it suddenly dropped once it left the cabinet, and Duke Anton nearly sagged. “I hate how orichalcum sometimes takes on the properties of whatever influences it the most. It makes for great weapons, but in its raw form, it’s a nightmare to handle.”

  Nick nodded dumbly, eyeing the cube while his mind raced as he added more data points to his initial assessment.

  “You can take it now, but I recommend being cautious about when and where you remove it. This much orichalcum can turn even friends into opportunistic thieves.”

  Nick didn’t miss the irony in that statement, even if the Duke couldn’t know of it. Still, he placed his hand on it and dutifully made it vanish into Ogden’s ring.

  The half second of contact was electric, and Nick knew without a shadow of a doubt that he could forge the focus he had envisioned.

  Then, the moment passed, and he exhaled. The Duke didn’t seem to mind his brief lapse and patted him on the shoulder. “I’m sure I can expect great things from you. Now, we should handle the reward.”

  “Where should I hand the payment?” Nick asked once he regained his composure.

  “Oh, just swing by the Bursar’s office when we’re done. I don’t handle that kind of stuff,” Lord Anton said. “When you reach the kind of position I hold, you tend to leave the boring stuff to others. That’s why it’s so important to have good subordinates, young Crowley.”

  Nick nodded along as they walked deeper into the room, but privately, he didn’t think the Duke had such good staff, considering how much the Circle had managed to infiltrate his city.

  That, however, wasn’t something the Bursar would handle, so perhaps they would be more capable.

  The cabinet they came to a halt before was perfectly identical to the other. Nick almost felt disappointed, as he would have expected a few more ornate motifs or even a vague sensation of power, but nothing of the sort happened.

  Once again, Duke Anton opened the cabinet and revealed an empty void, proving that they really were all spatial items.

  “I debated what I should gift you,” he mused. “Some of my advisors told me to leave it up to you, and I’m sure someone as smart as you would have come up with something suitable, but it wouldn’t have sat well with me. I am truly grateful for the aid you rendered to my House, and that should be reflected in my actions. Putting such a burden on you would have meant avoiding the issue.”

  Nick stayed silent, though he privately agreed with the assessment. There was a limit to what he could ask for, even in such a situation, while the Duke was not so constrained in what he could give.

  “Another suggestion was to give you access to some of the finest treasures of my House. Even your Archmage Tholm hasn’t been granted such a privilege more than once, and that was a long time ago. Learning about the weapons and rare materials we possess would definitely be a valuable gift,” Duke Anton continued, and Nick had to hold back from nodding in agreement.

  That would be an excellent gift. He could only imagine what centuries of control over such a vast territory would mean for wealth accumulation, and with that wealth came valuable treasures.

  But he was beginning to understand that the Duke wanted to give him something more lasting.

  “That is why I decided on this," he said, gesturing into the void, and as the item emerged, Nick felt his eyes widen like saucers.