Snyder's palms glowed a gentle white as he pointed them at Ami.
She shuddered, clenching her teeth as the wave of purifying magic washed over her, and slid backwards with her chair as far as the armoured hands on her shoulders would let her.
Cathy shoved her back towards the redheaded acolyte with a little more enthusiasm than was strictly necessary. "So now we have to worry about a Keeper with unlimited gold on top of everything else?" the swordswoman asked, her exasperated voice tinged with a hint of fear.
"No, we have to worry about the Unraveller of Mysteries potentially figuring out at some point how my gem furnaces work from the clues she has gathered," Ami replied, trying very hard to ignore the feeling of the holy magic working on her. "I don't think she has all that much to start with, and the dark god's realm doesn't really seem well suited for experim- eep!"
An unbearably white glow shone straight into her eyes.
Instinctively, she squeezed them shut and turned her face away even as she ducked and rolled sideways off her chair. "Snyder! Enough already! There's nothing wrong with me in the first place!"
The acolyte's robes swished as he took a startled step back. He raised his arm to scratch the back of his head as he watched her get off the floor. "How can you be sure? Your scanner wasn't good enough to catch that infiltrator in the first place now, was it?" he replied, the dark circles under his eyes explaining why he sounded grumpier than usual.
"I wasn't scanning for it!" she protested as she backed away from him, briefly glancing to her right to ensure she was staying outside of Cathy's grabbing range. "I certainly scanned myself very thoroughly for any abnormalities after the incident."
With a tired shrug, Snyder let himself drop into one of the armchairs. "Well, I admit I did not find anything either," he sighed. "Still, I would feel better if you underwent another few cleansing cycles just in case. Direct servants of the dark gods should not be underestimated."
"And this one was working with a Keeper too," Jered took the opportunity to interject. "Unless the Unraveller has her own dungeon with imps now, which is a scary thought." He was walking up and down at one end of the room, flipping through a notebook. "My informants haven't mentioned any rumours about Keeper minions with crystals stuck in their heads, but they might not have deemed it relevant information. I'll tell them to keep an eye out."
"You think the crystal retreated to a temple in the Underworld?" Cathy asked.
"Well, we found a broken-down Underworld portal in the cave the imp showed up in, and we know the Unraveller can temporarily restore those," Jered answered.
Ami shook her head. "I doubt the portal could have been restored quickly enough to react to my discovery of the intruder. Besides, I got a rough direction when that imp destroyed my crystal ball."
"You did?" Cathy asked, perking up.
"I was looking through my visor at the time," Ami confirmed with a small smile. "The hostile magic came from somewhere to the southwest."
"Where exactly?" Jered asked, looking around the room for a map.
Ami shrugged apologetically. "Sorry, that's about as precise as I can tell. The magic was barely detectable in the first place."
The wavy-haired man sighed. "Well, it's better than nothing, I suppose. Excludes most of the continent. I can check which Keepers are rumoured to be active in the region," he offered.
Jadeite, who had simply listened quietly so far, looked thoughtful. "Speaking of rumours, it would be unfortunate for your unassailable image if news about you being laid low by a sneak attack spread," he said. "Did you do anything to keep that warlock who assisted you from blabbing?"
Ami suppressed a grimace. Of course she hadn't done anything bad to Harold. "He's smart enough to figure out that he was the only one around when it happened, so I would know exactly where such rumours started," she said. "He'll keep quiet. In any case, he's too busy trying to track down the crystal to make trouble."
"Wait, I thought it was gone or hiding inside of a dark temple, completely shielded from scrying?" Cathy asked.
"He's not using scrying. I don't think the part about there being more than one crystal in the memories I saw was false, so we are looking for other, similar crystals using sympathetic magic. The dwarfs did something similar to create a magical link to my computer and interfere with it," Ami explained.
"What are you using for the search?" Snyder asked, looking interested.
"I have made an accurate replica of the crystal using the dungeon heart and my recordings," she replied. "Aside from that, I also have the warlocks looking for individual parts of the gem furnace that was stolen."
Snyder nodded with a thoughtful expression. "That sounds reasonable. You should also take measures to prevent the opposite party from using them the same way. If they forged a sympathetic link to your furnaces, they could interfere with them."
"Good point." Ami decided that adding some individuality to the various furnaces wouldn't take much effort. Giving a few brushes and different buckets of paint to a bunch of imps and telling them to go wild would be more than enough. Unfortunately, it was likely that the thief had already taken similar precautions with the stolen parts.
"Any progress so far?" Cathy wanted to know.
Ami's face fell. "Less than I would have hoped. Getting the crystal to look just right is difficult, since it has those moving patterns inside. I have recordings, so replicating them with glamour is possible, but the problem is that the targets need to show the same patterns at the time the searching spell is cast," she said.
Snyder frowned. "I see. Under those circumstances, you would have to repeatedly restart the sequence and recast the spell, hoping it matches the target the moment you do through sheer luck," the acolyte evaluated.
"Yes, and that's assuming that the movement of the patterns is repetitive," she replied. "I'm still looking for a better solution. Torian suggested searching for crystal-shaped forehead wounds instead."
Cathy sucked in a breath, the corners of her lips curving downwards in disgust.
Ami felt a little queasy too. "I can make mindless imps, that's how I feed the vampires after all, but his suggestion is still not very practical," she said. "Depth, angle and position of the wound would have to closely match, and that's assuming that the individual differences between organisms won't prevent a match from the start."
"You are searching by the shape of the crystal then, I assume?" Snyder said.
"Yes, but it's getting too many results," Ami sighed. "The shape of the Unraveller crystal matches that of natural quartz crystals, so the spell just uses up its power to return a flood of useless results."
"In other words, the thing is designed with in-built countermeasures to tracking magic," Jered summarised.
Ami had reached the same conclusion. It was reasonable to assume that the Unraveller had a greater breadth of knowledge about magic than she did. Therefore, the crystals were likely to have adequate protections against common means of magically affecting them.
Ami closed her eyes and pondered the problem. Ordinary approaches were useless. Did she have unique strengths she could apply to the situation that the dark god wouldn't have considered? A moment later, her eyes opened, shining with determination. "Jadeite, I need a portal to space!"
After reassuring the dark general that no, she didn't mean for him to open a portal into the vacuum of space right that moment, Ami had quickly prepared what she needed. This amounted to bare room with a solid glass floor that served as the ceiling of an equally bare room below.
She nodded encouragingly at Jadeite, who disappeared from her side in a blur of vertical black lines and reappeared below the glass.
He extended his right arm before looking up through the transparent ceiling at the imitation Unraveller crystal glued to the topmost point of the rock dome above.
Ami felt her face flush. He could see up her skirt from down there, couldn't he? Due to her leotard, this wasn't a problem, but she still turned a little sideways so he could at most see her leg. Nevertheless, she almost felt disappointed when he looked away after a brief moment, having verified that he was pointing at the right spot.
A flat oval of darkness appeared in front of him as the portal opened, and his blond curls moved as wind picked up. Leftover dust from the imps digging out the room trickled down the walls and crawled towards the growing gateway.
Jadeite stuck around until the portal was as tall as he was, visibly leaning back to avoid the suction pulling him in. The moment the magical gate stabilized, he teleported away.
"Thanks," Ami said as he reappeared near her, but she kept watching the room below.
The whooshing noise died down when the last of the air below disappeared into space. The surrounding rock creaked faintly from the shift in pressure, but nothing visibly moved and the thick glass floor remained solid as well.
Ami summoned her visor and inspected the walls. Good, nothing was shifting or vibrating. She needed the room to be at rest to take accurate measurements.
Straight below her, the planet was partially visible through the portal. Clouds covered the area Ami was most interested in, but that wasn't a hindrance for her plan. At this point, she was simply measuring the distance to the ground.
Satisfied, she entered the numbers into her palmtop and turned her attention to the table. She needed a map appropriately scaled to the portal's elevation, and so she had her computer project an appropriate shape onto her visor. Now she simply traced what she was seeing with her Keeper powers, quickly engraving the map into the glass floor.
The replica on the ceiling wasn't made of crystal at all; it was solid steel instead. All it had in common with Ami's quarry was its shape.
She had picked steel because it was sturdy, as it needed to survive acting as the anchor for a sympathetic search spell with far more power than usual. Enough power that she could form links to all those natural quartz crystals in the target region before running out. Other Keepers might be able to manage it too with enough ritual preparation, but they couldn't simply concentrate on the spell, pick their target, and then let the mana flow.
As she just did.
Faint light gathered at the bottommost tip of the fake crystal and shot straight down, passing through the map etched onto the glass floor on its way through the portal. Like a spotlight shining out of the replica, it expanded the farther away it got from its point of origin, forming a cone that was wide enough to fill the entire portal where it passed through.
The individual threads that formed the light cone were only visible with much closer inspection. Each one connected the replica with exactly one crystal shaped just like it. Seen together, they looked like one single solid shape.
Ami cast a second spell, infusing the map with mana. Little glowing dots appeared where the threads passed through its surface. Finally, she shifted the threads into invisibility until only the dots remained.
It looked like someone had spilled glowing sand onto her map.
Magnified by Ami's visor, she could see the individual grains that each represented the location of a crystal. There wasn't much empty space between them, and some even overlapped, but her approach had worked. If she had tried this from a vantage point closer to the ground, more of the threads would have been overlapping each other, and she wouldn't have been able to tell them apart. She smiled in satisfaction at having bypassed another layer of the Unraveller's security.
With quiet footsteps, Jadeite moved to her side and looked at the map. "You seem pleased."
Her smile faded a little. "Yes, but now comes the most time-consuming part."
"Finding the correct targets in that mess?"
"No, that's easy, I only have to pick the few that move," she answered. At least it was an easy task for her. Anyone without her visor and computer would have to get creative to spot or even observe the minuscule movements of a select few dots among the masses. Sure, some of them were probably false positives, like natural crystals getting swept along inside of rivers, but her real targets should be among the dots she had identified.
Jadeite blinked in surprise. "Then the hard part is...?"
With a wave of her hand, a desk and a chair dropped out of thin air and landed before her with a clatter. She picked up a pen. "Copying down all of the suspicious coordinates so my warlocks can investigate them."
The airship hovered hundreds of meters above the ground, facing a terrace the size of a basketball court carved directly into the vertical cliff face. The vessel's propellers hummed, hard at work to keep the howling winds from pushing it out of position. With a clank, the cabin split along a horizontal, gilded seam and opened like a giant maw.
The small groups of people assembled around various standing tables stood frozen and watched the widening gap with pale faces and clenched jaws. Maids and valets in red-jacketed uniforms stood out in the open, tablets threatening to slip from their shaking hands.
Ami's mouth felt dry as she faced the silent crowd. Head held high? Check. Breathing even? Check. Facial muscles relaxed? Check. Hands not clasped in front of herself, although she dearly wanted to? Check. Reassured that she had successfully avoided timid body language so far, she calmed down fractionally. She was slowly getting more used to being the centre of attention, but, well, when she was talking to her employees, then the audience was friendly.
The looks she was receiving from the elaborately dressed courtiers and their bodyguards were anything but.
She supposed she could at least count herself lucky that the serving staff avoided meeting her gaze at all.
With a flex of her Keeper powers, the ice underneath her feet rose from the floor, lifting her up. It had been sculpted into the shape of a real snowflake, magnified enough to carry her as well as the six bodyguards her role demanded. They were ice golems, formed up in a semi-circle behind her and covered from head to toe in armour that was mostly ornamental, but disguised their true nature.
A ripple went through the crowd as the intricate, glittering platform emerged from the open cabin and drifted towards the terrace.
Ami wasn't going slowly for their benefit. She was more concerned about keeping her balance than about giving people time to move away or about dragging out the moment. Right now, she was envying her golems who didn't have to worry about high heels or the wind turning her voluminous, bell-shaped dress into a sail.
Her fingers moved down to the silky fabric whipping around her legs like a flag. The motion, while intended to keep the dress down, also allowed her to confirm that the wiry, rune-shaped keystones sewed into its layers were still present. Losing them and setting the entire place on fire when Nailcastle's wards combusted around her would be even more of a faux-pas than stumbling.
Although it would easily convince everyone that she didn't really want to be here.
The snowflake touched down on the polished sandstone floor with a clinking noise. A well-timed spell shattered it into a mist of glittering ice particles that billowed up around Ami.
One of the servants, a well-groomed dwarf whose jacket had epaulettes and an extra helping of golden chains, gaped at the towering misty column dissipating into the wind, his gaze focused on the two burning red eyes shining from within. As if waking from a daze, the herald closed his mouth with an audible click. His chest swelled as he sucked in a large amount of air. "Her Imperial Majesty, Empress Mercury of the Avatar Islands!" he bellowed.
The echoes of his proclamation faded away at the same time as the last wisps of icy mist drifted over the terrace's railing. His voice reminded the people that, yes, there was now a Keeper among them, but that the situation was under control and that formalities were still being observed.
People slowly started moving and talking to each other in hushed voices again. From what Ami could overhear, most were arguing about whether or not they would have to approach her.
Loud footsteps came from the arched doorway that led deeper into the fortress, and people relaxed as they recognised the approaching figure in jewel-encrusted ceremonial armour.
Duke Libasheshtan approached with a steady, dignified stride, his ducal crown gleaming on his brow and his purple mantle waving behind him. As the host, he was in charge of welcoming important new arrivals. Since Ami had bypassed the hero gate and arrived directly at the reception area, he had missed her entrance.
Similar to the other guests, Ami felt a bit relieved upon seeing him and was more than willing to wait and let him take the lead. Her own role during the gala required little more than her presence, but she was still worried that she would say or do something that people would take the wrong way. Even being too friendly with someone could land that person in trouble.
Admittedly, it didn't look as if she would have to worry too much about that. So far, people were at best directing strained, fake smiles her way if she looked at them for too long. If she wanted conversation, she would have to initiate it. The thought prompted her to search for familiar faces among the sea of pinched, wary expressions.
She spotted the fairy sisters almost instantly. With their glitter, wings, and colourful hair, they would have been unmissable even without their revealing uniforms sticking out like a sore thumb among the fully covered crowd.
The next attention-grabbing figure she recognised was a large human with an impressive moustache. Baron Leopold was surrounded by a group of dwarfs fawning over his armour, whom he ignored in favour of watching her over their heads. Ami's eyebrows creep upwards. She hadn't expected to see the human noble here, but in hindsight, his presence wasn't too surprising. The dwarfs wouldn't have rewarded him with a suit of adamantine plate if he wasn't a staunch and valued ally.
"Wait, those winged girls are not hers?" a puzzled voice whispered, its nervous tone drawing Ami's attention. She had perceived the whisper with her Keeper senses, which, on foreign territory, meant that the speaker was near one of her employees.
Without moving her head, Ami focused her attention on Jered. Dressed in a colourful outfit that included a stiff collar and a surprising amount of frills along the sides of his pants, he fit right in with the other high-ranking dwarfs. Arm in arm with Umbra, whose human glamour was almost unnecessary underneath the many layers of blue and black velvet and veils, he was staying near the corner of the terrace farthest from its edge.
The clean-shaved human who had whispered was one of the twelve Silver Hawks mercenaries Jered had brought as bodyguards, which was pushing the limits of politeness. After all, it implied that he didn't trust the Duke to keep his guests safe. Of course, his real safety net was Umbra, who would teleport him out at the first sign of trouble.
Jered raised an eyebrow and leaned in closer to the speaker. An amused smile played around his lips as he replied in a hushed voice, "You'd better not let Ambassador Camilla from the Shining Concord Empire hear that you mistook her bodyguards for Keeper minions." He pointed out the blonde fairy wearing a dress similar in style to Ami's, aside from lacking the royal purple and having an open back to accommodate her wings.
To be fair, Ami could hardly fault the man for making that mistake. Unfortunately, the fairies had been unimpressed by her warning that their traditional uniform, while sensibly lightweight and streamlined for fliers who kept themselves warm with magic and had to swim occasionally, might not be the ideal attire for this event. Glancing over at the sisters in question, she noticed that Tilia, Roselle, and Melissa were standing close together and glaring at the group of mercenaries.
Another of Jered's hirelings, who had been keeping a vigilant eye on Ami, turned his head towards his boss in alarm. "S-Seriously?"
Jered nodded slowly, and the man's face, which was marred by razor cuts, went bright red, and his shoulders slumped. "Shit, I totally embarrassed myself there."
A female voice came from the face-concealing helmet of the smaller figure to the right. "Godsdammit, Jack! And here I was wondering why the dwarfs were glaring more at us then at her." She made a concealed hand gesture in Ami's direction.
Yet another mercenary in lighter armour and with a thin moustache nodded. "Yes, I was finding that odd, too," he said in a low, cultured tone. "My father has a close enough relationship with some of them that they must have recognised me, and they are usually impeccably polite when dealing with nobility."
The blushing mercenary groaned.
Jered snorted. "In your party member's defence, it's not his actions that they are have an issue with, Prince Norton. They are actually more annoyed by your presence here."
"Excuse me?"
"You must have some idea of how unpalatable this entire regency arrangement is to them," Jered elaborated. "With noble witnesses from foreign realms, it becomes considerably harder to, let's say, interpret its terms loosely when they become inconvenient."
The prince looked thoughtful. "I had not considered that. Should I leave? I obviously won't expect pay for-"
Jered interrupted him with a short laugh. "Denied. That would let all my effort go to waste. It's neither simple nor cheap to find a bunch of noble scions so far down the line of succession that they work for hire."
The woman in the suit of full plate whirled to face him. "You! You bastard!" she snarled. "You are working for her!" Her face remained invisible under her helmet, but her clenching fists and aggressive posture left no doubt about her feelings.
With a soundless, gliding motion, Umbra advanced half a step and tilted her head in Ami's direction.
Ami, while not too enthused about Jered's gloating, took the cue and turned towards the group of mercenaries.
Her gaze had the same effect as dumping a bucket of ice water over the angry adventurers closing in on her employee. The circle widened as they backed off, swallowing and lowering their heads. Some even tried shuffling sideways until their wavy-haired employer was between her and them.
She stopped paying attention to the situation when Duke Libasheshtan finally finished his walk to her location.
He welcomed her with a bow deep enough that the six neat braids of his black beard dangled freely in the air. "Welcome, your Imperial Majesty. I hope you had a pleasant journey."
Her return bow was shallower, in accordance with her higher title. "Duke Libasheshtan," she greeted him, "I did indeed enjoy the view."
It was even true. Being above ground after spending so much time underground felt very pleasant, and the forested mountainsides passing by on both sides of her airship had presented her with some spectacular panoramas. She hadn't indulged too much, as she could work with her dungeon remotely, but she had certainly been paying attention to Nailcastle as the rocky column grew larger and larger in the distance. The arrangement of balconies and terraces jutting out of its near-vertical cliffs, interspersed with occasional trees and vines, reminded her of artful rock gardens.
"Very good, ma'am" the Duke replied stiffly. "Let us drink to that." He handed her an alcoholic beverage from one of the standing tables as part of the formal dwarven greeting.
To her, it felt a little odd, but none of the many guests watching them both batted an eye at the proceedings.
She accepted the offered drink, which didn't come in the flutelike glass she had expected. Instead, a weighty stein decorated with intricate geometrical patterns occupied her hands. Overlapping squares that represented salt crystals, if she didn't miss her guess. Admittedly, at this altitude it made some sense to use furniture and tableware too heavy to be easily blown away.
She took a sip of the mushroom-based wine, and immediately regretted that her glamour included functional taste buds. The flavour wasn't bad enough to make her grimace, but it was definitely an acquired taste. Perhaps the dwarfs were aware of this, as the stein certainly contained enough wine to make a serious attempt at acquiring it.
Duke Libasheshtan lowered his own stein with a pleased expression. "I'm glad you had a smooth journey, ma'am," he said. He bowed again and took a step away from her. "Please excuse me, but duty calls." While turning towards the entrance, he stopped briefly when facing the orchestra, and gave a hand signal.
Twelve dwarfs seated on two long benches started playing a slow tune on various percussive and stringed instruments.
The Duke glanced back at Ami a final time. "Please enjoy mingling with the other guests, your Imperial Majesty."
Clearly alarmed by his parting words, the closest guests turned away or moved a little faster when Ami's gaze moved in their direction.
A shadow briefly fell over terrace, prompting a small hitch in the music. People looked up with nervous expressions as they spotted Ami's airship circling the spire at some distance like a shark. To someone who wasn't aware how much volume the vessel dedicated to lifting gas, it would certainly look massive and menacing.
While looking up, Ami noticed that there was a roof that could be lowered like a drawbridge over the terrace in case of inclement weather. Deciding to give the other guests some time to acclimatise to her presence, she remained in place and admired her surroundings. Especially the highest parts of the fortress, where the rock spire tapered to a point, bristled with an impressive amount of orchards layered not unlike rice paddies.
When it became clear that she wasn't going to immediately seek out people to corrupt, the attention on her slowly died down to cautious glances, and conversations picked up again.
Ami decided that she had waited long enough, put down her stein, and stepped away from it. She gracefully pretended to not notice a shaking maidservant almost tripping when she got close enough to sense that Ami's golem guards had no bones.
She acknowledged Jered with a nod and ordered all but two of her golems to remain behind as she directed her steps toward Camilla. Out of everyone around here, the fairy ambassador was probably the least reluctant to chat with Ami, which would demonstrate to the others that she wouldn't hurt them for trying to talk to her.
The blonde fairy in question was near a dwarf who looked like a monk, albeit a monk who had decided that poverty and abstinence were for other people. The rope constraining his rotund belly glittered with threads of gold, his robe depicted a colourful landscape, and the staff he was leaning on could have doubled as a king's sceptre.
Ami recognised him from images as Roderser, the designated representative King Ral had sent to attend in his place.
While physically close to him, Camilla wasn't paying him any attention right now. She was too busy backing away from a dwarf with an amicable expression who was talking loudly while he intruded into her personal space.
"... wouldn't you agree, Ambassador?" the pushy dwarf said. He was wearing a colourful ensemble with purely decorative pieces of armour, but most of it was covered by a long tabard with the goat-headed sigil of Sirith Anlur.
Camilla, visibly uncomfortable, glanced over at Roderser for a moment. "Ah, Ambassador Bagozkal, I believe it would be presumptuous of me to comment on internal affairs of your realm with only superficial knowledge," the blonde said after a moment of awkward silence. Her gaze furtively darted towards her oldest sister Dandel, who was standing guard nearby and carefully failed to make eye contact, her expression serene.
"Oh, you should find the situation familiar to your own or the good Duke's, I'm sure even Roderser must agree," the dwarf from Sirith Anlur said. It earned him a look of barely-concealed loathing from the monk-like diplomat, which he completely ignored in order to continue, "I would be more than happy to elaborate on the details during," he glanced back over his shoulder, perhaps noticing the ambient conversation volume lowering as Ami approached, "during... excuse me please something really urgent came up I must go!"
Ambassador Bagozkal's speedy departure left Camilla blinking in relieved confusion until she noticed Ami approaching. At that point, she just barely managed to disguise a brief laugh as a cough.
Roderser glanced at Ami, frowned, looked back at the departing Ambassador Bagozkal, and when he turned back to the approaching Keeper, his face had settled in an expression that looked, on average, pleased.
At that point, baron Leopold stepped in front of the dwarven representative like a human roadblock, impeding Ami's path.
Ami hesitated, thrown a little off-script by the fact that he was another noble guest, not a bodyguard. Was this him being rude and running interference, or did he simply want to talk to her? She wasn't even close enough yet for the gesture to be unambiguously directed at her. If this was intended to be a subtle snub, it was a plausibly deniable one. Should she be confrontational about this for her act? She wished Duke Libasheshtan was around to help sort things out.
She looked over at the wide doorway, trying to see if he was close enough to smooth things over. Unfortunately, he was at the other end of a long hallway lined with columns and statues, standing near a hero gate carved into the wall. Bright white light spilled from the portal's back wall, which turned into a featureless white rectangle.
A tall, wide-shouldered silhouette stepped out of the pane of white, and golden reflections spilled out into the hallway.
"Lord Avatar! Welcome to Nailcastle!" the Duke's enthusiastic greeting drew attention to the tall, armoured figure who had just appeared from the hero gate.
Word of the Avatar's arrival spread within moments, and a tide of guests swept out of the reception area and into the hallway, towards the perceived safety of his proximity. They did try to look nonchalant about it -- of course they weren't fleeing, they were merely eager to meet the esteemed Lord Avatar! However, the way the crowd streamed around Ami at a distance revealed its true intentions.
The herald, whose job it was to announce newcomers as soon as they stepped out onto the terrace, was wringing his hands as he frowned at the crowd now congesting the hallway.
Ami shot him a sympathetic look. Having everyone ignore protocol and preventing him from announcing one of the most important guests had to be awkward.
Noticing her attention, the dwarf paled and looked ready to run off too.
Smile turning brittle, she looked in Jered's direction instead. By now, the terrace was practically empty aside from the nervous staff and her own small delegation. Even Jered's mercenaries had abandoned him.
She exchanged a questioning look with the wavy-haired man, who just shrugged and pointed in the direction of the entrance, where the guests were slowly being pushed back out onto the terrace.
The noise level rose as people loudly vied for the Avatar's attention. Despite the press of bodies, the dwarfs somehow managed to show proper respect and deference by clearing a path for him and Duke Libasheshtan.
The Avatar, however, was currently listening to the tall elf fortunate enough to have gotten hold of the spot to his left. Unlike the dark elves Ami was familiar with, the androgynous figure had both a deep tan and not only long, flowing hair, but also a matching blond beard.
The elf, who was wearing some kind of polished breastplate made of artfully interwoven twigs, was gesticulating widely even as he leaned in closer to the Avatar with a pleading expression.
Ami strained to hear what they were talking about, but couldn't listen in due to the noisy crowd. Her Keeper senses didn't work on foreign territory unless she had an employee nearby, and both Jered and Umbra hadn't moved from their spot yet. She wished she could have smuggled in some rats inside her golems, but dwarven senses made that plan unfeasible.
"My lip reading isn't great, but I'm getting that he's requesting a visit to his homeland due to increasing Keeper pressure," Jered sent her a mental message. "Also, people might get nervous if you keep frowning that hard in the Avatar's direction."
Ami froze and noticed that, yes, she was staring and yes, people were starting to notice. With a faint blush, she turned aside and told one of her disguised golems to fetch her a snack. The Duke could fill her in on the details later.
Meanwhile, a dwarven courtier had somehow managed to replace the elf at the Avatar's side. Lacking the height of the pointy-eared man, he couldn't stop others from addressing the Avatar straight over his head. Unable to get a word in, his frustration was visibly rising.
The fairy sisters had to be feeling the same way. In a scramble with dwarfs, they were physically at a disadvantage, and occasional glimpses of bare skin in the crowd revealed that they were being pushed farther and farther away from the golden-armoured man.
The pressure let up only when he finally stepped out of the hallway and people spilled back out onto the terrace, dispersing a little. The poor herald's redundant announcement of the Avatar's presence went completely ignored as the group slowly rotated around him.
Amadeus endured the attention with remarkable patience, returning smiles and exchanging brief sentences with the people trying to engage him in conversation. After a few minutes though, he raised his hand. "A moment of quiet, please," his voice echoed out.
Within a few breaths, the shouts and clamouring died down, and even the orchestra stopped playing.
"Thank you." He lowered his hand and turned to the dwarf to his right. "Duke Libashestan. As our gracious host, you must be keeping track of everyone who has arrived so far."
"Indeed, Lord Avatar," the Duke replied, nodding in confirmation.
The Avatar straightened to his full height and turned one full circle, his gaze sweeping over everyone assembled. "Correct me if I am wrong, but it appears to me that all the important guests have already arrived?"
"We are not missing anyone above the rank of court scribe, Lord Avatar," the Duke said.
"Good. In that case, I request that we proceed with the ceremony straight away," Amadeus said.
A few surprised gasps came from the guests.
"I realise that the request may appear rude, but my duties are many, and strictly adhering to protocol is most assuredly not the most beneficial use of my time," the Avatar continued.
A murmur went through the crowd. Some dwarfs looked scandalised, but nobody seemed ready to argue with the Avatar that slaying monsters was less important than the gala's timetable. A few glanced over at Ami with thoughtful and satisfied looks, interpreting his words as a faint insult aimed at her.
Duke Libasheshtan drew in a deep breath. "That is, well, I am sure nobody would find fault with accommodating you, Lord Avatar, unless perhaps her Imperial Majesty disagrees?" He turned towards Ami expectantly.
People held their breaths as they awaited the dark empress' reaction.
Put on the spot, Ami remained quiet for a tense few seconds. The faster this awkwardness was over the better, in her opinion, but she was supposed to sell the idea that she was being coerced into this. "I suppose it would be rather petty of me if I dragged things out," she said with a faint smile, as if she was considering doing just that. "Fine, go ahead."
"Thank you for your cooperation, your Imperial Majesty," the Avatar replied in a tone so dry it made a mockery out of his polite words.
"Very well," the Duke called over several servants, who darted off to convey his orders.
A loud fanfare preceded the herald's next proclamation. "Esteemed Majesties, Lords, and honoured guests, your attention please! By personal request of his Exalted Lordship the Avatar and with agreement from her Imperial Majesty, Empress Mercury, his Grace, Duke Libasheshtan, will formally be accepting the regency over the realm of her Imperial Majesty slightly ahead of schedule! Please assemble at your assigned positions around the podium!"
Two servants were unrolling a red carpet down the three stairs that led up to the raised platform he had indicated, and dwarven soldiers in parade armour arrived, walking in formation as the orchestra started playing a solemn march.
On Ami's cue, her own guards joined the forming honour guard, their darker-coloured full plate contrasting with the shining silver tones of the dwarven armour.
The Duke inclined his head towards her in an invitation, and she joined him at the far edge of the red carpet.
She took the lead, walking one step ahead of him through the honour guard due to her higher rank. Now that the ceremony proper had started, she was feeling calmer than before despite the many eyes tracking her every move. For this part, everything was planned and rehearsed, so she knew exactly what to expect. It also helped that she mostly just had to sit on her throne and look regal while the Duke handled most of the talking.
He walked up to the pedestal and began his speech with a long-winded introduction about how this occasion was grounds for celebration as it provided ample opportunities to redress an unfortunate situation.
Ami had heard the speech so many times during the rehearsals that she wasn't paying attention any more. Instead, she watched the audience as the Duke went on about responsibility, duty, and proper upbringing.
The faces looking up at her remained impassive, though some twitching mouth corners and subtly arching eyebrows suggested that people were contemplating Duke Libasheshtan's words with a healthy amount of scepticism.
She couldn't really blame them when she agreed that the idea of handling a Keeper with pedagogy was, well, hopelessly optimistic at best. Thinking of Keeper-related issues, she had some time to check up on her dungeon, because the Duke would be talking at length about tradition and ancestors. Carefully keeping her eyes looking straight ahead, she moved her Keeper sight back to Salthalls, where her warlocks were working with crystal balls.
The huge list with potential Unraveller crystal locations pinned to the wall now had all but two entries crossed out. Her warlocks had split into two groups, each of which was working on putting together a small-scale model of a sprawling dungeon. With how little they had mapped out so far, they would be busy scrying for some time yet.
If they found any traces of gem furnace experimentation, then Ami would have to deal with those complexes.
Certain familiar parts of the Duke's speech caught Ami's attention before she could really get deeply into strategising. The next part required her participation.
The dwarf turned towards her with a stern look, his purple cape billowing. "Your Imperial Majesty, I hereby accept the duty of wielding the imperial authority and governing your realm in your name. As your regent and guardian, I shall ensure the well-being of yourself and your subjects until you reach the age of majority."
Ami stayed silent for a moment as if she was having second thoughts. Finally, she rose from her throne and nodded once. "I, Empress Mercury of the Avatar Islands, thank you for your service to my realm." That the service wasn't to herself was the important part here.
"I, Avatar Amadeus, witness and confirm Duke Libasheshtan's appointment to the position of Regent," the Avatar said, his eyes shining with faint light. "Congratulations, Regent Libasheshtan."
Following his example, the audience offered reluctant applause and congratulations too. The clapping from Sirith Anlur's representative was particularly slow and sarcastic. He also broke protocol as he failed to get in line to offer personal congratulations to the Duke. Instead, he directly approached the Avatar with a drink.
Of all the glares directed at the shameless dwarf, those of the fairies were the fiercest as they politely waited in line. When they finally got close to the Avatar too, Roderser had already joined the conversation.
"...preposterous! The situation is completely different! He is not working for a Keeper, but in a position of authority over one! Do not be taken in by his honeyed words, Lord Avatar," the bald dwarf said, frowning all the time. "They have learned nothing! Ambassador Camilla, isn't it true that the dark empress commissioned some goods from Sirith Anlur?" He turned his head so suddenly in the blonde's direction that he startled her.
"Wha- yes, but-"
"And that's willingly and knowingly serving a Keeper!" Roderser said, not letting Camilla finish her sentence.
"You have some gall twisting a simple business transaction into something supporting your continuing agenda of discrimination!" Ambassador Bagozkal growled. "Ambassador Camilla, your own trade experiences support my view?"
Camilla perked up. "Actually, I have a different issue to discuss with the Lord Avatar-"
"Which I'm sure you'll be able to do to your full satisfaction during the feast," Bagozkal interrupted again, drawing a frown from both the fairy and Roderser. "To stay on topic-"
"No." This time it was Amadeus who interrupted, reddish eyebrows narrowed in irritation. "Unfortunately, I cannot spare the time to stay for the feast."
His careless statement, while intended to support Camilla, neglected to take the audience into account. The guests who hadn't had the opportunity to talk to him yet overheard that he would be leaving soon, the crowd surged, and the poor fairy was swept away in the stream of bodies despite her vocal protests.
"All right, enough is enough!" Anise declared. The ruby-eyed fairy drew some curious looks as she jumped high into the air and fluttered her wings to escape from the bodies pressing against each other.
Ami, still sitting on her throne and neither inclined nor expected to mingle, was a little surprised when the fairy landed nearby and stomped in her direction.
Anise leaned down and whispered, "You told us we could plead our case to the Avatar, so come along and help us out!" With that, she grabbed Ami by the wrist and tugged.
A full stein shattered on the ground, and people stared wide-eyed. Someone stuttered "Sh-shameless!" and a few dwarfs tried to duck behind the standing tables for cover. One of the drummers missed a beat.
Ami, for her part, had already let herself be dragged along for a few steps before she really started thinking about how this might affect her image. Empress meekly following a girl who's half-naked by dwarven standards? She felt her ears burn. Oh well. In the end, she did owe the fairies a favour, and she would have to start interacting more with people at some point.
Not that it looked as if she would get to do so; Anise's plan to use her as sycophant repellent was working very well. The servants watching her move towards the Avatar fled first, alerting the guests at the rim of the crowd. Their departure in turn alerted the guests deeper in, causing a chain reaction that parted the sea of bodies before her.
Ambassador Bagozkal yelped when he noticed how close she was all of a sudden and ran without a thought for propriety, leaving Camilla, the Avatar, Roderser, and Baron Leopold to form a small, isolated group of their own.
Again, the moustached baron interposed himself between Ami and Roderser, glowering down at her. "Lord Avatar? Why don't you just deal with that Keeper brat right now? I mean, she's right here."
Ami shot him an incredulous look, wondering if he had a death wish. No, with the way he was smirking now he had to be testing her? She quickly closed her mouth.
"Trying would be pointless," Amadeus replied with a frown. "That's not her real body."
"Huh. You are the Avatar. I'm sure you have some way around that." He paused, considering. "If it takes some time to deploy, I can hold her off for a little."
The Avatar buried his face in his palm, incidentally flashing a ring on his finger. "Baron Leopold, why must you do this every time? Besides, you know I am unable to bring my full power to bear like this."
The adamantine-armored figure slumped and let out a long sigh. "How unfortunate." A moment later, he perked up again and grinned at Ami. "So, Empress, I hear you have a new reaper. Think it's up for a fight?"
Ami found herself actually taking a step back. She was far from the only one staring at the baron with a wary expression, though the Avatar only looked exasperated. "Well, um, Rabixtrel is always ready to battle, but he probably wouldn't want to make the journey," she finally replied.
"Lord Avatar!" Camilla said, jumping at the opportunity offered by the awkward silence. "My sisters and I were caught in the magical accident that recently befell Salthalls. This leaves us in a shaky position as far as the laws of the Shining Concord Empire are concerned. Could you please help us convince our superiors that we are still fit for our duties?"
It wasn't the most diplomatic request that the Avatar had ever received, but he thought about it for a moment. "Provided that is, in fact, the case, I'm inclined to assist you. However, this is neither the time nor place for the thorough examination required. I will instruct my seneschal to schedule a proper meeting and contact you."
"Thank you very much, Lord Avatar!" Camilla said, bowing deeply.
"We'll be eternally grateful," her sisters chimed in, bowing too.
The dinner gong rang loudly, which answered Ami's question about where Duke Libasheshtan had disappeared to during all this.
"And that is my cue to bid you farewell, your Imperial Majesty, your Excellencies, Lords and Ladies," Amadeus said. Using Ami's presence as a dam that held back the tide of his admirers, he strode towards the hero gate at a fast pace.