Chapter 616 - 612 – A WEARY NIGHT IN THE EAST TOWER, ALICIA’S TELECOMMUNICATIONS BUSINESS, AND PREPARING FOR DAY TWO

The lavender-scented aromatherapy candle on the black wooden desk swayed gently in the night breeze that slipped in through a gap in the window of the East Tower of the Nocture Palace. The light of the magic crystals glowed softly, casting the shadows of two women seated side by side behind a giant desk heaped with stacks of papers.

Sofia rested her head for a moment on Sylvia’s shoulder. Her eight golden wings, which usually spread so gracefully, were now folded in resignation, wrapping around the back of their velvet chair. The Empress’s slender fingers still held a silver quill, but her eyes had already narrowed with weariness.

"This pile of reports from the Southern District seems like it will never end," Sofia whispered softly, her voice sounding very tired yet still gentle. "Every time I sign ten files, Durin the dwarf accountant brings fifteen new ones."

Sylvia chuckled softly. Her free right arm went around Sofia’s waist, drawing the Empress’s body closer against her side. With her left hand, Sylvia quickly stamped the Absolute Death seal onto the budget report for satellite city expansion number twenty-two.

"I’ve helped you finish three hundred reports since eight o’clock tonight," Sylvia said with a faint smile. "Is that enough to pay the rent for the Queen’s lodging in your bed tonight?"

Sofia looked up, meeting Sylvia’s heterochromatic eyes, blood red and majestic gold, with her warm, clear blue gaze. She bit her lower lip a little, pretending to think hard.

"Hmm... there’s still the report on building the energy rail line to Quiet Bay that hasn’t been validated," Sofia answered with a sweet smile. "But... since the Queen of Death has worked hard without complaint for four hours, I can give a special discount."

"What kind of discount?" Sylvia teased, leaning her face in slightly.

"A discount in the form of ending the forced labor tonight," Sofia whispered, right in front of Sylvia’s lips.

Before Sylvia could answer, there was a soft knock at the study door from outside.

KNOCK... KNOCK...

Sylvia let out a long sigh, while Sofia laughed softly and quickly adjusted her seating.

"Come in," Sofia called, putting her Empress’s dignity back on.

The carved wooden door opened smoothly. Alicia floated into the room. The Spirit Emperor, Nocture’s absolute healer, looked enchanting in a white gown embroidered with gold thread, her transparent body giving off a soothing moonlight glow. Behind her, Qilin walked in gracefully, his single crystal horn radiating a faint golden glow.

’Warm greetings, Sylvia, Empress Sofia,’ Qilin said through telepathy, bowing his head in deep respect.

"Alicia? What brings you here this late at night?" Sylvia asked, stretching her slightly sore fingers.

Alicia landed gracefully on the marble floor and waved her right hand to bring up a blue hologram projection in the middle of the room. The projection showed the blueprint of a magic communication bracelet, a diagram of the spatial magic matrix infrastructure, and the organizational structure of a new institution.

"I heard from Stacia that you got an interesting idea while walking through the commercial district this morning," Alicia said with a gentle smile. "About spreading the hologram bracelets to thirteen million citizens of Nocture."

Sylvia leaned back in her chair. "Ah, that. Yes, I noticed that Nocture’s city planning is already very advanced in transportation and food logistics, but our public communication system is still behind. People still use magic pigeons, bulletin boards, or physical message runners."

"Exactly," Alicia replied. Her hand swept across the projection screen, bringing up a simulation of Nocture’s spatial network. "Stacia has already calculated the mass-production efficiency of these bracelets. If we use leftover low-grade mana crystals and a light mithril alloy, we can produce ten million hologram bracelets in one month."

"But," Sofia cut in, tilting her head, "what about managing the network and registering soul identities? We can’t let this communication network run without oversight."

Alicia smiled. "That’s why I’m here. I’ve designed the formation of a city-owned enterprise, the Nocture Astral Communications Company. My healing spirit troops can safely guide the user soul-scanning matrix during bracelet registration, while the dwarves will take care of the physical production line at the western factory."

"And who will lead this company?" Sylvia asked, looking at her sister.

"I will," Alicia answered firmly but gently. "As the Spirit Emperor, my soul is directly connected to the flow of mana across the continent. I can be the ’central server’ that keeps the magic signal stable without burdening Nocture’s Astral Star Furnace."

Sylvia studied the blueprint for several seconds. Her True Sight mapped the course of Alicia’s plan, and there was not a single flaw in the calculations.

"A very good decision, Alicia," Sylvia said sincerely. "I approve it completely. Use the palace treasury budget without limit for this project. Tomorrow morning, you can talk directly with Stacia to begin building the main factory."

Alicia bowed gracefully. "Thank you, Sylvia. I will make sure all the people of Nocture can be connected to each other in a matter of seconds."

’And I will help Her Majesty Alicia oversee the purification of the energy-storage crystals,’ Qilin added eagerly.

"All right, since this important business is done..." Sofia stood from her chair and closed the last file scroll on her desk with a firm ’SMACK’, "...I declare tonight officially over. No more documents, no more technology projects, and no more Queen of Death running away!"

Sylvia chuckled softly, stepped toward Sofia, and suddenly lifted the Empress into her arms. Sofia gave a startled squeak but immediately wrapped both arms around Sylvia’s neck, a flush of red on her cheeks.

"Good night, Alicia, Qilin," Sylvia said as she carried Sofia toward their main bedroom.

"Good night, Sylvia. Rest well," Alicia replied as she floated out of the room with Qilin, chuckling softly at the antics of Nocture’s ruling couple.

The next day, before dawn had fully broken over the sky of Nocture, Sylvia was already awake.

Sofia was still sleeping peacefully beside her, wrapped in her own warm eight golden wings. Sylvia kissed Sofia’s forehead very gently so as not to wake the Empress, who had just gotten her deep sleep.

With quick, silent motions, Sylvia put her disguise cloak back on. Through a short spatial rift, she jumped straight to the private suite in the luxury inn in the commercial district, where she had left her personal disguise locked in the previous afternoon.

In the quiet inn room, Sylvia stood before the large mirror. She channeled her high-level disguise magic.

WHOOSH...

Her jet-black hair slowly shifted to a soft blue. Her ears lengthened into the points of an Elf, while the Queen of Death’s heterochromatic eyes dimmed to a clear emerald green. The form of ’Runa’, the wandering elf girl who made spicy grilled chicken, appeared again, perfectly.

’Haaah... Do I have to wear this thick-furred golden dog form again?’ whispered Sol, who suddenly appeared from inside the System Storage, turning himself into a small golden dog with a lazy expression.

"You’ll get ten free pieces of honey-butter grilled chicken today if you don’t complain," Sylvia offered coldly.

Sol immediately perked up his ears, his eyes sparkling. ’A very fair deal! The honor of the stall guard dog is ready to be carried out!’

Noir poked out of the shadow on the floor and snorted in amusement. ’You spineless dragon.’

Sylvia ignored the bickering of her two pets. She checked the contents of her System Storage again: hundreds of pieces of fresh mutated fowl carcasses taken from the Iron-Winged Thunder Eagle and the Peak Level 7 Alpha, gallons of blended Deadly Spicy Sauce, honey-butter sauce, melted-cheese sauce, and the thoroughly cleaned mithril grilling equipment.

All the preparations for the second day of trading were done.

Sylvia went down to the inn’s underground garage, started the mana-crystal engine of her off-road vehicle, which hummed softly, and drove the car through the quartz-stone streets of Nocture, now starting to be lit by the morning sun.

When Sylvia arrived at Block C of the Culinary District, her eyes widened slightly in surprise.

The sun had only just risen, yet in front of Runa’s blue-canvas stall number 14, still locked tight by Stacia’s expansion-orb magic, dozens of people were already standing in a neat line!

At the very front of the line, the blacksmith dwarf from yesterday afternoon sat on a folding chair holding a cup of magic coffee. As soon as he saw Sylvia’s off-road vehicle stop in front of the stall, the dwarf jumped to his feet with a beaming face.

"Good morning, Miss Runa!" the dwarf shouted eagerly. "Just as I promised yesterday, I’m the first customer today! Hurry up and open your stall, the aroma has been disturbing my dreams all night!"

Sylvia gave a faint smile behind her elf-face disguise. She stepped down from the car, carrying her high-quality goods, and got ready to begin her secret culinary adventure on the second day. For one more day, the Queen of Death would be nothing but a humble street vendor, and Sylvia found she did not mind that at all.