Chapter 690: What Comes Next

The next morning, Kael didn’t go straight to the training courtyard.

He stopped by the garden first.

Sylphie walked beside him carrying the empty watering can, although the soil still looked damp enough that it probably wouldn’t be needed.

The nameless man was already standing in front of his own garden bed, as he had been practically every morning since the first sprouts appeared.

This time, he wasn’t looking at them.

He was looking at the primrose bed.

"One grew."

The man pointed toward a tiny green tip almost hidden near the edge.

Sylphie crouched down to examine it.

"Yes. It’s a primrose."

She moved aside a dry leaf that had fallen near the plant without touching the soil around it.

Kael crouched on the other side.

"So now I know three."

He watched the sprout for a few seconds before standing again.

Sylphie looked up.

"Three what?"

She already seemed to know the answer.

"Bellflowers, primroses, and flowers."

Kael kept a straight face.

Sylphie fell silent.

So did the nameless man.

Umbra appeared beside the tree trunk.

"He’s still technically correct."

The shadow crossed her arms.

Sylphie pointed the watering can at both of them.

"You’re unbearable."

Despite that, she was smiling when she stood.

The man opened his notebook and recorded the first primrose sprout.

Then he checked his own garden bed, where five small plants now occupied different spots in the prepared soil.

Kael looked over his shoulder.

"Five."

He counted again just to confirm.

"Five."

The man wrote the number beneath the date and closed the notebook.

"Are you going to keep counting when there are twenty?"

Kael asked as they followed the path.

"Yes."

The man put the pencil in his pocket.

"And when there are fifty?"

Kael continued walking beside him.

The man hesitated.

"Maybe I’ll need a better way to record them."

He looked genuinely concerned about the logistics.

Sylphie laughed.

"When we get there, I’ll teach you."

She handed the watering can to a gardener passing near the shelter.

After breakfast, Kael went to the courtyard.

Sylphie allowed four Celestial Steps.

There was no argument.

That seemed to bother her more than any attempt at negotiation would have.

"You’re not going to ask for five?"

She watched while Kael stretched his right leg.

"You said four."

Kael finished rotating his ankle.

"Yes."

Sylphie continued waiting.

"Then I’ll do four."

He positioned himself in front of the mark she had chosen.

Umbra appeared on top of the wall.

"He’s planning something."

The shadow tilted her head.

"I’m not."

Kael opened his mana channels.

The first Step covered twenty meters.

Clean.

The second came five minutes later.

The third after another interval.

For the fourth, Sylphie increased the distance slightly, and Kael executed the acceleration without any change in his flow.

His body responded with the familiarity he had been recovering every morning.

The technique no longer felt like something he needed to test.

It was simply becoming part of him again.

Sylphie completed the final examination.

"No reaction."

She removed her hand from his chest.

"Good."

Kael picked up the shirt he had left on the low wall.

She kept waiting.

Kael put it on.

"What?"

He began adjusting the sleeves.

"You really aren’t going to ask about tomorrow?"

Sylphie crossed her arms.

"Five."

Kael answered while fastening the cuff of his shirt.

She blinked.

Kael smiled.

"You wanted me to ask."

He walked past her toward the exit.

Sylphie stared after him for a moment before following.

"Five, with intervals."

She caught up to him in the corridor.

"Naturally."

Kael kept walking.

"Now you’re using that word on purpose."

Sylphie took his hand.

"Maybe."

Kael intertwined his fingers with hers.

Amelia had reserved the final part of the morning for Kael’s first real meeting since the beginning of his recovery.

Thirty minutes.

The duration was written on the paper placed in front of him.

Kael looked at it.

"You wrote down the end time."

He pointed at the line.

"So you can’t pretend you lost track of time."

Amelia sat across from him with only one folder on the table.

Irelia was participating through the communication crystal.

Elion was physically present, seated near the window.

"I know how to read a clock."

Kael pulled the folder closer.

"Good. Then we won’t have any problems."

Amelia opened her own copy.

The main subject was Valgrin.

The physical inspection of the underground complex had been confirmed.

Representatives from the city would accompany Elion and Irelia from the entrance to the technical areas that didn’t involve protected third-party information.

The heat recovery system would remain operational during the audit.

"Valgrin wants access to the emergency shutdown."

Elion showed him a small diagram of the facility.

"They should have it."

Kael examined the design.

"There’s a technical problem."

Elion pointed toward three separate lines.

"The current system doesn’t completely separate the shutdown of thermal recovery from the shutdown of several internal modules."

"Can you separate them?"

Kael asked while following the connections.

"Yes. I need to modify two circuits and install an independent lock."

Elion collected the diagram.

"Then do that before giving them local control."

Kael handed the page back.

Irelia spoke through the crystal.

"I also suggested that the emergency procedure require an automatic record of the reason for activation, but no prior external authorization."

Her image remained stable above the violet surface.

"I agree."

Kael rested his arms on the table.

"If it’s an emergency, no one should need permission to prevent immediate harm."

Amelia made a note.

"That was the main issue."

She turned the page.

Kael looked at the clock.

Seventeen minutes.

"Is there another one?"

he asked.

"A smaller one."

Amelia pulled out a separate sheet.

"Valgrin’s council wants to know what the complex should officially be called."

Kael stared at her.

Elion turned his face toward the window.

Irelia remained serious.

"This required a meeting?"

Kael asked.

"No."

Amelia placed the sheet in front of him.

"But I thought it would be fun to include."

Kael read the three suggestions.

Valgrin Technical Complex.

Underground Archive Facility.

Thermal and Archival Infrastructure Center.

He handed it back.

"Ask Valgrin."

Kael pushed the paper toward her.

Amelia smiled.

"That was the expected answer."

She put the document away.

"Then why did you ask?"

Kael leaned back.

"To confirm that you wouldn’t choose some pompous imperial name."

Amelia closed the folder.

"I can suggest Absolute Underground Fortress of the Witch King."

Kael replied without changing his tone.

Elion made a sound that might have been a cough.

Irelia closed her eyes for a moment.

Amelia raised her quill.

"I’ll record that."

"Don’t do that."

Kael immediately reached out.

The meeting ended after twenty-six minutes.

Kael only noticed once he was already in the corridor.

He hadn’t felt any need to extend it.

He was returning to the garden when a messenger found him.

The man wore the mansion’s administrative uniform and carried a simple envelope sealed with green wax.

"Mr. Scarlet, this arrived through the civilian messenger network."

The employee handed over the correspondence with both hands.

Kael examined the seal.

He didn’t recognize it.

"Urgent?"

he asked before opening it.

"It wasn’t marked as urgent."

The messenger remained waiting.

"Then thank you."

Kael tucked the envelope beneath his arm.

The man looked slightly surprised.

"You’re not going to read it now?"

he asked.

"I’ll read it in the garden."

Kael continued down the corridor.

Sylphie, who had heard the exchange, approached.

"You’re becoming dangerous."

She looked at the envelope.

"For carrying a letter twenty meters before opening it?"

Kael asked as they stepped into the garden.

"A few weeks ago, you would’ve opened it before the messenger finished his sentence."

Sylphie sat on the bench.

Kael opened the envelope.

The letter was short.

It came from a small town called Arvend, located two days west of the empire’s central borders.

There was no threat, attack, or emergency.

The local administration was simply asking for guidance.

Over the last three weeks, residents of two nearby villages had found large claw marks on trees in the mountain region.

Two herds had been frightened during the night, but no animals had disappeared.

Local hunters believed a large creature had settled in the area, although no one had managed to see it directly.

The town wasn’t requesting soldiers.

They wanted someone capable of identifying the animal before any attempt to hunt it began.

Sylphie read over Kael’s shoulder.

"That seems reasonable."

She finished the last line.

"Yes."

Kael folded the letter again.

"Are you going?"

Sylphie asked.

Kael looked at her.

Then at the garden beds.

The nameless man was several meters away, showing Seraphine where the first primrose had appeared.

The small former Reference was also in the garden again, floating near the tree while Elion watched from a distance.

"I don’t know."

Kael answered.

Sylphie showed no surprise.

"Who else could identify it?"

she asked.

"Shura would understand the marks better than almost anyone."

Kael rested the letter on his lap.

"There are also imperial forest rangers in that region."

"Then you can ask them to evaluate it first."

Sylphie moved closer to him.

Kael thought for several seconds.

Then he called to the messenger, who was still crossing the distant courtyard.

The man returned.

"Send a copy to the forest rangers in the region and ask someone to photograph or make casts of the marks before any hunting begins."

Kael handed him the letter.

"I also want to know whether there were tracks, fur, food remains, or any recent changes in the local wildlife."

"Yes, sir."

The messenger accepted the document.

"And tell the town not to try killing anything until we know what it is, unless there’s an immediate threat."

Kael added.

The employee nodded.

"Anything else?"

he asked.

Kael thought.

"No."

He sat back down.

The messenger left.

Sylphie watched Kael for several seconds.

"You didn’t go immediately."

she commented.

"I don’t even know what’s there."

Kael picked up the recipe book he had left on the bench.

"I know."

Sylphie leaned against him.

Kael opened the book to where he had marked a honey bread recipe.

"If the rangers can’t identify it, we can go."

He began reading the ingredients.

"We can?"

Sylphie asked.

Kael turned a page.

"If you want."

He continued examining the recipe.

Sylphie smiled.

Farther ahead, the nameless man opened his notebook to record the first primrose sprout.

The former Reference remained watching the leaves move.

Seraphine had started another book.

And a letter about some unknown creature was being sent to people who could investigate before Kael decided whether his presence was actually necessary.

There was a new problem in the world.

This time, he didn’t need to run toward it before knowing whether it was really his.