Days slip by as Emily works, losing herself in the monotonous process of turning sand to stone and stone to metal. By the time her excavator worm finishes hollowing out the large chamber below her, she has enough metal to form the skeleton of her new factory's main workshop.

She begins melting down ingots of material, mixing in some of her magical metals to create an alloy with increased mana resistance, before forming smooth plating to coat the walls of the space with. As she's working, she analyses the crisscrossed mana veins filling the air with power. There are two veins coming together over her head, one from the east and one from the west, that flow down into the earth, joining one more vein that rises up from the depths to create the hotspot of unstable mana that's causing the raging sandstorm.

Emily feeds a few of her cores with information on the veins, everything from their density and flowrates to their exact compositions of elements, reworking the blueprint for the gathering array installed in the basement of her New Denntimo base. She decides to install this factory's array on the surface, leaning towards the two wind-based veins instead of the single earth one, and reworks her existing Steam Source's design at the same time, dedicating an entire mana vein's worth of power to producing wind to turn her power-generating turbines.

She sends her excavator off to dig connecting chambers, sending several metal soldiers with it to help haul processed sand blocks back for storage, and, a few days later, her droids inform her of a colony of burrower ants feeding off the underground mana vein. Leaving behind her half-built workshop, Emily wanders down a circular tunnel cut through dense rock, lighting her way with a floating orb of cold-white light.

She passes a few hollowed-out chambers filled with robots installing metal support beams and quickly reaches the tail of her digging worm. She glances at the blocks of mashed ant flesh and chitin at her feet, listening as another of the beasts throws itself into the worm's gaping maw to be torn apart by its grinding teeth.

"What a waste," Emily mutters, drawing the processed biological matter into her belt along with the worm.

Her light floods the chamber the large robot has been blocking, revealing tens of man-sized ants staring back at her. She calls on her lightning connection, letting out a flood of charge that cooks the beasts alive before they can charge.

Stepping into the chamber, Emily continues pouring out mana, letting it flow through the connected tunnels to fill the nest as she searches for a queen. Unfortunately, other than nearly a hundred soldiers and a few old corpses of surface creatures, she finds nothing of value.

"Tsk," she clicks her tongue, turning on her heel and heading back into her artificial tunnel. "At least they've cleared some space for me."

***

After over half a month of building, Emily finally receives a message from Mensacus informing her of his task's completion. She instructs him to return to Chroni, following after Calypso's fleet, which returned with reinforcements halfway through his crusade before taking some of their overflowing prisoners off his hands.

A day later, Emily adds the final touches to the mana gathering array on the surface, formed from twisted arcs of metal, before releasing the barrier protecting the factory and letting the sandstorm slam into her creation. The moment the raging winds hit the array, the sand filling them is filtered out, dropping down to the floor as swirling wind gathers inside the skeleton-dome of metal, blowing Emily's hair and scarf around wildly. A thin stream of air is ejected from the bottom of the array, scattering the gathering sand back out into the desert before it can bury the massive structure.

"Keep an eye on the array and inform me if it starts being overwhelmed," Emily instructs a few of her soldiers, sending them exact details on what to watch for on a wave of machina.

Satisfied, Emily taints her mana with space, releasing a steady flow and carving hundreds of runes into the air around her. She builds the first stage of her spell, connecting to the anchor in Elisime and binding it to her current position. Next, she pulls in some of the mana being gathered by her array, adding a green hue to the dense matrix of purple runes and reducing the burden on herself.

Finally, she charges her voice with mana and chants a short passage.

"Space distorts and through wind I'll warp, carry me on the wings of change and connect two points as if the same."

The moment the last word leaves her lips, Emily's vision distorts and her ears pop. In the blink of an eye, she appears in the belly of Elisime, arriving with a burst of wind that knocks Silica back against a wall. The sandy fox leaps up with an excited yip, fixing her deformed back without batting an eye and running over to beg her mother for attention.

"Sorry," Emily hums, scratching between Silica's ears as she looks inwards at her circles.

A thirty per cent decrease in cost for an equal distance jump with Teleport. I can probably get that down by another twenty if I refine my runework further, but a targeted chant seems to be a good way to help make up for my lacking spatial affinity.

They walk through the ship's corridors, ignoring the screams and scratching coming from the temporary cells they pass as they make their way to the bridge.

"You'll like our new factory," Emily tells Silica as they pass a group of metal soldiers distributing trays of bread and water to the prisoners. "It's surrounded by an almost constant sandstorm. There's only been two days of clear skies since I started building."

Silica nods along excitedly, pushing herself against Emily's side and refusing to break contact. They enter the ship's command room to find Pod and Mensacus staring at the city ahead in silence, both turning the moment they hear footsteps entering.

"Welcome back, Mother," Mensacus hisses, rising from her seat and taking a knee beside it with his head bowed.

"Hey," Pod greets her with a wave. "I filled hold D3 through 5 with the materials you requested. Our stock of black iron in New Denntimo is getting worryingly low, though."

"Thanks." Emily nods as she sits, brushing her metal digits over her son's neck and letting Silica half climb into her lap. "That should be fine. We'll be getting more funds once we start selling to Modo."

She glances at the familiar fleet of ships parked on the ground outside Chroni's wall before pulling out her communicator and calling the king.

"Hello," Arthur's voice emanates from the communicator the moment the call connects. "I'm already on my way."

A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

"Perfect," Emily hums, narrowing her eyes as she spots a small hunk of earth rising above the city in the distance with several figures standing on top. "I'll see you in a moment, then."

She ends the call and immediately begins casting Warp Gate, creating a small portal in front of her, connected to the space outside the ship, directly in Arthur's flight path. He approaches quickly, masking any signs of surprise he may have at the stable spatial spell waiting for him and stepping in with two fourth circle guards trailing behind. Both of them are wearing robes dyed in the royal family's colours, but their hoods are pulled up, shrouding their faces in shadows that are unaffected by the artificial lights in Elisime's bridge.

"Please, don't mind them," he says, waving a hand behind him as Emily rises to greet him. "Percy and Gwen here refuse to let me go anywhere alone, but they won't intrude. I can ask them to wait outside if you would prefer?"

"It's fine," Emily responds, waving away his suggestion and noting how his guards' mana flickers defensively when he suggests they leave. "Would you like to confirm all of the prisoners, or are their leaders enough?"

"The leaders are plenty, though I would like to confirm you've successfully freed those they enslaved. Would that be possible?"

"Easily," Emily confirms, turning and gesturing for him to follow as she sets off into the bowels of her ship, her children falling in beside her and Pod remaining behind. "A few of them remained loyal after regaining their freedom, so they've been captured as well."

She leads them through winding corridors, passing several exposed weapon emplacements waiting behind the ship's armoured panels with tens of metal soldiers maintaining them. The king asks her several questions about her technology as they go, but his guards remain silent the whole time, watching cautiously with their mana bubbling and at the ready. It doesn't take long for them to pause before a reinforced storage hold door, which Emily opens with a single command to the ship's Logic Core, revealing the shrivelled corpses of the mages Mensacus fed to her.

"Maevis Lonicera and Adrian Canarien," she says, stepping aside and letting Arthur enter the room to inspect the corpses. "Unfortunately, we ended up killing them. But that was your first choice anyway, so I'm sure it doesn't matter."

"It doesn't," the king confirms with a nod, crouching down and turning the bodies' faces to inspect them and frowning at their state. "What did you do for them to look like this? Water magic?"

"Death magic," Emily corrects, pointing a thumb towards Mensacus. "He drained their lifeforce."

Arthur shivers but nods, casting one last disgusted glance towards the corpses before standing up and leaving the small hold. They walk a few metres to the next door and, the moment it slides open, they're hit with a barrage of hurled insults. The king steps in, coming face to face with the Hedera siblings lying on the floor, bound by a series of enchanted metal cuffs wrapped around their limbs and injecting a steady stream of Mage Killer into their bloodstreams. They fall silent for a moment when they realise it's neither Emily nor her robots that have come in to see them, but their faces twist with rage regardless.

"Finally come to take us off your attack dog's hands?" James Hedera growls before spitting on the hem of Arthur's robes, unable to aim higher with his chest pressed against the ground and his hands behind his back. "You know we'll never help you now, and we all know you're too weak to force us to."

"Unless you grow a spine and dip into your taboos, you might as well kill us," his sister joins in, grinning as she tries to rouse her mana and coughs up blood instead. "Good luck surviving your next war without us."

"Oh, I'm not taking you," Arthur replies, looking down at them with a smile that doesn't reach his eyes and without even acknowledging the spit slipping off his robes leaving no mark. "I'm just here to confirm your capture, and Emily here has assured me you'll never be seen again."

The siblings try to maintain a brave front, but their faces noticeably pale when Mensacus' haunting laughter sounds in the corridor.

"Good luck," Arthur says, before turning away and nodding for Emily to shut the door as his face falls back to a neutral expression.

The next hold contains the three remaining fourth circle mages, one of whom responds to the visit with rage while the Nymphae Matriarch and Galanthia Patriarch beg for their lives to their cellmate's disgust, and, after checking them, they move to a larger hold with ten third circle mages locked inside. Two of them the king recognises as vassals of the Hederas, and, after a quick scan to confirm a lack of magical control, they head back to the bridge, satisfied.

"I can give you a tour if you'd like," Emily says, glancing over her shoulder at Arthur taking in the exposed mechanical workings of the ship, as they walk through a corridor only just wide enough for Silica to walk at her side.

"No, that's alright," the king responds, waving off her offer. "I doubt I'd understand what you're showing me, and now that you've completed your end of the contract, it's about time I made some announcements."

"Really? You don't need me to awaken any mechanics first?"

"We're still working out who we want to propose, so that can wait. This is long overdue now."

Emily nods and opens a Warp Gate as she settles into the command seat of her ship, giving the king and his guards a clear path back to their city.

"It's been a pleasure working with you, and I very much look forward to our continued cooperation," Arthur says before he leaves, giving Emily a polite bow with his fist across his chest. "It shouldn't take long, so I advise you to stick around the city for a bit if you want to watch the show."

"Of course," Emily says, dipping her head and placing her hand on her chest, but not rising from her seat. "We have to make sure you're keeping up your end of the deal, no?"

The king chuckles and nods, stepping through her portal and onto a floating platform of earth that forms from his feet. His guards' gazes linger on Emily, drawing a chilling chuckle from Mensacus before they follow their ruler out.

"They don't like you," he hums to his mother the moment she closes the Warp Gate.

"She did kind of insult their king," Pod responds, sharing a grin with the mechanical chimaera.

Emily shrugs, unconcerned, and begins sending instructions to Calypso and the other ships docked below them, directing them to set off towards her nascent factory when they've finished refuelling.

After twenty minutes, Elisime is the only ship left waiting outside Chroni's walls when a burst of magic wraps the city, bringing with it the sound of beating drums. A holographic screen of light forms in the sky, reminiscent of the one Emily used to declare the fall of Denros, and Arthur appears in the centre of it, wearing a glistening white crown and sitting on an ornate black throne covered in white and red engravings.

"Hello, my loyal subjects. I am your king, Arthur Modo the Second," he declares, flashing a warm smile as the drums quiet. "This form of address may come as a surprise to some of you, but please, don't panic. The image you are all seeing right now is a simple weaving of mana: a fundamental energy that makes up our world. You see, magic is real."

Arthur pauses, and Emily's able to hear a clamour building in the capital despite the distance separating them.

"Some of you may already know this, but others have been kept in the dark. For that, I would like to apologise. Until recently, my hands have been tied by the laws established with our great country for the safety of all."

"How was that for our safety?" Pod mutters under his breath as Arthur pauses again, raising a sceptical brow.

"It wasn't," Emily responds. "But he doesn't want to make himself look too weak by telling his citizens he couldn't control the nobility."

"Recently, however," the king continues, "I've received support from a brilliant young mage who has helped rid our country of those who would seek to harm you, my valued subjects, should this information come to light. I'm sure many of you heard news of the destruction in Eimdon two years ago, and the culprit, Emily Coldstone. After a more thorough investigation of the circumstances, I was made aware of the crimes of the Mandrago family, the target of her wrath. They, along with the Galanthia, Hedera, Lonicera, Canarien, Nymphae, and Menyanthia families, were using a foul magic that has been outlawed for years to bend the minds of and forcefully enslave any commoners they found with magical talent. As such, I have pardoned Emily Coldstone of her supposed crimes and requested her help in bringing these families and their allies to justice."

A small, satisfied smile curls Emily's lips as she tunes out the rest of Arthur's speech, focusing on the system window in front of her.

¯¯¯¯¯

Quest completed: Path of the Righteous

[Path of the Righteous]

[Rank:] B

[Description:] Crimes were committed against you, and you retaliated only to end up forced to flee your birth country. Were you wronged? Were you in the right? Who cares! The strong decide the truth!

Requirements:

-Return to the Modo Kingdom after reaching the fourth circle (Complete)

-Get publicly pardoned of your crimes (Complete)

-Publicly expose the Mandrago family for their crimes (Complete)

Rewards:

-Low Grade Lightning Essence

_____

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