"Why do you have the key to the room of the most powerful man in the kingdom?" I asked as I peeked through the gap in the door into the waiting room.

It was pretty clear that Evelisse wanted us to be left alone.

"I will have you know I was Adrien's favorite cousin even before Prince Ragna's death," Althea replied, full of herself, her head below mine as we poked through the door. "Going incognito to watch the performance of the Arts Circle is a fairly common occurrence in my family. A tradition, even."

The waiting room remained silent. Nobody had followed us despite the fact that an outsider—me—had entered the royal chambers. I just hoped that the gossip of my night adventure wouldn't reach Ilya's pointy ears.

"Do your thing," Althea said.

I recalled the runes that controlled [Mirage] inside my mana pool. Unlike my elemental skills, [Mirage] had only a handful of attributes, most of them tied to the illusory part of the skill. The concealing strength of the skill seemed to be related to the mana input, so there wasn't much to fine-tune.

"Doing the thing," I replied.

I created a [Silence Dome] around us. Then, I used [Mirage] to merge us with the shadows and obscure our presence. I warned Althea to remain next to me, as the range of [Mirage]'s camouflage powers was rather limited, but she gave me a quizzical look.

"What do you mean? I saw your illusions during your masterclass at the Library. Those were quite big."

"[Mirage] isn't the same as [Grand Illusion]. [Mirage] has an illusory effect and a concealing effect, and the concealing effect is rather limited to my body and something more."

Althea gave me a suspicious look.

"Are you trying to be charming now? Get me close to you so I can smell your cheap cologne?"

"If you keep spewing dumb stuff, I'll take the key and go on my own. I swear I will," I replied with a stern voice. "And for the record, I don't use cologne."

We exited Althea's bedroom and walked slowly through the corridors. Prince Adrien's chambers were one floor above on the northern wing. The place was a fortress within a fortress. The windows were covered by thickly woven barriers, and armed guards stood at every doorway.

"How good is your [Mirage]?" Althea asked with a hint of nervousness in her voice.

"Good enough, I hope."

So far, I've been able to pass unnoticed, but the soldiers guarding the gates were probably ten levels below the royal guard. I gently pushed more mana into [Mirage] as we walked by the shadows. Just in case.

Althea walked behind me, grabbing my shoulders and matching my step. My mouth went dry as we approached two royal guards standing by a stone arc lit by an old Light Stone the size of a fist.

Althea pointed at the stone arc.

I took a deep breath and walked forward. Rationally, I knew they couldn't hear us, our bodies didn't cast a shadow, and even our mana flow was concealed by [Mirage].

"Are you using perfume?" one of the royal guards asked as we approached.

"Why would I use perfume with armor?" the other replied with an annoyed voice.

"I thought I smelled something."

"And I am the one to blame? Idiot."

The first guard rolled his eyes.

"I've noticed how you look at Lady Mildred. I just assumed you wanted to smell nice."

"Fuck off."

"She's not good for you, man. You deserve someone gentle and kind…"

As much as I wanted to stay and hear the gossip about the doula, figuring out if Prince Adrien was in Cadria was more important. Althea pushed me forward until we found shelter around the corner. Luckily for us, the interior designer seemingly decided that Light Stones weren't that important. We crossed a corridor with views to a central shaft with an inner garden on the base floor and a glass ceiling covered in protective spells above.

We entered the northern wing and peeked over the corner.

Althea cursed.

Two royal guards stood watch before a huge door in the middle of the corridor.

"We are not opening a door and passing unnoticed," I pointed out.

"Cover that window with your [Silence Dome]," Althea said, pointing at the centermost window on the corridor we had just crossed.

"It's reinforced. I'm not sure I can pierce the barrier."

"Do it."

I obliged.

Althea pulled the enchanted key from her pocket and touched the window frame. The lock clicked, and the scrape of metal against metal sent a shiver through my body. I silently asked Althea for an explanation, but she ignored me and pushed me towards the open window.

Outside, there was a tiny ledge that went around the building, barely enough to set foot on.

"Thinking about it, we should find another way in," she whispered, biting her lip.

"No, this is great," I replied, jumping out and balancing on the ledge without an issue thanks to [Light-Footed].

Althea climbed with the nimbleness of a lame calf and clung to my capelet. We advanced slowly with our backs to the cold stone wall, fifteen or twenty meters above the ground. The gardens below were heavily guarded by patrols of Skeeth Riders. The lake surrounding the royal palace made it easy to notice intruders.

Suddenly, I noticed an obstacle before us. The statue of a tall royal knight was standing on the very same ledge as we were. The statue blocked the ledge almost completely.

Althea whined behind me.

Turning and leaving only my toes on the ledge while the rest of my feet dangled over the precipice, I walked past the statue. It was easy, really. Even more with the knowledge that [Minor Aerokinesis] would save me from a fall.

Althea gave me a pleading glance, so I offered her my hand.

That didn't prevent her from slipping and ending up hanging over the void. I had to give her credit; she didn't yell. I pulled her up, and a moment later, we reached a balcony.

Althea fell to her knees, trembling.

"[Minor Aerokinesis] would have softened the landing even if you fell," I pointed out.

Althea grunted. It was hard to tell which was paler: her hair, her dress, or her skin. However, the drive to find Prince Adrien was stronger than her vertigo because she walked to the balcony window and tapped on the frame with the enchanted key. This time, the hinges were properly oiled. Still, my [Silence Dome] dampened the little sound they gave.

If not for the bed in the middle of the room, I would've said that we had entered an art gallery. Paintings covered every inch of the walls from floor to ceiling. My eyes wandered around the room. Even with magic powers involved, painters from Earth had nothing to envy from their Ebrosian counterparts.

As I stepped inside the room, my [Silence Dome] and [Mirage] were shattered like someone had thrown a rock into a glass house. For an instant, I fell naked. I raised my guard, but no one attacked us.

"Ah, I should have seen it coming. Who else would climb through the balcony window at this hour but you two?" A weak yet melodious voice broke the silence.

Althea jumped into the bed, and I heard the air exiting Prince Adrien's lungs.

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The weak light of the enchanted stone in the corner of the room was enough for me to see Prince Adrien's parchment-like skin covered in black Corruption tendrils.

"They said you were away!" Althea cried.

"Well, yes. Admitting that the Runeblade is already close to claiming its wielder's life, so soon after Ragna's death, would be most unseemly. What would the elves think if they saw me like this?" Prince Adrien casually said.

His sense of humor seemed untouched, which made the scene even more gutwrenching. The Corruption tendrils climbed up his neck and encroached on his face. His hands were almost completely covered. I could tell his ailment had already reached the point of no return.

"You need to get rid of the Runeblade. Give it to Evelisse, she will be happy to have it," Althea said.

Prince Adrien smiled.

"Althea, I can't do that. The Runeblade and I are one," he said with a tired voice. He sat up on the bed, which seemed to be enough to exhaust him. "Worry not. Lord Vedras is taking good care of me. I feel no discomfort, and I will probably live to see the next harvest. We always knew I wasn't as talented as Ragna."

Althea sobbed in silence.

"Are you still Lv.3, cousin?" Prince Adrien asked.

"Yes."

"Ah… once a fool, always a fool. You have one of the most talented Scholars in the kingdom at your disposal, and you decide to throw a fit." He shook his head and then turned towards me. Even his eyes were covered in tiny black tendrils. "I've heard you are causing quite the commotion out there. Sounds funny. I almost feel sorry for not being there to make it worse for Astur."

I gave Prince Adrien a slight bow. Even if my endorsement of an authoritarian monarchist regime was cynical at best, part of me couldn't help but want to respect him. Prince Adrien had been the first to notice that my methods resembled those of the Imperial Academy, but instead of having me killed, he had decided to sponsor me, even if that dissolved their monopoly over high-level combatants.

Prince Adrien was the kind of man who would give up the power of the royal family because it was the right thing to do. Of course, he was also a pragmatist. He wanted me to use my teaching methods to have a political edge, but he also promised not to draft my students into the Imperial Academy if they were unwilling to do so.

For a man who apparently never had very long to live, he was very forward-thinking.

"I couldn't keep my end of the bargain. Astur discovered me," I said.

"It doesn't matter. I couldn't either." Prince Adrien dismissed my words with a hand movement.

The three of us became silent.

Prince Adrien's death wasn't in my plans. With the Fountain's death coming soon, I expected him to be one of the pillars that allowed us to fight back against Corruption. A kingdom plunged into chaos wouldn't last.

Ebrosian Rob spoke to my ear.

I couldn't lose such an important pawn.

"There might be a way for you to live. It's a long shot, but I might be able to sever the connection between you and the Runeblade." My tongue was faster than my brain.

Prince Adrien laughed.

"I know you are one of the greatest thinkers of our time, Robert, but we are talking about an artifact created by Runeweaver Baram. You don't know the power that slab of metal holds."

Prince Adrien was wrong, though. Without a word, I walked onto the balcony and grabbed a handful of muddy stones from a flowerpot. I extended my arm and showed them to Prince Adrien and Althea. Then, without even moving a finger, I inscribed the Light-Gradual-Recharge circuit on them.

One by one, the stones started to shine with the colors of the rainbow.

I put them on the bed, smearing mud into the cream-colored covers.

"Shinny rocks?" Althea asked.

Prince Adrien's hands trembled. With a painful expression on his face, he poured his mana into the stones, and their glow intensified.

"Light Stones. Freshly enchanted lightstones," Prince Adrien muttered in disbelief.

It was the first time I heard his voice quiver.

"You are not a Runeweaver, Robert Clarke. I-it must be an exotic skill. The Arcane circle is full of exots," Althea said, snatching a stone and holding it up a few centimeters from her face.

I couldn't deny I was having fun seeing their expressions.

Although a part of me told me I had to play safe and stick to familiar enchantments, Byrne had taught me more than a dozen runes I was itching to test.

"Do I have to create a family relic for you to believe me?" I asked with a self-sufficient tone.

Althea and Prince Adrien nodded like kids watching a magician's show.

Pyrrah had been a much easier audience. A Frogstone had been enough to convince her I was a top-notch magician. I wondered if she was making good use of the enchanted hammer I had given her.

"I'm going to need your dress and your ring," I said.

"W-what are you going to do with them?"

I used my [Teacher's Glance #2], the 'just do as I say' glance, and Althea skittered towards a lateral door in a panic. It did not go unnoticed to me that the balance of power had shifted. A minute later, Althea returned, dressed in a black kilt and an oversized white ruffled shirt that looked really expensive. She handed me the dress and the ring.

Exquisite Aegis Goat Dress. Enchantment threshold: 4000

Masterwork Living-Silver Aquamarine Ring. Enchantment threshold: 3000

With that much enchanting space, I could turn Althea into a miniature tank. The only problem was the fact that she had the mana pool of a Lv.3. Maybe it was my personal interpretation of legendary equipment, but I would rather create something that didn't need to be recharged every time it was used.

My idea was simple. An omnidirectional momentum trap.

Ilya's Cooldown Bow had vexed me for far too long when the answer was in front of me all this time. The momentum trap wasn't more than a clever use of Repel and Attract runes. Both of them had sat in my rune library for the past two and a half years, accumulating metaphorical dust. I just needed to add a 'pressure' detection subcircuit, so the enchantment wouldn't catch every single wind gust, and the mighty Fortify rune to prevent the dress from turning into shreds.

Byrne used Fortify instead of Reinforce to prevent fatal errors from material wear and tear, despite the diminishing returns at high Mana Thresholds. Fortify was way more expensive than Reinforce, which made it impractical in most cases. This time, however, I had masterwork items to work with.

To prevent the 'cooldown' part of the momentum trap, I enchanted the ring with a simple Force-Instantaneous effect plus the Couple subenchantment to pair the ring and dress. The 'cooldown' part wasn't more than the rebound of the Repel-Attract rune trick. The reaction of the action. If I could channel that reaction into a usable effect, I could avoid the cooldown entirely.

I closed my eyes and let my instinct guide me. The names of the runes disappeared, leaving only their meanings. It felt like speaking without words. A kid babbling their first words in a strange, unknown language. The meaning of the runes passed from my mind into the dress without sound or symbol.

Suddenly, I was pulled from the trance, and the enchantment circuit closed. I felt a hole in my chest. A sizable chunk of mana was missing.

Clarke's Unseen Invulnerability Dress. Enchantment threshold: 4000/4000. Status: Stable.

Clarke's Force Authority Ring. Enchantment threshold: 3000/3000. Status: Stable.

I examined my work. Although I had free-handed it, it was my best work to date. The dress not only had the fortifying and momentum trap effects, but also the makeshift stealth effect I had designed by matching the environmental mana signature. Absorption, Detect, Resonate, Echo, and Release. For greater comfort, it also had insulation properties.

The enchantment on the ring wasn't as sophisticated. It was basically a Wind-Shot Boot that shot short-range Force projectiles. Given the Fortify rune, it wasn't going to break no matter how much mana it channeled.

The best part of the momentum trap was that it required negligible mana to work, because the energy was conserved thanks to the rebound.

"Try it on. It should feel slightly stiffer. And for the record, white and silver do go together if you can pull it off."

Althea disappeared into the dressing room and re-emerged in the dress.

"The dress will protect you against most physical attacks. It will absorb the blow and channel it into the ring. You have one or two seconds max to release the force, so be careful. If you don't want to target anything, the safest option is to aim upwards," I explained. "Understood?"

Althea nodded.

I edited my [Minor Geokinesis] to allow it to control marble. I walked to the balcony and stole one of the small railing pillars. Ideally, I wanted to test the momentum trap with an arrow for maximum shock, but I had no bow at hand.

"W-why are you approaching me?" Althea asked.

"I can't hit you without getting closer," I replied, rolling my shoulders.

I couldn't say I wasn't enjoying it.

Before she could run away, I swung against her stomach. The marble club didn't bounce like it had hit a solid surface, but it violently slowed down to a stop. Although the marble bat didn't get to touch her, Althea froze.

"Aim up!"

I ducked as she raised her arm.

A force blow shot from her ring, turning one of the bed's wooden pillars into splinters.

That was too loud for a guard to ignore.

We turned towards the entrance as a distant door slammed open and the heavy sound of armored soldiers approached.

"Prince Adrien? Is everything alright in there?"

"Can't a man rearrange his paintings in peace!" Prince Adrien lashed at the soldiers with all the might of a royal heir. "I might be a prisoner, but I'm still the Crown Prince until that damn sword kills me. Get out of my chambers and leave me alone!"

The soldiers remained silent on the other side of the room.

"Leave me alone, I said!"

Despite his fiery voice, Prince Adrien's hands still trembled in shock as the footsteps moved away from the antechamber.

"I-I'm fine," Althea finally said, examining her body.

"Of course you're fine," I replied, turning back to Prince Adrien. "Let me introduce myself again. I'm Robert Clarke, Lv.45 Runeweaver Sage. Pleased to meet you."

I summoned my Character Sheet without the modifications and turned it around.

Name: Robert Clarke, Human. (Light-Footed, Night Vision)

Class: Runeweaver Sage Lv.45

Titles: Out of your League, Hot for Teacher, Consultant Detective, Researcher of the Hidden, Headmaster, Classroom Overlord, Golden Sage, Silver Runeweaver, +15 others.

Passive: Lv.6 Swordsmanship, Lv.1 Polearm Mastery, Lv.1 Riding, Mana Mastery, Foresight, Master of Languages.

Skills: Identify, Magical Ink, Silence Dome, Invigoration, Stun Gaze, Intimidate, Mirage, Runeweaver Encyclopedia, Rune Debugger, Rune Identification, Minor Aerokinesis, Minor Pyrokinesis, Minor Geokinesis, Minor Hydrokinesis.

"A Runeweaver in the flesh…" Prince Adrien muttered. For him, Runeweavers were quasi-mythical figures who lived hundreds of years ago, closer to the origin of the System rather than the present day. "Did the System speak to you?"

I nodded.

Runeweavers appeared in moments of great crisis.

"The future is bleak, so I would prefer you to be there and assist me," I said in a solemn tone. "Let me see Baram's Cursed Runeblade, and I might be able to ease the curse."

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