Helare couldn't remember the last time she'd stood this close to her father. Mostly because she was trying not to, as the mere memories of those times, of her desperate struggle to be acknowledged, embarrassed her.

It had grown into a weakness so prevalent, everyone seemed to have known of it. Bodhia Benhaven was trying to exploit that same weakness now. It was a move Helare could, and had used too many times to count, but she was trying to be better.

She looked behind her at the hero, who was smiling kindly at her, like he was offering the biggest boon in the world and saying 'look how nice and strong I am'. He was trying to show off his power and influence. He had the power to give Helare whatever she wanted when she wanted it. It was such an elementary tactic.

Still, it wasn't worth antagonizing the chosen, the second most influential, yet most personally powerful man on Primus. His hair colour being as dirty as it was diluted a lot of his influence, but he was still powerful enough to budge into the king's chambers on a whim.

"So, this outworlder?" the king asked. "It says here he is a blacksmith? I take it you used him to process the Deufrite into finished products and sold them using that merchant of yours? I wonder if it was worth it. You do know about the Deufrite's properties, don't you girl. Is making weapons the best use for it."

Of course Helare knew the metal's value. And her father, calling the metal from Deufont Deufrite, was rich. She'd suggested in this very report that they name it Admantium, based on a story Rafe had told her about another metal similar to this. This kind of organic metal that could be used to reinforce people's bones if processed right.

"I know that," Helare said softly, as if she was scared of being reprimanded. "But the metal also has other properties that make it a good material for enchantment. Plus, it can be used to make growing equipment, under the right circumstances."

She had started timid, by design, trying to play the clueless princess so desperate to win favour. But by the end she was speaking as if she had been overwhelmed by passion. She had committed the report about the special blade. Since the Ma'la couldn't touch it, and most of them were superstitious and not very knowledgeable about the system, she had told everyone who mattered that the blade was a dud and cursed, and that Rafael had destroyed it. It was the biggest source of her considerable wealth.

"Hmm, yes I can see that," the king replied, rubbing his chin in thought. "But an F grade smith cannot make the best use of that kind of property, now can they?"

Rafe had done it though. Only once, and in a very dangerous way, but he had done it that one time, and she would make sure he didn't do it again until he was ready. She didn't want him in any sort of danger if she could help it.

"I get that," Helare answered. "But I figured it would be a great idea to groom him from a young age. The…uh, Deufrite we are seemingly wasting on him is like an investment. He is not that great, but I have poured enough into him that by the time he reaches late into the E grade, he'll be able to make at least one tool capable of growth using his concepts. Besides, we can rare a few Burned who don't remember the past and have them apprentice under him. The Burned were always talented smiths."

A sufficiently detailed evil scheme for the outworlder. Now they would probably not bat an eye towards him. Or so she hoped.

"A sufficient plan," the chosen said. "Alternatively, I could take him off your hands—"

Helare did not wait for him to continue. She turned and glared at him, tensing her body with every intention of lashing out. She didn't consider that her attacks would probably slide off her opponent like rainwater on a slanted roof, leaving barely any recognisable mark. She was forestalled though, when he lifted his hands in a gesture for peace.

"Or you can keep him," he said. "You have invested a lot of resources into him after all. I will come to your camp though, to check on a few things. I'm traveling that way anyway. There has been reports of a bandit group comprising Burned and Mud people in that direction. Damned rebels."

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Helare let the glare stay on her face even after she'd inwardly calmed down, mostly because she recognized it for the mistake it was. She had given the damn chosen a new weakness to potentially exploit. Why was he targeting her so openly anyway? She had gone into semi-voluntary exile. She was the weakest of her siblings politically.

The truth was, and most of her siblings should know this, the chosen was the eleventh in line for the throne. He was the hero of Primus. Just from their history, their own Clearsea family had had to wade through the blood of other high noble families to ascend to the peak of the spire. There would be a struggle for the throne once the current king died, or even before, given how much the highest secretary's influence seemed to be growing by the day.

Not that it mattered to Helare. She was the youngest princess, and even though she had the most pure sea blue hair, that feature had earned her more envy and hatred from the nobles and power brokers than support. And she'd gone and exiled herself to a task in a dungeon where she was never recognised for her sizeable contribution to the royal coffers. If she'd had any influence before, it was all gone by now.

When they left the king's private sitting room, she attended the chosen's presentation to the court.

Magical technology, the chosen explained in his speech, was what crafters and enchanters trained at the highest levels were capable of. There was a suit of armour that looked like the golems Helare had bought through Hestus. The ones that were slow to react but were really strong offensively. Their defenses were consequently not the best, and so they'd been destroyed a few times.

This suit of armour was hollow to allow for a human pilot, and apparently these kinds of suits were important for people working for instance on a moon, or a space station outside a planet. And yes, it was possible to leave the planet's atmosphere, and the hero was planning to take care of the monsters up there. After all, he needed a new hunting ground now that he'd cleared the ground and all the dungeons had now lost their effectiveness as far as he was concerned.

Besides, the floating islands could have unmapped dungeons and other resources. Or maybe once mapped resources that the white heads decided to disappear with. His impassioned speech about the planet conquering their skies and then jetting off to outer space caused an uproar.

Helare wasn't interested in any of it. As a pure water mage, going that far into space would be idiotic. She was strongest right here on the ground, or maybe in rain pregnant clouds. Maybe the sky island raids could interest her a bit.

Space shuttles were very expensive. Even the barely functional ones used to transport resources to moons and other mining satellites, let alone sleeker and better designed shuttles. There were even shuttles that were impossible for individuals to own. Void skipper vessels, they were called. They were owned by large cooperations, and they were one of the fastest means of traveling through the multiverse. Even faster than the heavily policed ways of the system.

He showed off other marvels of modern magical technology. Small weapons that shot out energy blasts that could be charged with any type of mana, swords with millions of interesting enchantments, bows that shot arrows of pure mana much like the blasters.

Helare, being close friends with Hestus, was not so surprised by most of the things the chosen showed them.

And then the first thing that grabbed a little of her attention. A small screen that showed moving pictures. And there were sounds too. And people singing and dancing. Rafe had told her of something similar from his home planet. A way of sharing stories and news.

And apparently The chosen was going to introduce something called a projector that could show images to the whole capital during the upcoming festival. He hoped that he would use many such devices to make sure as many people as possible saw the promotion from up close. Oh, and the promotion was close as well. Less than three months away now.

The king was taken aback by this proclamation, from what Helare saw.

She wondered what the chosen was doing. Was he announcing his rebellion, his bid for the throne?

Either way, change was coming to Primus, and Helare did not want to be a part of that change.

After the presentation, the chosen was caught up with politics for a while. Helare waited in her room, but he did not come that day. She was sure her father wanted to talk to the man as well. And yet she couldn't leave without him. It was such an aggravating issue, but what could she do?

It wasn't until late in the evening the next day that he finally came.

As they walked towards the hub of nodes that connected the palace to many important places in the kingdom, the chosen said something that almost caused Helare's heart to stop.

"You have changed a lot, princess. Times were, you would do whatever it took to meet the king, and wouldn't want to leave the palace so soon after your tasks were finished. Yet now you seem so eager. I wonder what it could be. I'm genuinely curious."

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