They met with everyone. Leo talked with Sara, while she spoke with both Balzock and Leo. Grok and the other goblins also greeted Leo—some for the first time—and as they talked, several hours passed.

  Quite far from that place, Aurelius was standing with a thick stack of papers. They were connected like a book but had no cover; it was a report. Aurelius moved from one page to the next, reading intently. When he finished, he looked up at Mira and Noah, who were waiting nervously for his response.

  The silence made Mira's heart race. She thought, 'There must be mistakes in the report. I told Lord Leo we were still new at this—why did he leave us with a king like him?' Standing before them was King Aurelius, one of the strongest human kings in history, ruling the most powerful empire on the continent. She had heard rumors that he knew dangerous, ancient magic.

  Her imagination began to run wild. She pictured Aurelius throwing her and Noah into a dark, starving prison or tossing them to dangerous beasts like giant boars or goblins to be eaten alive.

  Finally, Aurelius spoke. "Hey! You guys actually made a good report. Who did these calculations, and whose plan was this?"

  Hearing the compliment, Mira’s mouth hung open in shock and happiness. She turned to Noah and whispered, "He complemented us..."

  Noah smiled. "Yeah."

  "Hey, I asked you a question," Aurelius repeated.

  Mira quickly turned back. "Oh! The calculations were mine, but the plan was Noah’s."

  "Hmm, that's good," Aurelius said. "So, why aren't you executing these ideas yet?"

  Mira nervously replied, "If Lord Leo gives us permission, we will start soon."

  Aurelius handed the papers back to Noah. "About your plan, Noah... you said you would mine the mountains for Kryoxite. You wrote that you would sell them, but who do you intend to trade with?"

  "King Aurelius, I'll trade with the Dwarven Empire—and you, of course," Noah replied politely.

  Aurelius put a finger to his chin, thinking. "Alright then. You definitely need to go there; I’ll arrange a meeting."

  "King—" Mira interrupted, then caught herself, realizing she was speaking to royalty. "I’m sorry, King Aurelius, but we should tell Lord Leo. If he gives us permission, we will do it."

  Noah and Aurelius both looked at her in surprise. She clearly considered Leo’s authority superior, even when standing before a much more powerful king. Aurelius stared at her for a second and then said, "Alright, when he—"

  Before he could finish, Leo emerged from the bushes on the left. He was picking leaves and twigs out of his hair. Once he finished, he looked at them and said, "Oh, hey Noah and Mira. How is everything going?"

  Both of them bowed their heads in respect. "Everything is going fine, Lord Leo," Noah said.

  Mira looked up. "Lord Leo, can you give us permission to trade Kryoxite with other kingdoms so we can earn gold coins?"

  Leo closed his eyes and stretched out his hands. "Yeah, you have my permission."

  Aurelius clapped his hands together. "Alright then! I’ll arrange the meeting with the Dwarven Empire according to Noah’s plan." Noah nodded with a smile. Aurelius then turned to Leo. "Leo, can you step aside? I want to talk with you."

  Leo turned to Mira and Noah. "Alright, you guys can go back home."

  Mira’s eyes went wide. "How can I go back? It’s way too far, and I don't even know where we are!" She looked like she was about to burst into tears.

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  "Uhh! I still have some work here you know?" Leo said.

  "It’s alright," Aurelius said. "My knights will take both of you on their horses."

  He gestured to the right, where two knights in full plate armor stood. Their armor and helmets were lined with red trim. Their faces were hidden behind steel visors with three horizontal slits for vision. They stepped forward. "Take these two with you," Aurelius commanded. Then he turned back to Leo. "And you, come with me."

  Leo and Aurelius walked straight through an area where the trees and bushes had been cleared. Dusk had settled, the sun was dipping below the horizon, and the moon was rising. Aurelius sighed. "Leo, I got information about Arvaris..."

  Leo stopped in his tracks. "That was unexpected."

  Aurelius looked up at the sky. "He was receiving backup from someone; that’s why everything happened exactly as he planned. And he's also the reason why your..." He gestured toward Sheron, who was sitting on a pile of logs nearby, still wrapped in bandages. Workers were waving goodbye to Sheron as they finished their shift, and Zack, Sara, and Balzock were emerging from the nearby brush. "...that friend is in that shape."

  Leo turned back to Aurelius. The King finally said it: "Leo... it’s actually the King of the Holy Empire. We had our suspicions, but we really didn't want that man to interfere here. Now we know he is behind all of this."

  "Is he that dangerous?" Leo asked.

  Aurelius shook his head. "It’s not about being dangerous. I just don't want to fight them—and not because of power. I know that, in terms of raw strength, we are far stronger. But there is something else about them... something mysterious and strange." He put his hand to his chin, staring at the ground.

  "What's so mysterious?" Leo asked.

  Aurelius looked up. "Everything. Would you believe they once fought a kingdom on a totally different continent? Just as that kingdom was preparing to attack the Holy Empire, news broke that the enemy had lost before the war even started. It’s happened many times. Most continents are under their influence; for some reason, this continent has been spared, but I don't know why. Regardless, they crossed the line this time. I've ignored them before, but not now."

  Leo interrupted, his voice low. "Hey... don't mind me, Aurelius, but maybe... I won't be in this war with you. Don't think I'm scared; it's just that I don't want everything we’ve built to be destroyed."

  Leo kept his eyes on the ground, but then he heard a sound he never expected. Aurelius, the King of Rustalia, was laughing. He burst out into a full laugh. Leo’s mouth hung open in shock; he had never seen Aurelius display such emotion.

  Aurelius calmed himself, wiping a tear from his eye with his index finger.

  "Why are you laughing?" Leo asked with uncertainty.

  Aurelius looked at Leo with a genuine smile. "I didn't realize you considered me that weak. Did you really believe I would ask for your help? I told you because I thought that you should know on his thing."

  Leo was still stunned. Aurelius stepped closer and placed a hand on Leo’s shoulder. With a confident, mocking smirk, he tilted his head and rested his right hand under his chin. "Leo… do you really believe they can stop me?"

  Then a voice came from behind Leo, calling out from the construction site.

  "King Aurelius!"

  As Aurelius heard it, he took his hand off Leo’s shoulder. With a hint of a smile still on his face, he began to walk past. Without turning back, Leo said, "Hey, Aurelius... when you capture that guy..."

  Leo finally turned around, his expression dead serious. "Make sure to tell me. My friend would definitely want to settle some business."

  Without turning back or saying a word, Aurelius continued toward the construction site, simply raising his left hand with a thumbs-up.

  When he reached the site, a young man—the one who had called for him—was waiting. He had black eyes and black hair slicked back to the right. He wore a white shirt with a black necktie, black pants, and black shoes. In his hands, he held three reports with red, blue, and yellow covers; each was thick with pages, looking more like a book than a file.

  Aurelius didn't stop or look at him, but kept walking further into the site. The young man followed closely beside him. Keeping his gaze straight ahead, Aurelius spoke casually. "He can't come. As I told you before, we don't need him, and—"

  "I see," the young man replied. Disappointment was written all over his face. Despair, sadness, and a strange uncertainty clouded his features. Aurelius noticed this and sighed. "Hey, I can handle it. Besides, Leo is right, he also—"

  The young man interrupted. "King Aurelius, I know you and Rustalia are strong, but..."

  Aurelius placed a hand on the man’s shoulder. The young man looked up, confused, but he quickly turned fearful. Aurelius was staring at him with such intensity that it felt as if he might devour him without a second thought.

  "Stop interrupting when I'm saying something," Aurelius said firmly.

  The young man froze. "I'm sorry, King Aurelius," he said, bowing low. Aurelius sighed and continued walking until he reached a spot where two guards stood waiting with two brown horses.