"For over nine hundred years, the three clans have lived in harmony... everything changed when that man ca. He changed the relationship between them and made us into enemies... from that point, our rift only began to tear apart."
The Matriarch set her tea cup to her mouth and took a small sip.
"What started as a dispute born out of jealousy began to draw a rift that left the clans with larger wounds after his absence, to the point where people from the Watermoon Clan had executed several failed assassination attempts on us."
She lowered the cup, cradling it between both palms.
"They have always been dissatisfied with their relevance in the Waterlands. That was not my business, especially since their ancestors parted ways over a man."
She paused for a mont, shaking her head.
"I just never thought it’d co to this..."
Silence reigned for a beat and I could hear her inhaling and exhaling. asured breaths, the kind soone uses when the truth sits heavier than they’d like to show.
"Two months ago, my caravan was attacked. Goods from the mainlands worth a hundred and fifty million spirit crystals were all raided and stolen. This created a very difficult situation for . I’m in serious debt and nations are beginning to send threats. I know that no one other than the Moon Clan is behind it... and I have my suspicion that the Crystal Tide Clan has backed them as well. That is the only reason they could carry out an operation of such scale."
Her fingers tightened around the cup.
"If sothing is not done, if I don’t recover my goods as fast as possible, not only will all my networks around the world be affected, but there are so custors from Ashara with very bad tempers... who will swim down here if they have to. They’ll turn into a slave if it ans they get their service worth."
She stopped talking and her gaze t mine.
"I want you to help recover my goods, and then hand those two clans over to . If you have to destroy them to do it... I don’t mind."
Her words halted, like she had quickly rembered sothing. Then a smile crawled onto her lips.
"As for the Crystaldeep Clan, I may have a way to make it easier for you."
I folded my arms, paying attention to her. There was a lot I wished to say but I said nothing and just listened for now.
"There was a story at a ti... a story about a child that refuses to grow up."
I tilted my head slightly.
"I’m unsure of the details, but the child found a fortress for himself in the northern ends of Solaria, lulling children into the depths of the unreachable Northern lands. So say he was the mystery son of the Crystaldeep Clan, both a blessing and a curse. As long as he exists, he will forever be a source of riches."
I frowned slightly.
"What? How does any of this add up?"
The Matriarch shrugged.
"How would I know? I’m just saying what I know. If the rumor turns out not to be wrong and we capture that boy... I’m sure the Crystaldeep Clan will bow to us."
I gave her a straight look.
"And if it isn’t?"
She lifted her tea cup, took a final sip and set it down, placing her hands on the table gently.
"Then you destroy them as planned."
She belatedly added, but with boundless demure.
"And... of course, killing them will not bring back those commodities... so I’ll appreciate it if you can recover them for . The clock is ticking and the lifeline of my clan depends on this."
After she ended, silence reigned between us again. I took my own tea and had so sips, then set it aside.
’Damn, I was right to put her in the price pool!’
Such a huge task and she wanted to give her daughter. Granted, that ant I would be connected to her when the daughter beca the matriarch, and then my seeds would be their clan’s future.
’But then, how am I to know which daughter? It’s not like she specified that she had only one...’
After a dozen seconds of silence, I finally spoke.
"What may I address you as?"
She answered with an enchanting smile.
"Call White Feather..."
"Lady White—"
"Just White Feather is alright for you."
I nodded gently.
"Okay then... White Feather. Are you okay being this transparent, or is that what you want to think?"
She bit her index finger, looking at like I could suffice for dessert.
"What do you an, Sir Cade?"
"You give us the overview of what exactly happened, what they did to you. And yet in all of that there’s no why. No how. You haven’t confronted the Crystaldeep Clan and the Watermoon Clan?"
A smile ford on my face.
"Oh... wait... you did. But failed."
White Feather said nothing. Her eyes were closed and a polite smile was frozen on her face.
"What do you an, Sir Cade? I confronted no one and experienced no defeat."
"Then why are you getting a criminal organization to do your bidding? This is an issue that can be reported to the bureau, no? Better yet, your clan can, with its might, take its laws into its own hands and bring hell on the two clans."
The smile stayed.
"Except you have tried that and it amounted to losses for you. Right now, you’re very broke... and weak."
I scoffed.
"How lucky you must be that a sovereign happened to co on board... you must be dying of happiness right now."
She stayed still and did not move. Again, silence reigned between us, heavier and more suffocating than before.
I sighed internally.
’Looks like I might have to flex a little bit.’
The next mont, I moved.
Everything happened in an instant. Fire erupted beneath , rising like a propeller, and shot forward with blurring speed. Fast enough that even White Feather couldn’t react in ti.
I saw her body shift, but I was already there. Her eyes widened when I grabbed her face and smashed her head to the ground, dragging it across the floor and tearing the wood apart until we ca to a stop right at the stairs that led to her initial seat at the end of the hall.
I stared down at her with cold fury paling my face.
"Let’s start with your sheer audacity to lie to a Sovereign."
Strictly speaking, I hadn’t expected her to tell the truth from the start. The weight of her mission was enormous, the kind of job she would have been far more confident giving the Manhattan Trade Center.
But the Manhattan Trade Center had been destroyed, and it was understandable why she’d use Black Snow Company since we rose to fa after Manhattan’s fall. The thing I couldn’t get out of my head while she was speaking was that she was linked to several important people. This was soone who talked like she supplied commodities for nations. On such a level alone, White Feather should have the capability to mobilize a far more powerful force to handle this business if it really was as she’d described.
And if it truly wasn’t what she claid, then of course she wouldn’t have enough for proper mobilization.
Which ant she was lying. Sothing she was definitely lying about.
The problem was, she knew I was dangerous, and was still lying to my face. I couldn’t have that. I had an image to protect and it had nothing to do with her.
I’m not going to let anyone walk all over again.
My grip was hard and it held her to the ground. But surprisingly, White Feather didn’t try to resist. The mont she lost the battle of speed, she succumbed to my hold.
However... sothing was wrong.
[You’re using Summoner’s Touch]
’Huh?’
White Feather’s face turned red and the way she looked at changed.
The woman who had been cold and ruthless a minute ago suddenly looked like a frightened child. She glanced away with a reddened face, flush with embarrassnt.
’Damn it! Works like magic!’
I staggered back, releasing her.
’Wait, I thought Summoner’s Touch only works on Summons?’
On my summons, specifically... but then, I’d never tested whether it worked on other summons because the idea simply never crossed my mind. Who’d think about sexually touching an obsidian panther with tentacles?
If Summoner’s Touch worked on all Summons... then this ant—
My eyes widened as I stared at White Feather.
’Now... that certainly is a discovery.’
I manifested a longsword and extended it to her as she gracefully rose from the ground, holding her spilling robes together.
"What... are you?"
Anger darkened her face.
"What is the aning of this? There’s an extent to what can be allowed, even for a Sovereign like you."
I chuckled.
"Yeah, do sothing about it and get torn to shreds... answer my damn question. What the fuck are you?"
She looked into my eyes.
"I am the Matriarch of the Boundlesswave Clan, White Feather."
"Yeah, no shit. But what... are you?"
My sword hand was steady.
She looked into my eyes and wanted to speak, but I interrupted.
"One more lie and I really might lose my patience."
She went silent and lowered her gaze for a mont.
"You’re a Spirit, aren’t you?"
She didn’t respond. But her gaze told all I needed to know.
"Who? And where is your Summoner?"
My eyes flew open as I realized sothing.
"Wait... was this a trap ant for ?"
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