Supreme Magus

Lith kept the Royals out of the loop so often that they knew something was wrong the moment he asked for a private audience.

The meeting took place in the King's private quarters instead of the Throne Room, to ensure there would be no eavesdropping or leakage.
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"Let's skip formalities and cut to the chase, Magus Verhen." On top of that, with no witnesses, Meron had no reason to mince words. "If this is a courtesy visit, I'm a Guardian so don't beat around the bush. What do you want?"

"I'm not here to ask for something but to offer my help, Your Majesty." Lith did his best to act offended by the King's allegations. "I've detached myself from the Kingdom's affairs for too long.

"After the trouble I caused you with the incident at the Gorgon Empire's borders, I believe the people of the Kingdom need reassurance that I have their back. My Supreme Magus title would lose its meaning if I washed my hands of everyday problems like the rest of the Magi.

"Assign me any task of your choosing, the more difficult the better. I'll solve it for you, renewing our bond in the eyes of the community and proving to your political opponents you have a degree of control over me."

The Royals widened their eyes in surprise, opening and closing their mouths several times without saying a word, in a perfect impression of goldish. They pinched themselves and then gave each other a full check-up with light magic to confirm it wasn't just a dream or a brain damage-induced hallucination.

"You want to take an active role in the Kingdom?" Sylpha rubbed her eyes in disbelief.

"Yes, Your Majesty."

"And you want no reward?" Meron tried and failed to find a catch in that absurd situation.

"Only if I succeed and only what you deem my actions deserve." Lith replied with an amiable tone. "The only condition I place for my help is that you publicly summon me at the Royal Court in a few days and pretend this meeting never happened."

"Why would you-" Meron stopped mid-sentence as the revelation struck him. "Your wife is pregnant again!"

"Marriage is no joke but implying the only reason Magus Verhen is offering his services is because he needs an excuse to run away from his wife is beyond rude, Meron." Sylpha's eyes narrowed.

"Sure, women can get moody and have unreasonable cravings, but-"

"Not that!" The King cut her short. "Think about it. Meln is back and suddenly Verhen wants to be assigned a dangerous mission. It doesn't make sense to leave his family alone for an extended period of time, unless…"

"Unless it's a trap!" Sylpha completed the phrase for him. "Verhen has come here to use us as pawns for his plan. He wants us to send him away so that he has an excuse for his prolonged absence."

"Pawns is a big word." Since he had been exposed, there was no need to keep playing dumb. "My offer for help is sincere. I'll give my all to complete any assignment you give me successfully.

"As I said, this move will reinforce the connection between you, the Royals, and me, the Supreme Magus, in the eyes of the public opinion. It also makes up for the incident at the borders and gives us all a chance to get rid of Meln once and for all.

"Sounds like a win-win for everyone to me. All you have to do is claim this is your idea and give me plausible deniability by finding a pretext to force me to accept the mission. It's a cheap price."

"Very cheap." Queen Sylpha nodded. "Still, I find it despicable of you to use your pregnant wife as bait."

"I'm not happy about it either, but it's either that or live under Meln's constant threat until he makes his move. I like taking my enemies off guard rather than waiting for them to complete their preparations and take me off guard."

"Point taken." Sylpha grunted, half angry and half envious of Lith.

Angry because she didn't approve of the ruthlessness of his plan. Envious because even though for morally questionable reasons, Lith had the opportunity to step away from his duties and enter the battlefield.

'Sometimes I miss the days of my youth when I could travel the Kingdom and engage my enemies in combat as a young warrior instead of a queen.' She inwardly sighed. 'This throne gave me a family and more power than I ever dreamed of, but it also trapped me.

'I'm allowed to be Sylpha only when the Kingdom doesn't need me. The rest of the time I'm the Queen.' One look at the thin grey streaks in Meron's hair reminded her that she wasn't alone in her gilded cage.

Meron had paid for the throne with more than his freedom. The use of Forbidden Magic to defeat Thrud had permanently damaged his life force, and there was no way to tell how long he had left to live.

The idea of relinquishing her duties just to enjoy herself and potentially be absent during her husband's final moments made Sylpha hate herself.

"Are you alright, dear?" Meron asked, his eyes filled with worry. "You've been staring at me for a while."

"I'm fine, thank you. I must have spaced out." Sylpha cleared her throat in embarrassment. "So, another child already."

"It's a boy." Lith nodded, receiving the congratulations of the Royals and the Royal Guards. "What about the mission?"

"Don't worry about that." Meron smiled drily. "There's never a shortage of problems to fix. Since you want something serious enough to redeem your public image and keep you away from home for a while, I think I have the perfect case for you."

The King stood up and rummaged through the files on his desk for a while. Dimensional magic was sealed inside the private meeting room so he had to search for the right folder the old-fashioned way.

"Here it is." Meron returned to the table with a thick pile of documents that he split in two before Lith. "The small pile contains the relevant details our investigations uncovered about a dangerous and nameless criminal organization."

The word "organization" made Lith swallow, fearing he was about to face Vastor or at least one of his Eldritches.

"The big pile, instead, contains a list of the crimes we've managed to attribute to them. It contains little information but maybe you can use it to find a pattern or spot a detail we've missed." Meron continued, unaware of Lith's worries.

"You are our Supreme Magus, after all. You've even brought Ripha Menadion back from the grave. We are allowed to expect you to perform a few more miracles here and there." The King said with a friendly smile.

"I'll read this back home." Lith flipped through the "small" pile and estimated that without Soluspedia it would take him hours to study them carefully. "Can you explain to me why dealing with this organization is so important?"

"Sure." Sylpha replied. "Your wife is a Constable and you have worked as a Ranger for two years. I assume you are familiar with how an investigation is usually conducted."