Ariadne opened her office door and saw, like any other day, that Edmund was lying on the couch to the side of her office. Leah today was not there. His eyes opened, and he met hers with a smirk.

  ‘Duchess, after a week of spying on the city's people...’ Edmund was interrupted by Ariadne raising her hand.

  ‘You didn’t spy on anyone, peasant; all I saw and knew was that you were walking around and trying to get free food from the shops and restaurants.’ She sighed, covering her face with one of her hands.

  ‘I need to eat, and because of it, now I have my money, so that's a win for me too. Anyway, it ?seems like they fabricated this story and idea around you, some based on reality and others complete fantasy, to be honest. It's kind of amazing.’ He stood up and walked in her direction.

  ‘At least, isn’t someone building a religion around me, but I don’t think it's good just to let this be; I wonder what the consequences are in the long term.’ She passed her desk and sat in her usual chair.

  ‘Can I be ?honest with you, duchess? I’m asking this because I don’t want you to have the wrong idea of what I’m about to say; the people of the duchy are important to me; walking around the city only solidifies this feeling in my heart.’ He stood before the duchess's desk by the side of a chair.

  ‘Ok, you are free to say what is on your mind.’ She held her chin, relaxing in the chair.

  ‘To be honest, having an army of religious zealots against the army of horrors of the demon lord is the best outcome; you need to put yourself little by little to think of an actual goddess or, at minimum, continue the way you are as now.’ He spoke in a serious tone, looking into her eyes.

  Ariadne frowned, her face angry as she listened to Edmund’s words. The hand that was not on her chin formed a fist, and she squeezed it with all her strength. She just stood there looking at Edmund, waiting for him to continue.

  ‘Look, aside from this connection that you have with them and they have with you, everything is fine; it will give them the courage to fight in the future, more even to go into the dungeon; they are good people; I’m just pointing out the good points.’ Edmund lifted his hands and took a step back.

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  ‘I understand, peasant; this reaction now was outside my control; I could only hold back, not because they are my subjects, but because something more I can’t explain.’ She took a deep breath of relief as she relaxed again.

  ‘Humm… Interesting, like when you used the slave magic to send me on a suicide mission to save your lovely followers. Those were the good old days. Again, it is better to continue and try to control this impulse; that is bad.’ He crossed his arms.

  ‘I wonder from where comes this urge to try to be funny peasant; you never change, but I understand what you are saying; I will keep that in mind.’ She saw two tablets on the table and got one.

  ‘Alon left this one there; we need the crystals to transfer information between tablets more efficiently. Speaking on this, one of my students made something cool; it captures light so that you can record moments.’ Edmund sat on the chair to his side.

  ‘It is here?’ She got the other tablet.

  ‘Yes, it is interesting. It can even record movement and transmit it. The possibilities are endless. I’m going to help him personally. It is a Socher device. I know that your money is not enough to fund everything. The idea to open for the companies was a smart one.’ He smiled.

  Ariadne listened to Edmund speak while looking at the moments he was discussing. They were like paintings put together, ideally like those people right in front of her. The last one was the most impressive. She looked at them through a small window, moving without sound. Edmund was in it, too, doing somersaults in the class.

  ‘Now imagine recording your image and the sound of your voice at the same time and transmitting that throughout the kingdom right now, the same as you already do with the phone at this desk, which I know is possible; it will spread your influence more and more.’ He leans forward, grinning.

  ‘Well, I wonder how long we can do this, peasant; we are receiving Nihilium from Markaz, but how long will it last? Going into the dungeon is our next step; you said it has crystals and Nihilium. She put the tablet to the side and stared at the desk, deep in thought.

  ‘Yes, but from the fortress experience, the soldiers need more training, and you need to tell these people that going there is dangerous; everyone could die. From the books I read, this is suicide for us.’ Edmund had a worried expression.

  Ariadne reached for Alon's other tablet on her desk and started reading. The information was about a new fortress that requested Edmund’s assistance to guarantee success, but not his direct intervention. This made her wonder about Edmund's intentions.

  Scrolling the tablet, he put the total number of soldiers they had for the standing army of the duchy with a possibility of drafting more, but now all were volunteers, ?a thousand soldiers. Scattered as a city, town guards, and soldiers patrolling the borders, to her surprise, even the ladies working the communication were part of this too; it was more detailed than she imagined.

  ‘I understand what you are saying; we need more time to consolidate what we have now, but in six months, we need to enter that dungeon; there is no other option.' She looked into Edmund's eyes.

  ‘That gives me time to build another weapon that will be crucial inside that dungeon; just wait.’ He smiled at her.

  ‘But before that, peasant, Alon asked for your help to clear some other fortresses, okay? Not now, but if he asks, you will go.’ She leans more on her chair, relaxing her body.

  ‘No problem; if those things get any bigger, we will have a problem; it will be a good testing ground for a new weapon.’ Edmund chuckled.