Year 2, Winter, First Month, Second Week.

“I see…”

Windsor’s undeceivable eyes didn’t miss any movements from the man that had much to gain with his fall. Whispert was the head of House Whisper, one of the oldest Houses and also a pillar of the Wind region, but in the past, he had also been Windsor’s archenemy and most fierce competitor for the wind throne. Like any region of the Kingdom, the power balance of the Wind region was complicated and delicate. Against the other regions, the Wind Lord was the warden of his region and representative of all wind Mages, but inside his province, he would have to guard himself against his subjects.

Each region had its own specif dynamic and rules amongst the nobles, but some unspoken rules were universal, a House or Mage should never join hands with other elements to betray its elemental peers. Even so, history wasn’t short of cases when that happened, so what the elemental wardens most feared was the interference of other elemental Houses in their region’s affairs.

Windsor telling Whispert about the situation of Caiset was both to test his loyalty to the wind region and also because he didn’t have a choice. House Whisper controlled most of the information from outside the Wind region, so chances are they would know crucial information regarding other regions' movements. The Wind Lord didn’t choose to reveal the information lightly, if he didn’t solve the problems inside the Wind region fast, they would lose strength in the next Royal selection to which might not cover from in the next 20 or so years.

Since the wind Army was forced to enter the Sandine war, Windsor feared a large-scale rebellion. Without the Army, they would lose too many resources before the rebellion was controlled. Also, depending on the size of the rebellion, he would have to command the nobles to use their private forces, which wouldn’t happen without a cost, either gold or a political one.

Even though Whispert was a master of spying and thus an expert on hiding information, inside of the wind throne, Windsor was like a wind God, nothing could escape his perception. First, the unfazed reaction and the lack of effort to hide it, made it clear that the other part already knew about the incident, which was expected since Windsor sent his daughter and his disciple to investigate the matter.

For Windsor’s relief, Whispert’s apparent genuine concern proved that he wasn’t involved in the matter, not directly anyway. Now came the hard part, negotiating the master of information’s price for helping.

“Your Grace, the matter is indeed problematic… The fire Duchess’ tantrum already cost us more than four thousand golds. Another hit would surely cost us the Royal seat, young Mistress Thundery’s efforts would be wasted…”

“Not only hers, Whispert… All the candidates of the other wind Houses would also lose their chance.”

Windsor wouldn’t allow the sly eagle to put all the pressure on him, the wind region had at least another three candidates and one was a bubble Mage from House Whisper. However, the unperturbed smile on the man’s face conveyed that he wouldn’t give him a discount either way.

“Forgive me, your Grace. I was just pointing out the loss for our strongest candidate… What I can tell your Grace, without a proper investigation, is that the water Duchess is unsatisfied with the restraints the other Wardens put on the water region, so her Grace has been less… attentive to the cargo that enters Water Capital’s port to go to the other regions… The smuggling of imports has become especially aggressive, the NNO (non-noble organizations) have become more powerful in all regions except for the water region. The changes are slow and the recent problems at borders have covered it, but Merchants, mercenaries and adventurers are growing stronger in the Kingdom…”

“So?”

“Your Grace, the importance of their presence here is undeniable, they are responsible for most of the commerce of magic resources. How many nobles would venture themselves in the wild to regularly gather resources? However, too much of something is never good. All NNO operate outside of the Royal and noble’s control, they pay taxes and are subjected to our laws, but they don’t serve us. Ultimately, they represent a risk as bigger as any war. Even more when they are controlled by an external force…”

“Are you trying to say that this is the job of the Democracy? What would they gain by targeting the Wind region specifically?”

“That, I don’t know, your Grace, but this is the only explanation I can think of…”

“Let’s hope Thundery finds something else to add…”

***

“Tell me, Johann. You understand father better, why is he cautious of a bunch of villagers? Shouldn’t we just invade their camp and subdue them?”

“Thund… Young Mistress, Master is being cautious because someone is helping those villagers and he doesn’t know their motives. It could be part of a bigger scheme or it could be a trap…”

“Argh… That’s no fun, I was so excited that I was finally been sent on a mission… Of course fighting commoners isn’t very exciting, but father told me there was a good chance of a bubble Mage to be protecting the villagers… He asked us to only investigate, but making a quick attack could also count as investigating, couldn’t it? I mean, we should test their strength…”

Johann could only sigh, the girl was a genius but couldn’t resist her element’s influence, she would rather strike before even seen who the enemy was. Fortunately, his Master sent fourteen Fighters and a hidden wind servant to protect them. Most of the time Johann secretly snickered of his Master's over cautiousness and conservative posture, but that didn’t mean that he didn’t admire his Master’s power. The Wind Lord’s ability to create resourceful wind servants was enough proof of his mastery over the wind element.

Each level of the elemental Mage’s path was accompanied by a change in quality and quantity of power. The Candidates would distinguish themselves by their affinity, the Invokers by how many spells they could cast, the Commanders by their control over the element, and the Evokers by their ability to create elemental servants.

Usually, the specifics of each Mage’s power would be kept a secret, but everyone knew about the general aspects that made each of the four Wardens the strongest Mage of their element. The water Duchess was famous for her intelligent and everlasting servant Hydra, the only elemental servant that didn’t need to be dispelled or sealed, rumors said the beast has been alive since she took the throne. The earth Lord was known by the legendary Golems, which supposedly, stayed sealed in the form of mountains all around the earth region. The fire Duchess had her feared fire beast servants that could, allegedly, appear from any fire with the snap of her fingers. And finally, his Master, revered for the dozens of wind servants he could cast for specific tasks.

“Young Mistress shouldn’t underestimate them, they killed the section’s Captain and his Guards…”

“So what? Should I be afraid just because they killed a Fighter and a dozen Guards?”

“No, but young Mistress should be careful with who broke Master’s spell… Master said the Mage should be at least a bubble Commander…”

“Wouldn’t that be fun? I wouldn’t mind seeing how my powers fare against a Commander…”

Thundery finally slowed down her pace allowing the Fighters to catch up. Although she acted unconcerned, she would proceed with more care from now on, after all, they were getting close to the camp’s estimated location. Of course, being careful meant different things for Thundery and others, so she still moved faster than the others approved. But in the lighting Mage’s defense, the faster they found the camp, the faster they could finish their mission and go back. Even they would start feeling the magic poisoning effect if they stayed for too long.

The search wasn’t easy, they only knew the camp’s general location and the snow had already erased the marks from the ground. It took them two days, but they finally found the outpost.