The door rolled open and Winston Norton stepped inside his quarters. Not much has changed there, save for a few new crates of ammunition and a long wooden box that stood on the side.

"I hope it's the new one I've requested the smiths to build for me. They have to get it right this time."

His room had a simple, almost bare layout: a bed to rest on, a chair and table to work, dine or clean his arsenal of firearms, a large drawer where he puts most of his written plans and works, and a cabinet to keep his clothes in. The place was well-kept, despite the past few days where he was demanded to be in the field supervising operations to acquire new men for Trevalyn's army.

Winston was about to sit on his bed when three knocks vibrated and danced across his room. He had rid himself of his cloak right before he shook his head and reached to see who the knocker was. He looked through the door's small looking glass and saw one of the Gray Fox's guards standing before his room.

"Commander Norton." The soldier's stern voice was cut by a fist that was softly pounded to his chest. He took a bow and continued, "The Gray Fox requests your presence. Come to his study immediately."

"Of course." His voice was scraping, although at half strength. "I will be there right away."

He watched the soldier give another salute before dashing away from him. Winston would have wished he told the man that he would like to bathe before seeing the Gray Fox; his trips outside made him feel rather greasy – the smell of motor oil coming from his right sleeve was caught by his nose as well.

The good doctor would understand of course.

The place was not too far from his quarters – only a walk to the end of the hallway followed by a left turn. Trevalyn Faricy's room was hard to miss; the strange layout of the door was an immediate giveaway. All he did was to look at the blue glass dome above the doorway; the device blinked twice, followed by a long hiss that pulled the door apart. Winston saw Trevalyn standing in front of his desk fixing many documents that were gathered at the center of his table. It took him a few moments before the open door registered on his ears; he faced the green-eyed guest in a stern but partly startled look.

"Ah, Mister Norton." Trevalyn stacked his papers and books and walked towards his aide. "You have come just in time. It looks like that you have been very busy these past few days."

"Indeed." Winston nodded; his sheen of his verdant eye was seen against one of the study's lamps. "Syndicates have been... wary since our campaign at Altrecht. At least, none of the groups are suspecting us to be behind the operation on the Imperial Archives. Also, the Constables have been more vigilant than ever around the major cities. Rumors of the Imperial Army regulars being mobilized are abundant as of late. It would not be long before the Town Guards are to receive better armament to combat us."

"Disturbing these updates are, but they seem to be in line with what I am about to do."

"Pardon, Master. I do not understand."

"You see, Mister Norton, I would like to try out a more... how you say this?" Trevalyn moved around and watched his adviser sit down before resuming his talk. "Ah, of course, elaborate. Yes, a more elaborate version of what I conducted back at the Schweiglands. I would not go into specifics yet, but I should ask this: how do you effectively conceal a ten-foot tall, four-feet wide machine with a glowing red crystal at its top?"

Winston's back stood straight out of his seat's backrest as he thought of his reply. "Disguise them as trees or rocks perhaps?"

"An interesting answer, but I do think that the top portion of the crystal would lose some of its performance. It is supposed to absorb mana from the environs. Also, anyone who could approach it close enough would see through the disguise."

"I suggest we would not bother with such and just set up a security cordon that would prevent anybody from getting near in the first place. Where do you intend to set up this device, Master?"

"There is an area in the center of the forest, the remains of an old keep to be exact..." Trevalyn took a map of the Antikwald on the table and pointed at a small clearing. "The ruins would provide excellent foundations for the devices."

Winston looked at the surrounding areas and then took one of the pens from Trevalyn's desk. "We should be able to assign two hundred men or less for the security of the facility."

He drew five small circles three to five grids away from the ruins site. These were locations that were near some of the entrances to the underground network. "Forty men for every lookout point are more than enough to guard the areas. The outposts can also be set up quick and be concealed well enough to avoid suspicion."

Trevalyn looked at Norton's markings with quick, repeated scans; the imperfect pentagram placement of the outposts elicited four nods from him. "Feasible enough. I approve of this. Now that this simple question is resolved, onward to more complex planning."

The crime lord took out another map from his worktable; the squares and angled areas revealed to Winston's eyes that this was taken from a city. His assumption was correct when Trevalyn spread out the document.

"Luminberg?"

"Given that we managed to recover our ranks to full strength, I suppose that we have enough people and machines to commit to this plan I have in mind."

"My ears are ready."

"The setup I asked of you for the Antikwald is nothing but a start to what I intend to do here."

Winston nodded, but his lips gave off a slight frown at what Trevalyn said.

"For me to achieve my grand scheme, I need to amass mana the size of what a city can offer. I have chosen the Empire's heart of magical studies for this part of the plan."

"Luminberg is a formidable city to take on." Winston looked at a pair of determined eyes; this aura of certainty coming from the Gray Fox was a sign that he would see this plan go through – at all costs. "We do not have enough resources to take on their defenders should we attack them."

"I know that of course, Mister Norton." Trevalyn's voice gained a pitch higher at the last syllable. "Committing all our ranks against the city is a fruitless and a big expense with little to no gains. I cannot hope to win frontally against its defenders even with an army at my disposal."

Trevalyn brought up a pamphlet to the light. A crest of a dragon grasping an orb on the left hand and a book at the right was seen as its letterhead. "There is something I find very interesting about the city. The government is opening its doors to private investors who will help them in reconstructing the known Wizards' Wall."

"I am sorry, Master, but I have not stayed in this country for too long to be aware of its history."

"It was a defensive system of a forgotten era." Trevalyn's shoulder laxed; his hand holding the pamphlet lowered at waist level. "This was basically a wall of concentrated mana that dissolved anything attempting to go through it. Luminberg's administration wanted this barrier reactivated, but a little toned down compared to the original construction of the defenses."

"What does this have to do with your plans, Master?"

"I plan on joining the bidders, and of course win the project so that we can 'modify' the Wizards' Wall to our needs." Trevalyn cupped his chin and massaged it. "I intend to replace the crystals with versions that not only seal the citizens, but also drain them of the needed mana."

"Do you intend to turn Luminberg into a trap?" Winston almost stood up, but somehow managed to control his reaction. "This idea of yours is very lofty, but are we sure it can be done perfectly without having to lose at least half our ranks in the process?"

"This is where your services are needed, Mister Norton." Trevalyn's voice lost its novelty and became more serious. "The trap will be activated and I would expect hostile resistance from the remnants of Luminberg's soldiers and outside reinforcements should they get beyond the wall. I want to be sure that all the energy collected from the city is safely brought here."

"I will need more time to come up with an effective strategy for this proposal of yours, Master. Luminberg is not a place we can trifle with."

"That will not be a problem, yes, in the meantime of course." Trevalyn held the invitation to the light; his signature was affixed at the bottom right as confirmation of his interest. "I am going to win the bidding first, and then ship the components to Luminberg one at a time. I estimate that it will take anytime from half a year to eight months for our Wizards' Wall to be finished. You have until the month before the founding celebrations to come up with something that will make our task a success."

"Surely I would have come up with something by then." Winston looked at the map of Luminberg; his thoughts were on the city walls that encircled the locale. "I will need a proper estimate on how much of our force we can commit to this, or if we would need all of Hollengrehn's machines to fill in if our men are not enough."

"I will have the mass production of the constructs scheduled." Trevalyn's voice was cool and reserved; he returned the Luminberg document to his desk. "We will discuss more of this in the following months. Of course, I have to be sure that I win the bid before proceeding with the next phases of my plan."