Moray Territory. Eastern district. The old granary.
Eagle folded the list and tucked it away, calling toward the doorway. In came a young man of fifteen or sixteen, thin as a bamboo pole, but with sharp, lively eyes.
"What's the situation on the east side of the city?"
"The Empire arrived yesterday afternoon — two carriages, a few people who look like document officials. They're staying at the northern district post station." The young man said. "No soldiers. No knights."
Eagle frowned, dismissed him with a wave, then rose and headed toward the Earl's manor.
The Earl's manor. The study.
Allen stood at the window, his back to Eagle, the four-word letter clenched in his hand. He said nothing.
Eagle finished delivering the news from the east side of the city, waited, and seeing no reaction, could not stop himself. "Young master — the Audit Bureau people are here to examine the accounts. This situation… what do you intend to do?"
"I don't know," Allen said.
Eagle was taken aback.
"The scale of the accident and the Church's casualties — the numbers don't match." Allen turned from the window. There was no calm on his face, only a pressed-down anxiety. "As long as they look carefully, the accounts will show a crack sooner or later." He tightened his grip on the letter. "I need to ask Master."
He closed his eyes. The Black Sand seed in his chest warmed, and his consciousness sank into the spirit link.
On the underground end, silence for a few seconds.
Then Del's voice came — not through his ears, but landing directly in his consciousness, like someone speaking quietly inside his mind.
——The ore vein.
Allen frowned. "What?"
——The main tunnel's ore vein in the northern district has been declining for three months. Go pull the production records for those three months and reorganize them. Let the numbers speak for themselves. The accident was the last straw — not the cause.
Allen stilled for a moment, then slowly released his grip on the letter.
"So on the accounts……"
——On the accounts, everything adds up. Let them examine it. The more carefully the better.
Stolen novel; please report.
Allen drew a slow breath, came back to himself, and looked at Eagle. "Pull all the northern district's mining records from the past three months. Have them in the study before the end of today."
Eagle nodded and turned to leave. Allen called him back.
"Also," Allen paused — the words had the sound of something being relayed — "make sure the Audit Bureau people are comfortable. Good food, good wine. Whatever they need, accommodate it. The friendlier the better."
Eagle glanced at him, asked nothing, and left.
Allen leaned against the window again, looking at the heavy clouds outside, and spoke under his breath, enough only for himself.
"Master, the letter — the person behind that visitor — should I investigate?"
A moment of silence.
——No need. If he came once on his own, he will come again. When he does, listen. Say little.
"Just that?"
——Just that. Your biggest problem right now is not that man. It is your own face.
Allen was momentarily thrown.
——Telling Eagle just now that you didn't know what to do — that was fine. You genuinely didn't know. But in front of outsiders, you cannot do that. You sit in that chair. Even if you are panicking inside, your face has to show nothing.
Allen was quiet for a moment.
"I understand."
The warmth of the seed slowly faded. The spirit link closed.
He stood at the window a moment longer, refolded the letter, placed it in the inner pocket of his robe, then walked back to the chair, sat down, and slowly straightened his spine.
Still learning.
Underground. Black Wind City. The quiet chamber.
Night.
Del did not sleep.
After withdrawing his consciousness from the spirit link, he settled back onto the floor cross-legged and closed his eyes.
The two ongoing parses were still running. That low, continuous vibration was buried between skin and bone — not painful. Only present.
Then, at a certain moment, a new layer entered the vibration.
Like a narrow channel that had been blocked suddenly clearing — something began to flow slowly through it.
The chip's notification appeared.
[Siphon Extension · Dark Current] Parse Progress: 100% Black Buddha Core fusion successful. Siphon radius extended to the boundary of the domain. Passive interception mechanism activated. For every unit of energy an opponent expends within the domain, the host passively recovers 8% converted into Black Sand Vigor.
Del did not open his eyes. He simply read through the lines in his mind.
Then he slowly extended his right hand, palm upward, and gently expanded the domain outward by one layer.
No light. No sound. Only the density of something in the air shifting quietly. The blue glow of the mineral crystals trembled slightly at the edge of the domain — like a water surface touched by wind — and then settled.
He felt the recovery.
Not active. Simply: the domain existed, and so the recovery existed. Sinking Scale compressed the channels within the opponent's body. Dark Current intercepted the flow that spilled from those compressed channels. The two together formed something inside the domain that Del had not had before——
The more the opponent struggled, the steadier he became.
He drew his hand back and opened his eyes.
[Core Reinforcement · Black Steel Bone] Parse Progress: 57.1% Estimated time remaining: approximately 14.5 days.
Fourteen days remaining.
Del stood and paced the chamber slowly, feeling the new channel that had opened in his body — calm, continuous, like a dark river now running quietly underground.
He picked up a fist-sized piece of mineral from beside the wall, squeezed it, then released.
The mineral crumbled to fine particles in his palm — no excess force, nothing wasted.
He shook the fragments to the floor and walked out of the chamber.
The corridor was empty. The blue mineral light cast the stone walls in quiet stillness.
Del walked alone deeper in, his footsteps making no sound.
Somewhere on an underground rock face, a fine crack was quietly spreading.
Not destruction. Growth.
