The next day, NSLICE-00P and company headed over to the Mage’s Academy, as Princess Caecila was still occupied and NSLICE-00P intended to follow up with Sidonia on her compensation. There, they found Apprentice Calisunus and Sidonia waiting for them. Apprentice Calisunus walked right up to NSLICE-00P, staring her in the face. After a few moments, he knelt down.

“Your Majesty NSLICE-00P…I will never forget what you’ve done for me. I swear to you that I will repay this debt, even if it takes my entire life!”

“Acknowledged.”

Sidonia giggled lightly before stepping forward as well.

“Nonus is a good boy, do take care of him. I must also thank you for your assistance, Miss NSLICE-00P. The Empire owes you yet another great debt. As promised, I will help you gain access to the restricted materials. Now, could you tell me what exactly you were hoping to access?”

“Answer: Any materials regarding spatial magic, the prerequisites to acquire spatial magic, or any materials pertaining to the existence of other universes or the means of exploring beyond this universe.”

Sidonia blinked for a second.

“That’s a…curious topic, not at all what I was expecting. My, you’re just full of surprises, aren’t you?”

“Response: Data on potentially hidden weapons is classified.”

Sidonia tilted her head and rested a finger on her chin for a moment.

“Hm…I don’t think I’ve seen anything like that in the materials I’ve read. Why don’t we pay a visit to the Archmage, then?”

“Affirmative.”

“Absolutely not.”

Magister Cnaeus shook his head, continuing his work. Sidonia frowned.

“Magister Cnaeus, what exactly is the issue here?”

Magister Cnaeus scoffed.

“As I said before, Spatial Magic is dangerous, and I don’t trust Miss NSLICE-00P enough to let her access it.”

Sidonia smiled.

“Well then, allow me to vouch for her. If you are concerned with her skill, I can assure you her magic prowess is more than sufficient. If you are concerned with her trustworthiness, she has done a great service to me, this Academy, and the Empire. Two of your Senior Mages are fond of her, and she has healed Apprentice Callisunus as well. What more do you require of her, Magister?”

Magister Cnaeus scoffed.

“That is that and this is this. I’ve made my decision, Senior Mage.”

Sidonia’s smile dropped.

“Magister Cnaeus, you will not cooperate?”

He stopped what he was doing and glared at her.

“I will not. And I do not appreciate that tone, Senior Mage.”

Sidonia crossed her arms.

“The Empire specifically requested the Imperial Academy’s assistance with a corrupted dungeon barely a stone’s throw away from Corvanus. Miss NSLICE-00P helped me in dealing with this, and was critical to our success. If it were not for her, we would have failed in this mission, one of our core obligations to the Empire. Something that you passed to me without any support or resources, Magister. How do you think it would have looked had I not brokered a deal with her? You owe her, Magister.”

Magister Cnaeus’s eyes narrowed.

“Take care, Senior Mage. Your tone is dreadfully close to threatening. I made no such deal with NSLICE-00P, any obligation belongs to you. And what if’s don’t matter, you dealt with the matter, and that is the end of it.”

Sidonia sighed and reached into her robe. She pulled out a scroll and unfurled it.

“By order of the Magister Militum, NSLICE-00P is to be granted access to any and all classified materials. Signed with Magister Verrucosis’s seal, here take a look.”

Magister Cnaeus shook his head.

“That changes nothing, the Magister Militum does not possess authority here!”

Sidonia sneered at him.

“I beg to differ. In the case of an emergency, the Imperial Academy will lend any and all assistance necessary to the Legion, and will come under the command of the Magister Militum. A corrupted dungeon near Corvanus would absolutely qualify as an emergency as defined there, and so orders regarding this incident hold weight. And if that isn’t enough, the Emperor himself has requested this, two Imperial Inquisitors want to see the material, and two of your own Senior Mages now agree that she is trustworthy. Would you like me to convene a council to see how many more will agree with me? And to be honest, I find your reticence here to be highly abnormal, Magister. You do know that if an Imperial Inquisitor has reasonable suspicion that you are intentionally obstructing their mandate, they are empowered to detain you and launch a full investigation of your affairs, right?”The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.

Magister Cnaeus’s face twisted and grew red, and the man began to tremble.

“Ok fine! You want to know the truth?! The truth is we don’t have any materials on spatial magic!”

Sidonia froze.

“…excuse me?”

“You heard me! Nothing! Zilch! Not even a note scribbled on a napkin!”

Sidonia blinked.

“I don’t see how that’s possible. We don’t have any spatial experts, that’s true, but how is it that we have no materials on the subject?”

Magister Cnaeus glared at her and began holding up his fingers one by one.

“First of all, when Emperor Crescentius moved the capital out east, they ransacked the Imperial Library for anything useful! And once the Empire was split into three Courts, the other Courts had no incentive to return anything to us! It’s taken centuries for our Academy to rebuild any selection at all! Half of our stuff is just written by our own staff, and we haven’t had a spatial mage in the North since then! The reason so much of our material is ‘classified’ is that every Magister Arcanum of the Northern Court has been desperately trying to hide that we don’t have anything, and keep the Imperial Academy from becoming the laughing stock of the Empire! And now, thanks to you, we’ve failed! Everyone’s going to find out we don’t have a goblin's latrine compared to the South and the East! So go on! Take a look! I’ll give you access to every classified spatial magic text we have, all zero of them! I hope you’re happy, Senior Mage Sidonia!”

Sidonia just stared into space.

“Oh, um, I’m…sorry?”

Magister Cnaeus slumped into his chair.

“...just go already. Do what you want.”

Sidonia led the group out of his office in complete silence. She slowly turned towards NSLICE-00P.

“Um, so, I happen to know a few good texts on elemental magic I could show you? I know it’s not what you wanted but…”

“Affirmative Response: General magical knowledge is also calculated as beneficial.”

Sidonia nodded.

“Ok then. Um…would you mind keeping the whole conversation with the Magister between us?”

“Affirmative.”

Sidonia exhaled her breath.

“Right then, let’s…head over to the Library…I guess…”

***

NSLICE-00P recorded the elemental texts Sidonia controlled, and then the group bid the Academy farewell and headed back home. Since Princess Caecila wasn’t with them, they had to walk back from the station.

Estrith sighed as she walked down the street. She had expected being a royal guard in the midst of the horrid Empire to be less…boring.

Ever since they came to this city, Estrith had nothing to do. Contrary to her expectation, the hated Imperials had not been lunging at their throats, nor had they forced her to prove herself. So she hadn’t had any real fights she could challenge herself against, and the weak Imperials had guards galore when they visited the dungeon, so she barely even had to protect them. And then the Queen of the Dobhar was spending a lot of time surrounded by those small slips of wood and animal skins.

Now, Estrith vaguely understood that place was a repository of the Empire’s knowledge. The first time they arrived, she was excited to unlock the secrets of the Imperials for Her King, though she kept herself in check so as not to expose her intentions. But…the moment she tried to steal their secrets, she ran into a terrible problem.

She couldn’t read.

The squiggles drawn all over the scrolls meant nothing to her. Why would they? The Dobhar didn’t have a written language of their own, all of their traditions were passed down from generation to generation by the Mother of the Waves and her pupils, and they certainly weren’t interested in borrowing from the hated Imperials. She believed Her King had attempted to decipher such things, but Estrith had a hard enough time learning spoken Imperial…and still spat out every word she spoke in the language of the enemy. And…she needed to dedicate herself nearly full time to the hunt in order to become a worthy match for Her King. She could not waste hours and hours staring at squiggles!

The point being…Estrith had nothing to do, and failed at her secret task at that. It was not like she could ask the Imperials for help stealing their secrets, after all.

All in all, this was a frustrating trip. The Empire’s might was on full display for her. When she saw the mighty fortresses flying through the sky, the walls that towered into the air like mountains, the sheer abundance of weapons and armor that could arm the entire Dobhar race, and the strange contraptions that rained fire on monstrous hordes, her heart was filled with dread. Perhaps a legion of warriors like Her King would not be daunted by such things…but Her King was unique among the Dobhar. He could not resist something like this alone, and none of his people matched his strength.

And there was more…

She had seen multiple cities larger than the entire Home Fleet. She saw races of all sorts under the Imperial banner, many of which could overpower a Dobhar with raw strength alone. She saw dwelling places where the Imperial could control the temperature of the air, conquering the very elements themselves. She now partook in meals that would be a luxuriant feast among the Dobhar on a daily basis.

When she imagined all of this being pitted against the Dobhar…she trembled.

All their struggles…all their battles…all their victories and defeats…were nothing. The Empire had not even tried against them, not truly. If it had…they would have been crushed in an instant. She finally understood why Her King feared the ‘weak farmers’ as she once believed them to be.

And she could not even begin to unlock the secrets of their strength. She could not even imagine the efforts it would take for the Dobhar to overcome such a foe. They would need an entire army of warriors on par with Her King to even have a chance.

Except…the Queen of the Dobhar had done just that.

She apparently took an entire Imperial army on alone…and won. She inhaled the Imperial’s secrets like a whale consuming a school of fish. She had the King of the Imperials' daughter at her beck and call. She was not at all intimidated by the Empire’s might, wealth, or knowledge.

Estrith still did not like the usurper, and her heart burned at the humiliation of Her King. But now…she understood why Her King had chosen to bow his head, and give up his rule. Whatever Estrith felt, she could admit it was a very good thing that this person was on the Dobhar’s side.

It was then that someone bumped into her. Estrith turned to the man and growled.

“Watch where you are going, Imperial.”

But then, the man leaned towards her and whispered into her ear.

“A Dobhar is in danger. Meet me here after nightfall and I will tell you more.”

“What?”

Estrith’s eyes widened but the man was gone. She looked around for a bit but couldn’t find him. Eventually, Ateia noticed her falling behind.

“Miss royal guard, is everything all right?”

Estrith frowned, and turned to catch up.

“It’s…nothing.”

Estrith rubbed her chin as she fell back in line. A Dobhar? Here? Such a thing was impossible. Most of the Dobhar followed her king, the few clans who did not could not have made it this far from the Northern Seas. This was an obvious trick, likely an ambush by an deceitful Imperial dog.

But what if it wasn’t?

Estrith’s heart began to pound and her eyes began to widen. Because she thought of something. One situation that might result in a Dobhar finding their way this far from home.

There were tales of pups being kidnapped by Imperials. It was just one reason why the Dobhar were at odds with them. And for all of her life, Estrith thought they were being hunted and slain.

But what if they weren’t? What if a pup had been taken captive, and brought here?

Heat burned in every inch of Estrith’s body. Harming a Dobhar’s pup was the gravest sin one could commit against them. So…if there was any chance that man had told the truth…

Estrith decided she would see what his intentions were.

And if this was an ambush like she first believed?

Well…it had been too long since her last hunt.