The Great Sorceress’s elegant days began with a cup of tea.
Gazing at the lives of the people below, she set her cup down and rang the bell to signal the start of work.
“Time for work!”
Her apprentices had been waiting and rushed in with volumes of paperwork.
“Tia! The reddening of the water supply has died down.”
“Good. What caused it?”
“Miasma from the labyrinth. Here’s a detailed write-up.”
“Thanks—so the miasma cleansing devices are deteriorating? Didn’t a merchant come by selling more?”
“Yes, the Sahbe Company. Should we buy one to try?”
“Yeah, best to experiment before the current devices break.”
Tia directed one of her apprentices to purchase the new device and moved on to the next thing.
“We’ve finished forming a party to explore the castle interior. Tiga will be leading it.”
“That’s a relief. There should still be traps, so warn them to be careful.”
“Tia, Father Mokro is squabbling with the necromancers’ guild.”
“Why is he still here?! I’ve got my hands full, so take some guards and go mediate.”
“All right, I’ll handle it.”
The line of apprentices with reports and questions showed no signs of dying down.
Lunchtime came and went with no respite—as hungry as she was, she couldn’t afford to stop and eat.
“Tia, please take a break,” her head apprentice said, putting a light meal on the table.
“Thanks, is it that time?”
“It’s well past lunch into teatime.”
“Oh my, I had no idea,” the Great Sorceress insisted, taking a bite of the meaty meal. “Hmm, no signs of any demons today…”
“Seems like their invasion is over. I wonder what their goal was?”
“Who knows? There’s no shortage of things they could want here.”
The Great Sorceress shrugged, avoiding the question.
“Learn anything through your investigation?”
“Zanzasansa got the relic from a starving wolf-ranked ratfolk adventurer. There were witnesses to that, so tracking it was easy, but the adventurer in question perished in the labyrinth, so we’ve been unable to track it to the mastermind.”
“Ah. Thanks.”
The Great Sorceress gulped down the last of the food, considering this.
Most likely the same villain that sent in the demons. But why go to the trouble of letting Zanzasansa take the fall? If they’re after the demon lord bones in the temple, there’s no need to target the fortress city specifically… I have to assume that whole incident was a distraction. In which case, their real call is the False Core drawing mana from the source.
Her hand wavered over the empty plate.
Without a word, the head apprentice took a fresh plate out of her Item Box.
Rimi’s been my head apprentice for ages, but I haven’t even told her that the False Core is actually the Purple Moon Core. So how would they have worked it out?
Her hand found food and carried it to her mouth as her mind spun in circles.
More importantly, if anything does happen to me, only Roro—my descendant—can inherit the Purple Moon Core. I’ll need to tell her this at some point, but…
She dithered on that point so hard, she forgot to eat, but it didn’t take her long to make up her mind.
It’s far too soon. At least let her fall in love, get married, have children…
“Is something wrong, Tia?”
“Not at all.”
Brushing off her concerned apprentice, she downed the last bite.
At the moment, Satou’s the only suitable candidate for her hand. Too few humanfolk in the fortress city. How can I bring him back here? He had no desires for power, no lusts—perhaps I’ll have to stimulate his curiosity, his thirst for knowledge.
The Great Sorceress had a pretty solid read on Satou’s personality.
A stoic man and a shy girl don’t exactly make sparks fly, so should I prep a love potion? If I can just get things rolling, youth should take care of the rest and they’ll have a couple of kids before I know it, she concluded, washing her meal down with some tea.
Neither party wanted her meddling, but she was serious about it.
“Let’s get the afternoon toils over with so I can pop by to see Roro!”
The Great Sorceress rolled up her sleeves and found double the morning workload waiting for her.
“Rimi?”
“If you get this done, tomorrow you’ll have time for fun!”
“Right…”
Her soul nearly fled her open mouth, but her hands reached for the paperwork.
Clearly, her office would be burning the midnight oil again.