Since we are on the topic, how is the search for a mind reader going?” Seth asked the princess. Talking about the gates reminded him of their legendary batteries, currently feeding the Guardian Tree.
The legends caught during the Battle of Delta were still unconsciously getting sucked dry by the tree. They originally intended to get some one read their mind and extract information about Spatia from them, but the blacksmith had not heard anything about it since Leana started working on the task.
“Well, I have good news for once. I managed to convince an acquaintance from Chrona to come for a visit. His name is Ybsericht, a very talented seer. He should be able to search their thoughts and memory,” Leana said proudly.
“There were still people in Chrona willing to talk with you? Seth asked, surprised. Since the empire cut ties with Urth, their connection with Chrona Worlds was completely cut off. If Ybsericht really came, they would have to first travel to a place like the Muir Empire to be able to come to Urth.
“They aren't affiliated with Chrona, that's why. I got to know him during a diplomatic mission. He is trustworthy," she assured. “It's just that they will only arrive within the coming month...” she revealed the drawback of her success.
“As long as the legends survive until then, I don't mind,” the Tower Master said magnanimously. The information was not 1000% critical to their mission; otherwise, they would not have intended to let Drosi go before they mind-bent the legends.
Their plans wouldn't change, unless of course, the information would be game-changing, then the plan would obviously change.
“To change the subject again. How about we hold a joint welcome party for Paolo and Monique the day after tomorrow?” Mary suggested. Monique was scheduled to return in two days, while Paolo's was a happy surprise. It was a lucky coincidence that they were this close together.
“Good idea. Let's do that. It will also help everyone release some tension. And Leana will have her chance to convince the others,” Seth added. Everyone, except Mike, was supposed to return for the celebration, so the princess would get her chance to talk with them about her idea of making an armor for Cade.
“Are you really going to make a full set for Cade if Leana managed to convince everyone?” Mary asked doubtfully.
“I will think about it. I would decide after I talked with Cade. Does Cade even know what you are trying to do?” Seth asked Leana. The blacksmith had gotten this thought, as the topic would keep popping up in his head over the past week.
Leana was about to speak, but she suddenly fell silent. Seth couldn't suppress a snarky smile.
”She doesn't? You are doing all this, and she doesn't know? What if she doesn't even want the armor? That would be a lot of effort for nothing,” the bard teased her.
Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
“Why would she say no to a legendary armor? It's the best I can do for her, considering all the things she did for us,” the princess argued back.
“I don't know, maybe she will think it is too much? You can't tell me that you didn't notice that she deliberately kept her distance, right?” Seth asked her, he had quite some time while forging the armor, to think about the topic.
The question of why he was opposed to making a full set for Cade had occupied his mind for a while until he came to this realization. Cade Albright had deliberately never fully joined Minas Mar. She never wanted to go up in ranks, become a member of the field teams. Despite knowing of the magic tower, she never once came to visit her room.
The most time they spent together was during the evaluation, and even back then, he barely got to know her. She always kept to the background, communicated as little as possible. Seth had never really thought about it, but when he did, he found that Cade tried not to make any deeper relationships.
For someone like this, would she be able to accept a gift as great as a full legendary dragon scale set? Such a present would be a burden, and an anchor even.
“You might actually drive her away with this,” the blacksmith gave his verdict.
“You- that... fuck, you are right. When did you become better at reading people than me?” the princess finally gave in.
“I'm not, I just understand her. I was not much different after I lost my parents... Well, not as bad. But I can understand her,” Seth gave a short glimpse at his past, but sealed it back up right away. Leana sighed.
“Maybe you are right. But do you have someone better in mind to receive a full set, with Monique out of the picture? Don't tell me you went to the length of designing the whole armor around the Sky Dragon heart Scales and only made a single set of it. You can't tell me you really like the idea of making lots of smaller sets and individual items from it,” Lena countered.
“My next pick would be Azul,” the blacksmith suggested. Fin would have also been a choice if there weren't so many specifics to think of, because of her shape-shifting. Ultimately, she and other candidates already had legendary armors and were more fit to receive supplementary items than a complete set.
Azul, on the other hand, had no legendary armor so far. The chimera that originally started off as a lightning mage had branched off to also master melee combat after she received the legendary Palpatating Spear and Sokolov's Lightning Rod.
Her eccentric proportions and number of arms, 4, had put her behind Faenys and Monique on the list, and she would have originally only received a couple of pieces instead of a full set. Since Monique had opened another path, she was off the list, and Azul should get a full set.
Cascading this effect, more people would be getting some pieces of dragon armor. However, since Cade was not part of the field teams, she was not on the list. Seth had only kept her in mind for how well the kind of armor could fit her. But for aforementioned reasons, he was more in favor of cascading the benefits instead of giving Cade the benefits.
“Would you two please stop already? Leana, you should talk with Cade. If she agrees, you can try to fulfill Seth's demands. Seth, I think you should also have a talk with Cade. Especially since you can empathize with her. Even if it isn't the sky dragon Set, she did enough to deserve a custom item from our tower Master. Don't you think so?” Mary, once again, suggested an agreeable compromise to end their discussion.
Seth had no objections to this. Mary was right, Cade had enough contributions to deserve custom designs, even if it was not a full legendary armor set. Leana also silently nodded. Maybe this was ultimately for the better.
“What are you waiting for? Go deal with that, I will prepare the party,” Mary ended the meeting brusquely.