‘These two never shut up and follow me everywhere I go. Even to the bathroom!’ Kamila thought.

“I can’t believe your forensics labs still work with that primitive junk. My preliminary report of the crime scene uncovered more evidence than all those ridiculous gadgets the Knight Guard uses.” Leegaain said while submitting his report to her.

‘Maybe it’s because those poor bastards don’t have Dragon Eyes or millennia of experience with magic.’ Kamila inwardly whined as she was once again forced to deliver documents to Jirni after giving them a look and thanking the Father of All Dragons.

If there was one thing all three Guardians of Garlen agreed upon, was the total disrespect for the chain of command. With the excuse of Kamila being their “senior” in the office, they reported everything to her instead of Jirni and submitted their paperwork to her for a second opinion.

The only silver lining of that insufferable situation was that they had been closing more cases in a single day than they usually did in months. Leegaain swept the crime scenes in minutes, collecting evidence invisible to regular means of investigation.

Based on that, it was easy identifying the persons of interest who once round up individually in the interrogation room, would fold like an ironed shirt.

“Talk.” One word from the Overlord without a shred of killing intent was enough to strike so much fear in those facing her glare that even battlehardened veterans suddenly remembered events dating back to when their mothers had weaned them.

Pampered nobles didn’t have such a temper so they would hurriedly confess their crimes, having care to talk fast enough so that their ensuing heart attack wouldn’t hinder Salaark’s work.

As for Tyris, she never left Kamila’s side on a crime scene, killing even the mosquitos that tried to approach her. Back at the office, the Guardian combed her hair, prepared her meals with impeccable timing, and dealt with most of the paperwork.

She left just enough for Kamila to always have something to do but cleared her pile of documents so that the new files wouldn’t accumulate on her desk for the next day.

“You need to relax. Stress is an invisible enemy.” Tyris had replied to Kamila’s silent question after the whole office had been staring at her in envy for a while.

“They are a troublesome bunch, but at least they are effective.” Jirni sighed while taking one of the sweets from the tray on Kamila’s desk. “Do you mind? I’ve already reached the point I’m starting to have cravings.”

“Help yourself. I have more food than paperwork on my desk.” Kamila sighed as well. “Do you think we should hire traffic directors?”

Even under her Constable alias, Tyris was still a beauty and a member of the Royal family which attracted the attention of every male in the building and noble in the Capital.

Salaark was just as impressive and on top of being the absolute authority of the Desert, she was notoriously single. Her line of suitors included even merchants looking for safe routes in the Blood Desert and new markets.

Much to Kamila’s surprise, even Leegaain had quite the following.

He had discarded his usually unkempt appearance, turning out to be a fairly handsome man. Once sharply dressed in his uniform, his wits and his ability to hold any kind of conversation made him quite charming.

What really surprised Kamila, however, was that the female staff flocked around him despite he always carried baby Valeron on his back and Shargein in human form on his chest, both in a baby holder.

“It’s a good idea, especially if they are going to stay here for more than a day.” Jirni replied.

‘This isn’t the kind of training that I had planned for, but the Guardians have reached the apex in their respective fields. Even if can catch a glimpse of their abilities and learn from example, it’s going to be a huge payoff.’ She thought.

“Looks like someone is popular.” Salaark grunted, unhappy for all the attention that the usually reclusive Leegaain received.

“Looks like someone is jealous.” He replied with a shrug.

“Of course I’m jealous.” She snarled, walking toward the interrogation room.I think you should take a look at

The clicking of her heels sounded like a death knell to the poor sap she was about to meet.

“How long will Lith and the girls be away?” Jirni asked.

“I don’t know. I only wish he is alright. Grandma?” Kamila stopped the Overlord in her tracks.

“Let’s see.” Even from the capital, her breathing technique, Mother Sun, allowed her to scour her turf and know everything that happened in a specific location, if she put her mind to it.

Even the veil that isolated the Fringe from the rest of Mogar couldn’t stop her foresight.

“He’s currently fine but things are getting both chaotic and interesting.”

***

Meanwhile, thousands of miles away, in the Parliament of Leaves.

“What do you mean, how?” M’Rael activated the defensive arrays of the room but the black fog ignored them and kept spreading. “That’s your Soul Projection. You should know how to control your emotions!”

“It’s my first time inside a Fringe!” Lith tried every single meditative technique he knew to try and stop the Void’s rampage, but nothing worked. “Until a few hours ago, I didn’t even know what my Soul Projection looked like.

“How do you expect me to know how to control it? You lived here your whole life. Tell me what your people do when something like this happens.” Even calling upon the Voidfeather Dragon’s life force achieved nothing.

Lith became covered in red scales and his feathered wings popped out of his back but that was it.

“Nothing like this has ever happened!” The High Chancellor gritted his teeth, knowing he was in a pinch.

‘If I trigger the offensive arrays and I kill him, the Soul Projection will disappear. Yet I doubt that his associates will let me do it. This place is sealed on purpose to intimidate our guests and keep them from escaping if things go south but right now, we are the ones trapped.

‘The dimensional sealing arrays keep us from Warping away and if we go all out against such powerful creatures in an enclosed space like this, we’ll suffer incalculable losses.

‘To make matters worse, if that fog keeps spreading, those bastards only need to stall for time and the Abomination will kill us all!’

The Void kept swatting the incoming guards like flies, their defenses useless. Magic and metal were helpless against the ethereal figure who attacked their Soul Projections.

Luckily, Lith didn’t move from his spot to not break the defensive formation and soon it became apparent that the Void couldn’t move farther than one meter away from him.

It wasn’t much but at least the elves on the upper seats were safe from him.

“Stop it! We are not here to trigger a war but to prevent it!” Faluel had to yell to be heard above the Void’s roars.

“I’m open to suggestions!” Lith replied.

“A Soul Projection is the manifestation of someone’s current innermost thought or emotion.” Aalejah said. “Chancellor, all you have to do to end this peacefully is to give us a proper explanation.

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