“… and that’s how it is, that’s what we know,” Antonius said as he finished his explanation.

“I see…” Trajan replied as he propped up his chin in thought.

Trajan and Leon had immediately gone back to Antonius’ office in the Royal Archives after Leon delivered Antonius’ letter to Trajan, and Antonius quickly explained what he and Leon had found. What was more, after Leon left, Antonius skimmed through the reports again and found that the rate of vampire attacks had been slowly increasing over the past century. It wasn’t so much that it was noticeable year-to-year, but one hundred years ago there had been only five notable vampire attacks, while this year there had been more than a dozen, a rate that was consistent with the past decade or so.

“I owe you an apology, Leon,” Trajan said after a few moments of quiet thought. “I’m still not convinced that this is all the work of a single demon, but there’s definitely something strange going on here if the rate of vampire attacks is increasing and so many of them are followers of fire demons.”

Leon nodded in acknowledgment, but he stayed quiet. Despite the statistical evidence showing that there had been a growing problem in the Kingdom for decades at least, there still wasn’t anything that directly pointed to Amon save for Xaphan’s word. But Leon both recognized the demon’s presence when it had revealed itself to kill Lewis, and he trusted Xaphan, so his belief of Amon’s involvement wasn’t going to be shaken by Trajan’s doubt.

“That still doesn’t touch upon what we can do about this,” Antonius said.

“We can’t decide upon anything ourselves,” Trajan responded. “I will call for an emergency meeting of the advisory council to figure out how to deal with this menace.”

“Anything I can do?” Leon asked, and Antonius gave Trajan a look that asked the same question.

“Hmm,” Trajan hummed in thought. “There is, actually, something you ought to deal with.”

“What is it?”

“After you were brought back from your mission injured, I didn’t want Lapis to go berserk or to do something that might affect the peace within the capital, so I asked him to move somewhere where it wouldn’t be apparent that you weren’t going to be around for a while.”

Leon frowned a bit at this lie, but he could understand it from Trajan’s point of view. He also felt a few pangs of guilt at the fact that Lapis had specifically left the Border Mountains for the purpose of protecting him, and that Leon hadn’t let the giant fulfill that purpose. Leon wasn’t interested in a babysitter, but after his encounter with Lewis, he also couldn’t deny that the possibility of having a stone giant at his back when violence was expected of him wasn’t something he ought to ignore anymore.

“Where is Lapis? I’ll go check in with him,” Leon said.

Trajan thanked Leon, then gave him Lapis’ location, which was a fairly out of the way and little-used conference building on the north side of the island.

“Just know that I’d prefer if Lapis stayed here on the island,” Trajan said. “Just having him out in the city could provoke fear.”

Leon frowned again, but once more, he understood why Trajan would want this. They hadn’t yet made peace with the stone giants as a whole, but even if they had, centuries of conflict with them ensured that the public at large didn’t care for the giants, to put it mildly. It would simply be best to keep the stone giant out of the public eye for a few more years until people had a chance to get used to the idea that stone giants weren’t necessarily their enemies anymore.

“I’ll go and see Lapis,” Leon stated.

“Good,” Trajan said. “Antonius, I want you to come with me to the council meeting. You’ll give them the same information you’ve given me, and we’ll figure out the proper response.”

“Got it, Uncle,” Antonius replied, though he looked like he would’ve rather refused. Still, this threat that had been building behind the scenes was grave enough that he could put aside his personal feelings in order to take care of this business.

And with that, the three left the office, with Antonius and Trajan returning to the main palace complex and Leon—and Anzu—heading toward the north side of the island.

—

The conference building that Lapis had been sent to was a good choice on Trajan’s part. Not only was it out of the way and rarely used, but it was also quite the feat of monumental architecture. It was essentially a massive terraced pit, like an amphitheater that was too big for regular people to sit in. Covering the pit was a huge and very old dome made of volcanic concrete more than a hundred feet high with a perfectly circular hole in the center.

The dome was held aloft by a series of tall columns and arches, more than large enough for Lapis to enter the building with ease. Running along the entire perimeter of the dome just above the arches was an intricate stone frieze depicting charging bulls and Legions conquering the enemies of the Bull Kingdom. Prominently featured were also the horsemen of the Talfar Kingdom, usually shown fleeing in the face of Bull soldiers, or otherwise defeated in battle.

In the center of the ‘amphitheater’ was a great rectangular stone table, large enough to seat fifty people. However, instead of being used as intended, the table had become little more than a chair for Lapis; the stone giant had sat itself down upon the table and froze, appearing to be no more than a statue. It hadn’t moved in days, not since it had arrived and occupied the building.

But when Leon made his entrance, striding confidently into the domed structure, Lapis stood up much faster than its hulking, stony frame would imply it was capable of.

“Leon, it’s good to see you,” Lapis said in uncharacteristically quiet tones. It had clearly been practicing at speaking with a more ‘human’ volume. “I was growing worried that something had happened to you and that that Prince had sent me here so I wouldn’t find out…”

Leon smiled awkwardly, as Lapis was right on the mark. He didn’t, however, tell the giant that fact.

“It’s good to see you, too, Lapis,” Leon responded as he wiped the smile off his face.

“What brings you out here, if I may ask?” Lapis inquired, its rumbling voice quite pleasant and soothing now that it wasn’t assaulting Leon’s eardrums.

“There’s going to be something happening in the near future…” Leon said as he thought about Amon. With two of the demon’s vampires now dead, Leon fully expected more overt plays on the Demon Lord’s part, and he wanted to be ready. To that end, Leon wasn’t going to take any chances, not with what happened the last time he contended with one of Amon’s vampires.

“Is this ‘something’ of a violent nature?” Lapis asked, its burly arms swaying in anticipation of crushing Leon’s enemies.

“It is, and I would feel much better if you were at my side when it all goes off,” Leon stated, smiling up at the giant.

Lapis had no facial muscles, so it couldn’t smile back, but when it responded, Leon got the impression that whatever the stone giant version of a smile was, Lapis was doing it.

“It would be my honor, Divine One.”

—

Enough of Trajan’s assistants followed him to the Royal Archives that he could arrange for an emergency meeting as soon as he left the building. However, just because the meeting was called didn’t mean that it would happen immediately, as the members of the advisory council were all out and about performing their duties, assuming they had duties to begin with—many of the nobles on the council were only there as advisors and had no actual role in government, so some of them might not even be in the city.

Enough important members of the council worked in the Royal Palace, though, that Trajan didn’t think it was an issue if some of the advisors didn’t show up. The meeting was arranged for about three hours after Trajan was briefed on the situation by Leon and Antonius, and the latter joined Trajan in brainstorming some potential solutions to the problem.

However, less than an hour after the two arrived in Trajan’s office, one of the elder Prince’s assistants cautiously knocked on the door. Upon Trajan’s order to enter, the assistant entered and reported, “Your Highness! I was unable to deliver the summons for the emergency meeting to either of the Prince-Regents!”

“Why not?!” Trajan asked as he stood from the couch he was sitting at. Antonius, too, rose from his seat in surprise and concern.

“Both of the Prince-Regents are in His Highness Octavius’ office,” the assistant reported. “I was not allowed access to deliver the summons, Your Highness.”

“I understand,” Trajan said as he immediately made for the door. He had no doubt that August and Octavius being in the same room together was not a good thing, and if there was a fire, then he had to put it out.

Antonius, not feeling like staying behind in Trajan’s office, accompanied him.

Soon enough, Trajan and Antonius arrived outside of Octavius’ office, a large and opulently appointed room located much closer to the throne room than even Trajan’s office. From the outside, Trajan could hear the sounds of raised voices, though he couldn’t discern anything that they were saying through the wood, stone, and enchantments of the Royal Palace’s walls.

As he and Antonius approached the door, some of Octavius’ assistants, secretaries, and adjutants behind their desks outside of Octavius’ office looked like they might try and stop Trajan, but fortunately for them, none of them were willing enough to make a move.

After pushing open the door, Trajan was immediately assaulted by a wave of killing intent and frothing magical auras; he didn’t need to listen to August and Octavius’ loud argument to know that it had gotten extremely heated.

“… is the definition of corruption!” August shouted as his fifth-tier aura raged, his face twisting in wrath.

“I was doing my due diligence!” Octavius retorted, his own expression not too different from August’s and his aura raging within the office. “If there is no evidence uncovered, then there is no reason to conduct an investigation!”

“There was evidence! There was a tip about illegal activity from trustworthy sources!” August roared.

“ENOUGH!” Trajan bellowed, his voice practically shaking the office. In fact, the aura he released did shake the room, and one of the glass windows behind Octavius’ desk shattered. However, both of the shouting Princes held their tongues as they realized that Trajan had burst into the room.

With the silence that fell in Trajan’s wake, he took a deep breath and surveyed the room. Octavius’ massive reddish-brown hardwood desk was at the opposite end from the door, and a wall of windows from floor to ceiling was behind the desk. In the center of these windows was a door leading out to a balcony that gave an enviable view of a small garden below, with enough furniture for Octavius to host a small party if he wanted. Within the office were a dozen armchairs, and enough couches to seat another dozen people. The carpets were thick and blood red, there were no less than half a dozen alcoves with marble statues of Octavius wearing silver plate armor and striking various heroic poses, and the walls were covered in huge, obviously expensive tapestries depicting things too abstract for Trajan to perceive with his quick survey.

More importantly than the décor of the office, though, was that Octavius and August were not alone; the Spymaster was sitting in one of the armchairs quietly smiling and waiting for the argument to be over. Octavius’ squire was also present, a young man that Trajan vaguely recognized with blond hair and handsome face. He didn’t seem to share the Spymaster’s amusement with the situation, as his face seemed fixed into a stoic glare that Trajan had seen many times on Leon’s face when the young knight was forced to do something he didn’t want to do.

After a few seconds of silent staring on the part of Trajan, Octavius and August were thoroughly cowed. Neither spoke another word, and Trajan had their complete attention.

“What…” Trajan began before pausing for a moment. The absurdity of Princes, of brothers shouting at each other so loudly where their subordinates could hear them was something Trajan found difficult to process. After his pause, he began again. “What exactly is the meaning of this unseemly display?”