[LitF] 32. The League of the Fated Races (Patreon)

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[A/N: Remember the last chapter? It was 40% longer than usual. Well, this one is 70% longer. Enjoy!]

At first, Arthur let Emily get away with her antics for two reasons.

First, that was the first time he found himself in such a situation. Although he had been trained for it, he found he dealt better with adapting quickly during combat than when finding a harmless human saying things he didn't want to hear. Her mind being flooded with hormones made it even more awkward. So, he found himself frozen for a moment.

As he constantly reminded himself, intelligence, wisdom, knowledge, and willpower were no substitutes for experience and maturity.

Second, it was somewhat amusing. Even Sophie initially felt a bit entertained by the novelty deep down. They were interacting with someone who blatantly disrespected a much stronger awakener who could kill her with a thought. It was comic in its own way.

However, as the minutes passed and the innuendoes continued, everyone's enjoyment disappeared. Arthur felt ashamed, too; he had told himself he was prepared to fight the world for Sophie, yet just let her be offended without doing anything.

So, he attacked.

Healers could only touch a patient with their express consent, except during combat, directly after, or in an emergency where the patient and anyone responsible for them couldn't be contacted in time to make a decision. However, Arthur didn't ask for Emily's consent to make her brain immune to her hormones after a certain point. So, it was a de facto attack according to League rules.

He used his domain for that. It wasn't hard because she had so few vitality and mind points, and his understanding was considerably high. He willed it, and her brain was protected. The effects were similar to the spell Tamara had cast on him on his birthday celebration in the dungeon.

"...uses magichemistry; magic with chemistry," Emily had been saying, and smiled brightly. "Let me explain chemistry like this: when you look at something you really like..." She puffed her chest. "...and feel things..." She trailed off. "You... you..." She couldn't finish the sentence.

The girl's eyes widened, and her face reddened as the prince's magic made her sane again, and she realized what she was doing. She retracted her chest, crossed her arms, and looked ahead. Arthur had never seen someone so embarrassed, not even after he and Sophie started using their Senses Beyond Senses trait creatively with each other.

Everyone but him was surprised at her sudden change. Sophie and Tamara gave Arthur a knowing look while Jorge looked worriedly at his daughter. Sophie was flooded with relief and gratitude, and the prince felt extra guilty for taking so long to act.

Tamara also approved of his action. The maid advocated for talking before resorting to less polite solutions, but she was a battle maid. She understood some situations were beyond words. Emily couldn't have made a decision by herself.

Granted, Arthur could've asked Emily's father for his input on whether the prince should use magic on her. That was the proper way of conducting things in this instance. Not doing so made his action an attack, no doubt about it. He was guilty. However, he still went ahead with it because circumstances were obviously unfavorable to talking to the man about it, and Tamara could see it. All things considered, he had handled it with finesse.

Emily had talked for about two minutes before the prince acted. She had mostly repeated what Jorge had said about the ICMC. She had just started talking about magichemistry, the current name for alchemy, when she stopped.

Now, she silently avoided everyone's eyes, biting her lower lip with a vengeance and looking through the passenger window.

"You alright?" Jorge asked.

His daughter didn't reply, and he kept driving silently, unsure what to tell Arthur, sometimes glancing at Emily.

Although the situation had taken a turn for the worse, Arthur found it perfect for him. He used his domain to significantly lower the driver's hearing, especially in the ear closest to Emily. It might lead to a traffic accident, but if something happened, the prince would prehend the vehicles and prevent a collision.

Then, he greatly heightened Emily's hearing and whispered very low when he was sure Jorge wasn't looking, "Emily, don't react, or your father will find out. I know you're an awakener."

The girl obviously reacted. She was little more than an untrained unawakened. Her eyes widened, and she grew tenser. Suddenly hearing more than she ever had had to be scary.

Still, she didn't look at him, which was fortunate. Jorge once more worried about her but said nothing.

Arthur continued, "Keep looking through the window. Reply to me using whispers. I made sure your father can't hear us. Try it now."

She did. "What the... Who are you? Why are you doing this to me?"

In her anger, she whispered a bit too loudly. Arthur quickly worsened Jorge's hearing, almost deafening the man, then returned it to the previous levels. Unlike his two attacks on Emily—affecting her mind and hearing—using magic to keep an unawakened from seeing or hearing awakener business was perfectly legal. It wasn't considered a healer-patient relationship and thus not subjected to those rules.

"Whisper lower, or he'll find out," Arthur replied. "I'm an awakener, too. Your vitality was affecting your desires." There was no simpler way to put it. He wasn't very polite in pointing out her overexcited behavior, but he believed a direct approach was better. "I helped you control it."

"Shit," she whispered back. "Shit, shit, shit. Don't do anything to my dad, okay? He doesn't know shit. It's all on me. Shit. I'll cooperate, I swear. We're going to the League, right? I'll give my dad an excuse and go inside with you. You can kill me inside."

Arthur was shocked at her words, to say the least. "Why would I kill you?"

Emily got angry. "Look, I know the rules. I'm not dumb. Well, I am, I used the damn stone, but I know you kill illegal awakeners and everyone involved." She started crying. "You found me. I'm not running, but don't kill dad, okay? I swear he doesn't know." She sobbed. "I swear it!"

Jorge got even more worried now. He looked at his daughter but still said nothing to her, concluding she was just embarrassed about her earlier actions and words. "Change of plans," he said, "I'll take a shortcut." He intended to get rid of Arthur as fast as possible.

"No!" Emily said quickly, and Arthur gave Jorge his hearing back. "No, dad. I'm alright." She quickly dried her tears with her hands and forced herself to stop crying. "Just... I want to see the lake. Please? I really want to take a good look at the view."

The driver stared into her eyes for a few moments, then sighed. "Alright."

"Thanks," Emily said, then looked through her window again, hiding her face from Jorge. She whispered, "Please? I want to get a last look at it."

Arthur once more lowered Jorge's hearing while she spoke. Then, he replied, "I'm not with the League."

Technically, he was part of the League. Every awakener was by default, including Emily. However, she obviously thought he was an investigator who had come for her. She also believed the League killed illegal awakeners. That helped to start explaining Jorge's bad opinion about them.

Arthur expected some rules to change over a thousand years, and controlling awakening in low-mana regions made sense. However, he refused to believe the League would just kill anyone who awoke without obeying whatever rules it set.

Detaining, say, a level 50 awakener might be more trouble than it was worth it. Even in the Golden Kingdom, such people were only detained if they surrendered to await judgment and accepted to be restrained with voidsteel. Else, they were killed without a trial. Killing them made sense.

But an untrained level 1 awakener? No. The League could simply bring them to a high-mana region and use them.

The only thing the prince could think of was that they wanted to delay the world's mana decay. Awakeners absorbed mana to not go crazy, and one might fear that too many awakeners would make the world's mana level fall faster. Still, killing new awakeners sounded extreme.

Then again, it, unfortunately, did make sense.

The truth was that lenience would lead to permissiveness. People might awaken just to get access to the high-mana regions, which Jorge suggested were restricted. Having rules to awaken and killing anyone who disobeyed them might be the best way to prevent anyone from awakening.

Not that it always worked, of course. Awakening was just too attractive; it meant breaking through the shackles of mediocrity. Arthur didn't know Emily, but he could understand the allure of power. He had sacrificed many years to grow more powerful, after all.

"You're... not with the League?" Emily whispered, surprised, confused, and doubtful.

"My friends and I were in a dungeon for twelve hundred years," he replied. There was no reason to hide it from her or anyone. He just needed to be the first to tell the League. "We came out yesterday. I can communicate with you because I have enough wisdom to easily pick up the language. You understand that's possible, don't you? You invested heavily in wisdom."

Arthur had trouble determining exact stat points over 1,000 without a spell, but his life domain let him easily read Emily's stats, and it was a mess.

Awakening and immediately picking an element meant two achievements that netted her 96 free stat points. She had spent nothing on her magic stats, likely because it would be impossible to find a teacher. However, she had pushed all her body and mind stats to ten. From there, she decided she wanted better grades at college and set her wisdom at 50, netting her another achievement and 6 stat points. Her remaining points shouldn't have been enough to push another stat to 50, so he set her vitality at 25 for whatever reason and added the remaining points to intelligence, pushing it to 33.

Arthur was sure she hadn't naturally pushed any stat to 10, losing some achievements. Without mana stats, she also couldn't get any magic-related achievements. He found no passive skills on her body, but while she might've learned active or weighted skills, he doubted it. If awakening was so illegal, it was already a wonder she had gotten her hands on an awakening stone, much less a skill crystal.

Her heightened mind stats explained how Emily had enough willpower to control her vitality-induced desires when dealing with the unawakened. It had been just enough, especially because everything was new, and she lacked training. Then, Arthur's and Sophie's beauty pushed her past her limits.

"How can you know I improved my wisdom?" Emily whispered back, surprised, angry, and scared. "Can you see my stats?!"

Arthur wouldn't answer that honestly. Saying he was a biomancer and was feeling her body without her approval would be impolite, at the very least. Most awakeners would suspect it after he talked about their stats, but it might freak her out if she didn't reach that conclusion alone.

Not being completely honest didn't mean lying, though. Arthur didn't like outright saying something that wasn't true. It wasn't becoming of a prince—even one without a kingdom.

"You're a college student majoring in magitech engineering," he replied. "It's obvious that you would want a faster mind. Your insistent interest in me also showed that you were having issues with recently improved vitality." Those things were obvious, indeed. Emily relaxed a little at the reasoning. "I went through it, too. Most awakeners do." He shared it with her for identification. It worked. She relaxed a little more. "But you're focusing on the wrong thing. I said I came from a distant past. I learned the language, but the culture confuses me. That's why I'm talking to you."

"Wait, wait, wait!" She suddenly realized the meaning of his first words. "You used magic to deal with my... desires!" She was embarrassed, but her excitement overwhelmed it. "That's illegal! Even the League would have to tell me to stand down before using magic on me!" Then she felt offended and scared again.

Tamara had taught the prince to win arguments without touching the core issue. He tried it now. "Would you rather your father kept hearing what you were saying?"

It worked. Emily's embarrassment returned, overwhelming her, and she didn't reply. It was cute in its own way. She was legally an adult, yet still so young.

"I need your help," Arthur continued. He didn't need her help; he only wanted it because it would be convenient. However, Tamara had also taught him that people responded better to desperation and feeling indispensable. "The world is very different from what it used to be. The League changed, too."

She didn't reply immediately. She fell into deep thought for almost a full minute before replying, "Can you save me from the madness?"

"Depends on how much the League changed. You said they would kill you because you awakened illegally. Things weren't like that in the past. Would me vouching for you be enough?"

He didn't want to vouch for someone he didn't know. Depending on what she did, it might devalue the weight of his word. But he would do it if the information she provided was worth it.

Emily started shaking her head before realizing what she was doing. Jorge looked at her again, and she waited before saying, "Can't you say I also came from the past?"

"No. I bet your government has papers that prove you were born and raised in this place."

Tamara had said today's unawakened were slightly different from the past, but Emily's body was just like his—albeit a female with fewer stats. Fate clearly standardized things for awakeners. Sophie's body differed because she was a one-quarter vampire, and Tamara was an elf. However, while Jorge supposedly had monster blood, it was so thin that even Arthur couldn't pinpoint it inside him or his daughter.

The girl's hope died at his words, but he added, "Is there any way for me to learn current League law before we get to the League? In my time, the League freely distributed Tomes of Laws."

Back then, the tomes were written in League dialect. If that had changed, he would have to learn to read the local language. Fortunately, he already spoke it, making things much easier. Emily could just read a few pages for him while pointing at the words she was reading, and with his mind stats, he would only need to learn a written word a single time to remember it forever.

Their conversation was interrupted by Jorge, who spoke loud and overly excitedly to clear the heavy air he believed still filled his truck.

"Everyone, look to your right!" he half-yelled as they approached the end of a tunnel. "Prepare yourselves for the view of your lives!"

A few moments later, they left the tunnel, and Arthur had to admit North Lake was beautiful. The huge body of blue water span almost to the horizon. The opposite margin was filled with tall trees and a couple of mountains, one a bit taller than the other. A huge statue of a red, yellow, and orange flame was erected on top of the tallest mountain.

In all truth, the view wasn't that special, but after ten years in a dungeon, it felt breathtaking. The prince even used his domain to open a hole in the cargo for Graham to see.

"The Flame of Wisdom," Jorge said. "It's North Lake University's symbol. I didn't tell you before, but my daughter's college is kind of a big deal in the state." He grinned proudly. "She was only in that lame building because they are renovating part of the main campus."

"You were right," Arthur replied. "It's beautiful."

"Beautiful?" the man replied, proud and surprisingly slightly offended. "Ha! It's the tenth wonder of the world, and I won't let you say otherwise!"

Emily rolled her eyes and turned the LP player on. That was a coarse way of telling her father to shut up, but Jorge felt proud of himself instead. He likely believed he had found a way of making her less depressed.

Arthur hadn't cared to store the LP away, but the man didn't seem to notice anything wrong when it started playing the rock'n'roll music at once.

The prince kept tuning the man's hearing so he wouldn't notice the confidential conversation in his truck.

"Dad isn't stupid," Emily whispered, looking at the lake, which was conveniently to her side of the vehicle. "Not that stupid, at least. He'll know something is wrong if I ask him to stop somewhere first and go to a corner with you." She blushed. "Can you tell your girlfriend I'm sorry?"

Arthur thought Jorge might like such a situation, but he wouldn't humiliate Sophie so. He translated it to her, who told her to reply that she forgave Emily. He translated it to the girl, then pointed out, "But you said you could give an excuse to go inside with me."

"That's different. I know my dad, believe me. Can you... make him sleep when he parks his car?"

"No," Arthur refused at once.

Putting the man to sleep against his will would be an assault. While he had already attacked Emily, she was an awakener. Assaulting an innocent unawakened just because it was convenient was something else altogether. At least, it had been in the past. He wouldn't do that before he understood the League's current rules.

Emily bit her lower lip again. "I... Do you think..." She tried to hold her tears in, but they fell from her eyes anyway. "I think I messed up. My friend Lana gave me the awakening stone. She said... She said she could control the madness. She said there's a ritual, you know? But I don't think there is. I think she's going crazy. I'll go crazy, too, won't I?"

The girl thought process was evidently greatly affected by what she was going through. She didn't even question Arthur's claim about him coming from the past. Likewise, he had said he was confused about many things, but she assumed he would know about mana madness. It was clearly widely known nowadays, but usually, only healers knew about it in the past because it was such a rare occurrence.

"Not if you get to a place with enough mana," Arthur replied.

She kept crying. "I can't get to a damn high-mana region! I'm an illegal awakener!"

"Give me your address," the prince said. "I'll read the League's rules and try to find a way to help you. I might even smuggle you into a high-mana region or a dungeon if it's not too big of an offense."

He carefully used the words "might" and "big." The first was not to make any promises that might be used against him. The latter was to keep things vague. Only he knew what he meant by a big offense.

That wasn't very nice of him, but he wasn't about to tie his fate to a criminal he barely knew. That said, he would help if he could, and it wasn't too illegal. He was even willing to pay a fine if it was within reason. He empathized with a girl who was simply too stupid and made a bad decision. While he understood the probable reasoning behind killing illegal awakeners, he didn't want her to die for it.

Of course, if there was nothing he could do, he would report her at once. Even at level 1, she could do some damage if she suddenly went on a killing spree. He was confident that avoiding such a situation was one of the main reasons to ensure people couldn't freely awaken in low-mana areas.

"You will?" she asked hopefully.

"I'll do what I can," Arthur replied noncommittally. "In exchange, tell me everything you can. Continue explaining magitech and magichemistry. Tell me how the League is."

Emily felt better after his half-baked offer to help her and controlled her tears as she kept talking.

* - * - *

The lake view was a big detour. After spending a few minutes on the road beside the lake, Jorge returned to the city's maze streets.

The League branch was in a region filled with vertical buildings. Arthur had never seen buildings so tall before, except for thin towers. He counted no less than fifty stories in the tallest one.

Most skyscrapers were more aesthetically pleasing than the vertical buildings on the city's outskirts. Black and blue glass, polished steel, wide balconies, curved fronts, plants, and color were everywhere. The marvels of engineering impressed him even more than the lake.

"Here we are," Jorge said as he stopped in front of a thirty-story edifice.

The League's branch was extensive and circular with big blue wall-sized windows. Unlike some buildings, the windows didn't cover everything. Instead, white strips separated each level and each of its vast rooms. It wasn't the most beautiful building around, but it was way above average.

The League symbol was displayed on three sides of the building. They were huge, made of golden metal, and up high, visible from afar. The symbol was an inverted triangle containing a sword, an arrow, and a hammer, one in each corner, all pointing toward the middle.

Arthur had learned that it was both a symbol of union and arrogant power. Humans, elves, and dwarves were represented, but the beast people, who had never fully recovered from almost going extinct when dungeons first appeared, were conspicuously absent. They had refused to help in the Great War that saw the birth of the League of Fated Races, yet were forced to submit to the League's rules.

The building was surrounded by grass and sandstone pathways on all sides. A spacious and almost empty parking lot made the grass area only half as long in front of the building. The path leading from the parking lot to the League's offices went around a fountain with a sculpture showing a human, an elf, and a dwarf with their backs to each other, holding their weapons in battle position against an unknown external threat surrounding them.

Jorge didn't even turn his truck off in a parking spot. He just got there, stopped the truck but kept it running, pulled the lever that opened his cargo's door, and declared they had arrived. He really wanted to leave that place as soon as possible.

"Thank you for the ride, Jorge," Arthur said. "May you ever achieve your fate."

The farewell was archaic even in the prince's time, but he had nothing better to say. He also whispered thanks to Emily, opened the door, and left.

Emily had become tenser the close they got to the League, but she said she couldn't visit them unless she wanted to die. The League had detectors to identify any awakener that went through its doors. She could only wait for news. She had whispered to him her address and residential phone number.

While his people alighted, Arthur whispered a last warning, "I suggest you stay away from Lana. She'll start killing in five days at most, probably later. Although she's holding well for now, her so-called ritual is most likely born from her madness. Maybe she has an enchanted item to deal with the toxins in your body, but I doubt it, or she would've used it herself. Also, surrender to the League if you don't hear from me in two weeks. Awakeners who go mana-mad almost always kill their family first."

She had greatly assisted him by explaining how magitech and magichemistry worked. Therefore, he decided to at least start repaying her with a small piece of advice—especially because he might end up needing to report her. Helpful or not, she was a timed explosive spell waiting to kill those around her.

Emily hadn't gone in-depth about anything because they lacked the time, but what she said was fascinating and helped him understand things better. ICMCs were alchemically created crystals that conducted intent and were rich and mana. The ones in contact with the object being enchanted melted when used, replacing the mana enchanted used to bind the object and magic runes together. It didn't matter who or which machine drew the runes, only that the magitech engineer touching the ICMC understood them enough. The less the engineer understood, the more crystals melted to be used as mana, which was used to determine their expertise and salaries. However, there was a limit to how many crystals could be used, so the crystals weren't exactly the same as having an enchanter.

She had even started talking about the League. She had said it was usually reasonable, but. Then, they arrived.

His warning put the girl in fight-or-flight mode. She hadn't spoken more about Lana because, deep down, she still suspected that Arthur was a League agent. His words made it obvious that he knew more than he had previously revealed, and she expected something terrible to happen.

The prince just walked to the back of the truck with Sophie and Tamara. Emily would calm down in due time.

The four people from the past took a few moments to put their weapons back where they belonged, including taking enchanted ones from their spatial storage. Arthur might need to fight, and the enchanted sword might be needed.

At last, he closed the cargo door and yelled, "We're good. Thank you again, Jorge!"

"You're welcome, lad!" the driver replied. "Don't believe their lies!"

He didn't wait even one second before hitting the gas and getting out of there.

The prince saw Emily's pale face from the rear mirror as the truck moved away.

* - * - *

Arthur and the others stared at the League's office for a few minutes. They said nothing, each lost in their own thoughts, feeling the moment's weight. He and Sophie held their hands together.

Eventually, he sighed, said, "Let's go," and started walking to the building.

He moved slowly while quickly sharing everything Emily had said with the others. He had to put Mr. Mustache to sleep because he wanted to go hunt, but now wasn't the time. Sophie was anxious, tightly clenching Arthur's hand, and the cat's presence helped calm her down. While animals weren't toys, they also didn't comprehend the circumstances. The prince would apologize later by feeding it some snacks and giving him freedom if he wanted it.

Graham and Tamara walked a few feet behind Arthur. Graham, the strongest fighter, stood to his right. Tamara kept to Sophie's left because she was to Arthur's left.

No one was relaxed, but they went past the fountain without showing weakness, walking the deserted pathway purposefully.

In Arthur's time, League rules weren't retroactive. The four people had awoken without obeying the current rules before they existed, so he hadn't broken any law. However, it might be possible for the rules to have become retroactive now.

So, the worst-case scenario wasn't dealing with greedy awakeners, as he had initially feared, but the four having to fight their way out of the nation and live undercover for the rest of their lives.

When they approached, the wide double glass doors opened by themselves, leading into a wide hall with a polished brown floor, in which the League's symbol was engraved in golden low relief. A half-circle marble and granite counter stood before the tall wall that divided the first floor. The wall had three wide wooden closed doors on the wall, one behind the counter and the others to each side of it.  A clerk manned the counter.

Arthur could feel a lot of life and metal in his domains, both on this floor and above and below. Enchanted items were everywhere, especially on the counter's desk, which was hidden from view—though he could see it with his Mana Sight. He was sure a few enchanted items on the ceiling should be the detectors Emily had mentioned. They had already identified the four as awakeners.

There was also death in twelve automated turrets in the ceiling. They were hidden, retracted into imbued metal boxes with closed lids.

Of every enchanted item in the room, Arthur liked the temperature regulator the most. It was a one-inch metal cube placed every dozen yards on the floor close to the walls. It changed the air temperature around it and softly blew it to its surroundings. Each regulator had an engraved number on its sides to reveal its targeted temperature and could be easily replaced if needed. Amusingly, while the regulators close to the walls made the air uncomfortably cold for an inappropriately dressed unawakened, a cube under the counter heated the air instead, thus making the clerk comfortable.

That cube was almost a requirement to avoid health complications because the unawakened clerk wore a simple silver uniform that, while having long sleeves, was too thin to protect him from the cold. His left chest showed the League's symbol in gold, and his right had a silver rectangular name tag.

Stan Sparks was in his mid-twenties. He had short brown hair and eyes of the same color. A tiny cut on his cheek revealed he had messed up while shaving that morning, but it was his lungs that were truly suffering. The man was a smoker, which was terribly stupid of an unawakened. He sat on one of the three chairs behind the counter, reading a book, completely distracted.

Arthur and Graham's fighting styles weren't focused on sneak attacks, but they instinctively made the least noise possible while moving. It was just good sense not to attract enemy attention if you didn't need to. However, when they were halfway into the hall, the prince decided to make some noise to catch the clerk's attention.

His footsteps echoed in the room.

Arthur's master plan worked. Stan looked at Arthur and the others and was surprised to find people that close. He quickly placed a bookmark on his book, closed it, and set it aside. He stood up while putting a smile on his face.

While standing up, he looked at a small spherical device on his desk. He widened his eyes in surprise, and his half-formed smile turned into an open mouth. Then, his surprise was replaced with fear, and blood left his face as he snapped his jaws shut and looked at the approaching people.

The device obviously showed the four were awakeners, and by the man's fear, it should also reveal they weren't weak level 1s, or he would feel safer with the turrets on the ceiling.

"H- Hello," Stan stammered. "Welcome to the League of Fated Races." He gulped. "I see you're already esteemed members. C- Can I see your LID, if it pleases you?" He tried to smile at the end but was so afraid that he failed.

Emily had told Arthur that the LID was the League ID, an identification document issued to legal awakeners. Which, of course, he didn't have.

Usually, Tamara would talk to the unawakened for Arthur. However, this was the League. Although Stan was unawakened, he represented an organization with a lot of power over awakeners. The prince was responsible for leading his people in this place, including speaking for them.

Arthur smiled politely and pretended not to understand the guy's language. It might let him hear something they didn't want him to. Instead, he smiled politely and asked in League dialect, "I want Tome of Laws."

He always felt like he was missing words when he spoke the dialect. Which he was. But it focused on simplicity and all that.

Strangely, at those words, Stan was first confused, then hopeful. "Sorry, sir," he replied in terrible League dialect. "Procedures clear. You show League Identification."

In Arthur's time, anyone could ask for a copy of the League's rules before giving in to any of the League's demands. The exceptions were if they were wanted for something or had been witnessed doing something illegal by a League's representative. It seemed that rule was no longer in effect.

He tried another thing, then. "Last time I read Tome of Laws, only awakener can demand anything from awakener." Then again, no unawakened worked for the League in the past.

Stan's fear decreased as his hope increased. "I afraid rules changed, sir." He spoke much calmer now. "I not supposed appease someone not show League Identification, but I tell you I give you Tome of Laws after you show League Identification."

The prince smiled apologetically. "I not in this world when rules created. League Identification not exist in my time. I make League Identification now."

Stan exhaled in relief and said, "Thank Maloth," he whispered in the modern language, then swapped to League dialect, "You no worry, sir. Procedures reintegrate awakeners from past."

The four people were relieved by those words. Such procedures had existed in the past, but Arthur had feared they were also gone. The non-retroactivity rule likely had also remained. They shouldn't be breaking any laws by being awakeners.

"But I warn you," Stan continued. "Lie about past is more bad than no-permit awakening. You want I start procedures now? Or you want change statement?"

Arthur raised an eyebrow at that. "Lie about past is more bad than death?"

He really hated that the League dialect had no direct translation for "worse."

"What death?" Stan asked, surprised.

"No-permit awakening punished with death," Arthur explained.

"That is lie," Stan replied, sounding offended. "Where you hear stupid lie?"

"I answer after I have Tome of Laws," the prince replied. He wouldn't implicate Emily yet.

Strangely, while Emily and Stan had said opposite things, the prince hadn't detected any lies. They believed they were telling the truth. Obviously, though, one of them had been misinformed.

The League had a strong incentive to mislead Stan. That way, the clerk could lead unsuspecting criminals to their death while believing nothing would happen to them. Even someone well-trained like Arthur wouldn't be able to garner the truth from a clerk that didn't know said truth.

Also, Emily was unlikely to be mistaken because she was in college—considered higher education—had 50 points of wisdom, and had proven to be very informed about magitech and magichemistry. The only things that would explain her blunder would be her father influencing her more than expected or someone messing with her memories. It might be Lana, using an enchanted item, or a hidden awakener.

Arthur had no experience with memory alteration. Although the books he had read and Tamara had taught him the spells to affect memories, he had never dabbled. He wouldn't use it on his people, it was too risky, and experimenting on monsters was illegal without League supervision. Thus, he couldn't detect altered memories only with his life domain. He also hadn't used any spells to detect memory issues.

He didn't consider that a mistake on his part. Touching someone's memories was much worse than making their brain immune to excess hormones. In the past, the League used to punish people heavily for it. He wouldn't do that except in extreme circumstances.

Tamara might have been able to detect it just by prehending the girl due to her battle-maid skillset, which included acquiring information from unwilling people. Unfortunately, he asked her about it, and she said she hadn't prehended Emily.

Arthur told Stan, "Start procedures. We all from distant past."

The prince and his people were ready to fight. Like him, they knew either Emily or Stan was lying. That was especially true after he asked Tamara about prehending Emily.

Yet, while accepting the procedures might mean heading into battle, Arthur had to know the truth, and this was the fastest way to figure things out. It was also the most reliable way in a world where newspapers lied to the readers. Either he would get attacked or not. There was no misunderstanding something like that.

Well, he was also going forth with it because he couldn't see any awakener there, not even through the walls and ceiling. He felt relatively confident he and the others could escape a bunch of unawakened. He might change his idea if he saw an awakener approaching.

"Yes, sir," Stan said. He pushed an enchanted button on his table, then grabbed four forms from a distant drawer at the desk's bottom. He put them on the counter with four pens. "You fill papers. We wait colleague bring anchor analyzer. It check you from past."

Graham had never told Arthur about an anchor analyzer. It should be a new addition. It was very convenient, too.

The forms were in League dialect, and the four people started filling them. They were simple, asking for their name, bloodlines, birthdate, place of birth, last place of residence, last employer, family members, date of departure from the world, return date—he wrote "yesterday night"—and signature. It also warned that the awakener would have to reveal their Identity window to two employees to confirm the name and bloodlines were correct. Lying would prevent them from getting a LID.

They quickly filled everything. He and Sophie were disheartened when they wrote their father and mother's names, but it wasn't terrible. The prince waited for Graham and Tamara to sign their forms to get inspiration from them. He had never signed anything before.

Arthur noticed Tamara was using her false identity instead of her elven one. She had the skill to change the information on her Identity window. While the League should have anti-spy devices to counter that, he understood her intention. She wanted to test whether they had such a device. It would give her and the others a little information about this branch's capabilities.

He didn't think it was worth risking not getting a LID for so little data, but ordering her to change her inputs would reveal she had already lied, so he kept quiet and waited.

"Wow," Stan said in the local language, then changed to the League dialect. "You write fast. Now we wait. Colleague arrive soon." He took the forms and read them. He was shocked. "Year five hundred seventy-nine?! It long time ago!"

"Yes," Arthur confirmed with a nod.

He was surprised the form didn't ask the dungeon they had come out of. It didn't matter, though. He would report the level 95 dungeon as soon as these procedures were over—regardless of whether he had to fight his way out or not.

A few minutes later, a woman in her late twenties with short blond hair and blue eyes came from the door to the right of the counter. She wore the same uniform as Stan—she felt cold at once—and carried an enchanted metal black briefcase. Alexia Neal was displayed on her name tag.

Alexia was all business. She nodded to Stan and put the briefcase on the countertop. She silently opened it, revealing a padded interior with an enchanted silver vambrace. The vambrace's top part had ten embedded small yellow gemstones.

Alexia held the piece of armor with one hand and extended the other to Graham, who was closest to her. "Please, remove your gloves, uncover your arm, and give it to me, sir," she said in the local language.

Graham looked at Arthur, who looked at Stan, feigning confusion. "What she say?"

Stan smiled apologetically and turned to Alexia. "They say they stayed in a dungeon for over a thousand years," he told her in their native language. "They don't speak Allon."

Allon! Arthur finally learned the local language's name!

Alexia nodded and this time spoke League dialect. "Sir, clear hand and arm. Give arm." She spoke the dialect even worse than Stan.

Graham was still looking at Arthur, asking for permission to comply. Arthur shrugged only with his right shoulder while nodding. It meant he didn't consider it his place to tell the knight whether to do it, but he suggested he did.

Indeed, theoretically, the League's authority was above Arthur's and every other awakener. By asking the prince for permission, Graham was saying he would fight the League for his lord if it came to it. Arthur appreciated the gesture.

The grand knight took his right hand's glove off, then loosened the many enchanted leather bands that looked like small belts, which kept his leather-armored sleeves tightly in place. Doing so revealed that the leather armor was made of multiple thick, wide, and long leather strips magically glued to the enchanted cloth underneath. The cloth sleeve was very wide, and he easily pulled it to his shoulder, revealing his arm's impressive muscles.

Arthur had improved in that department, but Graham's body was still a work of art compared to his. He had to admit he was a bit jealous.

The old man's body surprised the clerks. The way Graham wore his armor might lead one to believe he was fat instead of packed with muscles. Well, at least it might confuse an unawakened with little experience dealing with awakeners. Anyone else who looked at an awakener would think of muscles first.

The vambrace was a two-piece enchanted item that didn't fully enclose Graham's arm. "No worry, no problem," Alexia said with an apologetic smile and just held it there.

A few moments later, all ten yellow gemstones shone brightly. "One thousand years or more," she said in Allon.

"One thousand years or more," Stan confirmed, then spoke in League dialect. "Show Identity window."

Graham complied.

「 Identity

Name: William Graham

Bloodline: 100% Human 」

Stan nodded, took an enchanted stamp from his desk, stamped Graham's form, signed it with an enchanted pen—unlike the pens the four had used—and gave it to Alexia, who also signed it.

The other three awakeners went through the same procedure. Tamara wasn't exposed to any anti-spy enchantment. They stamped her form none the wiser.

Sophie's Identity window caused a small commotion. Both clerks' eyes became borderline hostile when she revealed she was 25% vampire. Indeed, there was prejudice against half-monsters in this place.

Lucky them, they wisely said nothing about her bloodline and moved on with the procedures.

"Sirs and madams," Alexia said. "I first welcome you year 1,756. Stan continue procedures now." She nodded to them, who thanked her, then stored the vambrace in the briefcase, closed it, and waited with her hands behind her back.

"How it work?" Arthur asked, nodding at the vambrace.

It was called an anchor analyzer, so he could infer it analyzed his anchor to the world. He had never heard of an item that could do something like that.

"You learn after procedures," Alexia replied. "Tome of Laws explain."

Stan had already been writing something on the hidden desk. Then, he went to a drawer and took four thick hardcover books from it. Like the vambrace, the cover was silver. The golden symbol of the League occupied most of the cover. "Tome of Laws" was written in black in League dialect beneath the symbol.

The clerk placed a tome in front of each awakener and a small enchanted metal card on top of each. The card had round corners and looked nice. As with everything else in the League, it was silver, had the League's symbol in golden, and some things were written in black.

The symbol occupied the entirety of the backside. On the front, it rested in the top-right corner. The front side also had the same serial number as the forms, a rectangular field, a long line on the bottom, and a large square in the top-left corner.

Stan had written their name in the rectangle with unexpected beautiful handwriting. He had used the enchanted pen, which he now offered to each person.

"Please, sign here..." He pointed at the long line.

Arthur very faintly felt the pen scanning his body when he held it but couldn't tell what it did. He suspected that whatever it found was added to the ink that went into his signature.

"Two things left," Stan said, offering them an enchanted curved cone, like a needle that grew much thicker at the base. "Puncture finger. Not thumb. Smear blood one thumb. Press bloodied thumb here." He pointed at the square.

Graham went first, as was his job when dealing with unknown enchanted items. It easily drew blood despite Graham's strength stat, evidencing it was enchanted to pierce an awakener's skin.

The blood and the signature on the card shone when Graham removed his thumb, and the black ink turned bronze. The card's enchantments ensured his bloodied fingerprint was perfectly printed, and there was no excess blood anywhere.

Stan took another card from the desk. It was similar to the one Graham had pressed his thumb at, also filled with the grand knight's name, but it was golden instead of silver and had another square instead of the League's symbol on the top-right. He put the golden card on top of the silver one, their front facets touching. The cards immediately shone, and he took the golden card away.

Graham's bloodied fingerprint had changed cards, now resting on the golden one's top-right square. Only a faint light gray fingerprint remained on the original silver card. Also, Graham's signature had been copied to the golden one. The enchantments ensured both fingerprint and signature weren't reversed.

Stan wasn't done. He grabbed a big photography camera from another drawer. It wasn't the first time Arthur saw one, as some people in the restaurant had cameras, and some individuals took pictures on the streets. However, this one was larger, made of heavily enchanted metal, and had two long narrow slots on the side instead of a compartment to place film. It was black like the cameras Arthur had seen, and instead of a model number, the League's symbol was beside the lens.

The clerk pushed each of Graham's cards into one slot, pointed the lens at Graham, and looked through the visor.

"Look middle of glass," Stan said. The knight complied. "Stand straight. Tilt left. Tilt right, only a little. Good." He pressed the button on top, and the card slots shone.

When the clerk removed the cards from the camera, they had Graham's picture. The photo was on top of the grand knight's faint fingerprint on the silver card and the free square on the golden card.

At long last, Stan used another enchanted stamp on Graham's form, and he and Alexia signed it again.

Stan smiled at the grand knight. "Here your League Identification, sir." He passed it to Graham. "Read Tome of Laws." He patted the thick book. "I supposed use mana scan, but it broke. We take your word. You say you in low-mana region for one day. You have fourteen days go high-mana region. Enjoy your stay."

"Thank you," Graham replied. "Can you share quick tips and important things?"

The clerk opened the book and turned a few pages. "In beginning of Tome of Laws, sir. Take special note of clothing and enchanted items." The page he showed explained many things in topics and even had pictures.

"Thank you," Graham repeated.

Tamara was next, then Sophie, and finally Arthur. Alexia felt cold and crossed her arms. After the prince got his card, she quickly left with the briefcase.

"Welcome year 1,756, sirs and madams," Stan said with a wide smile.

And just like that, they had gotten an ID. They didn't even need to pay for the cards. It was incredibly convenient.

Still, the prince didn't fully disregard Jorge's warnings. The man had said stupid things, but he might have a point. Maybe the League did only care about awakeners and made things hard for everyone else.

The clerk continued, "You now legal awakener. You can enter guest area." He gestured to the door on the other side of the desk, not the one Alexia had come from.

"Can we leave?" Arthur asked.

"Of course, sir."

Arthur was just asking. This place was safe enough. He wasn't so sure about the outside or further into the building, as a hit team might be waiting for him.

So, he opened his tome and started reading. His Knowledge is Power trait was at 2-1, allowing him to memorize anything after looking at it for 0.9 seconds. The prince kept memorizing a page every second while reading the contents in his mind. He closed the six-hundred-page book after ten minutes and continued focusing inwards. Another two minutes later, his high wisdom stat let him be done with fully comprehending the tome's contents.

Stan had just stayed there, looking at them with a forced smile. He wanted to go back to reading his own book but couldn't while the awakeners were there.

Arthur now knew he was safe. The League had become much more relaxed with many of its rules. Unfortunately, it allowed people to badmouth it, but conversely, it made his registration much more convenient.

In fact, as Stan had said, there would be no killing if Emily and Lana were found before going mad and didn't resist capture. Of course, Arthur wouldn't fully trust a team of armed unawakened. Maybe Stan and Emily were both speaking the truth, but theory and reality clashed. So he would capture and bring the girls himself—the League rules compelled him to at least report them.

Emily and Lana would be kept in voidsteel handcuffs and be taken to a high-mana region. Once there, they would also receive basic training and be forced to serve the league for five years. They would also be heavily fined, but they could take as debt if they didn't have enough money.

Arthur didn't intend to investigate a possible mastermind messing with memories and distributing awakening stones, though. He would leave that to the League.

He had more important matters to deal with.

"I need to report a Class 7 event," Arthur told Stan in Allon. There was no reason to hide that he could speak the language anymore.

The clerk took a few instants to register the words. He paled when he got it but didn't grow as afraid as when he thought Shen might be a maddened awakener.

"The Institute?" Stan asked.

The helpful first section of the Tome of Laws was one hundred pages long and explained many things, including what the United Research Institute was. It also talked about the dungeon the League thought was tightly controlled by the Institute. A dungeon that they believed to be connected to the world's mana lowering over time.

The level 95 dungeon Arthur had come out of.

A Class 7 event was one of the worst possible and involved that dungeon overflowing. It only lost to world-ending Class 8 events, and only because some people might survive if the dungeon overflowed. Class 8 events were guaranteed to kill everyone.

"Yes," Arthur replied with a heavy nod. "The Institute."

[A/N: Just a reminder, so you don't think I forgot it: I still owe you one delayed chapter. I'll release it on Monday.]

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