Proposal

After completing a series of follow-up arrangements, Heti left Gawain's room with the documents. For a while, only the faint hum of the ventilation system remained in the vast study. It was not until an incongruous breeze blew in from behind him that Gawain slightly turned his head. "You're late again."

"I was already here," Amber's figure emerged near the window. As she walked toward the desk, she casually said, "But you and Heti were talking about all that headache-inducing stuff. The moment I heard it, my head started hurting, so I rested outside the window for a bit..."

Gawain glanced at her. "How did the investigation I assigned you go?"

"Just as you expected, there were Typhon spies among the laborers and craftsmen recruited near the White Sand Hills." Amber's expression grew slightly serious. "Their infiltration had lasted far longer than we imagined. One carpenter had even lived in the eastern region for twenty years. He fled famine alongside eastern refugees, built cities for lords, and even enlisted and fought in wars. No one would have believed that someone who had lived there for twenty years was a Typhonian—until my people caught him secretly using recording magic to gather intelligence on mining machinery."

"...Maryland mentioned it in his report. The Typhonians are not entirely ignorant of our magitech equipment. Aside from possessing basic knowledge, their aerial scouts can even identify the flash produced when a Magic Cannon fires from a great distance... That is something they could only do after observing recorded footage," Gawain said. "Ansu and Typhon had faced each other for decades. Mutual espionage had long become commonplace. During the half year when the eastern region was out of control, those spies must have taken the opportunity to send out a great deal of intelligence."

"Nothing we