His Majesty the King Guards the Nation's Gates

"My lord, we are a caravan from the Luowei Merchant Guild, traveling from the Imperial capital to Valuana. Here are our permits for your inspection."

The fully armored knight accepted the stack of small papers and examined them carefully. Once he was done, he scrutinized the dwarf and Half-elf. "What rank of adventurers are you?"

"Silver."

"This great one is Gold-ranked!"

The knight nodded, took out something, and stamped the dwarf's and Half-elf's documents. "You two may not remain in the Holy Kingdom. Leave within three days of completing your commission. The caravan must register and pay taxes at the Central Harbor District before entering Valuana."

"Thank you for your guidance, my lord!" Mr. Arle placed his left hand over his heart and bowed. The knight nodded in response, then rode away.

"Central Harbor District? Isn't our destination inland?" the dwarf asked curiously. Rorschach was somewhat curious as well.

Arle kept Sing in suspense. "We'll arrive today. You'll understand once you see it."

As dusk approached, the road grew broader, while small villages and other buildings became denser. More and more caravans traveled alongside them or passed in the opposite direction. Then, the sky suddenly darkened—not because the sun had fully set, but because an enormous cigar-shaped flying vessel had blocked the light. It slowed steadily in the air, descending sluggishly from the clouds as magical formations gleamed across its hull.

The first time anyone saw an airship from directly below at such close range, worry and fear inevitably rose in their heart—what if it lost control and crashed down? Yet the giant in the sky disdained to answer such concerns. Its dwarven engines roared as they drove it onward, returning a patch of sky to the caravan.

"It's huge! Our engines! How did humans ever think of using them to make balloons fly?"

"Then do you use them for carts and ships?"

"They can pull mining carts, pump water out of mine tunnels, and power pumps to supply a city's beer taps."

Right, right. So that was how they drank it!

The airship in the sky and the caravan shared the same destination. On the horizon stood a cluster of High Towers that soared into the heavens, supporting broad platforms like an enormous plant. Airships of every size docked along the edges of its "leaves." Besides airships, even great birds carrying knights flew in and out among them.

"The Central Harbor District is actually the largest airship docking station. Airships aren't allowed to fly over the royal capital. Reaching here means Valuana is close. The buildings ahead are called the 'Sky Tree.'"

The Central Harbor District was Valuana's gateway, and Valuana was, in truth, the Holy Kingdom's gateway.

The Valuana Ducal Family had once been the royal family. Within the lands directly ruled by the crown, they possessed solid clusters of fortresses. In the distant years of war, the royal capital had been the bridgehead resisting the Empire, continuously gathering the strength of the entire southern continent's world of the God of Order.

His Majesty the King guarded the nation's gates. In the days when relations between the Holy Kingdom and the Empire were tense and the Holy Kingdom was at a disadvantage, that had been tremendously encouraging. As long as they committed no grave errors, kings of every generation would be posthumously canonized as saints by the Order Church.

But now, long peace had turned the royal capital into a place of drunken luxury. After hearing Mr. Arle's introduction, Rorschach gained a new understanding of the majestic construction:

The Holy Kingdom's slender neck. Its carotid artery.

After arriving at the harbor district, at the roots of the Sky Tree, Mr. Arle once again handled the formalities while everyone else settled into an inn in the harbor district. This time, no one suggested going out for a stroll. They either stood watch dutifully or remained in their rooms.

Rorschach locked his door, removed his outer robe, and took off his leather armor.

He studied it carefully beneath the lamp for a while. There was no hidden lining, no concealed pattern, and nothing visibly wrong with it.

Magic Detection had no effect. At the very least, it was not a magical item and had no charged Magic Circuit.

Rorschach cautiously heated it over the gas lamp for a while longer. Other than the fragrance of maintenance oil and wax drifting out, nothing changed.

"Is it really just ordinary leather goods?"

The Merchant Guild's leather armor all shared the same style, including the one given to Rorschach. That gave him an opening, allowing the agency's operative to switch one out for him.

But it would have to be switched back later. Rorschach had noticed a numerical serial number beneath the Merchant Guild's emblem on the leather armor. It might be discovered during inventory upon delivery.

Speaking of operatives, Rorschach coughed. "If you don't come out now, I happen to have learned a new spell to test on you."

After a rustling sound, a man in black crawled out from beneath the bed. Rorschach could not tell whether it was Brother Owl or Brother Falcon. "Brother Rorschach, how did you find me? I didn't bring any magical items today."

"Heh. Get out, get out. Give me some privacy." Rorschach had only been bluffing, but it had actually worked.

"Sure thing, brother. Good night, good night!" With that, the man in black flipped and leaped through the window, vanishing from sight.

Rorschach poked his head out to look. "He just jumped from the sixth floor like that. Agency operatives really are impressive."

The new spell was the first-tier spell Unuk had gifted him, Ice Ray. Rorschach had already learned it on the road, and the panel displayed:

Ice Ray (Blue)

Energy Deprivation (Blue) Ray (Blue)

Rorschach had obtained two very interesting traits.

Ray allowed his elemental attacks to become more concentrated and more sustained. Combined with "Mana Condensation (Purple)" and "Elemental Conversion (Purple)," it had given Rorschach his high-pressure water cannon and Pseudo–Red Dragon Breath.

Meanwhile, "Energy Deprivation" involved the microscopic thermodynamic essence of freezing: depriving matter of heat, or rather, the kinetic energy of molecular thermal motion.

Could I cultivate some kind of energy-sucking technique? That had been Rorschach's initial excited thought, but after trying it, he discovered that it could not deprive magical power, at least not at its current Blue proficiency.

Would there be new changes after it rose to Purple? It only said "deprivation," so where did the deprived energy go? Those were the two questions Rorschach wanted to figure out.

No one had conducted relevant research before, at least not that Rorschach had seen. He was not even sure whether this magical world obeyed the law of Conservation of Energy.

He could figure it out later. At least he could drink cold beverages anytime, anywhere. Rorschach picked up the light beer by his bed. Frost Touch, an Elemental Spell with only the "Energy Deprivation" trait, activated, and the beer was instantly chilled.

Magic could create a better life too.

Rorschach, who insisted that soda and beer had to be drunk cold even in the depths of winter, took a satisfied sip.

Wait, he seemed to have fallen into a blind spot just now. Rorschach turned his gaze toward the leather armor again.

In his previous world, using temperature changes to hide and reveal information had been a common encryption method.

He had just tried heating it. Back when technology in his previous life was underdeveloped, heat sources had been easier to obtain than cold, so thermochromic hidden text was often revealed through heating.

But this was a world with magic.

Rorschach had been clinging to the habitual mindset of his previous life and had only tried heating it. What about cooling it down?

Facing the leather armor, Frost Touch activated again. Rorschach continuously poured in magical power. In an instant, the area before his palm reached freezing, then continued dropping. His magic-infused hand felt no cold, but droplets of water continually condensed on his palm and the leather armor.

Rorschach's expression sharpened, and he withdrew Frost Touch.

There it was. Dark-gold patterns emerged within the palm-shaped area.