"Sixth day."
Sitting on the stone steps of the Deep Well Elevator, Orion Silver Shield counted the passing hours.
He gazed at the various entrances to the distant mine, each guarded by squads of cavalry.
The night was quiet around him. Only the "gurgling" breaths of the wyvern beside him mingled with the "crackle" of the torch, sounds that seemed especially clear in the dead of night.
He clenched the birthday letter tightly in his palm until he had crushed it into a ball, then tossed it into the brazier and watched it turn to ash.
"I actually wanted to dream."
Remembering the question Tang Qi had asked before leaving, Orion snorted and sighed.
"That's why I chose to believe a Poet."
These foreign spies, court jesters, tavern singers... They were always making up stories that had never existed—
"Father."
A voice suddenly called from beside him.
No one could ever forget the sound of his daughter's voice.
Yet Orion almost instinctively drew his longsword.
The blade reflected the brazier's fierce light, tracing a bright arc through the night.
Like fire, laced with fury, it slashed without hesitation at the throat of the "daughter" beside him.
A milky-white force-field shield sprang up in front of "Wendy," clad in plate armor. With a clear clink, it stopped the blade three inches from her neck.
"Must you be so rude?"
"Don't you fucking talk to me in my daughter's voice."
Orion forced out the words through clenched teeth. The longsword trembled in his hand as he tried to drive it through the shield, intent on at least cutting off her head.
"I thought it might make you a little happier."
"Wendy" raised both hands in surrender.
"After all, watching your daughter die right in front of you can't be much fun."
"She's