Aftermath

The turmoil in Silvermine City rose and died down quickly.

Lux acted swiftly and decisively, leaving almost nothing that could be disputed.

What disappointed Lux somewhat was that, despite the conclusive evidence, Codora was the only one to face direct punishment—hanging was the last shred of dignity he had left.

As for the others...

Lux still wanted to pursue their accomplice liability, but Tiana wouldn't allow it.

"Dealing with Codora is enough," Lux's aunt said. "As for the others... they never actually took up arms against you—and Silvermine City still needs people to govern it."

The Crown Guard family's various branches thanked Lux profusely and chose to pay their way out of trouble. As far as they were concerned, so long as they kept their noble status, everything could still be worked out.

If they lost their noble status, rising again would be all but impossible.

And just like that, the turmoil came to an end.

Kuren was a shrewd man, so Lux didn't need to get too involved in auditing Silvermine City's accounts.

(Once again, special thanks to Mr. Dili for providing evidence and assistance. Lady Tiana once again expressed her great confidence in him.)

Under the circumstances, Lux simply turned her full attention to selecting the disaster patrol knights.

Promoting commoners directly to knighthood was uncommon in Demacia. Even becoming a knight's squire required commoners to provide their own armor and horse and obtain their lord's permission; advancing from squire to knight required risking their lives.

Now Lux was granting the disaster patrol knights the status of knights outright. This was bound to stir up discontent among the nobility.

But in Silvermine City, no matter how unhappy the nobles were, they had no choice but to keep it to themselves.

Anyone who dared say the wrong thing would only prove they weren't sufficiently repentant—and besides, rumor had it that Lux already planned to promote Dili beyond his station. The young lady wasn't biased against her own family or the nobility. You people simply weren't fit to be seen in public!

In any case, using the false disaster report as a pretext, Lux personally conducted interviews over the course of three days and successfully selected four disaster patrol knights.

Throughout the interviews, the extensive agricultural knowledge she displayed won over nearly every farmer brave enough to take part.

You'd never guess this young lady came from the highest ranks of the nobility. She really knew her way around a field!

What those farmers, who admired Lux to the point of utter devotion, clearly didn't know was that Lux herself knew absolutely nothing about farming.

Throughout the entire interview process, Lux played the role of an "emotionless simultaneous translation machine." The agricultural expertise behind the interviews came entirely from Karya's wealth of experience.

It was no exaggeration to say that Karya had personally planned the layouts of more than a third of Shurima's many oases—from windbreaks and sand control to water-saving irrigation. When it came to farming, no one knew more than him.

It was thanks to Karya's wholehearted support that Lux successfully crafted an image as someone deeply connected to the common people.

But unlike when she'd socialized with the nobility, Lux wasn't the least bit impatient this time. She even kept asking Karya about topics that interested her after the interviews were over. Clearly, to Lux, even working in the fields was more comfortable than rigidly observing noble etiquette.

At least when farming, there were no special rules about where to put the tools, and she didn't have to remember exactly how many turns to roll up her pant legs before stepping into a rice paddy.

Adapting to local conditions and sticking to practical realities—what could be better?

Sorting out the accounts and conducting the subsequent trials would take a long time.

After the four knights had been promoted, the Magic Seekers finally set out as well. They would escort Eno back to the Demacian Imperial Capital, where she would be confined in Nullstone Prison.

Before they departed, Lux went to see the frail young girl one last time.

The Magic Seekers hadn't wanted Lux to have any contact with this "dangerous mage." Even though Eno had cooperated the whole time and clearly confessed everything—and hadn't done anything to Lux when she received Codora's orders—she was still a mage.

But Lux insisted. So, before Eno set out, Lux was able to visit her in the temporarily reinforced prison in Silvermine City.

"Miss Luxanna." Eno looked quite surprised to see Lux. "What brings you here? I..."

"I came to see you." Lux waved for the Magic Seeker guards to leave, then leaned against the prison bars. "After all... I've heard a lot about you from your father. He said you were sensible and hardworking, and all that."

"I... I let everyone down." Eno's eyes, which had lit up at first, dimmed at once. "Miss Luxanna, I really didn't mean to help the old—er, help Codora deceive you. He threatened me with my brother."

"Come on, I never said it was your fault." Lux reached her arm through the bars and took Eno's cold hand. "You don't need to worry about them anymore."

"..."

Eno said nothing more. Instead, she quietly brought both hands up and wrapped them around Lux's hand, holding it tightly.

"Just bear with it here for a couple more days," Lux said with a helpless sigh. "Once you get back to Demacia City, the Nullstone Prison there—well, at least the food is much better, and there's more room."

Lux wanted to say something to comfort Eno.

But from where she stood, anything she said would only make her feel unbearably hypocritical.

They were both Magic Corruptors.

But Lux didn't have to let others threaten her, and she had Karya to teach her.

Eno, on the other hand, despite having plenty of talent herself, had become a tool for others to use as soon as they discovered she was a Magic Corruptor.

Perhaps, in Tiana's pleased estimation, Lux's greatest growth on this trip had been her ability to see through situations and take in the bigger picture.

But what mattered more to Lux was that she had seen another world.

A world entirely unlike the one she had lived in for the past twelve years.

Yet as Lux racked her brain for the right words, trying to think of something to say, Eno smiled from inside the prison.

It wasn't like Dili's fake smile. This was happiness and hope, straight from the heart.

"If Miss Luxanna says the food at Nullstone Prison is good, then it must be!"

Hearing that, Lux felt her chest tighten.

At that moment, she wanted so badly to raise her arms and fill the little cell with an endless radiance.

But reason told her it would be meaningless, and would only plunge this young girl, who had barely managed to find a sliver of hope, back into pain and despair.

So she lowered her head slightly as she nodded, bit her lip, and forced herself not to make a sound.

Meanwhile, Eno, who seemed rather worked up, was as if that simple nod had opened the floodgates. Like her father, she chattered on to Lux about all her hopes for the future.

"My brother says there've been a lot of openings for knight's squires lately. He's been training hard, and he's got a good chance of becoming one..."

"This year's harvest has been all right, too. Actually, when I froze the wheat seedlings back then, I didn't damage that much of the field..."

"Father's back is much better, and it seems firewood prices have gone up in the city lately. He's made quite a bit of money chopping wood..."

"Thanks to you, Miss Luxanna, we'll have disaster patrol knights from now on, and we won't have to worry about being unable to pay our taxes when disaster strikes..."

"..."

"..."

It seemed that only in this little prison could Eno return to being a young girl, chattering away with Lux without end.

After managing to steady herself, Lux smiled and listened attentively.

Finally, when the Magic Seeker guards came to hurry her along, Lux left the prison. As Eno reluctantly released her hand, Lux pressed her face against the bars and whispered in a voice only the two of them could hear:

"Just call me Lux—and I'll see you in Demacia City!"