Delaying Again

Within White Flower City, Fran made a point of returning to her residence these past few days.

The servants came up anxiously and knocked gently on the door, reminding Fran that someone was looking for her outside.

Fran knew without a doubt who would come looking for her at this time; it would be no one but Lucy.

Fran returned to White Flower City to reassure Lucy, even though Lucy would eventually discover that the reassurance was false.

Fran went down to the lobby and got straight to the point the moment she met Lucy.

"I'm sorry, my experiment will take some more time. Could you give me another two weeks?"

Lucy's expression was quite interesting. She had somewhat guessed that things might develop this way when she arrived, but when it actually happened, she was at a loss.

She's about to be doing a life-threatening job; if she doesn't do it right, she could spend the rest of her life in prison.

Of course, it's also possible that she simply couldn't do the job anymore and returned the payment to the mage of the Ocean Society.

"I remember we agreed to finish yesterday."

Lucy spoke with a hint of resentment. At this moment, she had to show some toughness; otherwise, if she kept backing down, she would never be able to finish this task in her lifetime.

"As you know, experiments don't always go smoothly. If you could give me a deadline and I could produce results by then, I would have won the All-Forms Mage Award long ago."

"So could you give me another two weeks?"

Fran simply lowered her head slightly, not showing any weakness, which made Lucy feel very difficult to deal with.

She probably knew before the plan was finalized that it was far too complicated, and while it would allow her to completely extricate herself from the situation, the side effects would be quite obvious.

It's too dependent on luck to implement; like now, all sorts of unexpected situations keep arising.

Moreover, she had heard that something seemed to have happened at Horn Pass, which gave her some vague suspicions.

If something happened, it's most likely that the Marquis Crawford got into trouble. Given all the things he's done, the Duke Theodore isn't stupid; the Marquis is probably already dealt with.

However, this did not pose a decisive obstacle to Lucy's plan, because she could still leak some information to the past to help the Kingdom of Lorinvik continue its offensive.

However, without the Marquis Crawford's help, this effect would likely be much weaker.

This was an unexpected situation for Lucy, but she could accept it. However, she could not accept Fran continuing to delay.

She didn't know the specifics of Fran's experiment, nor had she personally witnessed how far Fran's experiment had progressed.

This is because every mage's experiment is a closely guarded secret, and she also adhered to this principle, believing that it was inappropriate for her to peek at Fran's experiment.

So even though Fran purchased large quantities of supplies each time, she didn't secretly follow this line to check on Fran's experiments.

She didn't know how far Fran's experiment had progressed, nor did she know if Fran really planned to end the experiment in half a month.

All of this made her almost completely distrustful of what Fran said; she couldn't believe it was true.

"This is the last time. If the experiment isn't finished in two weeks, I won't be coming back..."

Lucy agreed to Fran's request and postponed the date by another half month.

She had no choice; after all, Fran's fighting strength was higher than hers, and if they really broke off relations here, she would be the one to suffer.

And whatever her plans might be, she had to grant Fran's request now, just as Fran had done to make her indecisive.

As Lucy walked out of Fran's house, she was already planning how to complete the request without Fran's knowledge.

"First, we need to get Count Ian ready, and we also need to check the restraint devices on the Earth Spirit's side."

"As for Lai..."

Lucy hadn't thought of a good way to handle this, but she knew it was a necessary step, otherwise ' Lai's' testimony alone would cause her a lot of trouble.

"We can contact the Ocean Society again. Although they require us to remain discreet and not to contact us unless absolutely necessary, this is a crucial moment."

"We need to get involved with the Alliance too... Wait, I seem to remember that Lai didn't register in Grey Soil Province, this is making things a bit tricky..."

Lucy actually wanted to falsify the records, but she suddenly realized that this Lai seemed to be from the Northern Territory and had no registration with the Alliance at all, which meant that no matter how she changed it, it would be useless.

"Then we can only pin our hopes on the Ocean Society and see what kind of help that employer can offer me..."

Lucy bit her finger and sighed.

"This money really wasn't easy to earn..."

"Lord Lucy, the Mage"

A familiar voice called out to Lucy, making Lucy look up.

It was Count Ian. His anxiety was palpable. Maeve wasn't with him at the moment, and when Lucy turned around, he got straight to the point.

"I apologize to Mage Lucy for bothering you... But regarding the Territory Destroyer operation we agreed on last time, have you finished dealing with the matters on the Alliance's side?"

After their last conversation, Count Ian, besides waiting, also contacted the Alliance.

Of course, he didn't directly point out Lucy's violation of the rules, otherwise the Territory Destroyer shouldn't have been in their hands.

His idea was to preserve evidence so that if Lucy tried to pin anything on them, they could record it truthfully and report it.

To this end, he specifically obtained the contact information of the Alliance Investigator and even chose a second-tier Investigator.

But now he's ready, while Lucy isn't.

No matter how much he prepares, even if he can pin the blame on Lucy when the Alliance investigates, Lucy still won't teach him how to operate the Territory Destroyer.

He had no chance to refuse, and another matter that followed made him even more restless.

The Marquis Crawford has defected.

After the enemy murdered five knights, they were discovered, but before any necessary measures could be taken, the enemy escaped.

Even so, the Marquis Crawford was still one of the commanders of Horn Pass, and the responsibilities he held were extremely important.

Moreover, a total of five knights died at the hands of the Marquis Crawford, which is definitely not a small number.

In the end, he actually managed to escape, which was a significant blow to the entire Horn Pass.

Furthermore, the command gap left by the Marquis Crawford's defection is not so easy to fill...

When these messages reached Count Ian's ears via express mail, he could no longer sit still, just as their agreed-upon deadline had arrived.

Count Ian was still in a hurry, so he didn't let Maeve come along.

"Count Ian, I'm so sorry, I still need a little more time... But rest assured, this time I guarantee that the Territory Destroyer you need will be in place within half a month."

Lucy explained to Count Ian with a stern face.

She hadn't expected that, instead of being delayed by the mage Lai, she would now be the one delaying Count Ian.

Count Ian's feelings were just as complex as Lucy's back then. This was a damn life-threatening situation, and you're dragging it out like this...

He suppressed his anger and said, word by word:

"Master Lucy, it's not that I'm in a hurry, but the current situation is that we need that thing in place. I hope you can understand..."

Lucy also wanted that thing in place; she even thought that if it could be activated earlier last month, Count Ian would probably be completely unprepared and have no choice but to take the blame.

But Lucy also knew that such a long delay must be related to the sudden arrival of the mage, Lai. Count Ian certainly wouldn't have just stayed inside the house waiting for so long.

Perhaps the other side has already prepared a countermeasure against her.

However, Lucy was not flustered. She was the person in charge of the Transmutation School in the Grey Soil Province, and that identity alone was enough for her to make many arrangements in this place.

"As you know, the Alliance has very strict controls over these kinds of strategic weapons, and I need some time to prepare..."

"However, I promise that I will have the equipment ready in half a month."

"I hope so..."

Within White Flower City, at the lord's castle.

After meeting Lucy, Fran went straight to Finley.

Finley was sitting on a raised chair on the steps, deeply feeling the connection between himself and his territory.

Half a month after he received the Territory Token, he was able to feel the resonance emanating from the territory, allowing him to be very sensitive to the state of the entire territory.

He can detect any intrusion into his territory immediately.

Now, the information coming from his territory made him feel a little strange. He felt that his territory had expanded, that's right, it had expanded, and it was expanding towards the River Valley Territory, which puzzled him greatly.

"Finley."

"Lord Lai, you've come here...for the lord's sake...? I'm almost there now, and I might become a true lord the day after tomorrow."

Finley smiled and then slowly said:

"Finley, do not become a lord anytime soon, for it is not the right time."

"Why?" Finley asked, puzzled.

"Because if you were to become the lord now, that mage Lucy would come here and kill you on the spot..."

"Ah!!"

"So listen to me, hand over this Territory Token to me tomorrow, and wait until the crucial moment to become a lord. Only then will you be safe."

Although he didn't know the reason, Finley agreed after seeing Fran's unwavering expression.