"A fifth-tier Magic Forger personally handling the royal palace grand array—an event not seen in three hundred years." Her emerald eyes shone frighteningly bright. "I, Talia, have lived for three hundred and twenty-six years. If I miss this, I won't rest in peace even after I die."
Su Li leaned against the doorframe and thought for two seconds. "You can go, but there are rules."
"What rules?"
"When we reach the Royal Capital, you follow my arrangements. You are not to run into the grand array and start touching things at random."
"Agreed." Talia answered at once.
Su Li stepped aside. "Then come in. You made it just in time for lunch."
When Talia entered, bowls and chopsticks had already been laid out on the stone table.
Saina came out of the kitchen carrying a basin of freshly cooked meat soup. Seeing Talia, she nodded toward an empty seat at the corner of the table.
"Sit there. Get yourself a bowl."
Talia carried her toolbox over and obediently sat down.
On the evening of the sixth day, a carriage stopped at the entrance to Ginkgo Alley.
Its body was an understated dark gray, without the mark of any merchant guild.
But Su Li knew at a glance that Barlow had sent it—the kind of precise metal rivets unique to goblins were not something ordinary people used.
The carriage interior was lined with thick leather cushions. Temperature-regulating crystals were set into all four corners, hidden compartments lay beneath the seats, and the shock-absorbing circuit on the roof was visibly intricate.
Saina walked around the carriage once and patted its side panel. "Sturdy."
Elena opened a hidden compartment to check its capacity, then nodded.
Elonore tested the softness of the seat and quietly said, "So comfortable."
Su Li walked to the