Chapter 608: Operation Receptacle
Amelia held Kael’s gaze for several seconds. She knew that sentence was not merely a joke about the way they intended to use him. Kael had understood the gravity of the situation. Two hundred empty magical vessels could be used for many things, but they would hardly be purchased in such quantity for an ordinary operation. If the organization truly worked through projects, those objects belonged to some specific stage of a plan already underway, and perhaps they had only a few days before the vessels were filled, distributed, or simply removed from that region.
"When we confirm it, you will be the first to know," Amelia said.
Kael continued looking at the point marked on the map.
"That is not what I said."
"I know."
"I said to unleash me."
"And I said you will be informed."
He finally raised his eyes.
Amelia did not back down. Unlike many people, she did not need to raise her voice to confront him. Her authority over Kael came from living alongside him and, above all, from the fact that she almost always had better arguments than he did whenever planning was involved.
"You will only be sent when we know exactly what exists in that region, how many people are involved, which routes can be used to escape, and who needs to be captured," she continued. "If you go in too early, they abandon everything. If you go in too late, the vessels disappear. We need to choose the right moment."
Kael handed back the map.
"How long until confirmation?"
"I do not know."
"An estimate."
"Two days, if Irelia’s contacts respond quickly. Maybe three, if we need to confirm the shipments through other routes."
"That is too long."
"It is the time required."
Kael discreetly ran his tongue across his teeth, irritated. He had just completed Celestial Step and wanted to test it in a real situation, but Amelia was right. Attacking a wagon or a warehouse merely because a particular shipment had passed through would be an efficient way to alert the entire organization without reaching anyone important.
Irelia took the map from Amelia’s hands and examined the three highlighted routes again.
"The merchants are independent, but the transport companies are not. Two shipments were hired through a company called Ravel & Sons. The third used a smaller carrier registered as Aldren Logistics, but the authorization documents were signed by the same customs official."
Kael looked at her.
"Bribery?"
"Probably. Or a false identity."
"Name?"
"Matthias Loren."
Amelia opened the folder to the corresponding section.
"Mid-level official at the imperial customs office. He has worked at the same post for eleven years. No history of corruption, no known debts, and no noticeable increase in wealth. Married, two children, a modest residence, and no apparent ties to alchemists or clandestine organizations."
Kael frowned.
"Then why did he sign?"
"It may not have been him," Irelia replied. "The signature appears on three different documents, but none of the carriers remembers speaking directly with Matthias. Everything was handled through messengers."
"Check whether he is still alive."
Amelia nodded.
"I already asked for that."
Kael looked back at her.
"Have you already thought of everything?"
"No."
She closed the folder.
"But I thought of enough to stop you from running off right now."
Sylphie let out a quiet laugh and took his hand again. Kael did not argue, though he clearly noticed her satisfaction. After everything that had happened in the lower chambers of the palace, the parasitic mark on his arm, and the excessive use of Celestial Step during training, resting truly was the sensible decision. The problem was that Kael never liked sensible decisions when they required him to remain still.
Liza started walking again, leading the group through the main wing of the palace.
"We will use a restricted room for the operation. Violet can select agents with no connection to the old houses. I do not want any information circulating among the nobility until we know whether the purchases are truly connected to the Order."
Amelia agreed.
"Do not use the ordinary intelligence structure either. If someone is infiltrated, they may notice the change in commercial inquiries."
"How many people do you suggest?"
"Five agents at most. One responsible for the transport routes. One for the customs records. Two infiltrators in the region. Violet coordinating directly."
Liza thought for a few moments.
"Elizabeth will participate as well."
Kael looked at her.
"Are you sure?"
"She knows the noble houses and needs to learn how to deal with threats that cannot be solved through direct force. Besides, keeping her away from every decision after she was one of the targets would only create another kind of problem."
"She will enjoy hearing that."
"She will probably complain that I decided before consulting her."
Sylphie smiled.
"Then she truly is your daughter."
Liza gave her a sideways look, but did not argue.
When they reached the intersection leading to the quarters assigned to Kael and his companions, Amelia stopped. The corridor ahead led to the administrative wing, while the path to the left led to the bedrooms. Kael immediately understood her intention and looked at her before she could say anything.
"No."
Amelia pointed to the left.
"Yes."
"I can still help."
"You can. By resting."
"That is not helping."
"Your body was marked by a parasitic structure, you spent hours forcing a new technique, and you nearly destroyed the training field. If we need to leave within two days, I want you whole."
Kael looked at Liza, perhaps hoping she would disagree at least for convenience.
The queen merely pointed in the same direction.
"Room."
"You too?"
"My courtyard agrees with Amelia."
Irelia placed one hand against his back and began lightly pushing him.
"Come on."
"I can walk by myself."
"Then walk in the right direction."
Sylphie did not miss the opportunity to take his other arm. Kael was guided down the corridor beneath Liza and Amelia’s quietly amused gazes. He could resist, obviously. Neither of them could truly drag him if he did not allow it. But fighting to avoid rest in front of four women who were right would only be humiliating in a different way.
Before turning the corner, he looked back at Amelia.
"Do not hide anything important."
"I will not."
"And do not wait for complete confirmation if immediate danger appears."
"I know."
"If any shipment changes route..."
"Kael."
He fell silent.
Amelia took a deep breath.
"I will inform you."
Kael nodded once and finally continued with Sylphie and Irelia. Liza watched until the three disappeared, then turned her attention back to Amelia.
"Is he always like that?"
"When he feels someone is in danger, yes."
"And when no one is in danger?"
"Also, but for different reasons."
Liza let out a small sigh.
"I understand why you created a preservation order."
Amelia looked at her.
"He told you?"
"No. I heard you talking in the courtyard."
"It was a joke."
"It does not seem like a bad idea."
The two continued toward the administrative wing. Along the way, Amelia explained the details she had omitted in front of Kael. The purchase of the two hundred vessels was not the only strange movement in that region. Over the last six weeks, three small settlements had reported isolated disappearances. One hunter, two travelers, a healer, and four workers from an abandoned mine. It was not a large enough number to attract the Empire’s attention, especially because the cases had occurred in different jurisdictions, but their proximity to the trade routes made the coincidence troubling.
There were also reports of animals found dead without external injuries and with mana levels far below normal. The local reports attributed it to some unknown disease. Amelia disagreed. If the empty artifacts were vessels meant to store mana, memory, or spirit, someone might be carrying out smaller tests before using them on people or more powerful creatures.
"You did not tell Kael that," Liza observed.
"No."
"Because he would leave now."
"Yes."
"Do you not think it is wrong to hide it?"
"I would, if we were certain. At the moment, we have eight disappearances spread across six weeks and dead animals in a mining region. There may be a connection, but there may not. Kael would hear only the part involving possible victims."
Liza remained silent, considering that answer.
"You know how to control information well."
"I know how he thinks."
"That can be dangerous."
"It can."
Amelia did not try to deny it.
"But it is also necessary. Kael tends to believe that protecting others means bearing every consequence alone. Sometimes, to protect him, we need to ensure that he only learns something once we are already capable of acting alongside him."
Liza opened the door to the room reserved for the new operation. Violet and Elizabeth were already there. The commander had brought military maps, lists of agents, and records of the northern routes. Elizabeth, meanwhile, had before her a collection of books on noble bloodlines and commercial relations between the vampire houses and the Human Empire.
Elizabeth looked back.
"Kael did not come?"
"He went to rest," Liza replied.
The princess looked surprised.
"Of his own will?"
Amelia sat at the table.
"Not exactly."
Violet held back a laugh.
Liza took the main chair and placed the documents Amelia had brought in front of Elizabeth.
"We have little time. Amelia believes we can confirm the route within two or three days, but I want an initial assessment today."
Elizabeth pulled the folder closer.
"What is my role?"
"Discover whether any vampire house has a commercial, familial, or indirect connection to the three buyers."
Elizabeth opened the documents and read the names.
"Harven Solis. Meridan Company. Varlan Alchemical Institute."
"Do you know any of them?"
"The Varlan Institute once supplied preservatives to the kingdom’s blood banks, but the contract ended four years ago. Meridan Company transports metals and crystals. Harven Solis..." Elizabeth remained silent for a few seconds, trying to remember. "I think that is a trade name. Not a person."
Amelia opened her notebook.
"Why?"
"Because Solis was the name of an extinct vampire house. Not completely extinct, but dissolved. Its last members were absorbed into other bloodlines almost eighty years ago."
Liza straightened in her seat.
"Which house absorbed them?"
Elizabeth searched through one of the books, quickly turning the pages.
"Veyr."
The silence that followed was brief, but enough to change the direction of the analysis.
Violet placed her hands on the table.
"Cassian."
"Perhaps," Amelia said. "We cannot conclude that from the name alone."
Elizabeth continued reading.
"House Solis managed routes north of the Empire before its dissolution. They owned properties near the old Varlan mines."
Amelia looked at the map.
It was exactly the same region.
Liza stood and approached the table.
"Cassian claimed he knew nothing about the shadows. He seemed sincere."
"He truly may not know," Amelia replied. "If someone in the organization is using companies and properties inherited from House Solis, they may be operating inside the Veyr structure without informing Cassian. Or perhaps the house’s dissolution was only formal."
Violet ran a finger over the point marked on the map.
"I can send two agents today."
"Not directly to the mines," Amelia said. "Send a pair posing as merchants interested in purchasing land. The other agent should verify Matthias Loren and the customs records without contacting him."
Elizabeth closed the book.
"And if Matthias is being used by a shadow like Miren and Serena?"
"Then no one touches him until Umbra examines him."
Liza looked at Amelia.
"Will she go to the Empire?"
"Only if we confirm something. Until then, we can use ordinary methods."
Violet began writing down the orders.
"I have two suitable agents. Siblings, not a couple. They manage a small transport company as cover and have worked in the Empire before."
"Even better," Amelia said. "They should follow the shipment, not investigate the organization. No questions about missing people, cults, or alchemists. We need to appear interested only in business."
Elizabeth rested her arms on the table.
"And the vessels?"
"Find out where they were unloaded. Do not try to recover any of them. If you locate the warehouse, observe who enters and leaves."
Liza nodded slowly.
The plan was beginning to take concrete shape. It was not an offensive, at least not yet. It was an attempt to transform scattered suspicions into a verifiable route. For the first time, the organization had left a trail that did not depend on forbidden magic, blood oaths, or parasitic shadows. There were documents, goods, carriers, and properties. Ordinary things. And ordinary things were far more difficult to hide when someone knew exactly where to look.
Amelia opened a clean page in her notebook and wrote down the first orders of the operation. Beneath them, she marked the initial deadline of forty-eight hours.
"What will it be called?" Elizabeth asked.
Violet looked at her.
"Called?"
"Operations need names."
Amelia thought for a few seconds.
"Operation Vessel."
Elizabeth grimaced.
"That is terrible."
"It is clear and does not reveal the objective."
"It is still terrible."
Liza returned to her chair.
"Then it is perfect for official documents."
Amelia nodded, satisfied.
While they defined the agents, communication routes, and methods of confirming the information without alerting the buyers, Kael lay in the room Liza had given them, staring at the ceiling with Sylphie seated beside him and Irelia standing by the window.
He had obeyed.
Technically.
But Celestial Step continued circulating through his mind. He reviewed every movement, every error in posture, and every observation Liza had made. At the same time, he thought about the point Amelia had marked on the map. A small, apparently unimportant region where two hundred magical vessels had disappeared.
Sylphie looked at him.
"You are not resting."
"I am lying down."
"That is not the same thing."
Kael continued staring at the ceiling.
"Two days."
"Maybe three."
"That is too long."
Irelia answered from the window.
"To you, any time between discovering a problem and attacking the problem is too long."
"Correct."
Sylphie placed her hand on his chest.
"Amelia knows what she is doing."
"I know."
"Then trust her."
Kael remained silent for a few seconds.
"I do trust her."
And he did. That was precisely why he was still in that bed. Not because he had lost the desire to leave, but because he knew Amelia would not ask for time without reason.
He closed his eyes.
"When she confirms it..."
Sylphie smiled faintly.
"We unleash you."
Kael opened one eye.
"You are going to use that word too?"
"It is accurate."
He let out a sigh and closed his eyes again.
In the administrative wing, Amelia finished writing the orders and handed the first copy to Violet.
"Send them now."
Violet took the document.
"And if we find something before the forty-eight hours are over?"
Amelia looked at the point marked on the map.
"Then wake Kael."