Without the tunjesten cuffs, Akira was officially not a prisoner—not in the eyes of the imperial guards, to say the least—but that didn't mean he was free to wander around the palace either. To put it more accurately, Akira was free to wander around the vast hall he was confined in.

Save for the guards, Hanu Sen was the only person Akira had talked to since he was dragged into the palace. By order of the former Head of the Imperial Court, lunch then dinner had been served to 'Akira Sen' in this very hall. Yes, she had been removed from her high post, but it was clear that her recent loss hadn't taken a toll on her. The proud, old lady was still in charge.

Lifting a golden goblet of wine to his lips, Akira contemplated the empty seats on both sides of the long table he was dining at. A maidservant approached with agile yet quiet steps. She glanced at the platters he hadn't touched in a while, gesturing for him with both hands, as if making sure he was done with his dinner. Akira nodded with a grateful smile, giving her his permission to collect the half-empty platters. He did enjoy this brief feeling of authority over one person in this magnificent hall—without exaggeration, this huge hall alone, with its sumptuous furniture, was more worth than his mother's house in the city. How does it feel to be the lord of a palace that has a few more halls like this one? How does it feel to be the lord of an entire nation? Just imagining the idea was enough to make him feel drunk. No, it wasn't the wine. The delusion of power was enough to put him into this state of light trance.

The door of the hall was opened, Hanu Sen entering alongside a familiar broad-shouldered man donning a purple cloak. Wei Sen, the mage who had tragically lost his teenage son Lan.

Akira pushed his seat back as he rose to his feet, the wooden legs of his chair scraping against the parquet floor. "Hanu Sen. Wei Sen." He bowed to his two seniors. They nodded in acknowledgment, the old lady signaling him to be seated.

"Hanu Sen told me everything you recounted," Wei began, after he and his gray-haired cousin sat opposite Akira. "But I must ask you, again: Do you understand the gravity of throwing such an accusation at your uncle?"

Akira was getting bored of being doubted again and again. "I would have never come here if I wasn't certain of what I saw and heard."

"We need more than your certainty to inform the Emperor," Wei said firmly. "We need evidence."

Akira huffed in frustration. "You may find the evidence you want in my uncle's office."

"You think I can just send somebody to search the Archmage's office?" Wei shook his head, stealing a glance at Hanu. "It's not that simple, not without a solid reason."

"It will be even worse if we find nothing there," Hanu pointed out, her arms crossed as she leaned back in her seat, staring thoughtfully at the chandelier hanging above their table. "Kungwan will tell the Emperor at once, and we will all be in trouble."

"And we will get the biggest share of the blame," Wei added, then turned to Akira. "Forgive me, son, but it's the adults who pay for the mistakes of the younger reckless ones."

Reckless? Akira couldn't help digging his nails into the arms of his seat. "I don't think the Emperor will be pleased when he learns that you were alerted before Kungwan made his move."

"Children these days," Wei muttered, glaring at Akira. "Are you threatening us, boy?"

Hanu gripped her cousin's wrist, casting Akira a warning look. "I'm sure it's just a tongue slip, Wei Sen."

Only now did Akira realize how his last statement sounded like. He needed to clear the air fast. "I just wanted to say that foiling Kungwan's plan should be a priority now. While we take the time we need to gather evidence, we must make sure he doesn't take anything or anybody away from Sun Castle."

"Not bad as a strategy," Wei said, apparently not so convinced though. "You have a clear plan how to do this?"

Yes, Akira did. And all credit went to Hanu's warm reception to him when he had come to the palace. "Depends on how much tunjesten we can gather in one or two days."

Hanu narrowed her eyes. "How do you plan to utilize such precious material?"

The idea was still brewing in his head, but Akira had a good feeling about it. "Stopping Kungwan from taking the supplies out of Koya shouldn't be a problem as long as we keep their pickup point under watch. The problem is with Kungwan and his anonymous followers. They can simply teleport themselves to whatever destination they desire without us knowing about their escape in the first place."

"You suggest we watch the portal sites as well?" Hanu wondered.

"Opening a portal takes less than a minute," Wei provided. "We will need to watch and defend the portal sites."

Akira nodded his agreement with Wei Sen. "The thing is that we don't know how many mages we should assign to each portal site. And more importantly; whom we should assign? Until this moment, we have no idea who has joined Kungwan in his treacherous act and who has not."

From the way Wei looked at him, Akira could tell that the senior mage was not belittling him any longer. Hanu was still wearing that expressionless face, but surely, she wouldn't summon the mourning father urgently to the Imperial Palace if she didn't have a slight belief in Akira's account.

"That's why we need to rely on things, not people," Akira continued, allowing himself a smile. "Things that would render a mage unable to channel his anerjy."

"What?" Wei shrugged. "Tunjesten handcuffs?"

"Tunjesten fields," Akira corrected. "Spreading small particles of tunjesten around each portal site should do."

Hanu looked from Akira to Wei. "Is that possible?"

"In theory, it could be." Wei shrugged. "But we never tried a trick like this before."

"Shouldn't be a problem." About time Akira showed off his academic knowledge. "If you provide me with tunjesten now, we can just try it out in the portal site of this palace."

While Hanu was still keeping her face expressionless, Wei held his chin thoughtfully for a moment. "Even if your trick works, it won't be enough to foil Kungwan's plan. He and his unknown followers will head to the nearest portal site outside Sun Castle, and that's it."

Akira hadn't thought that through. The whole idea had arisen in his mind just a few minutes ago. "Then, we use the same trick with the nearest portal site as well."

"To what end?" Wei asked disapprovingly. "We don't have enough tunjesten to block every portal site in Koya."

"Maybe we don't have to," Hanu said, eyes on the table, "if we confine them to Sun Castle."

Wei shook his head, wincing. "We don't know if we have the numbers to do that. We don't know who we are facing, and how many there are, to begin with."

Hanu turned to him, fixing him with her gaze for a couple of seconds, then said: "Not every matter is settled by force. A piece of parchment adorned with the Emperor's seal can do miracles."

Was she serious? What happened to the need for evidence before informing His Radiance? "So, you will tell the Emperor?" Akira asked her.

Hanu rolled her eyes, as if she was listening to some naïve child. For a moment, Akira thought she would ignore him. But after she heaved a sigh, she explained, "The investigation of the fire incident is still ongoing, and the Emperor himself is following it up. It won't be hard to persuade him that an imperial order of confinement shall accelerate the progress of the investigations."

Wei's eyebrows rose as he nodded. Truth be told, the Purple Cloak was not the only impressed person in this room.

"What if they defy the order?" Akira wondered.

"No one would dare," Hanu said confidently.

Wei seemed to be considering the possibility Akira had just raised. "Even if few do, we will be able to handle them."

"Exactly," Hanu seconded her cousin. "The rest will find themselves choosing between staying trapped in the castle or fleeing via the sea, with their cargo. Even if Kungwan outnumbers us with his minions, it won't matter." She paused for effect, glancing at Akira, then she added, "Their numbers will mean nothing against one fast cannonball sending their ship to the bottom of the sea."

Though they were talking about traitors, Wei didn't seem comfortable with the notion of killing dozens of fellow Red Cloaks. As for Akira, he felt nothing. Jihoon, his dear mentor, might be one of those sunken mages, and yet, all Akira felt was nothing. Actually, all he was assessing right now was the efficacy of Hanu's plan. The only thing that galled him about it was the loss of that huge amount of supplies. A costly victory, that will be. But better we lose those supplies than let the Goranians use them against us.

While Akira was about to acknowledge the lady's brilliance, Wei said, "With Kungwan on board that ship, they might have a chance to survive that cannonball, I'm afraid."

The Purple Cloak's statement seemed to irk Hanu. "Overestimating this one man won't help, my dear cousin," Hanu coldly said to Wei.

"This one man was one of the youngest mages who had ever donned the red mantle in the last two centuries. The only mage I watched make nine simultaneous bonds. Nine, Hanu! You would understand if you were a mage yourself." He turned to Akira. "You sure do."

Akira nodded, finding no reason to disagree with the senior mage, who must have witnessed the Archmage in action long ago in their youth. "Then we must keep him away from the ship," Akira provided, having no idea how to make this happen. Perhaps another order stamped by the imperial seal, summoning the Archmage for an urgent meeting here? he thought, stealing a glance at the former Head of the Imperial Court, but then, he remembered the unfinished letter on his uncle's desk. He is ignoring a call from the Emperor himself. Why would he respond to an order from a lesser person?

"Taking him away from the ship shouldn't be an issue," said Hanu. "The question is: How long can we keep him? Without any solid proof, we won't be able to hold him outside forever. He will eventually return."

Her confidence in her ability to lure his uncle outside Sun Castle piqued his curiosity. "May I ask: How do you plan to keep him away from his escape vessel?"

"His daughter," Hanu said nonchalantly. "He will hurry to her if he learns that she is in danger."

Akira felt the heat inside his head upon hearing Hanu coupling his cousin Kim with danger. "Is she?" he asked, aware of his obvious eagerness.

"She is just a bait, for now." Hanu peered at him judgingly. "Do you have a problem with that?"

Opposing Hanu wouldn't be a wise idea now. And yet, he was unable to stand helplessly, allowing Kim to get hurt. "You won't punish her for her father's sins, will you?"

Wei glowered at him. "Is that an order, young man?"

"She is not important." Hanu gave both of them a dismissive gesture to close the topic. "It's her father we want to capture."

"We will need an army of mages to force him to surrender," Wei pointed out. "An army of imperial guards."

Hanu curled her lip. "Which will require an explanation to His Radiance why we are arresting his Archmage."

Capturing Kungwan was no longer Akira's main concern. Right now, it was Kim's safety that had become his priority. The old lady would never care about my cousin more than I do, he reflected, realizing that there was only one way to rest assured that Kim wouldn't be some sort of collateral damage in whatever Hanu was planning to do.

"You won't need to explain to anyone," Akira said to Hanu. "It will be me who deals with Kungwan."

Hanu remained resolved as usual, but Wei couldn't hide the contempt in his smile. "You?"

Akira grinned, not taking any offense at Wei's disdaining tone. No one would believe a young mage, let alone a young Pink Cloak, who claimed he could handle the unparalleled Archmage of Koya on his own. No one would believe that the aforementioned young mage could even do this in his dreams.

"Yes, me." Akira held Wei's gaze. "I have a plan."