Chapter : 1363

"Hello everyone!" Lloyd said cheerfully, raising a hand. "Lovely weather for mining, isn't it? We are looking for a gentleman named Jory. Is he the one face-down on the table over there?"

A burly man near the bar grunted and pointed a thick finger at a corner booth. A man was indeed slumped over a table, muttering to a mug of ale.

Lloyd and Mina walked over. Lloyd slid into the booth next to the man. Mina sat opposite, looking uncomfortable about the cleanliness of the seat.

"Jory?" Lloyd asked gently.

The man lifted his head. He had a bushy beard and eyes that were red from drink and lack of sleep. "Who wants to know?" he slurred. "If you're with Wilfred, tell him I didn't take the wrench! I left it in the bucket!"

"We aren't with Wilfred," Lloyd said. "We are... concerned citizens. We heard you might know something about what he's building."

Jory's eyes widened. Fear cut through the alcohol. "Shhh! Don't talk about it! He has eyes everywhere! The stone eyes!"

"Stone eyes?" Mina asked. "You mean golems?"

Jory flinched. "Not golems. Not yet. But soon. He's crazy. He's obsessed."

Lloyd signaled the barkeep for a round of drinks. He placed a gold coin on the table. Jory stared at the coin like it was a religious artifact.

"Talk to us, Jory," Lloyd said, his voice dropping to a serious tone. "We know about the Aethel-Quartz. We know about the Heart. What is he doing with them?"

Jory grabbed the coin and hid it in his boot. He leaned in, his voice a terrified whisper.

"He found the blueprints," Jory said. "Old ones. From the time of Anubis. He didn't just find the Heart to look at it. He's building the body. He's been building it for years, piece by piece, in the deep shaft."

"The Guardian?" Mina breathed.

"No," Jory shook his head. "Something worse. The Guardian was a defender. A shield. Wilfred... he altered the plans. He added weapons. Cannons that shoot concentrated light. Armor that can't be scratched. He calls it 'The God-King'."

Lloyd felt a chill. "And the Quartz?"

"Fuel," Jory said. "He's grinding it down. Creating a resonance chamber. He says when he puts the Heart inside, the Quartz will sing to it. It will wake up the stone. And once it wakes up... it won't stop. It will do whatever he tells it to do."

"And what does he want it to do?" Lloyd asked.

Jory looked around the bar, checking for spies. "He wants to secede. He wants to declare Ramos an independent kingdom, with him as the King. He says with the God-King, no army can touch him. He's going to threaten to level the city if the council doesn't surrender. He's going to hold us all hostage."

Lloyd and Mina walked out of the bar. The fresh air felt good after the stifling atmosphere of fear inside. They walked to a quiet alleyway to talk.

"It's worse than we thought," Mina said. Her hands were shaking slightly. "He isn't just building a golem. He's building a magical tank. A siege engine."

"And he plans to use the city as a human shield," Lloyd added grimly. "If he activates that thing in the middle of Ramos, nobody can stop him. The Royal Army would take weeks to get here. By then, he'll be sitting on a throne of rubble."

"We have to stop him," Mina said. "We have to destroy the weapon before he puts the Heart in."

"Destroying it might be hard," Lloyd said. "If he's been building it for years, it's probably huge. And tough. We can't exactly sneak in with a hammer and smash it."

He paced back and forth in the alley. His mind was racing. He needed a plan. A crazy plan.

"We need to see it," Lloyd decided. "We need to know the layout. We need to know where the Heart goes. If we can intercept the Heart before he installs it, the machine is useless."

"But how do we get in?" Mina asked. "Jory said the fortress is locked down. Mercenaries everywhere. Magical wards."

Lloyd stopped pacing. A slow smile spread across his face. It was the smile of a man who was about to do something incredibly stupid and incredibly brilliant.

"Jory said Wilfred is obsessed with Anubis, right?" Lloyd asked. "He's a fanatic. He thinks he's a genius for rediscovering this lost tech."

"Yes," Mina nodded.

"Fanatics have a weakness," Lloyd said. "Ego. They love to talk about their work. They love to show off how smart they are. They crave validation."

"So?"

Chapter : 1364

"So," Lloyd said, adjusting his glasses. "We give him what he wants. We don't break in as thieves. We walk in the front door as admirers. As fellow geniuses."

"A disguise?" Mina asked skeptically.

"A performance," Lloyd corrected. "I am no longer Professor Ferrum, the humble scholar. I am... Lord Vane. A wealthy investor from the distant South. A man with too much money and a fascination for ancient technology. And I have a secret. A revolutionary new technique for refining Aethel-Quartz."

Mina stared at him. "You are going to lie to him about rocks?"

"I am going to bait him," Lloyd said. "I'm going to tell him that his current fuel is inefficient. That I have a way to make his machine twice as powerful. He won't be able to resist. He'll want to know my secret. He'll invite me in."

"And me?" Mina asked. "What am I?"

"You are my consultant," Lloyd said. "Dr. Mina. The world's leading expert on Anubis-era runes. You are there to verify his work. To flatter his ego. To tell him how brilliant he is."

"I hate flattery," Mina grumbled.

"Think of it as acting," Lloyd said. "We walk in. We get a tour. We find the weapon. We find the Heart. And then, when his guard is down... we strike."

"It is risky," Mina said. "If he suspects us..."

"Then we run really fast," Lloyd said. "But it's our best shot. We can't fight an army of mercenaries. We have to trick the commander."

Mina thought about it. She looked at Lloyd. She saw the confidence in his eyes. He was crazy, yes. But he was also the man who had saved a village from a plague and outsmarted a demon.

"Fine," Mina said. "Lord Vane. And Dr. Mina. We need costumes. Better clothes. We need to look rich and important."

"Way ahead of you," Lloyd said. "I have a budget. A very large budget. Let's go shopping. If we're going to save the world, we should look good doing it."

He grabbed her arm and pulled her towards the market district. The plan was set. They were going into the lion's den. Not with swords, but with lies and fancy hats. It was the Ferrum way.

Lloyd stood in front of the mirror in the finest tailor shop in Ramos. He adjusted his cuffs. He was wearing a suit of deep crimson velvet with gold embroidery. It was loud. It was flashy. It was exactly what a man named "Lord Vane" would wear. He had added a fake monocle because he felt it added a touch of ridiculous authority.

"You look... expensive," Mina said, stepping out of the changing room.

Lloyd turned. His jaw dropped slightly. Mina was wearing a gown of midnight blue silk. It was professional but elegant. She had her hair pinned up with silver combs. She looked like a scholar who also happened to own a small country.

"You look terrifyingly competent," Lloyd said. "Perfect."

They left the shop and headed to the next stop: a jeweler. Lloyd needed props. He bought a small chest made of polished ebony. Then, using his [Steel Blood] power in a dark alley when no one was looking, he fused a handful of regular Aethel-Quartz crystals together, compressing them until they glowed with an unnatural internal light. It was fake, of course. It was just pressurized glass. But to the untrained eye, it looked like a miracle of alchemy.

"This," Lloyd said, placing the glowing crystal into the ebony box, "is 'Refined Star-Glass'. The rarest fuel in the world. Invented by me yesterday."

"It looks very convincing," Mina admitted.

"Confidence is key," Lloyd said. "Now, we need a carriage. A big one. With horses that look like they eat better than the peasants."

Two hours later, a magnificent black carriage rolled up the winding road to the High Crag. The fortress of Lord Wilfred loomed above them. It was a massive structure of black stone, bristling with guard towers and ballistae. It looked less like a home and more like a prison for a giant.

Lloyd sat inside, tapping his monocle. "Showtime. Remember, Mina. You are unimpressed. You have seen better golems. You think his runes are 'derivative'. Poke his ego."

"I can do unimpressed," Mina said. "I have been practicing on you for weeks."

"Ouch," Lloyd laughed. "Good. Keep that energy."

The carriage stopped at the main gate. A heavy iron portcullis barred the way. Guards with crossbows looked down from the walls.

A captain of the guard approached the window. "Halt. State your business. No visitors."