Guest Estate Garden — After the Banquet
The garden had grown quiet as the sun began to sink behind the palace walls. Golden light filtered through trimmed hedges, casting long shadows over the stone path. The faint smell of scorched earth lingered in the air.
On the table between them, a careful array of glass vials glinted in the dying light.
The Arch-Prelate of the Sun Church surveyed them slowly.
"You've been busy."
"I was bored," Logos replied.
The priest gestured toward the charred patch of ground nearby.
"Bored enough for arson?"
Logos glanced briefly at the scorch mark.
"I knew the material. It wasn't sufficient."
The Prelate sighed faintly.
"It always begins this way," he said. "A young mind playing with forces it does not yet comprehend."
"Get to the point, Priest," Logos said calmly, pulling out a chair.
"Insolent!" one of the Sun Knights snapped, stepping forward. His gauntlet clanked sharply against his breastplate. "He is the Whip of the Sun! Show respect!"
"Back off," Kleber warned, his hand drifting instinctively toward the weapon at his side.
For a moment the garden teetered on the edge of violence.
The Prelate raised a single hand.
The knight froze instantly.
"You misunderstand, Baron Logos," the priest said calmly. "We are not here to threaten you."
Logos tilted his head.
"Evaluation."
"Correct."
The Arch-Prelate clasped his hands behind his back and began pacing slowly around the table. His sharp eyes studied the vials with the focus of a scholar grading examinations.
"Fortress engineering beyond historical precedent," he murmured.
"Independent exo-harness development."
"Alchemical experimentation."
He lifted one vial, examining the residue of pale crystals clinging to the glass.
"A child achieving what four generations of nobles could not."
His voice softened slightly.
"The Church does not fear demons, Baron."
His gaze sharpened.
"We fear patterns."
"Patterns?" Logos leaned back slightly.
"Yes."
The priest placed the vial down carefully.
"Progress that accelerates too quickly. Power that appears without lineage. Achievements that arrive… all at once."
He gestured toward Logos.
"History records such moments as turning points."
"Age of Wars," Logos said.
The Prelate's eyes flickered.
"You are well read."
"A period defined by weapons of mass destruction that crippled kingdoms," Logos continued evenly. "Followed by the Golden Age of Scholars."
The priest nodded.
"Yes. When kingdoms lost control of their scholars. Fear of being outpaced ignited wars."
He folded his hands.
"That was when we emerged."
"To seize control," Logos replied.
"To provide stability," the Prelate corrected.
"I'm fairly certain power grab and stability are two different things," Logos said.
The Sun Knights shifted.
The Prelate did not react.
"A crude phrase," he said mildly. "But not entirely incorrect."
He gestured toward the distant palace towers rising beyond the hedges.
"Kings call it sovereignty. Generals call it security."
A brief pause.
"We call it stability."
Logos tapped the armrest once.
"Is that why you kept photoionization secret?"
The Prelate stopped walking.
"Along with Peter Moravec's Castle, guarded by Church forces to this day," Logos added calmly.
Silence spread through the garden.
The priest turned slowly.
"Did you crack it?" he asked.
"No. Still beyond me," Logos admitted with a small shrug. "But I know it exists."
He looked directly at the Prelate.
"Otherwise Gawain would not be defending Usano against the Vulcanian invasion."
One of the Sun Knights spoke uneasily.
"Your Eminence, the Baron references restricted archives—"
"It is not restricted," Logos interrupted calmly, "if a sixteen-year-old can assemble it in a week."
Kleber rubbed his temples.
Of course he brings up age again.
The Prelate returned to the table.
"You possess knowledge that should require decades to acquire," he said quietly.
"And yet you treat it as procedural."
"The hints were obvious."
The priest's eyes sharpened.
"You see why we came."
"Yes."
"To determine whether you are a danger."
"Yes."
"And you are not concerned?"
"No."
"Confidence?" the Prelate asked.
"I will be obvious, since you are still pretending," Logos replied.
"Your secondary forces are stretched thin. Gawain is tied down in the south containing Vulcan. If Faros advances…"
He folded his hands calmly.
"You will need me."
"You speak with remarkable certainty for someone who has never commanded a crusade," the Prelate said.
Logos sighed.
"This again."
Then his voice changed.
Cold.
Layered.
Almost… wrong.
The air seemed to tighten as the sound emerged from his throat.
The Sun Knights stiffened.
"So that is your natural voice," the Prelate observed calmly.
"Fascinating, isn't it?" Logos replied. "People who think I am merely lucky become uncomfortable when they hear it."
"It sounds as if several voices are speaking at once."
"Rest assured," Logos said, "it is still me."
He leaned back again.
"So. Anything else?"
Kleber shifted.
He's doing it again.
One of the Sun Knights stepped forward.
"You assume the Church fears instability."
"No," Logos replied calmly. "I assume the Church exists to prevent it."
The Prelate nodded slowly.
"Then answer one final question, Baron."
Logos inclined his head.
"What do you want?"
Logos did not answer immediately.
He picked up one of the vials, turning it slowly in the fading sunlight.
The glass scattered rainbow fragments across the table.
Finally he spoke.
"Indulgence."
The word puzzled everyone except the Prelate.
"Explain," the priest said quietly.
Logos set the vial down.
"Too personal, Priest."
Silence.
Kleber rubbed his face slowly.
Lucy is absolutely going to write a report about how I died because of this man.
"You understand," the Prelate said calmly, "the Church has executed scholars for far less."
Kleber stiffened.
Logos did not.
"And yet you are unconcerned."
"No."
The Prelate studied him.
"Why?"
"You already know."
The priest's lips curved faintly.
"You truly do read patterns well."
"It's a habit."
The Prelate turned and looked toward the palace walls glowing in the sunset.
"The world approaches another turning point."
Logos nodded.
"Yes."
"And you wish the Church to leave you alone while you prepare for it."
"Yes."
The priest studied him one last time.
Then he nodded.
"Very well."
Kleber blinked.
"…Wait."
Even the Sun Knights exchanged glances.
"You will not be declared heretical," the Prelate said calmly. "Not today."
Logos tilted his head slightly.
"Conditional tolerance."
"Precisely."
The priest raised a finger.
"However… constraints."
"Expected," Logos replied.
The Prelate began counting.
"First: you will not develop weapons of mass devastation without notifying the Crown and the Church."
"Define mass devastation."
"Anything capable of destroying a city district or annihilating a military formation in a single action."
Logos considered.
"Acceptable."
A second finger rose.
"You will not conduct experiments on unwilling human subjects."
Kleber glanced sideways at Logos.
Logos blinked once.
"I have not yet entered that territory."
"That," the Prelate said dryly, "is precisely why we are establishing the rule now."
A third finger.
"You will not attempt to replicate relic technologies of the Age of Wars without Church oversight."
Logos's eyes narrowed slightly.
"You mean whatever lies inside Moravec's Castle."
"Yes."
Logos tapped the chair once.
"Unacceptable. I do not even know what is inside."
"That," the Prelate replied calmly, "is precisely the point."
A fourth finger.
"You will not conceal discoveries capable of threatening the survival of Gab."
The priest turned toward the gate.
At the threshold he paused.
"One final question, Baron."
Logos looked up.
"No."
The Prelate blinked.
"What?"
Logos met his gaze calmly.
"You were about to ask if I intend to overturn the world."
Silence lingered.
The priest studied him for another moment.
Then he laughed softly.
"…Alright."
He left.
The Sun Knights followed.
The gate closed.
The garden returned to quiet.
Kleber stared at Logos.
"…Did we just negotiate with the Church?"
"Yes."
"And they didn't arrest you."
"Correct."
Kleber exhaled slowly.
"You know… sometimes serving you feels unhealthy."
Logos picked up another vial.
"You can always leave."
Kleber blinked.
"Where? Someone would torture me for information."
Logos considered that for a moment.
"In that case," he said casually,
"How about your own custom Exo-Harness?"
Kleber froze.
"…You are bribing me to stay."
Logos nodded thoughtfully.
"Yes."