The morning air in Solhaven Academy was crisp and cool, Ray was walking while being escorted by Svane up the pristine white stone steps of the central administrative building. The towering structure was the seat of power for Headmaster Andrade.

Waiting near the massive double doors was Kaelen Thorne. She looked slightly nervous, her hands clasped tightly in front of her. She is dressed in a practical, dark leather academy uniform.

As Ray and Svane approached, Kaelen offered a tight smile.

"Ray. Svane, I got your message. What is this about? Why are we meeting at the Headmaster's office?"

She greeted them and asked while her eyes darted toward the heavy doors.

"Good morning, Kaelen."

Ray said calmly, stopping a few steps below her.

"I requested this meeting because I have some new information regarding the Argent Hand. I need to present it to the Headmaster."

Kaelen frowned slightly in confusion.

"Okay, but why am I here? You told me Andrade ordered us to stay out of it and let the adults handle this matter."

"She did, but I brought you here because the intelligence I gathered is derived heavily from your father's ledger. More importantly, I know you have been waiting for some time to ask the Headmaster if there are any updates regarding your father Titus Thorne."

Ray agreed, a faint, knowing smirk touching his lips.

Kaelen’s breath hitched. A surge of gratitude washed over her, softening her sharp features. She realized that Ray hadn't forgotten the personal stakes of this war. She gave a firm, determined nod.

"Thank you, Ray."

"Let's go."

Svane rumbled, as move towards the double door of the building and opened it.

The trio entered the grand foyer and approached the reception desk, where Cecille, a stern senior mage with glasses perched on the end of her nose, sat immersed in a stack of paperwork. Upon hearing Ray’s name, her eyes widened slightly in surprise before she quickly gestured toward the thick doors of the headmaster’s office.

Inside, Headmaster Andrade sat behind her desk, framed by towering bookshelves. The bone-deep exhaustion that had plagued her months ago was entirely gone, replaced by a sharp, predatory focus. The recent influx of royal funding and the triumph of her newly minted Vanguards had clearly energized her. Still, her desk was a meticulously organized battlefield, covered in encrypted correspondence and active intelligence reports from the shadow war she and Sidran Lockyer were quietly waging against the Argent Hand.

When Andrade looked up, her eyes narrowed in surprise. She had expected a private briefing with Ray, but seeing Kaelen Thorne and the towering Svane flanking the boy instantly shifted the political dynamic of the room.

"Novice Croft, I assume there is a specific reason you brought an entourage to what I thought would be a highly classified strategic briefing?"

Andrade began, her voice carrying an edge of authority.

"The discussion that we will have today concerns them as well, Headmaster."

Ray explained smoothly, taking a seat in one of the high-backed leather chairs.

Svane took his usual post standing by the door, while Kaelen sat beside Ray.

"Before I present my findings, I would like to request an update. Has your mentor, Sidran Lockyer, found any new information regarding Kaelen’s father?"

Andrade paused. She looked at Kaelen, seeing the desperate hope burning in the young woman's eyes. The Headmaster let out a soft sigh, her severe expression softening just a fraction.

"I want to manage your expectations, Miss Thorne.”

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Andrade said gently but firmly.

“What I am about to tell you is strictly an unverified rumor from Lockyer’s intelligence network. But... there was a sighting. A man matching Titus Thorne's physical description was spotted far in the Northern territories, near the Valorian Kingdom border. We are still actively verifying this, if it was really him there is a strong possibility he is alive and on the run."

Kaelen closed her eyes, letting out a shaky breath as a massive weight lifted from her shoulders. Even if it was just a rumor, it was the first spark of genuine hope she had felt in months.

"Thank you, Headmaster."

Ray leaned forward, his golden-flecked eyes locking onto Andrade.

"And the broader picture? Has the Royal Court made any moves against the nobles bought by the Argent Hand? Have we struck back?"

Andrade hesitated. She wanted to spare the students the ugly, grinding reality of political warfare, but looking at Ray's unwavering gaze, she knew platitudes wouldn't work.

"We have hit a wall, Lockyer and I have been quietly coordinating with loyalists in the Royal Guard. We are currently monitoring the corrupted nobles, but we cannot move against them without triggering a civil war before we are ready. We took aggressive action and raided several known bases and front operations of the Argent Hand."

Andrade admitted, her voice hardening with frustration.

"And?"

Ray asked.

"Nothing of value, We made arrests, but the intelligence gathered is useless. The operatives we captured were low-level grunts who didn't even know they were working for the Hand. The primary bases were already abandoned and scrubbed clean."

Andrade replied bitterly as she rubbed her temples.

"Sidran’s efforts did bear some fruit. We intercepted a number of shipments moving void ore and null-alloy weapons and armors. But the volume is entirely wrong. We saw the ledger; we know the massive scale of the Iron-Wake mining and refining operation. The intercepted shipments represent a fraction of a fraction of that output. Furthermore, the black market for null-alloy has gone completely dead."

"What is your assessment, Headmaster?"

Ray asked.

"The Argent Hand knows they are being targeted. They know their operation is compromised. Given the missing volume of ore and the sudden silence, my fear is that they have already successfully smuggled the bulk of the weapons and null-alloy out of the Kingdom to lay low."

Ray absorbed the information. The silence in the office was heavy, thick with the feeling of a Kingdom slowly losing a shadow war.

Then, Ray smiled. It wasn't a warm expression; it was sharp, analytical, and completely devoid of fear.

"You are half-right, Headmaster. The Argent Hand is definitely laying low. But the weapons never left Eldoria."

Ray said calmly.

Andrade’s eyes narrowed.

"What do you mean?"

Instead of answering immediately, Ray reached into his bag of holding. He pulled out a sleek, heavy metallic disc inscribed with dense, glowing runes, it was the ‘Master-Class Tactical Projection Table’ he had won from the Strategic War-Gaming event. He placed it carefully on the center of Andrade's desk.

Ray channeled a precise pulse of mana into the artifact.

The device hummed deeply. The air above the desk instantly warped and a breathtaking, high-definition, three-dimensional holographic map of the entire Kingdom of Eldoria materialized, hovering a foot above the petrified wood.

"For the benefit of everyone in the room, this is the current logistical board of Eldoria."

Ray began, his voice taking on the commanding, methodical cadence of a seasoned general. He tapped the edge of the table.

Thick, glowing red lines suddenly traced across the map.

"These red lines represent the main logistical routes the Argent Hand uses based on the data from Titus Thorne's ledger. They follow the Kingdom's main roads, passing through major checkpoints, connecting the southern ports to the capital, and Iron-Wake to the Northern Citadel and many other parts of the kingdom."

Ray explained.

Ray manipulated the display again. A second set of lines, a sickly, pale yellow, appeared on the map.

"Now, pay attention to these secondary routes."

Ray said, pointing to the yellow lines.

"In the ledger, these were tagged as 'minor shipments,' 'disposal shipments,' or 'miscellaneous delivery.' If you look closely, they deviate entirely from the main roads."

Andrade, Kaelen, and Svane leaned in, studying the yellow paths.

Svane’s brow furrowed. His massive finger pointed to a cluster of yellow lines in the Solhaven region.

"Ray, this doesn't make any

sense. Look at this route here. It goes off the main highway and stops dead at the base of the Rokan Mountains. And this one? It routes a massive 'miscellaneous delivery' straight into Lake Silver-glass. That lake is not big, a caravan could easily just travel around it and it will only add a little time in their travel. Why would they load heavy cargo onto boats for a puddle? That is terrible logistics."

"Exactly Svane, it makes absolutely no sense... if you are traveling on the surface."

Ray said, his eyes gleaming.

Andrade’s head snapped up, her eyes widening as the implication hit her.

"Yesterday, I was finally able to claim my secondary prize, access to the Royal Archives. I was very impressed by the sheer scale of the historical and geological data preserved there."

Ray continued, his voice perfectly even.

Ray tapped the table one final time.

Ghostly, pulsing blue lines materialized on the holographic map. They connected flawlessly to the abrupt dead-ends of the yellow lines. The blue lines didn't go over the mountains; they went under them. They didn't cross the lake; they tunneled beneath the bedrock.

"This is called ‘the Secret Roads,’ A perfectly preserved series of pre-calamity underground highway systems. The Argent Hand’s caravans just drive into the deep woods, enter these tunnels, and come out in a completely different province, bypassing every single Royal Army checkpoint on the surface."

Ray announced, the blue lines weaving a massive, hidden web beneath the entire Kingdom.