The meeting was set for three days later.

  The location was an estate on the western side of Moray Territory, originally used by the old Earl for entertaining guests. It had an open training ground and several spacious halls. Allen had it cleaned in advance, food and wine prepared, and asked Eagle to clear away any unnecessary people from the surroundings.

  Werner arrived with one attendant. He looked over the layout of the estate upon entering and said nothing.

  Allen received him at the entrance, exchanged a few words of greeting, and led him into the main hall where they took their seats as host and guest.

  After the first round of wine, the atmosphere had loosened somewhat from what it had been at the post station. Werner leaned back in his chair, looking over the furnishings of the hall, and said suddenly: "I heard that Moray Territory has recently brought in an inheritance master?"

  Allen's expression did not change. He set down his cup and tilted his chin toward the doorway.

  "He happens to be here today. If you are interested, I can have someone bring him in."

  Werner nodded, his expression casual, as though he were simply filling time.

  In less than a moment, footsteps sounded from the corridor.

  When Del walked into the hall, he wore a plain deep-grey robe, the collar and cuffs unadorned. He looked young. He did not walk quickly. On entering he gave Werner a small nod in greeting, then sat down where Allen indicated.

  There was nothing extraneous in any of it. He was as ordinary as a schoolteacher from the next street coming to a casual meal.

  Werner looked him over for a moment. "Inheritance master? What lineage do you teach?"

  "Some old local methods," Del said, his voice flat, his pace unhurried. "In the area around Moray Territory, there were once several miner families whose generations made their living in the mining districts. They developed a form of body technique built on strength and endurance. Nothing refined — but solid." He paused. "If you have seen the martial styles of the northern territories, you would find it much the same. Nothing remarkable."

  Werner listened and indeed did not press further. He picked up his cup and drank.

  The three of them sat as the conversation drifted idly — from the territory's climate to the roads in the north, then to recent changes in several of the Empire's trade routes. Del listened for the most part, occasionally contributing a sentence, always something inconsequential, like an outsider who was not particularly at ease with social occasions.

  After the third round of wine, Werner set down his cup, looked at Allen, and his tone became a degree more direct than before.

  "Young master did not invite me here today merely to eat."

  Allen did not deny it. He did not answer immediately either. He turned his cup slowly in his hands, then raised his head, his tone lighter than usual — the way one speaks to a friend.

  "You have been examining our accounts for so many days, it has been no small effort. I have felt uneasy about it and wanted to find an occasion to express that." He paused. "I also wanted to ask you something — was the Audit Bureau's visit this time a matter of standard procedure, or was it pushed forward by someone in particular?"

  The hall went quiet for a moment.

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  Werner glanced at him. The corner of his mouth moved slightly. He did not answer, but turned the question back: "Why does young master ask?"

  "Because for matters of accounts, standard procedure does not require the Audit Bureau," Allen said. "The Ministry of Works would be sufficient."

  Werner raised his cup but did not drink, holding it in his hand, silent for a moment.

  At that moment Del spoke, his tone still that same unhurried flatness, as though talking to himself.

  "There is an old saying among the miner families——" He looked at the cup on the table. "The worst thing in a fight is not losing. It is letting the other side figure out how you move. A true veteran never shows their hand in the first bout."

  The hall was quiet again for a second.

  Werner moved his gaze from Allen to Del and studied him for a moment. Then he smiled slowly — the kind of smile that comes when someone has seen through you and you find yourself relieved rather than guarded.

  He set his cup back on the table.

  "The Audit Bureau's visit this time," he said, his tone half a degree quieter than before, "came about because someone submitted a petition stating that the casualty figures from the northern accident did not add up, and recommending a full investigation." He paused. "The person who submitted the petition has certain ties to the Holy Cross Church."

  Allen listened and did not hurry to speak.

  Werner continued: "But once the petition reached me, it became a different matter. I examine accounts. That is what I examine — nothing else." He looked at Allen. "Young master's accounts have no problems."

  "Then your report……"

  "Will be written as the facts stand," Werner said. "Ore vein exhaustion, declining output, accident scale consistent with reported losses. Church personnel entered an unstable tunnel, encountered a collapse, and perished." He raised his cup. "That is all."

  Allen nodded slowly and raised his cup. "Thank you."

  The two glasses met.

  Del sat to the side and did not raise his cup. He only pushed his own cup forward slightly as acknowledgment, then leaned back in his chair again, as though entirely indifferent to what had just been said.

  The meal concluded after two more cups of tea had passed.

  When Werner and his attendant left, Allen saw them to the estate entrance and watched the carriage turn past the courtyard wall and disappear into the night before turning back.

  Del stood in the estate's corridor, his back to Allen, looking out at the night beyond the walkway.

  Allen walked over and stood beside him. "It worked," he said quietly.

  "Mm."

  "Master," Allen paused, "that saying from the miner families — is it a real saying, or……"

  "Made up," Del said.

  Allen was silent for a moment, suppressing an urge to laugh.

  Del turned and took two steps, then stopped without turning back.

  "Did you notice — Werner, throughout the entire evening, never once asked where the combat inheritance hall is located."

  Allen stilled.

  "A person who is genuinely here only to examine accounts would be curious about something new." Del's voice was calm. "He didn't ask. Which means he already knew before he arrived."

  Allen stood where he was and turned the words over in his mind. His expression slowly darkened.

  "So his understanding of us……"

  "Is deeper than you assumed," Del said. "His willingness today to tell you where the petition came from — that was to make you feel he is someone you can work with." He paused. "But a person who has done their homework in advance is never a simple collaborator."

  The wind in the corridor stirred the plants outside with a soft sound.

  Allen lowered his head and said nothing.

  Del walked on, his footsteps still carrying that soundless lightness. At the end of the corridor he spoke one last line.

  "Go back and think carefully — of everything he said today, which parts were true, and which parts were said for your benefit."

  Then he was gone, into the darkness of the turning.

  Allen stood alone in the corridor for a long time.

  The night wind blew in from outside the estate, making the corridor's lamplight sway and then settle.

  Far away, somewhere underground, the chip's notification appeared quietly in Del's field of vision.

  [Core Reinforcement · Black Steel Bone] Parse Progress: 100% Black Buddha Core fusion successful. Bone density and toughness have reached near-metallic levels. Neural reaction speed simultaneously reinforced. Additional 20% explosive force within the domain has been activated.

  Del walked through the underground corridor without pausing, only closing his right hand into a fist.

  Something in his bones had fully solidified — like loose grains of sand sintered under pressure into a single piece of stone. Dense, heavy, but not burdensome. The kind of weight that is held inside, not carried on the surface.

  Three nodes. All complete.

  He opened his fist and walked on.

  The blue mineral light of the underground lit his back. The quiet chamber was still a long way ahead.

  Deep in the corridor, on one of the rock faces, the fine crack was gone.