The evening descended into night, and many continued to dine. But it wasn't long until Northern withdrew himself to the airship. As soon as Eisha saw him leave, she followed a few moments later. Sael was conscious enough to do the same, while everyone else either chatted with each other or drank.

Ellis seemed to be having an extraordinarily generous amount of wine.

Although Ryugan didn't produce strongly alcoholic drinks and banned the importation of some, their milder alcohols still depended on individual capacity. Moreover, as long as one was a Drifter, it was permissible for them to drink, so everyone in the hall passed that threshold automatically.

Northern leaned on the rim of the airship and was thinking. Of course, the real him was still in the Grand Archive, busy drinking in wells and wells of knowledge.

The night in Ryugan was beautiful. The sky was dark, and the clouds were arranged as if the subtle flowing waves of an ocean at night had been captured and painted into the heavens. The moons were barely visible, but an edge of their circumference peeked through the clouds, making the mountains glow faintly.

Northern could see the vastness of this section of the mountain from where he leaned. The lower rings were where other settlements sat. The middle rings too. Currently, they were in the upper ring — the segment where powerful nobles and the royal family resided.

But Northern couldn't see most of it because he stood on the dock, which was like a cutout into the mountain itself. Structures of metallic platforms had been built here to hold the greatest of air vessels.

It was actually quite impressive that the dock could hold Thunderhead Dreadnought so well. Northern imagined it crushing beneath the weight of the airship but immediately killed the thought.

If Ryugan could build a dock like this, they had to have an airship comparable to Thunderhead Dreadnought. Maybe not in might, but certainly in size.

"How did your conversation with the King go?"

Northern was not surprised by the sound of his mother's voice. Her feet had been absolutely silent against the deck, but he'd already sensed her coming since the moment she left the hall and walked into the airship harbor.

He smiled, receiving Silver from her. The little girl was fast asleep, yet Northern cradled her in his arms with a delighted smile.

"My discussion with the King." He glanced at his mother, his expression dimming. "He has a sick wife and wishes to not fight. Well, let's say… is considering not fighting."

Eisha placed her hand over her mouth gently as it widened slightly in surprise.

But Northern immediately smiled at her.

"Do not worry. I intend to take a look at her and find a cure for whatever is wrong with her."

She looked at him with doubt.

"Really? How can you?"

Northern offered his mother a gentle smile that bordered on the edge of smug.

"I'm very talented, hehe…"

She raised a brow, looking at her son like he was some fraud.

Northern exhaled.

"I can see in a way nobody else can. I'm sure you must know about me from Anike…"

Eisha's eyes changed slightly.

"Oh… well, yes, she did. But does it work with that? This is a medical condition…"

Northern looked at his mother keenly.

"It's simply analysis. My eyes can analyze anything, and I have a unique part of me that has the ability to copy whatever I analyze. My suspicion is that the King's wife has some sort of soul essence deficiency affecting her soul. I should be able to deal with it if that's what it is."

Eisha folded her arms over her chest and looked at him sternly.

"And if it's not…?"

Northern paused for a moment. He was actually silent.

'I haven't exactly considered that.'

There were very few times where Northern had been wrong, especially since becoming a Daemon. He smiled a little and looked at his mother.

"I'm quite confident, Mother."

Eisha shrugged. "I know you are… but if there's one thing I know, it's the austere manner in which life operates. It's no friend of anyone and not exactly anyone's enemy either. You should prepare for failure with the same effort and expectations you used to prepare for success."

Northern was silent.

He wanted to think that his mom wouldn't understand, but then... it probably wasn't about this case specifically. Recently, he had been overconfident — and of course, that was because he was now strong enough to back up the weight of his words.

But Eisha's words were as precious as his current state of being. He was going to treasure them.

He looked at his mother seriously.

"What do you suggest I do then, Mother?"

Eisha looked down, silent for a few moments, her gaze locked downward as she dove into a river of thoughts behind her eyes.

Then she turned to Northern.

"How about I just join you? I spent almost fifty years in Stuart tending to plants and flowers. I'm sure there'll be something for her when I see her symptoms, so how about I just follow you?"

'Ah, right.'

For a moment, Northern had almost forgotten that Eisha used to work with a lot of herbs — and then he and Shin would collect more for her anytime they went hunting. She even had a small flower garden behind the house.

'So it was all from her time as an elf.'

Northern was still smiling at Eisha, making her raise a suspicious brow at him.

"What?"

Northern chuckled. "I'll talk to the King about it first and get back to you."

"Alright then." Eisha said it, but still fixed Northern with a stern glare. "I know that's not what that was about. What is going on in your head?"

Northern was silent for a moment. Then he said to his mother, Silver still cradled in his hands:

"I've just been wondering recently… you're an elf… how do you look?"

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