CHAPTER 74: ESCALATING

Chief Stille is in his room at home, smashing anything he can get his hands on. The two women who are usually his playthings can’t calm him down. They huddle in a corner, too afraid to move or speak.

"Those bastards! They dare mock me! And that puny little Montrose girl, she dares pretend I smacked her? I’ll show you how I usually smack ungrateful, useless girls like you!"

He yanks out his phone.

"It’s me. Tell them to run the news."

His knuckles are white from gripping the phone too tightly.

"What do you mean which one?! The one I want!"

He smashes his phone against the floor.

"Why is everyone around me incompetent?!"

"Just you wait, Montrose. You’ll come begging to me very soon."

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Somewhere on Mount Helene, the stone gate suddenly pulses. The symbols on the stone arch glow, and then a blinding light flashes.

The symbols fade immediately afterward, and the stone gate returns to its original state. Silent.

Only the nearby animals are gone.

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"Good morning, Father, Mother," Arthur greets as he enters the dining room. "Looks like I’m the first one here, besides you two."

"Morning, Arthur. And as you wish — Thea just left for training," Leila says, smiling.

"She’s back to training already? Wow. Good for her. Anything interesting in the news, Father?" Arthur sips his coffee.

Maurice lowers the newspaper.

"Are you teasing me, boy? You know already. Your little antic last night has thrown Stille into war mode. What are you going to do next?"

Arthur sets down his cup.

"The usual. We register the extraction rights and start mining as soon as possible."

"You’re going to ignore their demands?" Leila asks, clearly worried.

"I haven’t received any demands from them... officially. And if they think they can use the media to pressure us, they’re wrong."

"But Arthur, they’re part of the city," Julian mumbles from the doorway, yawning. He’s still in pajamas.

"Morning, Jules. Late night?"

Leila hands the coffee pot to Arthur, who pours for Julian.

"While you, Thea, and Liam were playing on stage, I was dealing with an unusual report. There was an energy fluctuation somewhere in Mt. Helene last night. Only for a second. I sent a few drones, but found nothing." He yawns again.

"It might’ve been a glitch, Jules," Arthur says.

Julian stares deadpan.

"My babies don’t glitch."

"Don’t glitch," Arthur echoes with him. "Alright. Your babies don’t usually glitch. But they’re still machines. No matter how rare, glitches are still possible, right?"

Julian pouts.

"Theoretically." He admits it reluctantly. "Any news on the mining process?"

"Yeah. Stille’s making a fuss in the media. He’s demanding we provide proof of dungeon clearance."

"Proof of dungeon clearance? What does that even mean?" Julian frowns.

"Exactly. I think he wants the Azure heartstone."

"But... but... that’s gone, Art! The 51% purity stone, we don’t have it anymore." Julian blinks. He still doesn’t understand why Arthur isn’t bothered.

"We know that. They don’t. And it’s already registered under Thea’s name since the moment I pried it out of her hands. Back then, no one cared about the Azure heartstone, they were focused on the extraction rights."

He pats Julian’s back.

"Relax. I’ve got the certificate. It’s under Thea’s name. And since she named me her proxy last night, it’s effectively mine too. So I can do whatever I want with it. No one can take it."

"And that is why Stille is already fuming this early in the morning," Maurice mutters. "That man is incompetent. Whoever put him in charge of the DEU was stupid."

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"Sir, are you sure we’re running this news?" The timid assistant hesitates. "This seems unprofessional."

"Shut up! What do you know?! Thornfield and Stille are both breathing down my neck! I have no choice!"

"But no other newspaper is publishing the same story..." she whines, terrified to risk her career.

"Maybe not now, but they will. Run it!"

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For the next few days, Arvion enters a weird state of war.

At the edge of Beachwalk, Montrose’s mining crews are blocked by the DEU. They can’t push through unless they get physical.

Arthur doesn’t actually mind going physical, but doing it publicly isn’t wise.

Meanwhile, the media and newspapers split into two factions:

Faction One

Reports the press conference, mining delays, and Montrose Corporation’s actions.

Faction Two

Publishes seemingly unrelated articles... but each day, the tone grows sharper.

The first article appears the day after the press conference.

The headline reads:

"Theodora Montrose, the Azure Princess, Has No Fashion Sense."

It goes into obsessive detail analyzing Theo’s clothing that night. The article basically says:

Judging from her outfit, Theodora doesn’t look like someone capable of delivering the "killing blow" to a Dungeon King. Her clothes made her appear fragile, innocent, and too young, who would believe someone like that could slay a Dungeon King?

Then the next few articles go on to over-analyze Theo’s clothes every time he appears in public, from before he went into a coma, up to a few days ago when he was seen with Liam at the shopping arcade.

Some articles even interview a fashion blogger; others quote a fashion designer. There are talk shows that dissect Theo’s fashion sense too. At first, they are only discussing Theo... but soon they move on to Leila, pointing out how she’s "just a lady who recently came into money."

Then another set of articles appears. These ones claim that the Montroses are a family that only recently rose to prominence, and that they need support from other established families. The "fastest way," they say, is to sell their youngest daughter to Monfort Industries.

These articles are backed by photos of Liam entering the Montrose Estate almost every day, staying for hours, and sometimes not leaving until after dinner.

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Leila puts down the tabloid with a huff. She’s clearly not happy with what she just read. On the table, the headline reads:

It’s the fifth day. The Monfort Heir just entered Montrose Estate. Dare we speculate how long he’s staying today?

She’s sitting in her office at Montrose Mansion — the building Theo always calls Montrose Castle.

She knows these articles are just their enemies’ way of stirring chaos, but she doesn’t have to like it. She thinks about how both Liam and Theo have been training diligently.

Her children had invited Liam to train at Theo’s gym, since it’s the only place with an HB program installed. Julian is working hard to install another one at Montrose HQ in Arvion, but it isn’t as easy as it sounds.

They’re doing what they believe is best, trying to keep Sentinels safer, and yet those vultures only care about their own pockets.

"If you don’t like it, why read it?" Maurice walks in and spots the tabloids.

"I want to know what lies they’ve spun this time."

Leila accepts a kiss from her husband.

"I’m sorry, Leila. I’m sorry they’re dragging you into this. Arthur feels bad too — he’s really apologetic and—"

"Don’t worry. I don’t care about that."

She shakes her head. "It’s just... they’re pushing themselves to train every day so they can reduce the risks Sentinels face, and yet those people don’t care. Aren’t the Sentinels their family too?"

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"That’s amazing, Thea!" Liam applauds.

Theo is panting, completely out of breath. He can’t say anything, but his expression makes it obvious he’s happy.

Both he and Liam have been training in his gym using the HB. Liam is training under Aldriana’s instructions, passed through Theo.

Liam feels bad about Theo acting as Aldriana’s messenger, so he offered to be Theo’s personal trainer — which Theo immediately agreed to. He doesn’t know the first thing about training a woman’s body for stamina or anything else.

But Liam’s training works wonders. Theo can feel this body getting stronger; it’s becoming a little easier to detect mana, and his mana pool is growing too.

Liam, on the other hand — even though he still can’t "feel" his surroundings — has unexpectedly gained something: he can now move faster, react sharper, and stay more in tune with everything happening around him. His reflexes are quicker than before.

"Thea." Liam calls after a few seconds of silence.

"Hmm?" Theo answers absent-mindedly. He’s not ready for another set — if Liam wants him to move, he can wait.

"Are you really okay with the articles?"

Theo frowns. "Articles?"

"Yeah, you know... the articles about your fashion sense and... you being sold off." Liam lowers his voice. He doesn’t care about those rumors himself, but he’s worried about Theo — being a woman and all.

Theo laughs — despite still being out of breath — which immediately sends him into a coughing fit.

"Thea! Are you okay? Here, drink this. Slowly. Jeez." Liam rushes over and helps him drink.

Theo has to sip slowly and focus on regulating his breathing until he calms down.

"Oh, okay," Theo exhales. "That was funny. You’re a funny guy, Liam." He laughs again.

Liam looks confused. "What’s so funny about me asking that?"

"You do know those articles are just our enemies trying to drive a wedge between our families, right?"

"Yeah, I know that."

"Then why ask me? I know it too."

"Well..." Liam struggles for the words. "You’re a young woman and... I don’t know. I guess I always hear Claudia saying reputation is important for women."

"Well, I don’t know about you, but my reputation is intact." Theo grins. "Come on, let’s have lunch at the patio and forget about those nasty articles."

"Then after lunch, we’ll go do one HB, okay?"