From Moving Crates to Killing Gods-Chapter 98: Citadel Minister

Damian unfolded a rough map across the desk and pinned the corners down with silver weights, the paper already marked with circles and crossed lines.

"The safe path will run through this path I’ve signaled." he said while moving his finger across the map. "As you know, it’s filled with Corruptors, but your journey through the wasteland was as well, and here you are."

I leaned forward to study it. A thin penciled line stretched from a marked point in the wasteland to Argent’s outer wall. It looked simple on paper. Everything dangerous did. Maps had a way of making cliffs look like minor inconveniences and monster territories look like scenic routes.

"You will have help from other Ones." He continued calmly. "Jim and Coll will accompany the group. Jim can fly and Coll runs really fast."

That caught me off guard. I had seen both of them around the Spire since I returned, Jim adjusting his glasses while muttering over logistics, Coll with his long beard and no hair, moving through hallways with the restless energy of someone who could cross a room in two steps if he wanted. Flying and extreme speed. I could see how they survived the exile.

We had never actually worked together though. Just brief exchanges and the kind of nod you give someone you recognize but do not know.

"They know what to do." Damian said, watching me closely as if he could read the hesitation. "Jim has surveyed sections of the wasteland before. Coll can cover distance faster than anything out there."

"And what role will my group play on this mission?" I asked.

"Your ability serves two purposes." he replied, holding my gaze. "You clear whatever threatens the route. Anything that could interrupt construction or endanger the group. And you carry silver."

I blinked. "I carry silver...?"

"You run it." Damian said without inflection. "From source to location. Finn will be building the path and he needs silver to do that. You are fast enough and strong enough to supply him. Think of it as training."

There it was. Damian never assigned simple tasks. Apparently my role was a very dangerous delivery service.

"Phinyx manages visibility and morale." Damian continued. "If the group is spotted or exhaustion becomes a problem, he handles it."

So Phinyx would keep us calm, invisible, and emotionally stable while the rest of us built a road through a monster infested wasteland. Good to know someone had manageable responsibilities.

"Coco’s role will be to source dark water." Damian replied. "As much as he can produce."

He paused briefly. "Kira will grow vines using the dark water. It will work as structure and cover."

I leaned back slowly.

Kira cultivating vines with dark water. Coco flooding the ground with it. Finn laying the physical path while I sprinted silver across open wasteland like an extremely motivated mule. Phinyx keeping everyone calm and hidden while Coll and Jim did... whatever a Jim and a Coll would do together.

There were a lot of moving parts.

"It’s quite a big operation." I said.

"Yes." Damian agreed evenly. "It is."

"But it does not need to be completely finished."

He studied me for a moment before answering. "Progress is what matters. A partial corridor is already more than we have."

That was the closest thing to reassurance I had ever heard from him, which meant the situation was either worse than I thought or he was in a rare generous mood. I was betting on the first.

I tapped my fingers once against the armrest while thinking it through. Running between Finn and a silver source would be a tough training routine.

My constitution had improved since the exile, but sustained running across broken terrain while carrying a lot of weight was a different kind of punishment.

And as if that was not enough, if any silver snake or a Corruptor decided to attack, it would be my responsibility to take care of it.

It was a complete training loop disguised as infrastructure work.

Damian was infuriating in the most functional way possible. He could probably convince someone that getting stabbed was a valuable learning experience.

"Rolen could speed this up." I said. "If passive mobs run silver for Finn instead of just me, we would cut supply time in half."

Damian’s expression did not change. "Rolen is unavailable."

"Unavailable?" I asked. "He is domesticating mobs right now, I could just..."

"He is occupied." Damian interrupted, his tone final and flat.

I studied his face for a moment but there was nothing there to read. That was the problem with Damian. His neutral expression was impenetrable. Most people went neutral when hiding something small. Damian’s neutral could hide a strategy, a secret, grief about his dead son that he never even mentioned once, or absolutely nothing.

Still, something about it felt wrong.

Rolen has always been busy. I had assumed it had something to do with the farm systems or the passive mobs.

Now I was not so sure.

"Understood." I said, keeping my voice even.

Damian gave a small nod. "You leave in two days. Rest and prepare your equipment." He folded the map with precise corners.

I stood and moved toward the door.

"Allaran." Damian called quietly.

I stopped.

"The corridor is not only for the safety of the exiles." he said. "If we ever need to move people out of Argent. That path must exist." 𝓯𝙧𝙚𝒆𝙬𝙚𝒃𝙣𝙤𝒗𝓮𝓵.𝙘𝙤𝙢

I left the office and walked down the dark stone corridor, the hum of the building steady underfoot. Outside the tall window at the far end, the wasteland stretched pale and gray into the distance.

Two days. A corridor. A team with new integrants I barely knew, working beside the people I trusted most.

And Rolen, busy with something Damian refused to name.

I kept walking, but the thought stayed with me.

Rolen always seemed proactive to help others. So whatever had him occupied enough to skip an assignment this large, it was not because he wanted to.

Someone had made sure he was somewhere else.

I slowed slightly as another thought followed.

Almost everyone was involved in this project. Finn, Kira, Coco, Phinyx, Coll, Jim and me.

Everyone.

Except Rolen.

And the Citadel Minister.