Chương 126: Chapter 125: Dinner at Ten Thousand Meters

Still inside Station 50's twelve-hour maintenance deferment, the astronomical observation deck on Floor 55 of the World Tower was a massive crystal sphere jutting out into open sky, ten thousand meters above the ground. Beyond the reinforced glass, the night sky spread out like black velvet studded with millions of stars, close enough that it seemed like you could reach out and touch them.

Below their feet, a sea of clouds rolled and drifted, catching the golden light of the Solaris capital and the deep violet glow of the Demon Realm of Tartarus, the two colors bleeding into each other like an endless oil painting. At the center of the glass-domed observation lounge stood a small table with a white linen cloth, two plates of fruit, and a bottle of alcohol-free starberry cordial from the dwarven cellars.

Lucian sat back in his chair, dressed in a crisp black silk shirt stitched with silver thread, a magitech telescope raised toward the rail lines far below. He cut off a bite of steak, chewed, and muttered to himself, running numbers.

"Floor 50's fully online now. If we put three more micro-broadcast relay stations up here on Floor 55, Vance Commerce's communication network could cover all seven empires..." Swish. The sound of silk skirts on the glass floor came from behind him. Eleanor stepped out of the elevator. She'd traded her stiff knight's uniform for an elegant evening gown, her golden hair pinned loosely with a jeweled clip, catching the moonlight as she smiled. She walked around the table and took the seat across from him.

Eleanor rested her elbows on the jade tabletop, tilting her head to take in the sweep of stars beyond the glass, and spoke quietly.

"Lucian... standing at the highest point in the world, what do you see?" Lucian didn't look up from the telescope, answering in the same even tone as before.

"I see the potential for a magitech communication satellite network. Could charge broadcast fees across the whole continent. Rough estimate — five hundred million gold a year, clean." This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there. Eleanor laughed softly and shook her head. She set her cordial glass down.

"And here I thought I only saw an idiot hiding behind numbers so he wouldn't have to deal with how he feels." She looked at him for a long moment, the teasing fading from her expression.

"Lucian Vance." She said his name plainly.

"I don't need you to be some world-saving hero. I don't need you to give up your greed or your practicality either. I just want to know one thing." She folded her hands on the table.

"Somewhere in that whole retirement plan of yours... is there a place in it for me? For good?" Lucian went still. Ting! Ting! Ting! The Unified System V2. 0 panel appeared: [OBSERVABLE HOST STATUS] Heart rate: 165 BPM Speech latency: abnormal Host has stopped calculating prices for 4. 8 seconds. [SYSTEM ASSESSMENT: FEELINGS HAVE TEMPORARILY DISRUPTED ACCOUNTING.] Every spreadsheet, every trade contract, every logical defense algorithm running in the back of Lucian's mind went quiet, all at once.

He looked at her — really looked at her — and swallowed once. He didn't look away, and he didn't reach for a counter-argument. He set the telescope down, met her eyes, and spoke low and clear.

"Keeping you around isn't cheap. Flowers, wardrobe, political insurance premiums — it all adds up." The corner of his mouth curved into a rare, warm smile.

"But my retirement portfolio's still got room in it. For a princess. Long-term." Eleanor's eyes went wide, and then she laughed — a real laugh, bright and a little disbelieving, blinking back something suspiciously close to tears.

"... You really can't just say something nice without pricing it first, can you." OONG... At the exact expiry of the twelve-hour deferment, the observation-deck console flashed. Station 50's authenticated maintenance network had unlocked an emergency service transit line to Floor 60. FWOOSH! BOOM! A deep-red targeting beam swept across the outside of the dome—harmless guide light marking the firing solution while annihilation energy gathered on the floors above.

The tower's entire magitech alarm system screamed to life, sirens shrieking through every level: [MAXIMUM ALERT: THE APEX JUDGMENT SENTINEL ON FLOOR 60 HAS ACTIVATED!] Status: World Purification Laser Cannon has reached 100% charge! Target lock: All life on the continent's surface! Eleanor rose to her feet, dabbing lightly at the corner of her eye, right hand already closing around the hilt of the Royal Holy Sword, blue eyes lit with battle-ready resolve.

Lucian stood beside her, straightened the snow-rose pin on his chest, drew his silver dagger, and spun it once around his finger. The corner of his mouth curled into a cold, confident grin as he looked up at the blazing red beam overhead.

"I finally get one nice night and something already wants to wreck it?" He nodded toward the newly opened service lift.

"Come on, Princess. Let's head up to Floor Sixty. Time to smash that judgment machine to scrap."