As always, Sven woke up and washed his face. While he sipped on his langlong mushroom decoction, Herman stepped away. Sven decided it was the perfect time to test his new ability. He spotted a minotaur gardener outside.
Sven raised his hands. He turned his right palm toward himself, forming a right angle with his thumb and index finger; he did the same with his left, but facing outward. Framing the gardener within this "viewfinder," Sven cast Hex.
He saw no visual sign of the spell, but he felt a sudden, tethered connection to the gardener. He knew the man's pulse; he knew the exact distance between them.
'Usually, in the book and the game, people could feel when a spell was cast on them or being prepared. Why doesn't he feel a thing?' Sven wondered. But the answer came quickly: 'Folk like him usually grow up in the slums. They have no skills and no way to learn how to sense mana.'
A notification buzzed on his smartphone. His father, Arthur, was rushing him. Sven tossed aside his robe and quickly pulled on a turtleneck, jeans, and a dark coat. He grabbed his phone, his artifact chain, a pen, and his sketchbook.
Sven hurried down to the garage and climbed into his father's SUV. They pulled out and hit the road.
The Laocard mansion was on the outskirts of town. As Arthur drove along the secondary highway, Sven watched the city pass by—a clash of Brutalist and Industrial styles, with the occasional Baroque government building standing out in the mix.
'The Golden Dragons and the Blue Roses might have been different principalities centuries ago, but since they merged into a federation, so much time has passed that these clans now live in the same city.'
Sven dozed off for half the trip, making the three-hour drive feel instantaneous. When they arrived, they stepped out of the car to see a two-story mansion nestled in the forest on a hill. It lacked any outbuildings or sheds, giving it a solitary look. The architecture was "Eastern Rococo," topped with a striking green roof.
Following his father, Sven entered the mansion. A page met them and led them to the drawing room. It was massive—just as large as the one in their own home. It was a "red room" with simple wooden floors. Long tables were arranged in a "U" shape, groaning under the weight of the feast: spicy tripe-cucumber salad, massive iron platters of griffon and axebeak meat, and jugs of katar-berry juice.
The room was packed with heads of the most influential clans: 'Drayfield La,' 'Munzig,' 'Ryuken,' 'Steel Veins,' and 'Dark Hound.' There were about twenty-one high-ranking beings in total, excluding the staff.
Arthur took a seat at the far end, where the clan heads and primary heirs were gathered. At the head table sat: Nil Dar, head of the Ryuken clan (a green lizard-humanoid), and his heir Guru Dar; Zig Munzig; Emma Barnum; Vangor Ermis; Laya Gredal, the Forest Fox heiress (attending without her parents); Otto Jergal of the Dark Hounds; the birthday girl Bo-Woo Lan; and her father, Kim Wu Lan.
The seating followed a strict hierarchy: the closer to the door, the younger or lower-status the guest. Sven found himself in the middle of the table, picking at some Rothé meat—a creature resembling a stout orca on four legs with tentacles for a tail.
As he ate, Sven stole glances at the key players of the upcoming "Hill Outskirts Incident." In the original story, three characters were involved: Sarra Jergal, Bo-Woo Lan, and Sven Laocard himself.
'After the first meal, the adults will leave the heirs under the supervision of servants so they can discuss business in private,' Sven recalled. 'Bo-Woo, upset that her father isn't giving her any attention on her birthday, will sneak off into the forest with her inner circle.'
Sven's expression flickered.
'But now, I'm not in her social circle. In sixteen years, I haven't managed to become a true friend to her, so she won't invite me. I need a plan.'
'There are three exits from the mansion. Bo-Woo picked one of them, but I can't remember which. The main exit is out—she knows the guards are posted there. Then there are the servant passages—there could be anywhere from one to nine of them, and they rotate which ones are open daily. Since she spends every summer here, she likely knows them all. But the house is full of guests, and servants are constantly using those paths to bring food and drink. That leaves the back exit... the one with the lightest security.'
Sven rubbed his chin, racketing his brain to remember exactly how they had slipped away in the original timeline.