Isaac stood behind Selene and slowly worked his fingers into her shoulders while she looked through the stack of documents on the desk.
During the past few days, Selene had barely rested. She had been dealing with crop sales, negotiations, supply routes, and the constant adjustments needed to keep their plan moving. The pace had not slowed once.
Dark circles were visible beneath her eyes.
She flipped through another document and let out a tired sigh. Then she leaned her head slightly to the side and cracked her neck before relaxing back into the chair. Her shoulders loosened a little under Isaac’s hands as he continued the massage.
A small smile appeared on Isaac’s lips.
At the beginning she had not even allowed him to touch her. Every time he got close she would stiffen up or step away, her face turning red from embarrassment. But after several days of him insisting that she clearly needed help relaxing, she had finally relented.
Now the massages had become a daily routine.
Selene sighed again and finally closed the document she had been reading.
She rubbed her brows and covered her face with one hand before speaking.
"How is it going on your end, Isaac?"
"With the possible ally kingdoms or with Sword Empress?" he asked.
"Both."
Isaac paused for a moment as he thought about the situation.
"For the other ally kingdoms, I’m slowly working to bring them to our side. The information Avery has is proving very useful, but there are still a lot of problems. For one thing, they can’t send their full armies. The distance alone makes that difficult, and most of them have their own conflicts to deal with. At best they can send a few of their top level fighters."
He continued massaging her shoulders while speaking,
"And even that will take time. Weeks at minimum before they arrive here."
Selene listened quietly.
"As for Sword Empress... Let’s just say I haven’t been cut down yet, so it’s probably going well."
Selene slowly turned her head and looked back at him.
"Probably? What do you mean probably?" she asked.
Isaac simply shrugged.
Selene stared at him for a moment and then pouted slightly when she realized he was avoiding the question. She had been planning to steer the conversation toward the interrogation that had taken place earlier in the Sword Empress’s camp. The lie detection test had been a major risk for him.
But Isaac clearly saw the question coming and had already sidestepped it.
"Fine," she said, sulking as she crossed her arms lightly. "Don’t tell me anything. It’s just me who tells everything to you."
Isaac chuckled quietly.
Over the past few weeks the two of them had grown much closer than he had expected. Selene had always been composed and professional in front of others, but when it was just the two of them she sometimes showed surprisingly cute expressions. Seeing her pout like this was still something Isaac had not gotten used to.
"So," Isaac said after a moment, "how is it going on your end?"
Selene exhaled slowly and leaned back into the chair again.
"The sales are good. Quite good, actually."
She tapped the documents lightly.
"Your crops are too good. That’s the problem."
Isaac raised an eyebrow.
"That sounds like a good problem."
"It would be if we were doing normal business. Right now I have to spend extra manpower just hiding your identity from the buyers. If they find out who produced these crops it will create unnecessary incidents. Some people will try to monopolize the supply. Others will try to steal it. We don’t have time to deal with that."
She paused and rubbed her temples again.
"The biggest problem is still time."
Isaac listened quietly.
"Trying to put pressure on the regions where soldiers loyal to the Sword Empress’s family are stationed is harder than expected. The business part itself is easy. Honestly, I can even give losing deals to the buyers if needed," she said.
She grimaced slightly.
"Even though it makes my heart bleed."
Isaac laughed.
Selene glanced back at him.
"You’re laughing?"
"You’re worried about losing money in a Trial where none of this is real. That’s impressive gree— ahem, dedication."
Selene snorted. "This is not about greed. It’s about principles."
"Principles?" Isaac said.
"Yes. A true businesswoman should never enjoy making a bad deal."
"Sure. That’s definitely what this is."
Before he could say anything else, Selene reached back and pinched his hand.
"Ouch."
"I’m not greedy," she said firmly.
Isaac laughed again while rubbing the spot she had pinched.
"Of course not."
Selene shook her head and returned her attention to the documents.
"Anyway," she continued after a moment, "even though the sales are good, everything is moving slower than I hoped. The supply chains need to be redirected, merchants need to be persuaded, and rumors need to spread carefully. I’m honestly not sure if we’ll manage to make soldiers desert the Sword Empress’s army in time."
"Don’t worry about it too much. We just need to do our best," he replied.
For a moment neither of them spoke. The quiet room and the steady rhythm of Isaac’s hands slowly eased some of the tension from Selene’s shoulders.
After another minute she muttered softly.
"You’re surprisingly good at this."
"At massages?"
"Yes."
Isaac chuckled.
"I’ve had practice."
Selene turned her head slightly.
"With who?"
Isaac smiled but didn’t answer.
Selene narrowed her eyes at him.
"...You know what, I’m not sure I want to know."
Isaac laughed.
...
Isaac blinked.
His head felt heavy.
For a moment his vision was blurry, and when it finally cleared he saw nothing but white.
The sky was white.
The ground was white.
There was no horizon and no visible boundary.
Isaac raised a hand and pressed his fingers against his temple.
A dull ache throbbed inside his head.
"Right," he murmured quietly.
The interrogation.
Memories began returning to him piece by piece.
The questioning.
The hypnosis.
The truth spell.
A wry smile slowly appeared on his face.
’I really did say all of that.’
Even though revealing those things had been part of his plan from the start, Isaac knew very well that he would never have spoken about them so openly if he had been fully conscious.
Hypnosis had removed his usual restraint.
Still, the result had been exactly what he wanted.
Isaac exhaled slowly and looked around the endless white space again.
’I wonder how Alice’s interrogation went.’
He scratched his cheek.
’If she asks how I passed mine... I’m definitely dodging that conversation.’
The reason was simple.
If Alice learned that the Sword Empress could sense them at night, it would only be a matter of time before Celia and the others found out as well.
And Isaac could already imagine the chaos that would follow.
He sighed quietly.
Thinking about Celia, Emily, and Catherine brought a faint sense of melancholy.
He had spent several weeks inside this Trial.
Long enough that he was beginning to miss them.
’I wonder how much time has passed outside,’ Isaac thought.
The Trial world had never clarified whether time flowed differently compared to the outside world.
It could be time dilation.
Or it could be perfectly synchronized.
Either possibility was slightly concerning.
Fortunately, Isaac did not have to particularly worry about their safety.
Emily alone made the city incredibly secure.
Her ability to resurrect monsters meant that once she finished taming the ghosts from the Great Dungeon, the city would effectively have an army of powerful undead guardians.