Regressor Sect Master

Gomerlia

Zuri Blackpetals focused her mind on the cauldrons in front of her. There were ten cauldrons active at the same time, and yet, it still wasn't enough. The minister slammed the list down, while his handlers placed materials in her workshop.

"We need this by the end of this month, Lady Blackpetals."

"I have not finished-" Zuri couldn't believe how Prince Gomerl's minister just walked in and placed more orders on her desk. It wasn't her desk, but it might as well be. There was already no space for more.

"We need this by the end of this month, Lady Blackpetals. It is not a negotiation. The Prince's personal army will have the pills, or you will be treated accordingly."

Zuri frowned. The threat of punishment was unnecessary. But just when the man left, she felt a strange sensation. There was someone or something else in the room! She instinctively reached for her protective talisman, but within moments, a powerful water element spiritual explosion detonated.

She felt a brief burst of energy, for a split moment she heard the sound of two things colliding. The packages that the minister placed were compromised!

It was too late for Zuri to do anything else, or try to save any of her work.

The compromised shipment detonated. The entire workshop exploded.

She felt a powerful torrent of energy tear through the entire workshop, destroying everything except her powerful spiritual barrier, and could only thank her lucky stars that the talisman activated.

At that same time, multiple other protective formations activated.

These additional protective formations prevented the explosion from destroying the rest of the buildings, but it meant the workshop that she worked in was totally wrecked. She looked around, her protective amulet's charge dwindled as the dust, dirt and smoke from the explosion began to subside.

Three of her assistants, supplied by Prince Gomerl, were killed. Their bodies were partially vaporised by the explosion.

There were already multiple warriors nearby, many of them were Prince Gomerl's personal generals. They were in the sixth and seventh realm.

"Alchemist Blackpetals, are you alright?" One of the Prince's generals asked, while on the lookout for more trouble.

"Yes." Zuri looked around too, thankful that her talisman prevented most of the damage. There was a clear center of explosion, and she wanted to investigate it.

"Don't move, Lady Blackpetals. This matter is now something to be handled by the Prince's Investigative Office." Three more people appeared, there were sixth and seventh realm as well, and they wore a different, blue striped uniform with a special insignia woven into their robes. They were accompanied by ten others. "Collect everything. We must investigate who is responsible for this explosion. Lady Blackpetals, you are to be placed under temporary arrest."

The fact that the explosion used a water-element formation clearly suggested it was an assassination attempt.

Yet, even if she survived, the Investigative Office wasn't one to accept her innocence as a given.

Zuri furrowed her brows, but knew that protesting at this point was useless. She briefly looked around once more and took in a sense of the damage. There were multiple treasures and elixirs destroyed by the explosion. The Prince's private army would have less pills to work with.

Then, she looked at those around her who rushed her at a moment's nice. She noticed a look of understanding from some of the generals that she recognized, but they could not help her.

Not now. Not when everything is 'tense.' One of the Investigative Office elders landed next to her. "Follow me, Lady Blackpetals. If you are innocent, we will free you."

Zuri nodded. It was a nice thing to say, but she didn't trust the elder either. From what she understood, some members of the Investigative Order worked for the other princes, and wanted to undermine Prince Gomerl's faction from within.

Sometimes, it didn't even take compromised officials for damage to be done.

***

"She cannot be trusted, Prince Gomerl." A paranoid minister accused, as they all met in a judgement hall. Prince Gomerl sat on a throne, flanked by many different ministers, including the woman that claims to have his ear.

The Prince held a discussion on the attack on the alchemy workshop that very evening.

One of the Generals stood out. "Lady Blackpetals' pills have been incredibly helpful to the army. I have personally taken many of them and can testify to their quality."

"That was just a ruse to get closer to the Prince." That same paranoid minister accused. "She survived the attack with a protective talisman. The attack destroyed treasures and resources, and set our army back by weeks if not months!"

The chief minister coughed a little loudly.

An investigative office elder stood. "Your majesty, we have arrested the minister that delivered the latest batch of materials to the alchemy workshop as well."

That minister was dragged into the hall in chains. "I am innocent, your majesty! I didn't know that the crates of materials provided by the Treasury were compromised! This is a conspiracy! A plot of the other princes!"

Crates? Zuri realized that the Investigative Officers already concluded the explosion came from the storage crates.

The author's tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

Yet Zuri, who was also in chains, wondered whether it really was the other princes. She looked around and tried to remember the faces of every minister and official in the room. Some looked sad. Some looked afraid. Many just looked indifferent.

Could it be that it is the same folk that tried to stir up trouble during the Prince's Banquet?

"What else did you find?" Prince Gomerl said, while the chief minister whispered into his ears.

"We have also arrested the treasury officials to assist us with our investigation. So far, there does not appear to be any tampering of the materials. Our elders looked at the remnants of the explosion and believe that the boxes and crates themselves contain hidden compartments used to store the powerful explosive artifact."

"Who is behind this?"

"We are not certain, my Prince." The investigative elder answered. "The crates and boxes were provided by the Slicing Heavens Tower's Crafting Division. Two of our investigative officers are on their way to investigate the location and match records."

The chained official screamed and pleaded once more. "I'm innocent, Prince Gomerl! Have mercy!"

Prince Gomerl looked tempted to release him, but the chief minister whispered into his ears. "I understand, but until the investigation is concluded, I cannot free you. Investigative Officers, please ensure that these two are fairly and treated well. They are not guilty based on what I heard so far."

"Understood." The elders said.

Zuri remembered the attack at the banquet, and realized that whoever was behind this is trying to drive a wedge between Prince Gomerl and the Slicing Heavens Tower.

A minister then proposed. "Should we stop use of Slicing Heaven's products until we figure out whether they are compromised?"

Another different minister then added fuel to the fire. "Is the Slicing Heavens trying to change allegiances?"

A few more ministers added their views, and Zuri realized that they were all fanning the flames. She inwardly cursed these spineless ministers, they recommend caution, but at this point it felt like just extreme overreaction to an event.

"How do we know all of their products are safe? Will anyone be checking through all the things that we buy from them?" Another different minister accused, and then even tried to throw a competing minister under the bus. "If you believe we shouldn't overreact and continue to use the SLicing Heaven's goods, you are free to lead the investigation team to doublecheck their goods."

Prince Gomerl rubbed his head. He clearly wasn't very bright. The Chief Minister frowned, and looked at the investigative elder. "Has the Investigative Office considered the possibility that these crates were compromised when they were in our territory?"

Zuri paused. The Investigative Elder nodded. "Yes, Chief Minister Sanesa. Two of my people looking through the storage warehouses now. But it is likely that this is the work of a few highly targeted and experienced individuals, since the explosion appear to be from a dense, water-element Hydrae Flower and Bloomstone based reaction."

"And where are these things commonly found?" Prince Gomerl asked, clearly at the Chief Minister's guidance. The Chief Minister didn't want to alienate the Slicing Heavens either.

"They are mostly found in treasure realms from the Sixth Emperor era, though some Hydrae Flower plants and lakes are still found around Lake Norhan."

The alchemist realized whoever plotted this really wanted to put the Slicing Heavens in a spot, because Lake Norhan was next to the Slicing Heaven's second largest city, Norhan City.

The Chief Minister frowned. She and Prince Gomerl whispered things to each other, while each of the ministers discussed the revelation.

Prince Gomerl looked upset, clearly not liking how the evidence appears to paint their close ally, the Slicing Heavens, as one of the culprits of this attack on the alchemical workshop. "Prepare the flying ships. We'll go meet the Sect Master of the Slicing Heavens and have his people assist us with the investigation."

Investigation Elder nodded and barked commands.

A different official escorted Zuri back into her cell.

***

"I have news from your sect, Lady Blackpetals." One of Zuri's wardens said. The cell was comfortable, and fully equipped. Many mortals would have called it a wonderful, fantastic place to live. It had spiritual protections to prevent people from leaving, or entering, except for a single door.

Yet, despite the worldly comforts, it remains a cell, and Zuri felt trapped, and worried what was happening outside, especially to her brother.

"What happened?" Zuri didn't like the tone of the warden.

"One of your elders accused you and your family of treachery and betrayal, and now accuse you and your brother of going against Prince Gomerl and also the Crimson Lotus Spire."

Her heart sank. The writing was on the wall for some time, but she thought they'd wait till they framed her for a false crime. It seems they couldn't wait any more.

"What did the Sect Master say?"

"There will be a hearing to determine your crimes."

"But it isn't even proven that I am guilty." Zuri frowned, but knew that any hearing wasn't going to happen. It's a plot to have all the parties gathered, and a battle to duke it out.

The warden shrugged. "I have no insight into how your sect works, Lady Blackpetals, but I do have a separate message from your brother. Here."

The letter slipped through the spiritually enhanced door. It was one of the privileges granted to suspects that were not yet found guilty, that they could still communicate with the outside world.

"Our situation back home is unstable, and Sect Master is already under pressure. A battle is due soon. with our current strength is insufficient to assure victory against those plotting against us."

The alchemist slumped, and noted the time. She wondered whether Lord Fox's pill was ready, and not just that, she wondered whether what he made would be good enough for her brother. She had already suspected something was planned against her when she received the Imperial Order from Prince Gomerl.

If the Crimson Lotus falls, even if Zuri was later proven innocent, it would be fairly trivial for the various corrupt ministers to sideline her indirectly, and then eventually eliminate her.

After all, without the backing of a sect, she is just a lone alchemist. Without her brother, the rest of the Blackpetals family would struggle to fend for themselves, especially with the Crimson Lotus now occupied by the other faction.

Her brother must have known. He was too smart not to notice.

Yet, even if her brother really did break through to the 8th realm, she wondered what sort of future that meant for the Crimson Lotus.

They would win the battle, but the Crimson Lotus would suffer as a weakened sect. No, even if they won, the Crimson Lotus's leverage and value to Prince Gomerl would plummet, and thus, she was still vulnerable to the ministers' plots to remove them.

Was that why her brother has been making moves on Lord Fox? The Verdant Snow is a small but unified sect, with a talented sect master. If the Blackpetals family broke away from the Crimson Lotus and joined the Verdant Snow, that would give them a decent combined weight.

No. That is the extreme outcome.

If the Crimson Lotus is weakened, the Verdant Snow is close to the heart of a growing alliance in the region.

The Verdant Snow, Scarlet Thunder, Hailstorm Temple and the Mystical Harbors have been seen visiting each other in recent times, even if it is not yet a formal alliance.

Add a weakened Crimson Lotus to that group and it's still a respectable faction comparable to a high 8th realm sect.

Zuri smiled. Her brother is smart.

She looked at the warden, and nodded. "I have full faith in my sect master to do the right thing. For me here, I'll wait and do my part."