Lucien returned to Lootwell first.

He left Vivian in the Celestial Dominion with Virel and Aniel. Seraphine stayed as well, along with the Mirrorhorn Duants, both because their role in the cure had earned real gratitude and because the Celestials themselves insisted on accommodating them properly.

A great feast would be held in a week once the Dominion had fully stabilized and Virel and Aniel had recovered their strength enough to stand before their people again.

Lucien had every intention of returning for it.

But first—

Lootwell.

He had been away too long.

There were too many decisions there that still needed his hand. Eirene had never once complained. That only made the guilt worse.

So he left.

The teleportation array carried him cleanly back into Lootwell, and the moment he arrived in the central office, he knew his instincts had been correct.

Eirene was drowning in work.

Elegantly.

But drowning nonetheless.

The office had become a battlefield made of stacked reports.

Elias was there too, surrounded by organized pressure.

Several assistants worked nearby.

Kael was there too, helping eased the burden.

Eirene noticed Lucien’s arrival first.

She lifted her head, met his gaze, and gave him a small soft smile that somehow managed to feel like both relief and composure at once.

"Welcome home," she said.

The words were simple.

But after the strain of the past week, the greeting landed deeper than Lucien expected.

Warmth moved through him almost instantly.

"I’m back," he answered.

Then, because there was no sense standing there looking touched while the office visibly suffered, he stepped into the work as though he had never left.

He took the nearest pile of documents. Stamped the urgent ones. Sorted the obvious ones. Discarded two redundancies without asking permission. Signed one contract draft. Corrected a transport notation error.

And within minutes, he had integrated into the flow so smoothly that the whole room seemed to breathe easier.

•••

The work itself pleased Lucien more than he expected.

Eirene had organized everything beautifully.

The documents had already been sorted into functional streams. Regional branch work, internal territorial maintenance, external collaboration requests, chapel growth, market stability, automaton interest, training-division notes, shadow-route updates, and special matters all moved in separate but coordinated lines.

Lucien glanced sideways at Eirene while signing another set of confirmations.

Then he stared at the reports again.

Among the first major matters was the second branch.

The location had already been chosen.

Eareth Region, east of Maereth.

Kael and Lilith had surveyed it. The logistics were sound. The movement routes were acceptable. The political conditions were favorable enough not to be stupid.

The representative had also been considered.

Murak. The Bull Beastman.

Lucien read the notes, then looked toward Eirene again.

"Brother Murak will do well."

"I considered him the strongest fit," she said.

"And you still waited for my approval."

Eirene finally looked at him then.

That was answer enough.

Lucien set the papers down and said plainly, "Sister Eirene, you do not always need to wait for my decision. I trust your judgment. Your words are my words."

Eirene’s expression did not change much.

But something in her gaze softened and deepened all the same.

"I’ll remember that," she said.

Lucien nodded once and pushed the approval document back toward her.

...

The work continued.

The reports themselves were good reading.

Lootwell remained stable.

The chapel kept growing. Its quest systems remained active. More citizens and outsiders alike cycled through its influence, and as always that meant more divine energy quietly feeding Lucien’s ever-growing reserves.

There were new citizenship requests and several supplier candidates. A number of names were already approved by Clara and merely waiting for Lucien’s formal confirmation.

His people were doing well too.

The growing economy of Lootwell was feeding into its people properly. Spirit crystals flowed. Body refinement improved. Energy reserves deepened. A stable work structure meant that people no longer had to grind themselves into exhaustion just to survive while still hoping to practice.

Ten billion people inside Lootwell could have become a logistical nightmare if handled poorly. Instead, the division representatives had managed their people well enough that life inside the territory no longer felt like a grand emergency pretending to be civilization.

The elemental women appeared in the reports too.

That part amused him.

Apparently, the people under them had been undergoing noticeably harsher training for the past week.

Lucien raised a brow while reading that and leaned back slightly.

Maybe they missed him and had chosen violence as emotional expression.

He made a mental note to visit them later.

...

Another section of the reports caught his eye next.

Automatons.

They were being deployed more widely now in patrols, logistics, guided maintenance, route monitoring, internal support operations, and some carefully controlled public-facing tasks. Their precision remained absurd. Once properly instructed, they carried out complex command structures with something close to perfect execution.

And now, as expected, the outside world wanted them.

Factions had begun asking openly whether automatons could be commissioned, purchased, or contracted in lesser forms.

These things did not require the same exhausting line of constant direct manipulation. They did not tire, complain, grow careless, or drift in concentration. They were law-informed workers and controlled instruments with alarming efficiency.

Naturally, people wanted them.

Lucien approved the idea immediately, though with strict limits.

Lootwell’s internal automatons would remain superior. The sold versions would be useful, but not monstrous. Reliable, but not irreplaceable. Impressive, but never equal to the hidden standards kept by the territory itself.

Then, because the matter amused him and felt deserved, he gave Rurik a formal title on the spot.

Grand Artificer of Autonomous Works.

Lucien looked at the page once, then nodded.

When Rurik later received the title, he stared at the document in silence for several breaths before saying, with visible delight, "That is offensively dignified. I accept."

Lucien considered that the correct reaction.

•••

Once the paperwork thinned from crisis to merely large-scale nuisance, Lucien shifted into practical work.

He created the necessary soul contracts for the new collaborators, then reviewed the final citizenship names.

He also checked the market districts personally, visited the dungeon thresholds and upper chamber maintenance, and inspected the small worlds for irregularities.

Everything held.

That was enough to let him move on in a good mood.

Then, at last, he went to find the elemental women.

On the way, his thoughts drifted back to the invitation.

Virel and Aniel had insisted he bring his friends to the Celestial Dominion feast once the week passed and the recovery stabilized fully.

Lucien had already started forming the list in his head.

Eirene. The elemental women. Luke and Cienna. Cielius. Kael. And likely several others depending on timing and work balance.

He had seen reports on Luke and Cienna recently. They were still outside. Cielius was roaming too, but his movements had become almost legendary in their own quiet way.

When the old man had reached Ascendance, youth had returned to his frame. He still kept the long beard, however. That remained entirely non-negotiable.

More importantly, he had begun laying the Law of Nature into the world with visible results.

Lucien had read reports of drought-struck regions finding relief after Cielius passed through. Of famine-bent fields recovering. Of skies correcting themselves over regions too long abused by imbalance. His law let him nudge weather and life-patterns with frightening gentleness.

Midas, Augustus, and the others had begun building names for themselves too. Small reputations at first, but real ones. They had escaped danger more than once without even resorting to instant-return talismans.

That alone said enough about their talent.

...

Soon, Lucien arrived at the training grounds.

The elemental women were there together.

That alone explained part of the unusually harsh training reports. When those four gathered in one place with nothing softening their mood, other people’s muscles tended to suffer.

Marie saw him first. Then Kaia. Then Marina. Then Sylra.

The effect was immediate.

All four lit up.

Marie finally waved one hand and said, "Enough. Go recover." 𝚏𝗿𝗲𝐞𝚠𝕖𝐛𝗻𝗼𝐯𝕖𝚕.𝚌𝗼𝗺

The trainees obeyed with almost suspicious gratitude.

Several of them even gave Lucien thankful looks on the way out, as though he had descended personally to save them from the consequences of their commanders’ emotional weather.

Lucien smiled faintly and walked closer.

Marie folded her arms and narrowed her eyes at him.

"Luc," she said, "it seems you already forgot about us."

Lucien laughed once.

"Sorry. I got too busy."

That should have settled it.

Naturally, it did not.

Marina narrowed her eyes next.

"Too busy," she repeated suspiciously. "Or too busy with that little girlfriend of yours?"

Lucien’s eyes widened.

Then, before reason stopped him, he replied, "She is... definitely not little."

Silence.

All four women stared at him.

Lucien realized the mistake immediately.

Marina’s mouth opened.

Then she threw her head back and began crying with theatrical devastation.

"Uwaaa!" she wailed. "I am not little either! Why don’t you choose me?"

At the same time, her chest swelled dramatically.

Lucien stared for half a second before realizing, of course, that it was water.

He almost laughed aloud.

This girl truly never let an opportunity for nonsense die naturally.

Marina saw her amused look and cried even harder.

Lucien shook his head.

Then Kaia asked in a much calmer tone, "So when are you introducing her? Marie said she saw you bring someone through the array."

Sylra remained silent beside them, but the slight angle of her head and the alert tilt of her ears said enough.

Lucien blinked.

Ah.

So that was the source of this.

Marie, naturally, had spread the news like a responsible military leader.

"Soon," he said.

Then, because teasing would only make this worse, he added more seriously, "Actually, I was away helping cure the parents who raised me in the small world. By some impossible twist of fate, they were alive here all along."

That silenced all four of them immediately.

Lucien continued, softer now, "They’re awake now. There’ll be a feast in the Celestial Dominion once things fully stabilize. I want to bring the four of you with me."

The reaction was instant.

Their eyes lit up.

Not only because of the chance to rest from work and see a place as legendary as the Celestial Dominion, though that certainly helped.

But because the invitation meant trust. Friendship carried forward into one of the deepest parts of Lucien’s life.

Marie grinned.

"Well," she said, "if it’s a family matter, then obviously we have to come."

Kaia smiled.

"I want to see the place."

Sylra gave a small quiet nod.

Marina immediately stopped crying, "Then I forgive you. Mostly."

Lucien laughed.

That was exactly the answer he wanted.

And for the first time since returning to Lootwell, the weight of the week behind him finally loosened enough to feel something close to simple anticipation.