Max walked alongside Moonlight through the final hallways leading to the royal throne room.

Moon had her arms crossed and wore a very serious expression, as if she were contemplating matters of extreme political importance.

In reality, she was probably thinking about swords.

"Do you think Neros will train me today?" she suddenly asked.

Max let out a small laugh.

"He just came back from a suicidal mission, nearly died, got back together with his ex-wife, and technically just restarted his love life."

Moon blinked.

"Then he’s free."

Max stared at her.

"...Your logic is terrifying."

They finally arrived in front of the enormous double doors to the throne room.

But they were already open.

Voices could be heard from inside.

And laughter.

Max raised an eyebrow as he entered alongside Moon.

The scene inside was far less formal than usual.

The king was seated on his throne, but leaning forward, clearly relaxed, with a huge smile on his face.

Standing before him were Dorian and Chloe.

And to Max’s surprise... Chloe was actually holding a relatively functional conversation.

Well. More or less functional.

"I understand much better now," Chloe said with visible effort.

She pointed to herself while speaking.

"But talking still... uh..."

She frowned, searching for words.

"Trash."

The king burst into immediate laughter.

"I’m sorry, I’m sorry," he said between laughs, raising both hands.

"I’m really not making fun of you maliciously."

He wiped a tear from his eye.

"It’s just that talking with you is like watching a baby trying to communicate for the first time."

Dorian was also laughing quietly off to the side.

Chloe looked at him, then smiled.

"Not bother me," she said with a shrug.

"I trying."

"And you’re doing very well," the king said, still amused.

That was when he noticed movement at the entrance.

His eyes lit up the moment he saw Max.

"Ah, there you are, dear Max!"

Max nearly startled at the enthusiasm.

Moon raised a hand in greeting.

"Hi."

The king smiled even wider when he saw her.

Max stepped forward until he stood before the throne.

"Your Majesty."

The king stood up. Which was fairly rare for him.

"I must thank you once again," he said, suddenly solemn.

His expression turned much more serious and sincere.

"I am eternally in your debt for always looking after this kingdom."

He pointed at him.

"My daughter."

Then he pointed at Chloe.

"And for rescuing my beloved royal pet."

Chloe raised an eyebrow.

"Still weird hearing that," she muttered.

The king completely ignored that comment.

He looked back at Max.

"Anything you need, any request or favour..."

He placed a hand over his chest.

"...I will be at your service."

Max stood silent for a few seconds.

Then smiled slightly.

"I truly appreciate that, Your Majesty."

And then he decided to take advantage of the opportunity.

Because if he was going to ask something important, this was probably the best possible moment.

He took a breath.

"Actually..."

The king tilted his head slightly.

"Yes?"

Max adopted a casual tone. Or at least tried to sound casual.

"Have you heard anything lately about someone summoning beings from other worlds?"

The king blinked.

"Pardon?"

Dorian immediately stopped smiling. His expression changed completely.

Max noticed the shift and glanced at him from the corner of his eye.

The king frowned.

"I haven’t heard anything related to that," he replied.

He studied him curiously.

"Why are you asking?"

Before Max could improvise a mediocre answer, Dorian spoke.

His tone was now completely serious.

"Then it was true."

Everyone looked at him.

Max felt a slight chill run down his spine.

"What?" he asked.

Dorian crossed his arms.

"I saw strange things in the cult’s warehouse."

The king frowned deeper.

"What kind of things?"

Dorian exhaled slowly.

"When I was searching through the place..."

Max raised an eyebrow.

"In other words, while you were systematically setting the building on fire."

Dorian nodded.

"Exactly."

He continued as though that were a perfectly valid activity.

"I found another room in the back."

His expression tightened slightly.

"A chamber that didn’t seem to be part of the main warehouse."

The king slowly sat back down.

"Go on."

Dorian looked at Max.

"There were three creatures inside."

Max felt his heart begin to race.

"Humans?" he asked a little too quickly.

Dorian slowly shook his head.

"Some could maybe pass for human. At first glance."

He frowned, recalling the memory.

"But they weren’t like you."

He pointed at Max.

"Or Chloe."

Chloe tilted her head.

"That sound bad."

"What do you mean, not like us?" Max asked.

Dorian seemed to search for the right words.

"They had..."

He paused.

"...metal embedded into their bodies."

Max blinked.

"What?"

"Metal. And lights."

Dorian made vague gestures with his hands.

"As if they were part of them. Integrated."

Now Max was fully focused.

"Cyborgs?" he muttered.

Dorian looked at him in confusion.

"Cybo what?"

"Nothing," Max replied far too quickly.

But his brain was already running at full speed.

Metal. Integrated lights. Advanced technology.

Robots? Androids? People from the future?

’Okay, that is incredibly cool.’

Mental pause.

’No. Not the time to be excited about that.’

He refocused.

"And you said there were three?"

Dorian nodded.

"One looked humanoid."

He raised one finger.

"Another was something resembling a wolf."

Another finger.

"But it also had metal and lights running through parts of its body."

Moonlight, who had been listening to the entire conversation, frowned with absolute intensity.

"My head hurts," she declared.

Max looked at her.

"Understandable."

Dorian sighed.

"The magic surrounding that room was completely unfamiliar to me."

His expression hardened.

"It did not belong to this world."

Even the king now looked genuinely concerned.

Max turned back to Dorian.

"And why didn’t you say anything earlier?"

Dorian looked at him as though the answer were obvious.

"Because I was busy."

He paused dramatically.

"Having an emotional crisis."

Another pause.

"And avenging my friend."

Max brought a hand to his face.

"Of course."

It was an absurdly logical explanation coming from Dorian.

The king interlocked his fingers over his lap.

His expression was now genuinely serious.

"This is grave."

He looked toward one of the guards stationed in the throne room.

"I will send my men immediately to investigate."

The guard nodded.

"Yes, Your Majesty."

The king looked back at the group.

"If unknown creatures are truly being summoned into my kingdom, I need to know what they are and who is behind this."

Max felt a small sense of relief.

At least he wasn’t alone in this anymore.

"Thank you," he said sincerely.

The king nodded.

"Don’t thank me just yet."

He smiled faintly.

"First, let’s determine whether your paranoia was justified."

"That was a rather specific question to be paranoia," Dorian commented.

"That doesn’t help," Max muttered.

Moon slowly raised a hand from where she stood with crossed arms.

"Just to confirm..."

Everyone looked at her.

The little dragon girl seemed completely lost.

"Are we talking about weird magic, metal monsters, secret rituals, and other dimensions?"

Max nodded.

"More or less."

Moon fell silent for a few seconds.

Then sighed dramatically.

"Yes. My head definitely hurts."

Chloe nodded with complete understanding.

"Same."

Dorian let out a small laugh.

And Max, even while still feeling the enormous weight of all this new information, couldn’t help but smile a little.

Well.

At least now he had a real lead.

And that was much better than searching for an interdimensional summoner completely blind.

Though, considering how his life had been going lately...

That probably meant things were about to get even more complicated.