Chapter 376: Efficient Cooperation

Chapter 376: Chapter 376: Efficient Cooperation

By the time they reached the western training grounds, Cecil had stopped waiting for Arik to complain.

That was almost disappointing.

The inspection complex occupied a broad stretch of fortified land beyond the capital, built into a low ridge where black stone walls followed the natural slope rather than cutting across it. Crimson-and-gold standards moved sharply in the morning wind above the main command building, while several companies trained across the lower fields in black uniforms marked with deep crimson at the shoulders and cuffs.

Farther uphill, the Shadows were conducting drills of their own.

They were considerably less visible.

Arik stepped from the armored vehicle after Damian and adjusted the cuffs of his black field coat; his earlier laziness apparently left somewhere between breakfast and the palace gates. He had swept his hair back, and whatever resentment he had expressed about being useful that morning had been replaced by the focused attention Cecil remembered from years of watching his brother handle military reviews.

Cecil narrowed his eyes.

"You are behaving."

Arik looked at him.

"Would you prefer I didn’t?"

"I was expecting more resistance."

"You already dragged me here."

"Father dragged you here."

Damian, several steps ahead, glanced over his shoulder.

"I asked."

Arik and Cecil looked at him.

Gregoris hid a smile behind the tablet in his hand.

Arik sighed and continued toward the command building.

"I would like to finish before evening."

Cecil caught up with him.

"So you admit you are cooperating only because you want to leave."

"Obviously."

"That feels insulting."

"You are not the reason I came."

"That feels worse."

Arik gave him a brief look.

"I have a husband waiting at the palace."

Cecil rolled his silver eyes.

"Yes, we are all painfully aware."

Damian laughed.

The first hour passed considerably faster than anyone expected.

Arik did not attempt to take control of the inspection, nor did he fall back on the excuse that Agaron’s military was no longer his responsibility. He listened while the regional commander explained the revised training structure, asked concise questions about response times and officer rotation, and stepped into the observation room when Gregoris requested his opinion on the new ether-assisted coordination system.

The room overlooked three of the lower training fields through reinforced glass. Tactical projections floated above a dark central table, displaying squad positions in crimson and gold while live ether readings shifted beside them.

Arik studied the data for less than a minute.

"The relay delay is too high."

The commander beside Gregoris frowned.

"By less than half a second."

"In a controlled exercise."

Arik tapped one section of the projection.

"Your eastern squad is compensating manually before the relay confirms the instruction."

Gregoris leaned closer.

"He’s right."

Cecil looked at Arik.

"You saw that immediately?"

"I used to inspect this system."

"Before it was upgraded."

"The problem is still the same."

Damian stood across the table with his arms folded.

"And?"

Arik looked toward the commander.

"Move the secondary relay closer to the lower ridge or separate command traffic from equipment diagnostics. Right now they are sharing capacity when load spikes."

The commander nodded slowly.

"That would reduce redundancy."

"Only if you keep the current backup structure."

Arik pulled one of the peripheral projections toward himself.

"Use the old western line as a fallback instead. It is slower, but if the primary relay fails, speed is already the secondary problem."

Gregoris smiled.

Cecil stared at him.

"What?"

"You said you did not want to be useful."

"I don’t."

"You are being extremely useful."

"I want to leave."

"That is not how this works."

Arik turned toward the next display.

"It is exactly how this works. The faster I solve your problems, the faster I return to the palace."

Damian’s mouth curved.

"Remarkably motivated."

Arik ignored him.

By midday, even the commanders had realized the easiest way to keep the inspection moving was to give Arik complete information the first time.

He was not impatient in the way Cecil expected.

He was simply efficient.

Gregoris appeared delighted.

Cecil found it suspicious.

They crossed one of the elevated walkways toward the live training grounds, the wind stronger above the open field.

Below them, soldiers moved through a defensive exercise while instructors monitored from the perimeter.

"You have become reasonable," Cecil said.

Arik glanced at him.

"I was always reasonable."

"You once redirected an entire inspection because you disliked the catering."

"The food was terrible."

"That is not military doctrine."

"Low morale is."

Gregoris laughed behind them.

Damian did not bother hiding his amusement.

Arik rested both hands against the railing and watched the formation below shift around a simulated breach.

For a moment, the joking disappeared.

Cecil recognized the expression.

Arik still understood Agaron’s military instinctively.

That had not vanished simply because another empire now answered to him.

"You miss it," Cecil said quietly.

Arik considered the question.

"Some of it."

"The work?"

"Not this part."

Cecil smiled.

"Of course not."

Arik looked toward the palace barely visible in the distance beyond the western hills.

"I miss knowing where everything was."

Cecil’s expression changed.

Arik continued before anyone could misunderstand.

"Nuria is mine. I know that now. But I spent most of my life here."

Damian remained silent behind them.

"There are corridors in the palace I could walk half-asleep," Arik said. "Rooms I still remember by who used to hide in them when we were children. Which balcony has the best view in winter. Which kitchen will feed you after midnight without informing Gabriel."

Cecil snorted.

"That last one is probably the most important."

"It is."

Arik smiled faintly.

Then his gaze softened.

"I want Liam to know those things too."

Cecil looked at him.

"He will."

"I know."

Arik’s fingers tapped once against the dark stone railing.

"I just don’t want Agaron to become another place where we arrive, attend meetings, sleep in a guest suite, and leave."

Damian’s expression changed behind him.

Arik went on, quieter now.

"He spent almost his entire life trapped in Wrohan because Felix decided where he was allowed to exist. Then the first place he properly left it for was Nuria, and Nuria immediately became another responsibility."

Gregoris had stopped looking at the training field.

Arik glanced toward the distant palace again.

"I want him to see this place without someone handing him a briefing packet every three hours."

Cecil’s mouth curved slightly.

"So this is why you are behaving."

"I told you. I want to finish."

"So you can take Liam sightseeing."

"Yes."

"You could have said that."

"You would have mocked me."

"I am still going to."

Arik looked at him.

Cecil smiled.

"You are disgustingly domestic."

Arik’s expression remained completely calm.

"I am married."

"That is not a defense."

"It is enough for me."

Damian finally stepped forward.

"We can finish the remaining inspection after lunch."

Arik turned immediately.

"Today?"

Damian laughed.

"Yes, today."

Arik nodded once, apparently satisfied.

Gregoris checked the remaining schedule.

"If nobody adds anything unnecessary, we can be done by three."

Arik straightened.

"Excellent."

Cecil stared at him.

"You look happier about that than you did about becoming emperor."

"Liam has not seen the old eastern gardens yet."

"That explains nothing."

"There is a bakery near them."

Cecil closed his eyes.

"There it is."

Arik smiled.

The rest of the inspection, unsurprisingly, moved even faster.