The room felt dead.
No one dared to breathe too loudly. Lily's declaration still hung in the air like a guillotine.
She didn't wait for it to settle.
"But relax," she said, her tone swinging back to casual. "But for the Tharz Kingdom's army, fret not for we can wipe them out before they even reach the city gates. No sweat."
A collective exhale rippled through the hall. A few shoulders dropped. A few hands unclenched from their robes.
Elder Shane rose to his feet and cleared his throat delicately.
"Grand Elder," he asked, voice tight with hope, "are you… certain of that?"
Lily turned, grinning wide. "What, you think I'm lying?"
Shane went pale.
He sat down without another word and began silently counting the stars in the sky.
Counting stars? In a sealed meeting hall? With a roof overhead? What? Unless that's just his imaginatio—
"Hello there, Xiao Zhi," a voice drawled from above.
Ace's eyes snapped upward.
So did everyone else's.
