A few days later, inside the royal palace of Holy Land, a long table sat in the middle of the meeting hall while the people around it argued over a Gate that had appeared only a few miles from the capital.
Holy Land was famous for three things above all else, its knights, its magicians and its swordsmanship, so a Gate appearing that close to the capital was not something anyone in that room could treat lightly.
"The report says it formed at dawn and has not changed size since then," the Knight Captain said, one gauntleted hand resting on the table. "No monsters have come out yet, but that means nothing. We need a strike team ready before nightfall."
"Ready is one thing," the Magic Master said, adjusting his robe sleeves with a faint frown, "sending them in blind is another. If the internal mana density is too high, a careless team will walk in and die before they even understand what kind of Gate they entered."
The Swordmaster leaned back in his chair and gave a short snort, "then we don't send a careless team."
The Knight Captain shot him an annoyed look, but the Swordmaster did not seem interested in helping his mood.
"We are not discussing children on their first assignment," the Knight Captain said. "We are discussing who among our forces can enter safely and still clear it fast enough if it turns unstable."
At the head of the table, the king listened in silence while one finger tapped lightly against the arm of his chair.
"Then speak plainly," he said at last. "How strong does the team need to be?"
That quieted the room for a moment, and when nobody answered right away, the Magic Master was the first one to speak.
"No one below four Shards enters first," he said, his tone flat enough that it sounded less like advice and more like a rule. "If the Gate proves weaker than expected, then we lose nothing except caution. If it proves stronger, then four Shards may be the difference between retreat and slaughter."
The Swordmaster let out a low breath through his nose and leaned forward a little.
"If we treat every unknown Gate like the mouth of the abyss, then we may as well stop training anyone below that threshold at all," he said. "You do not build fighters by making them watch older men do everything worth remembering."
"And you do not build a kingdom by feeding promising young people into a Gate just to harden them faster," the Magic Master replied, finally looking at him. "If you want to gamble with lives, do it with your own students, not the capital's."
"I do."
That made a few people around the table shift in their seats.
"Enough," the king said, and both men went quiet.
An older minister cleared his throat into the silence that followed.
"Your Majesty, with respect, this should not be a debate about philosophy. A Gate has appeared only a few miles from the capital. We send in the strongest available team, crush it quickly, then return before panic has time to spread."
"And if the strongest available team is half the city's shield?" the Knight Captain asked, turning toward him. "If something breaches the walls while they are still inside, what exactly do you plan to tell the people then?"
The minister had no answer ready for that, but someone else did, and then another after him, until the room slid right back into the same problem from a different angle.
Some wanted speed because the Gate was too close to the capital, some wanted restraint because unknown Gates killed the overconfident first, and the rest kept trying to split the difference while saying the same thing in slightly different words.
Princess Didi sat beside the king and listened until she got tired of hearing grown men circle around the decision like it might solve itself if they spoke long enough.
"I want to go," she said and the room went still so fast it almost felt rehearsed.
The Knight Captain turned first, then the Magic Master, then the ministers, and even the Swordmaster straightened a little as if that had finally managed to wake him up.
"Your Highness?" one of the ministers said, staring at her.
Didi did not look away, "I said I want to go into the Gate."
This time the silence hit harder than before, even the king turned his head and looked at her for a long moment.
"Didi."
"I am serious," she said, meeting his eyes without flinching. "If the problem is that we keep relying on the same names every time something dangerous happens, then send me too."
The Knight Captain looked tired all of a sudden, "no."
"No?" Didi repeated, her brows drawing together. "That is your full answer?"
"That is the important part of my answer," he said. "The rest is that you are the princess, the Gate is unknown, and I am not signing my name to that kind of risk."
"So if I were not the princess, you would consider it?"
He did not answer quickly enough, which told her enough all on its own.
The Swordmaster spoke before the room could drift again.
"You are talented," he said, and unlike the others, he did not sound like he was trying to comfort her. "More talented than most of the fools in the academy who keep talking about becoming legends before they have even been hit properly."
Didi kept her face still, but she knew what was coming next.
"But talent inside a hall means very little once blood is involved," he continued. "Inside a Gate, there is no instructor to stop the match, no healer waiting two steps away, and no second try if your judgment fails you."
The Magic Master gave a small nod.
"You are gifted, no one disputes that," he said, "but you have never fought in a real battle. Training duels, spell assessments and academy rankings are not battle experience, and a single moment of hesitation inside a Gate can kill not only you but the people standing beside you."
"Then how am I supposed to gain experience?" Didi asked. "Do I wait until everyone decides I am ready by instinct?"
"Not here," the Knight Captain said at once. "Not in an unknown Gate this close to the capital, and not while the entire kingdom knows exactly who you are."
Another minister leaned forward after that, looking relieved that someone had finally said what the rest of them had been circling around.
"Even if we set aside the danger itself, Your Highness, if anything happens to you inside that Gate, the political shock alone would be severe."
Didi's mouth tightened.
"So that is the real answer," she said. "You all praise my talent when it costs nothing, but the moment I ask to do something real, I am told to sit in the palace and wait until experience somehow appears on its own."
No one answered her immediately, and that silence told its own story.
The room did not doubt her talent, which was exactly why this stung as much as it did. If the discussion had been about academy rankings, spell precision or sword forms, not one of them would have spoken to her like this.
But a Gate was not an academy hall, and everyone in that room knew it.
Princess Didi might have been Holy Land's brightest student, but she had still never fought for her life before.
The quiet after that stretched just long enough to turn uncomfortable before one of the older nobles cleared his throat and leaned forward a little.
"If the concern is sending people too important from directly under the crown," he said, looking from the Knight Captain to the king, "then perhaps we should not rely only on royal forces. The Great Families have more than enough talent among their own ranks, and if the reward is high enough, they will not refuse."
That drew a few looks around the table, mostly because nobody there could deny the logic even if they disliked where it pointed.
"Great houses do not move without weighing what they gain," the Knight Captain said, his expression souring a little. "The moment we invite one into a royal problem, they begin measuring what price they can place on their strength."
"Even so," the minister said, refusing to back down, "they have the strength, and this is exactly the kind of matter they like attaching themselves to when glory is involved."
The Magic Master glanced toward the king after that.
"If Your Majesty is willing to pay, then they will come," he said.
The king had been quiet for a while now, listening to the room argue itself into circles, but at that line he finally straightened a little in his chair.
"The Great Families are not lacking in money," he said, and that alone was enough to make a few people sit up straighter. "So if we reach out, it will not be silver that moves them."
He stopped there for a moment, letting the words settle before his gaze moved slowly across the table.
"There are other things they value more," he said, no one interrupting him.
The ministers looked curious, the Knight Captain looked wary, and even Didi forgot her irritation long enough to watch her father closely.
The king rested one hand on the arm of his chair, "contact the Flint family, tell them, I have decided on what they asked for."