The Voldigards booked a room in a luxurious tavern. The ground floor was an Inn that had several people drinking and dancing. Michael however was not in the mood to mingle with the ground. Instead, he and Gaya followed Eve behind until they reached the wooden door.

"This is your room. If you need something, I am just a door away," Eve said as Michael twisted the metal knob, opening the door with a small creak.

"See you tomorrow," Michael nodded at Eve before walking into his room with Gaya. The room was clean, neat, and cozy. There was a white queen bed big enough for Michael and Gaya, a large window draped with an orange curtain, blocking the light, and a small round table with a couple of red chairs for them to dine in.

Nightmare leaped onto the bed and bounced on it to see how bumpy the bed was.

"Thusians huh?" Gaya asked, closing the door behind her. The room fell silent as Michael just leaned on the wall watching the busy streets through the cracks between the curtains.

"If it makes you any better, we can go kill them," Gaya came to his side. She slowly hugged him from behind and rested her head on his shoulder.

Immediately, Michael felt the light jasmine fragrance coming from her. Her hug was tight and warm. It had a certain magical effect to make him smile for a moment.

Put simply, Michael was already planning on it. The best way to contain his anger was to blow off some steam. Otherwise, his mind wouldn't work at full capacity. As a result, he might make mistakes. Michael did not want to make any mistakes, especially now with the Sea Folks on his tail. Therefore, Michael decided to kill the Thusians.

However, he had to wait till the night falls when his power would grow significantly. Meanwhile, Michael sent a couple of drones to follow the Thusians and ordered Azazel to watch the feed. Michael ordered Azazel to inform him as soon as possible in case something felt wrong. After Heinberg's death, Michael was thinking of something permanent to watch over the feeds coming from the Spyders. Since Azazel was in physical form, he would be more useful to Michael outside the dark forest than inside. He wanted something else to take Azazel's place of watching the feed.

"Why don't we go into their room, make them weaker with the plague and kill them nice and slowly?" Gaya slowly ran her fingers through Michael's chest. Her voice was extremely seductive. If it wasn't for his promise that he wouldn't take her before the marriage, he would have been on the bed right now.

But even her seductive tone couldn't take his mind off of the Thusians. Every time he blinked, he could see nothing but dead bodies and the burning sanctuary. After merging with all the soul pieces, the feeling of betrayal became several times stronger. At that moment, he would give anything to wipe out Thusia from existence.

"Hey Gaya," Michael turned around to look her in her eyes.

"What do you say we go to Thusia after coming out of Mazeroth?" asked Michael.

"I thought you'd never ask," Gaya head-butted Michael gently. Initially, Gaya thought her life was a tragedy. But her life seemed all rainbows and butterflies compared to Michael's. So Gaya wanted to help him destroy Thusia before dealing with her own kingdom. To be honest, she felt no rush to visit Nagaland until at least she was at Fusion Stage.

"It's time I pay them back for what they did to me,"

Michael and Gaya silently waited till nightfall. Today the sky was pitch black without a moon or any stars. When the previously busy steers became void of any crowd, Michael and Gaya flew through the window. Michael headed towards the tavern where the Thusians were staying. For some reason, the Thusians decided to stay in a tavern in the middle of a forest. Granted Michael could see the crystal blue lake outside the tavern, giving the customers a nice view.

Inside the tavern, one minister at Soul Refining Stage and three elders at Fusion stage sat before a fireplace, enjoying the hot coffee. The red-haired minister leaned back on his chair, gazing at the ice crystal in his hand. The Thusians could hardly see the triangular-shaped heart trapped within the ice crystal.

"Give it to me, Reidar. I want to take a look at it," Freddy, who was a dark-haired lean man, furrowed his gaze. The four of them were best friends long before Reidar had become a minister. Thus, they called each by their name instead of any honorifics.

"I bought it so I get to hold it," Reidar chuckled.

While the four friends were having a good time under the fireplace's warmth, they noticed a group of elves entering the hall through the wooden door. These elves seemed to be guarding the elven woman in the middle. Ignoring their gazes, the elves climbed the stairs to get to the second floor.

"I have seen her somewhere," Reidar rubbed his chin. He poked every corner of his brain to see where he met her. She seemed awfully familiar to Reidar.

"Hey dumbo, didn't you see the single silver leaf symbol on their chests? They are the Valren family," Freddy rolled his eyes. The Valrens were another powerful family in Awor but they were not from Gondolin. Rather, the Valrens hailed from Sill Alari. Since the Valrens were relatives to Sill Alari's King Lyklor Alari, the Valrens held unprecedented power within Sill Alari. Coupled with the fact that one of the Valrens was an Alpha Guardian, none dared to cross the Valrens in Sill Alari.

After hearing Freddy, Reidar had a moment of realization.

"She is Tanulia Valren. I knew I saw her somewhere. She visited Thusia and met with her royal highness, didn't she?" Reidar recalled Tanulia meeting with Victoria a few months ago before the latter went to Mazeroth. They didn't know why they met but the rumors have that Tanulia offered Victoria a position in the Guardian Guild.

The rumor hadn't specified whether Victoria accepted it or not. But as far as Reidar could tell, King Maxim Barnes didn't have a good thought about the Guardian Guild. So it was highly unlikely for the princess to join the Guardian Guild.

"Did they bid for anything?" asked Freddy.

"I don't think so," answered another one.

"They must be saving their coins for something else. I was pretty shocked that they didn't go for the molten plague cure," Reidar said.

"I am pretty shocked that ungrateful brat didn't give us the cure in the first place," Freddy snickered. Among the four friends, Freddy was the one who disliked Ghost for striking a deal with the Aqua Palace instead of giving the cure for free to them. He felt Ghost was obliged to do that since they hired him as their Alchemy Guild's leader.

"You should vent all your anger while you still can Freddy. You might not get a chance to do so in the future," Reidar said. As a minister, he received insights into Maxin Barnes's decision more than his friends. One of those hot insights was Victoria's suitors.

"What?" Freddy asked.

"His Majesty is thinking of marrying her royal highness to Ghost," said Reidar calmly.

The moment Freddy and the others heard him, their bodies went rigid. They were startled as Freddy creased his brows.

"You're kidding?"

"I kid you not. I heard this from one of her highness's friends" Reidar took a long breath,

"They've been thinking about this for some time. I think we will hear more about this once her royal highness returns from Mazeroth," Reidar explained. Unlike Michael, Victoria chose to stay in Mazeroth instead of leaving for the holidays. The sole reason for her visit to Mazeroth was to locate the Primordial Flames. The Cold Flames might have gone out of her reach but she wanted to find the second flame she saw in the save, the mysterious black flames. She stayed behind to locate this flame no matter what.

"What the hell? The last time I checked, he wasn't a noble by birth," Freddy protested. He was born and raised into a prominent noble family. As a result, Freddy treated the people who weren't nobles like dirt. In simple terms, he was a fascist. In fact, Freddy was one of the few who protested not to offer Ghost a position in their guild. True to his words, Freddy tried his best to block the offer. Nonetheless, Maxim Barnes overthrew their opinions and ordered Calvin to hire Ghost. If Freddy valued nobility, Maxim valued power. He wanted talented and powerful people to serve him instead of others. That way, he could rule the entire world in the future. With the Cosmic stream, his dream wasn't too far.

"Do you think his majesty will give a shit about nobility in this case? He is a heaven-defying prodigy, 5-star Alchemist and now, the King of Bredia. To be honest, he is no lesser than her royal highness in any way,"

"I am with Reidar on this one," A bald-headed man named Sindre sided with Reidar.

"I heard about Ghost. His achievements are quite shocking. With time and resources, he might hit the Fusion stage within a few years from now on. Once he reaches the Fusion stage, I won't be surprised if the empress herself asked his hand in marriage for one of her daughters,"

"So what if that happens huh? Do you expect her royal highness to be his secondary queen?" Freddy asked with a tinge of fury in his eyes.

"That's for his majesty to figure out. Just lay back and relax. We don't get paid to think about their family affairs," Sindre replied.

Chadak!

Suddenly as they were talking, they heard thudding footsteps above them.

"Did you hear that?" they all quickly spread their senses to see if there was someone outside. However, their senses picked up nothing.

"Might be a cat or something," Reidar refused to pay much mind to the footsteps. After all, he didn't need to worry about security as the place had runes and arrays to stop and neutralize any unauthorized visitors.