(A few days ago)

Back on the Awor continent, Gaya was preparing to attend the auction organized by the Han Torum. This auction was not like a typical Aqua auction. Instead, the Han Torum auction had only one weapon to sell. Only those who had the invitation could enter the premises. At that moment, Gaya was not in her usual black robes or armor. On the contrary, she chose fancy clothes fit for a princess and a queen. If the dwarves suspected something amiss, they would call off the auction, and she must not let that happen. She needed to play the role of a wealthy heir until she learned more about the devastating weapons the dwarves had recently built.

"He should have a good reason for not talking to me," Gaya laid flat on the queen-sized bed and looked at the empty space beside her. She had been staying in Delgarum, the dwarven kingdom, in a high-end Inn. The room had everything a rich noble could ask for, but Gaya felt lonely without Michael. She preferred a cabin with him over a castle without him. Her loneliness grew every day that went without his voice. Rolling on the bed, she kept looking at the engagement ring on her finger.

The curtains covering the windows added an orange glow to the morning light. It reminded Gaya of the times she slept in a beach hut, cuddling Michael and watching the ocean emerge under the golden shimmer. For a moment, her mind conjured the rhythmic waves, soft on the sandy shore, and felt her heartbeat to the same slow pace. She breathed in deeply. A new day had begun.

"My lady, it's time for you to leave the bed and get ready for the auction," Gaya heard Azazel's voice in her head like an annoying alarm.

"Alright," Gaya exhaled heavily. She reached her hand out to the fabric, noticing how up close the light poured through every open space between fibers, no different from how it once came through the beach-hut walls, illuminating like brilliant fireflies each dawn. The blanket was warm beneath her fingers, and when the sun flooded the room, repainting the colors, she felt a little of those golden rays soak into her skin. Finally, Gaya left the bed to take a bath in the bathroom attached to the room. Almost after thirty minutes, Gaya exited the room, wearing the silky smooth bath towel Michael gave her. Then, with a flick of her wrist, she adorned the elegant noble dress Michael brought her from the system for occasions such as this one.

The mirror before her reflected the dress, covering only a small portion of her shoulders and flowing down into a fancy Queen Anne neckline. It was a tight fit that put the focus on her breasts but in a graceful manner. Her arms were only covered at her shoulders. A choice that added to the elegance and grace of the dress.

The elegant black dress' waist was thin, but it was a loose fit. A bow had been wrapped around her, resting gently on her lower back. Below the waist, the dress fitted snugly around her and had an accordion style. The dress reached just below her knees and was longer at the sides and back of the dress. She was wearing open toes, which added simplicity and elegance. To top it all off, she wore a subtle necklace and several elegant bracelets.

Before leaving the room, Gaya double checked the teleportation scrolls and the APD around her wrist. After making sure everything was in place, Gaya left the cozy room. By the time she reached the bustling street of Delgarum, a carriage was waiting for her. The carriage was owned and manned by someone from the dark lord's army.

"Shall we go, my lady?" asked the middle-aged man in the driver's seat.

"Hmm," Gaya nodded as the horses galloped toward her destination. Apparently, Han Torum dwarves chose a drama theater in the entertainment district. Because most of the dwarves couldn't fly without a flying sword, they banned flying inside the city. Thus, Gaya and all others had to use other means of transportation, such as carriages.

While the carriage was on its way to the entertainment district, Gaya took out a tablet size mirror from her space ring.

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"Azazel, get me Sadie and Aria," Gaya said before casting a sound proof barrier around her.

Soon, the dark mirror flickered as the faces of Aria and Sadie appeared in the mirror side by side.

"My lady,"

"Dark Queen,"

Sadie and Aria lowered their heads, bowing toward Gaya.

"Aria, how was the recon?" asked Gaya.

"As we expected, the place was crawling with Han Torum dwarves. You can recognize them with the big ruby rings on their fingers. I suspect the auction will happen under the theater. When I was there, I saw two dwarves guarding the stairs. They had some kind of contraption near them, like a lever," Aria reported to Gaya.

"Did they suspect you?"

Aria shook her head,

"No. I had the advantage of blending with the crowd,"

"What about humans? Normally I'd assume a tall human like you would stand out in a crowd full of dwarves,"

"The entertainment district is surprisingly diverse, my lady. Except for the elves, you can see almost every race there. Of course, the majority of them were dwarves, but I had enough orcs and humans to blend with," said Aria.

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"That's because Delgarum is holding an annual think tank," Sadie interjected as Gaya turned her focus to the Silvermoon girl.

"You mean a gathering where all the races come to Delgarum to show their inventions?" Gaya asked as Sadie nodded. Gaya had heard about the think tank and even knew some of the Naga ministers who wanted to participate in this think tank. While she was in Nagaland, Gaya always advocated against participating in it because she didn't like the idea of their innovations going public. Therefore, Gaya chose not to participate, just like the elves. But now that Xanali and her mother were in charge, that would soon change.

"Rumor has it that the dwarves received some interesting blueprints this year," said Sadie.

"Did you hear anything about the man who invented the death kiss crossbows?"

"Whoever it is, they are extremely good at hiding their steps. My girls are working day and night on this, and they came up with nothing. But my lady, I suspect there is more about this than it meets the eye,"

"What do you mean?"

"The same time you met the orcs and came across those crossbows, a guardian carriage had entered and left the kingdom in a hurry,"

A light bulb lit in Gaya's head. She had indeed seen a carriage with the guardian guild symbol painted on it when she was trailing Valmas. Initially, she suspected Noah to be in the kingdom. But Sadie's little birdies came up with nothing. Moreover, Sadie's spies in Pen town informed her that Noah was with his family at that time. So Gaya didn't pay much mind to the carriage. She had too many things on her plate to trail the carriages as according to Sadie, there was more than one carriage.

"You think one of those carriages might have transported the inventor?"

"We can't deny it, my lady. I am working on turning a guardian to the dark side. Once I am done, we might know more about him," Gaya noticed a strange glow in Sadie's eyes. It was like a tigress on her way to a hunt. Obviously, turning people to the dark side thrilled Sadie, and if she managed to turn a guardian to their side, it would be a huge help in the future. Buying guardians with gold coins used to be so easy when Noah was not the Supreme Guardian. After he took the helm, he launched an extensive investigation and fired all the corrupted guardians. Now finding a corrupt guardian was as rare as finding a gold coin on the street.

"Be careful. Don't fly too close to the sun. If you feel something is wrong, back off. Noah tends to give us surprises,"

"I will, my lady,"

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"Also, keep an eye on the Winston manor. I have a strange feeling about that,"

"As you wish, my lady," Sadie agreed with a nod as Gaya turned her gaze back to Aria.

"Aria, I want you to cover all the exits from the theater. I don't think we have enough coins to win the auction. So we have to trail whoever wins the auction and get our hands on the weapon,"

"My people are already covering the exits as we speak, my lady. Unless they use teleportation scrolls, we can trail them the moment they step outside the theater," said Aria.

"Don't worry about teleportation. Elidyr will take care of that,"

Elidyr had already reached the theater, and engravings runes around the theater to prevent anyone from using teleportation scrolls. The runes would stay inactive until someone tries to use a scroll. Stopping someone from using a teleportation scroll was much easier than tracking them down after they had used one. Gaya left no stone unturned in this plan. Because failure was not an option. If those weapons had the capability to turn the tide of war, the dark army needed to have them on their side.

After dismissing Aria and Sadie, Gaya contacted Azazel as he appeared in the mirror.

"My lady," Azazel bowed.

"Tell Saber to send one of his people to shadow Sadie. If the guardians are digging a hole to trap her, I want her safe,"

Sadie was too valuable to lose. So Gaya wanted to keep her hidden and safe from the guardians. If the guardians found out she is working for the Dark Lord, their dreams of controlling the Silvermoon and building a web of spies would crumble to dust. Following Sadie's matter, Gaya had one more thing to deal with before turning her full focus on the Han Torum dwarves.

"Have you heard from mother yer?" asked Gaya. While Saber was in the Nether realm, collecting rare herbs for Michael, Adelia was tasked to shadow the elves who cursed Christopher and imprisoned Claire's mother. She was ordered to rescue Claire's mother by any means necessary by the Dark Lord himself.

"She has reached Nelnathyr and is getting close to the Mortero family. She also asked me to keep an eye on you, my lady,"

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Gaya smiled,

"And I would ask you the same. Keep an eye on her. I won't and can't lose her again. I will talk to her after this auction,"

At that point in time, Gaya had no idea the surprise Noah had for all of them