Another six days passed...

Vicente, Layla, and Casey finally arrived in Spiritbell, their last stop before at least some of them returned to the Seidel Kingdom.

As they passed one of the entrances to this city, built on several hills close together, the group followed the city's main avenue while observing the place.

Most of the cities in their kingdom were built on flat areas, so this place was unlike anything they had ever seen. The only place they could think of that looked like this was The Skull City, but Spiritbell was much bigger than such a ghost town.

Spiritbell had more than 300,000 inhabitants and covered a large area, although most of the buildings were very close together, just like in large urban centers on Earth.

From the city's main avenue, they could see many local neighborhoods built on the adjacent hills, where several properties built at different levels completely hid the hills they were on, making it look like a jungle of blocks and concrete.

There were many staircases throughout the city, while many ramps made way for carriages and four-legged animals.

Despite the sizeable built-up area, the lower, flatter part of the city, where the local business center was located, was extremely busy, a sign of the local peculiarity that the neighborhoods in the hills are predominantly residential.

While observing the local peculiarities, Vicente's group arrived at the city's central square, a beautiful tree-lined area where many people came and went, with several others settling on the outskirts of this 10,000-square-meter area in the heart of Spiritbell.

The group quickly found their way to the most interesting places in the area: an inn where they could stay, a place where they could rent cultivation and training rooms, the Blacksmith Association building, and a place where they could buy information.

The group already had a lot of information about the Fallen Angels from the research Vicente had commissioned when he arrived in Oldbarrow. So he didn't need any more information about the sect.

All he needed was details about Malik's personal life and current location.

With that in mind, Vicente and his allies quickly found someone in this place willing to do this little job for them.

...

"I see... You want information on Elder Malik." Said a local informant, a member of the Fallen Angels sect himself, who sold information on the local black market.

"I know a lot about Elder Malik. I know one of his sons, so I have the information you need in my head. I can tell you everything now if you're willing to pay my price."

Vicente nodded as he listened to the heartbeat of the man in front of him in the secluded room of a local auction house. "Name your price."

"500 gold coins."

Vicente placed the coins on the table between him and the person and pushed them towards the young man.

The Mid-level Mage smiled as he took the coins. "Well, to start with the most important thing, elder Malik is in the city. In fact, he hasn't left his estate since he returned from his last battle against Dax of the Bone Mountains. He was severely wounded by his opponent and barely escaped with his life back then.

Since then, he has been undergoing treatments at his home to heal his body and the wounds in his soul.

To tell the truth, he has improved a lot in the past few years. However, he's still not at his best and is still resting. As far as I know, it might take another five years for him to truly recover and return to his former level."

"Oh? I didn't expect that." Vicente commented with surprise, not knowing if he liked it or not.

Honestly, he preferred to deal with this opponent at that man's best state. He wouldn't feel so good about killing a fallen and wounded dog...

But that wouldn't change his plans. It would just make him feel differently about his revenge against Dax.

"Yes, his situation is not so good. Fortunately, he's a very well-

placed elder in the sect who has already made many contributions. The sect master has helped him a lot and made it possible for him to recover." Said this young member of Malik's sect.

"Anyway, as for the people close to the elder, well, there are many people." He smiled. "The old man is a born womanizer. No wonder there are rumors that he has already stolen the wives of at least three famous Sovereigns in our region...

But back to the point, he has six women, four of whom are his de facto wives and two of whom haven't earned that status yet but live with the family. He has a total of 8 children with these wives.

The youngest is 17 and is a level 5 Acolyte. The oldest is 150 and is an Earth Sovereign." His eyes narrowed as he thought of this woman, one of the most beautiful in the sect, with whom he had had some experience in the past but no longer had any hope of ever acting on the same level again.

"A lot of people..." Layla looked at Casey, realizing they might have to deal with a very large group.

"Yes, elder Malik's family is quite large. In addition to his wives and children, he has a living brother and relatives outside of Spiritbell. But I don't know much about them.

In addition to these relatives, he has three close friends in the sect. One is called Kane, and the others are Poul and Milo. They are all Sky Sovereigns.

I heard one of them had arranged an engagement with one of Elder Malik's three daughters, but I don't know if it's true." The young man leaned forward and spoke quietly. "There are rumors that the elder's family follows the old forbidden practice."

Casey and Vicente didn't understand, but Layla couldn't help but open her eyes wider as she wondered if he was talking about a disgusting practice that existed in some parts of the continent.

"You're not saying that they have inbred sexual relations, are you?"

The young man laughed as he nodded affirmatively. "Rumor has it that the elder gets along very well with his daughters, haha. I don't know if he'd really give one of them to one of his friends."

"Really?" Vicente asked, looking at the man in surprise.

He knew of cases like this on Earth, but on his homeworld, such things were frowned upon and even forbidden in some places. As for Polaris Realm, he had never heard of such cases here, so when he heard about it for the first time, he couldn't help but be surprised.