"Ah..." She gasped; looking at her father’s furious face. "I can explain; just calm down before both of our heads roll on the cold snow." She jumped away from Gojo’s lap and took a few steps away.

"What can you explain?" He clenched his fist and threw a sharp glare toward Gojo. "Explain what? I don’t care if he is the king or not." Her father took a single step forward, and the stone ground cracked beneath his feet. Using his entire back and whole torso, he pulled his fist back and swung it at full force toward Gojo’s face.

When the fist approached Gojo, it slowed down, unable to ever touch him. "You cannot touch me. Spaces bend and expand around me with ease. You need to be faster than that natural expansion to reach me."

Alfred smiled. "You think so?" His fist suddenly accelerated into Gojo’s space and hit his face as hard as a sledgehammer, sending him flying out of the shop’s door. Lise gasped, and Alcott looked more amused than surprised.

Gojo did a backflip and landed on his feet, looking toward Alfred with a smile and a bleeding nose. "What was that just now? I never saw such magic before." Lise’s father was short, stocky, and built like a brick wall. He was just like Mira’s father, a half-dwarf who leaned more into his human size.

"Alfred Worthsmith, the Warsmith Enchanter. Former S-ranker, retired after a fatal injury that almost crippled him." Alcott explained as Alfred took a step outside the shop, and all of the weapons there started to move.

"Also known as the King of Swords." Alcott smiled and waved his hand to Alfred, only to get a grunt back. "Womanizer Alcott, I never expected that your ugly face would show up at my shop." The swords flew out of the shelves and surrounded him as Gojo cracked his shoulders.

"I see, you’re wearing a suit of invisible armor, and that was what allowed you to hit me. I don’t know what kind of magic you used, but it was a nifty trick." When Gojo smiled, Alfred could feel the tension quickly rising. He wasn’t a fool, but a seasoned veteran. He could tell at a glance that Gojo could wipe the entire continent with a single attack if he wanted.

Should he fight this battle, or leave it for another day? He can’t defeat Gojo, and he only hit him earlier because Gojo was never taking him seriously to begin with. The barrier he was using around his body was far too weak and easy to dispel compared to the power he holds.

"What do you want from my daughter?" He growled, and Gojo smiled. "Nothing, to be honest. I came here with my father looking for unique weapons, and I was a bit fascinated with her enchanting magic, so I offered to sponsor her research and even give her a tower in the castle."

He then shrugged. "Of course, she wanted more political power, and that thing comes with its own hurdles." Gojo slowly approached, and the swords started buzzing like wasps, vibrating as Alfred could barely hold his urge to attack.

"You think I’d believe it would end up at that? If your father is anything to go by, this is just the start." Alfred growled, and Gojo lifted his hand. "Sorry, but that isn’t my problem. You also just gave me enough time to analyze your magic. Let me show you a little trick."

As Gojo pointed at the sky, all of the flying swords froze in place, and when he lowered his hand, they fell to the ground. Alfred gasped, looking at his weapons with a surprised expression. But before he could understand what had happened, he found himself back inside the shop with a throbbing pain in his stomach, and he was unable to breathe.

Gasping for air, he could see the imprint of Gojo’s palm on his chest, where his invisible armor was now visible and cracked. He was hit, and hit hard, to the point that his old wounds were throbbing. He was hit before he could even realize it.

"Here you go, Alfred." Alcott threw him a healing potion. "You can’t even catch me, so you’ll never be able to keep up with Gojo."

"Wait!" Lise cried in the back as she rushed toward her father. "You never told me you were a former S-ranker!" She gasped, and he chuckled. "You aren’t worried about my wounds?" She glared down at him with an angry face. "You’re talking just fine. Now explain everything."

"We’ll talk about that later; for now, we’ve got two troublemaking guests to kick out. Alcott and his son." He glared at Gojo. "I don’t care that he is the king or not; whenever that bastard’s blood goes, disaster always follows."

"Alfred." Neil, who had just walked out of the forge, glared at him. "I was your friend for decades, yet I never knew you were a former adventurer." As he approached, Alfred sat up. "No human knew, but that bastard does." He glared at Alcott. "I’m a half-dwarf; I can live up to two hundred years, and due to my strength, I look younger than I actually am."

Alcott pointed at him. "He was an adventurer two hundred years ago and retired before I was born. I only met him later on a quest where we worked together." He pulled a chair and sat down. "It is a long story."

As Alcott went on to tell a pretty lengthy story, back at Arad’s private quarters, Merlin had made her way back to the inner church of Eris, where Gamond was still getting treated. "How is she doing?" She asked the moment she walked into the hall and saw Eris and Gamond inside.

Gamond was lying on the white bed in a simple white robe, and Eris was by her side, casting healing magic as if her life depended on it. "Even if her scales can block Arad’s curse, his attacks got it into her bloodstream, and healing her now is a pain." Eris replied, and Gamond laughed.

"I’m getting better quickly, don’t worry about me." She smiled. "Speaking of the devil, how is Arad doing? I gave him a few nasty wounds myself; even if they healed instantly, he should’ve felt them." She put one on the other and looked toward Merlin.

"Arad is fine; he has already recovered from the wounds without anyone healing him. But his human soul is damaged a bit, so it’ll take him two days to fully recover. Violet took him to the moon, and he is now there in his draconic form." She approached the bed and sat beside Gamond’s legs. "The curse won’t hurt anyone there."

"Isn’t he growing a bit too fast? I was able to stand up to him a while ago, but now he clubbed me down like a wyrmling, while being out of his mind. Fighting him honestly didn’t feel like a fight, but like he was bullying me and I was struggling to keep all of my limbs." She sat up. "I won’t talk about his magic, but his raw strength doesn’t match his size or age. He hits twice as hard as me, an Elder Drakaina."

"I hit hard as well." Eris replied, and Gamond growled at her. "Another stupid answer and I’ll kick you in the face. You’re a goddess, and that empowers you. It doesn’t make sense for him... and I never heard of a mere adult dragon with a human form that is five meters tall."

Merlin crossed her arms. "Compared to other dragons, his power is just as absurd as his size is compared to a regular human."