Ingrid watched Dalton’s talks with his group with interest. As the Deputy Director of the Bureau, it was her duty to make sure that rectifying Ozul’s worlds and mistakes were done. But on a more personal note, she hoped that Dalton failed.

She wanted him to fail. It was all she thought about. It was why she stopped the training. If he trained more, she feared that he would grow strong enough to succeed. Out of the list of worlds to deal with, she chose the most difficult.

The world Ozul had been in charge of was a dumping ground for bodies of his victims. Some of his victims survived, but they also made the world a much worse place than it needed it to be. One of them even became the Demon King, but he was toppled by the Drug Lord that appeared a few years ago in that world.

The Drug Lord was ruthless. He made a cocktail of drugs that transformed people into his fearsome Berserkers. Not just that, Dalton would also deal with the Harem Lord who ruled underneath the Drug Lord.

He was just as fearsome as the Drug Lord with his Harem Army of women. In that army was an elite squad called the Candies. They crushed many ambitions from the men that desired to topple the Harem Lord.

Then, just to make it a little difficult, there was the Reaper that haunted the mountain she would send them to. It was a wild beast that feasted on the bodies of Death Mountain.

Of course, after preparing that, she felt it was not far enough yet. She made sure the server was made from floppy disks. Without proper servers, the status and abilities she could grant them would crash.

Her plan was perfect. She was sure that Dalton would give up with her thumb on the scale.

#

Maya came to hug Dalton when he arrived home, but she stopped mid embrace, and took a step back.

Her nose crinkled. “You smell…weird.”

“I haven’t taken a shower for a few months,” Dalton said. “So, I’m going to go ahead and do that.”

“That’s not it.” She sniffed him again. “It’s an unpleasant and familiar scent.”

“Yeah, you don’t need to make it sound worse than it is.” Dalton stepped around Maya. “I’ll go ahead and take a shower. I’ll cook after I’m done.”

“No need to do that. I already cooked for you,” Maya said.

That made him stop at the archway of the living room. He sucked in a bated breath and turned slowly to Maya. “You…cooked?”

“Yes.”

That had been enough for Dalton to disregard his soreness, and rush into the bathroom. He stripped himself from his bloodied clothes. When he showered, he scrubbed vigorously, chipping away at the dry blood until he could see the emergence of new pink skin.

He scanned his body, finding no uncleanliness and threw on some shorts and a shirt. Coming out of the bathroom, an aroma tickled his nostrils, and he swallowed any excessive drool.

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The table had been set. To the untrained eye, it would look like soup and bread. But it was more than that. Taking closer look at it, the soup was a glowing ruby red, and the bread steamed as if it had been taken out of the oven, and it was filled with a variety of different shaped nuts.

“It looks delicious,” Dalton said in awe. “What is it?”

“The soup is made from ruby tomatoes which were harvested on top of a sky island. They are only ripe for twelve days of spring, if you harvest them before or after those days they wither.” Maya explained. “The bread is made from the wheat harvested in the magma of a volcano. The nuts from the Thousand Year tree, and all of those needed time cook them properly.

“For the tomatoes, I could only cook them under specific atmospheric pressure, for the bread and nuts, I baked it over an active volcano. I know I told you I wanted to cook more, but these take time. I’m sorry Dalton.”

“No, no, no.” Dalton wiped his mouth. Just hearing her describe how she got them, made him want to eat it more. “Because it takes you so long, it makes your dinner so much more special.”

Maya gave a cheeky smile. “I think your cooking is much better. Being able to eat your meal with you is much more special. But I shouldn’t speak anymore, please eat before it gets cold.”

One spoonful, and Dalton felt like he was sitting on a sky island, taking a bite out of a ripe, juicy tomato that was freshly plucked and covered in morning dew. A warmth spread across his body and whatever pain that was in him and left when he came to.

The bowl and plate were empty. Maya sat right across from him, a smile like a hearth on her face.

“Did you enjoy it?”

Dalton nodded fervently. He was a bit sad it was over already.

Resigned, he took the dishes to the sink and started to clean it. Maya watched him from the table.

“You look much stronger than you did two days ago,” Maya noted. “Your muscle mass increased, and if I were to measure your power, you could probably crack twenty wooden baseball bats.”

“That’s…” Dalton finished and turned off the sink. He gave her a weird look. “That’s a weird level of measurement. Baseball bats? Is twenty even good?”

“Twenty is good.” Maya said. “The average person cannot even break one baseball bat. Jack could probably break fifteen. I could break three thousand. The Witch of the Crimson Moon could break fifteen thousand.”

“Crimson Moon?” Dalton repeated as he fixed up some coffee. “Never heard of her. Star Witch?”

“The strongest out of the eight.” She was playing with her hair. “Not many people have heard from her in the past hundred years, but I can guarantee she has the highest combat capabilities among the eight of us.”

Dalton walked over to the table with two cups of coffee, handing Maya one and sat back down. It was a topic he had some interest in. He had time to bring it up.

“Is it true one of you Star Witches died?” Dalton asked.

Maya’s lips twisted. “She was killed, spirit and all by the universe’s greatest assassin. The Milkman.”

That was a term he thought he had heard before. He just couldn’t remember. “The Milkman? That’s an odd name for an assassin.”

“I didn’t name him, but that is what he calls himself. He dresses like a milkman. White uniform and drinks a bottle of milk whenever he kills his target. He is possibly the most dangerous man in the universe.” Her tone was icy and shivering. “He has made it his goal to kill the rest of us. Of course, killing him is also pretty difficult.”

It was here Dalton realized taking in a small gasp. “Maya, are you hunting him?”

She gave him a soft smile.

That was her answer.

Perceiving what he was about to say, Maya cut him. “I know it’s dangerous, Dalton, but he killed Reina. She is the Witch of Astral Dreams. The one he killed. She was a friend.”

Dalton was wordless. He did not know what to say.

In those sapphire eyes was something icy yet broken. Like an injured wolf ready to fight. She seemed to notice and shook it away.

“I’m sorry you had to see that.”

Dalton wanted to reach out to her, but he could not find the strength to do it. It was then he noticed that his hands were shaking.

When she left, the air became warmer. Just like winter becoming spring. Dalton shuddered for an hour before he was able to stand up.