After having dropped off the hastily bought food he had just acquired, Marcus made his way back to the parlor where Mrazivy and Lilia had be engaged in a game of chess.


    Seeing the two of them going at it so intently put a smile on Marcus’ face as he was happy to see the two of them getting along.


    Though just few minutes into the game, Lilia had Mrazivy on the ropes and soon said, “Checkmate!”


    There was some obvious glee in her voice as she managed to beat Mrazivy who had a look of utter shock on her face.


    Of course, she never thought she was going to lose to Lilia who was only thirteen years old, but it was just the difference in their current experience.


    Lilia yed games with her friends quite often and had been practicing so that she could beat Marcus. So for Mrazivy, who had not yed much for quite some time, it was obvious that she was a bit rusty.


    “Let us go again. I am just getting warmed up and was not taking it seriously since I did not know how good you are.” Mrazivy said, not wanting to stay defeated._.


    Naturally Lilia agreed, and the two of them yed three more games before Mrazivy gave up on trying to win.


    “Do you mind if I take a turn?” Marcus asked.


    “Sure, go ahead. Your little sister is too good for me to beat right now.” Mrazivy said with a slight pout on her face.


    Seeing this Marcus internally chuckled a bit, before sitting down across from Lilia and making his first move.


    The three of them continued to y games and talk amongst each other while enjoying some tea, until it was time for dinner which Ste announced.


    “Oh my, you certainly had your staff go all out.” Mrazivy said as the first course was brought out.


    Marcus however, just rolled his eyes, since she already knew exactly what they were having as she was the one who had requested it.


    Course after course was served to the three of them as they ate and continued their idle discussions from earlier.


    Eventually they finished everything up, and Mrazivy said that she was feeling tired and wanted to retire early to bed.


    But before she left, she looked at Marcus intently and said to him using telepathy, ‘Come see me in my room after around an hour. We can then talk about certain matters we cannot discuss in front of everyone else.’


    Nodding his head slightly, Marcus made sure to let her know that he acknowledged her n, and soon after she was gone said that he would also be retiring early as he was tired from his journey.


    Once the next hour had gone by, Marcus slipped out of his room in his ghost form and made his way over to where Mrazivy was staying.


    ‘Mraz I am at the door. Is it okay for me toe in?’ He asked with telepathy.


    He needed to make sure that she was alone, since if anyone else was there, it would be quite rming for him to suddenly just appear out of nowhere.


    Luckily, she sent back the all clear signal, and he entered and saw her sitting in one of the chairs in the room that were facing the door.


    As soon as he entered, he reappeared and did so in his original form, not needing or wanting to appear as Irene.


    The instant he was tangible again, Mrazivy rushed over and hugged him with all her might, while burying her face into his chest.


    It had been far too long for her since she was able to just let go and the build up of stress while Marcus had been fighting for his life had been weighing down on her.


    “Next time I aming with you no matter what. I will get stronger, so please do not leave me behind again.”


    Petting her head and smiling down at her, Marcus said, “Okay, I promise I will take you with me next time.”


    After the two of them had hugged for a good ten minutes, Mrazivy finally separated from him .and said with a pout on her face, “You have gotten much stronger again, and right after I had finally caught up.”


    Scratching the back of his head, Marcus was not sure what to say here.


    He had certainly passed her by again and was now several levels higher than her.


    “Well, I did help defeat a monster over level ny, so while I did not deliver the final blow or really do too much damage inparison to the others i still sent me up nine levels. But I n to rx for a bit, and I already know how hard that you work, so I am sure that you can surpass my level again.” Marcus said to try andfort Mrazivy.


    Luckily it seemed to work, and she said with a confident smile, “I n to do just that.”


    The two of them then chuckled for a bit before Mrazivy looked at Marcus seriously, and said, “Now there are a few important things we need to talk about.”


    Nodding his head, Marcus looked towards her and waited for her to tell him what she needed to.


    “First off, you have garnered a lot of attention from the adventures guild. From what I have figured out they are calling you in to not just speak with you about what happened, but to try and recruit you deeper into their organization.”


    Raising an eyebrow, Marcus was a bit confused by this since he was certain he already refused to ept the rank up to mithril that would have made him beholden to the guild.


    However, when he asked Mrazivy about this, she shook her head and said, “You refused as Irene, but they are interested in you as Marcus this time. To the public you participated in the battle and recovery as Marcus Ferrous, the recently ascended honorary prince, who performs one miracle after the other.”