"Hmm…" Clovis crossed his arms.

"So, have you found anything yet?" Melody asked.

"I have been thinking about a few possibilities. The first one is definitely the tower that is guarded by a Tier 9 beast. However, we are not in a position to deal with a Tier 9 beast yet. We can probably fight it, but we might not be able to defeat it. We can only enter the tower, but it will be a mess if we fight it inside the tower or if the beast seals the tower."

"I guess so. It can wait until we have the ability to cut down a Tier 9 beast. Besides, fighting a beast like this means fighting all its underlings. I bet there are at least a couple of Tier 8 beasts." Melody nodded.

"I will ask about it from my grandfather later. He has killed one, which becomes my swords. So, he can probably enlighten us."

"Any other guesses?"

"Is there any tower that is considered a high-level danger zone?"

"I tried searching for their information. It looked like the level of secrecy of these towers varied. I'm assuming they are not the special towers since the Prophet will hide them as much as possible."

"Indeed," Clovis agreed. "How many of them have you eliminated?"

"Ten more."

"I see." Clovis contemplated. "That leaves us twenty. But we have confirmed that the Tower of the Lake and this unknown tower are special towers.

"We have to find four more towers among the remaining eighteen towers."

"Yes. About that…" She paused for a moment. "There is a tower whose location might interest you."

"Where?"

"Here." Melody projected a map, showing a certain country.

"This country…" Clovis gasped. "Do you mean…"

"Yeah. One of those towers is located near the Melesviet family. The Melesviet family might not control the tower, but from its location, it's clear that the Melesviet family is protecting it. If we want to enter that tower, we may have to clash against them."

"Well, the Hacfield family and the Melesviet family have been fighting for a while. If I can ask my grandfather's help, it should go just fine. So, let's assume this is also another special tower."

Melody nodded. "Yes. That's all I can find right now."

"Okay." Clovis contemplated. "How about the group?"

"Christina is now trying to evolve to Tier 8. The rest are also absorbing their essence. We still don't possess the strength to clash with any Tier 9 human, including Mara."

"But have we even found her?"

"Not yet." Melody shook her head helplessly. "It's no wonder she's a walking disaster. It's really hard to figure out where she goes. You think she will move logically, but…"

"Yeah. She can change her direction just by dropping her glaive." Clovis chuckled. "I guess we can only wait."

"Yes." Melody sighed. "And now, we don't know what we're supposed to do next."

"Now that you say that, should we extend our hunt or maybe find another ruined city?" Clovis asked. "We should try pushing more people to Tier 8. At the same time, the situation has calmed down a lot."

Melody agreed. "I think that will be a good idea. Extending the hunt might be good, but make sure to give us a break as well."

"Of course. We can just take one or two weeks' break after this," Clovis suggested.

"Why don't you call Vina? She is currently training under your great-grandmother, right? In that case, why not ask her if she has any more information about the special towers or Mara?"

"Hmm…" Clovis didn't get to call Silvia easily. Usually, it would be Silvia who contacted her.

However, Vina was a much easier option. It might be Silvia's way to make Clovis rely more on Vina, who would become her successor.

Clovis considered the options carefully. On the one hand, getting information from Silvia should be easier compared to finding it himself. On the other hand, he didn't want to rely too much on others.

"How about… we have another vacation?" Clovis raised his finger. "The Elseingarde family."

"The beach?"

"Yep." Clovis nodded with a serious expression. "There won't be any joint training this time. We're simply going there for a vacation. Don't you think it will be nice?"

"It may not sound bad. How about asking Hana? Maybe we can use her boat?"

"Will do. For now, ask everyone whether they want to go or not. I will also ask Vina if she wants to go on a vacation."

"!!!" Melody instantly recognized the true reason. "You just want to ask her a question, but if you ask her directly by phone, your grandmother will surely frown upon it. However, if you ask her during the vacation, you will be seen as 'deepening' your relationship with her."

"Is that obvious?"

"Your grandmother will probably see through your reasoning in seconds."

"Well…" Clovis smirked. "…there is nothing she can do about it, right?"

"Fair point. If she prevents her from going, that means the relationship between you and Vina might not be as close in the future. This means the Hacfield family might lose control over Steven. No matter how much she likes Vina, she will never give Steven to an outsider. So, she can't stop it even if she knows your intention."

"There you have it." Clovis winked playfully.

"Are you sure about this? Playing tricks on your great-grandmother…"

"Yes. It doesn't harm her anyway. Besides, all the missions we've taken from her so far are according to her plan. This is just a little payback, don't you think?"

It really didn't harm her, so it might really not hurt their relationship. Melody sighed. "Well, you can do it your way. Just don't come back to me crying."

"What are you talking about? I'm not going to cry…" Clovis tilted his head in confusion.

"I'm not so sure." Melody chuckled. "I mean, even the great Madman is scared of someone. Why can't the 'great' Clovis Hacfield experience the same thing?"

"I am not great. Besides, it's just a vacation. It's not like she has something on me, right? I mean, my grandfather has been hiding me for all these years." Clovis shrugged.

Melody just looked away, not wanting to deal with the mess. "You do you. I'm going to tell the others. Maybe we can ask everyone's family to join."