During the master blacksmith’s gathering event, his majesty Liandre George was meeting up with two red-cloaked wizards in his palace in the Duchy of Carmel. These two wizards were from the St. Ellis Wizard Union, and they were both intermediate wizards.

One of the wizards said with a stiff tone, “Your majesty, I am Drayton, the intermediate wizard. This is Manfred, the intermediate wizard. By decision of our wizard union, you must immediately remove all of Abel’s titles. Also, you must reclaim all the properties you have rewarded him.”

Liandre George said with a troubled expression, “I’m not trying to disagree with you, my most welcomed guests, but a king cannot just do that to anyone of his nobleman subjects. Abel must be charged with something like treason, or else everyone will start asking questions.”

His Majesty knew how important of a man Abel was. While he didn’t have the power to handle these two intermediate wizards from the Wizard union, he also knew that he couldn’t afford to anger Wizard Morton, who was the top wizard in the duchy that he ruled. If he went after Abel, Morton might just cut his head off right on his throne.

Wizard Drayton said with a sneer, “Don’t worry about that old man, your majesty. Truth to be told, we are also looking for a way to drag Wizard Morton down. If we can somehow strip him of his status, the Wizard Union might just be able to banish him out of this duchy. He’ll have no choice but to listen to our top-ranking members. If he was, say, told to fight the orcs, he’ll have no choice but to go.”

Wizard Manfred also added, “Do as we requested, your Majesty, or else we’ll have to consider replacing you with a more obedient king. A more obedient family, even.”

Liandre George said hesitantly, “What.. Please! With what reasons can I remove Master Abel?”

Wizard Drayton said with a smile, “Well, that’s not hard for a king, is it? If you need Abel to commit treason, then so be it. I don’t think evidence is that important, but if you need it, the St. Ellis Wizard Union will take care of that.”

And that was how Abel lost his baronship in the Duchy of Carmel. It all happened in an instance. Even his castle was confiscated within less than a day. All his wealth in Bakong City was seized. His mansion in the Triumph Boulevard, as well as his fruit grove outside of Bakong City were also taken under the name of the duchy.

Since Abel was a nobleman, almost all the noblemen-related institutes must be informed of this event. It wasn’t just his family crest. His noblemen’s crest also had to be removed. All the relevant data also had to be deleted from the public database.

Perhaps this wouldn’t have happened if Hoover didn’t go to Cina City. As for Wizard Morton, he only cared about his research. He wouldn’t know about any of the decisions that the duchy of Carmel made. That being said, he had no control over what Liandre George did to Abel.

At the 16-floor magic tower in the Kingdom of St. Ellis, Wizard Cliff, the manager of the intelligence agency, was sitting in the hallroom on the top floor. He was listening to reports that were from the two intermediate wizards, who both just came back from the duchy of Carmel.

Wizard Drayton reported, “Rest assured, Master Cliff. Abel’s a nobody in the duchy of Carmel now. Not only is he no longer a nobleman, but almost all his wealth has also been seized by the local authorities. As for the family of his foster father, we have told everyone in Harvest City to end all businesses with them. Soon, they’ll have no choice but to call for Abel to come back. It is at that point that we’ll have the man that we’re looking for.”

Wizard Cliff wanted to say something. He wanted to complement these two wizards, but his identity card started ringing.

“WHAT?” Wizard Cliff shouted as he heard his subordinates, “Abel became a grandmaster blacksmith?”

He hung up the call instantly. When Wizard Drayton saw how concerned Wizard Cliff became, he went in a bit closer to him.

“Forgive me, sir, but did Abel become a grandmaster blacksmith?”

“Brilliant! Just brilliant!” Wizard Cliff screamed at Wizard Drayton in rage, “Look at what you’ve done! We’re now the official enemies of the Blacksmith Union!”

Wizard Drayton lowered his head as he listened to the rant. Truth be told, he had wanted to complain about Wizard Cliff right now. If he didn’t ask him about how the Blacksmith Union has refused to make a magic staff for him, he would’ve never made the offer to charge Abel with treason. He was holding it all in, but really, he felt bad to have gone through all that trouble for nothing.

Abel just became a grandmaster blacksmith. Since teleportation circles were widespread in this world, it didn’t take long for the news to spread across every existing society there was.

Liandre George didn’t know about it, though. He was too scared of Wizard Morton, so he was already packing up to go to his southern palace for a trip to “maintain his health,” apparently.

Grand Duke Edwina heard about Abel as she was still in Angstorm City. She was completely shocked by the progress that Abel made. Abel was already a master alchemist. It must’ve taken at least several centuries for him to reach the top-level of something else. As it turned out, however, that guess was completely off.

As annoyed as she was with Abel leaving without saying goodbye, Grand Duke Edwina now understood. For a genius like Abel, it was impossible to make him stay in one place.

It was now the second day in Cina City’s master blacksmith’s gathering event. Unlike before, the hall room was filled with casual chatters.

Abel never took back the blackfire magic staff. He just left it on top of the middle of the desk. It was free for all to see. There weren’t a lot of security measures that were put on it, so everyone could have access to look at how he managed to fit an external energy source to it.

Sometimes, the master blacksmiths would share their thoughts with Abel. Three of them hadn’t been in public for a while, so it was a very rare chance for Abel. They would talk about some ideas that weren’t fully matured yet, which would spark up a lot of creativity that would serve to inspire all who heard about it.

One of the staff members came in, “Master Morry! Master Morry! Big news! Grandmaster Abel just had all his status and lands removed from the duchy of Carmel! Even his properties in Bakong City have been retrieved by the authorities!”

The voice was extremely loud. It echoed across the entire building, which meant that all the ones that were inside could hear it very clearly. Soon, they all turned to Hoover at the same time. They knew how important he was in the duchy of Carmel. If there was anyone to turn to in this situation, it would have to be him.

Hoover’s face was completely red right now. Just a day before, he swore to Abel that he would “Protect all his interests that were in the duchy of Carmel.” What the duchy of Carmel did was, in every conceivable way, a slap in his face.

Hoover walked up to Abel and handed a sheepskin book to him, “Take this from me, Grandmaster Abel. This is what I’ve written about my thoughts on becoming a knight’s head commander. As for your properties in the duchy of Carmel, I’ll attend to it right away, and I swear, I’ll give you a proper explanation very quickly.”

Abel thanked Hoover sincerely, “Thank you so much, Master Hoover. Take your time while you’re helping me out, alright? It’s not your responsibility to begin with, so don’t be too hard on yourself. Actually, just stay here a bit longer. We’ll have a good, long discussion about it once this gathering event is over.”

Even Hoover’s eyes were starting to turn red, “No, I’m afraid that I can’t stay here any longer, Grandmaster Abel. Oh, no! I’m so embarrassed at the moment. Sorry, but I have to go now. I have to get this stuff sorted out for you as soon as possible. Take care now, and I’ll see you around. Make sure to have a good read at the book. If you have any questions about it, you can ask them when I come back. So, uh, yeah. I’ll be going now.”