"Boyfriend…?" Mireya asked suspiciously, while the arm holding the weapon wavered slightly.
Meanwhile, Cassian looked down at his hand held by Thalassa and raised an eyebrow at her, questioning her with his gaze. In response, the woman pressed herself closer to him, lightly tapping his shoulder so he would lower his head, and whispered:
"I already lost that bet anyway. I'm not going to back out of it just because we made a new one. And don't think I'm going to let you eat for free."
He let out a smile that didn't reach his eyes. He released her hand and, before Mireya could say that something felt off, took Thalassa by the waist in a possessive grip. With his other hand he pulled back his hood and smiled in recognition at his "recent" girlfriend's friend.
Mireya's harpoon clattered to the floor in that instant.
"A human?" she asked doubtfully. She looked at Thalassa expecting an explanation, but upon seeing the timid expression on her face, her doubt lessened slightly. Instead, she exclaimed loudly:
"A human?! I get that I've been telling you for ages to finally accept Ereon, but that wasn't so you'd go and throw yourself at the first person you met…! I can't believe it."
Mireya shook her head in complete disbelief.
"Poor Ereon… No, wait—that's not the important part. I won't be able to make fun of your pristine tail anymore!"
At Mireya's last exclamation, Thalassa abruptly pulled away from Cassian. Pointing a finger at her with a face completely red—caught between anger and pleasure—she declared:
"Exactly! You can't say a thing now. If anything, I'm the one who's ahead. You always acted in front of me like you were some experienced woman just because you run this dive and a few lost souls. Now you can't intimidate me with that!"
When she finished, Thalassa was breathing hard, wearing an excited smile that was very unusual for her.
Mireya lowered her head in defeat, still processing what was happening and completely forgetting her earlier hostility. She walked with slow, clumsy steps toward a small table that held a full bottle of white alcohol. She uncorked it and, without the slightest attempt to find a glass, began drinking straight from the bottle, gulp after gulp, until it was empty.
Gulp, gulp, gulp… was the only sound in the room. Once there was nothing left to drink, the woman tossed the bottle somewhere and wiped her mouth with the back of her hand, satisfied, letting out a loud, liberating:
"Aaaahhh!… Damn it, I needed that," she exclaimed, following it with a loud click of her tongue a second later before flopping back onto the sofa without further ceremony.
She lifted her gaze to Thalassa, then shifted it to Cassian, made a brief grimace, and began ruffling her hair in wild frustration.
"Aaaahh, sorry! It's just that I still can't believe it. The worst part is that he's handsome. He's a human, yes, but he's handsome, so maybe my innocent friend really did fall for you."
Lumia, for her part, had been much more relieved ever since the harpoon was no longer pressed against her chin, but upon hearing what her mentor had said she was on the verge of fainting, her face completely pale.
Meanwhile, Thalassa's initial excitement—she had always wanted to say exactly that to Mireya's face—diminished noticeably. Her demeanor returned to the calm and elegance that characterized her, wanting to bring the conversation back to the important matter.
"Turbid Waters has to stop moving against the walls. If they show they can behave, I'm sure that with Lumia we can convince Oreon to lift the ban."
Mireya immediately frowned, put on an ironic expression, and answered without any filter:
"You think my people are going to listen to a goddamn stupidity like that? Don't fuck with me, Thalassa! You come here asking me to control a nest of damned bastards, thieves, and starving murderers who are sick and tired of being treated like scum. Behave? Go to hell!"
"Mireya, Turbid Waters has been improving a lot since we started cooperating with the palace with Lumia's help. This is no different."
"Ha! A whole lot of crap. You saw the abyss, right? I'm sure one of my waitresses showed it to you. That's the shit 'cooperating' brought us. This isn't going to end with talking, Thalassa. A large part of the people of Turbid Waters are ready to fight to the end."
Thalassa's brow furrowed as she asked, staring at her fixedly:
"Are they gathering? Are they planning to attack?"
Mireya avoided her gaze and did not answer.
"Mireya, look at me. I need to know. If they're really organizing a revolt, they'll all die—even all of Azure could be in danger…"
Though… Thalassa's gaze drifted toward Cassian. She knew that even if an internal conflict would weaken them, if Nereon decided to attack at that moment it shouldn't escalate too much… She bit the inside of her cheek and did not continue speaking.
Thalassa's words finally cracked Mireya's attitude a little, but even so she still didn't seem willing to cooperate.
"You must have had it hard, Thalassa. Take your boyfriend to meet your family and forget about us." When she finished speaking, she picked up the pipe she had set aside when they arrived and once again filled the room with its haze, ignoring the two women and the man who had not spoken a word until now.
"It seems you see your own people as cannon fodder," he said in a bored voice.
"What did you say?" Her furious gaze met his indifferent one.
"I know you heard me. I'm not going to repeat it." Cassian's calm, lazy voice completely clashed with the tense atmosphere that had settled in the room.
"My people are strong. We're survivors and we're not afraid of anything. Do you really think the orderly soldiers of a king who hasn't left his world of luxury in centuries can outshine us?" Mireya sat up more firmly in her place, showing no discomfort and ready to point the harpoon at someone again if he said anything else she didn't like.
"Well, if everyone thinks a weapon like that is a real threat, I'm pretty sure they can."
"Ha! Nobles and their practices. We don't need aura or any fancy techniques. Besides…" Her seventh-circle mana erupted, pressing directly toward him. "Do you really think I depend on it?"
"Isn't this exactly what proves it? Or are you unaware of the king's power? And it seems you know Ereon… Are you going to tell me you don't know that he's stronger than you? Or even Thalassa?"
Mireya's eyes trembled slightly. Thalassa seized the moment to intervene firmly:
"Stop any revolt."