To Kill a Kingdom

Elian goes to The Golden Goose, which is ironically the only place in Midas that isn’t golden. It is a dive bar owned by a mysterious woman known only as “Sakura” who looks to be from Págos, an icy country where people have pale skin and extremely light-colored hair. Sakura is a tough woman who can manage her rough clientele, but she is fond of Elian and allows him to hold secret meetings in the Golden Goose.

Elian and his crew sit at a table, meeting with a strange man who claims to have information about how to hunt down the Princes’ Bane. The man tells them about the Crystal of Keto, which is said to have been crafted by the “original families” and is powerful enough to defeat the Sea Queen. He tells them that the Sea Queen has a stone too, and that both stones were made from the remains of the goddess Keto when the original families killed her. The Sea Queen uses her Crystal to access the power of Keto and rule over the sea. As the man speaks, Elian consults a watch his father gave him that can tell when someone is lying: The watch indicates that the man is telling the truth.