After finding another horse in the frozen maple forest, the duo began their journey towards Pen Town instead of going to Icefair where the phoenix auction manor branch was located. To reach Icefair, he would have to pass through either Flamefair or Pen Town. Going through Pen Town would take two days while going through Flamefair would only take one day from the maple forest. Since there were still four days left to the auction and the girl laying on the horse before him was Noah's sister, Michael changed his initial plan to going through Flamefair.
Gaya was unusually silent during the journey. She was still giving him the silent treatment whereas Nightmare too flew along with him without uttering a word. However, Michael did not start a conversation because he enjoyed the serenity.
The path through the snow was narrow, not more than three horses could travel side by side. Trees on each side of the path were covered in snow. The quietness Michael was enjoying got interrupted by the howling sound of the wind that was followed by a heavy downpour of snow. He was fortunate enough to buy a long winter coat that was made of black bear coat, according to the cloth merchant he met at the Sun Rise sect. The same merchant agreed to supply the sect with winter clothes. Michael was still considering the design for the sect's uniform as he loathed the current orange uniform. Claire was already on the task to design the new uniform and as a Guardian of the Sect, he asked her to make the uniform black.
Even with a fur-covered winter coat, the chillness made his hair stand up. He quickly retrieved a blanket he packed before covering Sabrina's body with it. How could he let Sabrina freeze to death after saving her from Alden?
Wondering what the uniform would look like, Michael gave a mild kick to the horse to fasten the pace. After passing through frozen waterfalls, trees, and a few buildings along the way, a vague figure of a city wall appeared in his eyesight.
The heavy snow obstructed his eyesight. If not that was a problem, every breath he released turned into a cloud of white smoke, obstructing the view before him even further.
As he was riding through the snow, he felt two soft hands wrapping around his chest.
"You can use Arch energy to warm yourself" Michael responded to her burying her face on his back.
"I'm still not talking to you, jerk" she head-butted his back.
"Suit yourself, I considered taking you out for dinner at a nice restaurant in Kethen but meh"
"You're kidding?"
"Nope"
She was excited, tightening her grip around his waist. She never went on a real date with him. Although they spent most of their time in each other's company, Gaya always wanted to spend some time with him, without all the planning, battle, or any kind of stress.
"I know a nice place in Pen Town" She moved her hands from Michael's waist and stretched his cheeks like she was playing with a chubby baby.
Flying beside them, Nightmare just rolled his eyes and continued to fly towards the city gate. When Michael's group got closer to the city gate, a group of guards wearing surprisingly high-quality fur-coated armor.
"Halt your steps!" The guard leading the group had a sturdy body forged in battle. His long brown beard imprisoned countless snowflakes, almost making his brown beard white. He wearily stared at Michael, but his mouth opened a few millimeters wide when his gaze fell on Nightmare.
However, the sight of frozen bodies on the horse led by Nightmare turned his surprise into hostility.
"Dead bodies!" The guards behind him quickly drew their weapons out. There was no fear in their eyes even though Michael, a Core Formation warrior could kill them like stepping on an ant as they were only at the Body Refining stage except the lead guard who was at Body Strengthening stage.
"Relax, they were killed by the bandits in the Maple forest," Michael said, like he did not notice the guards at all. Although the lead guard didn't take out his spear attached to his back, he moved towards Nightmare slowly and cautiously to check the dead bodies.
The lead guard conjured a small orb of fire to melt down the snow on one of the dead bodies. Soon when the ice melted down from the dead body's chest, the lead guard's eyes widened. He frantically melted the snow on the other bodies before one of the guards behind him screamed,
"It's the guards of the Winston family!"
"Sir, follow me," the lead guard said, taking the reins from Nightmare. The baby dragon was more than happy to give the rein to the guard.
"To where?" Gaya's voice was grim but Michael patted the hands around his waist, wordlessly asking her to calm down.
"To the Winston Family compound"
"Lead the way" Michael gestured at the guard. It saved him the time to ask someone the directions to the Winston family. The lead guard overlooked Sabrina on Michael's horse. This wasn't unusual as the lead guard might have assumed her as another dead body.
The guards opened the large metal gates to reveal Pen Town. The first thing that caught Michael's eyes was the tallest building in Pen Town, a clock tower that resembled London's big ben. The rest of the buildings were covered with snow, barely revealing their oak wood walls and birch wood rooftops.
Regardless of the snow, the township itself looked gorgeous. Pen Town had a captivating atmosphere. There weren't many civilians on the streets that arched in organic swirls around the aromatic bakery, cheerful taverns, and other buildings considering the heavy snowfall. There wasn't a big jaw-dropping difference between any Cities in Bredia and Pen Town.
Majorities of the buildings were two-story while occasionally Michael noticed three or four-story buildings. The buildings were built very close to each other like train blocks but the pavements were spacious enough to have benches and small places to sit and eat, to relax as folk went about their day.
Michael followed the lead guard's horse to meet the Winstons. After passing through lines of crowded buildings, the Pen Town opened up to reveal it's inner-city where the prominent families were located.
Shortly a miniature version of the city gates appeared before him. The walls were illuminated by torches and had archers patrolling on them.
Ding!
Ding!
Ding!
From the other side of the walls, three loud bell sounds reverberated. Soon, Michael heard the gates open as another group of guards walked out of the gates led by an old man with neatly combed hair.
He was dressed very conservatively and formally, consisting of a waistcoat, grey striped trousers, a white shirt with a Windsor cut, and a black tie. Without a second look, Michael knew he must be the Winston family loyal butler.
"Captain Giles, what brought you here?" Although the butler's eyes betrayed his surprise when he saw Nightmare, he remained composed as a butler should be.
"I brought some bad news, Samuel"
"Can we talk inside? she needs a warm place to heal properly" Michael interrupted Captain Giles, attracting the butler's gaze immediately.
Michael jumped down from his horse as all the guards in the vicinity tensed up. He ignored the guards, taking Sabrina into his arms
"Young Miss!" Even the sight of the dragon couldn't make the butler act out of proper composure but the sight of Sabrina lying in Michael's hands did.
Captain Giles was stunned, he thought it was another body but in reality, it was Sabrina Winston herself.
"What happened to her?" the old butler leaped at Michael like a cheetah, checking her pulse.
"She's fine but she won't be if we keep standing out here in the freezing cold"
"Follow...follow me" the old butler wanted to take Sabrina from his arms but with the way the blanket wrapped around her, Samuel feared that even slight exposure to cold could kill his Young Miss. Therefore, he led the way into the family compound, letting Michael carry her in his arms.
"Move out of the way!" the butler frantically waved his hands at the fancy-robed people on the way.
When everyone thought the heavy downpour couldn't get any worse, it did. The wind caused walking difficult as Michael felt like an invisible force pushing him back while the howling wind made it almost impossible to hear the old butler.
After the struggle with mother nature, they finally entered a building to see a spacious hall where several people who wore high-quality fancy robes occupied.
"Sabrina!"
"Sabi!"
"Sabi!"
From all the directions, Michael heard people shout at the girl in his arms.
"Where is her room?" Michael asked before those people could swarm him like bees.
"This way, up the stairs" the old butler led him upstairs. Nightmare saw countless eyes staring at him rather than the girl in Michael's hands. A few of the children were reaching their hands at him, probably to pet him but Nightmare ignored those snobby little kids.
"What happened to Sabi?"
"Who is that youngster carrying Sabrina?"
"Is he one of Noah's friends?"
"He's so handsome"
"And powerful"
Even in a situation like this, Gaya could hear a few girls drooling looking at Michael instead of worrying about Sabrina.
The butler soon opened the first room on the second floor to reveal pink painted walls. The wall behind the large bed had a rainbow drawn on it while a large life-sized teddy bear occupied the corner beside the bed.
Michael gently placed Sabrina on the bed before taking out another vial of healing potion from his space ring because by looking at the slight paleness of her skin, he knew she needed another healing potion.
However, when he was about to pour the vial into her mouth, his hand was stopped by someone. He turned back to see the one who stopped him was a golden-haired youngster in his early twenties.
"What is that you're trying to make her drink?!" His voice was unnecessarily loud and contained a hint of murderous aura.
"It's a healing potion, you moron" The youngster's tone pissed Gaya off as she swatted the youngster's hand away from Michael's.
The situation was immediately tensed up,
"She was attacked by a powerful spell. If she doesn't take another healing potion in the next two hours, her organs will fail" Michael looked at the old butler instead of the youngster. He wasn't a healer but he knew that her life would be in danger if she didn't take another healing potion. He really wondered what kind of spell Alden used that required two healing potions to heal Sabrina.