In a multitude of precious metal hues, snow clouds, silver and black, adorned the sky as if they long to kiss the land. Under the snow clouds and rain of snowflakes, Michael was flying towards Flamefair without a clue about what just happened back in his room. If he had enough spiders, he would have placed them in every room including in the room he stayed in. Therefore, he prioritized the hall, Noah's room, and a few others and did not place one in his room. If he had done that, he would have realized that Diana is his mother. More correctly, Abras's mother.
Even before coming to this world, he had been the reason for the separation between Diana and her son.
"How far is this Flamefair?" Nightmare asked, standing on his shoulder.
"I think we'll reach the Flamefair town in a few hours" The smokiness of the winter prevented him from clearly seeing the villages beneath him on the land. He could barely see structures of buildings and dim lights produced by the torches in those buildings.
"The guard was right, the winter is harsher here than in Bredia or Pen Town"
"So what should we do when we find this copycat?"
"Kill him" Michael simply shrugged.
"We have three days until the auction which means we have three days to find this copycat"
"What if it's like Gaya said, what if this copycat is a guardian's doing?"
If the system was on safe mode before, he may have chosen to intrude. Since it was not the case, Michael would definitely kill the one pretending to be him even if that one was a guardian.
"Then we'll kill them too"
Michael and Nightmare continued to fly towards the north according to the map. Soon, towering man-made structures and a gigantic city wall vaguely appeared in the distance.
"I can sense some powerful presence on the city wall, Ghosty" Nightmare informed Michael.
Although Michael could not see or sense any presence, he knew Nightmare saw the world and the energy around the world differently than any other species in this world.
Considering many cities he had been in had no flying inside the city walls rule, he descended to the ground to enter the city through the main gate.
Soon, as he was expecting, a group of soldiers approached him.
"Another Nightcrawler hunter I presume" The person who was leading the guard patrol was a woman. She stood at least seven feet tall with the structure of a professional bodybuilder. Her bulky structure seemed bulkier with the jade green armor that was covering her from her head to toe.
Regardless of her monstrous height and figure, Michael stayed calm except his heart skipped a beat when he saw the golden G etched onto her chest plate.
"A Guardian" Michael's mind quickly recognized the symbol. It was the same symbol he saw on Peyton and Xanali's robes. He quickly willed himself to sense her cultivation level. She was just a few months of cultivation away from reaching the Core Strengthening stage.
Coupled with her physique strength and the power of her armor, he knew it would be difficult to defeat her in a one-on-one battle unless he fought her as Lucifer.
"Hahaha, look guys, he came to hunt the Nightcrawler with a fucking dragon" the woman laughed pointing her gigantic hand at Nightmare.
The soldiers in iron-clad armor behind her let out an awkward smile mixed with shock and surprise. The appearance of a guardian and what he heard from the guards at Noah's home helped Michael get a good idea about what she was talking about.
Just when Michael was about to ask her a question about hunting Nightcrawler, her smile disappeared from her face and was replaced by a stern look.
"I know who you are. Humph, you must be the guy who's calling himself Ghost" she snickered. Nightmare bore his sharp razor teeth because of the way she ridiculed Michael.
"Do I know you?" The usual calm smile on Michael's face was nonexistent when he asked the woman. Rejecting Peyton's offer to join them as one of their lackeys certainly made an impression about him on the guardians and Michael knew it.
"Pay 2000 gold to enter the city and hunt Nightcrawler. The city is off-limits otherwise" the woman spoke, turning her back to Michael.
"So be it" Michael knew there's no point in arguing with this woman as he threw a pouch containing the gold to one of the guards. The woman had already stepped through the city gates and disappeared from Michael's eyes.
"Young Master Ghost, you're clear to go in '' unlike the guardian, the guards seemed to speak to Michael with the utmost respect. They barely looked at Michael and Nightmare in their eyes. It might be respect or fear but Michael didn't care which. He just nodded with a smile before walking into the city through the main gate.
The city of Flamefair was built in the shadow of an enormous mountain and was truly a leading-edge wonder. Its uniqueness was matched by the backdrop of a majestic mountain that has helped shape the city into today's city. The skyline was scattered with distinct skyscrapers and they had been designed to adorn the city and each other.
When Michael took his first step into the city, he saw the usual buildings such as smithies, bakeries, lines of houses, and clothing stores as he would have in any other city. However, what made FLamefair distinct in his eyes was how barren and empty the streets were. Even if this was the winter season, he knew a large city like this shouldn't be this empty and lifeless. He saw zero people on the streets except for patrolling soldiers.
"Is that a dragon?"
"Who is he?"
"That's one majestic creature"
"He's making himself the target of the Nightcrawler, bad move"
He heard the patrolling guards murmuring while just a sight of Nightmare standing on Michael's shoulder was enough to impress the guards and increase his badass points.
"Where to?" Nightmare asked as Michael began to walk through the snow-covered main street.
"The first place you should go to if you want to gather information, a tavern"
It took him a couple of minutes walking before arriving in front of a two-story building made of grey stones and red bricks. A beautifully calligraphed board that had a drawing of an old plump woman with a mug was hanging above the door.
"Old Martha" Nightmare read the board as they entered the tavern through the old, metal door. He was welcomed by whispers and aromas of what's probably food, hopefully. The bartender on the other end of the tavern was cleaning the mugs and when he saw Michael, he quickly smiled at him but his smile quickly froze on his face looking at Nightmare.
It was as dull inside as the streets outside. Hard wooden beams supported the upper floor and the rows of small, molten candles attached to them. The walls were decorated with mounted animal heads and small animals.
The tavern itself was almost completely abandoned. On the walls of the tavern, Michael saw a wanted poster. Dark, curly hair clumsily hung over a skinny, frowning face. The man on the poster wore a monocle that gave rather an evil vibe.
"Nightcrawler" Nightmare read the name while Micheal grabbed the poster from the wall.
"100,000 gold coins for whoever brings the Nightcrawler to Duke's palace, dead or alive"
"That's a huge bounty" Michael placed the bounty poster in his system storage before walking to the bar counter.
"Young...Master...we...don't...allow-"
"I'm sure you'll make an exception" The bartender stuttered, staring at Nightmare. Before the bartender could finish his sentence, Michael slid a small pouch of gold count to the bartender to shut his mouth.
There were more than enough coins for the bartender to make an exception to his no pets allowed rule. Since that was the case, the bartender forced a smile out, he was still freaked out about the dragon staring at him.
[Ding! Congratulations to the host for successfully being a badass. The reward is 400 badass points]
[Ding! Congratulations to the host for successfully being a badass. The reward is 300 badass points]
…
Just walking into the tavern with Nightmare granted Michael badass points as he always expected because having a dragon as a pet was definitely badass.
"Why so serious? Let's light up this place" Michael turned to look at the few people in the tavern.
"Drinks are on me, Ghost of River town!" Michael hoped they could identify him with his name and when he saw the people slightly drop their jaws, he knew they recognized him.
[Ding! Congratulations to the host for successfully being a badass. The reward is 400 badass points]
….
"Yeah!"
"Oh my god, it's really him!"
"The 5-star Alchemist of Bredia?"
"Heck yeah!"
Some cheered thinking about free booze while some were stunned to see a renowned figure like him at the same tavern where they are. A few daring adventurers quickly came to Michael's side and seated themselves beside Michael.
"Keep the ale flowing, bartender!"
What was a better way to loosen their tongues than buying them free drinks? It would make them drunk and drunk people tell no lies.
"Of course, Young Master" The bartender almost forgot about the terrifying Dragon because he knew how much these people would drink if they don't have to pay for the drink. Thanks to Ghost, he could very well sell enough drinks to make up for the drought of a week he had previously because of the Nightcrawler.
"So what brings a famous guy like yourself to Flamefair, especially during a fucked up time like this?" A middle-aged adventurer with a thick bushy beard asked Michael.
"Of course he came to hunt down Nightcrawler, Old man" a young adventurer shouted at the middle-aged man.
"What can you guys tell me about this Nightcrawler?"