After teleporting back to Flamefair, they didn't spend any time as they took off towards Icefair to go to the House of Bradley as well as attend the annual Phoenix manor auction. In the skies, the trio occasionally noticed several groups of people in fancy winter clothes and mercenaries in armor flying towards Icefair. Considering the snowfall had worsened since he left Flamefair, Michael could barely recognize the faces in the sky through the snow.
Icefair was roughly one thousand kilometers away from Flamefair, and with snowstorm affecting their flying speed, it took them a full day to reach Icefair.
Among the four duchies of Kethen, Icefair was a far more accomplished and fancy-looking city by far compared to the other three duchies. The constant war between the Rosegate, Pent Town, and Flamefair was one of the main reasons for Icefair's development. The duke of Icefair made his fortune by selling weapons, food, and many other resources needed for a war to the other duchies. In simple words, Icefair was the oil that keeps the war between the others running.
As they approached, large groups of travelers could be seen on the roads beneath them on the ground. As far as the eye could see, various types of people such as merchants, mercenaries, commoners, and nobles could be seen sharing the roads.
When the city walls appeared in their sight, Michael, Gaya, and Nightmare descended from the sky to the ground. As usual, at the gates, several soldiers were standing in a line. They were there to make sure every single soul is paid an entrance toll before entry. After paying that entrance toll, entry to the city would be given without trouble. While standing in a line, Michael could feel many eyes landing on him and Nightmare on his shoulder yet no one openly approached him. He also saw some of the merchants paying more than the entry fee to avoid the forceful inspection of their goods.
The soldiers were agitated to see the dragon but they quickly regained their composure. After witnessing them taking bribes and forcefully inspecting the goods of those who didn't bribe them, he understood what kind of soldiers they were. They were the type who loved to bully but couldn't stand to be bullied in return. Knowing that anyone who had a dragon for a pet would not be of ordinary stature, the soldiers didn't dare trouble Michael and Gaya. Hence, Michael's group was easily able to enter the city without any hindrance.
Entering the city, Michael looked around the place with observing eyes. Unlike Flamefair, Icefair streets were filled with people of all classes. A group of workers was constantly shoveling the snow away from the streets to make life easier for caravans and the people. The white marble stone used to construct the majority of the buildings on each side of the street gave a unique charm to the city as the occasional frozen water fountains and white maple trees enhanced the beauty even further.
"The auction won't start for another two days, let's find an inn and eat. I'm starving"
"How could you starve? The Arch energy will keep your body sustained"
"Alright, no more meat for you then" She flicked Nightmare's head as the little dragon quickly shouted
"No!" Nightmare feared that he wouldn't get any more of those delicious juicy mean Ghost was giving him.
"Im surrounded by two gluttonous creatures"Â It wasn't hard to find an inn when he could let Gaya and Nightmare follow the scent of Ale and food.
Arriving at a rather decent inn within the city, Michael booked a room before the inn could run out of rooms to rent.
"I wish we could open restaurants in every city we go and make Raylene cook for us there" Michael did not even sit on the bed to relax before she started to rush him. With a sigh, he followed her to the downstairs where they were serving plenty of local delicacies. Although these dishes couldn't hold a torch to Raylene's cooking, a warm meal in the winter had to be appreciated.
Seated right next to Michael, Nightmare devoured a platter of roasted meat with the grace of king much to the curiosity of everyone else around them.
Michael was enjoying his salad and the warm glass of water with a smile. The reason for his smile was not the salad, it was because he was receiving badass points constantly ever since he entered the inn with a dragon.
"What a majestic creature"
"Do you know what family that young man is from?"
"I have never seen him in Icefair before"
"Who do I feel like I know of him from somewhere?"
The three of them completely ignored the chattering around them.
Looking at the dragon, many young misses in the inn let out a depressed sigh. They stared at the dragon with a look of envy on their faces.
"Waiter, bring me another plate of this roast"
"Coming right up, Miss"
Gaya didn't even bother to look up to see Michael's reaction as she continued to eat the platter of food in front of her. The rate at which the food was devoured was almost as she had been starved for several days.
"That salad any good?" she asked gawking at his bowl of salad after devouring the food on her side of the table.
"Why, you want this?"
"Let me take a bite" just as she was moving her hands towards his bowl, the waiter came to her with the dishes she ordered to save Michael's salad.
Eventually, after the snake and the dragon filled their bellies, they left the inn, taking a stroll around Icefair. As they walked, Nightmare's little head swiveled back and forth. He took in all the sights while curiosity filled him.
Plenty of people on the streets found themselves turning their heads to look at Nightmare. Plenty of surprising whispers could be heard, and many young girls made less-than-discreet comments at the dragon and at Michael. There had been several young daredevils who tried to flirt with Michael but each and every one of them had been chased away by Gaya with a punch to their faces.
"For fuck sake, this city is filled with shameless horny bitches" Gaya cursed after sending a young girl flying with a kick to her butt.
At that moment, a drumming sound could be heard from the front as a group of red-robed men came striding through the city with a huge clamor. The scene looked like a wedding concession with the festive celebration, but the contents of their words caused everyone on the streets to feel stunned.
"Good news everyone! Our Phoenix Auction Manor will be auctioning off two Epic class spells in the upcoming annual auctionâŠ" The man leading the group was speaking through a giant, gold horn with a blast of sound that could be heard in all directions.
"What? The Phoenix Auction Manor has two Epic spells to sell, is that true?"
"Heavens, more have appeared? And there's two of them at the same time, did I hear that right�"
"If the auction is going to be selling one of those, we must go and inform the lordâŠ"
"This annual auction is getting better and better"
"I wonder what else they have in store to auction..."
Following the announcement, the people began to chatter more and more with excitement. There was no doubt that the news of two Epic spells would soon spread farther and farther as well.
"I'd bet this is just a warm-up," Gaya said after the announcement group disappeared from their sight. Regardless of the city being full of people, Michael saw no quarrels or battles in the city. Instead, it seemed the mercenaries and the young masters of the rich families had kicked their arrogance down a notch. Even they realized that one could never be too sure if one would meet a civilian or a person one could not offend. After all, men of great strength did not need to reveal it to the public.
"Let's get back to the inn" Eventually when the nightfall came, the snowstorm sent the people running to their homes searching for a warm place. Considering the trio didn't come across anything worth investigating, Gaya wanted to return to the inn. Nightmare was already deep in sleep after a hearty meal.
Except for the poor soldiers who had to keep patrolling the streets, Michael saw no people in the streets on their way to the inn. His black clothes almost turned white in the snow. After dusting all the snow off of his clothes and Gaya's hair, he entered the inn and then to his room.
"Stop" Suddenly he stopped at the entrance to his room.
"What?" Gaya asked, seeing him raise his brows. She held the sleeping Nightmare in one hand and took out the dagger in the other.
"Someone was here before" he pointed at the ground as she saw a faint mark of a boot print coming out of the room. Unless the inn appointed anyone to clean their guests' room without their permission, she knew someone went inside their room.
"No one should have entered the rooms, especially during this auction time" she whispered.
He nodded before pushing the door open. His environmental scanning did not reveal any life signs inside the room that meant whoever was there has long gone by now.
When he entered the room causticity, the room was just as he left except for a letter with golden outlines and red wax seal. They moved towards the letter slowly.
"That's the seal of House Bradley," she said when she saw the two-leaf symbol on the wax seal. It was the symbol of none other than the House of Bradley.
"It seems Lord Malan couldn't wait to see you, human"