When the sun disappeared into the horizon, Michael appeared in the alley behind the 'Old Ship Tavern'. As usual, the tavern was buzzing with the crowd. Michael and Gaya put on dark hoods to cover their faces while Nightmare shrunk himself to hide within Michael's coat pocket.
If this was any other day, Michael wouldn't have hidden his identity but strolled around the kingdom with Nightmare on his shoulder to spread his legend as well as earn badass points. However, the letter left by the Kane family elders gave off a sense of secrecy. Showing himself to the public wouldn't be a good idea if the Kane family wants anonymity with what they planned to ask of him.
The city seemed busier in the evening than in the morning. Gaya led him through the large lane going towards the north side of the city. Both sides of the lane had lines of lamps lighting the lane. The street and the shops were filled with people. Occasional street food vendors called out to anyone who looks in their ways.
"Look at that" while walking through the crowd, Gaya pointed at a light lamp. The light lamp had a poster stuck on it. He noticed several posters on the walls, on the lamps, and even on billboards above some buildings.
Michael recognized the faces on the posters. Most of them had Alex Fisher's face while the rest of the most contained Celina's and Adam Kane's faces.
"5 gold coins for Master Alex Fisher figurine"
"You want to dress like Miss Celina? This is the place for you ladies!"
"Get your Kane shirts to show your support for Master Adam Kane!"
"Jason Myers fan's club is this way!"
"We have Miss Sabrina's sword props!"
The further he walked, the more he saw the merchants selling all kinds of stuff.
"You know, I heard our faces are everywhere in the river town," Gaya said in a husky voice. Michael noticed a few disciples of the Sunrise sect running around in late hours. Before now, he thought they were dealing with their personal stuff. It seemed like the disciples and the river town people were planning something to surprise them when he visited River town to open his restaurant.
The people of River town worshiped him for several reasons. First, he protected the town from the Netherels. Second, the majestic created lots of traffic as many nobles and people traveled through the river town to get to the sect. This gave a new life to River town's boat services and small shops. Third, everyone called Michael Ghost of River town, the name carried weight. The bandits stopped harassing the merchants and the people coming to River town assuming that the river town is protected by Ghost. Nightmare's recent cleaning of bandits strengthened the thought even further.
If Royal land was the domain of powerful houses such as House Kane and House Fisher, the river town was his domain. The entire town planned to show their support for Ghost and Aelia. Considering Michael didn't get the chance to visit the river town since he came to the sect from the southern continent, he never saw the preparations for the tournament.
While taking a look at the tournament celebrations, they came before a large junction where they saw several lanes branching out from the junction's center. At the start of each lane, a signboard was placed with only a crest etched on it. Michael looked at each signboard for the Kane House crest. With the help of the light lamps, Michael was able to locate the signboard before walking the lane to reach House Kane manor.
Unlike the street he came from, the lane was void of people. Only beautiful crimson red pine trees stood like guards on either side of the lane.
"Aren't they supposed to have some guards patrol around here?" Nightmare whispered from inside his coat pocket. He was right as Michael too searched the area for guards yet he couldn't even see a single guard.
"You won't find guards because they have hundreds of runes placed along this lane to alert the manor the moment someone steps foot here. The Kane manor probably is watching us" Just as she said, Michael began to notice several life signs around them through his Environmental scanning map. Some of them were flying way above the clouds while some of them blended with the foliage.
Eventually, after walking for almost ten minutes on the lone road, the lane opened up to reveal a huge land with a grand castle standing majestically in the distance.
When Gaya said Kane mano, he expected to see a manor, not a frickin castle. Five thin, square towers surrounded the castle in almost a perfect circle. Around this incredible castle were connected by giant, chunky walls made of white stone. Stylish windows were scattered thinly around the walls in fairly symmetrical patterns, along with symmetric holes for archers and artillery.
A huge gate with heavy wooden doors, a regular bridge, and large crenelations offered a warm haven within these cold, isolated lands, but it was not the only way in when one knew the castle's secret passages.
Lush fields of crops surrounded the castle walls, providing the inhabitants with food all year round. This castle looked well preserved, but without knowing its history, it was impossible to tell if it's a newly built castle or a well-kept one.
The castle looked majestic under the light of the moon. Not only Michale but also Nightmare peeked his head out of Michael's coat to enjoy the castle's beauty.
"Stop gawking you two. Compared to my castle, this is like a poor hut" As Gaya rolled her eyes, a bright light dashed towards them like a shooting star. The light gradually slowed down to reveal Elder Walter's smiling face.
"Welcome to Kane Manor kids"
"More like a castle" Michael let out a burst of laughter. The Elder laughed with him proudly before leading Ghost into the castle. The three of them took off to the sky instead of walking. Michael could see the castle's ground from the sky more clearly. As any typical beautiful castle, the Kane manor had a front lawn, spacious backyard fountains, barracks, herbal garden, and various other ornaments to decorate the castle even more. They slowly descended through a door on the roof to land on the throne hall.
Huge braziers half enclosing each of the six ivory columns light up the entire throne hall and paint the hall a range of yellows and oranges. The illustrations of a kingdom in the sky on the slanted ceiling dance in the flickering light while statues look down upon the mosaic floor of this majestic hall.
If the castle was impressive, the throne hall made Michael speechless.
The vermilion rug splits the entire room in half and was matched by the thinner ones on either side of the hall while pennant banners with gilded ridges the walls. Between each banner sat a small altar full of candles, many of which have been lit and in turn illuminated the artistic depictions of late heroes below them. Huge windows were concealed by draperies colored the same vermilion as the banners. The curtains had been adorned with fine patterns and intricate embroidery.
At the far end of the hall, a grandiose throne of obsidian remained in front of a giant painting of the kingdom and was adjoined by six equally lavish seats for the higher officials of the Kane family. The throne was covered in gilded illustrations, fixing on each of the wide armrests is a carved petal. The light pillows were a dark vermilion, these too had been adorned with adorned quilting.
Those waiting to meet the Kane Family elders could do so on the abundance of luxurious and comfortable maple benches, all of which were facing the throne in a V-shape. Those of higher standing could instead take seats in the luxuriant balustrades overlooking the hall.
Elder Walter led Michael and Gaya towards the luxurious seats nearest to the throne.
"Wait here Ghost" Elder Walter gestured to Michael to take a seat before clapping his hands. Soon, two young maids came running to Michael's side.
"Take care of them" Elder Walter said to the maids before leaving the throne hall.
"I'll take hot water with a drop of lemon please," Michael told the maids. They looked surprised as they expected him to order expensive wines or delicacies,
"Same for me too"
"Right away young master, young miss" the two maids rushed back into the kitchen leaving Michael and Gaya alone in the throne hall.
"Interesting choice of drinks" suddenly Michael heard a powerful voice reverberate in the throne hall. They looked up to see a figure coming down through the roof door they came through earlier.
Standing 6' 4" tall, this white-skinned man had an intimidating feel about him. He had a round face, a flat nose, angled lips, and his brown eyes were heavy-lidded.
His light chestnut brown hair, dip-dyed almost the full length with shades of turquoise, was shoulder-length, fine, and was usually braided, and he has a handlebar mustache.
His muscular body looked as if it was sculpted from a ceramic stone. A dark tattoo of the house Kane family crest could be seen on his neck. His fine clothes were mostly earth-colored and loose and flowing.
"A Fusion stage level 1 cultivator" Michael was able to see his cultivation level. This was another shock he received since he came to the Kane manor.. Now Michael really wondered what a powerful man like him had to ask from him.
