After Sadie finished her story, Michael and Gaya walked several meters away from her.
"If she's telling the truth, we can make her our subordinate and control the SilverMoon in the future," Michael told her.
"What if she's lying? What if this is a plot to catch us?"
"Then kill her and send her body to whoever put her up to this task"
He didn't feel like Sadie was lying. Nonetheless, if there's a tiny chance that Sadie was trying to play him, he would kill her in a heartbeat because he would go to any lengths to remain safe.
"Will you help me?" When they returned, Sadie pleaded with them.
"System, scan her for any threats or tracking spells"
Sadie saw Lucifer reaching his hand out towards her as warm bright light enveloped her for a couple of moments. At first, she thought he was taking her soul or something, yet even after the light disappeared, she felt nothing different in her mind or body except for the Spyders crawling out from her clothes.
[The scan completed. You have nothing to worry about]
Only after the system confirmed that she had nothing that could be used to track him or Abyssal, Michael made his next move.
"I can find the girls but the price isn't your soul, the price is your undying loyalty"
Regardless of Gaya's hate towards Sadie, she was mature enough to see the big picture. She also understood what happened between Ghost and Sadie was no one's fault but hers. If she confessed her feelings earlier to him, he wouldn't have slept with Sadie in the first place.
As a girl, Gaya saw the hesitation in her eyes. To be honest, she was surprised. Sadie was ready to sell her soul in a heartbeat yet she hesitated to sell her body.
"What? You want me to-"
"No sexual things involved as you might presume" When she hesitated, Gaya interrupted her.
"Horrible things happen to innocent people every day, Sadie. You're feeling what you're feeling because it happened to the people you care about. I'm not an angel who comes when you call and hold your hands through your problems. I'm Lucifer, when I come, the problem disappears. But there's a price for calling me, in your case, the price is your loyalty. Become a part of my army, with me standing behind you, you can make sure nothing like this ever happen again"
"She will swear her loyalty to us, Lucifer. She probably has realized we are a better justice system than the Guardian Guild. In their eyes, SilverMoon girls are just glorified harlots, no one will give a shit about them if they went missing or ended up dead" Gaya said, folding her arms.
"Are you willing to be my subordinate Sadie Kaplan and change how the world works or remain as what you're now, a scared little girl no one will listen to?"
"I'm willing to do whatever it takes, Lucifer"
"Lord, Lord Lucifer" Gaya reminded Sadie.
[Does the host wish to accept Maxine Kane as your subordinate?]
"Yes"
Subordinate: Sadie Kaplan
Cultivation Level: Core Formation Stage level 3
Race: Human
Status: Healthy
Loyalty towards the host: 15%
The loyalty level was understandable. He hadn't saved her sisters yet so she had no reason to be loyal to him. At Least the system accepted her as his subordinate.
"Good"
Sadie saw the two of them walking towards her. She tried to stand up but before she could move her body, the space around her distorted, making her close her eyes.
*********************************
When Sadie opened her eyes, she was standing on what seemed to be a throne hall. Great braziers half enclosing each of the eight onyx columns lighted up every part of the throne hall, covering the hall in dancing shadows and a dark radiance. The relatively modest chandeliers were hanging from the slanted ceiling dance in the flickering light while paintings of Lucifer looked down upon the black floor of this extravagant hall.
A dark grey rug ran down from the throne and split to encircle the entire hall while swallowtail banners with embellished needlework drooped from the walls. Between each banner sits a small altar full of candles, many of which have been lit, in turn illuminating the throne.
A throne of skull and bones sat at the end of the rug above an elevated stage. Beside the skull and bones throne, there was another identical throne but it was smaller in size compared to the other.
Azazel transformed the throne hall completely with the help of Netherels.
While Sadie, staring at the throne hall flabbergasted, both Michael and Gaya seated themselves on their thrones.
"We should send our minions scouring the kingdom to find those girls"
Gaya suggested.
"I have a lead" Sadie swallowed her fear to speak to them. Michael saw Sadie holding a parchment in her hand,
"Azazel" Sadie heard Lucifer call the name looking beside her. The very next moment, the parchment in her hands was pulled by an invisible force. The parchment floated towards Lucifer. When the parchment reached his hand, she saw a figure materialize in front of Lucifer and the Dark Queen.
The ethereal figure looked like a butler. She had never seen ethereal figures before, she only heard of them in the books. Michael read the parchment with Gaya. He then took his gaze away from the parchment to look at her,
"Minister Magnus," Michael asked, expecting her to explain how she came to the conclusion that Minister Magnus had something to do with the girls' disappearance.
"Shiho, the first girl who went missing, attended Magnus's party before her disappearance. Hanako went missing after going to Magnus's cousin's annual gala. Most of the girls went missing after attending some kind of party organized by someone related to Magnus. He's the common factor in all of this" Sadie clenched her fist as her nails started to penetrate her soft palm.
"Did you make any kind of move on Magnus to see if he really has something to do with the girls?"
Hearing Gaya, Sadie shook her head.
"He was recently promoted to take care of the military. He's using this as an excuse to avoid meeting people. That scumbag is pretending that he has a threat to his life. I couldn't get into or get him out of his manor"
"That shouldn't be a problem. No matter how protected he is, he wouldn't sleep with his guards around"
Since he needed to live stream killing criminals to boost his legend and earn badass points, he guessed he could start with Magnus. Gaya noticed Sadie open and close her mouth like she has something to say,
"What is it? spit it out"
"Rumor is he's coming to the opening of Ghost's restaurant"
Michael's brows arched up behind his mask. He just asked Ricky and Daniel to distribute the opening posters around the kingdom yet Sadie knew who's coming to the opening. This was why the SilverMoon sect was so successful as they were basically a spy organization. With the right guidance and tools, Michael could turn the sect into a super-spy organization. Coupled with his Spyders spread around the kingdom, he could really see his shadow society thriving in the future.
"There are a couple of roads he could take to reach the river town. The good thing is they are all coming through forests of the Sunrise sect" Gaya said as Michael took an earbud from his system storage.
With a flick of his wrist, he sent the earbud flying towards Sadie.
"Put this in your ear. Magnus will be delivered to you here"
"Meanwhile don't do anything stupid. If whoever took the girls became suspicious, they might kill them all if they hadn't yet"
Although Sadie knew the possibility of her sisters being dead, hearing Dark Queen say this stirred the bad feeling in her gut. Her eyes yet again watered up.
"Aria" after a few minutes he called the name, Sadie saw a petite brown-haired girl walking through the door at the throne hall's east side.
She knelt before Lucifer on one knee,
"Coordinate with Azazel and Sadie and search the docks and borders to locate anything suspicious"
"Yes Lord Lucifer" Aria said confidently as Michael looked at Azazel,
"Tell Dular to release a few Netherels to the Royal land, that should keep the Church and the Guardians busy for some time"
"As you wish, Lord Lucifer" Azazel bowed.
After giving them their orders, he sent them away except Sadie.
"From now on, keep away from the Guardians. They are not what they appeared to be"
********************************************
Above those tangerine mountains and sparkling long river, kissed to their heady blush by the sun, were clouds that moved in shoals. And so the sky was equal parts blue and a chorus of greys, streaked with silvers and golds.
People of River town were coming out of their homes one by one with sleepy faces. It was still early morning, so the chirping of birds overpowered the sounds of people.
Michael and Gaya were standing inside their newly built restaurant, enjoying its beauty inch by inch. Although the restaurant didn't exactly look like the Ristorante La Sponda, it was beautiful in its own way. The river view outside the glass window added extra charm to the place.
"Lord Fovar has really outdone himself, Master Ghost" Gloria's eyes were full of excitement for the opening. She would have never thought her life would completely change the moment she met Ghost when he first arrived at River town and stayed in Lucky Cat tavern.
She was not a mere waitress anymore, she was the manager of the most beautiful restaurant in the whole of Bradford or even in the kingdom. A few months ago if anyone said she would earn a thousand gold a month as salary, she would have told them they are crazy but it became a reality thanks to Ghost.
In a couple of months, she bought a new land to build a new home for her family, sent her siblings to the Sunrise sect, and saved gold coins for her marriage. Many of her friends were jealous of her for working for Ghost.
"If he hadn't, I would have hanged that little bastard by his beard," Gaya said, making Gloria giggle.
"In three days, we have several nobles and powerful people attending the opening. I want everything to be perfect"
"I won't let you down, Master Ghost" Gloria's voice contained a sliver of fear but it was overshadowed by her confidence.
"Good"
"We really need to come up with the name Ghost"