"Whoa" Ricky felt a sudden bump while driving the carriage. He heard the carriage door opening. Turning his head, he saw Ghost entering the carriage.
"Master Ghost, how's your sightseeing?"
Ricky was not a genius but he was not stupid either. It was obvious to him that Ghost went to take care of something important. As for what, Ricky didn't want to know. However, Ricky smelled a sweet scent that was neither too strong nor too light, it was just enough for Ricky to take a deep breath and smile. Besides when Ricky turned back to look at Ghost, in the light produced by the small orb of light inside the carriage, Ghost seemed refreshed, as he had just taken a bath.
Michael willed the system to equip his nightdress which was gray sweatpants and a black tank top.
"It was pleasant until I had to kill a few rats" Michael laid down on the cushion. After spending almost all of his Arch energy, he was pretty tired.
"Wake me up when we reach Sarton" Michael closed his eyes.
"Yes, Master Ghost"
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The curtains inside the carriage added an orange glow to the morning light, every morning a perfect sunrise. It somehow reminded Michael of the times he slept in a beach hut, watching the ocean emerge under the golden shimmer. For a moment his mind conjured the rhythmic waves, soft on the sandy shore, and felt his heartbeat at the same slow pace. He breathed in deeply. A new day has begun. He reached his hand out to the fabric, noticing how up close the light pours through every open space between fibers, no different from how it once came through the beach-hut walls, illuminating like brilliant fireflies each dawn. The material was warm beneath his fingers, and when the sun flooded the carriage, painting the colors anew, he felt a little of those golden rays soak into his skin.
"Good morning snakey" After greeting her instinctively, he slowly opened his eyes, realizing she's not with him. The beautiful morning never seemed beautiful without her. Letting out a sigh, he stood up. After stretching his arms out, he put on a black shirt on top of his blacktop before getting out of the carriage.
In his sect home, he would hear the chirping of birds in the morning. At this moment, he heard no birds sound but constant chatter of people, as well as horses galloping.
He opened up the carriage door to be welcomed by the city by the lake, Sarton. Cast on the highest point of Merula lake, Sarton was a city of foreign trade. This city wasn't built by a lake by accident, as it had hidden secrets, which were of great importance to the people of Sarton and its success.
The city itself looked sublime. With its yew wood rooftops, ceramic tile walls, and breathtaking waterfall, Sarton had a mystical atmosphere.
The main attraction was the giant statue of a Viking looking man in the center of the city, which was built 1000 years ago and designed by the dwarves.
Sarton had a booming economy, which was mainly supported by trade, mining, and leatherworking. Their biggest strengths were a strong defense and gorgeous leatherworking. However, Sarton lacked people skilled in farming.
Despite its strengths and weaknesses, Sarton was most likely headed towards a horrible future under the leadership of Baron Adwell. But this was yet to be seen.
Instead of his usual black shoes, he just wore a pair of black slippers. Therefore, when he stepped outside, he felt the hot sand between his toes.
As far as he could see, there was nothing but people and carriages. More and More carriages were approaching where he was. No one noticed Michael as he walked around the carriage to locate the people of his sect.
What stood in front of him was a beautiful lake.
The water was movie-star blue – the kind of blue their eyes are. In it, the wisps of clouds were reflected just as well as the steep sides of the glacial valley, all greens and grays. Again the greens of the hills as well as the buildings, the grownups were boarding ships while youngsters and children were playing on the shore as if in the most impossible of paintings, the artist painting with colors he thought would fade in time but never did. The lake was the finest of mirrors, never showing exactly what was above, but converting it to an image so beautifully smudged and broken. The weeping willow, the clouds above, all become a Monet, all free for the looking.
If he focused on the children, he could get various designs for a castle. Their sand castles looked way better than some real castles in this world. One of those children was Cindy. She was building a tall majestic castle with a couple of female disciples. Even among the ocean of people standing between the two of them, Cindy noticed Michael.
"Brother" her eyes widened in joy as Michael gestured to Cindy to stay where she was. Michael quickly navigated through the crowd to reach Cindy. Since he was not in his usual attire and the people were busy with boarding ships, they failed to notice Michael.
"Here she is" As usual, the little girl threw herself up at him like a puppy who hasn't seen its owner for quite some time. Every single time, the girl welcomed Michael like this. The love she had for Michael in her heart was boundless. Gaya, Michael both loved Cindy and her brother just as Cindy loved them.
"Brother Ghost, you're awake. Ricky just went to see your room on the ship"
"He was talking about waking you up"
"It's okay," Michael said to the girls. He knew Ricky might be too busy making sure everything's according to Michael's preference.Since Daniel was with Raylene at River town, most of the tasks related to sect fell on Ricky's shoulder.
"I think you guys had enough fun, take your friends and go to your ships" Michael saw what the human traffickers did to those SilverMoon girls. In this crowd, no one recognized a well-known person like Michael, how could anyone notice if a few girls like them went missing. Therefore, Michael ordered them to board the ships as soon as possible. This place seemed like a great hunting ground for kidnappers.
"Alright, let's go" the girls didn't dare to stay any longer after hearing Michael. They left to find their friends. Michael noticed hundreds of ships floating on the lake, waiting for the people to board.
"When will sister Aelia come back? I miss her" Cindy purred.
"Me too" Michael pinched Cindy's cheek. She had grown up a couple of inches. The baby fat in her face slowly disappeared. Plus, she had reached Foundation stage level 7.
Cindy turned his head gently before landing a soft kiss on his cheek.
"Ouch, you have to shave brother" Cindy rubbed her lips as his stubble beard pricked her soft lips.
"Is that so?" Michael rubbed his cheek against the little girl's cheek playfully. She wiggled, giggling in his arm.
While he was playing with Cindy, he felt someone tickling his shirt. He looked down to see a boy who seemed like eleven or twelve years old looking at him. The boy wore rather raggedy clothes with a flat cap on his head.
"This is for you" the boy handed out a piece of paper to Michael.
"What is it?" Cindy looked at the boy, then she looked at Michael.
Michael took the paper from the boy's hand to read what was written on it,
"If you want to know who put a contract on your head, come to Mary's flowers" after reading the words, he looked down to ask the boy who gave the note but the boy had already disappeared into the crowd.
"Do you know where sect leader Claire is Cindy?"
"Yes, they are over there" Michael made his way through the crowd in the direction Cindy pointed.
"Behave yourselves' ' After a few minutes of walking, Michael finally saw Claire and Olivia overseeing the disciples boarding the ships.
"Teacher, look Brother Ghost '' one of the disciples pointed his hand at Michael as the two ladies turned back. Both of them couldn't help but raise their brows. Through his black tank top, they could see his perfect chiseled chest. The shirt's hands seemed like they were about to tear due to his biceps size. His usual attire used to hide his muscles unlike what he was wearing at the moment, it was simple yet even a simple dress like this made him look striking.
"Good morning Sect Leader Claire, Olivia"
"How did you sleep last night?" Olivia asked,
"Like a baby. Cindy stay with them" Michael put down Cindy,
"I have something to take care of, you guys go ahead. I'll join you later"
"Can someone else take care of it for you teacher? You need to take as much rest as you can before the tournament"
"Yeah what she said" Claire agreed with Olivia.
"It won't take too long. Don't worry" Michael quickly turned back, leaving the place. He wanted to know who put the contract on his head more than rest.
If the Grim Reapers were anything like the dark underworld on earth, they would send more assassins after him.The next time, the assassins would be stronger than the four he killed. To put a stop to this, Michael needed to kill the one who put the contract on his head in the first place, at least he hoped it would stop the reapers.
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