Just like any cities he had been to, Sarton also looked medieval-ish.
Since Sarton's main income was trading, the gray stone road was filled with merchant carriages. Michael walked alongside the road through the crowd.
The air smelled different, like a perfume mixed with the lake air.
"Apples only 3 gold coins"
"We have the freshest seafood, just caught!"
"Royal times, who killed Minister Bagru? An investigative piece inside"
"Ships to Royal land can be hired here, we have nice discounts!"
From either side of the road, vendors called out for people. Several street urchins were standing up on a stack of crates and waving the royal times newspaper at the crowd. Michael came in front of a seafood stall where he saw blue color lobsters, tiny crabs, and fishes laid on baskets. They all looked fresh, even smelled good.
"Excuse"
The vendor who was sprinkling waiter onto the fishes greeted Michael with a wide grin,
"Can you tell me where Mary's flower shop is?"
The vendor's smile dimmed out, realizing Michael was not here to buy.
The vendor was disappointed yet he didn't dare to show his disappointment through any words. Although Michael was wearing normal clothes, the vendor could tell he was a cultivator. Over the years, he had seen people getting killed by the cultivators for simple reasons. Therefore, when Michael asked for direction, he just gave it to him.
"Go straight and take a left"
"Thank you" Michael nodded with a smile before leaving. Among all the stalls he picked up the seafood vendor subconsciously. When he was traveling with Gaya, she always dragged him to the stalls that sell food or anything related to food.
It took him a few seconds to realize why he chose the seafood stall. Remembering the times he had to drag her away from the food stalls by force, he smiled. He walked in the direction the vendor showed him, the air started to smell different. He could taste the sweetness in the air, the smell of roses was overwhelming. The moment he turned left towards a small alley, he located Mary's flowers. He didn't even need to read the name board, the fresh colorful flowers in front of the shop were enough.
MAry's flower was not a street stall, it was a glass building that looked elegant both outside and inside. The building was almost 3meter away from the pavement, the three-meter space between the pavement and the shop was crammed with flower vases. They had barely enough space to walk to the glass door without grazing the flowers. In addition to the flowers from the earth such as blood red roses, pink lotuses, blue dahlias as well as golden orchids, there were several flowers that solely belong to this world. For instance, one of the vases had dark gray three petal flowers.
His mind was not however in the mood to enjoy their beauty. He wanted to know who put the contract on his head so he could put an end to this threat.
"Welcome to Mary's flower, young lord" the door opened with a ding sound as Michael was welcomed by a young girl in her early teens. She was neither too tall nor too short. With perfect petite structure, she put her brown hair into a bun. A blue lily was sticking out of her bun.
"Send him in" As Michael was walking towards the counter, a voice sounded out of nowhere.
"This way, young lord" the girl's smile disappeared from her face, she now looked rather stoic.
She left the counter. Michael followed her to one of the glass racks filled with rose bouquets. Sliding the glass door, the girl pulled the bouquet in the center.
Crack!
Just a few seconds after the girl pulled the bouquet, he heard a cracking sound. Then, the glass rack before him movies slightly towards the right, leaving just enough space for one to fit in. Through the space, Michael was able to see a table and a chair in the chandelier light.
"Lord Information is waiting for you inside" the girl gestured at Michael to step forward. Without wasting a time, Michael entered the room behind the glass rack through the space.
Crack!
He heard another cracking sound as the secret door made of glass racks slowly closed behind. Michael took each step forward with caution.
"Lord Ghost" a figure greeted them sitting behind the mahogany table. Silver, shoulder-length hair hung over a full, charming face. Hollow brown eyes set concealed within their sockets, watched Michael from top to bottom with a hint of surprise, probably due to Michael's normal attire.
The glimmering smooth shiny skin perfectly complemented his almost perfect jaw structure. Michael couldn't help staring at the man's pointy ears.
"An Elf" This was the first time Michael had seen an elf in real life. The elf looked exactly as the movies portrayed them except for the sweet scent they radiated.
There was something wonderful about him, perhaps it was his friendly demeanor or perhaps the beautiful smile on the elf's face. Nonetheless, Michael didn't feel any vibe of hostility from Lord Information
Obviously, just like Michael, the elf didn't want the others to know his real name, hence he called himself Lord Information.
"Take a seat" Lord Information lifted his arm slightly towards the chair as Michael seated himself. The elf's gesture was neither too polite nor too rude. The elf was writing something on a parchment.
"You sent this?" Michael placed the piece of paper the boy gave him on the table,
"Words are mine" Lord Information leaned back on his chair, finally closing the parchment he was writing on. His brown eyes stared at Michael,
"What's it gonna cost?"
The Elf's name was a dead giveaway of what he sells. Knowledge was wealth and the elf was dealing in information. So he knew the information he wanted wouldn't be free.
"Lord Ghost, you probably know the business I'm in. It's safe to say nothing happens in this continent without me knowing. A piece of information that seems irrelevant to someone might be relevant to another one. With the right circumstance, one will pay anything for the information I provide"
He emphasized the word anything. What he said was true though. Nothing was more valuable to him than his own life. Michael was willing to pay any price.
"Take you for example. What you know is someone put a contract on your head for half a million gold coins. Since you're here, that means you killed the four Core Strengthening stage reapers sent after you by the guild"
Michael was genuinely surprised. Not only the Elf knew about their cultivation stage, but he also knew how many Reapers were sent after him.
"Unfortunately for you, next time, stronger reapers will come after you. If they can't kill you, more will come. The Grim Reapers will keep sending reapers after you until you're dead in the ground"
As Michael feared, the Grim Reapers would send reapers after him until he died. Even with the system, defeating anyone above the Core Strengthening stage was impossible. The only viable option seemed to be running away. However, he had too much going on here for him to drop everything and run.
The Elf let out a fox-like smile, "Unless you kill the one who put the contract on your head.No paymaster, no contract"
"And you have that information"
"That's why you're here. Under normal circumstances, the price will be five times the bounty on your head" the elf tapped the table in a rhythm.
"I'm afraid this is not one. The price for this information aren't gold coins, the price is a favor from you"
"Favor?" Michael was surprised yet he also sighed.
"I knew this won't be that easy," he said to himself. IF he had to pay 2.5million gold coins, he could have easily paid to buy the information. However, the elf seemed to have a different idea in his mind.
"One of my elite clients has provided the information you need. Rest assured, it's completely accurate. The one provided this information isn't interested in gold coins"
"They want me to do them a favor, no questions asked I presume"
Lord Information nodded,
"If it's within my power, I'll give what they want"
"Wonderful. It's yours but knows this Lord Ghost, your word is your bone. If you backed out from your word…" Before giving the information, the elf dragged his words out instead of finishing his sentence. The elf wanted to let Ghost know the consequences of going back on his word.
"I didn't survive till now backing out of my words, Lord Information"
Michael wouldn't dare to back out of his words as Lord Information just had to pay the Grim Reapers a visit to end his life. Right from the beginning, Michael's intention was to become strong without making many powerful enemies. Michael would rather have Lord Information as a valuable ally at his side than as an enemy. An elf with dark secrets to sell could become the backbone of Lucifer's rule.
Finally, the elf slid a piece of white paper towards Michael. He slowly leaned forward to pick the paper. The moment his eyes fell on the piece of paper, everything started to make sense. To this moment, he was planning various ways to kill the one who put the contract on his head. He knew someone who could pay half a million gold coins wouldn't be easy to kill whenever he wanted. Michael was thinking about dealing with this problem as Lucifer. However, fate decided to end the problem as Ghost.
Michael read the words written on the piece of paper. The one who was willing to pay half a million to kill Ghost.
"Alex Fisher"
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