The armored guards as well as the archers who heard Ricky were stunned. They were speechless for a couple of moments. They lived long enough to know that the King of Bredia wouldn't come without royal guards and several carriages in front and back. Besides, they received no information about the king coming to Bradford. The last time they heard, the king was going to the tournament.
"Here, show this to them" through the gap between Ricky and him, Michael sent the parchment containing King Bredia's seal to Ricky. Michael didn't want to cause any acne by beating the crap out of the gate guards. After all, they were just doing their jobs.
Although Michael knew they were just doing their job, he felt the urge to beat them when they were standing in his way. He could feel something is changing inside him. It was a feeling that couldn't be described. Even Spectre and the hitmen of the dark underworld massacred the orphanage Michael loved, Michael didnt torture them. He just killed every single one of them, including the girl he loved who did not inform him about Spectre's plan.
Never before he experienced the urge to torture except when he met Calvin. He wanted to torture everyone who betrayed Abras, he wanted to cause chaos. He asked the system about his new feelings but the system had no answers. Yet, Michael could feel something different about him.
The guards saw the young man taking a parchment from whoever was inside the carriage. Since the tournament winner celebration was meant to be held tomorrow, they never thought Ghost or any participants would come to Bradford. As far as they were concerned, the two carriages that have the flag of the Sunrise sect were occupied by the guests of the sect.
Ricky jumped down from the carriage while keeping the parchment under his fur coat to prevent the rain from drenching it.
"Who knows how to read?" Ricky asked as the guards looked at each other. Finally, an archer from the wall slid down from the ladder to come to them.
Among the twelve guards in the vicinity, only one seemed to know how to read. Ricky wasn't surprised though. It was not a requirement for a soldier to know how to read or write. Education was for the nobles and the rich. If it wasn't for Ghost's strict order to learn how to read or write, Ricky would have been just like them, illiterate.
"Here," Ricky handed over the parchment to the archer. The armored guards were staring at the archer and the parchment in his hand. They might be illiterate but they could tell the parchment definitely came from a royal or noble seeing the quality of the parchment.
The archer opened the parchment carefully to read the content. There weren't even minutes passed by when the archer's hands shivered as his eyes wide opened as though they were about to pop out from their sockets.
"What is it?" the other guards asked,
Instead of answering, the archer swallowed a mouth full of saliva,
"Bradford…Bradford has become a kingdom" The archer's voice trembled,
"And…and…" the archer stuttered,
"What?" the other armored guards asked the archer after a few moments of silence. Only the sound of heavy downpour filled the area. The soldiers couldn't believe the archer. Ricky couldn't see the expressions on their faces but he could guess they were completely stunned using the silence.
"Our…new…king" the archer kept stammering. All the soldiers had to wait for the archer to utter the name of their new king,
"Is Ghost of River town" as though the skies were waiting for the archer to utter these words, the moment he said the name, the thunderclaps reverberated through the city.
"What you are holding is the king's decree and I'm one of your new king's hands. My first order to is open the damn gates for your king, his majesty Ghost"
The armored guards looked at each other.
"Open the gates," the archer said. His look on Ricky completely changed. Each soldier had several questions running in their mind. The soldiers slowly opened the giant wooden gates to reveal the town of Bradford.
With a swift jump, Ricky landed back on the carriage. After spending time as Ghost's subordinate, Ricky picked some of Ghost's attitudes. He even started to wear full black clothes like Ghost.
As the carriage slowly moved forward, Michael looked at the town through the window. The streets were empty as Michael saw not a single soul on the roads. However, he could see the eyes looking at the carriage from inside the building.
When Michael looked at the sky above the town, he noticed several figures in complete golden armor flying away from the town.
"Holy Guards' ' Michael mumbled under his breath. Although the church had not intervened in his life as much as the guardians, they were still a threat. He had been trying to establish a connection with the church to see if he could make them his ally. If they were his ally, he could spy on them, learn valuable information and turn them against the guardians.
The others including Ricky thought Michael had forgotten Jack since he doesn't talk about Jack or his death. In truth, Michael had never even visited Jack's grave, not even once. Gaya took care of Jack's family. They were millionaires now as Gaya gave a million gold coins to their family as well as promised to take care of them and their bloodline. The Guardians would pay for Jack's death. Everyone involved in Jack's death would pay the price with their lives.
"It seems like the baron and the guardians ordered a lockdown, your majesty. But why are there no guards on the streets?" Ricky asked while looking around the town.
Like most of the towns or cities in this world, Bradford was also divided into three parts. Commoners lived in the outer part of the town. This part also contained shops such as smithy, bakery, and miscellaneous stores.
The middle part of the town had lesser nobles who were either declined noble families or branch families of main nobles families and rich merchants.
If one wanted to find a jewelry store or a bank, they should look for them in the middle part.
Only the ruler, royal family, and prominent noble families lived in the center. It was the richest part of any town or city. Although the difference between the town parts was not as drastic as Royal land or the capital of Bredia, Michael could see the buildings look majestic as they moved towards the center.
The last time he visited Bradford, he wanted to open up a shop in Bradford. Unfortunately, Jane Totonk met him in the alchemy store in the middle part of the city. If she hadn't met him that day, she would have been alive.
As the pegasi galloped towards the center, Michael vaguely saw what might be the baron's manor in the distance through the window. There were several guards in full plate armor patrolling the surrounding area. The structure, as well as the atmosphere of the manor, reminded Michael of Ham House in England. He wondered how this world has so many similarities with earth.
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Inside the Baron's manor, Baron Totonk lay on his throne with a large ale bottle in his hand. There were several ale bottles lying around him. The walls of the throne hall were void of any paintings but there were signs of paintings hung on the wall before. Only a group of fluffy armored soldiers as well as an old man with a long gray beard remained by the baron's side. The old man had a wooden staff that had an orb of fire hovering atop.
"Lord Totonk, what should we do with them?" the old man asked, looking at the three figures kneeling in the hall. All three figures had their hands tied and heads covered with brown sacks. The brown sacks were soaked in blood.
"Our spies informed that their families have contacted the guardians and they are bringing them here"
"Did they tell you something?" Baron Totonk asked in a grumpy voice. His eyes were bloodshot. He reeked of alcohol and piss. The noble looking baron Totonk they served was nowhere to be found. After Jane's death, the baron had become a new man.
"Unfortunately no my lord. They seemed to know nothing about Miss Jane's demise"
"Humph, demise? It was a fucking murder"
The baron snickered before smashing the ale bottle on the throne.
"I dont care if I have to burn this entire fucking barony to find who killed her"
Baron Totonk clumsily walked towards the three nobles kneeling on the ground.
"Lucifer, guccifer horse shit. It wasn't the devil who killed her, it was someone in this fucking barony. I can feel him, he's here somewhere"
"Lord Totonk" when he was about to fall down due to his drunk state, the old man tried to dash towards him to catch him,
"Im fine" The baron raised his hand, stopping the old man in his path.
"Unlike my baby" tears began to roll out of the baron's eyes. Seeing a grown man cry like a baby made the soldiers feel a heaviness in their hearts. The baron may have gone crazy since Jane died but the soldiers never left the baron's side. The baron was a good man. They never thought such tragedy would fall on him. Although Jane was a spoiled brat, she didn't deserve such gruesome death. Even the seasoned warriors felt nauseous seeing her mutilated body.
"Since these three doesn't know anything" the baron stood a few inches away from the three nobles.
"They can go to hell" Baron immediately drew his dagger out as the nobles let out a muffled cry through the sack.
"STOP!" Just as the baron was about to send the dagger into the noble's neck, the manor door opened to reveal a young man.
"Who the fuck let you in?" the baron asked as the soldiers moved towards the baron to put up a defensive formation.
"By the power of your new king, I'm ordering you to lower your weapon"
"Huh?" the soldiers and the old man was stunned after hearing the words coming out of the young man's mouth,
"Who are you young man?" the old man asked. He could see the courage in the young man's eyes. He lived long enough to tell that this kind of courage was only possible if someone powerful was behind this young man.
"Im one of the hands of the king, His majesty Ghost"
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Hi, my wonderful readers,
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