The opera “Phantom of Festivity” was a repertoire of the theater. Angor already knew that the opera was about dirty stuff, but he still planned to go have a look. Lady Mirror’s words were probably both a joke and a sincere suggestion.
“Ahem… I guess I’ll observe the show in the view of a scholar.”
With the decision made, Angor climbed onto the junk boxes nearby and leaped over the wall.
The first thing he saw was a dense crowd moving toward the entrance of the theater.
Angor tidied up his clothes a little and joined them.
He was wearing a typical gentleman style. Every trim and corner on him was carefully managed, which gave Angor the look of a cultivated young child born to an ancient patrician family.
And his looks made him really stood out among the common folks. Usually, people would avoid someone like Angor just to avoid potential troubles. But here, in the capital of Darkivil Empire, which was home to the tough-natured Subterrians and escaped criminals from different nations, people already developed a completely different way of life. Instead of avoiding him, a number of people began to move closer with their eyes looking left and right with unknown intents.
Angor had barely moved a hundred meters before he already chased off several thugs who tried to steal from him. The shameless figures only smiled apologetically and stepped back when they were found out instead of running away.
Angor spread his spirit feelers after them and noticed all the rogues retreating behind a tree and reporting to a young-looking woman.
It was obvious that this woman was their leader.
A woman was the gang leader! Angor realized that he should never underestimate females in Midnight Sovereign. It also explained to him why there were only guys who came after his wallet.
The area near the entrance of the theater was too crowded for Angor to see anything. When he planned to use his spirit feelers to check the area again, a gentle voice suddenly came directing at him.
“Hello, young handsome boy. Do you want to watch the Phantom of Festivity tomorrow evening?”
“Tomorrow evening?” Angor looked back and saw the gang leader came herself.
He could not get a good look at her just by using spirit feelers. Now he had a chance, he realized the woman looked pretty decent.
Orange wavy hair, small and exquisite face, brown, tender pupils and unveiled skin exposed under her hot pants… She had what it took to charm any unwary man easily.
And Angor would not have believed someone so beautiful to be a thief if not for his previous observation.
“You’re not from Midnight Sovereign, I assume?” The woman giggled in a seductive manner. “It’s a grand play offered by Enchanting Theater. They only do it twice each year; one around midyear, and one at the end. See all these people? They’re all here for a ticket.”
Angor nodded. It seemed the play was arranged together with the grand auction. Also, he sensed mana ripples coming from many of the patrons.
“I see.” Angor nodded and pretended a plain attitude.
“So, little handsome boy, are you here to watch it?” The woman reached a finger toward Angor’s chest.
Angor frowned. He already felt Toby getting restless. If the woman landed her finger on his chest, something painful would probably happen.
He moved away from the woman and maintained his indifferent look. “Yes, I’m thinking about it.”
The woman squinted her eyes. “The show is better when watched with someone. How about I join you and make it a lot more ‘enjoyable’?”
Angor revealed an innocent look. “Who are you anyway? Why are you doing this?”
“I quite adore your good look, little one, so I want to befriend you.” The woman winked. “I’m Ananda. The guard captain of the city is my father, so don’t worry about me doing funny things.”
Angor did not believe a single word of it. He got the feeling that this woman wanted more than money from him.
“Are you here by yourself, young handsome boy? Let me be your local tour guide and show you around the beautiful city.”
When Angor did not respond, the woman reached an arm again to try and take Angor’s.
At the same time, Angor registered someone sneaking behind him with his spirit feelers. This thief had his gaze on the money pouch hanging on his waist.
“Teamwork, huh?” Angor sneered in his mind. He was wondering why so many people in Midnight Sovereign enjoyed theft so much. Were there no proper jobs to do?
Angor released his invisible Hand of Spell which caught the approaching thief by the ankle, causing the man to fall down with a loud “Ouch”.
Angor looked around “in surprise” while trying to shake off Ananda’s arm which already got his arm. To his surprise, Ananda’s grip was pretty strong.
Ananda also saw the embarrassment of her subordinate and clenched her teeth inconspicuously.
Angor noticed Ananda’s above-average strength and got a new idea. He smiled big at her.
“I don’t really need a tour guide. I just came to buy something. I see you’re pretty strong. How about you help me carry things?”
Ananda was taken aback a little. Did a guy just ask a woman to be his carrier on the street?
“Did you lost your-” Ananda tried to protest, but she swallowed her words back when she saw two gold coins on Angor’s hand.
“Of course, I’ll pay you.”
Ananda quickly amended her speech while nodding madly. “Help with carrying? Leave it to me! I didn’t earn my title in Midnight Sovereign as ‘Ananda the Armstrong’ for nothing.”
“Well, you only have to find a cart and help me drag it,” Angor pointed to a tree nearby and smiled at the woman. “Wait for me behind that tree.”
Ananda looked that way and panicked a little. That was the same tree she was hiding behind a while ago.
“I… I think I’ll just stay by your side, boy.”
Ananda saw the kid jumped over the wall and always kept her attention. At that time, she was sure the kid did not notice her unless he could see through the back of his head.
Angor kept smiling. “Alright, you stay here. Ask your man to help me buy a ticket, okay?”
Angor took out two gold coins and tossed them to the thug on the ground, who was now bleeding from the nose. Before the thug could realize what happened, Angor signaled Ananda to leave the crowds.
“What… do you mean?” Ananda gulped and stuttered.
“Geez. You don’t make a good leader, do you? Come on, I played my part. Shouldn’t you summon your lackeys to take me down, so I can beat you all up into submission? Follow the script already,” said Angor as he stared at the thug who was still spacing out. “Get your butt in line. I’ll be pretty angry if you don’t get me a ticket!” Angor used Hand of Spell to pick the thug up and tossed him into the crowd. He avoided bothering anyone with mana ripples by throwing the thug somewhere less-occupied.
His spell still drew attention. However, none of the supernaturals directed hostility to him. They all smiled at him with the look of “mutual understanding”.
A middle-aged apprentice witch winked at him and sent him a message, “How about we spend tomorrow together and ‘discuss’ the show?”
Angor did not know how to transmit voice yet, so he could only wave a hand at the witch awkwardly who then rolled her eyes.
“You… you’re a wizard?” Ananda saw her man flying away for no reason and quickly realized something. She stared at the boy beside her in shock.
Angor nodded nonchalantly. “Let’s go. I’ll go on a shopping spree once I get the ticket from your man. You’ll be busy. Trust me.”
…
Angor expected Ananda to act more carefully after the incident. But he was wrong—Ananda began whispering all sorts of questions into his ear, like “Can I become a wizard, sir?”, “What should I do to become one?”, and “Can you be my teacher if I help you warm your sheet?”
Angor lost patience in the end. “Shut it. One more question and I’ll kill you.”
Ananda complied and kept on looking at Angor with an innocent look.
Angor successfully received a ticket for the opera and went back to Twilight Well, during which Ananda kept giving him meaningful stares. But she did not say anything again.
And Angor gladly enjoyed the brief moment of peace.
He also noticed Ananda glancing around Twilight Well joyfully as if she was trying to remember every detail she saw.
Pity, she was going to forget everything when she left.
With a hired carrier, Angor began searching around different shops.
He started from the most basic materials according to his needs. Echo Flowers, Magic Bellflowers, Moon Brew, Scorpion Wort, scales of Bear Butterflies… Some of them were already on his shopping list, while others were his new choices once he saw their properties.
The first shop already filled almost half of their cart.
Several hours later, a pile of goods had formed on the cart which included plants, minerals, jars, and pots. Ananda thought Angor would stop here since the cart was filled. To her surprise, he saw Angor taking out a strange capsule and when he opened it up, a good number of the materials were all sucked inside.
“Let’s keep going!” Angor seemed pretty satisfied.
Ananda was not sure what she just saw. Was that something that could help people carry stuff? Why did the kid not use it earlier?
Angor followed his carefully-made plan when going through the shops. There were materials for the music box, an Energy Stabilizer, supplement materials for a space storage, and so on. Every time he entered a shop, he immediately knew what to buy.
Some of the shopkeepers tried to figure out what Angor wanted to make. However, they all gave up when they saw Angor purchasing various stuff for a lot of different things.
By lunchtime, Angor had filled up five of his one-use space capsules.