"Can I meet with my friend first?"
"Your friends? They are in Luminos City?"
"Yes, I promise it won't take much time. I just want to greet them before we go to Tasco's place."
"Alright then. It's okay if you want to stay for a while. It has been a long trip so it's better to rest first before we can go to meet our
special guest."
Alicia and Angus were having a conversation while Harry as the head of the family kept silent. The gap between father and daughter kept growing until none of them took the initiative to talk first. It was good for Angus to be there since he apparently became an intermediary. If not, no one would talk and it was very uncomfortable. Alicia took a look at Luminos City from the window, staring at its grandness. She wondered if Baston and Luke were successful in their mission. Killing a noble would spell bad news and she hoped
the punishment wouldn't be too harsh.
The carriage soon arrived at the gate, but when everyone saw the crowd, they could sense something wasn't right. Luminos City was indeed popular to take a leisure time or simply called it for wasting money. Despite
so, it took a long time to enter the city because there was a strict checking at the moment. Money couldn't help the guests here anymore since the governor made a rule himself. Anyone who dared to violate it would be kicked out from Luminos City for several years before getting a chance to enter again. The worst was having their name blacklisted which they couldn't visit the city forever in their lifetime. Before Alicia and the others asked about what happened here, a commotion came up from the front.
"What do you mean by this? I'm a regular in Luminos City. I always visit here every year. Why you suddenly check me like I'm a criminal?" a nobleman roared at the officer.
"Sir, please calm yourself down. We are doing what the governor told us to. If you don't like what we are doing to you, then you are allowed to leave this place. We won't force you to stay in here and you are free to go."
"How dare you talk to me like this? I'm a noble, don't you know that?"
"Whether you are a noble or not, the command from the top still needs to be carried out. I'm sorry for this unpleasant moment, but you need to comply with us. If you still insist on doing it, we will apprehend you with all of your family."
The man was getting angrier and before he could utter some harsh words, another member of the family quickly maintained a good smile before asking, "I'm sorry about this. My father doesn't intend to violate the
rule, but could you please let me know why Luminos City becomes like this? We happen to visit here often but it's my first time to see this strict checking."
"It's because there was an incident at the city a couple of days ago. A noble brought a dark wizard to the city, blending with the people
around. If not because of the governor, who knows what will happen tomorrow?"
"What? A dark wizard?" the person was shocked, "Then, won't our life will be threatened if we enter the city?"
"Of course not. The dark wizard has been already subdued. Every corner of the city has been checked. Still, we have to make sure everything is safe. If you still have a concern, rest easy because the royalty is also involved on maintaining the security at Luminos City. Recently, the royal guards also looked around at every corner."
"The… The royalty also goes inside?"
Everyone who heard this kind of information couldn't describe what they were thinking at the moment. In the beginning, they were
scarred once they knew the dark wizard had been sighted inside the city. Such abominable things were really hated by everyone. Although the dark wizard had
been subdued, it didn't diminish the concern they had. It suddenly changed when the officer talked about the royalty. Since the ruler of the kingdom was also involved on keeping the security, they could heave a sigh of relief. They believed more in royalty because every guard in royal force wasn't simple. Just one of them could defeat many of their own guards.
Harry who overheard the conversation finally spoke, "The dark wizard is getting more rampant these days. They even dare to target Luminos City now."
"Our land is also infested with dark wizard before. When we clean into the surrounding, we found many thugs and criminals. Despite there are no relationship with the dark wizard, it's better to exterminate these bugs
so we don't let any backdoor to our security," Angus replied.
"We need to take further measurement after our business in this city…" Harry added seriously, "I'm going to build the checkpoints at the perimeter of our land. Inevitably, this will make troublesome procedures around
but it's a must."
Angus agreed with the head of the family. While both of the men were having detailed discussion regarding the dark wizard, Alicia was shocked deep inside her heart. No wonder Baston suddenly offered his help to
Luke. She knew every movement of him surely had the purpose related with the
cult. Listening to the information told by the officer before about a noble who brought a dark wizard, she could guess the said person should be Luke's uncle. Because the fat boy also wanted to eliminate Luke's uncle, the man must have something fishy about him. In the end, the dark wizard appeared and this event must be related with the cult.
At once, she really wanted to know more about what happened here. Before she entered Luminos City, she had already contacted Luke. The noble boy only told her about his whereabouts, making her to visit the inn by herself. Luke also wanted to ask many questions regarding the cult but he knew it wasn't appropriate to do this through a call. It was better to talk directly so only both of them knew about this. Alicia didn't know that Baston had already told Luke about the cult so in her mind, the noble boy must be still in the dark. He might already know about the matter between his uncle and dark wizard, but he should not know this was just a small matter occasionally happened at the cult. At least, this was what Alicia believed.
After the call, Luke was dumbfounded because he never wondered Alicia was suddenly coming here. Regarding the matter about the cult, he planned to ask Alicia once the vacation was over. Even though he could also ask Panto, he felt he wasn't too familiar with the boy so it was better for him to go into the other one. Who knew that Alicia suddenly made a visit to Luminos City? He then wondered if Baston had already known this but he shook his head because both of them were just too busy regarding the case of Viktor. Right at the moment, he was preparing for the spar against Baston. The ability shown by the fat boy amazed him, provoking his spirit to go further. If even the fat boy like Baston could do physical training, he as someone from knight family didn't have any excuse to laze around.
"Here I come, Baston!"
"Make your move…"
While the two boys were having a sword battle, Alicia and the others had already arrived at the place. The inn looked gorgeous and expensive from the outside. Having to stay here wasn't a problem for Harry and Angus because they had a lot of money. However, they wondered what kind of business this girl had in this place. Alicia went in first and the receptionist greeted her.
"Welcome to our humble and luxurious inn. What can I do for you?"
"I would like to stay here," Alicia answered simply.
"How many days you would like to stay here?" the man quickly noted on the request.
Alicia looked at Angus and her father before Harry spoke, "Let stay for 1 week. Give us three of your best room."
"Wonderful!" the man was excited of having a rich guest, "One day for noble room is 10,000 pounds which means the total is about 210,000 pounds."
Imagining the number, the man couldn't calm down because at first, he worried that the business would be affected greatly since the news about the dark wizard had already spread. Not to mention the security was stricter nowadays, making everyone didn't get used on it. There would be a possibility
that little by little, the guests would decrease and he had to transform the business. Luckily, he encountered these rich people. For sure, he would try his best to serve them. Whether they were nobles or not, the one who could give him money would be deemed as esteemed guest for him.
Alicia took the key but instead of going to her room, she walked ahead to the training room where she could hear the clashing of swords sound faintly. Opening the door, she then could see 2 boys were having a duel against
each other. The lean one was swift and fast, always attacking his opponent while the fat one was evasive and nimble, focusing on defense rather than rushing ahead. Although the initiative was on the side of the lean one, but the fat boy never gave his opponent an opportunity.
"Luke is indeed a strong one but I never thought Baston has a talent on physical training. Judging by his move, he already has basic training about knight. Not only he's talented wizard, he's also on par with Luke…" Alicia thought.
While the sparring was being watched by a noble girl, Baston was just too focused on his match against Luke. Different from the servant he fought before, the noble boy showed amazing skill and dexterity. Luke could easily deflect his slash while he could only dodge the sword every time Luke went
forward. The amount of the attacks Baston got was much more since the noble boy
was an experienced knight. The fat puppet could only parry but it was also quite amazing that it never took the damage. With this sparring, Baston was reminded to never try it with the real him unless his body could also match with his opponent. His agility was very much slower than the controlled puppet.
"Never in my dream that a friend of yours can be flexible like this," Angus came up from behind, looking at Baston surprisingly, "He's a very talented person. Not only he is blessed in magic, his body is also agile
enough to contend in physical training. If he wanted, he could pick whether he wanted to be a wizard or a knight."
Harry nodded, conforming with Angus, "Unfortunately, he was born poor. In this life, you can't do with just a talent. You also need a higher status so people can revere you. If not, you will always be at the bottom and people might take advantage of you."
"You still want him to enter the family, right?" Angus smiled, "I know you always have the eyes for a talent. It was just the same when you supported Tasco."
Harry shook his head, "Regrettably, it seems this fat boy never takes interest of our family. I can't say for sure but I feel since he's going
to reach higher and higher, his fate won't lay on small family like us."
"Small family?" Angus chuckled, "You must be kidding. Even though we already lost Gale attribute in our bloodline, our family is not something to be trifled with. As far as I know, our enemy won't have a good day
if they dare to contend against us."
"You're right…"
While everyone was in the conversation, Baston made a risky move. He rushed toward Luke, gripping his sword tightly and swinging it to his opponent's sword. Both of the weapons made an impact, clashing against each other before Luke's sword were flying away. The strength Baston used was
greater than usual, making Luke's hand trembling painfully. Luke thought the only one who got hurt was him before he looked at Baston's arm. The noble boy could see once again, the fat boy had broken bone on him.