The Stargazer

by Nikostar A

  Rosie's words got stuck in her throat. She precisely wanted to ask about Alexander's power but since he had already declared his intention, she did not pursue the matter. Instead, she lowered her head and quietly observed Alexander. She noticed a change in his aura. For a few moments, the usually cold and lonely aura of Alexander was replaced by one of pain and sorrow. She did not say anything but her intuition told her that something important must have happened and it was very likely to be the same event that forced Alexander to run away from the academy.

  Chapter 55: Going back to Maputo

  The night has already fallen. It was cold and windy but Alexander and Rosie quietly walked outside on the land surrounding the Kitano Mansion. Wherever Alexander would step, the ground below him would quickly disappear. As a result, the pair left behind a deep trail in the ground but they did not care about it.

  Rosie was leading the way, using her smartphone as a torch to light up the path. The two were silent, Alexander had to focus on sending all the soil he could in his pocket dimension. He sat in the pool for a few hours and had already collected enough water to last for a while. What he needed now was to stabilize the ground of his Space.

  Alexander had long thought about it. Depending on how deep he was, the consistency of the soil would change. It would be better for Alexander to actually go deep underground and to send in the soil there but he did not have the luxury to do so. As long as he could increase the volume of soil, Alexander would be happy.

  He had all the time to do so later when he would arrive on Loha. He had already obtained the water he needed to start the plantation of the seeds Katelyn bought for him. They were mainly the seeds for common vegetables that people could casually grow in their backyard but there were also a few seeds for fruit trees.

  They walked around, having a look at the large property owned by the Kitano family. After a while, Alexander noticed a few lights moving in his direction.

  "Who is it?" Alexander immediately became cautious but soon, he realized that he was overreacting.

  Katelyn followed by one of Alexander's slaves, Millie was walking in their direction. As soon as they arrived at a reasonable distance from each other, Katelyn spoke, "Owner, I just received an email from Commander Hitori. The UN agreed to your request but they want the recordings before you are allowed to go through the rift."

  "They finally made their decision? Let's go back to the Mansion to discuss this. It is quite cold outside," answered Alexander. He was delighted to hear that he would soon be able to go to Loha. Alexander was uncomfortable staying in Japan. He had already obtained what he was looking for and now, he just wanted to run away to Loha as quickly as possible before people discovered the real Takeshi Kitano's disappearance.

  While they were walking toward the Mansion, Alexander suddenly said, "Something has been bugging me for a while. Is it not unusual for a rich successful man like Takeshi Kitano to not have any bodyguards of some sort around him?"

  "He does but they normally stay at a reasonable distance from Takeshi Kitano. Our previous owner also used mostly drones and machine to protect the Mansion. While we were at the Mohari, there were indeed a few bodyguards there but as we left in a hurry, they were left there to wait for our return. They usually stayed away from the limousine; as you have seen, it is a place where our owner liked to play with women and he did not like the idea of other people watching him during the act."

  "I see... We were quite lucky then. Did Takeshi's security team contact you in any way then?" asked Alexander.

  "Yes and I told them to stay at the Mohari because we left important items there. There are also a few bodyguards staying at a reasonable distance from the Mansion ready to intervene if we release a signal but they should not be able to see you. Takeshi Kitano hated being surrounded by actual bodyguards and he also liked to play with women all over the Mansion."

  "Tssk..."

  Soon, Alexander sat in the living room with the other girls. He picked a cup of coffee and asked, "When will we be allowed to go through the rift?"

  "They said that as soon as you give the recordings, you will be given access. The problem is, we don't know where the recordings are," answered Katelyn.

  "It's fine but we must not look too hasty or else, they might think that something is up. The files should all be found in Takeshi's cloud accounts or at the very least, there should be a record of it in his database. Since I have all his passwords, it is not hard for me to have a look. The most important part is to make sure we get near the rift. Tell the Commander that the organizations have been actively contacting you. Tell him about the situation with Takeshi's wife and tell him that we want to make the deal as quickly as possible so that the organizations leave us alone. We will require some form of protection to avoid being targeted by them. Make it look as if we are under a lot of pressure from the organizations."

  "Alright. I get what you mean. I'll contact them immediately. I will arrange something for tomorrow but we should return to Mozambique to show our goodwill. There is nothing left to do here unless you want to order a few more items?"

  Alexander nodded. It was great to have a competent secretary that could deal with these sort of problems; Alexander himself was not particularly good at making negotiations. He was just a normal guy with some knowledge of magic; in the other fields, he could only be considered average. Despite having knowledge of his past life, Alexander chose a very conservative approach. He knew his limits and knew how easy it was to fail.

  "We have taken enough risks like that. I will admit that luck was on our side but it will not last for very long. Since you now all work for me, I will share my goal with you. Katelyn and Rosie should have already shared it with you but I do have a small pocket dimension that I can always access. This means that I will be almost always safe as I can just retreat into it. The problem is that the Space is not habitable at the moment."

  "You will help me build the Space accordingly. I want to turn it into a perfect retirement place for my mother. I know it is a lot of work but when we finish, I will allow you to live there and if you want, you may even join us and be freed from your seals after a few years. Building a village is a lot of work but as soon as we return to Loha, I will purchase a few slaves to help in its construction."

  All the girls except for Rosie and Katelyn were stunned. What did they hear? A chance to regain their freedom? For a slave to regain his/her freedom was almost unheard of; it was usually just a one-way trip to hell. There were some owners that were kind to their slaves but they would never give back their freedom.

  Alexander paused for a moment, allowing the girls to settle. He did not mind giving them back their freedom. Once the Space would become independent, even if they revealed the Space's existence to others, it would be useless as Alexander would not even need to return to the outside world.

  He took out a small pouch from his spatial ring. It was the same bag he took from Steve when winning the duel against the Exil. "Here's three hundred spirit stones. Share it among yourselves for now. If you have any requests or ideas, please let Katelyn or Rosie know. I will do my best to fulfill them as long as they do not hurt my interest."

  Rosie froze when she saw the spirit stones. When she asked for them, she never expected Alexander to actually give them any. Three hundred spirit stones; it was equivalent to her annual salary!

  It was not a small sum but Alexander considered it as a small investment. He knew he needed strength to survive on Loha. Stargazers could hold their ground against advanced spells but it was a different story when extreme spells were involved. Furthermore, since Alexander used the technique of the Anterlope Clan to obtain his Space, his magic powers were weaker than the average mage.

  The only reason he was able to defeat the other mages was that until now, his opponents have all been young mages lacking knowledge and experience. If he were to face experienced mages, he would be inevitably crushed; especially if those mages knew how to double cast or even triple cast.
r />   Therefore, if his slaves were able to use some magic; they would be of significant help to Alexander.

  "Owner... Will you teach us how to use magic? Although we've awakened; we were just servants before and do not know anything about it," said a cute girl. Her name was Wendy; she was the youngest of the group and still displayed childish features.

  "For that, you will have to ask Rosie and Katelyn to explain. For now, you should go and rest. Tomorrow, we might be able to go to Loha depending on Katelyn's work."

  ***

  "Has it all be confirmed? Is Takeshi Kitano going to Mozambique today?"

  "Yes, reports say that his private jet is indeed being prepared as we speak. We have already put some pressure on the organizations to stop them from interfering." Charles Shiraq read his report while facing the group of elderly men of the Mystic Division. He hated being looked down by them; these old men did nothing and never even went to Loha but managed to secure their position because of their backing.

  The Mystic Division was a recently created part of the UN army to deal with magic-related cases. They were a relatively small division but still held a lot of power. Charles Shiraq was one of the officers allocated to Alexander Vagras' case. He first went to the Earth Academy to look for some clues but have yet to find any traces of Alexander.

  He had tried almost everything and the only thing he could think of right now was the recording of Aita-me. He had tried to contact the Kitano Corporation about it but the Japanese man was sly and refused everything. It was only afterward that the situation finally started to change.

  "We have also confirmed the information. The Flemming Organization indeed got into contact with Takeshi Kitano's wife. We have already contacted them and warned them of their actions. At the same time, we also discovered the old man of the Kitano Family was also contacted by NXT and we believe that Eiko Kitano was also approached by Nuevo Mundo and Arthemis to recruit him directly."

  "Hah, those clever bastards tried to play it smart. What did Takeshi's side do?"

  Charles Shiraq turned toward the speaker and answered, "He seems to be ignoring all the calls from his family. I believe we should quickly make the deal. If the organizations somehow manage to get their hand on Alexander, we will lose our opportunity to learn his secrets. Who knows what will happen then."

  "Of course, you were given full authority on this matter. Alexander must be captured at all cost! For him to master an extreme spell so quickly, he must hold the key to becoming a real mage! In just three months, he already became as strong as any full-fledged mage."

  "That's true! Look at us who meditated for almost ten years. Ten years of hard work cannot even amount to what that child did in three months."

  "But isn't it dangerous to allow Takeshi Kitano to go through the rift? That is equivalent to allowing him to raise a few rogue mages for himself!"

  "There is nothing wrong with that. If we obtain Alexander's secret, we will be able to groom mages far quicker than what we are doing right now."

  "We have already allowed him to go to Loha once and bring back a few girls. As far as we are aware, he did not do anything out of line."

  "Old man, stop talking nonsense, we all know you have some deals with the Rothschilds; that's why we are turning a blind eye to what they do on Loha."

  "What? You are slandering me! You are the one making deals with the Goodwins."

  Charles Shiraq internally sneered as he watched the old men bicker. "I will then personally escort Takeshi Kitano through the rift and make sure that he gives us the recordings. If there is nothing else, I will take my leave."

  ***

  On the next day, Alexander firmly held the handles of his seat as the plane gently landed. He still hasn't gotten used to take-off and landings of the planes; in the back of his mind, he was always nervous that something wrong might happen.

  "We have arrived, owner. You should change your appearance again," quietly said Rosie. There were only Alexander, Rosie and Katelyn in the passenger compartment. The stewards have all been dismissed for this flight, allowing Alexander to maintain his original appearance.

  Now that they arrived at the destination, it was time to put back his disguise. [Suns, the Illusionist] was once again activated and under the two girls' eyes, Alexander's appearance changed to that of Takeshi Kitano.

  He only carried a small suitcase containing some spirit stones for the appearance. Alexander got off the private jet followed by Katelyn and Rosie.

  "Good afternoon, Mr. Kitano. I hope you had a pleasant flight." A tall Caucasian man brightly smiled as he welcomed Alexander as soon as the latter stepped out of the private jet.

  A quick handshake later, the Caucasian man presented himself, "I am Charles Shiraq, you can call me Charles. I will be escorting you to the rift for your own protection."

  As he spoke, Charles graciously invited Alexander to follow him. He briefly smiled at the girls before leading the way. Charles had a warm charismatic aura around him which reminded Alexander of his friend, Raphael.

  Alexander lightly bit his lips but still followed behind Charles. Staying with Charles would raise the risk of being discovered but at the moment, he did not have a choice if he wanted to go to Loha. He could only hope that Charles was not too invasive.

  Chapter 56: A smooth ride

  "I must ask, did you bring with you what we are looking for?" asked Charles while smiling. He sat in front of Alexander, Rosie, and Katelyn while crossing his legs.

  "Of course," answered Alexander. He took out a small pen drive and tossed it at Charles. "It's all in there but naturally, you will need a password to access it. Once I get to the other side, we'll complete our deal."

  'Takeshi Kitano' faintly smiled as he gently caressed Rosie's thigh. Alexander needed to maintain the image of a pervert Japanese man. He was fortunate that Charles spoke to him in English, allowing him to speak for himself.

  However, Alexander knew that there was a high risk that Charles would find something fishy. Alexander did not have a proper accent and his voice was different from that of the Original Takeshi Kitano. Fortunately, Charles has never met Takeshi before and all he knew about him was that he was a terrible womanizer.

  Charles found Takeshi Kitano very strange. He looked different from the information he had but there were several factors that could influence a man. The obvious red flag was Takeshi's voice and accent. However, the Japanese man did appear to not be in great shape. He would occasionally lightly cough and instead of taking the flute of champagne, he would quietly drink a glass of water with a small pill for sore throats.

  Takeshi Kitano did appear to be worried and would sometimes nervously look around him but that could also be explained by the fact that the organization might have tried to do something. Charles was not particularly comfortable with this task but as long as he brought back the pen drive and the password, then everything would be alright.

  "Mr. Kitano, let me remind you that although you are allowed to go to Loha, we will have to check your luggage to make sure you do not smuggle any prohibited items. There will be the same procedure on the return journey. Everything will have to be declared; we will let Commander Hitori supervise the process."

  "I got it. I know what to do. You can already check the suitcase. There are only a few belongings. As for my spatial ring, it only contains a few spirit stones," answered Alexander.

  Charles continued to ask a few questions but soon noticed that Takeshi was a man of few words. He was trying to probe him to know his real intentions but failed in the end. It did not really matter as the higher-ups have already decided to ignore the situation. Nevertheless, Charles was also curious about the situation.

  Soon, the car stopped in front of the massive compound and went through a series of security checks. The procedure was similar to the time Alexander came here with the Academy. Even if he did not particularly prepare for the procedures, Alexander could tell that the officers were cutting corners.

  They were a
lready expecting Takeshi Kitano to come and did not need to verify any documents. The higher-ups have also already given instructions to allow him to go through. The longest check was without a doubt when the officers went through his belongings to make sure he was not hiding anything. Alexander even had to manipulate the illusion to make it look like Takeshi Kitano was stripping.

  The two girls went through the same procedure separately and a few minutes later, they all met once again in the large hall where the rift was located. They could see the large swirling portal of the rift waiting for them but before that, there was one last check to go through.

  Charles Shiraq respectfully backed away during the security checks but now that they were all over, he once again reappeared next to Alexander. "We will soon bring you to Loha, may I get the password now? We need to make sure that the pen drive does contain the appropriate information."

  "As I said, I will give it to you once I am on the other side. Do you not trust me? How will giving the fake information benefit me?" asked Alexander while smiling. He was so close to succeeding and was starting to feel nervous.