by Nikostar A
"I am just making sure that you remember your part of the agreement. May I ask why you are bringing those two women with you? I understand why you brought your secretary; but what about your servant?"
"Of course it's to help me choose. They both come from Loha and can help me communicate with the locals there. Also, she's my favorite, I just want to let her see her homeland one last time," said Alexander while lightly laughing.
Charles asked a few questions, trying to determine Alexander's exact itinerary. He kept feeling that something was wrong but no matter how hard he tried, Charles was still unable to pinpoint the root of the problem. He knew he could not delay this matter any longer. There were several people watching him at the moment; they were all waiting for the recordings.
He internally grumbled but in the end, he could only bring the trio to the rift, "After you, please."
Alexander nodded and followed Charles. He was not relaxing yet as he knew things could go wrong at any time. "D*mn, the rich and powerful really have a different type of treatment."
Katelyn and Rosie's eyes sparkled. They had never thought that they would one day get the opportunity to go through the rift once again. When they first arrived on Earth, they thought their fate was sealed but in a twist of fate, the situation has completely changed.
Alexander allowed the two girls to go first. He knew there was no need to hurry. There were a bunch of other security checks on the other side but they were not as tedious as the one on Earth.
Alexander closed his eyes and quietly walked toward the milky white spiral. He focused his attention on the star energy in his body. He had already been forced to maintain the star energy for a little over an hour. It was not particularly recommended to do so but Alexander had no choice. He did not know what would happen to the star energy once he went through the rift. Maybe the constellation would be disrupted or maybe his body would temporarily let go of the energy. Alexander needed to be ready for the worst circumstances.
Fortunately, when he opened his eyes, Alexander noticed the stare of the soldiers guarding the rift and they did not seem to have detected something abnormal.
At the same time, Alexander heard Charles' voice behind him," Now that we are here, can you give me the password?"
"You are really in a hurry, huh? Katelyn, you can write it off for him," said Alexander as he manipulated the illusion to make Takeshi look weak and tired from just crossing the rift.
They had already prepared for this. Katelyn nodded and took out a small electronic notebook from her pocket and gave it to Charles.
"Alright, now that you have what you want, I suppose that we can proceed with the checks before we can leave," nonchalantly said Alexander. He just wanted to leave this place as quickly as possible.
Charles frowned, he looked at the notebook in his hand and saw a long string of characters. He still needed to check the authenticity of the notebook but he knew that his task could already be considered to be complete. However, for some reason, Charles was unwilling to let them go. In fact, his instincts were warning him to arrest them right now.
After a brief moment of silence, Charles gave the notebook to a nearby soldier and signaled him to return to Earth. "You can go. Based on the itinerary you gave us, we took the liberty of hiring a car for you. Please follow Major Yang here. He will lead you."
Alexander nodded and quickly followed the bald Chinese man in front of them. He did not want to ask any question and just wanted to leave. Since his official aim in coming here was to hire sex slaves, Alexander knew he would need to travel to a neighboring town.
Kalesha was greatly influenced by Earth; despite being on Loha, there were no slaves there. It was the only city of Loha where human rights were truly respected. People were slandered and looked down upon for owning slaves.
Alexander did not care about the details. Now that he was on Loha, if something bad happened, he could simply use his Space to escape. He stuck to the girls and walked out of the hall. The journey to Loha had all been smooth but he knew he could not let his guard down. In fact, he should be even more careful. Loha was different from Earth, despite the modernization, it was still a lawless place. It was scary but at the same time, exciting.
'I will just follow along for now. Since they are bringing me to a slave shop, why would I say no to a free ride? But once I reach there, I should look for a way to escape quickly. The hardest has already been done,' thought Alexander.
He let out a sigh, when he first returned back in time, he never believed that this would be the way he would go to Loha. The only attachment he had left for the blue planet was his mother. The countdown for Xals' invasion has already started. He needed to come back here within two years or else, Alexander would lose the most important person in his heart.
Behind Alexander, Charles frowned as he looked at the trio leaving. "Major Caisley, take a few men and follow them. I have a bad feeling about it. Just follow them from afar and observe their actions; there is no need to intervene unless they break the law."
***
At the same time, Carmen Ashmore readjusted her shirt and grabbed her small suitcase. She took a deep breath before leaving her office for the last time. It was the place where she was supposed to spend the next five years of her life but the situation completely changed so abruptly.
She had just recovered from the long-lasting side effects of the [Ice Coffin] and she already had to go through the ceremony of hand over and make a public announcement. She was no longer the headmistress of the Earth Academy and would return to her parents' house by the end of the day.
A whole week has passed since the day of the incident but they have yet to catch Alexander. The latter cleverly managed to avoid being detected by all the security devices operating everywhere. Carmen no longer cared about the incident. Even when she fought Alexander, she was never aiming to actually kill him; all she wanted was to neutralize him so that he could undergo his punishment. She was no longer in charge of the academy and in her mind, she had already disassociated herself with anything related to this place.
Before leaving, Carmen wanted to see the director of studies one last time but the latter was in a comatose state. The specialists did not know when he would wake up. Carmen felt defeated, her goals of changing the academy into a fair and equal place would obviously never be accomplished. She knew her methods were wrong; denying resources to the talented ones was not one of her goals. It was just the collateral damage from trying to prevent the rich from using their influences.
She had failed but it was too late to cry over spilled milk. Although the governments used her, she was immediately fired after the incident involving Alexander and the death of the head of the discipline department. A body was discovered a few days after the incident and was determined to belong to the head of the discipline department. All the blame had been pushed on her. Even if she was a strong woman, she would sometime have a few moments of weakness where she just wanted to hide in a corner and cry.
Without saying goodbye to her ex-colleagues, Carmen went through the security checks and boarded one of the cruisers going to Dar Es Salaam. Carmen wore an expressionless face as she sat and leaned against the metal bars of the deck. She enjoyed the sea breeze as she watched the island disappear. A few moments later, the island suddenly vanished, indicating that they have reached the range of effect of the concealing array.
She soon got bored and returned to her cabin. Carmen felt completely lost. She did not know what to do next. She said she wanted to go to Loha and return to the life of a wild mage but in truth, she just wanted to leave the academy. Carmen had already contacted her parents; both of them asked her to return back home. They comforted her and were preparing everything for her return.
The journey was dull and boring. She soon arrived at the harbor of Dar Es Salaam and headed to the airport. As a thank you for her service at the academy, her journey back home had been entirely paid by the government. She was going into first class! However, Carme
n felt no joy in doing so.
She waited at the airport, going through the security checks and customs checks. She relaxed a little bit in the private lounge before boarding the plane. Carmen politely greeted the flight attendant and sat in the comfortable seat.
"Mmm, at least the journey will be calm and comfortable," said Carmen to herself but just as she did so, an elderly voice sounded next to her.
Chapter 57: Epilogue
"Good afternoon, Miss Ashmore."
The elderly voice was polite but Carmen was nevertheless annoyed by the fact that she was being disturbed. "I spoke too soon. I cannot even get a few minutes of peace, even when I am already fired?" She internally grumbled and opened her eyes. She looked at the source of the voice and saw a man in his fifties smiling at her.
"You are?" sharply asked Carmen. She did not care if people considered her to be rude.
"Please take a seat, Miss Ashmore, I have a few things I would like to discuss with you. As you can see, the rest of the plane is empty, we can speak freely here."
As she heard the man speak, Carmen instinctively looked around her. The first-class compartment was indeed completely empty except for the two of them. Even the flight attendants were nowhere to be seen.
"Who are you and what do you want?" asked Carmen while frowning.
The man simply swiped the screen in front of him, changing Carmen's private zone into a small meeting room. A small table appeared between him and Carmen as he sat in his own seat. "My name is Sirius Roney. I have a son that goes to the Earth Academy. Maybe you have heard of him? His name is Raphael."
"Never heard of anyone with this name. Besides, I have nothing to do with the academy anymore," flatly answered Carmen. She did not like the fact that this man just suddenly invaded her private space.
"What? How is that possible? That kid promised me that he would become famous! Huh, looks like he did not even attract the higher-ups' attention," Sirius ranted about his son for a moment. It was clear that although he was criticizing his son, Sirius was very fond of him.
"Go straight to the point! What do you want?" After listening to the man's nonsense, Carmen could no longer hold it anymore and loudly shouted. Her tone was loud and harsh but Sirius did not seem to mind.
Instead, he laughed it off and immediately, his atmosphere changed. "Miss Ashmore, I am here to invite you to join my Organization, Arthemis."
"Your organization? Since when did Arthemis belong to one person?" skeptically asked Carmen. She had been expecting the organizations to try to contact her once she left the academy. Before becoming the headmistress, she was considered as a rather talented individual and received invitations from all the six organizations! Some other forces of Loha even tried to recruit her at some point.
"Of course it does not belong just to me. Arthemis is like a massive company; it has shares and shareholders. I am just a regular shareholder but soon, I might be able to tilt the balance in my favor. The business world is merciless. One day you can be the owner and make the rules while on the very next day, you can find yourself fired."
Carmen frowned, "You mean you are planning to buy the actions from the other shareholders and get the majority?"
"Exactly! However, even if I do collect 51% of the shares, I am still a regular human being. The other shareholders will only agree to have a mage to lead them. This is why I would like to invite you to Arthemis, for you to represent me. You will be free to do anything you want as long as you create a safe environment for my son," explained Sirius. For the first time since they've met, Sirius wore a serious expression. His eyes were constantly examining Carmen.
"You are crazy! There is no way someone could own an entire organization!"
"Miss, everyone has their own specialty. You excel at using magic while I do have all the required business skills. My move might seem risky and ruthless but sometimes, you have to take risks for your family," said Sirius while smiling.
"Go away! Don't bring me into this mess. I will join an organization later when I return to Loha but I have no intention of joining someone as crazy as you! Leave me alone, I need to rest!" exclaimed Carmen.
"Oh? So if I am not crazy you will join me?" said Sirius. He lightly laughed and continued, "I take it as a yes then. Six months. Give me six months and I will prove to you that I am not just speaking rubbish."
Sirius did not wait for Carmen's answer. He laughed as he left the first-class area, leaving a frustrated Carmen behind.
She wanted to retort but as she got up, she noticed that Sirius was already gone. In the corner of her eyes, she noticed the red curtain slide open as the flight attendant entered the first-class area. "Hello miss, do you need anything? Would you like a refreshment?"
The flight attendant behaved as if nothing happened but Carmen was well aware that she was just distracting him. "D*mn... Another business tycoon. He probably owns the airline... Talk to me when you have accomplished your goals, I am not interested in hearing people talk about their dreams!"
***
At the Earth Academy, in the middle of the night, Aila walked out of her room and went to the beach. The sky was clear, making it easy for her to find her way. She wore a pink parka to shield herself from the wind as she walked to the rocky area of the beach.
She sat on one of the rocks which coincidentally was the same rock on which she sat when Alexander faced Marcus Lombardi. Aila naturally remembered this scene. In fact, she thought about Alexander a lot but not for the same reason as Alexander. She had turned against him and now, she was regretting her actions.
In the end, she did not obtain anything from backstabbing Alexander. All she got were two constellations at the same level as Advanced Spells. She had no idea how to find the other constellations and instead, she made herself a powerful enemy. It has been an entire week since Alexander escaped and he had yet to be caught. Since he was being chased by almost an entire planet, just how great was his background to be able to hide him like that? Aila was scared. Scared that Alexander would come back and take revenge.
She was deep in thoughts when she heard a muffled voice, "You are right on time as usual but you look worried. Did something happen to you, dear?"
The beach was completely empty. There was no one else here except for Aila but she was not scared. She looked at the water at her feet expectantly and a few moments later, a tall silhouette magically rose in front of her.
"Keran. It has been a while. Did the annual meeting of the mermen go well?"
The men in front of her smiled. Despite his appearance, Keran was not human. He was a merman. His skin was pule, he had gills on his arms and a thin membrane connecting his fingers and toes together.
"Yeah! The tournament was great! Although I did not win, I came out in the top 100 of Atlea." Keran sat next to Aila while making sure his feet remained connected to the water. He was a merman; if he was ever separated from the sea, he would not survive for very long.
"Come on. Tell me. Why the sad face?" asked Keran, trying to comfort Aila.
"Something happened at the academy when you were not here and now, I think I am in danger," said Aila in a pitiful voice.
"In danger? Did you not say that people do not kill indiscriminately here? Who wants to harm you?" Tell me and I will get rid of him!" Keran punched his own chest confidently.
"No, you must not do this. You are not his match. He is not just a mage. He also knows a different type of power. He acted as a friend with me and even flirted a little bit. However, I once saw through his personal notes and saw that he had that other type of power. When he saw me, he was enraged and since then, he has been trying to attack me. Fortunately, the academy noticed the incident and arrested him but he managed to get away. It has been one week since this happened and he has yet to appear. People say he swam all the way back to the coast but nobody has found any traces of him."
"What? How dare he? What is his name and what is his other type of power? Atlea is one of the oldest cities that ever existed, I
am sure there must be some records of his power! Just tell me about it and I will search at the library."
Aila's eyes shone, she might have found a way to learn about the remaining constellations. "His name is Alexander and he called himself a stargazer."
"A stargazer?" exclaimed Keran. "Then, the situation might be a little bit more complicated than it seems."
"You have heard of the stargazers before?" curiously asked Aila when she saw Keran's weird expression.
"Yes. Stargazers are mentioned in Merman mythology. They are also called Astromancers. According to the scripture, we used to be humans just like you but one day, our world was completely submerged by water. The world fell into chaos, it kept raining and raining. So much that all the land was soon covered in water. Our ancestors had no place to go and were forced to remain on ships."
"Food was slowly running out and soon, our ancestors were on their last legs. However, in the darkest moment, a miracle happened. Our ancestors prayed for salvation but received no answer. It was only at their last moment that they heard a voice coming from the sky. The voice simply said: jump into the water and give yourself to me. Become my people and I will save you."
