54 A New Way of Dying?

Inside Michael's villa at the Eastern Horizon City...

Michael was going back and forth inside his room. His trusted subordinate, No. 1, hasn't come back yet since last night. He was worried for many hours now, thinking in his mind, 'Am I exposed? Who is that Mr. Morgan? Where did he come from?! Did he already know that I'm causing trouble?!'

"Sir!", the lady butler suddenly opened the door, which frightened Michael greatly.

"Holy mama! Please knock next time. You almost gave me a heart attack.", Michael scolded the woman. The latter apologized immediately afterwards.

"So, any traces of No. 1?", Michael asked. He has tasked some of his subordinates to find where No. 1 had gone to.

"Nothing sir.", the lady butler shook her head in rejection.

"Damn it! Clear every record or anything inside our group that connects us towards No. 1, immediately!", Michael instructed. He was a cautious man, he won't let himself get linked to his subordinates if they were caught.

"Yes sir.", as the lady butler was about to close the door, she was called by Michael again, "And please, do tell No. 2 to at least find No. 1's corpse."

"Will do, sir.", the lady butler left at once.

Michael sighed, he sat down on his chair and rubbed his temples in distress. A lot of trouble befell on him when that shop came!

'What is this, is that some sort of a cliche mysterious shop that came from a novel?!', Michael frantically thought. If it didn't reach this far, he would've never tasked No. 2 to do something, because that guy has a bit of a problem with his age priorities.

Several minutes later...

Michael was blowing a hot tea to lower it's temperature. He needed to relax for a moment, and drinking tea was one of the ways of how he could relax.

A knock could then be heard on the door.

"Enter.", Michael drank some tea.

The lady butler entered in a hurry and said, "Sir, there's no sign of No. 2."

Michael almost spitted out the tea he was drinking when he heard the sentence, "Oh, still hot, hot, hot!" He fanned his mouth with his hand.

"What do you mean, there's no sign?!", Michael asked with a slight crazy tone.

"Sir, actually we have traced to where No. 2's last location was, and it was in a tavern. Witnesses said that he was dragged away outside the shop.", the lady butler said.

"The guards have caught him?! Immediately erase everything concerning him about us!", Michael said.

"No sir, he wasn't caught by the guards, he was dragged out by a little girl.", the lady butler said.

"Are you sure with what you just said?", Michael asked.

"Yes sir, I'm 100% sure, our men guaranteed it.", the lady butler nodded.

"Proceed with erasing No. 2's records from our group.", Michael said.

"Alright sir.", the lady butler exited the room.

"What is happening?!", Michael hissed and started to sip some tea.

...

"Sir!", the lady butler entered the room again.

This time, Michael really spit out the tea he was drinking, "What is it?!"

"I got a news that our subordinates found No. 2's corpse.", the lady butler said.

"Huh, what!", Michael blurted out.

"They said that... *gulps*... erm... No. 2 was burned alive, and it looks like he was also burned alive from the inside too.", the lady butler slowly said.

Veins started to appear on Michael's head due to worry, fear and panic after he heard the other's sentence. Afterwards, he fainted and fell from his chair and he hit the ground with a thud.

"Sir!"

***

Next morning, a few minutes before the sun rises...

This time, because Edwin would be temporarily living inside the shop, Allen let him sleep on his bed while the he slept on the counter at the first floor.

Allen entered the balcony through the living room, he was carrying a tea made from the herbs that he was selling in his shop. The snowfall has temporarily stopped and he took the chance to drink the tea while relaxing on the balcony.

He sat down on the chair and blew the tea to decrease it's temperature. He was trying to remember what he has been frequently dreaming about. Even though the man that was killing him in his dreams has died long ago, he could still remember the same exact scene of what transpired.

'Is it over?', Allen drank his tea. Although yesterday, he didn't obtain such any dreams.

At the same time, Edwin walked out of the bedroom and saw Allen. The latter noticed the former and said, "You're already awake."

"I can't sleep due to excitement.", Edwin said with an itching tone.

"Let's wait for my employee. He'll be taking care of this shop when we're gone.", Allen said.

After a pause, he added, "Go get yourself a bath. Wear the clothes I left for you in the living room."

"Mhm.", Edwin nodded and left.

***

Edwin walked out towards the balcony again, this time he was wearing a new set of clothes, which comprised of a white long-sleeves shirt, a pants with a belt, and leather boots.

When he entered the balcony, he didn't see Allen on the chair anymore, he walked downstairs and saw that he was sweeping the floor.

Allen noticed Edwin and said, "Go to the bedroom first, there's something I need to give you."

Edwin nodded and walked back to the bedroom. A few minutes of waiting, Allen walked inside the bedroom and pulled out a box from under the bed.

Allen lifted up the cover of the box, and Edwin saw numerous daggers of different kinds of sizes and materials made from. The boy was stunned by the sheer number of weapons.

"I got this when I raided a smugglers caravan.", Allen explained. "Pick a dagger of your liking, remember, the weight, the length, and the handle of the dagger must suit you so you can perform your best. Remember, it must not be too light nor too heavy, not too long and not too short."

Edwin started to examine the daggers, at first he was surprised by the heaviness of some of the said weapons. He directly skipped the daggers that were too long and too short for him.

He already tested most of the daggers until he stopped by one particular pair of daggers. The daggers were made from some sort of black steel. Edwin felt that it wasn't too light nor too heavy, and it's length was just about right, the softness and hardness of the handle was balanced.

"I want this.", Edwin said. The dagger that Edwin picked came with a pair.

"You want to become a double wielder?", Allen asked.

"Yes!", Edwin nodded.

"If it's your choice, then alright.", Allen hid back the box of the daggers under the bed and Edwin placed the daggers on his belt, where there were two specific leather pouches attached to it on each of its sides for the daggers.

Allen walked downstairs first and looked around, but didn't see James yet, "Where is that kid?"

At the same time, Anna entered the shop and saw Allen, "Hello, Alchemist Morgan."

"Hello.", Allen greeted back.

"Alchemist Morgan, I've been meaning to tell you about what happened to James yesterday during the tour.", Anna said.

"What is it then?", Allen asked.

"When we got to the Retollian Church, I wanted to go inside there and James followed me, but when we got closer to the church, he suddenly felt dizzy and almost collapsed to the ground.", Anna said.

Allen kept quiet at first and asked, "Is that what you wanted to tell me?"

"Yes, I just wanted to tell you it, because I feel like there's something wrong with him.", Anna said.

"Don't tell to anybody about what happened, nor mention this topic ever again.", Allen said.

"Alright.", Anna nodded in agreement. Inwardly, there was a tinge of doubt that Allen knew something else.

"And oh, Alchemist Morgan, do you know a merchant by the name of Michael?", Anna asked.

Allen nodded in response, 'Isn't that the person who tried to investigate my background?' He knew that Michael tried to investigate his background, which Allen didn't let him do so, though he still didn't act against him because he was just a powerless human.

"I got a news that he died last night?", Anna said.

"Died? How did he die?", Allen asked.

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"They said that he died because of too much mental stress he accumulated. They said he got all of that stress only in one night." Anna said, "It sounded ridiculous tho."

Allen only answered an "oh", he already heard about those cases of dying due to stress in Alchem Town. There were some alchemists perishing because of either failing a very long experiment, or their brain couldn't take the pressure any longer.

***

"Why is your face so sour today?", Ivan asked.

"No, nothing, I just ate something sour today.", James answered.

"Is that what you call an excuse? Come on, we've been friends before our ages became double digits.", Ivan urged. "I know that you're hiding something, tell me, don't worry I won't tell anyone!"

"No!", James immediately disagreed.

"Okay, if you don't want to, it's alright. Though have you heard about Carla accidentally falling into the sewers?", Ivan asked.

"That rich girl fell into the sewers? What happened next?", James' interest was piqued.

"Because of what happened, she asked her father to seal the hole at once, and even sealing some of the holes near their villa.", Ivan laughed.

"Rich people.", James laughed in response.

"Yeah.", Ivan smiled.

While laughing, James inwardly said, 'I hope you'll never know about it. Maybe you'll leave me and Mr. Morgan if the both of you find out about it.'