On the second floor of a manor opposite the statue, Angele was standing on a balcony with a cup of hot chocolate in hand. He was wearing black pajamas and taking sips from the cup.
He put his other hand on the railing and looked down. Only Tia and he lived in the manor. She cleaned the whole manor every day, did grocery shopping, and also cooked food for Angele. Tia took care of many things for him, and he sometimes thought he was getting lazy.
This manor, or actually the whole housing area, was haunted according to Tinos. The price of the manors here had dropped a lot, and most of the owners had moved to other places, so Angele purchased all the manors in the area.
There were about ten of them, and Angele purchased them all. He built up the mental fences around the manors and hired guards to patrol. He was paying for pretty much everything, including the workers' salaries, street cleaning, and garden maintenance.
Rumors said those manors were haunted, but Angele had not encountered any strange events yet.
*HOO*
The wind was chilling. Angele sipped some more hot chocolate and walked inside the room. The hot chocolate he was drinking was made from a special plant he fell in love with it after having it in Master Adolf's house.
He returned to his bedroom and sat down beside the desk. There was flame dancing in the glass oil lamp on top of it.
Beside the oil lamp, there was a leather scroll sealed with a tight red line. Angele picked it up and broke the seal.
There were two glass sticks on both edges of the scroll, so he could open it easily by rolling them to the side.
On the scroll, some data was written with black ink:
'21st: East side of the city, four unknown targets disappeared.
22nd: Three carriages disappeared by the dock.
23rd: Hunters reported a man in a black robe disappearing by the logging site.
24th: Merchants heard beasts roaring by the west side of the forest.
27th: Three man in white cloaks left the city quickly after buying supplies.
15th November: Merchants found bodies of bandits outside the city.'
Angele kept reading all the logs, his brow furrowed. He spent a hefty amount of money on these logs from the mercenary guild, and almost every event that had happened inside or outside the city in the last two months was written down on it.
People in Lennon didn't know that the Wizard organization that was famous for its Necromancy and cruelty, Ramsoda College, was very close to their city. Those strange events the mercenaries had encountered did not bother them since they had no idea what those people were doing.
However, Angele knew those strange events could mean the situation had changed in his school.
"It looks like the war is almost over."
He carefully sealed the scroll with the red line again and put it into the drawer.
Based on that information, Angele concluded that some of the Wizards and apprentices that left the school were returning to it.
'Before that, I need to go to the Moon Gin Manor first. It's better if I can obtain the Dragon Scale Flowers before going back to the school,' Angele he decided, establishing the plan.
'I need something more valuable than what I have in hand to trade for the Water of Asu and the defensive spell model.' He scrunched his eyebrows again. 'Without resources, I won't get anything from the school. I need to get enough items to obtain Water of Asu and the defensive spell model first. I'll be able to try to break the limit after everything is prepared.'
The next morning, it was cloudy, and it looked like rain would fall soon.
A black carriage quietly left the city along with the others, heading to the northwest province Karin.
The black carriage was advancing slowly between golden wheat fields. Tthe wheat was already harvested, and the two horses in the front neighed from time to time. Angele sat in the carriage, looking at the wheat field.
Some farmers were piling up the straws, and some were burning the ones that were already piled up. Red flame mixed with dark smoke that curled and danced upon the ashes. Several people sat with their legs crossed, having some food while watching the straws burn.
The mountains were covered by a green rug of trees, and they were endless.
"Master, it's going to rain. Shall we find a shelter first?" Tom shouted.
"Sure," Angele responded.
"There's a mill in the front, we can use that," Tom continued.
Angele heard Tom's words and stuck his head out of the window to see a yellow windmill sitting on the right side of their carriage. It was built in the middle of the wheat field.
The windmill was slowly rotating in the wind, and Angele saw two one-horse carriages already parked by its side. One of them was red and the other white.
He could smell a hint of wheat in the air and shouted out, "Some people are already in there, park beside their carriages, Tom."
"Sure, Master."
Angele was in a two-horse black carriage without any family sigil engraved on its body.
Two people walked out of the windmill after seeing Angele's carriage approach. They pointed at it and seemed like they were talking about something.
After several minutes, Tom parked the carriage right beside the red one-horse carriage. Angele opened the door and jumped off. He then wiped some dust off his suit, still wearing the black hunting one with black boots and the dagger tied to his red belt. He looked like a high-ranking soldier with the clean suit and a serious look on his face.
The two that were looking at him turned back and walked into the windmill without greeting him. It was a middle-aged man and an old woman. The man was helping the woman walk; it looked as though she was his mother.
"Let's go, Tom. It'll rain soon."
"I'm good, Master, I'll take care of the carriage."
Tom smiled.
"Don't worry. The carriage will be fine."
Angele smiled as well. He patted the door, and some black smoke slowly went into the carriage through the gap.
"I'm fine, Master. I will just stay here."
Tom shook his head.
Angele watched him take out a raincoat from a chest and knew he was not going to leave the carriage.
He shook his head. "Well, alright."
Angele stretched a bit and walked toward the windmill.
There was a huge cogwheel rotating inside it which connected the windmill to the grinder. The sounds made by the grinder were getting louder as the wind was getting stronger.
The room was about the size of a bedroom with a closed tight window on the side. A young girl in red stood by it, peaking outside through the glass.
There were two wooden tables and some chairs in the corner. The two from before were sitting by one of the tables. The man was carefully pouring some tea into the cup for the woman, and the aroma of the tea filled up the narrow space.
Angele sniffed several times, the tea smelled like the one Tinos had gifted him a while ago. It was some expensive black tea, and he was a bit addicted to it. The aroma triggered his desire for some good tea.
Two coachmen sat in the opposite corner, whispering about something.
Angele checked the surroundings: spider webs were everywhere, and some flour was still on the ground.
People in the room looked at Angele for several seconds after he first entered the place, but no one greeted nor talked to him.
The young girl turned around and stared at him curiously. She was wearing a red one-piece and a pair of red boots, even her belt was also red. She looked like any other noble teenager, and she was holding a thin book in her hand.
The book was open, so Angele looked at it, noticing several lines. 'Griffin kissed Felica, holding tight her waist. It looked like he was not satisfied yet…'
It was just a love novel. Those love fantasies were very popular among noble girls.
The girl realized Angele saw what was in her book and blushed. She quickly closed it, walked toward the old woman, and started massaging her back.
Angele did not say anything, but walked toward the window and looked at the sky.
The rain got heavier quickly, falling in furious drops, and the daylight was gone. The wheat filled was flooded, objects in it hardly discernible.
Angele asked Zero to analyze the range and duration of the rain. Lists of information were shown in front of his eyes.
"The rain will stop at 10:12 am," Angele mumbled. The estimated time was given by Zero, and the margin of error was about five percent.
The girl heard his voice and looked at him again curiously. She took out a pocket watch out from her pouch and checked the time.