It was a pleasant day in the Argent Kingdom's busiest city, Altun. The peaceful vibe had been untouched due to their favorable diplomatic relations with the two highest powerhouses of Renald Continent, the Church of the Holy See and Regulus Empire. The children here ran free on the streets with full stomach and their parents with no worries.
Lumiere felt nostalgic as he passed by every streets here without no one hiding in the dark alleys and was waiting to victimize some unknowledgeable tourists, unlike Regulus where the streets filled with criminals lurking in the crevices and ready to cut your throat for a couple of coppers. The public order here were like heaven and earth if compared to the Empire. The paved road towards the central square was bustling with people as it was nearing lunch, and the people were all rushing to buy ingredients to cook for their families.
He looked up in the sky as he walked and saw that they were full of white clouds that seemed like moving together with Lumiere. The air was also very clear with no pollution, even the rustling sound of the sea by the Port Logos on the eastside of Altun could be heard from where Lumiere was going.
Then a little girl with braided hair and plump cheeks tugged Lumiere's cloak, "Would you like some daisies, Mister? I can gift a whole bunch for you for three coppers." She smiled and said with a jolly tone.
It made Lumiere smile and crouched to match her height, "You are a very young little merchant, eh? How much for your daisies again?" Lumiere asked her.
"Three copper, Mister. If you also want rose, I can also gift it to you for five coppers."
"Whoa, hold it right, Ms. Merchant. I'm still buying one of your merchandise and your offering me another one. Go easy on this mister." Lumiere playfully said and still paid for the roses and daisies.
"Hehe, pleasure doing business with you, Mister." She ran off with her almost empty basket of flowers and holding a pocket full of copper coins instead.
Lumiere watched her joyfully skip towards a flower stall with a lady watching it, and looked like the lady was the little girl's mother. He then continued walking towards the central square of Altun where his last destination will be.
In the last past months that he travelled around the continent, the chances of finding the Prophet were getting smaller and smaller, but Lumiere did not give up and continued to find this mysterious person. His plans had been obstructed along the way due to the sudden decision of Emperor going to war, and Lumiere, as his White Minister, was bitter about it as he had not heard news of it from the messengers until he was hit by the tides of it while finding clues from his mission.
"It's still unclear why Leopold suddenly wanted to conquer the continent. Regardless, I will still bring Muhammed to him and fix this troublesome situation." Lumiere thought, regretting his decision to find the Prophet. He was fast on his feet and can travel easily, but it still took him several months to pinpoint his location.
The continent needs someone to organize it in it's current situation. The people who's countries, kingdoms and nations were conquered, was in dire need of a reasonable and generous ruler to guide them. But to the way that it was going now, Lumiere doubted that the continent will be able to survive if a calamity suddenly shows up to destroy them all.
The clocktower of Altun was ringing it's tenth time when Lumiere arrived at the central square. There were more people of many varieties here than Lumiere expected. The Argent Kingdom does not prohibit other races than humans here that's why the kingdom was bustling with families with mixed children and other more.
The bards sang their songs and ballads and many couples, preparing to legally tie their love listened to them. There were also magician and painters that wanted to show the world their talent in art, while the children and families watched them perform what they does best. However, Lumiere's eyes were fixed on the beastkin that was currently just preparing his table to tell his customers their fortunes.
At first glance, this beastkin looks like a human who was wearing a black top hat and a white long coat, making him look more like a magician than a fortune teller. But, the beastkin has a face of a cat and even though he was wearing a gloves, Lumiere could tell that his wands were furry.
"I would like to know my fortune." Lumiere told the beastkin that was still fixing his table.
"Wait just a second, Lumiere. I'm still organizing my things. I don't want my customers to think that I was a fraud by just looking at my table, you know." The beastkin said without looking at Lumiere, and continued to place all his stuff on the table with a red blanket covering it.
Lumiere were shocked and at the same time excited as he heard the man in front of him called out his name without even introducing himself. "I finally found you!" Lumiere thought excitedly.
The beastkin then let out a chair from his storage ring, sat on it, and looked at Lumiere with a businessman's smile. Then, a chair suddenly appeared in front of Lumiere. "Sit first, and then we can start with our fortunetelling, eh." He said enthusiastically while tapping the red table.
Lumiere sat on the chair that was provided for him, his eyes never leaving the beastkin in front of him. "How did you know my name?" Lumiere asked briefly. He knew that this person in front of him knows why he came here. Lumiere was vigilant against this man as he has no idea what he was capable of and does not sense his aura despite Lumiere probing it passionately. "I'm sure he is hiding his strength!" Lumiere thought.
The beastkin snickered as he gently fondled his whiskers, "Sorry about that. I did not mean to be rude to you, so as a gift of apology, I would introduce myself... I am Muhammed. I go by that name without a surname. Surnames are troublesome, as the nobles say; 'you carry your family name as you carry your honor'. Ain't that right, Prince Lumiere Von Narulan Argent, hm?" Muhammed playfully teased Lumiere.
Lumiere just sighed to appease his irritation, "I was gonna tell you that there's no need for you to introduce yourself as I will carry back to the Regulus..."
"Ohhh, Regulus. Yes. I was also dragged there by the previous emperor. I told him his son's fortune, and now I'm being dragged to do it again. I must say... I'm not quite a fan of it, you know, being dragged here and there. I prefer places like this... Argent Kingdom, where all races can live and cooperate with each other. Oh, and no offense to the nation that you're serving right now. I'm just curious when are you going back to serve your role as the Prince..." Muhammed babbled on but was interrupted.
"You're really talkative, aren't you?" Lumiere impatiently asked. He didn't know that the Prophet in the rumors was so talkative and will spill all your secrets in front of you.
"Yeah. Sorry about that..." Muhammed cleared his throat to get down to the real business, "Give me your name and I shall tell you all you need to know. No limitations, only consequences. For a little expenses... Five silvers." Muhammed reached out his open gloved hands to Lumiere.
"What?! Five silvers?! I'm not paying for that!" Lumiere protested by how high Muhammed was billing him. "This old roach is definitely a swindler and an absolutely absurd man!" He thought furiously.
"Well, that's what she said..." Muhammed shrugged his shoulders, reminiscing something.
"Enough!! I had enough of your useless blabber! You're coming with me, whether you want it or not!" Lumiere grabbed Muhammed's wrist, it was soft as he had expected, but Muhammed did not even budge. Seeing this, Lumiere used his gracia to pull him out the table but he did not move an inch. "This..! He's so strong!" Lumiere clicked his tongue.
"Look closely, child." Muhammed said, his tone serious and menacing, and it startled Lumiere, clearing his mind. "You're not the one who was supposed to be angry right now. You're Empire is dragging me again into a situation where I need to knot and cut the fates of the people who was involved. I was tired of that, ohhh, I really was."
With his mind clear, Lumiere could now see the situation he was in. The people in the surrounding have all stopped moving like they were stuck in time, the bards are now left with their mouths open while they sing, and the magicians and painters also stopped doing their performances. "What is happening here?!" Lumiere blurted out. This was the second time he felt terrified of something or someone, he definitely couldn't escape here in this situation without suffering fatal injuries. His life, just like last time, was left by the hands of the person in front of him now.
"I could not go there now... tell your Emperor that same words. But, I will still tell your fortune. Now, tell me your name, child.", Muhammed pulled Lumiere's face towards him, close enough for Lumiere to see his reflection on Muhammed's eyes.
Lumiere was completely terrified by this omnipotent being in front of him. He didn't know the Prophet's true strength before and was conceited. But now, he knew that disrespectfully talking to this person will have your soul, even your existence, be turned to nothingness.
"Lumiere Von Narulan Argent"
"Good child..." Muhammed said, as he let go of Lumiere's head.
Lumiere watched Muhammed closed his eyes and concentrated, which was the first time he had seen someone concentrate like this. It was like the thoughts, the information , and the knowledge that Muhammed had couldn't be comprehend by someone weaker than him.
[STAR PATH : SOLOMON'S WISDOM]
Then suddenly, a wholesome of words entered Lumiere's mind and made him memorize it very quickly. Lumiere gasped as he accepted all the revelations entering his mind like a crowd of people running for their lives as they pushed each other to enter a small crevice from a wall, and that said wall Lumiere's mind.
Muhammed watched Lumiere take all the information in his mind, and smiled at satisfaction, "This child has potential. I could've said the words out loud, but there were too many ears here. I hope you'll achieve something great with the information that I gave you." Muhammed thought.
Lumiere had his eyes closed and could not care about the people that surrounded him. Never knowing that Muhammed was preparing to ditch again and go into hiding in front of him.
As for Muhammed, after he finished putting all his stuff back to his storage ring and taking ten silver from Lumiere's storage ring, he started walking away from the central square with a smile on his face, "I'll take extra five silver coins for irritating me. Call it a scam or what, I don't care. I'll call it mental health fee, hehe." Muhammed walked away with a smirk on his face, leaving Lumiere along in the central square, gasping like an idiot daydreaming about having intercourse with the woman of his life.
But then, something made Muhammed stop on his feet, shocking the people walking behind him. He stared blankly on the horizon like he was thinking about something.
"Are you okay, sir. Want me to help you?" A concerned man approached Muhammed and gently touched on the shoulder.
Muhammed turned back to normal and looked at the man, who was concerned for him, with a smile on his face, "I'm okay, young man. I apologize for suddenly spacing out. This old man just thought of his family, you see." Muhammed replied.
"Oh, good to know, sir. I hope you see your family sooner. Seems like you miss them so much." The young man waved him a goodbye he continued on his way.
"What a kind child.", Muhammed thought.
Then he curled up his fingers like he was calculating something, then his friend smile turned into a sinister and furious expression. Muhammed looked like he was to kill somebody if he sees them. He then turned to enter a dark alley between two big buildings, then everyone who saw him entered in there became confused why did he not come walking back.
Muhammed just disappeared in the darkness of the dark alley and no one saw the friendly catkin old man, who was telling fortunes for his family, in the Argent Kingdom ever again.