"This is... A letter of invitation!"
Thiago was thrilled by his discovery - a mysterious envelope bearing the seal of the Baiming Chamber of Commerce, the largest business association in Half Moon City. Upon opening it, he was delighted to find that it was an invitation to an exclusive auction, a highly-anticipated event among the city's elite.
The invitation came as a complete surprise to Thiago, who had no prior knowledge of the upcoming auction. Had he not stumbled upon the invitation letter, he would have remained oblivious to this grand affair.
As he examined the invitation more closely, Thiago realized that it was most likely reserved for a select few individuals, likely those of a certain status or prestige. This realization only served to reinforce his suspicion that Arthrey Xi, the individual who had given him the invitation, was a registered alchemist.
After all, it seemed unlikely that an ordinary person would have received such an invitation.
To Thiago's delight, the invitation did not specify a particular attendee, leaving the door open for him to potentially attend in place of Arthrey Xi. This was a rare opportunity for Thiago to expand his horizons.
"Hmm, it is written here that the auction will be held at the Baiming Auction house on the fifteenth day of the sixteenth week of the lunar calendar." Thiago mumbled and then muttered: "Just when the hell is the fifteenth day of the sixteenth week of the lunar calendar, how would I know that and why do they make it so complicated for no reason?"
"Well, I guess I need to ask the system for help," Thiago sighed and then opened up his system shop to buy the information regarding this region's calendar.
"Ah! So that's how it works!" Thiago exclaimed only a short while later.
"It turns out that their calendar system is actually not much different from the one in my previous life, the main difference being that they have seventy weeks in a year instead of fifty-two as it was on Earth.
And the information said that today should be the thirteenth day of the sixteenth week, which means that I have three days before the auction starts, which should be enough to finish the restaurant, not that it is important to finish it before then". Thiago said to himself.
After that, Thiago put the invitation in his Spatial Ring so as not to lose it, and then went out of the house, remembering that he had not yet put up the 'For Sale' sign, which he had better take down, as it would only cause potential problems.
After that, Thiago didn't really have much to do, so he decided to go back into the house and do a bit of cultivation on a comfortable sofa that he was planning to put up in one of the empty rooms, so that he could lie down more comfortably than sitting on the bare floor.
Once he had put the sofa in the room and laid down on it, Thiago began his cultivation, which he did more often now that he was in the city, as he had no other way to get stronger at the moment, as he could not just go on a killing spree like he had in the forest, and more importantly, his prey would have to be above the first level of the Superior Student Realm, which would only make it more troublesome.
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Two flowers bloom, each representing a branch
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"Have you found any trace of the young master?"
"Yes, Captain Li, we have traced his last whereabouts after a bit of investigation, and according to our investigation, the young master should have been at a certain tavern called 'The Gilded Dragon' yesterday, and after that, all traces of him disappeared, which can only mean that something must have happened to him at that tavern." A rather young male cultivator wearing a distinctive robe with a certain red flower embedded with a six-edged sabre respectfully reported to a robust and cold-blooded middle-aged man with a close-cropped beard and short hair, and a pair of dark blue eyes, he also wore the same robe as the young man, but of a higher quality, and in addition to the red six-pointed sabre and the red flower, he also wore a silver three-sided sabre on the other side of his robe, probably representing his rank as a captain.
On the side of his body, he also carried a dangerous and extremely sharp sword, which gave off a very sharp aura. In addition, although the man's aura was clearly restrained, it could not hide his extremely dangerous breath and the malevolence he unconsciously radiated.
"I see," Captain Li answered simply and then seemed to think for a short moment before commanding: "You and the other guards will find all those that were in the tavern yesterday, I don't care what method you sue and question them what happened there, and if they don't want to answer you can use other means such as torture Do you understand, I want results before three hours have passed! If I don't see results in three hours, you and the others can forget about continuing living!"
"I understand and will obey the captain's order!" The young man immediately said in fear and trepidation, for he was absolutely sure that Captain Li would do what he had just said, that he and the others involved in this mission to find the young master would not be allowed to live if they did not achieve what he wanted, for Captain Li was notorious among the many guards and workers who worked for the Wang family for being extremely ruthless and cruel, and he had often killed those who did not complete his assignments in the time he set.
And even though Master Wang, the current patriarch of the Wang family, obviously knew what atrocities Captain Li often committed, he did not remove him from his post, simply because Captain Li was at the peak of the Grandmaster realm and had the corresponding strength, which was very useful for the Wang family, so the patriarch would not mind the few troubles Captain Li caused, as he was still very reliable.
The scene returned to silence again after the young man had left in a hurry to inform the other guards of their task. Only Captain Li's mumbling could be heard in the silent room where they had been talking just now: "Finally after such a long time someone has offended the Wang family again after the last person who had been cruelly tortured in public as a deterrence, so that I can have some fun again, heh. But its seems that if I remember correctly the young master had belonged to the Half-moon Hunter Group before, but it seems that they don't know that probably one of their members have died, well it is better so or they would fight for the culprit's body with me, Heh."
Listening to Captain Li's monologue, you can see that he seems to be quite happy that something has happened to the young master, because he seems to be the one who publicly tortured the last person who offended the Wang family behind him, and now he wants to torture the person who probably did something to the young master, which really shows the cruel and malicious character of Captain Li.
Then the captain took a cup of tea and drank it as if nothing had happened, and this time complete silence ensued...
Recalling the task of the guards, which was to find all the people who had been in the tavern the day before, it was a bit unfortunate that they would not be able to find them all, since all those who had been there at the same time as Thiago, had already died at his hands and disappeared into the eternal river of time never to be seen again.
Well, there were all kinds of unfortunate people every day, and just these few guards would not change anything in the overall situation of the world, so you could say that their fate was negligible.
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While this event was taking place, Armelia had just returned to her home, which was literally nothing more than a roof over her head, as the walls looked very old and the whole building was extremely small, being only one storey high and only big enough for three people at most, not counting things like living room and kitchen or such.
It had also taken her quite a while to get back to her house, as she lived on the outskirts of town where everything was much cheaper, and she had also bought something on the way back, which had also taken some time.
Once she was in front of the door she took out a slightly smaller than fist-sized crystal that was a little similar to the one Thiago had seen and used a few times now, only the colour was a little more yellow and it was a little flatter, but if you ignored those small details you could see that it was almost the same as the key Thiago had used in the inn and in the newly acquired house, indicating that this type of key was quite common in the city and probably used by the majority if not everyone.
After holding the key beside the door for a moment, the plain wooden door opened with a slight squeaking and unpleasant noise, probably due to the age and wear of the door.
"Lilith I'm home," Armelia carefully said with a soft voice while supressing the loudness of her voice seemingly worried that the person she had just called 'Lilith' might be asleep or something like that.
Just when she thought she would get no answer, a faint, girlish voice came from a room in the house: "You're back big sis, great!"
"Wait, I will bring you the medicine," Armelia said as she walked through the door and closed it behind her, heading straight for a room with the door half open and the room dimly lit.
As Armelia entered the room and switched on the lamp, a faint figure came into view lying motionless on the bed. It was a girl, perhaps no more than sixteen years of age, with a complexion so pale that it almost seemed translucent. The girl appeared to be in a fragile state, as she lay still, barely moving at all.
Armelia's attention immediately turned towards the girl, her younger sister, who lay beside her. Though their physical builds were similar, the younger sister's body had yet to fully develop. Despite this, her features were just as striking as Armelia's, radiating a beauty that was hard to ignore.
The younger sister was dressed in a simple nightgown, with a blanket draped only partially over her body, revealing her delicate frame. Armelia then pulled out a small vial from her pocket and placed it near Lilith's mouth who opened her mouth without any resistance on her own seemingly already used to such a situation and then drank the contents of the vial in one swift gulp.
Within moments of consuming the medicine, Lilith's complexion began to lighten, and her cheeks dimpled with a rosy hue. Her movements were still sluggish, but she was now able to speak with a bit more force. The only visible sign of change was her slightly improved mobility, which hinted at the power of the medicine that Armelia had administered.
Although these were some signs of recovery, this was not actually the case, as it was the same every time she gave Lilith the medicine, and these effects would wear off in two days at most, only helping to stabilise her currently unknown illness so that she would not die.
This was also the reason why she had desperately needed her previous job as a waitress, as there was really not much else, she could do with her small strength, apart from that and some odd jobs, to earn enough money to pay for her younger sister's medicine as their parents had died a long time ago due to a beast attack on their caravan when they had travelled for business matters, as they had owned a small trade company.
And since they had died, she had been the one to take care of her younger sister who could not did much as she had gotten this strange illness when she had reached ten years old.
After Armelia gave her sister the medicine the two of them chatted a bit and Armelia also talked about her meeting with Thiago.
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