Morton took the sign for looking, then smiled, "Just as I thought. This is the main control card for the magic tower at the Duchy of Keyen. In case you didn't know where the Duchy of Keyen is, it's north, and it shares a border with the Duchy of Koror and the Duchy of Laka."
Abel took out the house deed and passed it, "According to this sheet of paper, there's supposed to be a house to be collected in the Kingdom of Ellis. Do you know where that is, sir?"
"A house in the Liante City? Where did you find this deed?" Morton said, then tried to feel the magic wave emitted from it for a second time, "This is not a fake. As long as you have this house deed, the house is yours to collect regardless of your status."
Wizard Morton added, "And about where the Kingdom of Ellis is. You see, within the territories that are claimed by the humans, there are seven duchies in total on the Holy Continent. With the Duchy of Carmel being one of them, there is also the Duchy of Koror, the Kingdom of Laka, the Duchy of Keyen, the Duchy of Tex and the Duchy of Larvid."
"Together, these seven duchies formed a union with the Kingdom of St. Ellis, which is just enough to form a triangular balance between the Kingdom of St. Anwall and the Kingdom of St. Pierre. There are a bunch of other small duchies, of course, but basically, there's a triangular relationship between different factions in the human world. And while they compete against each other, they also need each other to survive against the powerful Orc Empire."
Wizard Morton looked back at the house deed in his hands, "It says Liante City here. Liante City is right in the center of the Kingdom of St. Paul, the Kingdom of St. Anwall, and the Kingdom of St. Ellis. This city belongs to three kingdoms, and they manage it together. Many years ago, it was once the center of the human world. If I was 200 years younger than I am now, this deed would've had me very interested."
Morton returned the house deed to Abel, "Remember, this house deed is very precious. Do not let others know you have it. Many young wizards dream of living inside Liante City, but without their own house deeds, they could only stay for up to ten days. Liante City is a place for fulfilling dreams, but only a few are lucky enough to be a part of it."
This house deed was just like an ID card without a name. It was absolutely for one to be allowed in certain places. Strange though. How did Wizard Black manage to get something like this?
What Abel didn't know was that everything was very expensive in Liante City. If Wizard Black did go there without his salary from his duchy, he would have to hunt for spiritual beasts in the Budapest Mountain Range if he wanted to make a living. That being said, the smart thing to do for him was obviously to stay inside the duchy.
"This deed will be very helpful for you when you become an official wizard, Abel. You'll need it when you want to go to Liante City," Morton said.
"Thank you, sir!" Abel bowed. While his head was still down, Morton had already sent him back to the tenth floor.
Morton took out the control card of his magic tower. In a blink of an eye, he teleported himself to the portal down on the first floor. Then proceeded to vanish from the building.
Abel did not back to his room. Instead, he left the building with his status card. Today, he wanted to find the wizard apprentices that he was looking for. If he did, living in the magic tower would be a lot easier for him.
"Mr. Abel is coming!"
Unlike the first time that Abel came to the Morton Magic Tower, everyone showed a lot more respect for him. Not only were their eyes more focused when they noticed him, but they also bowed to him when he was walking past them.
By this point, everybody knew what "sir" Abel was looking for. Since he didn't have his own disciples, he was going to do some scouting around the magic tower.
Abel wasn't going to pay too much attention to these people, though. In just a while, he walked towards the front entrance of the Yvelines Magic Tower.
"Good day to you, Master Abel!" a bunch of people greeted from every direction.
Abel still didn't care. Instead, he just kept looking for the fat figure amongst the crowd. Yes, Finkle. He was always so easy to find when the people around him were so thin.
"Come here, Finkle," Abel called out.
Finkle gave Abel a bow, "Anything I can help you with, Sir Abel?"
"Yes, actually," Abel smiled, "I need someone trustworthy to help me with some daily chores. I don't know a lot of people, though. What do you think if I were to ask you to become my personal assistant?"
"Am I competent enough for you, sir?" Finkle asked cautiously, despite the excitement that's shown from his expressions.
Abel nodded as he took out a status card from his pocket, "You can come if you want."
"You said yes? Oh, dear, you actually did!" Finkle suddenly shouted. For a moment there, he looked kind of dumbfounded with Abel's request, but after being granted access from the first to the ninth floor of Abel's magic tower, he was literally on his toes because of how happy he was.
Finkle quickly gave himself a slap on the cheek. He wanted to make sure that he wasn't dreaming. "Thank you, Mr. Abel, I will do my best for you!" he exclaimed as he thanked Abel for another few times.
Finkle carefully took the status card from Abel's hand. After giving it a long, careful look, he slowly put it in his pocket. When he did, he gave another bow towards Abel.
Abel laughed as he saw the palmprint on Finkle's face, "You better enter that magic tower after the mark disappears. I don't want my friends to think that I was the one who hit you."
"Sure, sure," Fink nodded again and again.
"Welcome, Abel! What brought you here today?" Wizard Sam walked out as he opened up the door to the Yvelines Magic Tower.
"When did you come back, Uncle Sam?" Abel asked. Ever since the last time he saw Sam, Sam has been going out for the last several months. He didn't come back once during those times.
"Let's have a seat inside first, Abel," Sam invited Abel over as he saw the people standing outside.
For Abel, the tower seemed both familiar and strange to him at the same time. After sitting himself in the guest room inside the main hall, he saw two apprentices that were doing some cleanup.
Their names were Ethan and Sam. When they saw Abel, they quickly went to him and gave their greetings.
"No need to be so formal around me," Abel said as he remembered how nice Cody was to him in the past, "Thank you for taking care of me back then, Cody. If you have anything you want help with, just come visit me in the Morton Magic Tower."
"That's fine, Abel, but I've got Cody's back when he needs it," Sam said, then let out a loud laugh.
"Thank you, Master Abel," Cody said with a somewhat stern look on his face. For him, it must've been difficult to see how things would turn out so differently between him and Abel. They were both apprentices just a few months ago. And if Abel wasn't so grateful as to return the favor of his help back then, he wouldn't have so much support by now.
On the other hand, Ethan seemed kind of disappointed that Abel didn't mention him. Since Abel didn't say anything about him, Sam's probably going to think that he bullied Abel before or something. Life was going to be hard from now on, Ethan thought to himself.
Whilst showing no care with what the two apprentices were thinking, Ethan, shooed them away with his hand. He then turned towards Abel, "How are you doing at the Morton Tower?"
"I was just promoted to being a rank two novice wizard," Abel replied in the most direct way that he knew. Because of how close Sam was to him, he had no need to lie here.
"Dear Spirit! Really?" Sam said in surprise. If anything, he was the one who taught Abel how to train through meditation. He knew how long the routine was going to take, but four months? Genius would be an understatement here.
As though afraid of letting someone else hear it, Sam whispered something to Abel, "You know, um. Master Yveline knew how fast it took for you to become a rank one novice wizard. Even now, he's still mad that he gave you away to Master Morton."