Northern Gate, Royal Capital.
It was around 5 A.M.
At that moment, a gray-haired old man with emerald green eyes stood outside the gate and looked tense. He wore a gray robe with a symbol of three stars, giving off a mysterious aura around himself. A strange emerald gem-embedded pendant also hung on his neck, attracting all the thieves' attention. Alas, none dared to get near him.
Abium, in Baxter's appearance, glanced at his surroundings and soon looked at the gatekeepers with an impatient look.
"Useless Morons, open the gate quickly. I had already wasted more than 15 minutes waiting here." A gruff voice came from Abium's mouth as he shouted harshly at the gatekeepers.
"Please forgive our rudeness, My Lord. But there are still more than 5 minutes to open the gate." One of the tall gatekeepers said in a fearful voice.
"Tch, Open it quickly." Abium let out a low grunt and said as he stared back at the long queue behind him.
Meanwhile, the merchants, citizens, adventurers, and even some nobles averted their gazes when they met his emerald-green eyes and tried their best not to offend him. They knew this gray-haired old man must be some mysterious mage and felt their life was on the line.
For the next few minutes, seconds passed like a ticking bomb.
Finally, the gatekeepers announced and opened the seven-meter tall metal gate.
'Damn it; it's tough to act like another person.'
Abium quickly turned his gaze toward the city entrance and walked inside as if the city was his own house. After entering the main street, he moved towards a food store and brought many rations, which would be enough for more than a year. As for why he brought this many rations, it was basically for backup.
'My journey to the Undead Plane was a lesson for me.'
Even the store owner became startled and became more curious about this mysterious old man's identity. Meanwhile, Abium threw a stern look at him and walked out of the shop after paying the right amount.
After that, he moved to a few more shops and brought necessary items like clothes, cooking utensils, dried meats, fruits, and so on. Once he did with the preparation, he quietly strolled through the Commoners' Borough and soon arrived at the entrance of the Royal Street.
At that moment, seven silver-armored Royal Knights were heavily guarding the entrance. Whenever someone entered Royal Street, they inspected their belongings and even used some orb-like device to check their identity!
As Abium moved closer, they all shifted their gaze toward him, and some even put their hands on their sword hilts.
But before the knights could stop Abium from entering, a 60-year-old lean man with the same gray robe appeared from the other side and whispered something to a knight's ears. He had short black hair, brown eyes, and olive skin with an oval face. He was none other than Baxter's friend Yozis.
"You may go in, sir." That royal knight immediately stopped the other six from moving towards Abium and said with a polite smile. At the same time, Yozis also arrived closer to Abium and whispered in his ear with a bright smile.
"Good morning, Baxter. Do you want to know what I found in the Royal Palace's outer area?"
Abium slightly gave an annoying glance at that black-haired Yozis and asked flatly.
"What did you find?"
A sly smile appeared on Yozis face as he took out a small thumb-sized red crystal from his spatial ring and grinned widely.
"Fire elemental crystal!" Abium said with a shocked tone. Even though it was only a Tier-1 elemental stone, its worth was more than 20 thousand white gold coins!
'How did he find an elemental crystal here? Are there more secrets in this Royal Palace other than the treasury?' He muttered inwardly.
Meanwhile, Yozis nodded his head and spoke.
"Two days ago, I sneaked into the Royal Street at night and found an underground pathway at the backside of the royal castle. After a few minutes of exploring the underground pathway, I stumbled upon a large 2 meters tall sealed platinum door and saw hundreds of fire-elemental crystals embedded in it." Yozis face turned serious as he said those words.
'Hundreds of fire-elemental crystals?!' Abium tried his best to hide his shocked face and continued to walk on the dirt road.
"Did you find out what is hidden behind that door?" After a swift glance, he asked.
"Nah, that platinum door was protected by a powerful magic runic lock spell. If not for some damage on the rune circle, I wouldn't have managed to get my hands on this elemental crystal. After I picked it up, I left the underground path and sent a short message to teacher Rilos." Yozis couldn't help but show a bitter look at that moment.
Yozis was no fool to explore that place without proper measures. When he saw the complicated magic rune circle on the door, he knew it was on a different level and decided to report it to the higher-ups.
Moreover, he only showed one fire elemental crystal and hid another two inside his spatial ring. Although he could get these elemental crystals in the deep forests, he knew there would also be dangers.
'Anyway, I got more than what I wanted.' He thought.
Unaware of Yozis's inner thoughts, Abium quietly walked on the street road and soon arrived in front of the large white royal palace's entrance. Multiple luxurious carriages with unique household symbols were parked outside the castle gate, and many nobles with their retainers started walking into the Royal palace one by one.
With a simple glance, Abium realized that the Gathering time was nearing.
"Let's go," Yozis said while pointing his finger at a small single-storied building and stepping forward. It was located just 500 meters from the palace entrance and appeared isolated from the rest of the buildings on the royal street.
"Whose house is that?" Abium asked in a loud voice.
"Shh! Talk slowly, Baxter. Someone might hear your voice." Yozis said with a suppressing tone while glancing at him and continued,
"That is one of the Royal Knights' quarters. All houses in the Royal Street belong to Royal Knights and servants, so we can't enter by normal means. Thankfully, our higher-ups have planted spies within the Royal Knight squad long ago. Even I knew about this secret only a while ago."
'I thought so too.'
Abium nodded and soon arrived in front of the single-storied house entrance.
Meanwhile, Yozis raised his right hand, knocked on the wooden door thrice first, and then knocked twice after a short pause.
Even though these guys were formidable foes who had the power to topple the kingdom in a single night, he was left speechless upon seeing them using the old password method.
Click!
Soon, a short guy with blonde hair opened the wooden door from inside and invited both of them in with a smiling face. From that guy's smiling expression, Abium guessed that this guy must be an acquaintance of the real Baxter and gave him a respectful nod before walking inside.
The house had one reception hall in the middle, a kitchen and dining hall on the left, and a bedroom and bathroom on the right. After entering the reception hall, Abium swiftly scanned the surroundings and soon saw rows of wooden chairs arranged on the red-carpeted floor in lines.
'The royal knight must be from a noble background.' He thought to himself and shifted his gaze towards the front row.
At that moment, a devil skull-masked male figure sat on the front row wooden chair and appeared to be in deep thought. He wore a grey robe and had long wavy blonde hair.
'A first-tier Necromancer? I thought Yozis and I were the only ones who would be accompanying Rilos, but it appears I was wrong.' Abium furrowed his brows and silently sat next to the devil skull-masked guy.
Meanwhile, Yozis went to the second row and sat right behind him. After that, he leaned forward and started talking to him about various topics. Although Abium gathered much information from Baxter's soul, it still wasn't enough for him to entertain Yozis.
Thankfully, Azolla helped him whenever Yozis asked him doubts about the Soul and Necromancy-related subject.