(Few hours before the Aqua auction final day)

Inside a dimly lit room, a man was tied to a chair and beaten to a pulp. The man's face was bloody and swallowed beyond recognition. Several cuts riddled his body. Anyone with eyes could tell the man was tortured mercilessly. Slowly, the man's eyes closed. Looking at the man's head falling down, a man walked out of the shadows. He was tall, muscular, and had messy brown hair.

"Lord Malan," The man turned his head to see a guard entering the room.

"Lord Ricky is on his way here," the soldier said. There was a tinge of panic in his voice.

"Shit," Lord Malan cussed. He wanted to heal the man in the chair so he could make him feel the pain once more.

"How did he know this soon?" Lord Malan questioned himself. House Bradley had been escorting Ghost's shipment for a year now, and they had never faced a problem until now. The entire shipment was stolen by masked men when the carriage containing the potions and pills were traveling through the forests surrounding Kethen. A group of highly trained masked men ambushed House Bradley and Rainshade merchant guild guards and stole everything inside the carriage. Although the masked men managed to kill many guards and escape with the shipment, the guards caught one of the masked men.

That unlucky fellow was the one in the chair, getting tortured by Malan himself. As Lord Malan was thinking about how Ricky, the right-hand man of Ghost, learned about the ambush, Ricky entered the dark room with a couple of guards of his own. As usual, they all dressed in complete black, just like their lord, Ghost.

"Lord Ricky," Due to Ricky's appointment as a minister and his status as Ghost's right-hand man, everyone started to call him 'Lord Ricky'.

When Ricky entered the room, he noticed Malan standing there with no shirt to cover his upper body. He was stained in blood. Judging by the man tied to the chair, Ricky could tell where the blood came from. Even if the blood came from Lord Malan himself, Ricky wouldn't give a damn. He was super pissed and on the verge of killing everyone in the room. He wasn't the same gate guard Ricky anymore. After being Ghost's right-hand man and managing his affairs for a long time, Ricky became more dominant and less merciful.

"Tell me he is one of the men who stole the shipment," asked Ricky. His voice was cold. Killing intent radiated out of every pore in his body. No matter what it takes, he must get back the shipment and fix the situation. That was the only way to escape the wrath of sister Aelia.

"Yes," Lord Malan nodded. A year ago, Lord Malana wouldn't have spared a second look at a commoner such as Ricky. He was a Lord of a noble family and a Core Strengthening stage warrior. Now, he had no choice but to show respect to Ricky.

"Did he tell you who stole the shipment?" asked Ricky.

Fortunately, Malan received an answer from the thief after hours of torture. Ricky creased his brows as immense killing intent made the temperature in the room drop by a few degrees.

"Who?" asked Ricky.

"Duke Avon. He ordered his men to rob the supplies. They are planning to use the healing potions for themselves," For a moment, Ricky was stunned. But after thinking about where the shipment was going, everything made sense. A few days ago, Lord Ethan from House Winston bought all the healing potions in preparation for the upcoming war against Flamefair. Since Lord Ethan had a good relationship with Master Ghost, Ricky sold all the healing potions along with several other products to Lord Ethan.

Ricky gave his word to Lord Ethan that everything would reach his manor in two days. Now that the shipment had been stolen, Ricky was enraged.

"You," Ricky turned his cold gaze to the man in the chair. Looking at his frail state, Ricky flicked his wrist as a healing potion materialized in his hand.

"Lift his head," Ricky ordered his men. While Lord Malan and his guards were staying behind, Ricky's men lifted up the thief's head. Ricky slowly opened the thief's mouth, pouring the healing potion into it. In a couple of seconds, Ricky emptied every single drop of the healing potion into his mouth. Lord Malan furrowed his brows. He couldn't help wondering what the heck Ricky was doing. He just wasted fifteen thousand gold coins worth of healing potion on a thief.

"Wherewhereamit?" the thief mumbled.

"Am I dead?" The thief was tortured to the point he doubted his reality itself. When his vision cleared, the thief's eyes went wide. Finally, he realized where he was and what he was doing.

"Not yet," Ricky answered the thief with eyes full of murderous intent.

"Did Duke Avon order you to steal the shipment?"

The thief did not answer. Silence occupied the room for a moment.

"Let me rephrase my question. Did Duke Avon order you to steal the shipment belonging to Master Ghost?"

The thief trembled, hearing Ricky's cold voice. Ricky's eyes turned predatory. If a gaze could kill a person, the thief would have died by now. The thief recalled what happened to him an hour ago. Every cut, bruise, and punch brought upon him made him shiver. The thief did not want to go through that ever again. To be honest, the thief would rather die than get tortured again.

"Yesyes he did it's the truthI swear," The thief screamed.

"Pleaseplease let me go-" The thief's voice was cut short as Ricky plunged a dagger through the thief's throat. Lord Malan was stunned. He did not even see when Ricky unsheathed his dagger. In a blink of an eye, Ricky ended the thief's life. Blood spurted out of the wound. The thief frantically twitched until his body slowly came to a stop.

Ricky pulled out the dagger and cleaned the blood off of his sleeves.

"Such a mess," Ricky spat. He rubbed his temples. It brought Ricky a headache. Now he had to send another shipment to Lord Ethan. Moreover, he would have to answer Master Ghost and Sister Aelia. The latter made him tremble in fear.

"How could you let this happen, Lord Malan? We cannot go ask for the shipment from Duke Avon. It's our word against his," Ricky exhaled deeply. Sometimes Ricky wished they sent the products in a space ring. That way, they didn't have to rely on escorts and protection. Sending everything in a space ring would be quicker, easier, and more secure. Unfortunately, Ricky knew Master Ghost strictly ordered them not to. Unlike gold coins, the potions and pills put inside a space ring would gradually lose their quality.

The other alchemists didn't care about losing one or two percent purity. They preferred to send their products stored in a space ring. However, Michael valued quality over everything. He promoted his pills and potions by saying they are ninety percent pure. He charged the customers for ninety percent pure products, not for eighty-nine or eighty-eight. Michael wouldn't tolerate even a one percent loss in purity. That was why Michael chartered Lord Malan's family to escort the carriages transporting his products despite the drawbacks, such as being vulnerable to ambushes.

Lord Malan sighed. He was simply unable to express his bitterness on what had transpired. He lost several good men in the ambush but couldn't care less about them right now. Instead, he was more worried about meeting Ghost.

"We have to try. We have to try before Master Ghost returns from Awor," Lord Malan said.

"I will use everything at my disposal and get to the bottom of it," Lord Malan vowed,

"You do that. But I have to inform Sect Leader Claire,"

Lord Malan panicked,

"Why? Just give me some time,"

"Hiding this from her will only make this worse, Lord Malan. I know Master Ghost and Sister Aelia. Trust me, It's better that way," Judging by Ricky's tone, Lord Malan knew there was no point arguing with Ricky. At that moment, Lord Malan wanted nothing more than Duke Avon's head. If he wanted, he could have purchased those pills and potions for gold coins. There was no need for him to steal the shipment.

"Fortunately, I have a second batch of shipment ready. I will personally deliver that to Lord Ethan,"

"I will come with you," Lord Malan quickly said.

"No-"

"I insist," Lord Malan cut Ricky's sentence short. Seeing no harm in bringing Lord Malan with him, Ricky sighed, nodding his head.

"Lord Malan, what should we do with the body?" asked one of Lord Malan's guards.

"Cut his head and send it to Duke Avon," Before Lord Malan could give an answer to his guard, Ricky answered the guard.

"If I was him, I would die in the war. Because once Sister Aelia learns what he did, she will make him wish he was dead," Ricky said before walking out of the room with Lord Malan.

****************************************

Back in the dark forest, Azazel saw everything that had transpired. He saw everything from how Lord Malan furiously tortured the thief to Ricky ordering the guard to cut the thief's head.

A while later, Azazel slightly moved his head to see a red-haired man in his early forties. The scar from his left eye to his upper lip gave him a villainous look. Looking at crates filled with healing potions, the man smirked.

"Duke Avon," Azazel coldly uttered the name. The man was the Duke of Flamefair, Avon Gilkes.

"You're a dead man," Azazel said. Although Lord Ethan ordered and paid for the shipment, it belonged to Ghost until the shipment was delivered to the client. That was how Michael treated his business. By attacking the carriage and stealing the shipment, Duke Avon practically attacked Ghost. So the Duke had to pay for what he did.

"My Lord," Azazel contacted Michael through the telepathic link between them.

"Azazel," Azazel heard Michael's voice in his head.

"My Lord, one of our shipments were attacked and stolen,"

For a few moments, Azazel received no response from Michael.

"Who?" Azazel felt a chill running down his spine when he heard Michael's murderous voice.

"Duke Avon, the duke of Flame fair," said Azazel.