The Stargazer

by Nikostar A

  Takeshi Kitano was a famous businessman who spent most of his time traveling around the world to discuss business deals. It was only one month ago that he actually came to Mozambique to purchase some real estate there. Bryan's job consisted of driving Takeshi Kitano wherever he wanted. When the car was not being used, his job was to clean up the vehicle and make sure the car was fully operational.

  Bryan opened the door an entered the passenger's compartment. He already knew the events that took place here. Although it was disgusting, Bryan swiftly picked up the clothes and toys scattered around and quickly wiped off the stains left by Takeshi Kitano. He dutifully sprayed a cleaning agent and started cleaning the compartment.

  Due to the exotic material used for the seat, the passenger compartment needed to be cleaned manually and the task naturally fell on Bryan. He was not particularly happy at the idea of cleaning another man's fluid but as his pay was quite high, Bryan kept his mouth shut.

  While cleaning, he sneakily poured himself some champagne from the opened bottle and stuffed a few chocolate truffles in his mouth. "Just a few. The boss won't notice as long as I am careful. He is always busy banging the secretary anyway."

  Bryan did not know how long his boss' meeting would take. He quickly rearranged the passenger's compartment back to its original state and spray some cologne before closing the door. He smiled to himself as he started wiping the windows, completely unaware that somebody sneakily entered the passenger compartment when he was cleaning inside.

  ***

  In the now empty passenger compartment, Alexander let go of the star energy and reappeared on one of the leather seats. It was his first time in a limousine or even a private car, "D*mn, rich people can really afford all sorts of luxuries."

  He sat on the comfortable seats as his eyes wandered around the compartment. The passenger compartment was quite large. There was a small table on the side and several small fridges in a corner. A small retractable tv was connected to the roof while the seats themselves could be pulled to form a bed, providing the user with the ultimate lazy experience of watching tv while lying down.

  Through the window, Alexander could see Bryan carefully wiping the windows. Fortunately, the windows were tinted, preventing anyone from looking inside but giving the passengers full sight of their surroundings.

  Getting into the limousine had been easier than Alexander expected. He first maintained the illusion of an old man as he approached the building. There, he saw that it was actually a hotel and walked to the parking lot. There was nothing wrong in an old man walking in there.

  Once inside, Alexander simply switched constellation and used [Holly, the Smuggler], making him undetectable by the human eye. Alexander knew that cameras were still operating in the parking lot but they belonged to the hotel, not the government. It was very likely that they were watched by some sloppy individuals.

  As he was at risk, Alexander quickly sneaked into the limo when he saw the opened door. The passenger compartment was large enough to allow him to avoid Bryan and to sit in a corner while waiting for the driver to finish.

  "All that is left now is to wait for them to come back. It will be very interesting, I wonder who that person is..." said Alexander. He made himself comfortable as he did not know how long he needed to wait but was careful to not touch anything suspicious.

  Alexander did not know if there were hidden mechanisms or alarms in the passenger compartment; it was better to be careful.

  ***

  A few hours later, Takeshi Kitano stepped out of the hotel followed by his secretary. The pretty young woman was carrying a black case while speaking on the phone. She was signaling to the driver to bring the limousine to the front of the hotel.

  Bryan was already prepared and in under a minute, Takeshi Kitano and the young woman entered the limousine. Without a word, Bryan already knew he needed to go back to the boss' hotel.

  "Come on slut! Drop the act. No more excuses, there is nobody to see us! Let me see if you were obedient and kept the toys on during the entire meeting," exclaimed Takeshi while laughing. He brightly smiled as his eyes started to wander around his secretary's long white legs.

  He was in an excellent mood. He was already one of the richest men of Japan but nothing made him happier than securing another deal that would bring him a few millions. He had to delay toying around with the young woman in front of him but now, he could vent off his frustration.

  The young woman lowered her head. She was clearly reluctant to obey Takeshi but she nevertheless started to undress.

  "Haha! Good good! Hurry up and undress me too! My d*ck is waiting for you!" said Takeshi as he pointed at the small tent appearing between his legs. His eyes were full of lust, staring right at the woman as she was about to take off her bra.

  However, before his eyes could feast on her chest, Takeshi suddenly felt a slight pressure being applied on his neck.

  "Good afternoon sir. I hope that I am not ruining your fun too much. It is in your best interest to not scream or move. My hands are very sensitive."

  'What? Who is it?' exclaimed Takeshi. He was completely taken by surprise. He never expected his fun to be interrupted by a young man seated next to him. He fearfully turned his head to look at the speaker but did not dare to scream.

  Having dealt with countless businessmen, Takeshi knew how to maintain a straight face in all circumstances. His eyes quickly analyzed the young man next to him. 'He spoke in English... From his look, I would say he is not a local... How did he sneak into the limo without being found?'

  "What do you want?" hesitantly asked Takeshi after gulping down.

  ***

  Alexander smiled as he pressed his hand closer to Takeshi's throat. [Jagur, the Observer] was fully activated as Alexander carefully watched the middle-aged man for any signs of retaliation.

  "I have only one question. Is she a slave from Loha?"

  Takeshi's expression instantly froze. "How do you kn.."

  Before he could finish his sentence, Alexander swiftly slit his throat, ending the life of one of the richest and most powerful men of Japan. Alexander had no qualms in killing the innocent man; in order to survive and escape from the UN, Alexander had already decided to use any means necessary. Furthermore, looking at how he treated his slave, the Asian man was clearly not a saint.

  At the same time, Alexander turned toward the young woman who had pulled out a small pistol from her thigh holster.

  However, before she could fire, Alexander quickly used [Invisible Hand] to snatch the pistol and [Snare] to prevent the girl from moving.

  With the only threat neutralized, Alexander quickly sent his mana in Takeshi's body, looking for something. He used his mana like a hook, sending it through Takeshi's spirit circuits to fetch what he was looking for. As Takeshi was already dead, his body offered no resistance and allowed Alexander to move as he pleased.

  Soon, Alexander found what he wanted and swiftly took it out and inserted it inside his own spirit circuits. The young woman was stunned. She instantly knew what Alexander had done, "You... How did you know about the keys?"

  The woman looked at Alexander like she was looking at a demon. She could feel the changes taking place in her own body, her owner was changing! She was a slave; a powerful lock had been placed on her body. Each lock had a corresponding key that remained in the owner's body. With the key, the owner was free to control his slaves and to order them to perform any actions; the slaves could even be asked to kill themselves and they would be forced to do it.

  In normal circumstances, the keys would naturally disappear after the owner's death. When the young woman saw Takeshi die, she was instantly delighted and was planning to remain quiet for Alexander to forget about her. However, she never expected him to actually know about the keys and to steal them from the corpse!

  "Oh? You can speak English? Good, that will make communication easier. Sit on the couch there and remain quiet. I have something to do before talking to you, don't disturb me,"
ordered Alexander.

  As he was now the woman's owner, his words were absolute. Alexander did not even need to watch as he already knew the woman would follow his orders. If she did not, her entire body would experience an unbearable amount of pain; that feeling was even worse than death.

  Alexander was surprisingly delighted. While looking for the keys in Takeshi's body, he did not find only one key. Instead, he found a total of eight keys. "I was right! That man must have some connection to Loha. Maybe he even has the right to go to the other side? I need to use [Phenix, the medium] to confirm," said Alexander to himself.

  Alexander did not randomly choose to target this rich Japanese man. The reason Alexander chose to attack him was precisely that he noticed that the young woman was a Lohan slave! When the woman flashed her breasts earlier, Alexander noticed the crest drawn on her chest; a dead give away that she was a slave trained by the Slavery Guild of Loha.

  Slaves were one of the main reason why the government was unwilling to allow Earthlings to mingle with the Lohan. The UN respected human rights, they did not want slavery to resurface on Earth. On the other hand, slavery was deeply ingrained in Loha's culture; slaves were literally found almost everywhere.

  While the average population would naturally be disgusted by these sights, a few rich men like Takeshi were very interested in the slaves. They already had anything they could dream of but the one thing they could not own was a living person! They had power and money and were only looking forward to spicing their lives as they could.

  When he saw the slave, Alexander immediately knew that the man had had some sort of deals with the Lohan. His position was also not weak since he managed to bring back a slave from Loha. As Alexander was only looking for ways to go through the rift, he decided to see whether this man would be able to facilitate the process for him.

  Alexander could not blindly trust the words of the man but now that he was dead, his spirit would be guaranteed to speak the truth!

  The young woman sat down as per Alexander's orders. She looked with a terrified expression as she saw her previous owner's body glow. Even if she wanted to speak, because of the "don't disturb me" order of Alexander, she was unable to. She could not understand what was happening.

  The glow on Takeshi's body converged together, forming a small floating sphere in front of Alexander.

  "Tell me your name, official position and how you managed to purchase so many slaves?"

  To the young woman's amazement, her previous owner's voice came out of the floating sphere and spilled out all the information requested. The voice was dull and emotionless. It did not hesitate to reveal Takeshi's deepest secrets, from the shady dealings he did to all the passwords and security checks to access his fortune. All these precious information were laid bare in front of Alexander.

  The spirit kept talking and talking. Alexander was naturally unable to memorize all of it but it did not matter. He could simply use The Archivist later to review all the information.

  After a few minutes, the spirit started to weaken. Alexander felt some pity. There was still a lot of questions he wanted to ask but there was nothing he could do. Alexander could only sigh quietly as the spirit returned to the corpse.

  He then turned his attention to the young woman who had been staring quietly at him during the entire process.

  Chapter 50: Slaves

  Alexander looked at the beautiful woman. He could feel the connection between them. As long as he held the key, he would be able to sense her presence and even detect it if she had any ill intentions toward him.

  "Name?" quietly asked Alexander. At the same time, he tossed the corpse of Takeshi Kitano in his Space to dispose of later.

  "Fushidarana..." The woman quietly answered with an embarrassed expression. While watching Alexander speak to the spirit, she had already rearranged her clothes to look more presentable. She now looked like a real regular secretary; if Alexander hadn't seen the crest on her chest, he would have never guessed that she was, in fact, a slave.

  "Very strange name. It's way too long, I'll just call you Fushi from now on," commented Alexander. Since she was now his property, Alexander would naturally treat her well. He still had a lot of questions to ask. When talking to the spirit, he only asked sensitive questions that a slave would normally not know about. Alexander knew the effect of The Medium was limited; he figured out he could obtain regular information from his slave.

  The woman lowered her head, "It means sl*tty in Japanese..."

  "Oh? Then just change your name back to whatever it was before becoming a slave," flatly answered Alexander. It was not rare for slaves to be given derogatory names.

  "Katelyn... My previous name was Katelyn but people usually called me Kate... Also, owner... May I remove the vibrator that my previous owner asked me to use?" The woman asked hesitantly. She looked scared and nervous; although her previous owner was perverted, he was not as cold and merciless as her new one. Just thinking about how Alexander simply killed Takeshi made her shiver.

  "Oh? Remove it then." When he heard her, Alexander's eyes inevitably shifted to her thighs. Effectively, Alexander saw a small wire moving from her thigh Holster. He quickly looked away, allowing Katelyn to remove the vibrator. Even if Takeshi had already died, the orders he gave his slaves were still active; Katelyn needed Alexander's consent to get rid of the sex toy.

  "Now that this is out of the way, I will ask a few questions. Just answer me truthfully. Where are we headed at the moment and what exactly was your role in your previous owner's life?"

  "We are going back to the Mahori, the hotel where the previous owner lived at while he was here. Officially I was his secretary but he would toy with me every day. I did learn some administrative skills but I did not put them to use very much. However, I followed the previous owner almost everywhere... I am familiar with his business partners and the people he usually interacts with."

  Alexander smiled, he knew Katelyn added the last part to make her look useful. At the same time, she was probing him to determine his intentions.

  Alexander's original goal was naturally to look for a way to go to Loha but now, the situation had changed slightly! With all the information he had, if he could impersonate Takeshi Kitano properly, he might be able to use his fortune to purchase the things he needed for his Space!

  Alexander's pocket dimension increased in size considerably since he used the cultivation box but the amount of soil inside didn't. He needed to actively transfer the materials he needed inside his Space but it was impossible to do so at the Academy. Now that he was free to roam the land, Alexander would naturally take advantage of it to improve his Space.

  The only problem was the language barrier! He was not Japanese and would inevitably fail to impersonate the Asian man. Furthermore, even if he spoke in English, his accent would betray him. There was a particular constellation, [Meo, the Linguist], that allowed stargazers to speak to anyone.

  The way the constellation worked was that it conveyed Alexander's meaning through a universal language that would be naturally understood by the others. It did not allow Alexander to speak Japanese himself.

  "Did your previous owner speak with others himself or were you the one who usually did it? How fluent are you in Japanese?"

  "Sometimes he talked to them directly, sometimes, I would deliver the message. I would usually be tasked in dealing with minor partners. They were not very important to the previous owner and if I failed, he would then punish me to please himself... I learned Japanese at the Slavery Guild. It was one of the training I had to go through after he purchased me," answered Katelyn. She looked at her new owner with curiosity.

  Alexander smiled. Although it was not ideal, it would do the trick as long as he did not stay there for too long. He needed to take some risks if he wanted to succeed. Besides, if he did not do this, his Space might stay stagnant for quite a while.

  "Good. For now, get me into his hotel room. You should have been given access to it, right?"
asked Alexander. By looking through the window, he could see that the limousine stopping in front of a small gate. The gate slowly opened after a few seconds before heading to the majestic greek style building in the distance.

  "Yes. I can do so."

  "Good. Not a word about what happened in the car." Alexander shifted his body, using [Suns, the Illusionist].

  Katelyn was stunned. She watched as Alexander was suddenly replaced by a perfect replica of Takeshi Kitano. She came from Loha and was familiar with magic but even then, it was the first time she was witnessing this type of magic.

  "I won't speak. I can fake my appearance but I cannot fake my voice. You know what to do..." said Alexander. He knew Katelyn would not be able to go against his orders. He carefully readjusted his body, sitting like he had seen countless rich men do in movies.

  As he expected, just a few moments later, the limousine came to a stop in front of the greek style building. The door was swiftly opened by a bowing Bryan. "Sir, we have arrived at the Mahori."