The Stargazer

by Nikostar A

It was only when the faint "click" of the mechanism sounded that Alexander relaxed. Slowly, the thick metallic door of the secret room slid to the side, allowing Alexander to enter Takeshi's treasure vault!

  As one would expect, there were several gold bars and pieces of jewelry neatly arranged in the corner of the room. Alexander also saw precious paintings and collectibles hanging on the wall or safely stored on shelves.

  Alexander was not very interested in those. Nevertheless, he transferred all the gold and pieces of jewelry in his space. The value of gold dropped significantly since the rift opened. Loha was strangely abundant in gold. The main currencies they used were gold and spirit stones. Compared to the latter, gold had no purpose aside from being shiny and pretty.

  When Earthlings discovered the abundance of gold, they all went crazy about it but as the market was flooded with gold, it caused the market to crash. It had severe repercussions on the values of the dollar and the other currencies. Earth nearly went through yet another economic crisis.

  With the gold secured, Alexander turned his attention toward what he was really here for. The room was divided into two parts by a thin layer of glass. Behind the transparent wall, Alexander saw a large number of containers full of spirit stones. Above the containers were a few shelves filled with a variety of potions, plants, and animal parts.

  Alexander's eye lit up. He did not recognize all the materials as he never bothered to actually learn about crafting but he was familiar with the recovery materials. Furthermore, looking at the size of the containers, there were at least two thousand spirit stones in there.

  "D*mn... That man was really wealthy. He was planning to give all of this to his son if he failed to get admitted at the academy. Too bad I am the one who benefits in the end," said Alexander as he pulled on a lever, lowering the glass wall.

  When Alexander interrogated Takeshi's spirit, he had learned that Takeshi's son was actively studying abroad to attempt to join the Earth Academy. Takeshi himself had had several deals with Loha and was familiar with the locals. His hope was for his son to become a mage and extend his influence to Loha! In case he failed to join the academy, Takeshi had already prepared a lot of items to help his son awaken in secret.

  Alexander quickly sent all the spirit stones and materials in his spatial ring. He could send them in his Space but they would appear all over the place, creating a mess. Alexander smiled; he knew the value of the spirit stones.

  Spirit stones were natural ores that can be mined near spirit veins. Depending on their purity, they contained a certain amount of mana that mages could actively extract and use during their meditation. By using the mana in the spirit stones, the mages would not need to use the mana from their mana source.

  The effect was similar to the cultivation box but with the added task of having to extract the mana. This was the reason why the Lohan still meditated like crazy even if they were aware that their mana was equivalent to their life force. They used the mana from spirit stones and did not damage their own life span.

  Alexander was very satisfied with his harvest. He had obtained most of the valuables of Takeshi Kitano. The Japanese man was quite careful; he did not put all his eggs in the same basket and actually also had an ancient relic in his possession. However, due to the value of the item, he did not hide it in his Mansion but instead hid it in one of Japan's Bank private vaults.

  Unfortunately, the security there was extremely tight. Alexander would not be able to easily trick the system with just the Illusionist. To retrieve the item, he would also need to give a drop of blood for a quick DNA test. None of the constellations could help Alexander in faking his DNA.

  Alexander felt some pity in leaving behind the ancient relic but at the same time, he knew he could not be too greedy. He had already benefitted a lot from coming here.

  Wearing a smile of satisfaction, Alexander walked out of the vault where he was greeted by Katelyn and Rosie. He was surprised to see the two girls but from their expression, he could guess that something had happened.

  "Owner, we might have a problem. I was checking the smartphones of the staff and I noticed an abnormal message. It is very likely that the head butler was not as loyal to Takeshi as he appeared. "

  "What do you mean?" asked Alexander.

  "The head butler just received a message from Takeshi's wife, she is asking him to report the exact reason why her husband came back all of a sudden."

  "Takeshi's wife? He has a wife?" asked Alexander as he bit his lips. He had never bothered to ask about Takeshi's private life and now, his carelessness was coming back to bite him. This was not exactly good news; if his wife really came, who knew what would happen? However, it was clear that Takeshi did not exactly have the best relationship with his wife; if his spirit did not even mention her, she should not be playing an important role in his life.

  "Yes. She is asking for information and from the looks of it, she might be planning to come to the mansion. Her name is Anjalee Peruman. As far as I am aware, she never came to the mansion while we were here. The unusual return of her husband attracted her attention. When I checked the messages, it seemed that the butler has been regularly reporting to her."

  Chapter 53: Gathering resources

  "Dear! Did you miss me? It has been so long since you have been so energetic." Anjalee Peruman coyly said while snuggling next to a young handsome man. Anjalee was already in her early forties but thanks to the miracles of modern surgery, she still had the looks of a young mature twenty-three-year-old graduate.

  She was already a mother and this year, her son would celebrate his seventeenth birthday. However, her marriage had always been a sham. She agreed to marry the successful Takeshi Kitano at a young age under the orders of her father but whenever she was with him, she felt repulsed. Fortunately, Takeshi and Anjalee both came to an agreement to only behave as a couple to the eyes of the public. In private, they were free to do whatever they wanted and they would not interfere in each other's life. They were free to have fun and mess around with others as long as they did not damage the reputation of the other.

  And so, after giving birth to her son, Eiko Kitano, she quickly left her husband and returned to her lavish lifestyle with her friends. She loved to mess around with men younger than her. She was rich and had both power and influence. She could easily get anything she wanted but tonight was different.

  The identity of the young man next to her was not simple. In fact, despite his young age, he could already rival both her husband and her father. Anjalee was very cautious; she knew the young man did not come to find her for no reason.

  "Do I look like someone who always comes to you when I need something? I just came back from a long expedition on Loha. I just want to rest. What have you been up to?" asked the young man with a casual expression.

  "Oh? My bad," said Anjalee with a hearty laugh. "I stayed in Bombay for a while to spend some time with my mother. I watched a few old school Korean dramas with her and got hooked. It is quite addictive after a while."

  "Have you seen your husband recently? How is he?" asked the young man.

  Anjalee instantly became cautious. The young man was well aware that Anjalee did not like to talk about her husband; for him to raise the topic, something must have happened.

  "No, why do you ask? The butler did not contact me so nothing important must have happened."

  "I would like to meet him. He is highly sought after at the moment. The Organization wants to contact him. In fact, all the organizations are actively trying to contact him but he cleverly refused all of our requests. Since he is your husband, can you arrange a meeting between him and me?" answered the young man.

  "Requests? What do the organizations want from him?"

  "Have you heard of Aita-me? It is a relatively successful security company."

  "Aita-me? Never heard of it. Sounds like Japanese for eye something?"

  The young man let out a faint smile, "Exactly. It is one of the companies under the Kitano Corpor
ation. Although it is extremely successful, compared to the Kitano Corporation, its profits are negligible. Aita-me was one of the pioneers that heavily invested in Africa before the rift appeared. It is a really popular brand there and almost all the cameras and drones used there were made by Aita-me."

  "As you know, the UN recently put a bounty on a student's head. You know all the controversy surrounding this issue, the organizations are all competing to recruit him. We have reasons to believe that Alexander is currently in Africa, more precisely, we believe that he is in Mozambique somewhere."

  "We have yet to find him despite all of our efforts. The next plan is to look at the recordings of all the cameras and drones. We already had a look at those belonging to the government and our partners but they only represent a small portion of all the security devices there. We cannot touch directly those belonging to private companies like Aita-me."

  "They hold the majority of the market and your husband is quite clever. He understood that an opportunity was presenting itself to him. He first ordered that no information should be leaked; it is only with his direct approval that people can access the recordings. No matter what we tried, he refused to share the recordings. He knows we are in a tight spot and is probably just waiting for the right time to milk the situation as much as possible. I know the organization kept increasing its price again and again but have yet to succeed. If any other organization managed to get the recordings before us, we would be at a severe disadvantage!"

  Anjalee quietly listened to the young man before asking, "Alexander Vagras? Who is he and why are all the organizations trying to recruit him even though he is a criminal?"

  "Things are not as simple as they look. Alexander has something all the organizations and the UN wants. Even if he is labeled as a criminal, we all know the UN won't actually execute him but would instead recruit him in their secret force. You are not a mage, so you don't know Alexander's value. He not only knows Extreme Spells, but he also knows a way to use magic without being detected! Both of those pieces of knowledge are extremely valuable."

  The young man spoke for a long time while looking at Anjalee expectantly. If she managed to arrange a meeting for him, then his status within the organization would soar!

  "Is that the reason why he suddenly left Mozambique and returned to Japan?"

  "It is very possible. Takeshi Kitano is a smart man, he knows how to add value to a situation. However, the one thing that puzzles me is that earlier today, he actually contacted the military asking for permission to go through the rift! Our sources told us he was acquiring a lot of resources for his son. He might be a bad husband but you cannot deny the fact that he is a caring father."

  "He knows Eiko might fail to join the Earth Academy and has already prepared a lot of things for him if that happens. All the organizations are already aware of this and have therefore proposed to recruit Eiko and allow him to join the academy as a special student under the organizations. However, to everyone's surprise, he still refused and instead insisted on going to Loha."

  "We don't know if he is just doing this to attract more attention or if he has a way to get more resources from Loha. Only Takeshi knows the answer to this question. In any case, even the UN is ready to turn a blind eye if he submits all the recordings. Now, everybody wants to get on his good side. Your husband is an interesting man."

  The young man let out a sigh as he held Anjalee in his arms, "Can you arrange a meeting with him? As you are his wife, he should at least allow you to meet him. I will just tag along as your friend. I know this is asking a lot from you but if you succeed, I will secure a portion of the awakening fluid and help you awaken. You will finally become a mage and be freed from the boring life on Earth."

  ***

  The next morning, Alexander got up and walked down the stairs to the dining room. He yawned as he sat at the table where the other girls were already waiting for him. Apart from Katelyn, the other girls were free to do pretty much whatever they wanted to. It was only Katelyn that had to deal with countless emails and phone calls to gather the items Alexander was looking for.

  The clock was already indicating 10:23. It had been a while since Alexander could afford to wake up that late. "Anything to report?"

  "Ten other members of the staff came to the mansion this morning for the change of shift. We have already dealt with them. You can find the corpses in the storage room," said Rosie while diligently serving Alexander a plate of food.

  "I contacted several companies about the items you requested. There are already deliveries on the way. The building materials you requested have already arrived though. It was easier to deal with these as the Kitano Corporation owns a few construction companies. I also ordered a few ready-to-assemble pieces of furniture. All of them should arrive by the end of the day."

  "Excellent!" said Alexander. He was finally getting a piece of good news. He would soon be able to liven his space.

  "On another note, Anjalee Peruman, Takeshi Kitano's wife also made a few calls and requested to talk to you. As you were sleeping, I spoke to her and she made a request for a meeting. I refused but she heavily insisted and said that she will only take no for an answer after she speaks with Takeshi."

  "Takeshi's mailbox was also flooded with emails from the organizations. They have started to put pressure on the Kitano Corporation, requesting for the recordings to be released. The chairmen of the corporation are all requesting for a meeting. The situation is quite chaotic," continue Katelyn as she read the list she wrote on her phone.

  "The recordings? What recordings?" asked Alexander.

  "The Kitano Corporation owns a security company called Aita-me. Before you killed him, Takeshi ordered for the recordings of the company to be sealed on an external device that only he could access. Aita-me owns 80% of the cameras set up in Mozambique's cities. They want to use the recordings of the cameras to track your location and hope to catch you, owner."

  Alexander's eyes lit up. He finally understood why the UN had yet to find his trace. Although he impersonated Takeshi Kitano, his actions had been far from being flawless. It was not easy to trick modern technology and Alexander had associated it with his luck. However, it turned out that everything went so smoothly because of the actions of the man he was impersonating.

  "How interesting... He was planning to sell those recordings at a high price to the highest bidder?" murmured Alexander.

  "The organizations have a lot more room for actions than the UN. The latter is not supposed to interfere in business matters and could not affect the Kitano Corporation. The UN cannot force Takeshi to hand the recordings but the organizations can! They can directly influence the market and severe oppress the entire corporation..."

  Alexander remained silent for a few moments. "In that case, tell Commander Hitori that I will be willing to share the recordings with him right after I finish my business on Loha. That way, we might even get to go there tomorrow. As for that woman, directly tell her that we will be sharing the recordings with the military. I suspect she wants to come to the Mansion to get her hand on them."

  Alexander sighed. The situation was getting more and more complicated; the margin of error he had was slowly getting smaller and smaller. He knew he had made a risky move in impersonating such a high profile figure but if he did succeed, it would save him countless months of work. Even just the two thousand spirit stones he obtained, would make it worth the risk.

  "Let's go out, I want to take a look at everything you bought. It is time to collect my rewards and leave," said Alexander.

  ***

  Guided by Katelyn and Rosie, Alexander walked out of the Kitano Mansion under the appearance of the head butler. They went to the neighboring empty field. The Kitano family purchased the entire area surrounding the Mansion to avoid having noisy neighbors.

  As Alexander expected, the open field was filled with countless trucks and a few temporary warehouses. Alexander let out a smile. This was only the beginning. Countless more delive
ries would come as the day went by.

  Alexander could see the truck drivers discussing among themselves. As soon as they saw him, they quickly greeted him and gave him an electronic pad to sign. Alexander did not care about the details, he quickly faked a signature and went to the first truck.

  The trucks were filled with wood planks, fixtures, and frames. In the past few years, there had been a sudden hype for ready-to-assemble houses. Customers could buy cheap houses made of wood or metal and assemble them themselves. To everyone's surprise, the houses were of relatively good quality; the only problem was the need to set up the heating system, plumbing, and electrical connections. However, the experience of building their own home was quite attractive to the general population and doing so was in general much cheaper than traditional houses.

  Alexander ordered a dozen of those houses. He did not have a shelter in his Space. Although they lacked certain things, those make-shift houses were perfect for Alexander's situation. Under the surprised eyes of Katelyn and Rosie, Alexander sent all the parts one by one in his Space. They were aware of the existence of storage relics and could see the spatial ring on Alexander's finger but they also knew that no relic could store that many things.