"Master Ghost"

  　　She tried to kneel down but Michael stopped her by grabbing her shoulder,

  　　"Sit down" Michael had to apply some pressure to make her sit down beside him,

  　　Her rosy face was completely drenched in sweat. Michael could notice the redness in her hand which was a mark of her hard work.

  　　"I hope everything's going well Raylene" 

  　　"Yes yes, Master Ghost. You have nothing to worry about. Me and Gloria even thinking about opening another branch in Royal land"

  　　Her words really made Michael happy. It felt great for him to see his subordinates finally making up good decisions themselves without his guidance. For him, it was like seeing the birdlings spreading their wings and flying away from the nest on their own. 

  　　Raylene leaned back on the sofa facing Michael's eyes. 

  　　"We are just waiting for Lady Aelia to come out of her seclusion and clear up some of the financial sides of things. Master Ghost, is she still in her seclusion?"

  　　Michael nodded,

  　　"But go ahead. I'm meeting someone handling my account in Grand Spire. I will transfer the coins to your account"

  　　"About that Master Ghost?" Raylene scratched her temples,

  　　"I took the liberty of opening a separate account in Grand Spire for the restaurant and I've been depositing the profits into that account"

  　　"Look at my Raylene, all grown up" Michael laughed as he ruffled her head as though she was a little girl to see her giggle.

  　　"Any problems transferring the coins to the bank?" asked Michael. 

  　　Considering Raylene would have to physically bring the coins to the bank and deposit them into the account, she was vulnerable to getting attacked by thieves or bandits. Good thing Michael let Lord Malan handle the security side since the Bradley family specialized in providing security.

  　　"When I was opening the account, Lord Malan himself came here to escort me to the bank. After that," Raylene leaned closer to Michael,

  　　"Once a week, he will send a courier here. Only I know how to identify the courier" she whispered to him,

  　　"So you put the coins in a space ring and send the courier to the bank"

  　　"Yes," Raylene nodded,

  　　"The courier will make the deposit on my behalf and another courier will bring me the receipt"

  　　Michael nodded although he could tell this process was still not hundred percent foolproof. For instance, the courier could steal the space ring and find someone to break the seal for him. It was difficult to break open a space ring but it was not impossible. If an amateur Runemaster like Wilkas could do it, any run-of-the-mill runemaster might possess the skill to do it better.

  　　Since he wouldn't be here always to transfer the coins to the system storage, he had to accept the risks. In case something happened to the space ring after Raylene handed it over to the courier, it was Lord Malan's responsibility to get the space ring safely to the bank. Hence, Michael didn't need to worry about it much.

  　　Besides, having a separate account that Raylene could access anytime enabled her to function independently without having to wait for him or Gaya.

  　　"Everything is coming into a shape nicely" 

  　　Michael said to himself, seeing his business empire starting to roll on its own. Every component in the chain had been working without depending on him much and he wanted to be like that.

  　　"You said you chose Royal land but why not Kethen? Isn't it a better choice since it's closer to Bradford than Royal land?" Michael asked curiously. For him, Kethen seemed like a better choice. As he said, it was closer to Bradford so traveling wouldn't take as much toll on Raylene as it would if she was to travel between Bradford and Royal land.

  　　"The ongoing war will affect the business Master Ghost"

  　　"What war?" Michael creased his brows,

  　　Only then Raylene realized that Ghost was in Mazeroth when the war began. She had a look of realization as she answered,

  　　"A week after you left, Flamefair waged war on Pen town and since the latter is an ally to Icefair, they extended their support to Pen town. So the three dukedoms are at their throat for the last three months"

  　　Michael knew Flamefair duke had been conducting human experiments in secrecy. Now that he heard he waged a sudden war on not only one but two dukedoms, Michael Duke Avon of Flamefair is planning something big.

  　　Michael felt like there was a lot on his plate all of a sudden. 

  　　"And what about the Rosegate dukedom? Who are they supporting in this war?"

  　　"The last time I heard, they remained neutral," said Raylene,

  　　She then smacked herself on the forehead,

  　　"Look at me, keeping your table empty. Just wait a minute Master Ghost, I'll go bring your food."

  　　"We will talk later. Now focus on your work, I won't keep you here, you're busy"

  　　Raylene couldn't disagree with him after seeing the crowd. Hence, she bowed and ran into the kitchen.

  　　"Shit I forgot to ask her about Cindy" 

  　　After a couple of minutes, Gloria brought a large glass of sparkling purple juice and Grilled Lobster Tails With Lemon and Herb Butter. Just the fragrance alone made Michael's mouth salivate. He didn't realize how much he missed Raylene's cooking until he experienced the sensation again.

  　　This was an impressively plated dish that showed Raylene's mastery of cooking. She could not only make delicious meals but could also plate the dish in a way that feasted the eyes. 

  　　Michael immediately started to dig in. The tasty meals put a smile on his face as he continued to eat. Gloria didn't stick around to watch him eat as it would be weird. So Michael ate alone while missing Gaya.

  　　He was halfway done when Ricky entered Hades with the elven girl Michael met in Grand Spire bank; Vanya Valric.

  　　"Master Ghost" Ricky bowed,

  　　"Miss Valric, please take a seat" The elf nodded before comfortably sitting on the sofa facing Michael.

  　　"You can go Ricky" 

  　　As much as Ricky wanted to fill his belly, he had so many things to take care of. So he bowed and left Hades,

  　　"Thank you for meeting me Miss Valric"

  　　"Of course Master Ghost, you are one of our VIP customers after all. You deserve the best. What can I do for you Master Ghost?"

  　　Before answering Valric, Michael looked at one of the waitresses as she came running to his table,

  　　"First you have to order something for yourself Miss Valric, on the house, I insist"

  　　Vanya was different from the elves he met in Mazeroth. He knew sometimes it might just be an act because of her profession but something told him that she wasn't like those arrogant elves. 

  　　"I will have what Master Ghost is having" Vanya ordered what Michael did and sent the waitress back into the kitchen.

  　　Michael then took out a piece of paper and a quill from the space ring and wrote a few numbers,

  　　"Miss Vanlric, transfer this amount from my account to this one" Michael slid the piece of paper to Valric. Her brows slightly arched up,

  　　"This much"

  　　The transaction he was about to make wasn't a hundred or thousand, it was a whopping 29 million gold coins. His heart bled as it was more than half of his three-month earnings. He blamed King Bredia for it and wanted to make that king pay for what he did.

  　　"Can you do that now?"

  　　"Yes, I just need a few things from you but I can do it right now"

  　　With a flick of her wrist, Vanya took out a purple cube that contained an orb of bright light within. The cube was the size of a Rubik's cube. Michael noticed her drawing a few symbols on the cube,

  　　"Just place your hand on the cube Master Ghost" 

  　　Michael did as he was told. A few seconds later, he felt a little sting on his finger as he noticed a drop of his blood running into the cube.

  　　"Done," Valric said. The simplicity and ease of depositing or transferring an amount from one account to another surprised him. If he had wanted to withdraw the coins, he would have had to go through so many loops and arrays just like the banks on earth.

  　　"You have this amount remaining in your account," Valric wrote a number on the same piece of paper Michael gave her and slid it towards him,

  　　"Twenty five million, it's enough for me to upgrade the system"

  　　Michael said to himself. Of course, he had to withdraw the coins to convert them into badass points using the Banker Function. At the current level of Banker Function, he could convert twenty million coins into 800,000 badass points. The next upgrade would cost him 600,000. He could use the remaining amount to upgrade one of his skills. At least that was what he planned to do before he knew about the auction in Awor.

  　　"Transfer this amount to Hades account"

  　　As expected, Valric knew about the account Raylene opened. Hence, she didn't need the number. She repeated the process and transferred 2 million into Hades account which could be used to open up another branch of Hades in Royal Land.

  　　"Miss Valric, do you happen to know anything about the Aqua auction?"

  　　"Yes, Is Master Ghost planning to attend?"

  　　"It depends on whether the amount in my account is sufficient or not" Michael stared at Valric as she realized that he was expecting her to tell him if it's enough or not.

  　　He was a VIP customer and she had to prioritize keeping him as happy as possible. Because of that, she sugarcoated her next words,

  　　"If you managed to get yourself a token, you can bid for the items in the first round"

  　　Michael expected this. Her words clearly indicated that he was poor to bid for the items that would appear in the later stages of the auction. The items that would appear in the beginning stages of the auction were just ordinary items, he very well knew that.

  　　"What if I start an auction house myself?" A thought appeared in his mind. For now, he shelved the idea in the corner of his mind.