Valerian Empire

120  Death of the Ghost (3)

After seeing his brother Silas back to the mansion, Malphus walked on the path which led to the village where he was to give the papers which his father had written down which was to be presented in the council.

The road wasn't deserted, rather there were people walking up and down the path as it was the time of morning where trade took place in the market. Carts were being pulled by horses or men themselves, the day starting busy. But there were some who had ample time to spare, thought Malphus as he walked down the road. His feet kicking the stone and he purposely fell down as if he were clumsy. With his body down, he went to get up while looking back to see a man who was far behind him, following him.

It was the man named Jackson whom his step-mother had kept to keep an eye on him. The man followed him everywhere, enough to go back and report the same to his step-mother, not that Malphus cared.

Biting the little stick which he had put in his mouth, he stood up. Dusting his trousers which had picked up dirt from the road, he continued his walk while his grey eyes scanned the people who walked and passed by him. Entering the village where he was supposed to go meet the magistrate, he walked until he reached a bustling busy street.

One side of his lips lifted up as he walked through the throng of the crowd which increased with every step. The man could hardly keep up who had been following him diligently. In no time, Malphus had switched the street to an alley before doing it over and over again where the man could hardly keep up with his speed. The man who was following him was a human and so was he but he was a smart man.One of the advantages of being him was that he knew every nook and corner of the villages around their mansion. Therefore it was that much easy for him to switch to another street without anyone's notice if one were following him.

Hiding behind a wall right away when he saw the man walk by, he slowly stepped out before going in the opposite direction with a chuckle. The men who worked for his father and his step-mother were utterly stupid. Stupid enough that there were times when he was ashamed to call them his family or rather was it when they commented of him not being part of their family? He couldn't think what it was.

Having being able to wade off the annoying man, he decided to walk further away where no one could find him. Going to a safe place, he looked down at a woman who walked on the ground, her open hair flying in the air as she carried the bucket of water with her hands. Struggling to carry it as the water she had filled splashed down on the ground which made him stare at her.

How wasteful, thought Malphus, his eyes taking in the scene lazily before looking at the papers that were sealed and were given to him for delivery.

He was used to delivering things personally as sometimes the servants didn't do the job right but this little envelope in his hand had been sealed and fretted over before he had left the mansion. The previous night he had heard his step-mother speak to one of her loyal servants Leroy.

The man kept a keen eye on the mansion and if it weren't for him and his brother Silas' little escape inside the mansion which they had created in time, breathing in there would have turned shallower for him. Opening the envelope by tearing out the seal, he went to read to have his eyes widen gravely. He couldn't believe what was in there and it was something that had to do with the recent death that had taken place in one of the town's Bonelake that had been a few years ago pulled down to be built again.

The letter he held right now was addressed to the magistrate.

'Sir Wilcun,

As promised I have sent my men to complete the work you wanted to be done. We have sealed the deal on both the ends and with that let's not contact or speak on the matter. Thank you on the Bonelake, the bodies have been cleaned as expected.

Lady Ester Norman.'

The surprising fact about the deaths was that it wasn't done by a person by hands where lives had been spared with some killed. Instead, each and every single soul that had walked on that land had been murdered which wasn't restricted to only to the humans or the vampires but also animals. His father didn't seem to know about it but something told his step-mother knew about it.

For as long as he had come to know about her, there was something off when it came to her characteristics. She looked young not that he had an issue with it as his father had married the woman for her beauty but the woman hadn't aged much.

He had often caught her walking out of the mansion but the bad part was that no matter how many times he had tried to follow her footsteps with where she was going, he was either stopped by Leroy or would have lost sight of her in a blink of an eye.

It seemed the magistrate and his sweet step-mother were involved in something illegal. Though the letter outside read that it was a seal of his father which would make one think that he was the one who sent but in actual truth, it was the lady who had sent it in the name of his father. It brought further suspicion in his mind making him wonder what was going.

Malphus who had been sitting on the branch of a tree jumped down with the envelope in his hand, almost startling an old man who gasped at his sudden appearance out of nowhere.

"What are you doing! Jumping out of nowhere, are you trying to kill me?!" asked the old man, his hand that was placed on his chest shivering as he glared at Malphus.

"Hmm," hummed Malphus, his grey eyes making a quick glance of the man before he said, "You might rather enjoy afterlife better than the state you are in," which was the truth as the man had a pitiable state. He was lean and short in stature, his back hunched. It felt as if one strong breeze could blow away the man into abys.

"How can you speak like that to your elders-" for a man of his age he sure was energetic thought Malphus, "Haven't your parents taught you on how to behave."

He gave the old man a wide smile, "My parents died when I was young," his mother had passed away and his father was good as dead, who kept him around for the namesake. The old man furrowed his brows in concentration.

"That doesn't mean you behave rudely to your elders. Here take this," said the man pulling out something dark from his pouched bag and waving it so that he would quickly take it from him. Malphus gave the man a look at his generosity, "Be good now, little boy," with that, the man left him with an edible fruit in his hand.

IMPORTANT: After a lot of thinking, I have decided to write a separate 4th book for the new characters in this same world or dimension. I will be posting the chapters for it from the starting week of October that is next month. Title: 'Young Master Damien's pet'