Fate Online: Shadow

Michael quickly assisted the workers on the matters of the gaming cabin, while the kids followed them around like cute little puppies.

"When are we gonna play mister?" the little fatty said as he tugged at Michael's shirt, his eyes full of longing, while gazing at the multiple gaming cabin inside the former warehouse.

"Maybe later, maybe tomorrow. We'll let the old director decide for that, okay?" Michael rubbed the little fatty's head.

"Okay! But you'll play with us, right?"

"Haha! We'll see little kiddo"

Michael laughed, after all, he knew that the kids would certainly not spawn near Elwynn Fortress, but instead at the capital of the Strongest Empire of the Continent of Nevareth, the Empire of Zilkhstan, also known as the Land of the Braves.

An empire where the powerful and bravest warriors gather, it's also an empire whose technology is a level ahead than the other empires and kingdoms in the continent.

A little while later, Michael finally left the orphanage, as he left the matters of the kids to the old director and headed back to his parents' apartment.

After all, he isn't the one running the orphanage, but the old director, and doing so would be very disrespectful towards her.

Click!

Michael closed the door behind him, and where he immediately heard the chatter coming from the kitchen and living room.

Michael walked over, where he immediately saw Alice, Tom and some unfamiliar people in both in the kitchen and living room, but at the same time, his gut feeling is telling him that he knows them from somewhere else before.

'Who the heck are they?' Michael thought.

"Michael, you're back!"

Alice and Tom said almost at the same time.

"Yes"

"Come over here" Alice exclaimed when she saw Michael coming out from the corridor, leading to the front door.

"So how was the orphanage? Those people who donated those things are really generous"

Alice said as she immediately walked over to him, under the gazes of the others, as they curiously observe Michael.

In the kitchen, there is a young woman with blonde hair and green eyes, and another blonde woman, around fifty years old with the same green eyes as the young woman earlier, probably her mother, and a man who is currently at the sofa talking to Tom, who gave him a glance earlier, before the two men went back to their topic of conversation.

Something related about a company of sorts.

"Come, I'll introduce you to someone"

Alice quickly his hand and brought him towards the kitchen.

"This is my sister, Maurine, and her daughter, Alona, and this is Michael, my son, the one I was talking about you guys"

She said as she introduced both sides with each other, and the young woman, named Alone, continued to look at Michael, seemed a bit mesmerized, probably his dashing appearance, while Maurine looked at him with interest, and Michael on the other hand, looked at Maurine with a hint of disbelief for a moment before his expression returned to normal.

It was because a memory just hit him in the head, as he finally realized why two of the three people inside their home felt very familiar to him the moment his eyes laid upon them!

It was because Maurine, was the person who hired him before for his services to assassinate the president of a medium sized country, but powerful one at that!

Michael didn't expect that Alice and Maurine are actually related, of course he knew that this former client of his have a sister, but the information about her sister was so hidden that it was like a mountain hiding its beauty before a thick fog surrounding it.

But the most absurd thing that happened when he did that was when Zero personally gave him a stern warning to stop his investigation about them, which really astounded him because he was already so discreet at what he was doing and that they were still able to find out that he was investigating Maurine and her family.

That's the reason why he just stopped, and put the matter at the back of his head back then, but now, his curiosity towards them was once again re-ignited, especially towards his parents, Alice and Tom.

After all, even the information of country presidents can't hide from him, much less from two "ordinary people".

And now, he was really itching to find out who they truly are, but the most unfortunate thing is that...he doesn't even have money to start an investigation, so it's truly useless no matter how curious he is, and at the same time, he felt that it would be disrespectful towards them as they have been really good towards him.

And it's not like he wouldn't find out about it sooner or later, maybe they'll even be the one who would take the initiative to tell him.

"I know him"

A voice suddenly disrupted his thoughts, and Michael looked towards where the voice came from, and it was from the young woman, Alona.

"You know him?" surprised, Alice turned towards Alona.

"Yes, I saw him back at the school festival in Central High, where he had beaten up a couple of Senior High students"

Cough! Cough! Cough!

Michael almost choked on the juice he's drinking, and glared at the woman angrily, his eyes are really spitting fire right now.

But the woman just showed him a smile, before she went back to what she was doing and started chopping the onions on the chopping board.

"Oh my, did you really do that?"

"Yes, they were harassing Tina and her friends, I only wanted to scare them, but I didn't expect them to suddenly want to pick a fight with me"

Michael sighed and told them a white lie.

"Lies! I saw you punching the guy in the face first!" Alona once again suddenly butted in their conversation.

And Michael on the other hand just smiled stiffly, as the corner of one of his eyes was twitching like crazy as he didn't know what the heck is her problem, and at the same time, he just gave Alice a nervous laugh.

"Okay, just don't go causing trouble again" Alice smiled, while Maurine just gave him a nod before she and her sister resumed cooking in the kitchen.

While Alona quickly turned towards Alice with shock written on her face. After all, she would always get an earful from her Aunt every time she causes trouble back in her University School.

Michael just gave her a quiet snort, before turning around as he headed towards the living room, where Tom and the other dude is.

'Your still a thousand years too early lady' Michael thought as a mischievous glint flashed through his eyes, and at the same time, he wiped his hands full of cold sweat on his pants.

Being once a king of assassins doesn't exempt him from the fear of getting scolded by his old folks. After all, he was taught to always respect those people who's deserving of his respect.

A good example would be a rich son or daughter who still respects their parents no matter how high their social status is, and that's called being filial.

"Michael, you came over! You done over there?"

"Haha, yes"

Michael laughed, while exchanging a look at the man opposite of Tom.

The man is certainly younger than Tom, he has a bulky build, a bald but shiny head, but he has that face of gangster that would certainly scare off any potential suitors of his daughter, which made Michael laughed inside as he imagined the seen of Alona's boyfriend being scared stiff when he met his girlfriend's father.

Michael, of course knew who the hell this guy is…

"This is Andrew Scott"

"Andrew, this is my son Michael"

"Pleasure to meet you, Mr. Scott"

"Likewise kiddo"

Michael and Andrew shook each others' hands with a smile on their faces.

Based on the memories of when he was investigating Maurine, Andrew's wife. Andrew Scott is one of the people behind the organization, War Temple. Meaning, that he's one of the guys who owns the War Temple Guild inside every virtual game before Fate Online.

And the reason why Maurine wanted that president dead? Well, he tried to kidnap their daughter and wanted to use her to blackmail the couple into giving up their shares in their companies.

Maurine on the other hand? We'll, she's just one of few powerful women in the world, and it was because she's one of the biggest shareholders of the three guilds part of Edyrem Alliance, respectively War Temple, War Angel, and War Dragons Guild!

'Tsk! So that's the reason why I noticed that there were very dangerous people lurking around the vicinity. Those people must have their secret guards' Michael thought inside, he even thought earlier that they were assassins from rivalling organizations who managed to miraculously find him.

But in the end, they were this family's guards! After all, they didn't even attack him when they saw him earlier!

'But seriously though, just who the heck are my parents?'

Michael is really itching to find out who they truly are, but he knew that it was better to reign his curiosity inside as he didn't want to destroy their harmonious relationship with each other by doing some digging about them.

Michael wanted to join in their conversation, but hearing them talking ceaselessly about business this and business that, he immediately excused himself and went back to his room after Alice scolded him when Michael tried to help them around the kitchen.

So with no other choice, he went back to his room and entered the game.

Shua!

Michael is currently deep inside the Forest of Despair, almost at the deepest part of the forest.

The reason he's here is because he is currently being hunted down by the people sent by the royal family of Sharval Kingdom.

This is the reason why he didn't have any choice but to flee towards the Forest of Despair from his pursuers, and hopefully get to the other side without getting himself killed.

This really frustrated Michael as it means that he's now banned from entering any cities or towns in the kingdom, except for villages that couldn't contain him!

Meanwhile.

A person in Haven City had just recently received some news about Michael.

"Hahaha! This kid, how bold he is!"

"Now, he even got himself a wanted poster! What a freaking achievement!"

Marcus laughed when he read the news sent to him by one of his little birds.

Multiple powerful NPCs whom he befriended before also received news about it, but they just ignored it as they knew that everyone had their own destiny to make.

The only good thing that happened is that there is no such thing as a Bounty System in the game, where it would purposely put up a notice for a wanted player for all the players in the game to hunt that said person, or else it would have been even more troublesome to him than it is now.

"Tsk, I thought I got lucky when I suddenly got this treasure, but now it just gave me more trouble!" Michael clicked his tongue as he thought about the Fragment of the Night King sitting inside his [Storage] space.

But the most absurd thing is that he even got a chain quest to collect the other fragments of it, and it was graded as a SSS grade quest!

Meaning its a quest that could tilt the balance of the continent if Michael is able to complete it!

"I just hope that I could get to the other side of this forest and wouldn't get pursued once I reach the other side"

Michael sighed, as he continued his journey towards the other side of the continent, while oblivious to the eyes watching him from a distance.

Meanwhile.

A group of masked men are currently inside a van as they drove through the streets of Central City.

All of them have that air of hostility around them, and the direction they're heading to is the neighborhood where Amanda is living at.