Anton saw Torun, Blake, and Soren run off somewhere.

“They’re off to look for the leaders in our family so they can speak with you,” Andrea told him, then led him to a nearby room with a table and several chairs.

According to Andrea, the three families used this room as both the dining room as well as the conference room if needed. She also said that they needed to pay extra for this room even though the Amelia left Rendindura even though the ship was not at full capacity.

Anton sat on one of the chairs and Andrea and some of Soren’s friends joined him. Andre then suddenly stood up and said that she was going to get some tea so she ran off but returned after a couple of minutes with a teapot and some cups and served tea to him. After several minutes, three middle-aged men appeared.

Torun introduced his father who was named Borun, Blake introduced his father as Martin, and Soren introduced his uncle who was the leader of their family as Rommel.

“Sir Archmage, thank you for coming. I hoped that my son didn’t bother you too much,” Torun’s father said.

“No, Sir Borun. I consider Torun and the others as my friends. That’s also the reason why I wanted to speak with you.”

“Sir Archmage, please don’t call me “sir”. I’m just a merchant from Rendindura,” Borun said.

“Then don’t call Sir Archmage since every time you do, I feel an urge to look behind me as if you’re addressing an old wizard that just entered the room,” Anton said and the young people in the room laughed which made their patriarch glared at them so all of them had to stop themselves from laughing out loud which in Anton’s opinion, made it worse, since now everyone could hear the muffled giggling.

The situation also made Anton laugh, which pacified the three families’ patriarchs.

“We’re now aware of the death of the family that was staying in one of the rooms on the north side. One of the mages was a friend of ours and he informed us that the death was very mysterious,” Soren’s uncle said.

Rommel was the youngest of the patriarchs that was staying in that location but on the way to their place, Soren assured him that his uncle was a very capable man and he should be since he was able to lead the family from Rendindura to Whaling. Soren’s father was killed by one of the bandits that was infesting the roads to the city of Whaling.

“We know how important it is for us to remain silent on this information since we also don’t want to cause any panic to the passengers. Panic in an enclosed place that doesn’t go anywhere can be truly dangerous,” Martin, Blake’s father added.

“We are also aware of how frightening the murderers are since our sons told us that a very wealthy noble family was also murdered and they were guarded by two archmages,” Borun said.

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“I’m not disregarding how powerful or dangerous the murderers could be but I’m thinking that the reason why the archmages weren’t able to defend the family and themselves was probably they were caught off guard or were ambushed or something since we didn’t hear any battle from their rooms. It was the suite next to us so that meant that if there was a spell battle, we would have noticed it immediately,” Anton said.

“Regardless. The fact that they were able to murder powerful wizards, probably in their sleep, was a testament to their power, and even if we sleep in shifts as you’ve said to our sons, which we are planning to do, I don’t think we have the power to contend with someone like that,” Martin said looking very worried.

“That’s the reason why I’m here. Your sons may have already told you, that I can provide your family an enchanted item that I created that will allow the summoner to control a very powerful Spirit Wolf. The wolf will obey the summoner unconditionally and it doesn’t need to rest so it can protect you all the time. You will have to feed it though since it will need energy to function on this plane and any meat would do. If we are on land, it can even hunt on its own but since we’re in a ship, you will have to provide food for it,” Anton paused for a bit and drank some of the tea that Andrea served then he continued.

“The problem with the summoning item is that the one who will use it will be the only one who can command the wolf. The summoning tablet would disappear the moment the Spirit Wolf is summoned and if you don’t want the wolf anymore for some reason like you can’t feed it anymore, you will either have to destroy it or command it to run away or you can bring it to me so I can destroy it. Since the summoner was fully in control, even if you destroy it, the wolf will not retaliate but my advice is to try very hard to keep it because it is a very powerful creature and will be loyal to you until it’s destroyed.”

Anton summoned one of the Spirit Wolves that was staying in the suite and it appeared beside him. Everyone was looking at the giant ethereal wolf in awe and to his surprise, Andrea who was sitting beside him did not hesitate and touched the wolf.

“It’s fur is so soft! I thought since it looked like a ghost, my hands would pass through. It’s so big! Can I ride it?” Andrea asked.

“Yes, you can use the wolf as a mount and it can run through the forest silently,” Anton replied.

Everyone that was in the meeting room approached the Spirit Wolf, even the three leaders of the families. One of the little kids that somehow got into the room even boldly hugged the wolf and laughed out loud which made everyone smile.

After a few minutes of everyone admiring the wolf, even so far as asking Anton to command the wolf to open its mouth so they could inspect its teeth which Anton amusingly allowed to happen, everyone returned to their seat but the kid who hugged the Spirit Wolf climbed on its back and happily rode the wolf.

Anton asked Andrea to retrieve the child and after that, he commanded the wolf to return to the suite to continue guarding his family and friends.

The middle-aged men who were leading Torun and his group families looked at each other for a few minutes and Anton saw that they had decided to purchase the enchanted items.

“How much are you selling the summoning tablet for?” Martin finally asked.

Anton told the three patriarchs that since Torun and his group were his friends, he would only charge fifty percent of the price but when he gave the price, the men’s eyes grew wide. He then wondered if it was truly pricy since in his opinion, the price of the summoning tablet was just right and he even gave them a very large discount.

He retrieved one of the golden summoning tablets from his inventory and in doing so, he performed a quick count of how many remained. There were only five tablets for the Spirit Wolves and three for the Dire Wolves left.