Chapter 93: Loots
'The only suspect remain is the Inn lady. But if I kill her now, it will create unnecessary suspicion. Hmm, should I cast my [Fire Seed] spell on her and erase all her memories?' Charles thought for a moment and soon shook his head.
'That will give others some clues about this [Fire Seed] spell. Wait...' At that moment, he suddenly realized that he was in Slum Borough and soon chuckled.
'This is a lawless land and killing someone in the Slum Borough is not a big deal. Moreover, Charles is the one who killed these thieves, not Oswald. Still, I need to put a Fire Seed in her Inner world for my own safety.'
He silently walked out of the alley, went to Aurora's house, and soon arrived in front of a two-storied building.
'Aurora had a habit of writing down most of the important information in a diary.' He opened the compound gate as he strolled in the yard and soon walked in. He directly went to her bedroom, took an iron key from the cupboard, opened the nearby cabinet with the key, and unlocked it with a click. Inside, Charles saw a diary, three uncommon artifacts, one blue gem, a bag full of gold coins and soon frowned.
'Amber Church's currency. How should I take this?' He knew that the Amber Curse would act even if he didn't touch the coin and fell into deep thoughts.
'Should I try taking out with [Magician's Hand] 's skill?' A thought appeared in his mind.
But he didn't act rashly.
'That skill is still a part of me, so there is a possibility of failure.' He nodded thoughtfully and moved the bag out of the cabinet using a stick. Following that, he used the same stick to flip the bag to the side and moved one single gold coin from it. Then, he used the [Magician's Hand] skill and touched it.
As soon as the invisible string touched the gold coin, it suddenly trembled and soon turned into ashes!
Watching this scene, Charles was stunned.
'So, even using my skill has some effect, huh.' A grim look appeared on his face.
After some thought, Charles first went near the cabinet, stored the diary, artifacts, and the blue gem into his space ring, and then turned his attention to the leather bag.
'What should I do now? Should I have to carry it with this stick?' He once again tried to take the bag with the stick, but soon his eyes widened.
In a second, he saw all those gold coins began to turn into ashes!
'F*ck!' He gritted his teeth in anger and soon took a deep breath to calm down.
'Why did the gold coins turn into ashes?' Confusion appeared in his eyes.
'Now that I think about it, the same thing happened with Ian's two silver coins. After I took his void pouch as loot, I hadn't touched the gold coin in his void pouch. Still, those two silvers disappeared when I checked it later…'
'Is this curse active when the coin comes to my possession instead of touching it?' He felt that was the possible answer.
'Haa, I thought things would go smoother from now on, but I didn't expect this. Thankfully, I already found the suitable pawns. From now on, I should refrain from touching these gold coins and let the kids take care of the financial problems. But the problem is the possibility of their betrayal. Although I saved those kids, they are still lived in hardship and their minds might be corrupted in the future days. Any man can satisfy his needs, but not his greed. These kids are no exceptions.'
'But it can be controllable. If I satisfy their necessaries, they will not think much about money and will cast their attention on something else. In this magic world, there is something else that can make others go mad. That is strength. If I show them a way to enter the Mystic world, I can control them easily. From Aurora's memories, these kids are exceptionally talented in different subjects. Even that chubby face Noel has some innate affinity for swordsmanship. Then, Jessie and Titus are somewhat intelligent and might suspect if I show too much kindness. I need to take things carefully.' Charles nodded his head in understanding and soon walked out of the two-storied house.
He then took a few turns while erasing his trails and soon returned to 50A Harpy Street. Then, he stealthily entered Rhea's room and put the ring on her finger. After that, Charles jumped out of the window and returned to his room.
...
The next morning.
Charles sat on the cot while the kids stood in front of him with nervous looks on their faces. He wore a white linen shirt, a surcoat, black pants, and black leather shoes.
"How is your health?" He stared deeply at Jessie and then asked.
"I'm perfectly alright, Teacher," Jessie said with a solemn look on her face. After she woke up, Rhea had told everything about how the white-haired man saved her and took them as his disciples. Although Jessie felt something was amiss, she didn't say anything and simply followed them.
Charles could feel the wariness in her eyes, but he felt that was reasonable.
"Good. Then, let's discuss about what to do next." Charles purposefully stopped for a moment, turned his gaze towards Rhea, and asked.
"Rhea, do you want to become a mage?"
Upon hearing his words, all four of them froze for a moment and soon widened their eyes.
"But we lost the badge to those guards, right?" Noel asked in confusion.
A chuckle escaped out of Charles's mouth as he rubbed his wrinkled chin, took the black cane from his cot, held the handle area tightly, and stood up with its support.
"Come on. I'll take you to a place."
Then, he opened the wooden door from inside and soon walked out of the room.
In the meantime, the kids glanced at each other in confusion and soon followed after him.
Charles walked past many guests on the corridor with slow footsteps and soon reached the reception hall. After that, he turned his gaze towards the Inn lady, who sat on the reception desk with a nervous look on her face and stealthily cast [Fire Seed] spell on her.
A second later, a purple fire appeared in the depths of her mind and soon shrunk into a tiny seed-like structure.
Unless Charles activated it with his thought, the fire would stay like this in her Inner world and would never devour her memories.
Once he cast the spell, Charles didn't even glance at her and went out of the Inn. Then, they walked on the earthen road and moved out of the Slum Borough.
Along the way, Charles also overheard others' talking and soon learned about the death of Purple Flowers gang leader and her lackeys.
'Hmm, gang fights will happen for the next few days to take control over Twilight Street, so I should stay away from the area.' He nodded in understanding and soon noticed that they reached the Slum Borough Junction.
He placed his left hand on Titus's shoulder and said calmly.
"Guide me to the Mystics Borough, kid. I want to meet and have some chat with the one who almost killed your big sister."
A look of surprise appeared on all those kids' faces!
"He is a Powerful Mystic, Teacher." Jessie squeezed out those words and soon trembled in fear as she recalled the moment of her life and death situation.
The corner of his lips curled upwards as Charles stared at the Tower of Elements for a moment and said.
"Don't worry; I'm just going to take the badge from him." He deliberately paused for a moment and added,
"Let's go."
In the meantime, Titus nodded his head as he took the lead and started walking towards the Mystic Borough.
…