"They're beautiful…" said Ana. The golden coins seemed to be sparkling even though the teens were indoors. On each piece, an old man with thick eyebrows was carved.
"Shopping time!" said Oliver with glee. "Let's go together. I can get you the best deals anywhere."
Ana agreed right away while Ethan merely shrugged. Arthur counted his coins, nodded to himself in satisfaction, and then ruthlessly rejected his brother.
"No thanks." With these words, he left to resume his cultivation.
After entering his chamber, the older brother dropped his coins into a large chest, and then went straight to his bed. He crossed his legs and closed his eyes. The boy's entire focus was on his mana which he slowly started to move.
- Tap, tap -
Annoyed, Arthur opened his eyes to see an unexpected guest knocking on his already opened door.
"Didn't you go shopping?"
"Of course." answered Ethan. "What do you think I'm doing here?"
The youth grabbed a table from a corner of the room and dragged it in front of the bed.
- Screeeeeech! -
'My poor tiles…' winced Arthur.
After he was done, Ethan took a chair and sat opposite to his comrade. Then, he pulled up his bag, smashed it on the table, and started taking out gold coins one by one.
"1, 2, 3, … 198, 199, 200. I'll have that ring now."
After an excruciatingly long time, the boy had finally finished counting. Now, he was holding up his palm as if the deal was already done.
Arthur didn't know whether to face-palm or speak. Dimensional pouches weren't that rare, but they were very, very expensive. Even so…
"Deal." After organizing his thoughts, Arthur agreed. It would take some time, but Oliver could probably find him another ring for cheaper.
"Excellent!" Ethan inspected every faced of the object and then placed it on his finger. Its capacity was around 9 cubic feet, about enough for his needs.
"Now that this is done…" Ethan started taking more coins out of his bag. "1, 2, 3, … 23, 24, 25."
"Is there anything else you'd like to buy from me?" asked a confused Arthur. "If you're thinking about my sword, it's worth at least 500 gold, and I won't sell it even for 1000."
"Why would I need a sword?" shrugged Ethan while pointing at his newly remodeled blades.
After taking out the beast people's markings, they looked like the work of a blacksmith's apprentice, and not even a good one. He'd be lucky to get a silver if he sold both of them.
Ethan made one pile and began counting another "… 23, 24, 25." Afterwards, he crossed his fingers and leaned back into his chair.
His mana was slowly taking on a dark red hue almost identical to blood. The boy was smiling, yet his eyes were fixed on Arthur like a hunter who just cornered his prey.
"So…" he finally said in a casual manner. "I hear you've been spying on me."
Instantly, a shiver ran down Arthur's spine. In his mind, he began cursing out his brother in progressively creative ways. After several breaths had passed in silence, Ethan continued.
"I'm not sure if this counts as debt, but you can start repaying it anyway by accepting my little… trade."
"As in?"
Ethan didn't feel like beating around the bush any longer, so he placed his finger above one of the piles.
"This gold is for telling me what happened to Ana."
Then, his palm moved above the second pile.
"This gold is for telling me everything there is to know about the culprit."
Ethan's mana began oscillating between red and black indicating what would happen if his purchase were to be refused. With a chilling smile, he extended a hand across the table.
"Deal?"