"Hey, hey, old man." Kadyn jumped on the stage from behind Elora and stared at the arrogant old fogey. "Are you trying to scare a little girl, huh?" he said. "Would you mind talking to her brother?"
Everyone gaped at him, including the old man and his two companions—the old man was silent for a sec, then asked. "You are Kadyn?"
"So what, I am?" Kadyn said, a little annoyed by his arrogant posing. You seem to be suffering from malnourishment. What are you posing for, hmm? He thought.
"That's good," he said. "You need to come with me."
"What if I don't want to go with you?" Kadyn curled his lips and folded his hands on his chest and looked below at the old man as if the emperor was looking down on his subordinate. An annoyed look appeared on the old man's face. No one dared to scorn at him. He was the mighty member of the Magic Association and high-ranking member at that. His anger flared, but he clenched his fist and took a deep breath. He had come here for a purpose.
I will let you experience despair and torment later. He thought.
"Yo-you thief!" before that fragile looking old man could reply, a shout came from among the audience. A man sprang from his seat and pointed at Kadyn. "You thief, return my possession!"
Kadyn peered at the man, and his lips curled into a weird angle. Who'd have thought you'll send yourself to me this easily? He thought and said. "What are you shouting for?"
The man didn't stay in his seat and rushed towards the stage amidst the crowd. "You still dare to ask the reason, you bastard!?" his shout reverberated in the entire hall that made Kadyn frown. How shameless and disgusting and ungrateful can someone be? This was a living example.
Kadyn had saved his life, but he tried to kill him in return. Though he failed in the end, Kadyn took his spoils—that he had taken after killing his own companion—and escaped with the help of shop teleportation. But this guy...too shameless.
The man turned towards the old man and clasped his hands and bowed, with a sobbing face. "My Lord, this kid had deceived me. I have helped and saved his life. But in return he killed my companion when we were sleeping and injured me heavily and robbed my hundred magic stones before escaping. I was injured so I could not chase after him. Who could have thought that this shameless kid was the owner of this place? He must have built it with the help of my money!"
The audience gasped. 100 magic stones! That was a huge sum, even for a wealthy noble. Much less to the commoner. What kind of dogshit luck one would need to get that many stones in some random cave? However in the end he lost his valuables, filling him with resentment. Audience gloated at his misery.
"Is that true?" the old man gave a hard look to that man.
"Ye-yes, My Lord. I wouldn't dare to lie in front of you." He stammered and lowered his head.
"You bastard! I saved your life, and it was you who killed your companion, and that bag was stuffed with trash herbs!" Kadyn roared when he heard the accusation. However, immediately realising that he made a terrible blunder. He shouldn't have spoken at all. He was just too young and rash and inexperienced. He didn't think before speaking.
"Oh, so it's really true," as expected, the old man's eyes lit-up and said. "A thief and murderer like you, has no right to live in this society."
Kadyn no longer refused or tried to explain himself. He knew that no one would believe him in this situation. So he turned towards the main villain and asked. "Tell me your motive directly. Don't try to justify your detestable intent behind other people's baseless accusations. Everyone can tell that you had evil inventions from the start."
"So what?" the old man sneered. "Can you do anything to me? Do you think that useless formation would work on me? Go ahead and activate it. I want to see how powerful that so-called formation is. However before that let me show you something… " he said and clapped. From the doorway of the Auction Hall, seven people entered.
Two potbellied kids dragged Hicka into the Auction Hall, covered in blood, beaten, and almost unconscious. Crimson liquid dripped on the floor—drip, drip, drip—with each step they took, leaving red-marks behind as they passed. Kadyn sighed and eyed the other four people behind the first group.
He wasn't surprised by seeing Fenon, Jenna, and Fatty One. However he narrowed his eyes, spotting Shum in that group. He was the same kid who caused trouble for Kadyn when he sold his very first Soothing Drop to Khrom. At that time, Khrom was terribly injured and needed instant treatment. Therefore, even though he was suspicious, he still bought a potion that solved his predicament.
Kadyn never thought that this dolt had done that on purpose—he thought he was just some arrogant cunt, trying to flaunt his awesomeness. Now, it seems, everyone works for Association. But that also seems somewhat off—at that time, he had no feud with Association, so why?
Fenon's group arrived in front of the stage and each of them bowed towards the three elders. Then Fenon taunted Kadyn. "Today, I will wash away my humiliation. Do you regret what you did?"
"Moron," Kadyn said. "With one skeleton, and two minions, you want to make me regret?"
Fenon's face was blank for a second before Kadyn's words sank into his head. He pointed at him with his trembling index finger and roared. "How dare you insult Elder, Association Leader and Potioneer Yel!"
Everyone looked at the three of them with weird expressions. The Elder, whom Kadyn described as a skeleton—and he really was a skeleton in every sense—roared. "Surrender or you won't see your friend alive, kid?!"
Kadyn paused and eyed Hicka, who laid on the ground, twitching, gasping, and moaning, then said. "Ah, yes, my friend." He placed his hand under his chin and thought about something before sighing, "Old Man, you've really got me this time..."
"That's good you understand." The so-called Elder interrupted before Kadyn could finish talking. "Hand over all the Potion Formulas you have and come with us. We won't do anything to you."
"Do you even know the basic etiquette, old man?" Kadyn said. "You shouldn't interrupt someone in between while he's talking." Before the trembling old man could lose his temper, Kadyn went on. "As for my friend, sigh, people need to sacrifice some things in their life to achieve greatness. Brother Hicka, I won't forget your sacrifice."
Everyone looked at him with a dumbfounded expression. No one could believe their ears. Even Elora felt her head spinning. What the hell is going on?! Why brother is talking nonsense? Is he really going to sacrifice, brother Hicka?!!