When Matthew saw Ace grabbing those two pill bottles, he lost his calm composure and instantly yelled, "NO!"
Matthew was about to attack Ace when he forced himself to stop in his tracks because he finally remembered that he was in Kelby Pills & Weapons Shop. Because of his loud yell, everyone around him started to take notice.
"What? Don't tell me; I need your permission to sell my things. Did Kelby Pills & Weapons Shop treat its customers like this?" Ace took advantage of this situation and raised his voice while questioning Matthew.
Just as Ace anticipated, everyone around them started looking towards old man Matthew with questionable gazes.
That attendant also panicked, 'This old man never does this kind of thing. What happens? He's acting like an idiot!'
"N-NO, NO! It was just a misunderstanding. You can do anything with your things. I simply didn't feel well, so I lost my composure. Everyone, I apologize for letting you all see me in this state. I hope that everyone can forgive this old man's rudeness." Matthew bowed toward everyone apologetically.
'This brat is a cunning one. If he didn't hurriedly grab those pills, I would've never behaved like a moron! He tricked me into acting rashly, and now I can't do anything while he can take those pills away. But how the hell did he notice?!' Matthew ground his teeth in frustration.
He was right about Ace outwitting him and acting that way, though. Now Ace can leave safely with those 'suspicious pills.'
"Tsk, it was just a misunderstanding, and here we thought there would be a good show to watch. What a letdown. Everyone, let's mind our own business." Chuckled someone who was watching, and after hearing him, the others laughed as well and started minding their own business again.
"Haha, little brother, these pills are all yours, so it is your decision to sell them or not. So sell what you want and take what you didn't want to sell. We have no objection." Old Man Matthew turned to Ace and said, as he laughed dryly, that looked quite ugly.
"Oh, don't worry. I only need these two healing pills for myself. I'm selling all the other pills." Ace replied with an innocent smile as if he didn't do anything.
"Go and report this transaction to the upper floors and get 23,500 ruby coins for our little brother here. I'm not feeling well today, so I'm going to retire for today." Old Man Matthew left towards the upper floor of the building in a hurry with an obnoxious face.
'Why is he going that way?' Thought the young attendant but couldn't find an answer. She didn't settle on it and quickly fetched Ace's payment.
"Here is the Ruby Crystal Card; your 23,500 ruby coins are in it. You can use it like normal currency or withdraw your coins from anywhere in lands of cities." Said the young attendant while giving Ace a white square crystal card.
There were 23,500 written in red on this crystal card.
Ace had heard of these crystal cards before. They can be used anywhere in 4th Level Lands, so he wasn't shocked by it and accepted the white card.
After taking care of his business, he quickly left because he knew the old man was up to no good.
---
Old man Matthew was hurrying to the upper floors of Kelby Pills & Weapons shop's building.
Matthew had just entered the 3rd floor when a man blocked his way and mocked him disdainfully, "Old Man, where are you going in such a hurry? Slow down, or you might die of exhaustion. Hehe."
This man's face was not so attractive and looked rather ordinary, with short black hair. He was an Apprentice Alchemist, Caleb. He was extremely arrogant because he was an Apprentice Alchemist at the age of 26. That's why Kelby's Family put vast resources into him and wanted to groom a White Alchemist out of him.
However, becoming a white-ranked alchemist was not so easy.
That was why the Kelby family settled Caleb in this shop so he could get some experience and make pills for the shop while at it. It was a form of practice, and he could improve his alchemist skill relatively fast this way while they also earned their investment back.
Yet, all the care, praises, and easy-to-earned resources made Caleb arrogant, and now he didn't put anyone in his eyes. He didn't listen to anyone except the Kelby family's higher-ups and their direct descendants and always liked to play around.
"Young master Caleb, this old man has something very important to do, so please forgive this old man for not entertaining you." Said Matthew respectfully, but there was apparent hostility in his eyes because of Caleb's early curse. Alas, he could do nothing about it, though.
"Hmm? Something important, huh? Tell me what it is, and I'll decide whether it is important." Caleb grimaced after listening to Matthew.
If he remembers correctly, this old man was very respectful to him before, but now he was showing his vexation openly, 'Something is not right.'
"Young master, please, just this once, can you not be like this? It is important enough to report to the Shop owner!" Said old man Matthew while sighing in frustration. If it were someone else, he would've slapped them silly already.
"YOU!!" Caleb was just about to flare up at this rude old guy but thought about it more carefully, 'What could be that important to report to the shop owner himself? He even offended me for it. Well, I have to see for myself then.'
"Let's go. I'm coming with you, and if it was not as important as you said it is, you know what will happen when I'm in a bad mood, right?" Caleb smiled gloomily and went with Matthew.
They reached the fifteenth floor in minutes.
This shop's fifteenth floor was beautifully decorated with expensive jade and marble. One can see the city's inner region while standing before the window here and enjoying the city's beautiful view at night.
A young man with black hair, pale skin, and luxurious clothes was sitting in a chair beside the window and watching the crowded market with a frown on his handsome face.
"What does it mean you couldn't find him anywhere? Is he a ghost? Did you search every area of the outer region?" The young man spoke gently, but his voice showed evident anger. Yet, he didn't lose his composure.
"Yes, young master, I even searched in slums, but only low life lived there. So I assumed he had left the city after robbing that fatty's shop. He might be afraid of getting caught."
There was a kneeling figure in front of the young man. It wore full-body black light armor; no one could see its figure clearly with that armor, and a black fox mask was on its face. One could only see its hazel eyes through that mask's eye holes. But from its beautiful voice, extremely pleasing to the ears, it was clear that it was a young girl.
"Black Fox, I'm not angry at you. It's just that it's such a shame that I wouldn't be able to gain a new pawn. Most importantly, I won't be able to obtain that Black Ghost's secrets." Said the young man in disappointment.
In his eyes, one could see intense greed when he spoke about the Black Ghost's secrets.
Anyone who can open a 1-star treasury in minutes has to have some mysterious secret on him, and he wanted that secret from the start.
As for accepting him as a pawn, that was the Black Ghost's choice. If Black Ghost had agreed to be his tool, he would've taken care of him, but if not, he would do what he always does to his enemies: kill without mercy.
The young man was still thinking about the Black Ghost's secrets when he heard footsteps approaching and stated calmly, "You can go first and search again if there's still any trace left of the Black Ghost. A guy with skills like him won't run away this easy."
After receiving her orders, Black Fox vanished like smoke.
"Young master Asher, Caleb is here to pay you a visit with Old Matthew." Caleb's loud voice resounded in the silent room.
This young man's name was 'Asher Kelby' the oldest son of the current Head of the Kelby Family and the next head of the Kelby family.
He was known as a cultivation genius because he had already opened the 3rd Gate of the Qi Gates Realm at a very young age. He was intelligent, calm, and ruthless.
That was why he was appointed as the shop owner of the biggest shop of the Kelby family. He never spared his enemies, even if they were just mortals. He would kill them to get rid of any future problems.
"Come in," Asher said in a neutral tone.
"Young master, this old man wants to report something urgent." Said Caleb as he pointed at Mathew beside him while smiling. He wasn't arrogant like before. He was also afraid of this ruthless young master.
"Hmm? Speak." He was uninterested in both his visitors, so he continued looking outside the window.
"This old man greets the young shop owner. I want to report that I saw two white grade Qi Pills in a boy's hand, who seems to have come from outside of the River Flower City..."
Matthew respectfully reported everything that happened. However, he didn't dare to hide anything from Asher. "In the end, that boy was too sharp, and I failed to acquire those pills."
He finished his report but missed the part where he wanted those pills for himself.
"Where is he now?" Asher finally turned around and looked at the old man's eyes impassively. But there was a greedy glint in his cold eyes, just like when he was talking about the Black Ghost.
White-grade pills were rare in the 2-star city. Most of them were in the hand of the city lord, and even white grade alchemist was in the city lord's mansion. Ace has two of them on him; he doesn't even know this right now.
Even Caleb was bewildered by old man Matthew's encounter.
'If I have those white-grade pills, I can reach white-grade faster!' Caleb greedily thought, but he couldn't do anything.
Now that Asher knows about those white-grade pills, he can forget about them because Caleb knew he wouldn't be able to lay his hands on any of them.
The moment Matthew told Asher about them, they had become his property.
"After dealing with him, I came running straight to the young shop owner to report," Matthew told Asher respectfully.
"Caleb, take this old guy and two of my guards. I need those pills as soon as possible. If you can't get those pills, you two should also disappear. Moreover, make sure no one will know about those pills except us three. Is that clear?" Asher warned them coldly as his eyes turned cold, emitting killing intent toward Caleb and Matthew.
"Yes, we will get those pills no matter what!"
Both of them said simultaneously. Drops of sweat were running down from their faces, and their backs were drenched!
'How in the hell did I get involved in this shit.' Caleb cursed his bad luck!