However, Luz replied with a frank, "No," before adding while an evil grin formed on his face, "That's not enough."
The vendor was already furious. Unfortunately, he couldn't do anything in his current situation except asking Luz about his demands.
Nonchalantly, Luz remarked, "I know that there is a cleaver in front of you. Take it and chop one of your hands off."
Horrified at his words, the vendor tried pleading because who the hell was ready to lose a hand, but Luz didn't budge under any offer he made.
Forced by his circumstances, the vendor accepted the deal with grinding teeth, and Harold let go of his arms while tightly pressing a dagger against his carotid artery.
Calmly, the vendor grabbed the cleaver before taking a big swing, which initially surprised Luz as he didn't expect the vendor to give in so easily.
Unfortunally, Luz was disappointed as the cleaver stopped right before impact, hovering a few centimeters above the vendor's left hand as sweat dripped onto his palm.
"Sorry," was the only word the vendor said before trying again. Calmly, the man raised his cleaver. But unlike Richard, he didn't follow through with Luz's demand and instead threw his cleaver, enraged with all his strength, at Luz.
The cleaver flew at Luz too suddenly for him to dodge, and Luz could only watch in horror as his short life ended.
Luckily for Luz, someone intervened, and a piece of rock hit the cleaver when it was only an arm's length from reaching him.
Unable to comprehend what had just happened, Luz fell down to his knees in shock as a man in uniform walked in their direction, swearing loudly. "I hate this job so fucking much. Because whenever I have a day off, I'm getting called back into duty because something stupid happens. OYY!!! YOU THREE THERE!!!"
The people in the market immediately made room for the man, and soon his shadow loomed over Luz while he grabbed the cleaver from the ground. The aura emanating from the officer brought Harold, the guard, and the clerk to their knees while the man in uniform continued his tirade.
Only now did Luz see the man's face. The man with an average height wore shining silver metal armor while having tanned skin. As for his hair, they were curly black, while his eyes were of the same color.
What shocked Luz, however, was that the man didn't even look older than him. 'I was way too arrogant earlier,' Luz cursed to himself.
After glaring at each of them, the man raised a sigil depicting a knight, stating coldly, "I'm Ajax Bennett, a mage knight. All of you three, please follow me. Whoever ignores my order forfeits their rights for a legal trial and will become a head shorter."
Terrified by the man's position, the guard and the vendor gave in without a protest. Upon seeing their faces filled with dread, Luz submitted too. 'That man must be something else.'
Quietly the three followed, not daring to utter a word, and it didn't take even five minutes before each of them got thrown into a different cell. And so, one after the other got interrogated by Ajax while Luz had the misfortune of being the last.
As he waited in his dark cell, Luz fought hard to keep his sanity as the pain emanating from his mana core was driving him slowly into a frenzy. Luz whispered like a broken machine, "calm down, Luz. Calm down. You cannot lose to it." After an hour passed, it was finally his time. He heard how Harold got thrown into the cell next to him.
Afterward, the mage knight, Ajax, opened his squeaking door while sighing loudly, "Follow me. These two idiots have already given me more than enough headache."
Nodding, Luz stood up and followed Ajax to a room where his interrogation was supposed to happen. That room, however, was sparsely decorated, and outside of a table and two chairs were only a white crystal ball.
After Luz took the seat across Ajax, the latter began recounting the story he had obtained through interrogating the other two while frequently asking for Luz's input. However, the crystal ball began to glow whenever Luz replied with anything, making him nervous.
Thirty minutes passed, and Luz's interrogation finally reached the guard's death.
"After glancing at his corpse and the damage, I came to the realization that a space spell was responsible for his obliterated jaw. Am I right?"
Luz nodded before answering as formally as possible, "Yes, sir. It was indeed a space spell, and to be precise, it was the spatial distortion spell."
"I see, I see. You must be quite a talented mage if you can use such a difficult spell as a mage apprentice," the man commented before adding, "I got a deal for you."
Ajax lowered his voice before telling him about the deal. "How about you join my family. If you are willing to swear loyalty, we would be eager to help you out as much as possible. You might even become a grandmaster mage with our help."
"Thanks for the offer, but I already belong to a family," Luz replied while slowly placing the medallion onto the table.
The mage knight's eyes immediately narrowed before cursing, "Fuck it. It seems like Master Brian had another lucky catch. That man can't keep getting away with this."
Luz remained quiet, and the mage knight sighed, "I can't let an idiot like you wander alone through the city, so let me bring you back to Master Brian's estate."
"But what about the deal I had?" Luz asked unhappily since his plans went south.
"Fine. WE WILL BE GETTING YOUR TOY," groaned Ajax before the two left. And so Luz and Ajax left to get his promised toy, the colorful bird, before Luz got dropped at Master Brian's estate.