"Wowwow! Beaauutifbul!" Bowen saw Drunken Mason, who was standing outside the shop, run towards the weapon pile on the ground.
"Hey! You! Who allowed you in?" shouted Luther, seeing a stinking drunkard laying hands on his weapon collection.
"It's okay, he is with me," interrupted Bowen, stopping Luther from dragging away Mason.
"Bowen, isn't this the famous alcoholic of this town? How did you know him? You should not mingle with people like this. Now tell him to go away before the boss comes," said Lydia, advising Bowen in a sisterly tone.
"It's okay, sister. In fact, I want to introduce him to the old hag to get permission to keep him with me," replied Bowen.
"Get permission? What are you talking about? Bowen, this is not funny. Tell him to go away now, or keeping this drunkard here will only scare our customers," said Lydia nervously. While they were arguing, Mason had already laid his hands on the weapon he was most attracted to.
"Hey, I told you not to touch that. Can you pay if you break them?" shouted Luther, looking at Mason's actions. Bowen turned to find that Mason now held the bow and arrow - Thorn whisper, looking at it with complete adoration. But for onlookers, all they saw was his perverted smile towards the weapon he held in his hand. Luther urged to throw away the drunkard immediately after beating him black and blue, but he controlled himself for the sake of Bowen. Bowen didn't care about Lydia or Luther; his eyes stayed and observed every little action of Mason.
"Do you like that?" asked Bowen.
Mason became immediately enthusiastic. "Yeesh masta..yesh young..young master..yesh..beautiful..all bow arrows besautifulll," he said.
"Bow and arrows are beautiful, you say? Bowen didn't think Mason would be interested in anything other than alcohol. He didn't know if Mason was really interested in archery or if he was just impressed by the weapon in front of him.
"Do you know how to wield a bow and arrow? Have you learned archery before?" asked Bowen.
Immediately, Mason became sad. How could he tell that he always wanted to learn archery as a child? He even went to the nearest neighborhood school secretly to see people wielding bows and arrows. But with no talent for awakening, he was labeled to be useless. Now he doesn't want even his new master to ridicule him for being greedy.
"No, masstear, noo. Maaason never in life," he said with a depressed look, and with that, he put down the bow and arrow and moved to a corner, burying his head in his knees and hands.
Bowen knew there was something wrong with Mason, but he couldn't ask him now as he is not in a proper state to answer such questions. Nonetheless, he got intrigued by his behavior and decided to give Mason a chance.
"Mr. Ice Magician, how much is this bow and arrow?" Bowen asked, throwing Luther and Lydia in shock.
Nevertheless, Luther decided to answer truthfully. "I do not know the exact price. This was my friend's old weapon. He barely used this as it doesn't have any particular attributes. Hmm..it should be around 3-4 small silvers."
Hearing the price, Bowen had only one thought in mind - "so cheap." In reality, 3-4 small silvers are a lot for an average middle-class family of Aswalt. They will have to work hard for at least 2 weeks for that kind of money, that is if their business has good customers and demand. For the poor, saving a silver coin would take at least a year. But Bowen's sense of money has muddled since he had started to deal in gold everywhere.
"OK," said Bowen nonchalantly and handed over four silvers to Luther before taking the bow and arrow.
"Wait! Are you really buying this to waste that weapon on a drunkard?" asked Luther with an unbelievable expression.
Lydia stood speechless, seeing Bowen's behavior. This is the first time she is seeing Bowen like this - adamant and impulsive. She knew Bowen got some money as prize money from Baron for winning the competition. She thought Bowen would save them carefully for the future, but this kind of wasteful behavior she wanted to correct him.
At that time, Lydia saw Gia coming out of the kitchen after baking her new cookies. "Boss, boss, please look at Bowen. He is suddenly sprouting nonsense," said Lydia, hoping Gia would correct Bowen's behavior.
When Gia gave a questioning look, Bowen started to explain. "This man, I am thinking of taking him as my slave. I am also buying him this weapon as he seems interested in them," said Bowen, keeping it crisp and short.
Gia looked at Mason without much expression, as usual. "Will you keep him even if he cannot awaken?" This was the only question she asked that startled both Mason and Bowen for various reasons.
Mason was shocked that someone found this out about him, as well as scared if his new master will throw him away like others in his life. For Bowen, he was confused. He took a hint from Gia's words that Mason does not have the talent to awaken, but he didn't know why the T-compass would point him if that was the case.
After being in a moment of silence, Bowen uttered, "Yes," looking Gia in her eyes.
"Good, then go and make an official slave master contract." Saying this, she directly went to her room upstairs without talking much.
Lydia's mouth opened and closed several times, but she couldn't understand Gia's actions. But being Bowen's guardian, Gia's decision is final, so she cannot talk more than that. Luther, too, found the old lady odd every time he met her. He gave up a big sigh and departed, greeting Lydia and Bowen.
Bowen kept pondering what Gia said, "Official slave master contract!!!!"
Bowen thought of just binding Mason as his slave through the system. But since he has revealed this to Gia, he must now do a slave master contract ritual like all the people in Grimesphere, so that he can have an official slave master permit from the White Order. "What a pain," he said, looking at Mason still in a daze. Really, this time he wished the system was there with him. He could have done the slave binding right away and could have known the skills and talent of Mason immediately. He can do and undo the system contract anytime he wants. It can't be said the same for official contracts of Grimesphere. You will need a valid reason to undo it. And Mason being talentless cannot be considered as one.
---Same Time, Somewhere in Sylvia - The Elven Country---
A loud thud echoed through the elven forest as a long-eared elf fell, sliding slowly against the trunk of a strong tree. If Bowen were present, he would have immediately recognized the man holding the chain hammer; it was none other than Valtor, who had accompanied Ian during the seeker's test in Allar. Gone was his proud demeanor, replaced by a sorry state with both of his legs broken and twisted at odd angles. Standing before him was a short, black-haired lady, her face concealed behind a silver mask, and she wore a red robe covering her whole body.
"Have you played enough? Now hand over those papers," the lady said, tilting her head from side to side.
"I will never betray my brethren until my last breath," Valtor replied defiantly. He gathered all his remaining mana and infused it into his chain hammer. The weapon glowed dangerously red as it flew towards the silver-masked lady in a split second. It was Valtor's final move, the Tremor Slash, saved for crucial moments when he needed to use all his vitality in case his mana was depleted. The attack utilized high-frequency ultrasonic waves, delivering a lethal blow from the point of contact with the hammer to the target. It could easily split the head of a (C-) ranker in one hit.
The silver-masked woman remained unmoved, not bothering to dodge or block the incoming attack. The chain hammer landed squarely on the silver-masked lady's temple with a massive sound, but to Valtor's dismay, a small crackling sound followed. The cracks emerged from the hammerhead and soon the weapon split and flew into pieces. while the lady remained unscratched now even losing a single hair. Valtor's body quickly lost all vitality, and he became visibly thin.
The silver-masked lady slowly bent and kneeled, looking down at Valtor. "It's better this way after all. I gave you a chance," she said, placing her hand on top of Valtor's head and caressing it. Suddenly, a puddle of red and white mass splurted on the woman, painting her silver mask red. With a little bit of strength, she ended the life of another D ranker, as if swatting a mosquito. If Valtor had been a bit quicker in submitting those papers to Lady Aira's castle, he might still be alive today.
One of the two sigmas accompanying her removed Valtor's space ring and retrieved a stack of papers. He went to another sigma and started cross-checking the test results.
"Lady Star Sigma, there was a kid named Jago who got scouted. He seems to have the blessings of the wind spirit," said one of the white-masked men.
"Anything else?" asked the silver-masked woman, washing her hands with water.
"Yes, according to reports, there should have been 48 candidates who took the test in Allar, but only 47 reports remain. One test report of a candidate from Barn Village seems to be missing," he explained.
"Hmm... seems like we are on the right track. Very well, let's go to Barn then. And as for the boy Jago, tell the other sigmas and star sigmas who have infiltrated Sylvia to keep a tight watch on him. Oh! And don't touch him now. Aira's castle must have put him under tight security. We are not prepared to bear their wrath yet," she commanded.
"Yes, Miss Star Sigma," said the man. He then undid the soundproof closure surrounding the area. Another sigma threw a crystal ball to release the lizard eagle held inside it. They quickly mounted on the eagle and disappeared in a flash, not bothering to clean up the mess that tainted the pure elven forest. They knew that the D ranker they killed would only have a meager presence, and Aira's castle would not give his death a second glance.