Two days earlier he came from Elder Rose's place with the herb. It was also the same time he accidentally found out about the elder's secret.
Eric must have found out and came to exhort him using the reason of his borrowed money from his father.
Eric came at a bad time, when Adrian was poisoned, so had been chatting with the coachman.
" If you can't take out the money I'll be taking the house." Eric threatened Adrian since he had the contract as proof. Adrian had taken the loan from Eric's father with the house as collateral.
Eric was waiting to see Adrian panicking, but Adrian stood there looking at him with a strange smile.
Eric couldn't help being puzzled. He was waving the contract around, but Adrian didn't hurriedly start talking about it. He was just standing there, seeming very carefree... and he was looking at him very strangely.
That gaze didn't seem like one that would be given to a creditor, but more like one that would be used when looking at a ridiculous clown.
Eric wanted to shout a few ruthless threats to cow Adrian into a wretch that would fall down and start begging him, but for some reason, the words he wanted to say got stuck in his throat.
" In any case, either you repay the debt today or use the house to repay the debt. Otherwise I'll hand over this contract to the authorities. Let's see who dares to stop me from taking the house. "
Quite strangely, Adrian was relaxed as if he hadn't heard Eric's malicious threat. He smiled but didn't say anything.
Eric couldn't help becoming angry seeing Adrian's relaxed and smiling face.
" You already saw I have the contract as proof, you owe my father 15000 gold! I'll give you two paths. One is to pay now directly, and the other is to use the house as payment. "
" The house is definitely a no, back then the house was bought for 38000 gold, that's more than double the debt... so using the debt of 15000 is definitely overly 'fair'. "
Eric's expression seemed almost murderous as he ignored Adrian's sarcasm and pressed on.
" So you'll be paying the gold directly? "
" Paying back in gold coins is not impossible... " Adrian began before trailing off.
" You really want to pay back the gold? " The answer was far from Eric's expectations. He was feeling stunned because everyone knew that after the injury Adrian suffered and thrown out of the palace, he had lost his family financial support. Even his current residence had nothing of value.
How could he come up with the money?
No way, that would be impossible.
He coughed twice, trying to show a calm face. " That's good, the total is 15000. Go get it."
" There's no problem with repaying the money. But young master Eric, I just borrowed the money about four days ago, and the contract says to pay by the end of the week. So I still have three more days to pay, otherwise how do I know you just want to exhort me more money. Oh? Sorry, young master Eric, I'm not trying to say you are a swindler... "
" Are you making fun of me? " Eric's face became nasty when he heard that.
He gave Adrian a vicious glare before yelling. " Jimmy! Jimmy! Damn it, get your ass here, quick! "
Shortly after Eric's yell, a huge man followed by two men arrived. The huge man, seemingly the leader, was a bald man with a long scar on his face and an ominous glint in his eyes.
He walked up to Adrian and asked " You are the kid messing with young master Eric? "
Adrian looked up at him with a strange smile and said to him cryptically " Side characters should keep quiet when the main character is talking."
" Fucker, speak less nonsense! " In his line of business, Jimmy was known for being vicious and merciless.
Perhaps it was because he had been distracted for a moment by Adrian's statement, but he felt that he had lost face, so he threw a punch at Adrian with his right hand.
Adrian didn't even bat an eyelid as he effortlessly caught that fist while politely saying " It's dangerous to throw your fists randomly everywhere you go, you could hurt somebody."
" Wh... What? "
It was immediately followed by a bloodcurdling scream.
To everyone's shock, Jimmy's right hand had been twisted weirdly.
Jimmy certainly wasn't weak for someone in his position. In fact he was a peak third order cultivator.
It was really unfortunate that he met Adrian. Although Adrian was a second order, in reality a hundred Jimmy would not be enough to face him let alone make him break a sweat to deal with them. This was the difference in experience. It wasn't something that his efforts could make up for.
Adrian didn't even use half his strength and he instantly broke his hand, taking care of this scoundrel.
After letting go of that right hand, Adrian acted as if he hadn't heard that mournful scream at all and turned to Eric, a calm smile plastered on his face.
Eric froze in place, eyes blank and mouth wide open, his face filled with disbelief. ' Th... th... this... This is way different from what I planned! Shouldn't the event have started with Jimmy coming, beating the guy for a bit and ended with the guy kowtowing asking for forgiveness? How could it become like this? '
He had trusted Jimmy too much, but now the scoundrel was lying down and covering his twisted right hand howling in pain. Meanwhile, the culprit, who he imagined would be kowtowing shedding pitiful tears, was standing there casually, looking at him with a strange smile...
' That smile... Hold on, he also smiled at Jimmy like that just now. ' Eric couldn't help shivering when that thought popped into his mind and he stumbled a few steps back.
" W... Wha, what are you trying to do, you should know who my father is! If you dare lay a finger on me, he'll..."