Aldrich listened to the old man, shaking his head.
"He never changes his ways, does he."
Aldrich had already dealt a lot with the old man in his past life and knew he liked to intimidate the customer into squeezing out their maximum profits.
But he knew how to deal with him.
"Yeah, you are right. Brent, a mage specializing in spatial magic ", Aldrich smirked as If challenging the old man's authority.
"you know I could kill you in a blink of an eye", Brent said, releasing killing intent towards Aldrich.
"Who said I cannot do the same" Aldrich took out his twin swords, releasing his intent in the shop. He knew the only way to handle Brent was to take his provocation head-on.
"looks like the information I received was wrong." Brent returned back to his usual self.
"You got guts. I will provide you information about the Drew Orphanage for free. But the information about Mana Attributes, especially those you are looking for, wouldn't be cheap. In fact, credits cannot buy such information, so how about an equal exchange?"
Aldrich knew what the old man was referring to. He wanted to check if Aldrich was worth investing in.
"What do you want me to do?"
Brent got up from his seat and walked towards Aldrich. He clapped his hands as a document appeared in his hands. He handed it to Aldrich, saying.
"I had appointed one of my subordinates to gather information about Count Ash, who has recently climbed the rankings in the Empire and is currently handling a medium-sized territory in the south of the Empire.
Everything was fine until two weeks ago when we lost all communication with my subordinate. I want you to go to the count's territory, retrieve my subordinate, and bring him back to me. Dead or Alive"
Aldrich could sense that it was a dangerous mission,
"Is this too much to ask from a warrior who has just reached the first star?" he tried to extract some information from Brent.
"I can sense that you are not some average one-star warrior. Plus, the last information provided by my subordinate reporting demonic activities in the territory. Appointing others will create too large of a movement to go unsuspected, but if it's the techniques of the Drakewind family, you might be able to take care of the situation by yourself."
Aldrich's eyes glinted with bloodlust at the mention of demons.
"They were suspected to be behind releasing the seal over dragons. I have to check it out myself if demons are involved."
Aldrich looked towards Brent and said, "I will take this mission. Hope you don't forget our deal."
"Also, I would need artefacts to change my appearance. I stand out way too much", Aldrich sighed.
"Deal. You will get your items delivered. Pleasure doing business with you."
Aldrich left the shop, knowing he had to fight against the assassins sent by Andre.
"Let's deal with all of them at once", Aldrich thought, tired of the already created mess in his life.
"I know you guys are following me. I surrender. Take me to your master", He calmly said, raising his hands. He aimed to deal with the master directly.
"Smart boy", The assassins rose from the ground and held Aldrich by his wrists.
"You will understand what happens when you mess with young master", the man spoke in Aldrich's ears.
The men took Aldrich to a dark alleyway near the Auction house.
"We have got him", the assassins knelt, looking at the man before him.
"As I thought", Aldrich looked towards the man who had ordered these assassins. "He isn't even trying to hide his identity."
It was Andre.
Andre looked at the cloaked figure kneeling in front of him.
"Get the pendant from him and give it to me", he coldly said.
"As you - "but before the assassin could complete, a sword slashed through his face, splitting it into two.
"BROTHER!!" the other assassin screamed, rushing towards Aldrich to kill him, but Aldrich jumped into the air, creating a spear of raw mana, throwing it towards the assassin, killing him as well.
Andre realized that this man was not someone he could deal with, as he dealt with both of his servants with relative ease, and he started to run away. He flared his mana, increasing his speed and running towards his guards.
"Running away?" Aldrich caught up to Andre and kicked him in the chest, throwing him to the ground.
"Y- you can't kill me; my family won't let you be", Andre shouted.
"It's true", Aldrich said; he knew Andre's guards would be here soon. He had to be quick. Plus, he couldn't kill Andre, which might affect Aria's admission to the academy, who joined as Andre's helper.
"Give me all your items", Aldrich said.
"What?",
Aldrich swung his sword, stopping it just before Andre's nose.
"Should I repeat again?",
"You will come to regret it," Andre said, slowly taking off his equipment before storing them in the ring and giving them to Aldrich.
"Good boy", Aldrich said as he started running away.
Moments later, a group of 3-star soldiers rushed towards Andre, asking him what had happened.
"Catch that bastard!!" he shouted, pointing towards Aldrich, who was running away.
Aldrich was fast, but he couldn't match the speed of an Advanced 3-star warrior. He rushed towards the store before screaming.
"Old man help",
"brat", the old man sighed, flicking his fingers, teleporting Aldrich to his estate.
The soldiers rushed into the shop, asking the old man the whereabouts of the bastard running this way.
"I haven't seen anyone", the old man shrugged.
"Liar, do you think you can save the man?" one of the soldiers shouted before attacking the old man.
"tch, kids these days don't even respect their elders" The old man clasped his hands together as all the men disappeared into thin air.
"That kid better do something for me", Brent grunted.
Meanwhile, in the Drakewind Estate, Aldrich rushed to his room," I will give the old man some candies", he thought, remembering that he loved eating candies.
Aldrich looked at the pendant, clenching it tightly. "I will meet you in the academy, Aria."
Aldrich looked towards the items he had obtained from Andre.
"Why does his ring have nothing useful except a map. Did he sell everything for it?" Aldrich took out the map, inspecting it closely.
[Treasure Map Obtained. Location: Solaria Ruins. Time till Opening: 1 year]