Noble's debut

As he opened the shop, the few people waiting in front of the door came in without even saying anything. A little lost, Aurus merely looked at them and recognized them as the people who had been eyeing his shop a few days back.

Going back to his seat behind the counter, he pushed the rules in a location that was impossible to miss. Aurus instinct told him that something would happen with this group of people working for the nobles. However, he did nothing as he currently had no reason to kick them out. He would only act by the rules of the shop and until then he would let them do as they wished. After all, the more resources they saw, the more greed they would have. And this way, it would increase their sense of crisis against the two other noble families which would create positive business for him. After all, if you didn't buy the resources but you knew that your enemy did and you also know what kind of resources there was in the shop, would you really do as if nothing happened? Of course not. Since it represented the survival of their entire family they wouldn't accept not buying and would eventually come with most of their crystals. This was a pretty good way to become rich.

For the next half an hour, Aurus merely petted Zaya's feathers which were great to touch. At the same time, Zaya seemed to enjoy his touch. In those few days since he had 'captured' her, they had gotten closer and they understood each other more easily than before.

As he was petting her, he heard a bang in the shop. Turning his head towards the sound, he noticed one of the men had tried to break open the display case with the resources in it. Looking a little weirdly at the men, Aurus turned his head and continued to pet Zaya. It didn't matter if he tried to break the glass of the display case, it was made by the system and it wasn't so easy to break it. Yes, he had tried it himself previously. Although his cultivation wasn't that good at that time, he had tried and even asked Zaya for help and they never succeeded. This is what they did when he wasn't training in those two days and he had nothing to do.

A few moments later, the same man came in front of Aurus and slammed his hand on the counter. His face was completely red. Aurus couldn't tell whether it was because he used too much energy and he was exhausted, because of rage or because of shame at being unable to break the display case.

"Open the display case." The man didn't ask anything and directly issued an order to Aurus.

While there was the rule 'be polite to the owner', as long as he wasn't threatened or insulted he wasn't particularly difficult. As such, he got up and went to the display case the man had earlier tried to destroy.

"This one, sir?" Aurus asked. After all, while he understood that he wanted to take the resource for free, he would still quote the price to the man and ask for payment before giving it. He wasn't stupid, he knew that the man would either ask for more or just leave with it without paying. Well, in the second option, he felt the man would get hurt. He had the feeling he would be learning what is the shop's defensive system.

The man's face, upon hearing the question of Aurus, flushed red. "Yes, this one and every other one at the same time. I'm taking all of them."

Aurus flashed a 'sincere' smile and said: "That's great sir, let me count the right price. Oh right, you are aware that you can only use the resources inside the shop right?"

"Euh? What are you talking about? I'm not paying for anything you shithead. Give me the resources now."

Aurus still with the same smile on his face turned around and pointed at the rules which could be seen from afar.

"Sir, you see those words over there? The rules? Rule number 4 says that there is no loan available in the store and that if you cannot pay then don't buy. Rule number 7 said that as the customer you have to be polite to the owner or you can get lost and never come back." Seeing the rage of the man and seeing him summon his contracted beast, Aurus showed a smirk and said: "There is also rule number 5 which says that there can be no fights in the store."

Seeing the smirk of Aurus who continued to call out a new rule of the shop, he tightened his fist and looked at Aurus with a murderous look.

"Giant flame ape, go and kill that brat." Showing a cold smile, the ape went straight to Aurus. The other four men who had come in with the enraged men also showed cold smiles, not hiding their killing intent at all.

At the moment when he ordered the attack, he was considered to have attacked and the automatic defence system activated. Looking at the man with a sympathetic smile, the man showed doubt on his face but he didn't wait for long as pressure fell on both him and his contracted beast.

The contracted beast was killed on the spot and disappeared in particles while the man was slammed on the side of his body, like being hit by a truck and he flew out of the store. Thanks to the professionalism of the system, even the door automatically opened to let the man fly out, bloodied and a few broken limbs. However, this was only the physical injuries. In reality, his inner world was completely crushed and destroyed. The inner world after being destroyed disappeared from the men's mind and all the energy of his cultivation was sucked dry. The man came from being a Hunter with a contracted beast and cultivation which made him better than most people to someone even worse than them as he had broken bones and no energy left in his body. He would probably need to be bedridden for the next year and with good enough treatment, he would be able to go back on his feet. However, the reality was cruel. Do you really think the nobles would keep a broken and useless man and pay for him? The man's life was completely finished.

As for the contracted beast, Aurus received a system message saying that it had been collected by the system along with the inner world of the man to replenish its energy after the attack.

Being stunned for a while, Aurus smiled and looked at the four men who had shown killing intent previously. The four men gulped and obviously, they each made the same conclusion. Their leader, who was dying on the street, would be thrown off like garbage by the noble they worked for and his life was done for. The more they thought about it, the more scared they became.

Aurus, still with a smile on his face, talked to them: "I'm very sorry gentleman, that man broke the rules of the shop and tried to attack the owner of the shop, me. As such, he had to receive his due punishment. Please, continue what you were doing. If you need any help, I will be at the counter."

As Aurus turned around and walked to the counter, the four of them breathed a sigh of relief and turned away. Taking their leader from the ground, they left the vicinity of the shop.

Unknowingly to Aurus, from the moment the men had been kicked out, the three other families were close to the shop. They were all planning on going to visit. Two wanted to meet the owner of the shop and the other went there to make trouble and steal the resources for his master.

However, when they saw the bloodied body on the ground in front of the shop, the three of them hesitated, especially the men of the Watul family which was allied with the Mortel family. Considering the men of the Mortel family were leaving, they followed and went to ask them questions.

At the same time, the Falnis and Graynar families which were said to be the good families in Crayna city looked at each other with a smile as they went and entered the shop.

When the two groups, totalling seventeen people entered the shop, Aurus sent them a glance and seeing they didn't seem to be related to the previous group, he let them do whatever they wanted. The two leaders of the group came to Aurus and gave their greetings before leading their men to take a look at the resources.

Aurus lifted an eyebrow while seeing them enter the shop and greeting him. 'It seems it's true that those two noble families are more educated in good manners.'

Continuing to pet Zaya, he realized he became addicted to it. Getting up, he approached the people who were looking at the goods. As he got up, Zaya flew up to his shoulder and stayed there. It wasn't a problem anymore. Since his cultivation increased and his muscles and bones grew stronger, he could barely feel any difference on his shoulder.

He approached the men and asked: "Are there any specific effects you are looking for in your contracted beast?"

The man seemed surprised seeing Aurus approaching him with a flaming bird on his shoulder. "Yes, my contracted beast is of the metal element and I am looking for a resource which could heal its injuries and another one to improve its defensive abilities."

Aurus thought for a moment before asking: "May I ask what is the level of your contracted beast?"

"My black iron rhinoceros is at iron rank stage three."

Nodding his head, he went to a certain display case and opened it. Taking out a resource from it, he closed it right after before turning to one of the two leaders of those men. At the same time as he was talking to one of the leaders of the group, the other group came closer to see what was going on.

"This is the iron lion parsnip. This herb's main function is to heal the hidden injuries of the beast. It also possesses the property of increasing a little bit of defence and attack. If you really want to increase only its defence, I would recommend the metal cane. Its main function is to boost defence. This herb defence boost is about seven times the defensive boost of the iron lion parsnip but it doesn't possess any kind of healing element." While talking about the second herb, Aurus pointed to another display case.

Seeing that he was thinking, he waited until he lifted his head and looked at Aurus saying: "I'd like to start by buying the iron lion parsnip."

Aurus nodded, "Of course, this herb cost twenty-five crystals."

Quickly collecting the money, he gave the herb to the leader. Summoning, his contracted beast, he didn't wait and gave the herb immediately to his beast.

As the leader was giving the herbs to his rhinoceros, Zaya on his shoulder gave a low cry while looking at Aurus. Understanding that she was hungry, he patted her head saying: "Wait a little bit, I'll feed you soon."

As the contracted beast ate the herb, the effect was almost immediate. Black blood came out of the beast's body and a few seconds later, the beast got up on its feet and gave a loud roar.

Hearing the roar, Zaya was unhappy and gave out her own shout, looking at the beast of the leader. The black iron rhinoceros immediately stopped giving the shout. It almost felt like he had been silenced directly as it didn't dare to move or breathe while Zaya was looking at him.

Patting her gently on her head, she stopped looking at the rhinoceros and it came back to normal. However, everyone had seen what had happened. Especially the owner of the rhinoceros who felt the immense terror of his contracted beast when the bird on the shoulder of the owner looked at it.

At the same time, Aurus who still had a smile was wondering what had happened. He knew that in the world of Ernia, the phoenixes were considered nobles amongst beasts due to their strength and their ability to come back to life. So, in that world, it was normal to feel terror when being locked by a phoenix as it was inscribed in their genes. However, in this world, phoenixes didn't exist. How could it be possible that he was afraid of Zaya?

While it could be considered a coincidence, Aurus believed it was either that phoenixes lived in this world in ancient times and all of them disappeared or that phoenixes possessed a certain noblesse which made the other beasts revere it.

Unknowingly, Aurus had already touched the truth as they had indeed existed centuries ago and phoenixes were born as king and queens, at the same level as dragons which gave them a certain dignity.