12 Shopping spree

Royal court, Kingdom of Britania

Pluto had just finished his report, he then looked towards the king to seek his approval only to find his majesty frowning. Court mages like Pluto have never set foot in battle between men much less than with magical beasts so he didn't know about the devastation it would bring.

The people gathered in the court started to have heated discussion among themselves. The king called for decorum and the court became quiet, he then asked his military adviser Emanuel Welson to share his view on the matter.

Emanuel spoke" Your highness the magical beasts have never directly committed aggression against us, the business of the beast men transgressions are troublesome but it is not a full blown war and if we adopt venerable Pluto's suggestion then there will be war and besides the other kingdoms might not support us or worse turn against us. So i suggest that we don't attack but prepare ourselves and gather more talents like the kingdom of Saurd which has opened its royal academy to its citizens."

The king then asked the opinion of the prime minister, who seconded the military adviser.

Pluto was downcast but didn't add anything to it as he was not a military person and it was true that his suggestion could plunge the kingdom into chaos. But he said what he said due to the prophesy of his teacher and if they wait till the danger arrives it would be too late.

The king weighed all the opinions and decided to open their royal academies to the commoners through a nation wide talent hunt.He could only hope that the preparations they make are adequate when the time comes.

***********************************************************

Back at the kingdom of Saurd

Ed had a nice sleep and just woke up, he found that his mother was particularly in a good mood and she had made breakfast. Ed inquired what had happened when he fell asleep and he found that his mother was going with aunt Laura and start their own clothing store.

It was something to celebrate as he was an entrepreneur in his previous life he knew the significance of a start up.

Ed wanted to share some of his own progress with his mother so he told her about how his cultivation had risen and he effectively absorbed the beast core his mother bought him.

Jenn was happy for her son but she knew that her son would require more resources and they still had some considerable debt. Her worries reflected in her face but Ed words surprised her.

Ed said "Mom don't worry about the money for resources as i have become stronger i can earn some money by hunting some wild animals. Besides we still need to buy back your wedding ring."

Jenn was so happy that her son was growing up to be a responsible young man but she knew that she had to constantly support her son.

Seeing that his mother had not taken him seriously Ed could only laugh. After his mother left to aunt Laura's house Ed started to plan his plan to cultivate.

He took a piece of paper and started to write his plan, after some time he held the paper and began to read

1. Need to procure detoxifying herbs to prepare the willow mushroom(task urgent ),willow mushroom was constantly losing spirit power as he didn't have a jade box to store it.

2. Can't go by myself to procure these as it will rouse suspicion,so need to find some lackeys

3. Need to get some live stocks and try to domesticate them.It may help mother.

4. Need to buy back mothers ring without her knowing it.

5. He needed a weapon preferably something handy like daggers and darts.

These were the things he needed to do immediately, he lucked out as he had several other cultivation materials thanks to the efforts of late Lord Enforcer. He just needed to cultivate and raise his strength till the talent exam at the end of this year.

Ed set out to select some lackeys, he went to the village to look for some vagabonds who would not be missed even if they died. Surely whatever era or world he lived Ed could surely find what he was looking for in the taverns and alley ways. He walked around the village and noted the various places the people gathered ,this was the first time Ed was touring around the village, even though their village was small it had its own market which had plenty of stalls where local and traveling merchants could be seen.

After noting down the people he would abduct he strolled into the market in order to have a look.

There were shops selling clothes , weapons for hunters, some sold books on medicine, languages of the 3 kingdoms and some low grade martial arts manual, these things were costly but some people did buy them. Ed figured that they must be influential people to books and weapons. Ed didn't mind these but there some books that did interest him, he noted down what he wanted to buy and by the time he exited the market it was noon and so Ed hurried back home to eat his lunch and told his mother that he went to play with the other kids. Jenn was busy so she didn't really mind and left after making lunch for Ed.

Ed once again went out but this time he covered himself in dark clothes and stalked some people when they entered the alleyway he knocked out them cold and dragged them towards the village border so he could have a better "talk" with them.

A few drunkards saw a small black hooded dwarf knocking out people and vanishing into the alleyways, but they thought that they had drunk some good stuff today and went their separate ways.

**************************************************************

In an unknown location near the village border

A group of drunkards where hung upside down and where constantly beaten by a dwarf covered in black clothing, the people who were captured were at first immune to pain but after they threw up the remaining alcohol in their stomach they began to sober up and felt pain and fear. They had done nothing wrong but they were mercilessly beaten, they tried to talk to the dwarf that was torturing them but it didn't reply, they tried threatening but this only increased the thrashing, so they finally decided to beg. After they had all begged the dwarf cut them loose and poured cold water on them and made them all kneel down, some fools tried to sneak attack the dwarf but were subdued and all the persons were again hung up as punishment and thrashed.

After sometime they were again cut loose , this time no one dared to do anything and all were obediently kneeling down like school children.

The dwarf stood motionlessly before them and after making sure that all had their attention on him he decided to speak in a muffled voice that made it difficult to understand, but the captives didn't dare to voice out their complaint and so they strained their ears to hear thing clearly.

The dwarf wanted them to run some errands and after they did their tasks they were free to leave and also paid 25 coppers each. The people kneeling down were excited but then again became wary as to what task the dwarf was going to give them.

***********************************************

Ed looked at the 10 people kneeling before him and laughed in his heart, it was easy to frighten and make them do his bidding. He canned them previously without saying anything in order to build fear, he purposefully allowed them to sneak attack so that he could beat them down and break their morale.

This was the stick approach and then he talked about the job and the possible reward, this was the carrot approach.

He split them into groups of two and gave each group some specific task, they were

1 group- buy all the martial arts,alchemy, medicinal and language books from the market and haggle as much as possible- they were given 8 silvers to purchase

2 group- buy a decent pair of dagger of higher grade and a crossbow and some bolts of good quality for the rest of the money.- he gave them 5 silvers

3 group- he gave them a list of herbs and the quantity at which they were to be bought- he gave them 4 silvers

4 group- to buy a basic alchemy practice set and a medicinal cauldron-gave them 6 silvers.

5 group - to buy a certain ring from the local pawn shop, he gave them a hand drawn sketch-gave them 12 silvers

After giving out the orders he released his killing instinct and spoke

" I will give you all 1 hour time to complete your tasks and meet back here to deliver the goods if any of you are late or try to contact others or do something funny i will kill all of your families, i know where you all live"

Ed proceeded to give them details of were they lived and how many family members they had, it was after all a small village so he mostly knew all of them. He was not joking when he threatened to kill all of them as his secret was more valuable, Ed didn't feel remorseful as it had to be done.

The people gathered there had some greed when they saw the silver coins but after feeling the killing instinct and the dwarfs threat they decided not to act rashly and killed their greed. They considered their lives precious.