Trust issues

" You are a high school student with not a penny to your name. What compensation could you pay ? " Claire snarked. 

" I … " Percy stuttered. Her words are correct. 

" Claire Bassett ! Don't go too far. It is you who got the goods illegally in the first place. We did not tell anything to the police, It's just a regular customer who was a guard which caused issues. It's not even our fault, yet, we are here apologizing. What's with your attitude ? " Peter Ho, who was Percy's friend, yelled at her angrily. 

Percy stopped him immediately. 

" He is your friend ? " she asked Percy, while Zayne glared fiercely at the guy. Peter was immediately cowed into stepping back. 

" I .. am sorry. " Percy apologized awkwardly. 

" Percy Hornet ! I did business with you because I thought you were not a bad person. Now I see, it's not that you are not bad, it's just that you are a pushover. You want to pay compensation ? Then chop a hundred bamboo trees, and place them there. When it's done, consider I accepted your apology. " she said, her voice full of disappointment. 

She knew guys like Percy. Well.. if this is how his trust worked, no wonder his sister paid for his mistakes.

Percy wanted to say something, but he walked away defeatedly. The guys behind wanted to say something scathing to Claire, but unfortunately, Zayne started radiating frightening air. 

At this point, they clearly knew, while Claire makes a big noise, she still hits gently. Zayne is the opposite. He did not expect Peter to be as rude to Claire. In these troubled times, no one is willing to look after another person. Percy is not naive enough to think that another person ought to do something out of the kindness of their heart. Even his own father did not care enough about him and his sister. That was why he was so desperate to reach out to his selfish uncle who provided the hint to the police for money. Ofcourse, his uncle insisted he was innocent, but Percy did not believe him. 

Ofcourse, the last part is Percy's guess. His uncle insisted that he did not go to the police, but he was not a trustworthy person in the first place. His friends insisted that it is Claire's fault for not telling him these are contraband goods. 

However, who doesn't know that fish is contraband ? 

The buying party did not ask, the selling party did not speak, in the end, it's all plausible deniability. It's implied indirectly they are all working in the gray area. The guards who eat at the stall did not know that ? or did his uncle who went to the police did not know that ? 

His uncle was willing to throw his nephew under the bus for that little money. After all, if this went a wee bit wonky, then Percy would be the one in trouble instead of the seller. In the first place, Percy did not open his mouth about who sold him goods. But, both of his friends are all too fast to spill the beans. 

In the end, what Claire said was right. He trusted the wrong people. The repercussions brought trouble to her. At the end of the day, she could sell her goods to any one, but she is the only supplier he knows. 

Percy swung his machete more and more angrily as he chopped the bamboo trees, and his two friends chattered from either side, scolding Claire for her opportunistic behavior. 

In the end, he chopped seventy trees, his friends both chopped and dragged fifteen trees. 

This time around, Percy decided. These two could only be friends, not business partners. 

His uncle can not be relied upon. 

He must join the party of Claire Bassett, no matter the price he pays. Even if she only pays ten percent out of the hundred percent he earns, he is sure that measly ten percent will be more than sufficient to survive when she guides him. Claire and Zayne are the most powerful people he knows. Their father is an outsider in this town, and he was an opportunistic and vain man who lived on the hard work of their mother. Now that his mother is gone, he is depending on the hard work of himself and his step mother. 

This still would have been a bearable situation, if he did not have a younger sister to protect. His step mother hated his younger sister. So, to get out of the house earlier, he needs all the help he could get. At the end of the day, common sense clearly told him… Claire and Zayne are in a different league when compared to his friends who could only bow and scrape to authorities. 

He watched Claire with a policeman on the day. The way she lied so effortlessly ! with not even a shiver under the oppression of the officer ! Percy knows he would never be able to keep his cool like that. 

Zayne… he used to feel dangerous, but now, it feels downright like a god of death staring at you when he looks at you. Fear will stop you from moving an inch. Such a person still listens to her… 

After he cut the hundred trees, and dragged them to place, he went to Claire. 

" I placed all the hundred trees there. " he told her, showing the location. 

Claire nodded indifferently. 

" We are even now. " She said nonchalantly. 

" I .. I understand where I went wrong. If I correct it, could you take me in, please ? " Percy asked hopefully. 

She stayed silent. 

' This is a wrong question from the beginning. You should say ' When I correct ' instead of ' If I correct ' .. ' she mused. 

Percy waited for her answer. 

After hearing nothing even after three minutes, he looked up. Only to see the hesitant face of Claire. 

" I understand. " he said dejectedly, then returned to the town. 

Zayne and Claire kept up their chopping of the trees. Now that the interlopers are gone, Claire placed all the chopped bamboo trees in the slime ring. With the trees, it's now twenty species, and there's only one more slot left. 

Claire chopped her bamboo carefully, following all the rules of woodland maintenance. She left the sturdiest tree alone, and chopped down the tallest tree, and the remaining around in a ten meter wide circle. Enough ground is left between each bamboo tree for people to walk comfortably. Bamboo shoots will come up in this area, which could be dug out to form another food source for the village. 

She continued onwards, chopping down not just bamboo trees, but also any and all hardwood trees. After all, she has blade manipulation now. Chopping down a tree is as simple as waving a hand. It's collecting it that's the problem. Fortunately for her, Zayne has the storage ring, which has plenty of space, so they continue collecting the different kinds of trees. However, unlike the bamboo that's processed in a mysterious way by the slimes, she has no idea what to do with these hardwoods. 

Once they traveled deep enough into the forest to encounter wild animals, they stopped. 

The children were literally jumping off the walls when they returned. 

Robin, who mastered the art of manipulating the balls, put these little metal balls into plastic balls, then kept manipulating them to bounce the balls all over the house. 

The twins and Dolce are jumping around all over the house trying to catch these balls. If they wall and bruise themselves, Brea just heals them on the spot with a touch, then they go right back to jumping around. 

Looking at the pandemonium, Claire did not even have the energy to get angry. She should have expected this. Why didn't she ? 

This is the reason people do not let children awaken. What does it matter if it affects their growth or not ? It will definitely affect their mortality rate. 

" Stop. " Zayne was the one to get angry this time around. 

The scene immediately became a freeze frame. 

A second later, the children and flying balls all fell down at the same time like rain drops. 

" awwooow " Dolce screeched, running immediately to Brea, whose hand moved automatically, healing his wounds. 

Credence and Prudence, for once, displayed the qualities befitting their names, and did not run to Brea. 

Claire just waved her hand at them, gesturing them towards Brea. 

Brea healed their injuries immediately. 

" I will leave this to you. " Claire told Zayne, turning her head away. 

As she cooked mechanically, she thought about her secret base. The children need an outlet for both the magic, and their energy. They have already been quite well behaved despite not going out much for almost two weeks. However, accidents will happen if she still does not provide them with an outlet. 

The only question is whether she wants to trust Caspian and allow him to know her underage family. 

It's too early, Claire opined. 

At the same time, she knew… she has to make this call sooner than later.