Trouble magnet

Aurora took Nox and Raunos around the city, they got into a street where merchants sell their goods and proclaimed rare items, she intends to take them to a famous auction house where various rare items are being auctioned in 3 days.

"I know these streets very well, you should be careful around here not to be swindled or robbed," said Aurora.

"So even here there are swindlers," Nox said.

"Of course, this place isn't as peaceful as it looks, behind this quiet surface storms are brewing," said Aurora.

"And so is the case for any other big city," said Raunos.

A figure approaches, it's a young man the same age as Nox's party, he has brown hair, wears expensive clothes, and walks with his chin up, followed by another man who seems to be his lackey.

"Oh isn't it Aurora!" said the stranger.

"What are you doing here Damian!?" said Aurora.

"Can't I speak with my future wife? Don't be so harsh on me," said Damian.

"Who's your future wife!! Get lost already!" shouted Aurora, Nox interferes, as he knows that Aurora is uncomfortable with this guy.

"What's going on Aurora?" Nox asked, Damian didn't care about Nox and Raunos at first, since he didn't put them in his eye, but now feels offended by Nox casually calling Aurora by her name.

"Hey, who are you to talk to Aurora so casually?" asked Damian, with his chin up despite he's shorter than them.

"What does it matter to you who talks to me? I said get lost already!!" shouted Aurora, she can't stand Damian for always following her around, and calling her his future wife.

"Hey, you! You better not get close to my woman, or I'll make you regret it!" said Damian to Nox.

"Like she said, who's your woman? could it be the one next to you?" replied Nox while pointing his finger at Damian's lackey, Aurora's laughter filled the air around them, making everyone passing by take attention to what was happening, Damian's lackey didn't like the joke.

"Hey, how dare you talk back to boss Damian like that!" shouted the lackey.

"You messed up with the wrong guy, but you're lucky I am in a good mood now that I met my beautiful Aurora, but you better watch out next time," said Damian, then leaves the scene and hits his lackey's head.

Damian Blackthorn is from the Blackthorn family, who are experts in support magic, their family doesn't have any offensive power except for the family head, so they make arranged marriages with other families like the Aurora family, Damian has been eyeing Aurora Clover ever since his childhood, but she never took a liking to him, Aurora likes the act of Nox defending her against Damian's behaviour, but she worries that he might get into trouble because of her.

"Don't mind him, Nox," said Aurora.

"Trouble keeps coming my way no matter what haha," said Nox.

"If he tries anything, let me know, you stood up for me so it's only right that I protect you," said Aurora.

" I'll keep that in mind, thank you," said Nox.

"You're both lucky and unlucky, I don't know if I should feel jealousy or pity!" Said Raunos.

"Why don't you feel my punch instead?" replied Nox.

"I'm just kidding, but you're like a walking trouble magnet," said Raunos while giggling.

"Stop arguing and let me show you where the auction house is," said Aurora, then Nox realizes a common rock on a merchant's table.

"Wait a bit, I wanna check that merchant," said Nox.

"Hey didn't Aurora just warn us of swindlers?" said Raunos.

"That definitely looks like a swindler," said Aurora.

" It doesn't hurt to take a look," said Nox (why do I feel like I want to check his goods, my vision is weird too), his eyes see a weird red thread on the rock, but it disappeared. The merchant saw them approaching, and he saw an opportunity to make money.

"Hello dear customers, would you be interested in my unique goods, only those with high potential and a keen eye can know the values of these items," said the merchant, while smiling and rubbing his hands.

"I'm only interested in this rock," Nox said.

"Oh I knew you were special, let me tell you the story of this amazing rock!" the merchant said.

Once upon a time, a sage was creating a powerful rune, he added too many elements and skills concerning all classes ' Tanks, Spearmen, Archers, Artillery, Knights, Assassins, and Mages', but due to the immense power, the stone broke into 7 shards, that got lost in the whole kingdom, it is said that if you find even one shard, you can become the best in your category, but combining all the 7, will make of you an unprecedented legend, feared by everyone under heaven.

In this world, there are master engravers with very high mental power, and they know the Runic language, they engrave it into a special kind of rocks, and those rocks are equipped into artefacts to grant them additional perks, or skills.

Of every million people, there's only one who can read the ancient Runic language, and among them, only a handful can be considered engravers.

"And this piece that I have with me here, is one of the hundred shards" said the merchant.

"Oh really, something so rare could be casually put on a simple merchant table on the sidewalk, how credible!" said Raunos.

"The story you just said is indeed true, but it only shattered into 7pieces not a hundred, and whoever gathers those shards will be granted a magical skill of sorts to oppose heaven and earth, however, your rock simply looks fake, like a burnt product after a failed rune engraving," said Aurora, a burnt engraving is when the engraving fails, excess of power burns the rock rendering it useless.

"I'll buy it!" said Nox.

"Right let's go and... What!!!! Have I misheard?" asked Raunos, not believing that Nox would agree to this sketchy merchant.

"This shard is 2k taels!" said the merchant.

"This is daylight robbery, how dare you..." said Aurora.

"Alright, here's 2k!" said Nox, while handing 2000 taels to the merchant.

(Could it be that I was wrong about this shard, or is he just stupid?) thought the merchant, then said, "Uuh I mean, the item next to it is 2k but the shard is actually 4k taels,".

The merchant's shameless behaviour got Raunos and Aurora so angry that they wanted to rip him apart.

"Do you want to die? Don't you know who I am? To dare rob people like this!!" shouted Aurora.

"Alas, I wanted to relieve you of that broken rock out of goodwill but seems like you don't appreciate kindness, then forget it," said Nox.

"Dear customer please don't misunderstand, I'll give you a discount, it's just 2500 taels then, how about that?" said the merchant, then a pervy male voice sounded from behind them.

"5000 TAELS!" shouted the pervert, he's the same person who opposed Nox and his party at the Hotel this morning, he still hangs around with the same 2 girls he was with.

The merchant felt joy that the price just doubled, and he has no longer an obligation to sell the rock with a doubt that it might be worth more than he could inspect.