Kindness begets Kindness

After resting for the night, Ace was feeling refreshed. All his fatigue from the journey has vanished.

Now, he was ready to explore the city. He went to Eva's room and knocked on her door. Since they were together, and she was also a member of his team, it would not be polite for him not to take her with him.

Eva came out wearing a white dress with a beautiful flower pattern on it. She was still in her disguise, but no matter how much she hid her true appearance, she couldn't hide her nation-toppling figure.

She smiled, seeing Ace, and said charmingly, "I was just about to look for you, but you're already here."

"I want to explore the city and find some information, so I thought it would be more convenient to take you with me since you were an expert on gathering information back home." He spouted some random nonsense while his eyes were unknowingly wandering around Eva's sexy body.

Eva didn't mind his impolite gaze and said while walking. "Let's go! We should take a stroll around this city marketplace. I also want to see this city's customs and other interesting things."

Ace didn't say anything and walked beside her. He was also planning to go to the market and see if he could find what he was looking for. They both exit the inn and go in the direction of the city market.

After walking for some time, they finally reached a crowded place. It was the biggest market in Red Mountain City. There were numerous shops of weapons, herbs, medicine pills, clothes shops…

Eva's eyes were shining brightly after seeing all those beautiful clothes, especially armor for females. She loved wearing light armor because she was used to them from a young age, and now she felt uncomfortable if she didn't wear one. Ace has already given her a 2-Star weapon, so she also wants a new set of full-body armor.

While Eva was checking all those clothes and armor shops, Ace noticed something strange. He saw that in this big market, more than 80% of people didn't have big bags or other stuff for holding things. He only saw little palm-size colorful bags hanging around their waist, and all those who had them were also cultivators.

Ace finally couldn't hold his curiosity and stopped moving in front of a small bookstall. Eva saw him going to the small bookstall and also followed in confusion.

A middle-aged woman was standing in this stall. She was the owner. When she saw Ace and Eva stopped in front of her small stall, she smiled kindly and asked, "Young lad, what kind of book do you need?"

After seeing that woman smile kindly, Ace nostalgically remembers the old aunty, his neighbor in the slums.

She was poor just like him and had a little kid, but someone from the inner region killed her husband because he accidentally touched that nobleman's clothes.

She was a powerless, lowly woman, so she didn't get justice. On the contrary, she got beaten because she wanted to get revenge on someone from the inner city. After making peace with the fact that she couldn't avenge her husband, she gave up and started to work to raise her little kid.

At that time, Ace had just moved from his old parent's house in the slums. That lady often gave him and Alina some food after she heard that they were orphans. She was feeble but very kind-hearted. When Ace left that hut in the slums, he left behind 300 Ruby Coins for that old aunty.

After seeing his lady, Ace had a nostalgic look in his eyes and said politely, "I want to buy some books on the information of the Land of Cities, like which is the strongest city in the entire land of cities."

He didn't want to buy anything at first, but after seeing her resemble that old aunty, he didn't want to disappoint her for some reason.

That middle-aged woman smiled, hearing Ace talk to her politely. He was her first customer, and it was the first time someone had talked to her this respectfully.

"I have three books of this kind, and one of them even has a rough map of the land of cities. If you want to buy a more detailed map, you should go to the City Herbs & Weapons Shop. It is the biggest shop in the market and controlled by the city lord's family." Since he was respectful towards her, she gave him a suggestion kindly.

Ace nodded and said while smiling, "I want to buy these three books, and I'll go to that shop later because Aunty suggests it to me."

She felt a little warm in her heart after he said that. She replied, "You can have these books; they're not that expensive. Just consider it a gift from your aunt." She wrapped those books and gave them to Ace.

Ace was going to decline her offer, but seeing her gentle smile and the sincerity in her voice and soul, he couldn't hurt her kind feelings. After he thought of something, he accepted the books politely.

That lady smiled broadly after seeing him accepting her precious books; if not for her difficulty, she would've never sold them. But giving them to Ace for free, she felt happy about it.

Ace asked her about something that was the main point of him stopping at this small stall, "Aunty, I was curious about something; why do most of the people have those small colorful bags hung on their waist?"

She didn't mind his question. After all, this was the question that most people who were not from a 1-star city usually asked.

She replied while smiling, "Those bags are storage bags that can store objects without Qi in them. They are common in 1-star cities and quite expensive. You can also buy them in that shop I mentioned before; I only know this much about them."

Ace was astonished by this new information. He didn't think he could find something like this here. He thought that only space storage treasures could store objects inside them, and they were all controlled by a kingdom-level power, but he didn't expect that there were also these storage bags.

'Since they can't store objects with Qi in them, it must be the reason that they could be bought with ruby coins in 1-Star Cities. I have to get one! It will be a perfect camouflage for my thief's space. I don't have to carry this useless bag and pretend all the time.' He thought.

"Thank you, Aunty! I'll be going now. You take care of yourself. If I am still around the area, I'll visit you again. Farewell."

He didn't want to delay her business anymore and headed in the direction of the shop that she suggested. He wanted to buy this storage bag as soon as possible.

Eva didn't say anything when he was having a conversation with that lady, but when she heard about storage bags, she also became excited and said to Ace cutely, "Hey! I want one, too!"

Ace couldn't resist her eager, beautiful eyes and nodded helplessly. 'You're the old one here!'

---

That lady saw both of them leave her little stall and sighed, 'Looks like I still won't be able to make any money today. And Mloi's illness is getting worse day by day. But I can't make myself take money from that little lad. He was probably the same age as my Mloi's and was so courteous. Did I have to sell my body after all, just like that bastard said?'

She was thinking about a bastard ruefully when she saw there was a small bag under the other side of the stall that was not far away from her feet. She was astounded by it because it was the bag that Ace was carrying with him.

'How does it appear here from that lad's hands?'

She didn't think much about it and wanted to grab that bag and look for Ace to give it back to him. But before she could grab it and look for him, she saw a note that was written on the back of the bag.

'Aunty, this is also a small gift from your nephew. Don't reject it!'

She smiled after reading this note and muttered softly, "That brat! He must be a legendary cultivator since he was able to leave this bag and note without me noticing it."

She didn't expect a boy she called' lad' to be a cultivator; he even wanted to buy those old books from her. 'But why?'

She grabbed the bag and felt it was quite heavy. She opened it to check what was inside it, and her eyes went wide with shock when she saw that the bag was filled with glittering ruby coins!

'OH LORD HEAVENS!' she exclaimed in shock.

Although she wasn't that poor after all, she lived in a 1-Star city. Still, she was forced to sell all her husband's old collection of books because her daughter had become ill, and her husband had gone missing some years ago. She spent almost all of her husband's savings to search for him, but it was all in vain.

These books were his only memories left now, but she had no other choice but to sell them because of her ill daughter.

These books were old, and until now, no one had bought one. Ace was the first to come to her small stall and wanted to buy these old books. But after seeing him so warm and courteous to her and even calling her 'aunty,' she felt close to him and decided to give him these books for free. It was an unknown act of kindness from her heart.

But she didn't expect him to return her kindness by giving her thousands of ruby coins that she needed desperately, and she couldn't even thank him in person.

Tears started to fall from her eyes as she looked towards the direction where Ace had vanished and bowed her head while muttering chokingly, "Thank you for showing this kindness to me and my daughter. We'll never forget it, ever!"