Embarrassing Secret

He went towards it, saw it with his truth eyes, turned towards Prakhar, and said

"Brother, can you explain what this is?" "I hope you don't mind me calling you brother."

Prakhar turned and said, "Not at all; we are all like brothers here, so it's fine." Then he saw what Ram was holding, and he started sweating.

Hanu looked at both Prakhar and Ram and then at the item he was holding, and he became confused.

"I saw it was on the road and picked it up." Prakhar said this while stuttering

"Are you sure it was on the road, lying, and not with me?" Ram asked while looking straight in his eyes.

The item Ram had just picked up was actually the item he just traded with the leader of Wooden Village sometime ago, and as far as he remembers, he took the item from the leader and directly kept it in the spatial ring, so how did Prakhar get it? This was the heat-generating marble ball that was once the item of the "Blazing Ice Queen."

"Okay, okay, I agree, I took it, but you had said during the trade that it was a useless product." Prakhar said this in his defence, but was responded to with a light slap on the head.

Pat…

"Idiot, it's not a useless product. No product is ever usless; everything has its own purpose. I told this during trade to make the leader feel a little pressure and try to make him owe me a favour."

"Yeah, but you don't need it. So I thought I would just keep it in my collection."

"Who told you I didn't need it, and 'what collection'?" Ram asked while immediately seeing Prakhar regret what had just slipped out of his mouth.

Ram smiled, as he was sure that now some huge can of worms was going to be opened.

"Listen, Prakhar, I just want to know how you took it and with what method, and I have a purpose for this marble ball now; when I am done with it, I will give it to you if you want it."

"And can you show us brothers?" Ram said while pointing towards Hanu and himself. "Your collection."

Ram said this while smiling.

"What collection? I don't know anything, so let's discuss the wooden village and focus on our mission."

Prakhar responded

"Hanu, do you mind me taking some time out to discuss my item that was 'stolen' before?" Ram ignored Prakhar and directly asked Hanu about his opinion.

"No, I don't mind; in fact, I also want to know the details about the 'collection," and anyway, we have a full night ahead of us; we can discuss our mission after some time." Hanu responded to Ram with mischief in his eyes.

"Why are you both together in this? Don't you have a heart? Every second wasted in not discussing the plan for the mission, someone from the wooden village suffers." Prakhar said while looking at both Hanu and Ram, showing his righteousness, but they responded with silence and a smile on their faces.

"Shit… Okay, I'll tell it all."

The smile on both Hanu's and Ram's faces extended, and Prakhar, after seeing this, only shook his head and said,

"As you both know, I am a traveller and usually travel from one place to another for the village, but sometimes this work gets really boring, so I picked up a hobby." Prakhar said and looked at his 'brothers," who were listening with amusement on their faces while he continued.

"Wherever I go, I pick up an item that is not useful for anyone at that place, keep it safe, and label it with the date and place along with a brief introduction of where and how I acquired it."

"So basically, you steal from places." Hanu stated.

"No, I don't steal; I just keep it safe, and anyway, the items I take are always those that have been forgotten and not used for a while, and no one would even remember that item ever existed, so it's not stealing."

"But those items are not yours to take, so it's definitely stealing." Hanu said.

"It's not stealing; it's keeping it safe." Prakhar responded.

"Ha.. haha. haha."

Ram, after listening to all this, couldn't stop himself from laughing, and after some time, when he saw that he was the only one laughing, he stopped in embarrassment and said,

"Whether it is stealing or not, it is not our job to judge, but all I can say is, Prakhar, if you have picked up any item from Hanu or the village one, please return it."

"I never take anything from our own village or its citizens; I took it from you because you said you are not a citizen of the village One yet." Prakhar answered with confidence.

"Okay, it's fine; I don't mind it. Just don't repeat it with me again, that's all."

"I am sorry, I won't do it." Prakhar answered.

"Okay, if you really mean what you said, I think you should return the item that was given to me by the wooden village leader to the table." Ram said with a polite smile, while Hanu turned his attention towards the table, got shocked, and thought, "When did he take it?" I have been sitting in front of it the whole time."

"I didn't take it; I just kept it safe." Prakhar said it and returned the item to the table from his spatial ring.

Ram just shook his head and thought, "So basically he is suffering from kleptomania."

"Okay, thanks for returning the item; now can you tell me how you took the item both during the trade and right now?"

Prakhar, after hearing this, hesitated for a while, then, after thinking, said

"I can't disclose too much as it's part of my secret, but all you can know is that I am a spiritual cultivator and have made a pact with a shadow creature to help me with this. This creature, which I will not show you, has the ability to travel in the shadow. I hope this answers your doubt."

Prakhar responded with a little irritation, while Hanu nodded.

Ram thought "When I had seen him with Supreme Truth eyes before, I knew he was a spiritual cultivator with level 2 (beginner) cultivation. I had wondered how he with level 2 (beginner) cultivation was proficient in doing his travelling job safely, so this was the reason. So the spiritual cultivator has to make some kind of pact with some creature and use its power."

Ding!

"Congratulations, Host, for figuring out the way of spiritual cultivation."

"The host is rewarded with a scroll containing a full basic understanding of spiritual cultivation."