Chapter Ten: Stupid Rule

"But isn't six gold coins a little too much? That's two times the price of the ones my son bought last time." Ted said.

"Well, last time and now are two different times aren't they, and someone like you should know that the price of commodities like this is always fluctuating in the market." Devon expressed. "These crystal ores are being sold for seven gold coins in the black market now, but since you desperately need some, I'll sell two to for one less gold coin."

After hearing him say that, Mr. Ted was quiet for a while before he turned his gaze to one of the food vendors across the street.

"Maybe I should go confirm from Kevin over there first." He said before taking a step forward.

"Sure, go seek advise from your competitor who obviously wants you to go down so that he can hug all the customers and their money."

Those words from Devon was the final strike that he needed as Mr. Ted quickly sat down on his seat.

"You're right, that was a dumb idea." He said before slapping his palm into his face. "But are you sure you can't give me a discount, I'll give you some meat for it."

'You want a discount, huh?' The youngster said subconsciously.

"Well, since you're offering something, I'll give it to you for five gold coins and three silver coins." He said.

"Uh…that wasn't the kind of discount I was looking for but fine, I'll take it." Mr. Ted said. "You have more than one, right?"

"Yeah, I have another one right here," Devon said before bringing out another crystal ore from his pocket.

Judging from how dark the crystal's blue was, Devon could tell that it came from some kind of hydro beast.

"Great, wait here let me get your coins and the meat I promised."

'Well, that was easier.'

After getting paid with his coins and the meat, Devon had to buy some more with the silver coins, but that wasn't exactly everything.

With everything now settled, Devon made his way back home with the handsome sum of coins he made from deceiving an old man and the few crystal ores he still had with him.

He made his underground quietly to avoid running into Aurora but there wasn't really any need for that as he wasn't able to get any sight of her until he got to his destination, Emilia's room.

"Hey, Emmy, can I come in?" He asked after knocking on the door.

"Yeah, it's open." She said.

After hearing her say that, he opened the door and entered the room to find her lying on her bed with her injured leg wrapped with some kind of white cloth.

"Hey, how're you doing?"

"She's behind you," Emilia muttered pointing behind him.

"Huh?" He responded before he quickly turned around and found Aurora standing right behind him. "Uh oh."

Aware of what was about to happen, he threw the park of meat to Emilia's bed just before Aurora pushed him against the wall.

"So, you've finally decided to show yourself, huh?" She said.

"Show myself? I have no idea what you're talking about?"

"You know playing dumb won't work with me and if you want to keep it up then fine, I'll spell it out for you."

"Aurora stop!" Emilia yelled before the situation could escalate further. "Please, I already told you that it wasn't his fault."

"And why am I supposed to believe you? This isn't the first time you're covering up his recklessness."

"You're right, I've done that before but this time is different, my situation would be worse than it is now if it weren't for him." She expressed.

"You heard what she said, now please let me go," Devon said.

"Hey, you are in no position to make any demands." She said before pushing him off to the side.

"Demands? I said please." He muttered with a confused expression on his face as he slowly got up from the floor.

"Even if it wasn't your fault, it doesn't excuse the fact that you left her instead of looking after her after you two got back," Aurora remarked with an assertive voice.

She was looking for another reason to blame him and it looked like she just found one.

"Where the heck have you been?" She inquired after pointing at him.

"That's the question you should have asked from the start, I went to get something."

"Get what?"

"What is this?" Emilia asked as she slowly opened the bag Devon dropped on her bed. "Is this…. chicken?"

"Yeah, that's what I had to go get."

"And how did you get the money to buy that?"

"I guess you still don't believe what everyone already told you about us killing a fire boar but I don't really care, the money is from the crystal ore."

"Oh."

After getting her to calm down, Devon slowly walked past her to help Emilia open the bag properly, but it's not like she needed any help.

"Hey, I bought this for you so take as many as you want, okay."

"Okay." She replied with a nod before taking a piece of the chicken in there.

"I'm just going to hold on to one for now." He said before he took one and turned his gaze to Aurora who was just standing there. "Hey, there's more than enough here for three of us if you're interested."

"Yeah," Emilia said.

"Really?"

"Yeah." He assured her before taking a bite from the piece he was holding.

"Okay." She mumbled before deciding to join them.

After eating a few pieces of the chicken, she looked back into the bag to see that Devon wasn't exaggerating when he said there was more than enough for the three of them.

"Hey, Devon."

"Yes."

"I'm curious, did you really buy all these with the money you got from a basic tier crystal ore?" She asked.

"Um…yes and no, I bought like seven pieces, the rest were um…"

"What?"

"They were stolen." He stated with a straight face.

"Seriously? I thought Michael already told us not to steal things like this."

Aurora was quite surprised that Emilia was the one to speak before she could even say anything.

"And just like I've already made clear to you, stealing is stealing no matter what it is that you're stealing, that moral induction makes no sense to me." He expressed. "Besides, it's not like they're being fair selling these little pieces of meat for a ridiculous price of two silver coins."

"You know he won't be happy with you if he hears this," Emilia said.

"Yeah, what if I tell him about it now?" Aurora said.

"Fine." He sighed before getting up on his feet. "Just make sure to also tell him that you took part in eating it. I'll be returning to my room now, goodnight you two."

Aurora couldn't come up with anything to say and just watched with her teeth gripping onto her lower lip as he left the room.

After leaving the room, he made his way straight to his room and crashed down on his bed.

"Stupid rule, it's not like stealing from the rich makes you any different from them." He muttered with his face sunken into the bed.

[ 15 pieces of chicken meat acquired ]

[ +75 mystic points received ]

[ 135/200 Mystic points ]

'I haven't even gotten the time to look at this.' He said subconsciously before turning to lie on his back. 'So, it's five points for one piece, interesting, and I need sixty-five more points to get to the next level. The only way to get these points that I know is stealing, Hmm.'

[ Invisibility: level 01 ]

[ Usage left today: 02 ]

[ Teleportation: level 01 ]

[ Usage left today: 03 ]

'Both of them are level one, so there has to be a way to get them to level two, it will be nice to see what I can do with Teleportation in the next level.'

[ -100 Mystic points ]

[ Teleportation: 100/100 Mystic points ]

[ Teleportation is now level 02 ]

[ +2 usages gained ]

[ Total daily usage: 07 ]

[ Usage left today: 05 ]

[ 35/200 Mystic points ]

'Oh, so that's how it works.'