Chapter 018. Meeting an acquaintance at the wrong time

“Ah, if it isn’t Mr. Bonlis! I’ve been expecting your arrival.”

A well dressed portly figure of a man welcomed them enthusiastically as soon as they arrived. In a building

“I still think your alias is a load of crap.” Ayla remarked in a way that only both of them could hear her. She stared at the bounding man that screams ‘rich’ in gold letters with a blank expression.

Caelum pouted and shoved the three boxes to Ayla’s arms. “Carry this for me please.” Whatever Ayla says—he still think it’s a genius move to use his last name in reverse as his alias.

“I trust you have secured the goods without problems.” The man finally arrived in front of them while smoothing his mustache daintily. Even his mustache probably cost a lot of shekels to maintain for a long time.

“Of course, Mr. Goodbeard. Everything is well accounted for your capable hands. I trust that you’ll safely deliver these goods to the customers.”

Caelum and the man immediately shook hands while Caelum started showering flattery regarding the interior of the building. This building is owned by ‘Galaxy’, the trade company run by the man in front of them.

Mr. Goodbeard laughed heartily while patting his belly. “I almost didn’t want to proceed with the contract because of the stricter protocols on Keren. Mr. Bonlis, you truly are the martyr in the business world. Oriental goods had been sparse and more expensive today.”

He pinched the tip of his mustache thoughtfully. “Hmm…the only thing I’m afraid is how the demand stabilizes again.”

Teas had always been a staple beverage that is enjoyed by every social class in any time of the day. However, aeviternus only have small variety of teas unlike the colorful selection of foreign teas of which ‘oriental’ tea leaves made by the Lisbons is under.

Caelum’s smile stretched even wider as if he perceived something that nobody knows. “I’m confident that my tea leaves had left a long lasting impression to the people’s taste buds.”

“Talking like the next biggest business magnate! That’s an excellent mindset, Mr. Bonlis. Fortune favors the bold indeed!” Mr. Goodbeard cackled, slapping Caelum on the back good-naturedly.

Caelum coughed at the unexpected impact, laughing airily along with Mr. Goodbeard’s booming laugh.

“Let’s write a new contract again! From now on, we’ll conquer the entire tea industry of Aeviternus!” Mr. Goodbeard declared enthusiastically. His pot belly puffing out passionately.

…

Ayla and Caelum sighed in unison after they finally stepped out of the building. The sun was still up in the sky when they stepped inside the building, but now the sun had descended low enough in the horizon. A warm glow of the sun painted the city deep orange.

“Finally, that’s done.” Caelum placed his hands on his hips with his shoulders drooped down.

Ayla placed her hood over her head with a pinched expression. The humid had gotten worse throughout the day and her hair had visibly raised at the top.

They didn’t expect the talk to take them a long time. Who knew that guy is obsessed with music boxes… “Well, at least that’s already one thing solved for me. I always wanted that guy as a permanent business partner.” Caelum let a long sigh, stretching his arms triumphantly.

“…”

Caelum noticed the way Ayla stared eerily at him and scratched his chin as he scan the buildings around them. How is the hood just made her ten times more ominous?

“Man, I’m staaaarving. Come on let’s go eat, eat!” He cheered as he steered her by the shoulder down a random street.

“As I am a magnanimous person. It will be my treat.” He stated patronizingly while wittingly ignoring Ayla’s pursed lips. Having a thick skin is a good characteristics!

Most of the crowd from earlier had already went back to their homes and only a small number of people now linger on the streets. Streetlights imbued by ores began to ignite one by one as most of the side peddlers began to pack for the day.

“I want to eat kebab.” Ayla muttered seriously.

“Then let’s get kebab!” Caelum nodded encouragingly like a bootlicking official #1.

It was then a sound of crates shattered by a strong impact capture their attention, causing them to pause in their track in unison. Some idle people really can’t help but cause the rest of the law-abiding citizens inconvenience…

The two eyed each other gravely before facing to their left. The shouts and inaudible arguments looks to have ensued from this dark alleyway.

In the alleyway, they witnessed what seems to be an interrogation with five burly thugs cornering someone. They didn’t even noticed their presence as they were focused on what’s happening in front.

Once they were close enough, they could see a more leaner guy in front of the thugs talking down on a person leaning on the ground weakly. “Let’s make this easier for you kid. Either you pay up your debt in full at the count of three or you’ll have to find a way to let us slip outside the barrier.”

The person on the ground wanted to reason out even though they were stuttering in pain. “I-I can’t really do that. I’m just an ordinary soldier—ahck!”

“One…”

“OKAY, let’s not choose violence gentleman!Maybe we can talk this out over a peaceful dinner? How’s that sound?” Caelum interjected in a cheerful manner, waving his arms unguardedly. You can even see a ray of light emitting from Caelum’s amiable smile if you just observe carefully.

Ayla’s eyes wander to the ground, silently noting the pieces of broken wood under their shoes. This is definitely the sound they heard just now alright.

The leader of the thugs slowly turned around, sneering arrogantly once he saw their appearance. He spit on the ground before stalking over to them confidently. “This isn’t any of your business, no? As can see we’re doing business here.”

His smile then disappeared as his garlic breathe became more terrifying than his dog threat. “Get the hell away while I am still in a good mood, asshole.” He even had to the gall to lean his face on Caelum’s face like some sort of pervert.

Caelum blinked, wiping his nose frankly while still maintaining the smile. There was a creeping low pressure seemingly forming in the air. “Unfortunately, we can’t do that. We swore as knights to protect the citizens from scums like you.”

“Scums?” The man choked in anger before speaking amidst his furious smile. “Ha! So you’re also knights ey?”

‘Also?’

“Hey, kid! Did you bring guys to protect you? Didn’t I say no funny tricks beforehand?” He pulled the person on the ground by the collar in anger.

“What?” The beaten person raised his head abruptly, then almost instantly wished he didn’t.

‘That’s Miroh/Greenie.’

Caelum and Ayla thought grimly as Miroh hastily looked down to hide his honest expression in fear of implicating the two with him. He looks even more pitiful now that they know he was a close acquaintance. Honestly, this guy is becoming a walking misfortune in their opinion.

Assessing the situation right now, they could somewhat guessed the gist from the thug’s words earlier. The thugs are most definitely just ordinary loan sharks under a big syndicate that handles bigger crimes.

Miroh forced himself to stand up, but stagger because of the large bruise at his sides. Just breathing must have been hell.

“I don’t know who they are. But they’ll definitely signal a patrol over here. It’s better to talk about this on another time—” Miroh painstakingly squeeze out the words to say to the loan shark leader with his bruised lips. However, he could only swallow his words once his jaws got pinched roughly.

“You think I will leave here empty handed?” The man scoffed, then kicked Miroh’s left knee causing his knees to buckle and give out.

The loan shark pressed Miroh’s shoulder in a death grip. “You better pay up right now. You know what happens to people who don’t pay off their debt.”

Miroh took a deep breathe once he was able to adjust his expression. “Give me more time to settle the accounts. I already have 3/4 of the total money needed. I’ll definitely pay the remaining balance!” He persuaded sincerely.

The loan shark leader sneered. “You think we need your money? We want to pass—.”

Something suddenly hit the back of his head squarely, causing him to cry out in pain. He turned around and was about to spout out profanities just to see Caelum holding a piece of wood like a thug.

Caelum cleaned his ears with his pinky finger arrogantly. He seem more gangster-ish than the people in front of them. “Ah. I can’t take anymore of the crap this asshole is talking about. Fucking shits like this need to have their reawakening.”

The loan shark leader took a sharp intake of breathe in fear as he clumsily stepped backward while cradling the back of his head. “What are you all doing? G-Get them! Beat their asses quickly!” The loan shark leader looked at his minions and barked out loud in anger.

Each burly thugs pulled out their weapons which were half their size as they stalked toward the both of them slowly with arrogant grins and devious eyes. It seems like they dismissed the fact that they were knights…

Unexpectedly, one guy decided to sneak up behind them and made the wisest decision of pulling Ayla’s hood, assuming it will throw Ayla off.

The green hair shook lightly, catching everybody off guard. The one who took off the hood laughed smugly. “Boss, she got a strange hair color over ‘er! Should be expensive to sell.”

Caelum saw Ayla’s bewildered face and snickered as he let go of the wood in resignation, then proceeded to walk backward while talking as if pitying them.

“Hah…look what you’ve done. You just had to do that?”

Caelum would have simply scared them off and be done with, but they just had to tickle the dragon, who was keeping a good job in staying put until now.

‘I can’t help them now…’ Caelum thought in sympathy.

At the same time, Ayla pushed a loose strand of hair behind her ear. There was no fluctuation on her face as if she was mentally debating what to do. However, the weird coldness in the area became obvious causing an eerie chill to creep on their backs.

“Wh-what are you waiting for? Get the girl!” The loan shark leader cried impatiently.

Ayla’s face broke out in a frown at the incoming attack. She can claim this is a self defense, right? “Gosh, really. You’re wasting my time…” She muttered as if aggrieved.

She nimbly raised her hand as her polearm appeared at the exact time an axe was about to hit her head dangerously close. It even made a loud noise and spark upon impact but Ayla didn’t even flinch.

Her eyes narrowed with contained fury. “MY FOOD IS WAITING, YOU FUCKING SON OF A BITCH!” She was already cranky because of the nonsensical season inside the barrier, so they just had to appear and test her bottom line at the perfect moment.

She didn’t let them take a moment to process what had happened as she parried all of their simultaneous attacks by just hitting them hard with the blunt end of her weapon.

That took quite a while because she only had to knock them out instead of inflicting serious injury. She finally finished after jabbing the last one with her knee, launching them away.

Caelum exhaled with much incredulous. “Damn, you really went overboard with beating them up.” Caelum even felt a smidgen of pity upon hearing the bodies’ letting out muffled painful groans.

They weren’t that organized to be called a thug. More like a classic situation of your main bully and his strong underlings lording in middle school.

Thankfully, looks like there are still life inside of them as he nudged their shoulders lightly. Still…that will take a lot of months to recover.

Ayla scoffed, dusting her hands as if it meant a job well done. “That will force them to stay still for a long time. In the meantime, nobody will be harassed by these sharks.”

Caelum hummed, thinking that her words made sense. “That’s true. Oh, right! Hey, greenie! You alright?” They almost forgot the main character of this incident!

“WhAAaaAt?” Miroh drawled like an incredibly tipsy person when they checked him out at the side. Miroh had been ruffed up pretty badly also although nothing serious compared to the thugs.

“What happened to him?” Caelum raised an evebrow.

Ayla frowned as she felt something sticky on her hand when she accidentally brushed her hand on his head

“Blood?” She stated blankly, staring at the dark red liquid on her fingers.

People would assume Caelum had aged a lot of years from the way he had sighed with all his heart. Although it’s no lie that they’ll have a lot of cleaning up to do for a while.

“There’s your answer.” Ayla also sighed as wearily as Caelum. Of course, she wasn’t exempted from the work.