The bustling streets of the Upper District was filled with crowds of people busying about with their activities. The bustle of the Upper District did not die down when nightfall arrives and only grows even more boisterous as the district lights are lit and the night came to life. It had a quality of liveliness and energy that the Lower District no longer had.
Shadow Guards were always one to observer the Capital from the shadows like an outsider and was never mixed with the hustle bustle of the Capital. This was the first time Kasif had walked down the road of the Upper Districts. The Old man was hit with a strange and out-of-place feeling like he did not belong here.
*BEEP* *BEEP*
"Move it, Old man! Do you want to die!? Get off the road!"
An angry young driver roared at him, while pressing the horns furiously. There's a footpath for people to walk on, who the hell walks down the middle of the road?
The old man gave the driver a brief glance before continuing his way, unaffected by the angry young driver's cursing like as if he had just listened to the barking of an ant. Regular people were below his notice. With his fleshly body strength of 5400-jin, he could swat the driver and his vehicle flying, but the queen had ordered him not to harm people when interacting with them, so he would not do that.
'This also counts as an interaction, right? There is contact and no harm. I guess that makes it my 4th interaction.' The Old man mulled over. He was ordered to interact without harm. The queen did not order him to converse with the people specifically, so he couldn't be bothered to talk. Maybe the person would leave him alone after a while.
"Oi, Oi! Are you deaf, Old man!? What is your problem!? Move it!!"
The angry young driver continued honking furiously with veins popping on his forehead. It was a busy road and he couldn't just drive around the old man. This area was considered wealthy even among the Upper District and everyone who was normally seen along this road weren't your average hillbilly.
The road was called the Aurelia Mountain Road. The name does not imply that it was a road on a mountain in the literal sense, but a mountain of gold exists on this road. Aurelia Mountain Road was lined up with all the kingdom's most extravagant and finest restaurants, stores, entertainments and was the bustiest area in the entire kingdom.
This was a place where the rich and powerful aristocrats and nobles, who had too much money on their hand to spend gathers. One would not come to Aurelia Mountain Road if they were not prepared to spend a fortune. Generally, it was a place for the adults, but it was more popular among the young masters and young nobles as they usually like to swagger off their family's wealth in front of others.
There was one place that recently opened on Aurelia Mountain Road that had become a new attraction for the young masters and young nobles to come and play. The place was called Mystery Stone Fortune, a stone gambling store with a range of small to large stones with fixed prices for customers to buy. Within these stones were a chance of finding rare metal minerals and allow people to earn great fortune in a single step.
With the sky-high value of metal, it easily became a great attraction among the wealthy spenders with one simple thought. If they could earn more money from spending, then why not? However not everyone can be lucky, as most of the stones are a bust with no mineral inside. Otherwise, it would not be considered gambling and the owner of Mystery Stone Fortune would be making a loss.
There was no open market for metal anywhere else in Crawford Kingdom and Mystery Stone Fortune was the only place they could acquire metal apart from the black market, albeit in small amounts or maybe none at all. Mystery Stone Fortune was a legitimate business and the stones they sell did not come from the kingdom but transported from the neighboring kingdoms.
The angry young driver was the eldest son of the Tucker Family and was one of the biggest customers of Mystery Stone Fortune. Extravagant young nobles in the Mystery Stone Fortune were all known as Whales and he was the Whale among Whales. He was just on his way to splurge more his family's wealth, when he had bump into this stupid Old man blocking the road.
"Since you want to play deaf then don't blame me for being heartless, Old man!" Royce Tucker stepped on the pedal and the car accelerated towards the Old man.
By now, their scene had attracted quite a big crowd. Some where curious, while others were simply annoyed by all the honking. These people all saw the car racing towards the Old man, and all had mix feelings. There was concern, goading and pity.
"Watch out, Old man!"
BAM!
The car smashed into the Old man, but he was unharmed as a layer of earth appeared before him and halted the vehicle. The car on the other hand had a big dent and the driver suffered a head injury after the car came to an abrupt stop like he had just smashed into a mountain.
"Hey, isn't that the Mystery Stone Fortune's Whale among Whales, Royce Tucker?"
"is he alright?"
Kasif had always live in the shadows and never in the spotlight. The unexpected attention drawn to him was a fresh experience, but not a bad feeling. He enjoyed the concern some of the crowd was showering him until it was shifted towards the driver suffering a concussion.
"You guys all saw it. I didn't hit him, he hit me." Kasif said.
'He hit you, but the one injured was him.' They thought.
A figured suddenly dashed over to the car and pulled the driver out.
"Young master, are you alright?" The figure asked.
"I'm okay, Seymour. Go get that Old bastard for me." Royce gnashed his teeth as he tried to shake away the concussion.
Seymour was a servant of the Tucker family, but unlike any other servants of any other noble families, he was already at the 7th step, a strength on par with the marquises.
"Who might you be, your Excellency? Why do you block the road and hurt my young master?" Seymour asked humbly.
"It doesn't matter who I am. You only need to know that your young master brought it upon himself. I was just minding my own business when he started harassing me."
A corner of Seymour's face twitched, but he remained humble and continued, "There's a footpath on the side, why must you insist on walking on the road?"
"Hah…? Is that the problem? The footpath is so crowded, yet this path is so spacious. Why shouldn't I use it since it's so open? You ask some strange questions." Kasif scoffed with a disdainful look like he was looking at an idiot.
'The strange one is you! The Old man is a troublemaker!' everyone thought in their minds. Whatever concern they had, disappeared with the wind.
Seymour's expression darkened. He thought the other person was clearly looking for trouble.
"What are you wasting your saliva for, Seymour? He is clearly a troublemaker! Beat him up for me!" Royce screeched, but remembering his servant's humble manner, he suddenly asks the Old man, "What's your cultivation, Old bastard?"
"This Old man is a 5-star awakener." Kasif said with a deep voice.
"5-star? You mean 5th step, right? You don't even know such a simple term? Pft, just a nonentity. Already so old, but only so-so in cultivation. Fuck him up, Seymour!" Royce commanded. He derided the Old man, but the Old man was still stronger than him, who was at the 3rd step. He could only rely on his servant to get justice for him.
Seymour put down his reservation and charged at the Old man, whom had clearly been itching for a beating!
Kasif have been very passive. He wasn't trying to cause trouble, but trouble came looking for him. Why were these people so angry? While he was in a confused state, his body reflectively swatted the Seymour's charging figure with a loud slapping sound and the figure disappeared
CRASH** Seymour smashed into building and was knocked out cold.
The loud slapping sound brought the Old man out of his deep thoughts as he looked at his hand then felt his own cheeks with a sense of déjà vu.
"Don't come closer!"
Royce retreated in fear and tripped when the Old man glanced at him. How was this a 5th step? This was an Old monster. His 7th step servant was KOed in one blow.
"Ah… now I've done it. I've hit someone." Kasif thought. The Queen is not going to be happy with him, but was everything really his fault? He didn't understand.
…
A group of newcomers arrived at the scene and started shouting angrily.
"That the Old man! Get him! He hasn't paid after eating!"
Kasif was suddenly startled. Weren't these people the ones from that restaurant he dined in not long ago? Why are they coming after him!?
"What bullshit are you spouting? I already paid for the food!"
"Your bill comes to a total of 321,000 craws. You only paid us 10,000 craws! You still owe use 311,000 craws!"
"PII! No food costs that much! I was generous enough to pay 10,000 craws! Don't push this Old man too far!" Kasif spat. These damn people are trying to rip him off!
The restaurant staffs almost fainted from anger. This Old man is so shameless to eat all their best dishes and refuse to pay the stipulated amount! Did he treat them like idiots? The menu has the pricing. There's no way he didn't know!
"Here at Aurelia Mountain, they do!" They said, while gnashing their teeth, with tumultuous waves going off in their heart.
Kasif widened his eyes with anger, shock and surprise all in one expression. 50 years ago, before he joined the shadow guards and cut off from the ordinary life, the most expensive meal he ever had only cost him 5,000 craws! The world has surely gone mad!
Kasif did a powerful leap and disappeared into the skies.
"He ran again! Find him!!"
…
At the top of a high building, Kasif scratched his head as he glanced down at the hustle bustle of the streets with mixed feelings. He had powerful eyesight and could see far and wide, but his hearing wasn't that great and wouldn't know how people normally talk all these years and his shadow guards never once disobey his order, so doesn't know how to deal with other's refusal and opinions.
It seems he had been detached from the world for too long and was far behind the times.. He was good at his job, but he had forgotten how to be a normal person and lacked common sense.