So, after receiving your ID from the village administration, you were heading straight back to the farm, and there you saw Owerde's wife running in a panic..."
The guard finished questioning Leeward.
He had understood everything from him, and he noticed that Leeward hadn't shown any hesitation while talking about receiving his ID and his freedom, which made him feel that he was telling the truth.
The guard wrote down everything he understood on the paper he was holding, then said:
"That's all, Mr. Leeward Cashin... Thank you for your cooperation."
Leeward stared at him for a few moments, then turned straight to leave.
He was going out of the barn, several plans had been carefully woven in his mind, and he was now going to execute
Some of them.
The air inside the barn was cool, mixed with the scent of the farm and the earth, a pleasant aroma that permeated the place, making the atmosphere calming despite the obvious tension that hung over everything.
"I must get some money so I can get around these days...."
He began to think about how to get some silver pieces.
There was only one option available to him at the moment:
Fighting inside the Danik Arena.
He was a suspect in this crime, and working anywhere else without prior connections would be extremely difficult. Also, he had only recently gained his freedom.
"I'll go and sign up at that Highge Revel Monoth's Danik Arena, the highest rank..."
The Danik Arena was a title given to first-rank warriors, and it was owned by someone named Highge Revel Monoth.
He was from the Ravel Monoth family, who were bitter enemies of the Kantem Monoth family, and Hige was one of the leading figures in that branch of the family.
A person of considerable influence.
Leeward didn't trouble his mind with who had killed Overd or with the details of the investigation. What mattered to him now was getting out of this affair unscathed.
He left the barn and walked across the farm toward the outer gate.
His real goal at this point was to advance to Rank 2, a solid warrior.
He was currently on the verge of Rank 1, body and soul, in the fourth and final layer of the Transition Stage. After passing it, he would reach Rank 2, a huge leap in his power.
But that required spirit elixirs or spirit stones, and elixirs were far superior to stones.
Elixirs were spirit stones that had been mined
Its spiritual foundation is pre-formed, then fused with Euclid water; water as sweet as cold milk, and possessing an excellent vacuum structure for containing spiritual energy.
Elixirs far surpass spirit stones in the method of refinement.
A warrior using a spirit stone first needs to extract the spiritual foundation from the stone, then begin to fuse that spirit into their own, until it becomes a part of them and increases their spiritual density and efficiency.
Elixirs, however, once drunk, have the spirit already ready, and the ascended warrior doesn't need to extract it, but begins to fuse it directly with their own spirit, which makes them faster and more efficient.
My current problem is a severe lack of money... If I only had thirty pieces of silver, I could have bought three spirit elixirs, used the spirit stone I took from the lifeless corpse of the stone cat, and broken through to the rank of a solid warrior...
Leeward was lost in thought as he considered all this, then finally decided:
He would go to the Spirit Refiner—the seller of Spirit Refinement Tools—and hand over the Spirit Foundation Stone he currently possessed, to be transmuted into an elixir, and then return later to collect it along with three Rank 1 Spirit Elixirs.
Leeward paid no attention to time; his mind was completely absorbed in these matters, until he found himself already on a street teeming with people, the cacophony of street vendors, and the sounds of the common people drowning out the market around him.
When did I get here? I must calm myself down a bit and clear my head...."
he whispered to himself as he contemplated the gaudy chaos surrounding him.
"I'm already close to the Spirit Refiner... I'll hurry up and then head straight to the Danic Arena."
A few moments later, Leeward arrived at the Spirit Refiner's shop, located in a dark arcade.
The shop was strangely shaped from the outside, and Leeward stood before it without taking his eyes off its odd structure.
It looked like the shop of a squatter, lurking in the shadows.
Strange black signs hung on its facade, along with drawings of combat techniques, spirit stones, elixirs, and books. The sign read:
The Spirit Carrier of Morge
Leeward entered the shop, and as soon as he opened the door, he heard the jangling of a small bell hanging from it.
A sharp smell wafted into his nostrils within the dark atmosphere of the place. The shop was filled with shelves on every side, and on each shelf were bottles containing spirits of different colors, some green, some red, in addition to several spirit objects scattered in various shapes.
In front of the shop's wooden counter stood a figure of average height, with full red hair.
Leeward looked at him, until the figure turned towards him with a cold stare.
That was Canty Charmen, the illegitimate son of the king of the Charmen clan.
They exchanged cold glances for a moment.
"This is a strange-looking fellow... and his red hair. The Charmins are the only clan whose members have red hair... Could it be that the knights of the Charins have indeed come in search of the riches?"
Leeward's mind was filled with jumbled thoughts, and though he felt a slight unease in his heart, his expression remained impassive.
At that moment, the Spirit Carrier emerged from a small back door behind the exchange counter in the shop.
He was an old man with graying white hair, weathered by time, and sported a pale, unkempt beard.
In his hands, he carried a glass vessel containing a spiritual device resembling a black stone, which emitted faint, subtle vibrations.
"This is your request, Mr. Canty... I have truly labored to obtain it.
Echo of Earth and Air... I beg the noble lord of the Charins to accept my humble submission to him."
The old man showed his satisfaction at dealing with someone from a ruling clan like Kanti, and was very pleased about it.
"Of course, sir, I appreciate your humility and hard work in obtaining such a rare instrument as the Echo of Earth and Air... but let's get down to business, how much does it cost?"
Kanti showed through his words that he was not someone who was arrogant because of his lineage.
At that moment, Leeward fully realized that the trouble was no longer limited to the murder of Owerd and his being a suspect, but that he had also come under the attention of a powerful clan like Clan Charmin.
The situation gets worse the more I move... but this is good at least, now I know that Clan Charmin has begun searching for the wealth that I took from them.
I must make careful calculations before I move or do anything..."
he thought to himself as he watched the exchange taking place before him.
"One hundred and fifty pieces of silver, or fifteen pieces
Gold... as much as you have, sir.
That was a huge sum.
Leeward's eyes widened at the sound of it.
Fifteen gold pieces... one person could build a cottage with seven gold pieces, then buy some animals like cows with three gold pieces, and a small plot of land with the rest to live a quiet life.
One gold piece weighed more than twenty grams.
That was an enormous sum for a single spirit tool.
Leeward began to think about how much his freedom would have cost him if he had gold pieces.
Currently, he owed three kilograms of silver. One silver piece also weighed about twenty grams, meaning he needed one hundred and fifty pieces to complete his debt to Overd.
In other words, his debt was worth the same as
which Kante was now going to buy.
Leeward's tragedy was that he had been a mere spectator until he saw Kante actually pull out a long purse of antique brown leather, then effortlessly take out fifteen gold coins, and pay the amount Leeward needed to complete his debt as if it were a perfectly ordinary sum.
This illustrated the class divide in this world and reinforced in Leeward's mind even more that the rich had far more influence than the poor and middle classes.
Each gold coin bore an engraved dragon emblem, indicating that it was the currency of the Dragon Empire...
the Empire of the Charmin Clan.
Kante took his Earth and Air Echo Device and was about to leave.
As he walked, his eyes slid down to Leeward's feet, which were clad in wooden soles.
He saw some dried blood clinging between his toes.
His pupils dilated slightly, and he began to piece everything together in his mind in an instant.
Then he continued walking until he exited the shop.
Leeward had forgotten to wash his feet thoroughly after walking barefoot over the carnage of the massacre.