Red didn’t feel comfortable being the center of attention, but he didn’t budge from his spot, staring directly at the street vendor.

“Why?” he asked.

It was a simple question, yet it was spoken with the youth’s usual emotionless tone. It was almost inaudible over the whispers of the crowd, but the man seemed to hear it.

“I-Isn’t it obvious?!” He waved his metal rod. “You foreigners think ye can come into our city and throw us out of our stores just because ya have money from those merchants?! They are not the ones who rule the city. We are!”

The ugly man seemed reluctant at first as he faced Red, but he became more emotional as he looked around at the crowd for approval. He found quite a few nods of approval and cheering, which only emboldened the man further.

“Me and my family owned this store for generations! We served this city and always paid our taxes, but what did it matter? When war came and we couldn’t pay our debts, no one stood out to help us! They took the store from us without remorse!”

People rallied behind his cries even further, as his sentiments were reflected in his surroundings.

“They’re also threatening to take our house!”

“It’s not fair! We don’t deserve this!”

The vendor’s uncertain expression now became confident as he looked back at Red.

“Ya are their puppet! If ye have any regret in yer heart, then pay back what ye stole from us!”

Shouts of agreement echoed over the plaza, and unfriendly gazes were thrown at the youth.

Red shook his head, still keeping his eyes on the vendor. “If you want anyone to pay you back, go talk to the ones that took the store from you in the first place.”

He was puzzled at first over the whole situation, but now that it was made obvious, he didn’t care about continuing this interaction. He could understand the man’s frustrations, and knowing the Golden Hand, he was probably in the right, but what did that have to do with Red?

There was a lot of unfairness in the world, and he wasn’t capable enough to deal with all of them, nor did he care to, for that matter. He could only look after himself, or at most those few people close to him whom he owed a lot to.

“Now, step aside.” Red said. “I need to tend to my store.”

The vendor frowned at him. “So ye’re really no better than them, huh?!”

The youth frowned. “I told you to step aside.”

The man shivered slightly under his gaze, but he raised his rod threateningly. “O-Or what? Ya might be a cultivator for all I know, but ya should know fighting in the streets is not allowed!”

“Maybe so, but in this case, I’m just defending my property, aren’t I?”

His hand went down to the hilt of his short sword. For the first time, the crowd seemed to take note of this masked stranger’s appearance, noticing the swords on his waist. These people were used to seeing such sights in the city, and they could recognize a cultivator at a single glance.

Those close to Red stepped back, making room around him. They still stared at him with unfriendly eyes, but none of these mortals were stupid enough to get in the way of an armed cultivator.

The vendor’s bravado also disappeared at this sight. “Ye’re gonna draw blades on us?”

“I won’t kill you, if that’s your concern.” Red said.

The man shivered, and the last bit of reluctance disappeared from his face. He looked at the ragged youths around him, which were also quite on edge while facing this masked stranger.

“Step aside!” The street vendor said. “Let ’im through.”

They all nodded, some with more reluctant gazes than others, and they stood aside to let Red through.

The man looked over at him. “Ye’ll pay for this one day.”

He ignored the man’s threat and stepped forward. What kinds of existences hadn’t he provoked? Why would he be scared of a mortal with a metal rod?

The crowd threw all kinds of hostile gazes at Red, speaking ill of him behind his back as he approached the store. All their hatred was directed towards this cultivator in front of them, but the youth, for his part, was completely unbothered.

He walked past the vendor and his gang of orphans without even sparing a glance at them. It was then, however, that he heard a shout behind his back.

“Go to hell, you bastard!”

One of the armed youths charged at him from behind, swinging the metal rod against his head.

‘… This is unfortunate.’

This was Red’s only thought as he ducked beneath the blow and twisted around to counter attack. A punch to the gut, straight like a spear, sent the youth flying back like a broken kite, crashing into the surrounding crowd.

Suddenly, everyone went quiet, and only the orphan’s pained moans could be heard in the vicinity. It all happened in a flash, and most of these people weren’t even able to see what Red did before the armed young man was sent flying.

At the next moment, shouts of anger and incredulity rang out through the plaza.

“H-He attacked him! He hit a teenager!”

“He’s insane! He doesn’t care about the law!”

Emotions seemed to rise amidst the crowd as they stared at Red with hateful eyes. Most of them didn’t have a clear view of what happened, and even if they did, they would not care whether he was just defending himself. To them, this was a foreigner, an outsider who barged into their homes, stole their livelihood, and now beat up their children.

One couldn’t expect logical thinking from an angry mob, and for a second, it seemed quite a lot of them were considering rushing at Red. Not the street vendor or the other armed orphans, though, who saw firsthand what happened to one of their own. They were more afraid, unsure of whether to advance and risk getting beaten up the same way as their companion, or retreat to safety.

Red sighed once he saw the situation going out of control. All he wanted was to live and cultivate in peace, and for that, he wouldn’t care what others thought of him. If people tried to force his hand, however, he wouldn’t take such offenses lying down.

Spiritual Energy started to circulate through his veins, eventually seeping out of his body as an oppressive aura spread to the surroundings. His figure glowed with an azure aura, and the angered screams were suddenly silenced as every mortal in the vicinity felt their skin crawl under this overbearing energy.

The people closest to Red even fell down to their bottom out of shock, staring at him in fright.

This included the street vendor.

“L-Lesser Ring Realm!”

The man screamed in horror, suddenly regretting all of his actions.

Red, of course, had no intention of attacking these people, but he maintained this aura to scare them away. If this crowd thought they could overwhelm this cultivator through pure numbers, then they immediately knew they would only be throwing their lives away if they tried to attack a Lesser Ring Realm practitioner.

These weren’t country bumpkins. They lived amidst those kinds of cultivators, and they knew what they could do if they were pushed to it.

Righteous anger only carried their actions so far when the threat of death was so clear.

The crowd was about to retreat when an authoritative voice came from behind them.

“Disperse! Get out of here, you fools!”

A group of guards were making their way through the crowd, pushing people around. Their appearance was the last straw for those mortals, who all dispersed and went about their day with frightened expressions.

The vendor and orphans also tried to run, but they were intercepted by the guards.

“Not you lot!” The soldier in the lead said. “You stay here!”

Their expression fell, but they didn’t dare disobey those orders. The lead guard, whom Red discerned to be in the Lesser Ring Realm, approached him with a frown.

“Are you going to keep your aura out?” he asked.

His tone was unfriendly, and he seemed more than displeased.

Red retracted his aura, looking at the man with an impassive expression.

The guard pointed at the moaning youth on the ground. “First few days in the city and you’re already beating people up? That’s not the way things work around here.”

“He attacked me first.” Red shrugged.

“I’m sure he did.” The man spat on the ground.

Red wasn’t surprised at the guard’s hostility. In fact, he already detected them earlier watching the crowd from the other side of the plaza doing nothing to intervene. They probably even saw these thugs breaking up his store and stood aside.

Whatever reason they had for not interfering, it would be silly to expect impartiality from them moving forward.

The guard’s attention turned to the street vendor and the orphans. “So, what were you doing here?”

“S-Sir, we just were-”

“Bah, I don’t care!” The man cut him off. “You know that breaking other people’s properties is a crime, right?”

The vendor nodded. “I-I do, sir, but-”

“Since you know, then why did you do it?” He shook his head. “I don’t have time to deal with you idiots.”

He waved at his men.

“Take them away. A few days in jail should be enough to teach them a lesson.”

The other guards nodded, putting the orphans and the vendor in shackles as they led them away.

The lead guard seemed to be somewhat disappointed when Red showed no reaction to this. It seemed he wanted the youth to protest this punishment, but he couldn’t care less.

Red just wanted to be done with the situation.

“Is that all?” he asked. “Or do you intend on throwing me in jail, too?”

The man frowned. “Don’t be too cocky, you bastard. There are some things in this city that neither your cultivation nor that guild of yours will be able to help you with.”

With these words, the guard walked away and led his men out of the plaza.

Red turned around to enter his broken down store. The entire situation was a headache for he who only wanted to be left alone to cultivate. In fact, everything that had happened since he entered the capital seemed to be conspiring against that wish of his.

In retrospect, it was clear that there would be plenty of unrest amidst the citizens of Carlhanne. These were times of war, and the ceasefire afforded them for now was hardly important when you took into account the Empire’s strength. They already lost who knew how many men and powerhouses in the previous battles, so what did it matter if they had ten more years of peace?

The Empire would strike again, the capital would be conquered, and by then, they would have nowhere to run. Such troubling circumstances were a breeding ground for discontent, as their livelihood was already being affected.

Red, however, didn’t expect to be thrown right in the middle of it.

‘The Golden Hand… Did they do this on purpose?’

It made little sense considering how much favour they showed him already, but the youth couldn’t discount anything.

As he looked through the destroyed store, he couldn’t help but sigh. They didn’t spare even a piece of furniture, and now the youth didn’t have a place to work or display his products.

He spent the next twenty minutes gathering debris and cleaning the place until someone approached his tore from outside.

“M-Master Viran!”

It was Gustav, escorted by a few servants. He looked at the destroyed building with a pale expression, which only worsened once he met Red’s cold gaze.

Without hesitation, the merchant dropped down to his knees and bowed to the youth until his forehead hit the ground.

“Please, forgive me!”