Emperor's Reckoning

Lyon was not at the inn where the others had gathered. He chose to stroll Afurnae to his delight.

The young man was nonchalant as he walked in the night of the neutral city. His nose picked up the delicacies from the various locals but the gaze of the people was not quite welcoming per se. Due to his absolute dominance in the first round, First Heaven was practically forced to prostrate against him.

"Psst, look at the guy."

"The smirk on his face really invites a punch."

"Sh! Don't give in! That madman dares to declare that he wants to kill Hezar, you think you can handle it?"

Lyon's ears twitched as he heard those words from his surrounding. His smirks only turned wide instead. His reputation had grown exponentially and he didn't even spend a week in this place.

He was walking with ease as he used his hand to support his head. He gave out the usual lazy look but everyone knew how absurd the young man was.

"Hm?"

His eyes caught something interesting before he halted his footsteps. He glanced at a merchant that was wearing a thick cloak with its thick hood covering the appearance of the merchant. He couldn't tell if it was a female or a male since his nose didn't pick a fragrance belonging to one of the sexes.

He furrowed his eyebrows. He noticed that the mysterious merchant was opening a stall but the items displayed on top of the beige cloth was disheartening.

Lyon's lips slowly turned upward before he put his hands down. (Now this is what I'm talking about, a mysterious merchant with mysterious items, can't get any more powerful combo than that).

The onlookers immediately took notice as soon as Lyon sat down with his legs crossed.

"Hey look, he is going to buy something from that merchant."

"Why though?"

"I don't know, the guy's a madman, you think we can guess his move?"

The merchant didn't even react as Lyon sat right in front of him. The merchant showed their hand that was covered in black glove for Lyon to choose the items he would like to buy from the display.

The items look unique and ancient from one another. It was not a weapon or armor, but more like an artifact from an ancient civilization. Something like a family's heirloom.

"Hmm, none of this looks like a weapon nor an armor," muttered Lyon. "Are you selling good luck charms?"

The merchant didn't pay any mind to the sarcastic tone as they showed their index finger toward him before shaking it.

Lyon smiled. "Not a good luck charm then."

The index finger was pulled down before the thumb rose up.

"I see, you're a man of few words," said Lyon as he crossed his arms.

The merchant put their hand down.

Lyon furrowed his eyebrows before he slightly snorted with a smile. "What would you recommend for me to buy?"

The merchant didn't answer with words but instead with gestures with their hand sailing crossing over all of the items.

"Hah! You bastard!" Lyon laughed. "I see that we have some sort of similarity, you and I."

(They're both shameless!) thought the onlookers.

"Oh no, a shameless against a shameless, that wouldn't be a good thing to have here in Afurnae, now would it."

Lyon furrowed his eyebrows before he gave a side glance to see Folcre was approaching him with a smirk on his face. Lyon, however, smirked back.

(This is too easy) thought Lyon before he cruise his hand over the items displayed. "How much is this, I will buy it all."

"Woah!" the onlookers were immediately awed by the words that Lyon just uttered out.

Folcre furrowed his eyebrows with scorn on his face before he realized the boasting hidden in his words. "Hmph! You sure do know how to show off empty words!"

"Oh?" Lyon turned around whilst still crossing his legs before he slightly raised his chin, "You think I cannot buy all of these powerful items?"

Folcre shrugged his shoulder, "Think? You're from the Mortal World, do you think that you have the money to buy even one item from this respected merchant? You don't even realize how much one costs yet."

"Well, do you have the money?" asked Lyon.

"Of course, I—" Folcre opened his eyes wide as he realized that he had fallen right into Lyon's trap. Especially when he saw that immense grin from the latter.

"Bah!" Lyon slapped his thigh, "I don't believe you."

He turned around before he said to the merchant, "Wrap all of these for me, and then give me the bill."

The merchant nodded before the merchant simply picked the four edges of the cloth then pulled them up into a sack before knotting them.

Lyon had his mouth twitched (Seriously... I was expecting for more of a... decent wrapping... this looks like I just stole from a warehouse!).

The merchant picked up a paper before writing something with a brush. It was the bill in which Lyon had to pay. The ink was simple ink and the brush was nothing spectacular. However, the merchant seemed to be overly excited as they wrote down the number as if they were being possessed.

The merchant let out a sigh of relief.

(Oh, you're done?) thought Lyon.

The merchant pinched two edges of the paper with two hands before offering it to Lyon with a bow.

Lyon nodded before he picked up the paper. He looked at the number written on it.

(One hundred thousand Top-Beads?! Wait... is that a lot?) thought Lyon as he hardly knew about the First Heaven's economic status.

"Oh, this much? This is barely a scrap for me," said Lyon as he purposely showed the paper toward Folcre.

The onlookers gawked at the number before making everything. Folcre's words stuck in his throat as his eyes opened wide.

(Oh shit, that's a lot isn't it?) thought Lyon as he slightly worried inwardly.