Chapter 68: Chapter 68: Warnings

Jack was brought back to the guest room earlier, where a few representatives from the bank were waiting for him. Richard was also present, standing obsequiously next to a man sitting comfortably on his chair. As Jack entered, he eagerly stood up and cast a bright smile with his golden set of teeth.

“Greetings, Mr. Adam. My name is Oudin Schnell, and I am the director of this bank. I am honored that you have put your faith in our bank to sell those incredible items just now.”

“Faith? Maybe I’m putting a little too much here,” Jack said sarcastically. “Honor, you can’t make money with that, can you?”

Oudin had a square face with features indicating a man of firm resolution, but his currently squinting eyes made him look more like an unmistakably calculating person. The bank director was about to open his mouth when another group joined the meeting. The Mayor, Marvin Humphrey, was with them.

“Well, it seems the director here is destroying what’s left of the trust I have with you and messing with something I don’t think you should at all,” Jack said with his usual rough and grumbling voice while finding himself a seat without asking.

Oudin had a brief frown, signaling Patricia to leave and welcoming the newcomers himself.

“I wonder what wind brought Mr. Ira here to us,” he said with a blatant smile. 

“A wind that I couldn’t care less of,” the man called Ira said begrudgingly.

He had a slender build with a sunken face under a bald head. His beak nose and hunchback made him even more unpleasant to the eyes than Jack.

Oudin gave Jack a troubling glance, then turned his eyes toward Marvin. After all, the Mayor was personally invited here by him to help with the situation.

“Oh, old friend, a bit too much for you to handle?” Marvin said mockingly.

The bank director was dazed by the rather helpful comment.

“Oh, can you just skip the flirting,” Jack called out. “Where is my payment?”

Everybody stared at him. Scouting auras turbulently filled the room.

“Is this how your bank conducts your business?” Jack roared.

“We just want to do a quick identity check,” Oudin hurriedly answered, but he himself didn’t hold back his aura.

Jack was no stranger to the pressures of mana flows. 

“And what will you do if I have no background?” He said, shaking his head. “Reject my deal? Oh, or even better,” Jack went silent for a moment, leaning his head toward each and everyone in the room, “rob me.”

“Of course not,” Marvin stepped forward, his voice gentle and slow. “In case the gentleman has no intention to reveal his identity, according to the law of Oxdale, you will still have our support. But, you know, we ourselves have no intention to be disrespectful or mismanage things. Everything will be fine around the town, but who knows what can happen outside of it, right? If we know who you are, we can better assist you, say, sending an escort should you need them.”

Oudin sighed in relief when Marvin finally got serious. He glanced at Ira, reminding the Maester headmaster to hold back his provoking word.

“Me,” Jack pointed at himself, “needing your protection?”

The cloaked man laughed out loud, twitching his body.

The powerhouses in the room all frowned at the seemingly insane person.

“You impudent fool,” Ira leaned forward. Since his counterpart had already made their point clear, he saw no reason to be polite. “Don’t you dare mess with us! It would be wise for you to start the negotiation on ceding that Watermelon now. If not, well….”

“What?” Jack asked, putting his palm around his chin.

“The Maester Guild will get what we want. I, the headmaster himself, will get what I want, one way or another..”

“Wow, and the bank, as well as the Mayor here, will just ignore that blatant threat?”

Oudin, seeing the escalation, put his hand on Ira's shoulder and whispered.

“Keep it together, let us be civilized.”

“I don’t care,” the headmaster’s face turned pale red. “I need that Watermelon. You snuck that thing behind my back and put it in the auction, so don’t you dare ask for my courtesy.”

Oudin wanted to respond but thought better of it and took a step back. His initial intention had been to just verify Adam’s true identity with Marvin’s help to decide whether or not he should build this connection. Therefore, he decided not to get involved in this sudden intervention of the Maester Guild anymore.

Jack chuckled, shaking his legs and pointing his finger at Ira.

“You should really be careful with your next words,” he warned. “I have the power to take good care of you.”

“You’re bluffing,” Ira responded, not giving Jack an inch. “Even the master of the whole Mocester wouldn’t dare make that threat.”

“What an ignorant fool,” Jack said, chuckling.

“You…”

“Silenced!” Jack growled.

Ira suddenly fell to his knees.

Jack held the insignia of a snake wrapping around a rod forward. Ira, who had already been shaking, shook even more when he saw the badge. He bowed his head to the ground and said in a low voice.

“I salute the most esteemed harbinger from the Citadel.”

Citadel? Under the layer of disguise, Jack frowned with a thousand questions on his face.

“You talk too much!” Jack couldn’t help but take advantage of the circumstances. “Should I report all of this back to the Master and see whether or not he decided to send someone to purge this miserable place?”

“P…please…” Ira mumbled. “Pl…ease do…n’t d…o that!”

“Get out of here! I will deal with you later.”

Ira hurriedly took three bows, then stood up and quickly fled the room with the other member of the Maester Guild.

Marvin Humphrey and Oudin Schnell, even though they hadn’t been the direct victim of the aura, were full of sweat on their foreheads.

“Money,” Jack looked at the bank’s director and said, waving the insignia in his hand.

“Yes, yes,” Oudin said with a smile, then took out an inventory ring and presented it to his guest. “Everything is in here. Please, Mr. Adam, recheck it if you’d like.”

Jack used his mental strength to scan through the number of crystals and transferred all of them to his personal ring.

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Oudin took back his container, had himself a moment to considerate, then took out a small pouch. 

“The bank would like to refund ten percent of the total commission to apologize for what just happened.”

“Oh, so you do realize your mistake,” Jack took it without a second thought.

Oudin smiled, stooping forward, signaling for Marvin to assist him.

“I wonder if the gentleman harbinger here has any other intentions?” The Mayor changed his tone of voice to a more spirited one. “If there are, I’m more than honored to offer our assistance.”

Old fox, Oudin cursed. Still, he let his old friend continue to do the talking since he was in no position to do that after his earlier offense to his now most prestigious guest.

“There are a few things,” Jack said, scanning his eyes through the rest of the bank’s servants in the room.

“Everybody leaves us,” Oudin commanded. 

When there were only three people left in the room, Jack graciously sipped the cup of tea he had already poured out earlier, then proceeded to get to business.

“I need to sell a large number of weapons and equipment in accordance with the Master’s desire,” Jack said calmly as if the matter was but a casual thing.

“The bank can certainly assist you with that,” Oudin quickly responded.

“Yes, I did intend to have you in the discussion, but with what has just happened earlier, well….”

“I can personally handle this task,” Marvin said.

Oudin held back the frown on his face. All of this should have been firmly within his grasp.

“I hope you have no other ill intention, Mayor of Oxdale,” Jack’s voice grew cold.

“May I ask do you have any other reason for bringing your weapons here?” Marvin asked, ignoring the mocking.

Being the Mayor of Oxdale, responsibility for the town was always his utmost priority. So, if possible, Marvin always aimed to have some control over the situation instead of ignorantly cowering under the pressure of power, especially in this situation where weapons, the symbol of power, are involved. 

“Well, I assume revealing it to you has its merits,” Jack said uncaringly. “My Master wishes to stir something up in Oxdale, and these weapons are the prerequisite of the plan.”

“Are you trying to enhance Oxdale’s combat capability?”

“Indeed. What you are about to face may require every single aid available.”

Oudin and Marvin exchanged glances, feeling the sense of urgency within each other’s eyes.

“Yes. Then, thank you for your arrival and aid of Oxdale,” Marvin said formally.

“Just trivial things.” 

“So, do you have any other request?” Oudin asked, a bit of hesitation in his voice.

Jack leaned his head, appearing to contemplate, and said after a moment.

“I don’t want the Hensley to get their hands on my goods.”

“Isn’t your goal to increase the accumulative strength of Oxdale?” Marvin questioned.

“You think I have that many weapons? That I will bring here trashy products for every man, woman, and child in Oxdale? Losing one house won’t make the demand for high-quality weapons shrink at all. So, Hensley or not, it matters little in the grand scheme of things. Your whole town can’t possibly be so dependent on one single surname, can it?”

“Yes, you are right,” Oudin said with a nod, trying to save whatever face he had left with the night’s out-of-nowhere harbinger. 

Marvin, after a moment of gritting his teeth, still had a few more things to say.

“Are there any other houses that we need to be mindful of? Harper or Horvath?”

“Them? The Master of my Master has no plan for them yet!”

“The Master of your Master?” Marvin asked, losing a bit of his composure.

“I’ve said enough. You should do well to prepare the wealth needed. The rest of them will arrive within a few days.”

Jack stood up and headed straight for the door, leaving no word behind.

Even when the hunchback under the cape was already far from sight, Marvin and Oudin were still stupefied. 

“Do you believe him?” It was Oudin who broke the silence.

“Not quite,” Marvin said, “his own aura is too weak, but it could also be his concealment technique. Above all, though, I doubt it because he doesn’t look like a typical harbinger.”

“How? Have you met a Maester harbinger before?”

“Yes, the harbingers from the factions are no stranger to Oxdale. But, think about it, one from the Citadel will reach out to who first to complete his task?” 

“So it seems. He should have first contacted Ira.”

“That is how it was supposed to be. Ira must have already realized it by now. That man Adam didn’t even seem to truly understand what that badge stands for.”

“Then what about the thing with the Master, and the Master of his Master?”

Marvin sat down, wrote something on a piece of paper, then flexed his wrist for it to float away.

“Bluffing,” he said. “That was already a Legend Insignia, and I don’t think there are that many Divine on this world. His request must have been only to serve his own business interest.”

Oudin nodded, ignoring the piece of paper flying away. He was already processing too many of his own thoughts in his head anyway. Even if that man was a fraud, Adam had proven himself to be a tough one at that.

Outside of the bank, a shadow lurked under the shade of the eaves of a small house in an alley nearby, catching a small piece of note with his hand. After reading it, he immediately left, tailing a figure with a hunchback, one that stood out very clearly among the crowd.

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