The God of Jesters
Chapter 484 - 8.00.2 The visit.

Chapter 484: 8.00.2 The visit.

"The world is a mystery, my life is a history, what you are doing there my love..." Singing odd songs, the jolly old man explored the city once again, looking at the odd places that he had only heard in stories while straying from the places where the strong stood.

Rudrain was the city of nobles where dragons lived.

Even a simple pedestrian who walks on the side might hold a Knight bloodline. And if you dare to throw ten stones in a crowd of people, you might just offend an adept or higher rank knight.

That’s the kind of city this was.

A perfect city if you wish to hide, as your pursuers might not dare to harm you in case of retaliation. Just like what happened last night.

Though it would be a lie to say that Heroth wasn’t horrified to learn that he was exposed soon after entering the city. But that’s just life, unpredictable as ever.

But none of that meant that Heroth had any plans of leaving this place, no, instead, he was more adamant about making this city his new home. A kind city, a city where the strong don’t dare to act out, will be the perfect cover for him.

"This place, it seems perfect." And in his small city exploration adventure, he finally came across a shop that seemed to be empty at the moment. Though appearing new and without any damage caused by age, the shop was still boarded up with a sign that said for sale.

But it would be foolish for Heroth to just buy it on a whim, he walked around the vicinity and learned why such a new shop was shut down. Though the story he heard was a bit absurd. "It used to be a restaurant..."

The story of the restaurant was tragic. A new restaurant that didn’t understand how it went in the city, a noble that found the salt in his food a bit too much, and a total of three deaths.

"Poor fella didn’t know that if you open a business, you have to have the backing of a noble family." This was the city of nobles and the commoners might appear happy, but their happiness was based on ignorance.

To see such cruelty and only say pity instead of feeling anger was the general reaction of the people in the city. To them, this was the norm, they could only call the restaurant owner a fool for not having backing.

"They act more like gangs...."

"Old man, I see you are new here and might need some time to digest this, so I will be leaving." Before Heroth could speak any offensive words about the nobles, the man ran away, looking at Heroth as another one of the fools. ’Hah, new rules.’ But Heroth who has survived for years on the sea was fast to adapt to the way things were.

’I can’t open a restaurant, I don’t want to deal with annoyances.’ he thought before looking at his back as well as the trinkets he had collected throughout his life. ’A simple pawn shop, yes, nothing is better than this.’ He was a man with experience. A learned individual with the talent to discern artifacts that he had cultivated through his hears of adventuring.

Making the Pawnshop a perfect option for him.

But there was a need for a family, a noble household that will protect his business as well as him from unsavory elements.

"Behrouz, Ashwa, and the Lohrum, these one seems to be the best in the vicinity." Each of these three families had the support of a Grandmaster, making them the strongest in the Southern civilian district of Rudrain. Of course, this was only about their area of activity, as most noble families lived in the center of the city and never even bothered with the outer areas unless it was about the matter of making some money.

This is why, the city had been divided by multiple noble families like a dog that divides their prey.

Animals, all of them.

But that was the thing about animals, once an area was divided, rarely did they ever dare to steal each other prey. Well, that was as long as the prey was abundant.

However, not all families were petty enough to take part in such games. There was also the Dranath family as well, who was as strong as the other three families that kept the Southern civilian district hostage. But where it differed was the fact that the Dranath family never bothered with the civilians that lived in such places.

"The four auspicious beasts of the east. Belonging to the Church of Truthful Deceit. Of course, they don’t have the backing of the church, they just carry the bloodline of the four beasts."

"I would have preferred if I could get the backing of Dranath, but... among the remaining three, I guess, the Ashwa of the Vermilion looks more dependable." From dependable, Heroth meant that they were pleasing to the eyes.

Unlike the other two families, the Ashwa of Vermilion was a matriarchal family. Meaning that the ladies held more power than the male members, just due to how their bloodline worked. Making the women stronger than the males.

"Ho, can’t wait to look at those ladies." It was with such thoughts that Heroth approached the security agency of the Ashwa Family, aptly named the Vermilion Protection Agency. Of course, the one they were protecting people from was themselves.

However the moment Heroth stepped into the place and found the man handling his case, his face twisted into disappointment. "Speak, we can’t waste time on just anyone." Spoke the man in anger.

A man who looked feminine according to the standards of Heroth, which gave him a level of dissonance, but he didn’t speak much after it. Explaining his background and the desire to open a pawn shop in his chosen location. "Ho, never expected you to pick this place... One of our men tried to explain to the owner of the dangers, but he refused. Look what that refusal brought him." The man laughed, saying how smart Heroth was before asking for some extra cash on the side.

"This.." This small request won’t be much of a hassle for Heroth, but he still made a pained expression before putting out what appeared to be a glass eye and putting it on the table. "I have no open cash for now, but I hope this can suffice." The eye, was weird by touch alone. And although the man from the Vermilion family was just an apprentice level Knight, he can feel the oddity carried by it.

’It can fetch for a thousand on its own.’ With such thoughts, he took the eye and helped Heroth complete the registration process where he obtained a plaque that had the insignia of the Vermilion bird on it.

"You are part of the Vermilion family from now, lead your shop with pride."

With these words, Heroth left the scene, carrying with him some disappointment instead of pride. ’If the men can be this cute, imagine the girls of this family.’

******

This was month two of opening his shop unlike the day three of his arrival where he was ambushed by some odd balls. Such an incident hasn’t been repeated since.

As for his shop, oddly enough, did wonders.

"How much for this?"

"900 Dirium, I won’t go below it," Heroth said, after looking at what appeared to be his old pistol.

A single-shot pistol that had seen some action during its days and had carried Heroth when he was still learning about Knight training from his old Captain.

As of now, this Pistol barely worked and had no value besides the sentimental value it held.

Of course, none of it meant that this pistol was worthless. The same pistol in pristine condition was recently sold for over 10k dirium, so selling this used and abused one for 900 seemed appropriate.

"Hah, you think I am a fool? This little thing doesn’t even work."

"Then I suggest you take some supplements instead of buying an old Baru Pistol." At first, the man didn’t understand that he had been made fun of, nor did he understand when he left with the pistol after a bit of bargaining at 800 dirium.

"These people sure are stupid." he didn’t speak about buying the simple pistol, but the man himself didn’t even react to his joke.

If he was in his ship or a bar, a brawl would have already broken out among the people.

With a disappointed sigh, he went back to his new life, buying useless stuff his customers bring him at a low price and then selling it to other fools at a high price.

It was a good money-making job with some stability that Heroth had never experienced in his life. But it didn’t mean he liked it. "So slow."

It was the fourth month of being in Rudrain and nothing still happened to him.

Well, that was beside the arrival of a beautiful lady who after entering asked a simple question. "Sir, are you looking for help?"

The lady was a beauty according to his standards, but too young so he shook his head and denied her work. "Girl, if you are not buying or selling anything, you can only leave. I am in no mood to entertain your request."

"But sir, at least look at my resume, I have worked in a potion shop before and hence have cultivated a strong sense of smell. I can help you if you just give me a chance."