Despite his lazy appearance and rude treatnt, he was a genuine fan of the ga. Presented with such a valuable and mysterious card, his blood flowed in reverse.
"Apologies, sothing went wrong with the process," he said, subtly putting the card in his pocket and presenting the other. "I'll give you one hundred gold as compensation."
However, nothing escaped Julius' piercing eyes. The boy's face contorted in an ugly grimace as he understood the man's intentions.
"I highly suggest you give the card. You don't know who you are trying to steal." He said in outrage and fear. For him, trying to steal sothing from his big brother wasn't different from a suicide attempt.
"Take the gold. It'll be better for both of us. It'll be your words against mine if you complain." The student snickered, his voice contemptuous.
Upon hearing the words, Adam smiled in amusent. "Oh? The words of a dead man won't matter much."
He extended his finger, pointing it at the thief under Julius' horrified gaze.
With a pale face, he hurriedly pushed the student aside, making him fall behind the counter.
BANG
Half a second later, the muffled noise of a bullet colliding with a hard surface resounded as a hole appeared on the counter.
The student failed to register what happened. He quickly stood up, alard, thinking Julius was attacking him. However, what he heard confused him and the nearby students.
"You really shot! Are you crazy?" Julius exclaid, cold sweat covering his forehead.
Adam shrugged, seemingly unbothered. "Only sought to punish the audacious hand that dared to steal from ," he said in a frigid tone.
As the student gathered curiously, and his big brother seed intent on punishing the man, Julius made a split decision and escaped the room.
"What are you doing? JULIUS! MY CARD!" Adam scread, his angry words echoing loudly in the boy's ears as his ghostly figure was dragged behind the boy.
The students gazed in confusion at the departing boy before returning to their tasks while the thief smirked in victory. With this card, he had a significant chance to win next year's tournant.
He slid his hand into his pocket, happily retrieving the card, only to realise it was gone.
He double, then triple-checked, only to face the sa result. "Where is my card?" He muttered, his shoulders dropping and his voice cracking in sadness.
He searched under the counter, misery filling his face, hoping it had dropped from his pocket when he fell. However, he only found a round hole. Confused, he raised his head only to see the sa hole on the counter.
With a bad feeling, he quickly opened it. Desperation covered his face as he noticed three cards were pierced and unsellable.
"Shit..." Tears welled in his eyes. Not only did the super rare card mysteriously disappear, but now he had to pay for the damaged ones as they were under his supervision.
*****
With ragged breath and wide-eyed panic, Julius burst into his room, startling Arun from his studies.
Then, he unleashed a torrent of words, his voice trembling with a mixture of frustration and fear. "Why do you always react like this?!" His hands clenched into fists at his sides. "You never seem to care about the consequences!"
"That's who I'm. This card is worth a fortune, and we almost died against Thomas to get it," Adam roared in response. Why was he blad as the victim?
"Why would I let a random snotty brat steal it from ?" He added hatefully, mana enveloping him.
He hated suffering accusations when what he did was right. After all, he never intended to wound the kid, aiming his shot between his fingers to damage the cards below to teach him a lesson. So, why did Julius react as though he had attempted murder?
Tension thickened the air, causing Arun's eyes to widen in alarm. Especially after mana enveloped the ghost, making his silhouette visible.
He quickly positioned himself between the duo despite his fear, and said, "Please calm down. I don't know what happened, but we can figure out a solution if we think calmly."
His intervention defused the escalating tension as Julius retrieved sothing from his pouch.
"Don't always use brute force to solve things. Count on more." He said, the two cards between his fingers.
As he pushed the student with one hand, he used the other to take the card back without him noticing.
Adam's eyes narrowed, his voice torn between praise and reproach. "You stole it back?"
"Yes, I did. It's better than shooting!" Julius responded, justifying his action righteously.
Deep in thought, Adam fell silent. They were the victims, so why commit morally reproachable acts to resolve the conflict?
On one hand, he couldn't approve, but on the other, he couldn't disapprove either. Faced with a moral dilemma he never considered, he failed to deliver an answer.
The mana surrounding him dissipated, relieving Arun's tense nerves as Adam finally said kindly. "Don't steal for my sake again, and trust more, too. I only intended to scare him."
In response, Julius lowered his head in guilt. He knew his big brother never stole despite being invisible to others. "I won't. I'm sorry," he murmured softly.
Adam's gaze softened. It was their first conflict and hopefully the last. "I'm sorry too," he admitted, his tone awkward yet sincere. "I'll try to warn and explain my actions next ti."
The duo gazed at each other, understanding in their eyes before they burst out laughing like two kids. After spending years together, neither wanted this stupid conflict to last.
Arun sighed in relief after seeing them reconcile before asking what happened.
After catching up on the events, he said, smirking. "Should have aid for the head." He hated nothing more than thieves. Vikram even implented a law in their territory. On the first offence, a thief lost a finger; on the second, a hand; and on the third, their head.
Julius gazed at his friend in shock. Was he the only reasonable person in their group?
Simultaneously, Adam wrote to the kid, making his eyes gleam joyfully. "You'd better focus on your training instead of spouting bullshit. I'll be your teacher for the next six months."
"Hai, sir! What should I do?" He asked, his voice filled with impatience.
"Use your mana to construct and deconstruct blocks, again and again," Adam said, sharing his boring mana control training and making Arun's face pale.
Build blocks all day? That was it? What kind of tedious thod was that?
He sat down and started, his eyes filled with doubts as everyone returned to their occupations for the rest of the evening.
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