Chapter 60: A Man Must Learn How To Pay His Debts
“Celine, what’s the aning of this?!” Jas roared when he saw the mithril collar on William’s neck. “How dare you enslave my grandson?”
When Jas arrived at Celine’s house, the first thing he saw was William sweeping the porch with a resigned expression. For a man of his caliber, it was very easy for him to identify that the collar on William’s neck was a slave collar.
He barged inside the house carrying his grandson in his arms with a livid face as he called out to the master of the house.
“Celine, co out! If you don’t, I’ll tear your house into pieces!” Jas threatened.
“Hmp, I’d like to see you try to do anything to my house, Old Man,” Celine replied as she made her way down from the stairs.
Jas glared at the beautiful woman and pointed at William’s neck, “What’s the aning of this? Young lady, if you don’t give a proper explanation, I will have no choice but to punish you for bullying my grandson.”
“A proper explanation?” Celine smirked. “Very well, here is your proper explanation.”
Celine walked towards Jas and shoved a scroll in his face.
Jas grumpily took the scroll from Celine’s hand and read its contents.
“One dragon heart, three horns of the Great Unicorn, A spirit core of a Fighting Djinn, Six Scales of Kun Peng, One Tooth of Taotite…” Jas’ eyes widened as he continued to read the rest of the contents that were written on the scroll.
“These are ingredients?” Jas asked.
“Yes.” Celine answered. “Those are the ingredients that I lost while conducting my experint. Do you know, Old Man? I was only a step away from succeeding when your grandson hawked, hawed, and begged to save Lont?”
“Save Lont?” Jas frowned. “Did sothing happen while I was away?”
The corner of Celine’s lips curled up to a sneer. “Little Will, tell your grandpa about the incident that happened while he was off to gain so profits.”
William sighed because he was duty bound by the slave collar to speak the truth. He narrated the story to his grandpa and told him everything about the attack of the Black-Scaled Crocodiles during his absence.
Jas’ face went from red to green when he learned that Lont had almost been wiped off the map because of his negligence.
If not for Celine’s intervention, he and his comrades would have returned to a place of ruins.
“Old Man, if you can reimburse with my losses, I’ll remove the collar from William’s neck,” Celine said with a sweet smile. “Cough up, and give , the goods and we can all pretend that this thing never happened.”
Jas gave an awkward cough as he patted William’s shoulder.
“William, rember, a man must learn how to pay his debts.”
“Grandpa, why don’t you pay my debts in my stead.”
“Silly boy, how can you ask your grandpa to do hard labor? Don’t you know that I’m suffering from arthritis?!”
“B*llsh*t! I didn’t see you suffering from arthritis when you fought against the Wolf Tide! You were as hale and hearty as a teenager!”
“Ungrateful grandson!” Jas grabbed William’s clothes and lifted him up with a hand. “Have you forgotten that I was the one who fed you milk when you were still a baby?!”
“What load of crap are you spouting old man?!” William roared. “The one who gave milk when I was a baby was Mama Ella!”
“You fool! The one who raised your Mama Ella was ! Since she’s the one who fed you milk, that is equivalent to giving you milk! Ungrateful grandson!”
“Stupid old man, if you’ve got guts fight for two hundred rounds!”
“You’re asking for it, boy!”
The stupid grandfather and grandson wrestled each other like two monkeys. Even Oliver, the Parrot Monkey, had to admit that the two were really related to each other.
Five minutes later, the two fools panted as they glared at each other. Jas then reluctantly tore away his gaze and looked at Celine.
“How many years will he be your slave?”
“Four years. Of course, if you can pay ahead of ti then I can free him anyti.”
“Just four years?” Jas questioned.
“Yes. Only four years.” Celine nodded.
Jas stood up and fixed his clothes. “Okay, we have a deal.”
“Excuse ?” William pounded his grandpa’s stomach. “How about my say in this matter?”
Jas grabbed William and took him outside the house to talk. When the old man deed that no one would be able to hear their conversation, he gave William a serious gaze.
“Listen here, William. I understand that this may be hard for you right now, but bear with it,” Jas said with a serious expression. “Your Master, Celine had saved Lont. You might not realize it, but she had indeed suffered great losses when she went to battle the Golden-Scaled Crocodile and his minions.”
“Is it really that bad?” William asked.
“Look at this list.” Jas sighed as he gave the scroll to William. “Everything written here is a treasure. When we joined the Kingdom to fight against the Beast Horde, we managed to defeat the Flood Dragon. One of the materials on that list is Dragon’s Heart.
“Although we have the heart in our possession, it doesn’t belong to alone. It was the reward that the group decided to give Trent for his help in slaying the Flood Dragon at a crucial ti. Everything listed there is an SS-Class ingredient. It ans that you have to hunt Centennial, Millennial, and Myriad Beasts to acquire them.”
William pouted as he looked at the scroll in his hand. There were over twenty five ingredients listed on the scroll. If what his grandpa told him was true then it ant that getting them all in a short period of ti was impossible.
“Tell , William, does Celine mistreat you?” Jas inquired. “Ever since you beca her slave. Does she do things to you?”
“Grandpa, listen, Master tortures everyday,” William whined.
He told him all the bad experiences he suffered under Celine’s hands. Jas listened to his complaints with a calm expression. His expression didn’t change even though William made the events more grueso than they originally were.
“Is that so?” Jas said in an unperturbed manner. “Then, William, tell , did you really not gain anything from those experiences?”
“T-That.” William wanted to say he didn’t gain anything, but if he really did it, he would be lying.
“That what?” Jas stared straight at the young boy’s eyes. “Did you really not gain anything?”
William lowered his gaze and sighed. “I did gain sothing. But, grandpa, it really hurts.”
“Have you heard of the saying, what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger?” Jas smirked. “This is exactly what is happening to you right now. Although you are suffering, you are also getting stronger. In the end, isn’t it a good thing?”
Seeing that his grandson had finally cald down, Jas chuckled and lifted him off the ground. He then placed him on his shoulders as he took him to a hill overlooking Lont.
“W-What is that?!” William gasped as he pointed at the Ourobro at the distance. “What a big monkey!”
“Ape, not monkey,” Jas corrected. “That is an Ourobro, one of the gains we acquired when we went to Windkeep Citadel to fight against the Beast Tide.”
“I want one too!” William said with sparkling eyes. “It looks so cool!”
“It does look cool.” Jas agreed.
It was at that mont when Ella arrived beside the two of them. She didn’t find William in Celine’s house, so she decided to follow their trail, which led her to a hill overlooking Lont.
After admiring the coolness of the Golden Ape in the distance, Jas took William back to the Ainsworth Residence to have lunch. A feast was waiting for them when they arrived and William ate with gusto.
Mordred, Anna, Leah, Cedric, and Helen, were shocked when they saw the collar on William’s neck. All of them beca angry, but Jas explained the situation properly. Although Mordred, Anna, and Helen were still unresigned, they decided to trust Jas and let the matter go.
However, that didn’t stop Anna and Hellen from spoiling William by piling heaps of at on his plate.
After lunch ended, Jas decided to take William back to Celine’s house.
“Will, I know that this may sound cruel coming from , but four years as Celine’s slave is a small price to pay for the lives of the people in Lont,” Jas said as he walked beside his grandson. “If she hadn’t stepped up to offer her assistance, many people would have died.”
“I know,” William replied. “Grandpa, there’s no need to say anything more. I understand. Although Master can get a bit crazy at tis, she’s a good person.”
“That she is.” Jas nodded. “She’s soone who knows what suffering ans. Her entire life has been filled with suffering. Even now, she’s still suffering. William, take good care of her. At least, here in Lont, I wish for her to suffer less.”
William really didn’t understand what Jas was trying to say, but he still nodded his head. “I will do my best, Grandpa.”
“eeeeeh.”
“Ah, I almost forgot about you, Ella. Be sure to look after William like you always do.”
“eeeeh.”
William would be lying if he said that he didn’t resented Celine. How could he not? However, aside from the “training” his Master didn’t order him to do anything unreasonable. He could only sigh in his heart and tell himself that his enslavent will end after he turned fourteen.
Since that was the case, he would just focus on his training and increase his resistance against Dark Magic. Oliver would often give him snarky remarks that a Dark Mage who was affected by curses from the sa field had no right to call themselves Dark Mages.
After giving it so thought, William felt that he had a point. If he could be immune to curses, it could be used as a trump card in the future when he fought against Dark Mages of the sa rank.
Reviews
All reviews (0)