But before he could even move, he was kicked, and like a broken kite, he flew to the other side and hit the wall and fell down.
"You scums have been pestering us for a while now, making us run after you in the rain and at night, all of you are like little cockroaches. I fancy hearing your screams."
He moved to hit the other ones, they closed their eyes. Aile decided to interfere. He appeared behind the guard and hit him in the neck, and he was knocked out.
Thud
The guard fell down. Hearing the sound, they looked around and saw Aile. They had a somewhat fearful and happy expression seeing Aile knock out the guard.
Aile looked at them and said, "Pick your friend and leave." He pointed at the knocked out person who was kicked by the guard.
From their group, 2 of them went and picked the knocked out person, and they slowly carried him as they left in the little alleyways. Aile followed them from the shadows as he wanted them to survive their misfortune.
After a few minutes, he sighed, they seem to be plagued with bad luck. In front of them was another guard that had caught up.
Without any warning, the guard attacked them again, they seem to have caused them a lot of headaches as everyone was so pissed off at them. Aile interfered again and saved them by knocking the guard out.
"Thank you, mister!"
"No problem just get out of here quickly."
"Yes!"
Aile was curious, as to why they were targetted, "Why do they hate you guys so much?"
"They are scum, so we steal their food."
"It can not just be stealing food, right?"
They looked down and said, "We added a smelly snail on their pot a couple of time."
The smelly snail is a mildly venomous beast, not only made the food taste terrible, but it was also poisonous, forcing people into indigestion for days.
Aile talked with them a bit more and figured out that they hate the people of the White Clan as they destroyed the shop that used to feed them, they were a group of orphans.
After a few turns, Aile said, "You guys are safe now, do not try to agitate them more. It is better to be alive, then annoy them and die."
One of the boys said, "Mister, you seem to be a good person, can we follow you."
Aile had a complicated expression on his face, and it was visible on his eyes.
The other boy said, "We will do anything you ask of us."
The other two boys nodded.
The girl with a gritted teeth also said, "Please just take us, we will do anything."
Aile did not want to just be the saviour of all the people with problems. There were just too many of them. But today because of Laila he was more soft-hearted and was tempted to help them.
In the end, seeing their pitiful-eyes, Aile decided to take them in. He needed some people to do some deeds that he was not comfortable for Hazel, Emily, Fiona, Diana to do.
Stolen novel; please report.
Sigh, "I can take you in, but you will have to follow everything I say, and I can not take weakling and dead-weights. Also, you will not have a pleasant job if you follow me."
They all nodded, Aile then called each one to examine if they will be useful. He placed his hand on their stomach and checked them to see if they will be good at cultivation. He had learnt this method over the past three years.
He checked the knocked out one, who was now awake, first, then the rest. They all were decent. Finally, it was the girl's turn, he said to her there is no need, he did not want to take advantage of her. Even though it was to check her talent, he did not want to give a possible negative impression by touching her.
She had her eyes water, "Please take me too, I am good at stealing and also running away, and I can do anything else you want."
"I am also bringing you, do not worry."
"Really."
Aile nodded. She had thought that Aile did not want to take her as he did not examine her.
Aile brought them to the mansion. He first gave them a room each and told them to wash up. Then, Aile asked one of the maids to bring them clothes. Once they were dressed and presentable, Aile called them and told them, if they wanted to work for him, he needs to put a seal on them. They nodded, and Aile placed a seal with his fate law on each of them.
Diana was with him, and when she saw the girl, who was now better looking and resembling Ellie, she asked Aile if she could follow her.
Aile then assigned the girl to follow Diana and the boys to train with him. He then scheduled their time to learn about the underground business.
He needed people he can trust in there. He did not want Emily to spend her day there. Although the people Emily brought were doing a decent job, they were not very good at what they were doing.
After a few days, the life of Aile returned to the same repetitive cycle, the only difference was now he would train the four new additions. He asked their names, and they said they did not have any they were abandoned, and no one bothered to name them. Aile then analyzed them, and then the one that ran away from the guards was called One. Then there was another thin one that preferred hiding he called him Two. Then the third one who liked to use traps, he called him Three. The fourth one was calm but burst up with energy and became daring Four. Aile then told that if they managed to pass his assessment in three years, they could get propper names and officially join him.
Right now, they would need to get fed to build up enough muscle and ability to undergo proper training. Therefore, Aile taught them strategies until they are physically fit for cultivation and combat.
Aile asked Diana if she could pass down her cultivation to the girl, to which she readily agreed. Soon another 2 months passed.
Laila returned for 2 nights in this time Leia received the special-cultivation method from the lady with the red mask. Laila was more proficient after Aile tested her, and she was happy with her progress and how she was treated. However, she was still hesitant when it was time for her to leave.
With a reluctant gaze, she left again. Then the war between the two kingdoms started.
It was not a direct conflict. However, the kingdoms started to create internal problems with each other and around their borders. Port Kiar was too far away and did not get affected by this much.
However, it was still a significant piece that neither the Royal family nor the White Clan wanted to lose. Thus, as they focused on dealing with the external-problem, a few more representative of the powers arrived in Port Kiar. The White Clan sent Marcus permanently, and Hunter would visit from time to time. This was good as Ellie could visit Diana. However, Marcus started to pester Fiona, Emily and Diana.
On the other side, the Royal Clan sent their representative, who was a young Marquis. He was strong, smart and started to help Shadow and occasionally fanned the fire between the White Clan and Shadow's business. Aile would seldomly play along to keep his ego intact and prevent him from doing something stupid. Making it seem that his plan was working. While at the same time maintaining a good relationship with the White clan to prevent them from taking any drastic measures.
The bandits became more reliant in Aile and they now mostly made their money through the sneaky trades with Shadow. What surprised Aile was that neither side went against the bandits and the pirates.
The group of pirates that had denied working with Aile and targeted his caravan started to face many misfortunes. This was the retaliation of Oxe Merchant Guild. Two of their pirate ships caught fire and sank. Three first mate and one quartermaster were murdered.
The other pirate group had a few dealings with Aile's business. This was kept infrequent, but each time the value of the trade increased. The relationship did not develop further, but both sides valued each other as a trading partner.
Another headache was the two spies sent by the bandits. They took every opportunity to infiltrate and talk with Shadow, and every time they wanted to live inside his mansion. Aile was running out of excuses to let them in.
His new support One, Two, Three and Four worked very hard and were very happy. Aile treated them very well, and they reciprocated his care by training harder and learning better strategies.