'Just who does he think he is?!' Right on the border between amusement and fury, Aina ultimately decided to follow after the stranger. All things aside, even if unknowingly, that man still picked the one safe path that leads directly to the nearby town!
Not even bothering to look behind for the second time, Sebian just continued to walk forward. Now that he knew the general direction to the city, there was no need for him to hesitate.
'If she follows me, then she has the most basic instinct to grasp the opportunity. If she does not,' raising his eyes towards the sky, Sebian sighed, 'then there would be no point bothering with her in the first place.'
As unorthodox as Sebian's way of thinking was, at its core, Sebian's actions were always focused on the objective. And as great as it would be to have this beauty for a follower, she had to meet Sebian's standards first.
'Damn him, damn this man!' Only daring to as much as mouth those words, the girl still decided to follow after the alchemist. 'In the end, this is just a path that I need to take as well.' Justifying her actions to herself, Aina tightened her fist hidden in her panther's fur.
The silence lasted only for a few steps.
"Do you have any idea how rich the Gloryhouse sect is? How naive do you think I am to believe your means are anywhere close to theirs?" In the end, Aina couldn't hold her resentment back. Even though she wasn't officially affiliated with the sect, she still felt differently. 'Wait, why am I like that?' Suddenly, a slight pain appeared in the girl's head. As if something was attempting to break out of her head, her cheeks suddenly flushed red. Lowering her bloodshot eyes, Aina attempted to fight the pain off, only for it to subsidize a moment later.
"Huh? What was I…?" Speaking out loud although, in a tiny voice, the young female cultivator hid her mouth behind her raised palm. But before she could grasp the meaning of this strange situation, those thoughts faded away, replaced by a slight confusion.
"…" Sebian wouldn't reach the top of the world if he wouldn't notice that something was wrong. Although it was just a feeling, it came from the enormous power that slept deep inside him. And the alchemist has long learned to trust this silent power with all his being.
"Speaking of resources," deciding to keep silent about his observations, Sebian pulled out the single grade two stone that he obtained from the youth before, "how about this?"
'If I were to pull out those bigger ones from earlier…' the amount of shamelessness that it took for Sebian to act cocky about this trash-tier item nearly managed to put a blush on his face. Thankfully, with Aina's face filling with sudden disbelief and amusement, Sebian could rest easy. 'So in the end, in this battle, I have won.' Using a deep, low voice within his thoughts to comment on the tough fight with his face.
"It holds some value, I'm not going to lie… But for small cultivators like you and me, not for someone with the pension in the sect!" Breaking out in laughter, Aina seemed to relax for the first time since the assault. Genuinely amused, the girl openly showed up the whites of her teeth, once again proving the old maxim saying the women were prettiest when smiling. Scoring several points higher than before on Sebian's personal list, the girl unknowingly tripled the number of resources and attention he was willing to surround her with down the line.
Stolen novel; please report.
"Oh? That's great to hear." Enjoying the beautiful sound of the girl's honest laugh, Sebian decided not to pursue the topic anymore. After all, what would be the point of showcasing his wealth right now? Even if he did it, all he would achieve would amount to presenting himself as a rich snob. Holding on to the advantages like this one, was one of the most fundamental baselines of the alchemist's behaviour.
The amusement of the girl lasted for a few more whiles, after which the girl finally calmed herself down. Wiping out the tears from the corners of her eyes, she looked towards Sebian before calling out.
"Even with that, it's reassuring that you can clearly take care of yourself. If you can have this kind of money, you might try to enter the sect as well." With her mood improved and in such unorthodox company, Aina somehow managed to open herself up.
'And so they say, the men who can make a girl laugh, are the most dangerous. One moment you are laughing from his joke, and the next moment you are moaning…' cutting of the sentence in order to purge his impure thoughts, Sebian quickly regained focus.
"Be that as it may, it's not really about money." The more the girl opened up, the easier it was for her to keep going. Spared from any ridicule or pity, she somehow found the alchemist a surprisingly easy person to speak to.
"Then it's about the influence. Going by the cliche routes, you have a problem with someone who is way beyond your means and standing to fight with." Opening his mouth up for the first time since the event with the low-grade mana crystal, Sebian smiled freely, seemingly unfazed by worldly affairs. "Bullseye?"
Met with a welcoming smile of the man, Aina suddenly shook awake from her daze. Realizing what she was just speaking about, she first covered her mouth with her hands, before looking sharply at the alchemist.
"What did you say?" Aina's cheeks covered with blush once again as the girl only now started to digest what the man said.
"Forget that. Since we are already this close to the city, would you mind leading me towards something like a merchant guild? Appraisal hall? Trade centre?" Unsure what kind of local naming would be used for the area occupied by the richest of the richest, Sebian could only try blindly.
"Merchant's association maybe?" Startled by the sudden change of topic, Aina involuntary relaxed. Noticing a smile creeping on the man's lips once again, the girl took a step back.
'What are you putting your guard against me for?' Lamenting in his heart, Sebian kept his smile before glancing towards the towering gate of the town.
"Either way, now I need you to make a decision." Stopping in his tracks, the alchemist turned around before taxing the girl with curious eyes. "You can either decide to follow me and do whatever I say for the next full day, or we can just part ways at that association. If you follow me, then by the end of the time, I will offer you the stone I brought out before."
Taking the smile from his lips, Sebian looked with a serious expression at the girl for the first time since the two of them meet. There was no more of the warmth and leniency that seemed to fill his eyes before.
"While I won't demand anything unreasonable, if you make your choice to follow me, you will do everything and anything that I order, without even a hint of hesitation. The choice is yours."
Putting a smile on his face once again, Sebian then pulled out a bunch of the smaller stones that he got from the youth on the bear.
"To prove that I'm not unreasonable if you guide me to that merchant's place, those stones will be your reward. From then on, we won't cross our ways again, that I can promise."