Kadyn walked out of the auction hall with his party. He exchanged glances with Elora and Khrom and said. "Let's go."

No one had any intention to linger around. So everyone nodded. However, at that moment, Kadyn felt a vicious glare on his back. He turned around and saw a middle-aged man, with black hair and a small beard, standing not far away from him, staring at him viciously. Kadyn curled his lips when he spotted him. He looked at Khrom and said. "He is Mayor Palius?"

Khrom's body trembled, but controlled his urge to pounce at the Mayor and nodded. Then continued to glare at Mayor Palius. Anyone could see a deep hatred in his eyes for this man.

"Don't feel too conceited, boy." At this moment, Mayor Palius opened his mouth and glared at Kadyn. "You won't even realise when the earth has slipped from under your feet. So be careful from now on."

Kadyn smiled at his threat. He didn't think too highly of him, even though he was a Rank 1 Magus. If Kadyn didn't have so many elements to take care of, he would have already reached that level.

Gul Palius turned even more ashen when he saw Kadyn's nonchalant expression. He clenched his fist and glared at him viciously. "Hmph, I'll see how long you can act conceited." He huffed and dashed away with some of his subordinates. No one dared to speak at this moment as they knew that the Mayor wasn't in a good mood. They just gave an unfriendly look to Kadyn and followed behind the Mayor.

"Hohoho, I didn't think the little brother was such a daring man," at this moment a burst of laughter sounded from another side. Kadyn peered at the source of the laugh and saw a man around the age of twenty-five standing not far away. He had red hair, strong built, and wore casual clothes without showing any extravagance.

The man nodded when he saw Kadyn's gaze shifting towards him. Though Kadyn had never met this man, he could tell who it was. Kadyn narrowed when he spotted him and smiled. "So this is brother Ironclad."

Ironclad was taken aback when he heard Kadyn's casual voice. Neither servile nor arrogant. No matter where he went, all the people would try to suck up to him, trying to please him; even people with similar status as him weren't an exception. However, a boy who wasn't even Rank 1 Magus talked to him without showing any intimation or respect. He didn't seem to care much about his status as an Artisan or Magus.

Nonetheless, the expression of surprise didn't last much longer, as a wide smile appeared on his face. "I didn't think I would be able to meet someone as outstanding as brother Kadyn."

Kadyn looked at him and realised that he must have heard his name from the crowd. Then he shook his head and said, "I don't deserve brother Ironclad's praises."

The two of them talked for a few minutes. Kadyn realised that, although Ironclad was young and talented, he wasn't conceited like other people. He left a pretty good impression on him.

"Alright, I need to go now." Ironclad said and passed a badge towards him. "This is my token. If you ever come to Zhodon, you can show this token to the Ironclad Manner's guards. They will take you directly to me."

Kadyn hesitated for some time before taking the token. He was still weak, it won't do him any good to offend everyone around him. Furthermore Ironclad himself didn't seem bad, not a narrow-minded person like Gul Palius or Hot Rod from Glont City.

Ironclad walked away after a brief talk with Kadyn. Then something came to Kadyn's mind and he looked around before spotting a few figures. He curled his lips and looked at them with interest.

Association Leader Barret, Potioneer Yel, and the precious daughter of the Leader Barrett, Zelie walked together. Kadyn grinned and whispered something in Khrom's ears. Khrom nodded and walked towards the Association leader. At first, Barret frowned, however, after a brief talk his expression changed and glanced at Kadyn from time to time. He nodded towards Khrom before the latter retreated.

"How was it?" Kadyn asked with a smile.

Khrom couldn't help but take a deep look at Kadyn and said. "He agreed."

"Let's go then," he said and walked away at a slow pace. Some people would point at him, from time to time, as he carried a dwarven girl over his shoulders.

Kadyn didn't realise that there was a pair of eyes peering at his back. "Dare to take a thing that I desire, huh?" the owner of the eyes snorted. "You must have a death wish."

"What should we do, father?" from behind the man stood a youngster. He looked at where Kadyn had vanished with a cruel expression and said. "We have to snatch that little girl from him."

"You are blind," Hot Rod chided his son. "Do you think that girl deserves my attention, heh? She is just a kid from a dwarven tribe. Some people might covet her due to her potential of becoming a Rank 1 artisan, but to me, she isn't worth anything."

"Then?" the boy looked utterly confused. He could not tell what his father was thinking about.

Hot Rod turned toward his son and grinned evilly. "You'll know, but not now. Just wait for night to engulf the Avibria City."

The boy raised his brows but didn't comment any further. He also wanted to know what kind of thing made his father disregard his status and plot against a boy who was just an Elementary Mage.

——

Kadyn and his group arrived at the shop. He didn't waste time and took a healing potion before giving it to the little girl. "Drink it, and your pain will disappear and your legs won't hurt anymore."

The dwarven girl nodded and swallowed the potion in two gulps. The effect showed on her body as a soothing sensation filled her. The pain vanished and wounds healed. The fatigued expression disappeared. "Wow! This is too good!" then her expression became sorrowful and murmured. "If I had this potion last time, mother and father would have not died."

Kadyn raised his eyebrows when he heard her words. He looked at her and asked. "Do you know what happened to your family?"

As soon as she heard Kadyn's words, tears started to fall off her eyes. Then her sobbing became bawling, making Kadyn completely speechless.

"Why are you asking stupid things from a little child." Elora chided. Kadyn rolled his eyes at her and shrugged his shoulders. He was just curious about her origin. He wanted to know how she ended up in the slave dealer's hands.

At this moment Kadyn's gaze fell on Khrom and said with a serious face. "Let's go. I have something to talk to you about."

Khrom eyed Kadyn and felt a little unsettled inside his heart. He knew what Kadyn wanted to talk to him. However he clenched his fist and a determined expression appeared on his face. He had made a decision.

"Take care of her," Kadyn said to Elora before leaving. "Let her eat whatever she wants." After that he walked out of the Potion Hall and went towards the Artisan Hall.

Kadyn and Khrom sat on the sofa before each other. Neither of them said anything for about ten minutes. It was Khrom who took a deep breath and spoke. "I was an orphan while she was the daughter of the village leader," a warm smile appeared on his face. "Both of us fell in love with each other. The village leader didn't accept at first as I was an orphan. However, my talent in magic was top notch in the younger generation of my village. With time I've left everyone in dust and finally her father also became convinced."

Then his expression started to darken. "It was a year ago when we came to the Avibria City because I thought the village was too small to contain a talent like me," there was a self mockery in his voice, "Then I joined city guards that are under the control of the Mayor. I was an eight-star elementary mage, enough to be a captain of a decent squad. Everything was going smoothly. Three months later, I became a ninth-star elementary mage."

"At that time I encountered a bandit group that had killed and plundered hundred's of caravans. After a fierce fight I was able to kill their leader." Then he clenched his fist and went on. "That was the time my downfall began."

At this moment his both eyes were completely red. "Everyone congratulated me for my achievements. Now, I wasn't nobody. Therefore one day I was invited to the Mayor's mansion to celebrate the Mayor's birthday. I was excited and went together with my wife. But who would have thought that I was digging my own grave."

"I never thought that my family would be destroyed in such a cruel manner. I was a failure, but I blamed her."