Spirit Soul

Through his Nurture ability, Kyle was able to perceive the hues of the Merchant.

They hadn't changed the slightest which made it even easier for Kyle to locate him.

While the Lohar soldiers were simply walking through the small marketplace that had been built up by a few merchants, Kyle kept his eyes focused on the chubby merchant.

He felt anger surging up within him as he recalled all the moments in which the merchant had caused him pain and sorrow.

But after taking a few deep breaths, Kyle got a grip over himself once again.

"Let's find out why the merchant is here, and who ordered him to build the marketplace near the Brawl. I doubt that he would do this without receiving any kind of permission from the Guild or the concerned authorities!"

Kyle didn't have the intention to purchase anything within the marketplace, and neither was he eager to stay there too long.

After all, getting a glimpse of the merchant was already more than enough for him to feel like cutting him into countless pieces before feeding him to some vile beasts.

Because there were simply too many vicious thoughts ravaging through his mind, Kyle started to focus on the goods displayed in the shops that he passed by.

In the end, most goods were of great value, and worthy to be owned by the powerhouses of six different kingdoms.

However, even then, there was nothing that attracted Kyle's attention, which was rather disappointing.

'It is not like I really need anything to begin with. And the treasures I got from the Razkadan castle, are nothing like my Starbreaker katana or even remotely comparable to the ones I already possess!'

If he were to be the same person as he had been before entering the Razkadan castle, Kyle would be willing to stop at every single shop and take a look at the goods.

It was not even unlikely that he would attempt to negotiate the price of dozens of goods.

This thought made him forget that he was about to approach the shop of the chubby merchant as the corners of his lips twitched, curling upward into a smirk.

'Looks like I'm already being picky about the resources I want.'

Shaking his head, Kyle walked ahead before his eyes fell on a particular shop that had a unique emblem as its sign.

The entire emblem was purple in color with clouds hovering above a man, whose right arm held a unique looking weapon, and was trying to reach the clouds that seemed close yet too far away to ever be reached.

After gazing at the sign for a few seconds, Kyle couldn't help but feel that it was simple, yet somewhat complex.

It released faint transmuted mana currents that attracted his attention.

And it was just at this moment as Kyle witnessed how faint electric currents zapped through the clouds, shooting towards the thunderbolt the man was holding, and tightly enveloping them.

"Is he still messing around with the Kidran orbs?" Looking at the shop of the chubby merchant, the most demanded item seemed to be the low-ranked Kidran orbs.

They were great to nourish any type of beast at the Initial rank of the Krysal stage, and below.

With the price being much cheaper than in other kingdoms, it was only obvious that many higher authorities were willing to set aside their hostility with the Aldra race and buy the orbs.

After all, being able to nurture and ease the taming process of thousands of future mounts, was something that couldn't just be neglected by them!

At this very moment, he heard the voice of a young man next to him and his instincts caused Kyle's hand to instinctively move towards Starbreaker before his head turned towards the attendant of the chubby merchant's shop.

Noticing the tense way in which Kyle was acting, the young man, whose large brown eyes radiated calm and whose lips turned into a welcoming smile, bowed his head before introducing himself,

"Hello Sir, and welcome to the ThunderGod shop, the personal shop of our beloved Fifth prince. We are known for our unparalleled quality and excellent service! How may I be of help?"

The first thing Kyle did was to perceive the youth's hues.

This had become a habit for Kyle to do because he had to understand whether the people around him were likely to be hidden assassins, bodyguards, or simply great fighters while pursuing another profession.

However, the young man in front of him could barely be considered to have some sort of talent to cultivate.

With slightly weaker cultivation veins, the young attendant might have been unable to cultivate as the mana he would to be able to absorb in a day would have been minuscule, preventing him from entering the Vitae stage in the next few decades.

Fortunately, the attendant was not that unlucky, and Kyle simply smiled at him.

He had to give his utmost effort not to look in the direction of the chubby merchant, the man, who was currently hiding behind the birch wood planks that formed the wall of the store.

"The prince? Is the royalty of the Thunderclaw kingdom allowed to personally own stores? Isn't that a little bit too much? After all, the Thunderclaw kingdom would favor the stores owned by the royalty and even allow them to do everything just because they're of a higher social ranking.

Or is that not the case?"

Yasmine, who had been standing next to Kyle asked a number of questions, visibly confused about the situation within the Thunderclaw kingdom.

Even if the young attendant had not shared the fact that the shop belonged to the Thunderclaw kingdom's fifth prince, tracing its ownership to the royalty would not have been that hard as only one kingdom existed in the Sadorla forest that loved using anything related to 'Thunder'.

And to add to it, the ThunderGod shop was solely led by Aldras, so Yasmine's question didn't really offend the young attendant, who looked at the halfling with a glint of excitement.

AT first, he had only seen the masked man as he had heard lots of rumors that revolved solely around him.

But upon taking a close look at his comrades, the young man couldn't help but swallow nervously, as his eyes nearly popped out in excitement.

'Beautiful!'

Kyle noticed the gaze of the attendant, and a frown appeared on his face only shortly after.

Yet, instead of commenting anything, he decided to wait for the attendant's answer to Yasmine's questions.

"Well, I am not so sure about the politics that revolve around the Thunderclaw kingdom. But I do know that the King levies taxes on our shop just like any other shop inside the kingdom…"

The answer was certainly not satisfying, causing Kyle to sigh deeply.

Even Beatrice had expected to hear something more interesting such as a story of the Fifth prince killing the shop owners of a rival shop, just to become the economic superpower of a specific city, or whatsoever.

Unfortunately, the truth was that even if the attendant knew something, he wouldn't tell Kyle and his group anything.

Beatrice and Yasmine might look stunning, to the extent that the young man would be flustered and give in to his body's demands if they were to try seducing him in order to receive more information.

However, even then, his life was more important than some moments of pleasure.

That was quite obvious, but also something some men wouldn't be able to understand. Maybe they wouldn't even be able to move properly at this moment.

And the trace of fear that flashed through the eyes of the young man for a moment, was more than enough to explain that it would be hard to dig out answers or more information from the attendant.

'Alright, the situation is truly messy!'

He thought, only to ask himself a few more questions as things didn't seem to make much sense to him.

'If the King allowed the Fifth prince to create the ThunderGod shop, and lead it, does that mean the Fifth prince has something to do with the schemings of the chubby merchant or is there more than what meets the eye?

It would be quite reckless, and certainly stupid for the King of the Thunderclaw kingdom to nearly start a war even before the Licara flower seed had ripened, so the fact that the chubby merchant kidnapped 2000 Lohars, and that he created kidra blood orbs all by himself shouldn't have anything to do with the king.

Or is that also wrong?'

Tilting his head, Kyle tried to figure out if there was a way for him to make more sense of the complex puzzle.

If he were to be able to interrogate the chubby merchant, it would certainly be easier for him to figure out a few things.

Unfortunately, it was not that easy to do so Kyle could only frown deeply.

But even then, he just nodded his head, deciding that he shouldn't torment his mind a lot.

Turning his head back to the shop, Kyle ran his eyes through it before asking,

"I thought that the creation process of Kidran blood orbs was quite lengthy and complex. That's the reason why they're usually so expensive, after all.

Is there a specific reason for the Kidran blood orbs of the ThunderGod shop to be so cheap?"

This question was something that was regularly asked, and the young attendant was fully prepared, and about to answer it, but was interrupted just as he opened his mouth.

"That is a great question, young man. Let me answer it instead of my subordinate!"

Turning his head towards the direction from which the voice rang out, Kyle spotted the chubby merchant, who had stepped out of the store upon hearing Kyle, his partners, and his attendant speaking with each other.

Welcoming the visitors with the widest smile upon seeing that the masked man and his beautiful comrades had arrived in his shop, the chubby merchant bowed lightly before he continued,

"I'm in charge of the shop. Nice meeting you, my name is Knar Laz!"

Afterward, he pointed at the wide range of Kidran orbs that were tightly sealed in preservation vials.

"These Kidran blood orbs have been produced using a new type of technique. This technique is the secret of the ThunderGod shop, and has been created and perfected under the relentless efforts of the Fifth prince as he wanted to find a means to reduce the horrifying expenses behind creating a single Kidran blood orb.

Only owing to the Fifth prince's continual effort was it possible to create these beautiful treasures.

Not only are they cheaper than ordinary Kidran blood orbs, but their potency is even higher if used properly!

Is Sir interested in taming a mount in the near future? If so, the Kidran blood orb will be the treasure you need to drastically cut down on the lengthy and arduous time required to tame a beast!"

In the beginning, Kyle had to control himself, preventing his mind from going astray, letting emotions get the better of him, and somehow ending up punching the ugly, and chubby merchant in the face.

But after some time passed and he had calmed down, Kyle repeated the words of the merchant in his mind once again.

'Fifth prince… Did he create the technique? So…what if…?'

Squinting his eyes, Kyle grew certain that he got one step closer to the truth.

Yet, there was one important piece that he seemed to be missing out on.

'But why would the prince try to provoke the other kingdoms…that is if he ordered the Chubby merchant around?!'

Kyle could clearly tell that he was missing out on something, but he had simply no idea what it actually was.

What Kyle didn't know was that the truth was far complexer than he could imagine, and that the one piece of missing information would complete a giant puzzle he did not have the slightest idea of!