The Winter Aconite

Chapter 5

To take the first step in his plan, Cale started to look for the ancient power hidden in Western City. He knew the requirement to earn that power.

"W-welcome, Youn- young master."

Cale just nodded his head at the baker, who bowed so low that it looked like his head might touch the ground.

Gasp

He could hear the baker gasping, but Cale pretended not to hear it.

"Give me some bread."

"Excuse me?"

Cale pointed at all of the bread in the bakery and sternly responded.

"Everything from here to there."

Clang

The gold coin that Cale took out started to spin on the counter.

"Pack it all up."

The baker seemed to be frozen in place as Cale continued to speak.

"Two or three more gold coins should be enough for a week's worth of bread, right?"

After a few while, Cale left the bakery with a bag full of bread over his shoulder.

Even though it was just bread, it weighed quite a bit. The weight made Cale start to frown, and he ignored the baker who was watching him leave as he stepped into the street.

Cale leisurely walked down the street, noticing that anybody who made eye contact with him would quickly turn and walk away. The majority of the people even ran away to avoid eye contact with him.

Cale walked past the market and toward the western part of Western City.

The slum is located to the west. No matter how wealthy a territory may be, there are always going to be poor people. In a situation like this, most people would probably expect something along these lines to happen.

'Ah, it is a fateful encounter you can earn by sharing food with the poor.'

Unfortunately, that was not the case.

Cale could feel people peeking at him as soon as he entered the slums. This was the place where both the idlest and the most vicious people lived together.

Although the poor may not know the face of their liege, the count, they knew Cale's face. These people who had nothing needed to pay even closer attention to the type of person that would cause a ruckus in the market, pub, plaza, well, you name it, and Cale had probably caused a ruckus there too.

"Tsk."

The slums were on one side of a small hill and consisted of old houses. Cale was heading toward the top of that hill. As he got closer, the gazes and steps of the people following him started to lessen as well. Cale's sharp glare probably played a role in this as well.

'It's better here.'

After being freed from the stench, Cale stood at the top of the hill and turned around to look down at Western City. Cale returned to his senses as he headed toward a tree fenced off in all directions. The fence, which was made of planks the width of Cale's body, had an entrance that had rotted. It was easily broken once Cale pushed at the fence.

This large tree seemed to have lasted for hundreds of years. Trees in the slums were usually chopped into firewood or had their layers peeled off to make them useless, but this tree was not like that.

The reason was simple. The reason could be heard in Cale's ear. These two were the only two who had followed him until the end of the slums.

"You can't approach that tree."