The Infernal King walked with the old man, escorting him back. It was clear that they had gathered all the herbs that they needed.
The Infernal King also noticed Gabriel. Realizing that the young man was already up, he was somewhat relieved.
He walked up to Gabriel. "How are you feeling?"
"Better than ever," Gabriel answered. "I don't think I'll be needing those herbs."
He turned to the middle aged man in the back. "You must be Olivia's Father?"
"Y-yes." The middle aged man respectfully bowed. Even though Gabriel looked really young, he didn't dare underestimate the young man. He knew that he was too weak to even stand in the presence of the two before him.
He and his family were very weak after all.
"You and your family have helped me a lot. I wanted to give you some spirit stones as a reward, but I'm afraid if I do that, it'll only bring more trouble to you," Gabriel told the middle aged man.
He didn't lack the Spirit Stones since he had already robbed the treasury of the Academy of Elements. At the moment, he had no less wealth than a King. Still, he couldn't give the spirit stones to the middle aged man.
The Church of Light could send their envoys anytime to investigate what happened here, and if they found these Spirit Stones in the middle aged man's house, his entire family could be considered traitors to the Empire for helping enemies in lieu of financial aid.
"I don't want to owe any favour to anyone. If there is anything else you want help with, tell me right now, before I leave."
The middle aged man was quite surprised, hearing Gabriel's words.
Gabriel was so strong, that there was no need for him to even help anyone in return. In any case, it wasn't as if they could do anything to him. Still, despite all that, he was offering that?
For some reason, the old man couldn't help but feel that he was wrong about these people. They weren't outright bad, even though some of their actions were somewhat bad.
The middle aged man couldn't dare ask anything from Gabriel. In any case, it wasn't as if he needed anything. He was an ordinary man, living in a small town. What could he even need Gabriel's help for?
"I see..." Seeing the middle aged man's hesitant expressions, Gabriel understood that he wasn't going to ask anything.
"Since you don't need anything, I'll do things on my own." He brought out a small bag and placed around hundred Spirit Stones in it.
Compared to the vast amount of wealth he was carrying, these hundred or so were nothing for him, but the number was enough to horrify the middle aged man!
'H-hundred spirit stones? That's enough to bring anyone equal to a Lord in the City in terms of wealth! These people...'
He wanted to tell Gabriel that he couldn't accept such a gift, but Gabriel didn't give it to him in the first place.
Gabriel used one of his swords to create a hole in the ground. He placed the bag in the hole and buried it properly.
"It's better you don't keep it at home. When you need the money, or if you need to leave the Town, you can come back here and take them back," he told the middle aged man, stomping on the ground once where he had recently done filling.
"And with that, we're done. You can go back to the city and we'll be on our way..."
Since Gabriel was already in a hurry to get to Arecia, he decided to leave right from here without going back to the town. That saved some time.
The middle aged man watched the proud back of Gabriel as he walked away. The Infernal King also followed Gabriel, leaving the middle aged man behind.
The middle aged man was happy that the Dark Mages were leaving. Finally, they didn't need to worry about offending them and being killed. He didn't even try to convince them to come back to the town once again to have dinner or anything before leaving.
He took one last glance at the place where the bag filled with spirit stones were buried. He made sure to memorise this location so he didn't forget in the future. This amount of wealth was no small thing!
****
Gabriel walked with the Infernal King, going in the opposite direction of the town where they had taken shelter.
Initially, Gabriel hadn't spoken much. The two just walked in silence.
"Thank you," After a brief pause, Gabriel spoke.
The Infernal King didn't respond. He didn't even think there was a need for gratitude. He only did what he wanted to do after all.
"If it wasn't for you, I might've had to take more drastic steps," Gabriel further said.
"I'm just glad that you're safe," the Infernal King spoke. For some reason, he found this sentence hardest to speak since he was really bad at showing concern.
Gabriel only smiled in response. "How can I be hurt when you're with me?"
The Infernal King didn't respond. He just looked in the direction of the setting sun. "So where are we going now?"
"Our next destination is the home of Novius. Remember him from the Tower?"
"The guy who taught you?"
"Yeah. His home should have an item that I need to strengthen my body so nothing like before happens again," Gabriel explained everything, including what the strange mirror told him about his own soul.
"A soul stronger that is a burden to the body?" The Infernal King was quite surprised. He had never heard of such a thing. Just how strong was Gabriel's soul that even with his physical strength, the soul was so overbearing?
"Is this normal in this world!?" he asked.
Gabriel shook his head. "Not quite. I seem to be the unlucky one stuck with this problem."
"I can keep that problem in control thanks to these pills for now." He placed his hands in his pocket to bring out the Soul Healing Pill that he was keeping there.
"Hmm? It's not there?" He was surprised to find his pockets empty. Even though he had more Soul Healing Pills in his Spatial Storage, but losing the ones he kept in his pocket made him somewhat surprised.
"Did I drop them in Olivia's house?" He stopped, glancing back toward the Town. "If the Churches find them, it could be quite troublesome for her family. They'll think they received that as a bribe..."
"Ah, what a headache..." Scratching the back of his head, Gabriel eventually made a decision. He decided to go back to the town to retrieve the Soul Healing Pills.
Since that family had helped him so much, he wanted to at least make sure they weren't considered traitors to their own Empire.
Moreover, if they were considered traitors, their words weren't going to be taken seriously and the distraction was also going to fail since the Church would never believe them when they said that he went to Yann...
"We'll have to go back. What a waste of time..."
Gabriel could only turn around. Fortunately, he hadn't covered too much distance and the town was still in his view.
****
Back in the small town, Olivia was bleeding. Her vision was already blurry, due to all the blood loss and weakness.
"I'm asking you last time! Tell me where they are?!" Rong asked again. "Next time, I won't go easy on you!"
"They left the city an hour ago! I don't know where they are now!" Olivia exclaimed. Even after all this, she still didn't guide them toward the beast mountain. For some reason, she was willing to die herself to prevent a war.
"Looks like you don't respect my kindness. Let me show you the ruthlessness then!" Rong raised his right foot and stomped on Olivia's knees with full strength.
