The First Store System

At the entrance to the store, Garos was standing. Even though Garos had already made up his mind, Garos couldn't help but reflect on his choice.

For some reason, Garos couldn't see anything inside the store despite its doors being open. Garos tried to look inside, but the attempt failed, and only a blurry scene welcomed Garos' sight.

Garos tried to force his divine sense into the store, but all of a sudden, he felt like he was in great danger. Garos's entire body became wet with sweat as he stopped his attempt.

Garos couldn't help but gasp for breath, as the feeling he felt a moment ago was even more intense than what he had experienced when he had met the city lord in the past.

Garos was getting more and more scared as he thought about the non-demon. Garos' original plan was to either sell himself to the non-demon or, if that didn't work, to kill the non-demon and avenge his son in some way.

But only from the door, he felt the undefeatable background of the non-demon. If he couldn't even force his divine sense inside without the fear of extreme danger, how was he even going to kill the non-demon if the non-demon had no interest in taking Garos?

But since Garos had no choice left, he decided to enter the store. Elera was on the verge of dying, and Garoun was already dead. He had nothing more to lose, so what was even the point of being afraid now? Since he had decided he would either return to his wife with a way to treat her or he wouldn't return at all, Garos took a deep breath and landed his first step on the three steps connecting the store to the road.

Aakesh, who had been relaxing with closed eyes, opened his eyes when he heard the sound of footsteps.

As he opened his eyes, his sight came across a Thorron more than twice his size entering the store. Even though the man looked terrifying, his steps were slow, and his eyes carried a mixture of caution and determination.

Garo's footsteps finally landed on the store's floor, and the view inside the store became visible to him. His footsteps couldn't help but come to a sudden halt as he found the non-demon staring at him while he was seated comfortably in his chair.

Garos took another deep breath as a wave of pressure attacked his heart, being in direct sight of the non-demon.

It was psychological pressure due to Garos having things to do here. As for the strength gap, Garos was sure that it would only take Garos a single strike to end the non-demon's life.

But for some reason, his intuition warned him against even having thoughts of killing the non-demon. Trusting his gut feeling, Garos blocked the idea from even forming.

Garos then raised his left foot, and after landing, he was entirely inside the store. Since Garos was in no mood to check the store, he immediately rushed toward Aakesh.

Rushing would be an overestimation, as it took Garos several seconds to cover the distance of several feet from the door to the non-demon store owner.

Unaware of the thoughts of the newly arrived Thorron, Aakesh was in discussion with the system.

"Hey, system, what's his cultivation level?"

[Host, the Thorron is an early Divine Lord!]

The system immediately answered in its mechanical and emotionless voice.

After hearing about the cultivation level of the Thorron, Aakesh already had an idea about the identity of the Thorron. His heart couldn't help but become excited, thinking about what was going to happen next.

When Aakesh told Ricky about the compensation, he didn't expect much. But now that the man was here, Aakesh couldn't help but think of how much he should take from the man.

"Hey, system, how much do you think I should ask for?" Aakesh suddenly asked the system.

Aakesh had already gotten ten purer lesser Sacred stones from the system for completing the quest, so he had already earned more than he had spent.

[Host, the system suggests you don't do this! You are a store owner, so you need to maintain character!]

Hearing the system's response, Aakesh only scoffed. And at that time, Garos had reached Aakesh.

Aakesh looked at Garos, and Garos looked at him. This scene continued for a while.

Aakesh's eyes carried nothing but indifference, while Garos's eyes had a mixture of expressions.

Garos didn't know how to start, while Aakesh didn't feel much interested to be the one to start. He wanted compensation, and Aakesh needed to be the dominant party right from the start.

The silence in the store meant nothing to Aakesh since the store currently had no customers waiting. But the same couldn't be said for Garos.

The more seconds passed, the louder and quicker Garos's heartbeat became. It was nothing less than mental torture.

As expected, Garos was the first to give up and speak, "How should I address you?"

Garos respectfully asked, as he couldn't refer to the non-demon as a non-demon. After asking the question, Garos cursed himself, since there was no point in asking it. The non-demon was also the store manager. He could have simply referred to the non-demon as such.

But since the arrow had already left the bow, there was no point in thinking about it. At least it gave Garos some courage to speak.

"I am Aakesh," Aakesh replied expressionlessly. His eyes still stared indifferently at the man.

Before, Aakesh was only 99 percent sure that Thorron was Garoun's father. Now, he was 100 percent sure.

A Divine Lord cultivator would never behave so nervously in front of an early Divine Lord. Aakesh wasn't sure why the man acted so nervously, but since it was only better for him, he didn't waste his time thinking over it.

"Store owner, I am Garos, Garoun's father," Garos introduced.

Despite knowing the non-demon's name, Garos didn't dare refer to him by his name since what he was going to ask next wouldn't look good if he addressed Aakesh by his name.

"You already know about your son's actions," Aakesh's eyes remained the same as usual as he said.

Garos didn't know how to respond as he couldn't sense whether this was a question or a statement. But whatever it was, Garos didn't dare waste time.

It's also my fault because I've always treated my son like a spoiled child.

"Please accept my apology!"

Garos bowed, his head being in a straight line with his waist. If someone were here, they would scream in fright since a Divine Lord cultivator was not only bowing so much to an early Divine Transformation level cultivator, but tears were also streaming.

Uncaring of the tears flowing down the man's face, Aakesh remained cold.

"You don't need to apologize for your son's actions." Apologies mean nothing. The generals must have already told you about what I want," Aakesh responded expressionlessly.

Aakesh decided to avoid the formalities and get right to the point after sensing there was something off about the man. The man looked to be defeated, but the man's son had still died. Such actions by a dead son's father toward their killer didn't make much sense. If Aakesh wanted an apology, he would have already told Ricky.

There was a difference between an apology and compensation. Apology meant accepting the fact, while compensation didn't mean anything like this. Paying compensation didn't mean the end of hatred, but the majority of apologies meant such a thing.

Aakesh didn't care about the hatred of Garos since he was safe inside the store from the likes of Garos, and his talent for cultivating was also second to none.

Garos's action seemed to suggest Garos had another purpose for coming here, so without wasting time, Aakesh told him to come to a certain point.

Garos had already expected these things when he bowed to apologize while tears began falling. But he couldn't control himself. He wasn't crying because of Garoun's death but because of his weakness. He used to be someone who didn't care even if millions of people, including one of his stepmothers, died at his hands, but now he was attempting to sell himself so that his wife could live.

Garos had been living in stress since Elera had gotten ill with the damn illness, but Garoun's death broke whatever will he had. Garos felt that he had never been this low in his life.

After taking a few deep breaths, Garos straightened up and felt a calm return to his stressed heart. His eyes no longer displayed a variety of emotions; instead, only one emotion—determination—remained there.

"What are you expecting from the compensation?" Garos asked. His voice was calmer than ever.

***

A/N: Only one chapter today. I have some personal work to do.

I have added today's chapter to the list of the minimum seven chapters for mass release to make up for it. I will release eight chapters.

The goals and dates are already announced, so please vote and reward gifts!

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