Leaving

When they left the weapon shop, Matthew’s steps were steady.

At least to Aidan, they seemed very steady.

He didn’t look back at the shop, nor did he reach down to touch the sword case hidden within his storage ring. He didn’t show even a hint of the heartache or excitement one might expect after spending a hundred gold coins.

He simply walked calmly along the afternoon streets of the royal capital.

Sunlight fell across his shoulders, and the edge of his cloak swayed gently with his stride. Pedestrians came and went, and carriage wheels rumbled rhythmically over the stone pavement. The distant cries of street vendors, the snorting of horses, and the rhythmic clatter of patrol squad boots all blended together.

Everything seemed normal.

It was as if nothing major had just happened.

But Aidan knew things weren't normal.

Because that had been a hundred gold coins.

And it had been spent on a sword that clearly had problems.

Aidan followed behind, and after enduring it for a while, he couldn't help but look back at the weapon shop’s sign.

The sign still hung there, and the clerk at the door had already resumed a smiling face to welcome the next guest. The owner stood behind the counter, looking down at something, his expression having returned to the enthusiasm and shrewdness of a merchant.

It was as if that Blood-Veined Rapier was merely a troublesome piece of stock that had finally been sold.

As if a hundred gold coins were just another number added to the business ledger.

The more Aidan thought about it, the tighter his chest felt.

A hundred gold coins.

In the small place where he used to live, never mind a hundred gold coins—even a few gold coins were enough to keep people preoccupied for a long time.

He had once thought that a Black Iron Rank Class holder was already quite a remarkable figure. But standing on the streets of the royal capital now, watching Matthew buy a hundred-gold-coin sword without even blinking, he suddenly felt that his past knowledge was far too shallow.

It was as shallow as a small well.

And he had only just crawled out of that well to see a glimpse of the truly vast sky.

Aidan hesitated for a long time before finally speaking in a low voice.

“Brother Matthew.”

Matthew didn’t stop.

“Yes.”

Aidan looked around, confirming that no one nearby was paying them special attention, before lowering his voice even further.

“That sword... is it really worth that much money?”

As soon as he asked, he felt a bit of regret.

It sounded like he was questioning Matthew’s decision.

But Matthew wasn’t angry.

He simply walked forward, his gaze scanning the intersection ahead. After a moment, he said, “It is.”

A single phrase.

There was no further explanation.

But that one phrase made Aidan’s heart tremble even more.

Worth it.

If Brother Matthew said it was worth it, then in Brother Matthew’s eyes, the value of that sword far exceeded a hundred gold coins.

Aidan said hesitantly, “But the owner also said the sword gives people nightmares and feels cold to the touch. Is it... not quite clean?”

“It’s not clean,” Matthew admitted readily.

Aidan was stunned.

Matthew continued, “That’s why it was cheap.”

Aidan didn't know how to respond for a moment.

“That’s why it was cheap.”

It sounded so matter-of-fact.

But thinking about it carefully made a chill run down his spine.

It had problems, so it was cheap.

It was cheap, so it could be bought.

Being able to buy it didn’t mean there was no risk.

It was just that when the risk and the value were weighed together, Brother Matthew felt it was worth taking the shot.

Aidan suddenly realized that the biggest difference between himself and Matthew probably lay right here.

When he saw danger, his first reaction was to avoid it.

When Matthew saw danger, his first reaction wasn’t to hide or to rush in, but to judge it first.

What kind of danger is this? How great is the danger? Can it be controlled? After controlling it, is it worth taking?

If it was worth it, he took it.

Aidan felt both respect and fear. He couldn’t help but whisper, “Brother Matthew, aren’t you afraid it will affect you?”

Matthew remained silent for a bit longer this time.

A carriage happened to pass by, its wheels clicking softly against the gaps in the stone. The guards beside the carriage glanced at them and then quickly looked away.

After the carriage passed, Matthew said, “Fear is useless.”

Aidan looked up at him.

Matthew’s tone remained flat.

“If an item has problems, figure out where the problems are. If you can suppress it, use it. If you can’t, discard it.”

He spoke lightly, but his words were as decisive as a blade.

“But to give up without even trying just because it has problems—that is the true waste.”

Aidan felt his heart tighten as he nodded seriously.

“I understand.”

In truth, he didn’t fully understand.

He only understood one thing.

Brother Matthew knew what he was doing.

And some things were not for him to judge right now.

Matthew didn’t continue explaining.

The Blood-Veined Rapier lay quietly in his storage ring, but that line of information from the panel repeatedly surfaced in his mind.

【Quality: Purple】

Purple.

Even after being out of the weapon shop for this long, Matthew was still repeatedly chewing over those words in his mind.

His face hadn't changed, and his eyes remained calm.

But he couldn’t lie to himself.

He was truly happy.

It wasn't a flighty sort of happiness, nor was it the petty joy of finding a small bargain.

It was a heavy, deep-seated satisfaction pressing against his chest.

Purple quality.

This wasn't some common item displayed randomly on the street.

From the moment he obtained the panel until now, what he had seen most were White and Green. Blue was already considered a good item. His previous Blue-quality sword was respectable enough in a place like the county seat, and ordinary Class holders would envy it.

But Purple was different.

It was something that had truly stepped into a different tier.

If he were in the county seat, let alone buying it, Matthew doubted he would even have many chances to encounter such a thing.

Even if it did appear, it would have been snatched up in advance by nobles, merchant groups, or expert Class holders.

How could it possibly be sitting in the back room of a weapon shop, waiting for him to walk in and see it?

And yet, there it had been.

He had arrived in the royal capital on his very first day, gone out for a stroll for the first time, and in the very first weapon shop he looked at seriously, he had found it.

A phrase suddenly flashed through Matthew’s mind.

It had come to him without any effort at all.

It was a cliché.

So cliché that it sounded like something an adventurer would say after drinking too much in a tavern.

But right now, Matthew felt it was perfectly appropriate.

What had he originally wanted?

He just wanted to replace his sword with a better one.

A High Blue would have been enough.

Something a bit sharper and lighter to make up for his shortcomings in close-quarters combat.

Instead, the royal capital had delivered a Purple weapon directly to him.

Of course, it wasn't a free gift.

It had side effects.

It had blood energy.

It had the shadow of the Theater District.

It had that uncomfortable, chilly aura.

But none of that could hide one fact.

It was Purple.

It could directly increase his combat strength.

It was also very likely to improve his sword-related talents.

As Matthew thought of this, the excitement in his heart bubbled up a bit more.

He immediately suppressed it.

He couldn't get carried away.

Especially at times like this, he couldn't let it get to his head.

When the harvest was too great, people were most prone to making mistakes.

Particularly for someone like him who had just arrived in the royal capital and hadn't figured out the situation yet. If he thought the capital was filled with opportunities everywhere just because of one Purple weapon, he wouldn't be far from death.

The Blood-Veined Rapier was cheap because it was troublesome.

This trouble hadn't truly manifested yet.

He still didn't know how strong the side effects were, whether the blood energy would affect his mind, or if the clues from the Theater District would lead to something deeper.

But even so, Matthew still felt it was worth it.

Not a blind belief, but a clear-headed judgment.

He had Spirit.

He had the panel.

He had a storage ring.

Putting these things together, he could suppress the risks significantly.

Ordinary Class holders might be affected by the sword, slowly having nightmares, becoming irritable, or even developing bloodthirsty impulses.

But Matthew was different.

He could see the warnings.

As long as he could see them, he could prepare in advance.

The unknown was the most terrifying.

A danger that had already revealed its true nature was not nearly as frightening.

Matthew looked toward the end of the street.

The royal capital was still bustling.

The broad stone avenue stretched forward, with shops lined up one after another on both sides. The crowds were dense but not entirely chaotic. Patrol squads passed along fixed routes, and merchant group carriages moved slowly down the main road, their crests glinting in the sunlight.

Compared to this, the county seat was indeed small.

Not just small in size.

But small in its tier.

The county seat was like a slightly deep pond. It had fish, mud, and places that were hard to see.

But the royal capital was different.

The capital was a lake with very deep waters.

The lake had big fish, undercurrents, water weeds, and rotting corpses.

You didn’t know what the next net would pull up.

It could be a treasure, or it could be trouble.

The Blood-Veined Rapier was the first thing he had pulled up in the capital.

It smelled of blood.

It carried shadows.

But it was also sharp enough.

“Let’s keep going,” Matthew said.

Aidan blinked.

“Brother Matthew, aren’t we going back to the inn?”

“No rush.”

“That sword...”

“It’s on me.”

Aidan stopped asking.

He followed Matthew forward, his admiration growing even deeper.

If it were him, he would have wanted to go back and examine the sword as soon as he bought it.

But Brother Matthew could continue strolling.

It wasn’t that he didn’t care.

It was that he was too good at suppressing his emotions.

Matthew was indeed suppressing them.

He wasn’t in a hurry to go back and test the sword.

For one thing, returning to the inn in a rush immediately after buying something would seem a bit suspicious.

For another, he needed his emotions to settle down.

He knew he was in a good mood right now.

A very good mood.

But he didn’t like making judgments while in such a state.

When a person was happy, everything they saw tended to look agreeable.

They tended to underestimate risks.

So he chose to keep walking.

To keep looking.

To continue using the streets, crowds, and shops of the royal capital to slowly smooth out that heat in his heart brought by the Purple weapon.

Only after he cooled down could he truly judge that sword.

The two of them soon arrived near the Chamber of Commerce Street.

The buildings here were noticeably taller than those on ordinary streets.

Three- and four-story stone and wood buildings lined both sides of the street. The walls were painted clean light grey or off-white, while the window frames were mostly made of dark wood. Every entrance hung a crest—some were golden wheat ears, some were three silver coins stacked together, some were a black eagle with outspread wings, and others were carriages filled with goods.

Aidan looked up at the signs, unable to help lowering his voice.

“Brother Matthew, are these all merchant groups?”

“Pretty much.”

“A single merchant group is this big?”

Matthew glanced at one of the buildings with guards standing at the entrance.

“The merchant groups in the royal capital are not the same thing as the small shops in the county seat.”

Aidan nodded, though he was clearly still processing it.

The shops he had seen before were at most a single storefront with a warehouse in the back. But the merchant groups here had entrances that were more grand than the houses of many people in small towns.

The people entering and leaving were dressed neatly, with attendants carrying ledgers and guards with swords at their waists.

A carriage stopped by the roadside, covered with a thick cloth. Several porters were unloading heavy wooden crates. A man who looked like a manager held a list, checking them off one by one.

Aidan watched intently.

Matthew watched even more intently.

He wasn't looking at the spectacle.

He was looking at the flow.

Where the goods came from, and where they were going.

Which merchant groups had more guards, which had more respectable-looking people entering and leaving, and which signs carried symbols for magical beast skins, medicinal herbs, or ores.

The value of the royal capital lay right here.

It wasn't just that there were many people.

It was that there were many goods, many channels, and much information.

Many things couldn't be bought in the county seat not because they didn't exist, but because they didn't flow there.

The royal capital was different.

This was the gathering place.

As long as the channel was right, the money was sufficient, and one’s status wasn't too poor, many things that couldn't be found even with luck in the county seat might just be stock behind a counter here.

Matthew’s interest in the capital deepened a bit more.

The Blood-Veined Rapier wasn't a complete accident.

Or rather, it wasn't entirely an accident. It was because the capital had such a market, such a circulation, and such grey corners that he could encounter it.

Some things would be snatched up the moment they appeared in the county seat.

But in the capital, they might be pushed into the back room of some shop because they were troublesome, of unknown origin, or needed to be offloaded quickly.

This was the opportunity.

Dirty. Messy. Dangerous.

But it was indeed an opportunity.

Aidan suddenly said, “Brother Matthew, the people here all seem very busy.”

Matthew said, “In places where money flows, people will always be busy.”

Aidan thought about it and felt it made sense.

He asked again, “Then if we want to buy things in the future, do we always have to come to places like this?”

“Not necessarily.”

Matthew looked ahead.

“Truly useful things aren't necessarily placed in the most conspicuous spots.”

Aidan nodded.

He had slowly come to understand that sentence today.

The Blood-Veined Rapier hadn't been in the front hall.

It was hidden in the back.

And it was only because it had problems that they were able to buy it.

The good things in the royal capital might be the same.

What you can see isn't necessarily the best.

What others are unwilling to bring out might instead be more valuable.

They continued walking and soon reached the outskirts of Artisan Street.

The smell here was completely different from Chamber of Commerce Street.

Chamber of Commerce Street smelled of spices, paper, the leather on carriages, and a bit of noble incense mixed in the air.

Artisan Street was coarser.

The heat of red-hot iron, the fresh scent of wood being sawn, the acrid smell of tanned leather, along with the smells of sweat, oil, and horse manure, all blended together and rushed at them.

The sound of hammers striking iron came from the shops one after another.

Rhythmic. Heavy.

Like the heartbeat of this district.

Aidan saw a half-plate armor hanging in front of a blacksmith shop and couldn't help but stop for a moment.

The armor wasn't completely finished; rivet holes could be seen along the edges, but the chest area was polished smooth, glinting coldly in the sunlight.

“How much does something like this cost?” Aidan whispered to himself.

...