When the two of them arrived back at the cottage, Ashton and Disha were still laughing. That was until Disha informed him that Ashton was practically screwed now.
"It might not have been your fault, but I think it's better if you don't visit the merchants anymore," Disha said with utmost seriousness, "The merchants are very vindictive, and either way I don't think anyone would be willing to sell anything to you after what happened."
"Wait what!? None of them? But why?"
Ashton thought it would be fair if the shop they visited refused to sell stuff to him. But the thought that the entire market will boycott him was quite excessive and absurd.
"You ruined a man's business. Do you really think anyone else would try to host you and risk suffering to the same fate?" Disha shrugged her shoulders, "It is what it is, boya."
As much as Ashton was pissed, it was fine. Those idiots didn't have anything worth to be purchased by him either way. So them not selling anything to him should be fine. But there was still the issue of not having proper gears.
"Is there any other way for me to buy some gears?"
"There is. But I will not recommend you to do that. Not yet anyway." Disha shook her head and continued walking towards the cottage, "For now you should focus on the Academy. I'm sure when the time is right, you will get to know about it."
"Why so secretive about it? I wouldn't have to sell my organs or anything, right?" Ashton joked but Disha didn't smile.
"Hm... you could say that losing your limbs and life are common if you decide to go down that line." Disha said before looking at the azure sky, "The life you have lived till now has been quite a sheltered one, Ashton. There are things that will make you question everything that had been going on for the last century. Things that no one has any control over."
Ashton was a bit... fazed by Disha's riddles. To him, it felt like either Disha was trying to dissuade him from doing something rash, or that she genuinely wanted to tell him something but for some reason couldn't.
"Either way, we should head back inside. Maybe the mistress would be able to help you out with gears."
***
"No."
That was the answer the Mistress gave to Ashton. Disha was hopeful the mistress would help him, after all, the stronger Ashton became the faster she could have achieved her dream and her revenge.
But it appeared that the mistress did not share the same sentiments. Especially given her stoic expression. She was in a somewhat happy mood when they had left in the morning, so something must have happened while they were outside. Something quite troublesome...
"I understand," Ashton replied with utmost sincerity before walking away.
Ashton realised the same thing as well and decided to get away from there before he could get caught in the mess. He didn't know what happened, nor did he care about it.
'As long as she isn't dead, anything's fine with me.'
However, there was something inside him that didn't want someone else to cause too much trouble for her. This emotion wasn't there because Ashton had suddenly developed some feelings for her far from it.
He thought so as he could not get the satisfaction from Mistress's bad mood, knowing that it wasn't something he did. He wanted to be the only one who could make her life miserable. So much so, that she would be begging him to kill her.
That was his plan... to take away everything she had and torture her till she lost her fcking mind. But he knew it was nothing more than a fantasy of his... for now.
'Firstly... I need to get stronger. Strong enough to take the Mistress down by myself. But damn it! I need some gears.'
Ashton never knew how it would feel to have some money and not be able to spend it constructively. Well, now he did. He was practically 'loaded' and yet there was nothing he could spend it on.
He walked into his room thinking about the next steps of his plan. That's when he saw someone else present inside his room. Ashton's eyes could not see who it was, but his perception skill was tingling like crazy.
Seeing no other way, Ashton decided to heighten his sensory organs even more by partially transforming into a werewolf.
[Your senses have grown a bit. Good to know you haven't been wasting your skills why I was away.]
Lucifer's voice echoed inside Ashton's head. And well, Ashton did not know whether he should be happy or worried that he was there.
'Lucifer, where are you?'
[What do you mean where are you? Do you think if I were to come down to earth you will be able to sense me? I thought your intelligence had increased but you're still a moron.]
'...'
This bastard was always calling him a moron. No matter what the context of their talk was, it always ended up with Lucifer calling him a moron.
[Hm... I see you have obtained quite some skills. Maybe you are not that big of a moron after all.]
'Why are you here? If all you wanted was to call me a moron, then thanks. The message was received loud and clear.'
[Sigh... sometimes I forget you are just a kid. Rose would you mind doing the honours?]
As Lucifer uttered those words, a woman appeared right in front of Ashton. She was uncomfortably close to him. Not to mention her black shabby clothing left a little for a teenager's imagination.
"Come on Lucifer, cut the kid some slack." The lady's voice was just as seductive as her appearance.
Rose, as she was called, was a vampire and was using her charm to cloud Ashton's mind. However, it only took Ashton a moment to snap out of the trance of her charms.
"This kid is good..." Suddenly Rose's voice turned serious, "To be able to break out of my charm at such a young age when people can't stop obsessing about intimacy. Impressive."
[I know how to pick 'em.]
"The heck is going on here?" Ashton asked Lucifer and all he could hear was his chuckles.
[I heard you wanted some gears. So I thought I would call in some favours. So, are you ready to go?]
"Go where?"
"To the black market, of course.." Rose replied and quickly dragged him away.