The chief cook folded his arms against his chest and said, "If it isn't the little red devil."
Arthur grinned at him innocently and said, "Mr. Jarrod, I have come for my due."
The chief cook nodded as a servant. The servant hurriedly brought forward a plate with five loaves of bread.
The servant placed it on the ground outside of the kitchen and stepped back. Arthur approached the plate cautiously. He did so while watching for any suspicious actions on the part of the other party.
But they didn't move. It seemed that they had learned their lesson and were not willing to cross him. He was able to put the loaves in his sack without any incident.
He nodded at the chief cook. "Nice doing business with you. I'll see you tomorrow morning."
Then he ran away carrying his sack of bread.
The chief cook shook his head and returned to cooking. But he did say, "What business? You're clearly extorting us."
However, beneath his resentment was slight amusement. He could very well imagine just how pissed the new cook on the block will be and he ran relate to it. It made him chuckle.
Arthur visited the other nine kitchens that morning. None of them tried to be brave or stubborn. They gave him what he wanted, as the alternative was to have a feud with a child. It was just simpler and easier to give him what he wanted so that he could be on his way.
Sometimes they gave him fruits and other baked goods instead of bread. But they always gave him at least five pieces. Each party behaved like reasonable adults so that peace could reign.
Of course, they were not this reasonable when he began visiting their kitchen for contributions. They had resisted his attempt to form a treaty with them.
At that time, he was four. It had been one year since he began working towards increasing his karma.
After one year of what he was doing, his mother had refused to indulge his wasteful actions anymore. And he was too young for an allowance, so he had to seek contributions from others.
But the kitchens he visited didn't want to contribute or allow him to steal, so they clashed with him. It is clear that he won.
He didn't win by strength. He won by insidious cunning and with the advantage of being a child. He was a child, so they had limited options of what they could do to him.
He might be a bastard, but he was still a part of the Dyson family, and his mother can be extremely violent if angered. The best they could do without severe repercussions was apprehend him and take him to his mother for punishment.
His mother allowed him to get away with everything he did, but she would punish him if he got caught. Unfortunately, the only punishment was being grounded. It was not enough to deter him.
As soon as he got his freedom, he would resume terrorizing the enemies blocking his way to greatness.
While the adults were handicapped in their struggle with a child, he didn't have any qualms about using despicable means to make their lives miserable.
At the end of the day, they realized that fighting with a kid was stupid. So they gave in.
Chief cook Sheila thinks that it is stupid to surrender to a child and be bossed around by him. But she too will eventually come around to the wisdom of her predecessors. He is sure of that.
After calling his due, or his Arthur tax, as he likes to call it, he carried his sack of bread to execute the second stage of his process. This meant he had to leave the nice part of the Dyson compound for the servants quarters.
The Dyson family has a lot of servants. They trim the flowers by the side of the road, cut the lawn, wash clothes, till the farm, harvest, and many more.
All of these servants have had background checks to make sure that they aren't spies. To make sure that they won't interact with the public too much and be easily persuaded to become spies, the Dyson family provides basic shelter, clothing, and food to them.
While many people in the city just outside the Dyson estate struggle to enjoy these basic amenities, it is still only basic. The servants are still poor.
Being a servant in a wealthy family like the Dyson's family won't make them wealthy. This means that they will appreciate whatever he gives them more and will have better sources of karma for his Mountain Sitting Dao cheat.
His destination is a long way. He won't be able to walk it with his frail and weak body at all. So he decided to get transportation.
This is why he first stopped at the coach station attached to his street. Every madam and their children on the street has a right to utilize the services of these coaches for free.
He is a bastard, but he still has some perks. It is the duty of the coachmen to take him anywhere he wants to go in the estate. But when they saw him, they behaved as if they were not being forced to work with him.
Many coachmen that saw him approached him with a smile on their face and asked him where he wanted to go. So he had to pick one of them.
He picked one at random and sat down beside the driver. Then the coach took off towards the servants quarters.
The ride took 30 minutes. On their way there, they passed through large plains full of flowers and hopping rabbits. They saw deer and other herbivores grazing peacefully without fear.
It made Arthur shake his head in wonder. "Sometimes I feel like we're living in a park, not a residential area."
He had seen this sight many times, but it still impressed him. But he only dared to be impressed from a distance. He doesn't dare to try and catch the rabbits or pet the deer because they are very strong and hateful beasts from the pits of hell.