Chapter Fourteen: Determination

  The black gangster who kicked open the door of Lucien's house saw that there was no reaction inside, so he rushed in to take a look and then came out to say to the leader with an ordinary and unremarkable face: "Brother Jackson, there is no one inside, things are very tidy."

  Jackson said with a friendly smile, "It took a lot of time to get the truth out of Old Cohen, I thought it would be late, haha, Mag and Andre are stupid and useless, but at least they have some use."

  The thugs around him immediately thought of Mag's miserable appearance, covering his lower body and screaming, and involuntarily had a feeling of wind blowing through their crotch. Andrei, standing in the front, silently thanked God that if he was robbed by that kid, his fate would be extremely tragic, but definitely better than Mag, who was told by the doctor to stay in bed for a week.

  "Andrei, go in and take a look, see if there's anything strange." Jackson instructed.

  Andrei was just about to make a move when he walked in without any hesitation.

  After a few minutes, Andre came out with a strange expression on his face, holding a lot of miscellaneous items: "Brother Jackson, this kid's box has a lot of 'trash'."

  Lucien sighed inwardly, these were all things that hadn't been processed yet, at first glance, they would definitely be associated with trash, and if one knew that they had sold goods in the market district for several days, then with normal intelligence, they should have thought of a way to make a fortune.

  Moreover, being alone and afraid of being discovered, each time he brought back only a few items, earning only a meager amount of copper farthings. But if Aaron's gang controlled the garbage dump by the river, with their manpower and familiarity with the market district, it might be a lucrative "doorway". This way, they would definitely not give up, so he had to find other ways to make money.

  Jackson took a look at the trash that Andre was holding, shook his head and curled his lip: "I think I know where he got the copper from, huh, the church processes it every three days, let's just say we never thought that there would be 'treasures' hidden in the garbage heap by the Beren River. The palace, noble district, suburban manor, musicians association, blacksmith guild, mercenary guild and other places all have their trash concentrated on the Beren River. Heh heh, what the nobles consider trash may not necessarily be trash."

  Actually, from Andre and Maggie's mouths, Jackson had already suspected that Lucien had sent the Musician Association's trash out of town, now it was just confirmed.

  "After finishing this speech, Jackson smiled warmly: 'Thanks Lucien, we have another road that shines with the fascinating light of money, so let's thank him with our passion, go and smash everything in his house, find copper Ferre and silver Nare for yourself. Whoever finds him later and 'thanks' him fiercely can come here to receive a generous reward.'"

  In Jackson's eyes, Lucien was still far from needing to be watched, as a well-organized, disciplined and authentic gang, there were many things to do every day, how could they waste time and manpower on such a small character.

  The gangsters cheered and if Lucien's house wasn't too small to accommodate a large number of people, they would have all rushed in.

  The sound of crashing and shattering echoed one after another.

  Lucien, who was hiding not far away, judged by the sound: "The vase is broken... The table is smashed... They are looking for the money I hid..." Lucien's fists were tightly clenched, gritting his teeth in his heart.

  But Lucien also understood that there were more than a dozen gangsters there, and going to stop them alone would only get him beaten up or even killed, so no matter how angry, suffocated, and furious he was, he had to force himself to hold back.

  Without status, without fists, and without power, there is no way to deal with these rascals, hooligans, scoundrels, and human trash. As for the law, judging from their arrogant behavior, it's probably useless if you try to take matters into your own hands.

  "That witch wouldn't have been burned alive if she hadn't gone to the graveyard to steal skeletons."

  "Since magic still exists, dark creatures and heretics exist, it's likely that there are places where magic isn't discriminated against or excluded. I'll just have to be careful with my studies, and once I have the power to protect myself, I'll go find a true place to settle down."

  "The danger is great, but the gain is also great. If you want to be rich and enjoy life, how can it be easy? Even in business, don't you have to endure the exploitation of the nobles and gangsters, as well as the competition from rivals? If you're not careful, you'll go bankrupt, or even die."

  Many thoughts that Lucien had suppressed in his heart finally broke free, echoing in his mind like the devil's temptation, making him completely forget to consider why witches would still come to Alto if there was a safe place to learn magic.

  Innumerable thoughts, innumerable desires, converged in Lucien's heart, but before he had made up his mind, he suddenly heard Aunt Elisa's voice: "What are you damned scoundrels doing?!"

  The textile shop would need washing clothes, all ten could be collected, after arranging Evan to go out of the city to pick mushrooms, Elisa hadn't left yet, and she heard the sound of smashing things.

  She grasped a long wooden spoon and strode towards the Aaron gang, trying to stop them from destroying Lucien's cottage.

  "Get her out of the way." Jackson pointed at Elissa.

  Two thugs who failed to get into the house slipped out, rolled up their sleeves and walked towards Aunt Elisa with malice, intending to take her aside.

  But they underestimated the strength of Aunt Elisa, who wielded a ladle with a force comparable to a bear's paw, and with one heavy blow, sent the black-clad thug stumbling forward, crying out in pain.

  Jackson glanced around with his eyes and immediately two more thugs followed up.

  Although Elisa was quite powerful, with a sturdy build and an intimidating presence, the opponents were all professional fighters who made their living with their fists. After dodging her attacks several times, they knocked the ladle out of her hands.

  A heavy fist landed on Elisa's shoulder, and despite the cushioning of fat, it still made her cry out in pain. But she didn't back down, instead continuing to move forward, shouting: "Stop it, you guys! The security guard will be here any minute!"

  Not far away behind the wall, Lucien, after seeing Aunt Elisa being beaten, finally couldn't help but scold himself: "Are you still a man?!"

  Although I've only "known" them for a few days, my feelings towards Aunt Elisa and Uncle Joel aren't particularly deep, but at this moment, Aunt Elisa is being beaten to prevent someone from destroying her small hut, while I'm hiding and not daring to show my face - it's really something I can't accept.

  So Lucien clenched his fists and glanced around the front of the hut, shaking his head violently and cursing: "Damn it!"

  Then he rushed out suddenly, his target was Jackson who was left with only one person by his side!

  Lucien, who was not far from the small cottage, rushed to Jackson's side in just a few steps and pounced on him.

  It wasn't until then that Jackson reacted, his face showing surprise as he turned to look this way, but it was already too late for him to do anything else. Lucien slammed into him, sending him tumbling to the ground, and the two of them wrestled together.

  Lucien strained with his body, his left hand pinning Jackson's hands down, not letting him pull out any possible dagger on his body, while his right hand desperately tried to reach for Jackson's throat. As long as he grasped his throat, he could temporarily control the situation.

  But Jackson became the head of Aaron's gang, not just relying on his sharpness and ruthlessness, he was also a fighter, so he had rich experience, while borrowing momentum to roll over, not giving Lucien a chance to grasp his throat, the hand pressed down used elbow micro-motion, continuously striking Lucien's ribs.

  There was no room to move, the elbow strike didn't have much power, but the ribcage itself is a relatively sensitive and fragile place. Under Jackson's repeated blows, Lucien was in so much pain that he was gritting his teeth, but having withstood Gary's blows before, Lucien knew that this was not the time to panic, he had to hold on. So, enduring the pain, his right hand finally touched Jackson's throat.

  Just as Lucien was about to grab him tightly, his right rib suddenly hurt and he flew up, heavily falling to the ground.

  Jackson leaned on his rich experience and finally supported himself until the black gangster rushed over and kicked Lucien to the side with one foot.

  While the thugs inside the house stopped Elisa's thugs, some of them also ran away.

  Lucien was about to get up, but his feet and fists were falling like a storm, leaving him no way to resist. He could only calmly hold his head, curl up into a shrimp shape, and protect his vital parts, while the rest of his body was brutally beaten by the gangsters.

  Rolled on the ground, heart-wrenching pain flooded his brain, but Lucien still maintained a minimum of calmness and endurance, otherwise being kicked in the vital parts like Mag would be miserable.

  At this moment, Lucien had a feeling of soul floating, dry heaving and wanting to vomit. Everything around him became dizzy and confused, the sounds were noisy and chaotic, like an unreal shaking movie. Aunt Elisa's crying shout seemed to come from another world: "Let him go..."

  Just now didn't have time to make a decision, in such an environment, Lucien finally made up his mind: "Must grasp the non-human, extraordinary power, even if it's magic!"

  "Even if it means borrowing at high interest rates, I must scrape together enough money in a short time to learn how to read and write!"

  Jackson looked at Lucien, who was being beaten and kicked around, moved his arm which had been pressed down painfully earlier, went over to give him two more vicious kicks, then said to his henchmen: "Alright, that's enough, the lesson is sufficient, this kid has a friend who is an official knight attendant of Lord Vain, no need to take it too far."

  If it's for something like this, they'd have killed someone and that someone would be a close friend of one of the knights' attendants. The Aaron gang would've been slaughtered by Alto long ago if they didn't know their limits. In fact, the Aaron gang has managed to maintain control over the city gate district and parts of the market district precisely because they don't overdo it. Otherwise, Alto's true rulers - the nobles, bishops, and priests with their terrifying powers - would've made them disappear a long time ago, even if there are rumors that Longsan Aaron has connections with some big shot.

  The fists stopped in front of Lucien, with menacing gazes surrounding him. Jackson looked at Lucien's nosebleed and blood-stained mouth corner, seemingly dazed, and chuckled: "Actually, I quite admire your brains, but kid, you're still too naive. Ah, matters outside the city, hope you won't be greedy again, otherwise, it won't just be a beating, I believe Marc will very much want to discuss life with you."

  Controlling the trash heap by the river was definitely not something that could be concealed, so Jackson hadn't thought of silencing anyone.

  After he finished speaking, Jackson saw Lucien looking at him with a bloody face and replied in a hoarse and simple tone: "Okay."

  This gave Jackson a slightly eerie feeling, but he didn't think much of it and called on the gang's henchmen to take away the items Lucien hadn't had time to deal with, as well as the forty-five copper farthings found on him, and left triumphantly.