Scarlet instinctively tightened her grip on the Wildfire Spear, but Dustin lightly pressed her wrist, signaling her not to act rashly.
Elowen stepped toward the stall. Without even sparing the burly vendor a glance, she tossed down a pouch of celestial stones and reached for the sword.
“Hold it!”
A voice cut through the air. Another man stepped out from the crowd. He appeared to be in his early 30s, wearing a blue-violet robe, and had a cold, predatory look on his face. Faint arcs of lightning coiled around his body, the unmistakable bearing of the Jornell family.
He said with a strained smile, “Miss, the baleful aura on that sword conflicts with the stormcraft my family cultivates. It would make an excellent subject for study. Why not let me have it?”
Only then did Elowen lift her gaze to look at him. Her eyes were as cold as frost. “Who do you think you are?” she shot back. “You think you’re worthy of competing with me for it?”
The man’s expression immediately darkened. “Don’t think you can act arrogant just because you’re from the Quinton family. My family-”
Before he could finish speaking, a razor-sharp sword aura was already pressed against his throat. But no one saw her make a move. One moment, the black sword was still at her side, and the next instant, it was already poised at the man’s neck.
“Say one more word, and you die,” Elowen said calmly. The man’s face turned deathly pale. Cold sweat streamed down his forehead, and he didn’t dare make another sound.
Elowen scoffed dismissively, withdrew the sword, and turned to leave. As she walked away, her gaze swept across the crowd and briefly paused on Dustin before shifting away as if nothing had happened.
The onlookers scattered immediately, unwilling to risk being dragged into trouble. The man from the Jornell family slipped into the crowd in humiliation and disappeared within moments.
“Elowen’s temper is even worse than the rumors say,” Scarlet muttered under her breath. Dustin watched Elowen’s departing figure with a thoughtful expression. “It’s not temper,” he said after a moment.
“It’s indifference. In her eyes, people like us are no different from insects.”
He had felt the same thing come from Evander before. It was a deep-rooted arrogance born from families that had lived apart from the rest of the world for generations and learned to look down on everyone else.
“Let’s go. We should find Grace and the others.”
Dustin looked away and left the area with Scarlet. By evening, the group reunited in a relatively quiet corner near the edge of the market. Grace and Adam had each come back with something useful.
Grace had traded several pieces of ore recovered from the ruins for a fragment of a sword manual, while Adam had managed to acquire several key materials needed to complete a formation.
“We’ll camp here tonight,” she said. “This place is relatively safe for now, so we can rest properly. Tomorrow we’ll decide where to go next.”
Night gradually settled over the market, yet the lights of the stalls remained bright. Not only had the vendors not packed up, but the place had also become even livelier as though certain items revealed their true value only after darkness fell
Dustin sat alone at the edge of the camp, his eyes fixed on the stone pillar rising at the center of the market. At its peak, the Storm-Calming Pearl emitted a gentle milky glow that spread outward, covering the entire marketplace in soft light.
A moment later, a figure approached and sat down beside him.
“Can’t sleep?” Grace asked.
Dustin nodded. “Just thinking things over.”
“About what?”
“I keep thinking about this mountain, this trial, and how we are supposed to leave here alive,” he replied softly. “Have you ever considered the possibility that Mount Aethermoor is not merely a test but part of a much larger scheme?”
