Chapter 71: Herb Association(2)

“Don’t make us your enemy. We only want what’s best for the citizens,” The man told Aakesh. He then looked at Aakesh, waiting for his response, but the store owner stayed silent and only expressionlessly stared at him. He then added, “You can also take permission from the king directly if you want to run the store, but I would warn you against it as we would do our best not to let his highness allow you that.”

“Okay, that’s enough!” Aakesh stopped the man and snapped his fingers. The man thought Aakesh was warning him, but in reality, the pattern of the sealing the members of the herb association had drawn several moments before vanished.

“There…there is no point in threatening me. I would not unseal the store just because you scare me. Even if I die, I will not let anything bad happen to the citizens due to my organization” The man thought Aakesh was threatening him by snapping his fingers, so he tried to stay his ground. At first, his voice had a tremble, but after believing in his righteousness, his voice came straight without any trembling and fear.

“Why would I threaten you? You’re just an organization of this Kingdom,” Aakesh expressionlessly responded. Hearing Aakesh, the man got stunned for a moment, but before he could say anything after regaining his calm, the store owner added, “My store has the best products. I already have a policy for compensation. Since you’re an upfront organization, I would let you go, but if someone from any organization, then I would have to take action.”

“But, what about the rules of the Kingdom? You live in the land of this great Kingd-”

“Okay, that’s enough. I don’t follow the rules of the Kingdoms, I have my own rules, and I only follow them, and if you have got a problem with it, then go and complain to your king about it. Don’t come to my store for doing this drama,” Aakesh expressionlessly declared after stopping the man from speaking.

“If you want to buy anything from my store, it is open from the sunrise to the sunset. And if you come here to do this drama again, then I would destroy your upfront organization, and then you can play righteousness with other citizens,” He expressionlessly added.

Aakesh may be expressionless, but the man got the feeling that his voice was getting colder with every word Aakesh said, and at the end, the man felt that he was standing naked in a snowstorm.

“I won’t get afraid-”

The man tried to stay his ground after Aakesh’s threat, but the next moment, his words came to a stop as he found his surroundings changing. After his surroundings got cleared, he found himself in darkness. He couldn’t even feel himself, let alone see.

He didn’t have to stay for long as only the next moment he reappeared in the store. It all happened so fast that the man didn’t have enough time to know what happened. He only knew that he witnessed the chill of the darkness for an instant.

“You can leave. If you talk again about your organization ever again, I will send you there for your remaining life,” Before the man could even fear what happened with him, he heard the cold voice of Aakesh.

“I would leave right away!” The man subconsciously said and rushed toward the door of the store without turning back. While running, he only had two thoughts in his mind, first, the thought about not being able to force the store to follow the rules set by the Kingdom, and second, the darkness he witnessed only for an instant.

He only had taken a few steps away from the store when his steps came to a halt. He had a struggling expression as he thought, “No, I can’t let this store owner do whatever he wants, even if it kills me.”

He clenched his fist in determination and turned around, facing the door of the store. He, with determined eyes, took his step forward, but it froze in the air. Despite trying everything, he couldn’t put his foot down. A struggling expression reappeared on his face as he thought, “If I die, how would I influence the organization to do good. I can’t die if I want to continue serving the people.”

With this thought, he turned around to leave, but his steps still didn’t move as he couldn’t just let Aakesh go. “Damn it!” He cursed out loud in the market to vent his frustration. People only took a look at him and started doing their business as usual.

“I have to think of something. I can’t just let the store owner go after not following the rules, and I also can’t die by trying to warn the store owner,” He thought in his heart.

“Think something, Mark!” He shouted in his mind to motivate himself. Suddenly, the conversation about the policy of compensation appeared in his mind. “Yes, why didn’t I think of this before?” He said out loud. All the dilemmas and struggles disappeared as he got the idea to do both things at the same time. A smile then spread across his face as he returned back to the store.

“Oh, he’s back,” Lily said with interest evident in her childlike voice when she saw the man entering the store.

Aakesh had just started visualizing when he heard Lily. He opened his eyes and saw the man he had just forced to leave, entering the store with a smile.

“Senior, I thought of the way by which both of us can get our deal,” Mark said, seeing Aakesh opening his eyes. He then added, “You don’t need to do anything. We would do it here,” He added, immediately before Aakesh decided to send him to that chilling place again.

“Senior, if you can tell me the policy of your compensation and let me test your pills, I wouldn’t stop you from operating the store,” He announced.

“Okay, you can test my pills, but you’ve to buy it,” Aakesh expressionlessly said. If he sold three pills here, he would only be three pills away from completing the quest.

“But senior, you’ll also benefit-”

“If you want to test my pills, you’ve to buy it.. I won’t say this thrice,” Aakesh responded, cutting the man’s words.