9 Trouble

Leo touched the engraving on the door. He opened the door again and peered through without leaving the white room. After fulfilling his desire to look at the landscape again, he closed the door after seeing the familiar darkness.

He didn't want to jump to conclusions, but he was very confident that he had just accessed his mind. This meant that he had finished every step before forming his first star. Of course, he didn't have enough magic power accumulated. But he had sensed magic, absorbed it into his body, and gathered it into his mind. He was very pleased with himself.

He was also tired after that much mental activity. He didn't feel like doing any more work for the day, so he decided to just rest. He closed his eyes again and felt the white space breaking around him. He didn't open his eyes for the rest of the night.

He woke up very early the next day. The sun hadn't even risen yet. When he woke up, he felt more refreshed than the rest of the week. Even though he was 'sleeping' throughout the week, he was always in the white space trying to focus his mind. For the first time though, he had properly slept. He got up and stretched a little.

"Now let's see if I was dreaming or not," he muttered to himself.

Daphne was still sleeping, but he wasn't planning on doing anything loud. He was going to first try and meditate again, and then see if he could gather magic. After all, a dream was different compared to the real world.

He sat down in the lotus position and took a deep breath. He started concentrating on the thought of magic. Unlike the first time, he had encountered magic this time. So he knew exactly what to envision when thinking about magic. He didn't take anywhere close to the time he took the first time to sense magic.

He opened his eyes and he saw the room had magical orbs floating around. However, the number of orbs was vastly less compared to the white room. He started calling out to them. They converged toward his body slowly and melted into his body. After his attempts finally gave him success, he decided to continue meditating until the morning when he would have to go to work.

He continued meditating for around three hours and was able to enter his mind to store all of the magic he had absorbed periodically. While he was in the middle of meditating, he heard a loud thud on his door.

He snapped to the real world when he heard the thud. Daphne had also woken up to the sound. He heard the thud again.

"Open up!"

He went to the door and opened it. On the other side were two men. One of them had a book and a pen. He crossed something out in the book.

"You guys live here?" The other man asked him. He was wearing black clothing and a golden chain that dangled out of his neck. The other man was also dressed the same way.

He nodded.

"This place is now under the protection of the Blacktooth Gang. You will have to pay monthly protection fees from now on to live here," He told him.

He sized the man up. There was no way he could beat the man up even if there were three of him. On top of that, there were two of them. The only option he had was diplomacy.

"I am willing to pay the fees. But I won't be able to pay a lot. I make 5 Star coins a day and spend all of it on food. I am a kid after all." He said.

The man sized up Leo and looked inside. He saw Daphne but no one else.

"Orphans? Figured. So the rate for two people is 400 Star coins each. 800 Star coins to stay. Come up with the number or leave." The man said. He didn't care about his situation at all.

He scowled inwards but held it in. He smiled at the man.

"Is there any way I can pay a portion now and the rest on another day?" Leo asked.

The man laughed. "So you do have the money! How about this? Keep the money and give us the girl. We can sell her for at least a few thousand Star coins. Maybe even more. You can live here for two years if you give her to us."

He wanted to punch the man but held his hand.

"You joke sir. I can afford 100 Star coins now. I will try to go to Valkyr's Forest and try to find some valuable herbs." He said to the man.

The man looked down at him who was barely coming to his chest. He grabbed the coin in his hands and left.

"I'll be back in a week." He said while leaving.

Leo closed the door the minute they left. He looked at Daphne.

"Sorry, you had to see that." He apologized to Daphne. Meanwhile, Daphne's eyes had tears threatening to fall out.

"Don't go to the forest. You could die. How would you be able to come up with 800 Star coins even if you went once? We can try to go somewhere else." Daphne didn't want him to go back into the forest.

He smiled and walked towards her. He hugged her and patted her head.

"Don't worry, silly. I'll be fine. Don't cry. I've done it once and I can do it again." He consoled Daphne. After a while, she calmed down.

"We should move away from here." She said resolutely.

He shook his head. "You just wait a week. I will sort everything by then."