The crowd became louder with people shouting and running after the thief. But the other merchants and buyers just continued their business. They were used to such crimes happening every day, and they were more likely to blame the victim than the thief for still not learning how to be cautious.
Cana felt Letty's hand reach out for her. Letty held her arm tightly as they walked, afraid of losing her in the crowd. She was even more terrified of the possibility that Erus might flip the whole inn and the market upside down if they lost Cana on the way.
"Hey, Letty. Can we check on that stall?" Cana pointed toward an all-meat stall when she figured out where the nice smell was coming from. It smelled subtly sweet with an earthy fragrance, leading her to conclude the meat was fresh and in its premium state.
Letty agreed, thinking it was a different stall Cana was pointing at. They headed straight for it, but Letty stopped Cana a meter away. The meats being sold there were of very high quality because they had been butchered just an hour ago, but the price was way too high. Only the higher nobles could afford them.
Cana was confused when Letty gripped her tightly, trying to hold her back. She looked at her. "Is there a problem?"
"I..." Letty did not know what to say. But before she could speak again, Cana pulled her arm away like Letty's grip was nothing at all. The next thing Letty heard was Cana greeting the fat merchant.
"Hi! How much for the goat's meat?" Cana pointed at the clean, almost crimson cut of meat. Its fat was pure white—a clear indication that it was really fresh.
"Goats? What goats? Do you mean this sylvan hart?" the merchant asked, confused, while pointing at the exact same meat.
Sylvan what? But Cana had no time to argue with the vendor. She would just ask Letty or Erus when they got home. She nodded to the merchant.
"Fifty gold coins," the fat man said with pride.
"Cana, we can't afford that one. That's already the price of a house," Letty whispered.
Cana agreed in her mind. Fifty gold coins was too much. Based on Earth's currency, that kind of money could buy a life.
"Are you buying it or not? I have a lot of customers waiting," the merchant said, instantly becoming hostile upon seeing Letty's hesitation. "Or do you not have the money for it? Go find some other rotting meats."
It made Cana a bit furious how arrogant the merchant became in just a matter of minutes. Plus, her curiosity was gnawing at her pulse.
"Hey! Which is higher? A gold or a black star?" she asked the merchant directly.
The merchant almost choked on his own saliva, surprised to hear about the black star token. But it never crossed his mind that the girl asking actually possessed that kind of wealth.
"You're beautiful, but are you from the poorest of the poor? Do you not even know how to count money?" the merchant insulted, scoffing with malice.
Cana's eyes narrowed. "You don't sound that smart yourself, and your fatness and ugliness just add to your overall stupidity. I was trying to test if you are a good merchant, but I see you are not," Cana told him, locking eyes with the man.
"I am not stupid! One black star token is five hundred thousand gold coins!" he answered, trying to save face in front of the bystanders who overheard them.
"Oh, really?"
That should have been Cana's shocked expression upon hearing how much money Erus had given her, but her pride took over. Her eyes mockingly stared at the man. Just a little taunt and he had given in.
"Cana," Letty tried to stop her. She couldn't blame Cana for being rough to someone who had just treated her rudely, but they were drawing too much attention. And this man might try to harm her.
But Cana didn't let Letty stop her. She knew exactly when to stop.
Cana pulled a single black star token from her dimensional storage, slightly showing it to the merchant just for confirmation. She hid it away immediately after and gave him a wry smile.
The merchant's eyes went wide. Even with just a glance, he could tell it was a real black star token—something only royal blood, higher palace officials, or the city-kingdom's heroes could afford to have.
Then who was this girl in front of him? Was she from the palace?
"I changed my mind. I realized this meat isn't at its premium quality. Let's go, Letty."
Letty immediately agreed and held Cana's arms. Who knows what would happen if they stayed longer here.
The merchant's pride vanished, his eyes pleading with Cana, but the words to make amends choked in his throat. He had just insulted a wealthy lady. If she spread the word or targeted his shop, his business would be ruined—and he couldn't afford to lose the only livelihood his family had left.
Desperate, he tried to step into Cana's path, but a single look from her nearly brought him to his knees. The sheer weight of her heavy aura suffocated the room. He cursed his own idiocy; his fucking greed had blinded him completely.
But what threw the man into absolute horror was when he stumbled back into his shop and saw his goods—all rotten. He had never seen Cana cast any magic, so how the fuck was this possible? He frantically checked the rest of his stock, but everything was in the same wretched state. How could this be?
This was his ultimate nightmare. He was going to lose his livelihood, his family's survival, and the trust of the entire market. Already, the surrounding crowd was staring at him, throwing him looks of pure disgust and despise.
Though Letty was confused by the merchant's sudden, terrified reaction, she still pulled Cana away from the stall. She could afford to anger anyone in this godforsaken market, but definitely not Cana's guardian.
As they walked away, Cana secretly glanced toward her right shoulder and smiled. She knew exactly what had happened to the rotten merchandise, and she knew the culprit. Sitting on her right shoulder was a small white spirit monkey with piercing golden eyes. Only she could see it. It was the Judgement Mark in its raw, spiritual form.
She had no idea why the mark had acted on its own without her command, but she had already planned to teach that fat bastard a harsh lesson anyway. If food couldn't be eaten by those who needed it, then it wasn't serving its purpose.
Meanwhile, Letty and the other two ladies walked on, completely oblivious to the sudden ruin that had just befallen the merchant's shop.
Cana stopped at the next stall. It wasn't fancy like the arrogant merchant's place a few meters away, and while the meat wasn't of the highest quality, it was fresh.
"Hello, beautiful ladies. Please, take your pick. Our meat is all fresh, and we give discounts for bulk orders," an older woman greeted them.
This was a real, skilled vendor—talking sweet to her potential customers and treating them like lifelong friends.
Cana smiled. "Hi! You're shining like the sun yourself, lady."
"Oh, come on. A true beauty with a sweet tongue! Come inside, I'll give you a good price." The older woman laughed.
Cana smiled at Letty and pulled her into the stall, the other two ladies following close behind. Inside, there was a massive selection of meat, though many types were unfamiliar to Cana.
"How much do we need to buy for the bulk discount?" Cana asked.
"You get a discount for every twenty pieces," the older woman answered. "For chickens, it drops to only nine bronze coins each. It's fifteen bronze when sold individually."
"Good catch," Cana said, turning to Letty.
"But my budget won't cover twenty pieces for each type of meat," Letty whispered nervously.
"I'll cover it for you. You can just pay Erus back later when you have the money."
Letty's eyes went wide, and she shook her head frantically. To Letty, what Cana just suggested was a literal death wish. Pay back Erus? She might as well throw her life away right now.
"Don't worry. I've got you, okay?" Cana assured her. "Give me the list." She held out her open palm. "This is a rare opportunity. Take advantage of it."
Still hesitant, Letty couldn't find the strength to say no to Cana. She handed over the paper.
"Twenty pieces for everything on this list," Cana told the old woman, showing her Letty's handwriting.
The old merchant gasped, unable to believe someone was buying this much. This was the first time they had ever encountered a single, wealthy buyer.
While the stall helpers scrambled to prepare the goods, Cana handed the old woman the black star token. The woman's eyes nearly bulged out of her skull, utterly paralyzed by the sight of it. She had thought Cana was just a regular customer.
"I... I can't accept this, Young Miss," the old woman whispered, her voice trembling. "Even if you bought our entire shop, we wouldn't have enough change to cover this."
Cana's jaw dropped. If this token was worth that much, why the hell did Erus toss her a whole pouch of them? Was he insane? How did he possess such a massive fortune but still choose to rent a cheap inn room? Did the bastard steal it? Given his lethal skills, a high-profile heist certainly wasn't impossible.
Even Cana was confused about how to handle it. She couldn't just give away Erus' fortune, and she heavily regretted not bringing him along now.
"But I don't have any money with me other than this," Cana said, keeping her tone level. "You seem to be an honest person, Lady. What do you suggest?"
The old woman faltered slightly at Cana's blunt trust. No noble would ever act like this; they were all greedy bastards when it came to coin. It made her deeply curious about what kind of powerful family Cana actually belonged to.
"We can be your supplier for meat and any other goods you need for the entire year, until the full amount is covered," the old woman proposed.
Cana nodded. It was fair enough, but Erus should still be the one to make the final call.
"I still have to consult Erus about this. Can I send someone back with you to finalize the contract?"
"Yes, of course. My granddaughter can go with you," the old woman answered quickly, eager to secure such a massive deal.
Once all the goods were packed, Letty ran into another glaring problem. How the hell were they going to haul all of this back? Even if they hired a carriage, it wouldn't be enough to transport this mountain of supplies.
"Is everything packed?" Cana asked the ladies.
"Yes, but Miss Cana, how do we get all of this home?" one of the other women asked, eyeing the massive pile of crates. "Even two carriages won't be enough for all this."
Cana paused. She hadn't actually thought about the logistics of moving mortal cargo. She scratched her head, suddenly remembering the pouch of tokens she had stashed away out of pure reflex when she heard there was a thief in the market. She could access that hidden space anytime she wanted, just like Erus did, but she honestly had no idea how she even pulled it off in the first place. Was it the exact same spatial magic as his hidden storage? And more importantly, how much weight could the damn thing actually hold?
Maybe she'd ask Erus later. For sure, he had the answers to all of this.
For now, she had to figure out how to shove these heavy crates using her newly found skill. Reenacting the way she had handled the pouch, she tried the exact same trick on a crate overflowing with wolf meat. The moment her fingers brushed the wood, it vanished into thin air. Cana blinked in surprise. She quickly checked her mental storage to ensure it was actually in there and hadn't just dropped into some void. It was perfectly safe. So, all she really needed to do was command the space with her mind—what she had done with the money pouch earlier had just been pure, survival reflex.
Letty and the other ladies were amazed by what she did, but they weren't surprised to see her do it. Nobles and wealthy mortals always flaunted such expensive storage luxuries.
Instead of touching the crates one by one, Cana waved her hand in a swift, fluid motion, and the remaining mountain of supplies vanished instantly into her storage. It had only been a trial run, but she had succeeded flawlessly.
"All of those actually fit inside your storage?" Letty asked, her voice breathless with amazement. She hadn't imagined Cana's spatial capacity could be this massive.
Solari must have really spoiled the hell out of Cana.
Cana just smiled, but deep inside, she was screaming. She was far more amazed than any of them that she could actually wield the skill exactly the way Erus did.
Once everything was settled, Cana's group headed out of the market alongside the old woman's granddaughter. But the exact moment Cana's foot stepped outside the stall, she felt a sudden, violent shift in the atmosphere. Everything stopped moving—time itself had completely paused. She could see Letty's hair suspended mid-air, and the frozen, incomplete gestures of the crowd around them.
Cana frowned in confusion. She could still move perfectly normal.
What the hell had just happened?
Then, her eyes caught movement. Someone else was walking freely among the suspended crowd—a young boy, around seven or eight years old. He didn't look human. His ears were sharp, resembling a beast's, and a long crimson tail swayed behind him. He was walking straight toward their stall. Cana immediately cut off her movements, choosing to blend in with the frozen crowd to observe if this brat was the culprit behind the phenomenon.
The boy slid into the stall, heading directly for the old woman. He sniffed her sleeve and smirked, deftly pulling something from the old woman's waist pouch. He lifted the object to his eyes to inspect it—it was the exact black star token Cana had just used as payment.
Cana's eyes narrowed to slits. The kid was entirely too young to be this undisciplined and reckless.
The moment he attempted to walk past her, Cana reached out and brutally snatched him by both of his beast ears.
The boy went completely rigid, utterly shocked and stunned. No one had ever been able to bypass or defeat his magic before. But as he slowly forced his gaze upward to look at his captor, his heart pounded violently against his ribs—like a guilty child caught red-handed by his own mother. He immediately ripped his eyes away, terrified of the expression on her face. Cana was staring down at him with eyes like a venomous snake, cold and ready to strike at any second.
"Give it back," Cana commanded, her voice dripping with absolute authority.
Without a word, the boy instantly handed the token back to her. He didn't understand how she was doing this, but Cana's aura was screaming death itself. As much as he fancied shiny, high-value luxuries, he knew his own life was worth far more than any material trinket.