Chapter 171. Entrance Fees

Kahra Desert.

The Entrance of Rustwater Town was packed with people. A large queue had formed. Several guards stood in front of the gates, collecting entry fees from anyone entering the town.

No one could object to them. It was not a matter of strength. It was a matter of who they worked for: The Town Lord.

He made the laws here, and anyone who worked for him could throw their weight around.

"Hand over your entry fee," a guard with a crooked face snarled at a man who was already a resident of the town.

The man was clearly angry at the unfair treatment. He was almost tempted to protest and defend himself. But when he realized who the guards worked for, his common sense and survival instincts kicked in.

"Here you go, sir." He quietly paid the money and was allowed entry.

The crowd was completely shocked and angry. But no one could do anything about them. Even for outcasts and criminals, this was a level of cheating and bullying they could not accept. But they could only endure. Who could go against the Town Lord and those who worked for him?

Many in the crowd decided to try and find some weakling to rob and take their money in replacement for the entrance fees they paid when they entered the town.

Currently, a black-haired fellow with blue eyes could be seen in the queue, observing everything quietly.

This person was naturally Aiden Vhorn.

He had already separated from the group that led him to the entrance of the town.

They had insisted they wanted to accompany him to an inn or something. But he told them he’d find his way around the town.

Currently, the group was also in the queue behind him.

"So they take an entrance fee anytime someone enters the town, whether or not the person is already a resident? These guys are really doing everything they can to get money," Aiden thought.

"This place is just like Burning Sands. The weak get killed and preyed upon. The strong get away with everything," Aiden thought.

Aiden eventually arrived at the gates. The guards looked at him.

"You don’t look like you belong from around here, kid. You must be new," one of the guards said.

"Oh... a new resident? Kid, hand over 500,000 dollars and we will allow you to enter," another guard added.

"Considering your appearance, you must be very weak. There’s no way you will survive out there on your own," a guard snickered.

"Don’t also forget that you will have taxes to pay. If you don’t have money, my advice is you turn around and find some monsters to hunt, return, sell their corpses and get some money to pay your taxes. Also, you’ll have rent to pay."

Everyone at the gate sighed at the interaction.

Clearly, these guards wanted to bully the new resident. 500,000 dollars wasn’t a small amount of money.

The most amount of money new residents paid as entrance fee was 2000 dollars. But they thought the new resident was someone they could easily push around because he looked very ordinary.

The group of warriors that had led Aiden to the town were shaking their heads inwardly.

These guards were trying to provoke someone that should not be provoked. This person was not a weakling.

He was a terrifying senior.

As for Aiden himself, he knew what was happening here.

"This much is to be expected, though. Forget it. I don’t want to waste my time on unnecessary drama. I just got here. So, getting involved with people working for the town Lord is not something wise to do. Even if the town Lord is weak, rumors are that he was placed here by the city Lord of MadCity, and that guy is a very powerful legendary rank 2 warrior. I don’t know how powerful that person is. Unless absolutely necessary, it’s not worth getting involved unnecessarily with these guards."

Aiden had changed his bank account details to anonymous.

"Do you do electronic transactions?" Aiden asked with polite indifference.

The eyes of the guards gleamed.

Was this airhead really gonna pay the money?

How about they increased it?

"Yeah. Actually, the amount was 100,000 dollars," one of the guards said.

Aiden smiled faintly as a glint flashed through his eyes. 100,000 dollars was nothing to him. But he was not an ATM machine. If he allowed this to continue, the next time they encountered him, they’d try some nonsense again.

For now, he sent the money to the guards.

When they saw the money, their eyes gleamed with fascination.

This was the largest money they had ever earned since they started their day shift.

They’d make sure to extort more from this new resident the next time they saw him.

The crowd was completely surprised by how things had played out. This new resident was a real airhead. He actually paid the money?

But on second thought, could he actually be blamed? No one wanted to get on the bad side of the town Lord. He was put here by the city Lord of MadCity. A powerful legendary rank 2 warrior who had been a legendary rank 2 warrior for about 30 years. He had lots of tricks under his sleeve and was very powerful.

Also, the town Lord himself was not a small fry.

The group that brought Aiden here was also puzzled. Why did the mysterious senior not defend himself?

Could it be that he had so much money that spending it on the guards meant nothing to them?

Aiden was allowed entry into the town.

The guards looked at his retreating back. They had found a money-making machine.

After Aiden’s back disappeared, the next person in line was called.

Suddenly, microscopic crimson blades shot towards the guards at the gate.

Extreme pain travelled through their skulls as their skulls shattered.

A tiny dot appeared at the back of their heads and their foreheads.

Blood trickled down their foreheads and the back of their heads.

Their eyes were lifeless.

Thud. Thud. Thud.

They fell down on the ground.

They were dead.

No one knew what had happened. Who had killed the guards?

No one saw anything. They suddenly fell down and died. Who in their right mind would offend the Town enforcers (guards)? Had someone poisoned them?

What the hell?

Only the group Aiden had come to town with knew what had happened.

Of course.

He was the one behind this. They had seen him kill the sandworms in a similar manner. No one saw him attack. The creatures just fell down and died.

If it was not that mysterious senior, who else was it?

As for telling someone about it or snitching, they didn’t even think of trying something like that.

The senior’s power was very mysterious. He had already left the place but he had mysteriously killed the town enforcers. They had a feeling that if they tried to mention a word about him to anyone, they’d die before they even said a thing.

The microscopic crimson arrows turned into microscopic blobs of blood and returned back into Aiden, who was currently walking through the streets with his hands in his pockets.

Aiden absorbed the blood essence of the corpses of the town enforcers sprawled at the gate.

As for the people at the gate, they took advantage of the deaths of the town enforcers to enter the gate before news reached the Town Lord that some of his people were dead and another batch of enforcers were sent to the gates to collect entrance fees from them.

Also, none of them wanted to be blamed for the deaths of the town enforcers.

"Quick, let’s enter!"

"Seriously, today is our lucky day!"

"At least we won’t use our tax money to pay entrance fees!"

The group of people swarmed through the gates of Rustwater Town with glee on their faces, having no idea that the person they deemed an airhead earlier was the reason why they didn’t have to pay entrance fees this time.