Trafford's Trading Club

Chapter 1503: Chapter 230: Time Will Judge You Most Fairly

In front of the garbage disposal station, Mai Rada was like a gold digger, plunging headfirst into the foul-smelling heap of trash, overturning one bag after another.

Teacher Prin looked on, inadvertently opening his mouth… Getting things into such a state, by dawn the sanitation workers would definitely come and curse loudly.

He shook his head, trying to tidy up some of the mess Mai Rada had made, “Perhaps you could tell me what the thing you threw away looks like? Two people looking is always better and faster than one.”

Mai Rada abruptly stopped his hands, glaring fiercely at Teacher Prin and said coldly, “Human… why are you being so nice to me? Are you trying to get some benefit from me?”

Teacher Prin was first surprised, then he sighed, speaking in a calm tone, “Be kind to others… have you ever heard of that?”

Mai Rada immediately sneered repeatedly, throwing down the trash in his hand and straightening his chest, “I only know of human arrogance, greed, cruelty, and treachery… Kindness? What a joke.”

Teacher Prin opened his mouth, then curiously asked, “Sir… do you have some misunderstanding about humans?”

“Misunderstanding?” Mai Rada sneered, “If there’s kindness, it’s only when you humans are weak and lick each other’s wounds for comfort… Once you humans grasp power, what’s left is evil and invasion.”

“Invasion?”

Teacher Prin furrowed his brows, taking another look at the man wearing a black robe—someone whose attire was somewhat incongruous with ordinary people—in front of him. In his observation, this tall, thin man with a fierce expression was just an ordinary person.

“You come from a country at war?” Teacher Prin pondered briefly before asking probing questions, “… Have you killed someone?”

Mai Rada merely sneered without speaking, and continued rummaging through the trash… Teacher Prin shook his head and continued tidying the area that Mai Rada had messed up.

After some time, Teacher Prin reminded, “This part is probably from much earlier, I think after searching for so long, we can determine the item may have been picked up by someone… so are you really not going to report it missing?”

“Mind your own business!” Mai Rada angrily said, “What I do, how I do it, is not for a small human like you to interfere… While I still have patience, get out of my sight, otherwise…”

Gurgle—!

The suddenly loud gurgling sound echoed particularly prominently at this hour before dawn… Mai Rada’s expression froze, but he grit his teeth to appear fiercer, “You’ll regret…”

Gurgle—!!

“Not far ahead there’s a canteen that’s open 24 hours.” Teacher Prin now smiled, “Do you want to go?”

“I don’t need your human charity…”

Gurgle—!!!

…

Teacher Prin merely ordered a cup of black coffee and sat quietly, savoring a hardcover book: Grimm’s Fairy Tales.

Opposite the table, Mai Rada was wolfing down a plate of meat sauce spaghetti—the way he ate could only be described as that of a hungry man.

This was already his fifth plate of meat sauce spaghetti—but Mai Rada’s stomach seemed like a bottomless pit, his astonishing appetite making the serving waiter click his tongue in wonder.

“This food’s taste is okay, what’s it called?” Mai Rada suddenly looked up and asked.

Teacher Prin put down his Grimm’s Fairy Tales, looked at the man whose lips were covered in meat sauce and who was even grabbing noodles with his hands, and curiously asked, “You’ve never had meat sauce spaghetti before?”

“Why would I eat human food!” He sneered immediately with disdain… But his expression quickly turned awkward.

He swiftly wiped his sauce-stained hands on his robe, composed himself, and said indifferently, “I said if you took me to the garbage disposal station, I would grant you a wish… consider this meal an extra. Speak your wish: Wealth? Power? Land? Women?”

“I’m quite curious.” Teacher Prin removed his round glasses, slowly wiping them as he asked, “How do you think I’d believe you could grant… these things you mentioned—for someone who looks as miserable as you do now.”

“You’re looking down on me?” Mai Rada glared like a wolf with its tail stepped on.

Teacher Prin tilted his head and suddenly said, “You should be younger than you look… Is it because you grow up looking mature?”

No matter how you looked at it, Mai Rada appeared like a man in his mid-thirties, around the age of Teacher Prin. At this age, one should be steady, even if impulsive, it shouldn’t be like a bull-headed stubborn fool, thus Teacher Prin asked.

Unexpectedly, Mai Rada grabbed a fork and stabbed at Teacher Prin.

However, the sudden attack was blocked by Teacher Prin using his Grimm’s Fairy Tales… Mai Rada frowned, even though he lost his powers and was even troubled by hunger like an ordinary person, he thought this attack was already unexpected.

Blocked… moreover, it was blocked calmly.

Mai Rada slowly withdrew the fork-wielding hand, furrowing his brow, “What’s your scheme for following me?”

The seemingly harmless-looking man in front of him might be similar to that old human Mage, hidden among humans as a Non-Human… Having lost his powers, Mai Rada even lost his keen senses, relying purely on judgment, thus he wasn’t certain.

But Mai Rada knew that the Non-Human Domain’s Non-Humans kept close contact with the current world, and many Non-Humans directly lived in the current world.

“No scheme.” Teacher Prin shook his head, “First you were a new face, so it felt strange. Second, you seemed troubled by something.”

Mai Rada sneered repeatedly, obviously not believing Teacher Prin’s words.

“Since you want nothing, stay away from me.” Saying this, Mai Rada retreated step by step until he walked out of the 24-hour restaurant.

What Mai Rada didn’t expect was he had just walked out of the restaurant door when blinding lights came at him… At the restaurant entrance, two police cars and three motorcycles had stopped… Six officers were now aiming their guns.

“Don’t move! Don’t try to resist!” The officers shouted loudly.

Mai Rada evidently didn’t expect these people to find him so quickly… He was briefly stunned, then clenched his fists, but the once surging power was gone and had to let go in frustration.

“Raise your hands high! Turn around! Give up resisting!”

Mai Rada gritted his teeth, he’d seen the power of these human-made guns… Knowing their might—half a day ago, he wouldn’t fear these guns at all, but now…

Mai Rada could only slowly raise his hands, feeling the immense humiliation, and silently vowed… He turned around slowly, but through the restaurant’s glass door, he saw Teacher Prin walking towards him.

Mai Rada couldn’t help but feel startled in his heart.

Suddenly, a gust of gray-white mist rose in front of the restaurant… Several officers couldn’t help but panic for a moment.

However, as mysteriously as the mist appeared, it also dissipated quickly. When the mist cleared, they had already lost sight of the fugitive… Mai Rada had vanished without a trace.

…

A few alleys away, Mai Rada frowned and shook off Teacher Prin’s hand gripping his arm… In the mist, Mai Rada was pulled along by him, then quickly arrived at this place.

It was not a speed that ordinary humans should possess, but Mai Rada was not too surprised, as he had long acknowledged that the other was not ordinary.

Yet such rapid movement made him appear quite embarrassed after losing his strength… He attempted to adjust his breath to make himself look more normal, but couldn’t hide his slightly pallid complexion.

“Why are they trying to catch you?” Teacher Prin turned around, expressionless, and asked.

“You don’t know why they’re trying to catch me… Why did you save me then?” Mai Rada threw back a question.

Teacher Prin said indifferently: “There will always be times when one goes astray… When you stray, just correct it.”

Mai Rada couldn’t help but sneer: “How do you know that the wrong path even has a way back? They all want to see him dead?”

Teacher Prin sighed and said softly, “At least let me be someone outside of them… Let him know, at least there’s one person who wants to tell him: Hey, you went the wrong way.”

“Naive.” Mai Rada snorted coldly, then surveyed the surroundings… Just at this moment, appearing much more cautious.

“If you go out like this, you’re likely to get caught.” Teacher Prin reminded him.

Mai Rada scoffed: “They’re just ordinary people holding firearms, if not for me… Hmph!”

“It’s almost dawn, hiding will be more difficult once the sun rises.” Teacher Prin said calmly at this moment: “Since you lost something and want to find it back, at least don’t let yourself get caught.”

Mai Rada turned back, pondering, “Do you have a place to hide?”

Teacher Prin silently nodded.

…

“I live here.” Teacher Prin pointed at an empty-looking house and said.

Mai Rada looked at the house in astonishment… Was this guy joking? Not only did the house look like it had been abandoned for a long time, it also seemed like it belonged to another century—compared to the surrounding buildings.

“Not many come here usually.” Teacher Prin smiled at this moment and said, “The police generally don’t come… A murder occurred here in the past, when I came here, an apparition lived here and liked to frighten people.”

What happened to the apparition later, Teacher Prin did not say, but Mai Rada easily imagined several possibilities, so he just lazily ignored the matter of a mere apparition.

He casually leaned against the wall of the house and sat down, not minding the floor covered in dust… In order to evade pursuit from the Magician’s Association, he had stayed in environments a hundred times worse than this, naturally, he did not mind now.

Teacher Prin turned on the faucet, poured him a cup of water.

He took it but did not drink it, instead said, “You go help a person, aren’t you afraid that this person committed heinous crimes, crimes sufficient for him to die thousands of times?”

“Of course I’m afraid.” Teacher Prin shrugged, “But I’m more afraid that he knows the end of the road is destruction, yet is unwilling to turn back.”

“Really a hypocritical fellow…” Mai Rada sneered, “If this person killed someone dear to you, making you live the rest of your life in pain… Would you still be so certain?”

Teacher Prin slowly sat down in front of him – also sitting on the ground, “I was abandoned at the door of a church as a child, and the priest of the church adopted me.”

Mai Rada frowned, not understanding why he suddenly mentioned this.

But Teacher Prin continued speaking to himself: “At ten, a burglar broke into the church and was discovered by the priest… During a struggle, the burglar stabbed the priest’s heart with a candlestick.”

“Did you kill this burglar?” Mai Rada stared without blinking.

Teacher Prin looked at him, remained silent, and Mai Rada subconsciously avoided his gaze, he continued: “From a very young age, I’ve had abilities different from ordinary people… That time, I couldn’t control myself, I almost killed the burglar.”

“Almost?” Mai Rada opened his mouth.

Teacher Prin said indifferently: “My godfather, before dying, asked me to forgive this burglar.”

“Did you let him go?”

“I did.” Teacher Prin nodded, “When I grew up, I met him once more, his time came, he was hit by a car crossing the road… To save a child.”

Mai Rada argued: “Maybe he was a good person all along who was forced to steal from the church… So, he saved people later. But don’t forget, some are born to be evil!”

Teacher Prin shook his head: “I’m telling you this not to argue with you. I simply wanted to tell you, this is the environment of my upbringing, and why I act this way… Whether you accept it or not, I don’t plan to force you. Put simply, you looked like you could be salvaged, so I reached out.”

Mai Rada argued defiantly, “If I go murder someone tomorrow, kill those police officers pursuing me, won’t you regret helping me now?”

Teacher Prin still shook his head: “Within my sight, I won’t let you do that. But beyond my sight, whatever you do won’t affect me, because… It’s your destiny, time will give you the fairest judgment.”

Mai Rada opened his mouth, eventually said nothing, wrapped himself in his robes, his voice low: “Good night.”

Teacher Prin chuckled casually, then settled on a worn sofa and opened Grimm’s Fairy Tales and resumed reading.

Though the house was unlit, he read clearly… For behind him, there was a faint glow – a pale small flame floating in the air… a Ghost Flame.