The Shining Star Above The Heaven-Chapter 1020: Giving What is His Right

"Wait," Aldrian said.

Renfil and the village head looked at Aldrian as he suddenly spoke.

"Increase the price. Selling Crimson Flame Mushrooms for only that much is unacceptable. You must know how valuable Crimson Flame Mushrooms are, right? Even if your organization has financial difficulties, the value of the mushrooms themselves has not diminished," Aldrian said.

"Let’s say your organization is making financial adjustments because of the war. Even then, if you want to lower the price, you should not lower it below high level energy stones."

Hearing that, both Renfil and the village head were stunned. Renfil frowned and looked at the village head.

"What is this man’s relationship to you?"

"I’m sorry, sir. This is my guest from outside this territory, so he might not know about you," the village head said quickly, then looked at Aldrian with an imploring expression.

"Young master, it’s okay. At least I got something from it. I’m afraid of troubling you," he said through voice transmission.

"No. You will have more, and you can bring more back to your family. This man is not only trampling on your dignity, but also on the effort you put into picking these mushrooms," Aldrian replied.

Aldrian could sense the kind of thoughts and emotions inside the man named Renfil.

He was mocking the village head. He was disgusted by the village head’s presence. He felt that he could take as much profit as possible from this transaction.

This was one type of person that made Aldrian sick, and he felt like giving them the harsh punishment if they were in his empire. People who sought to make as much profit as possible despite knowing others’ difficulties. Worse, they used the war as an excuse to gain more profit when they should not.

With the war threatening the world at this very moment, they were making the lives of commoners much more difficult while gaining more profit for themselves.

In the Aster Empire, there were already rules to prevent this kind of thing from happening. Merchants or nobles could not buy any treasures from commoners below the market price. Even if something major happened within the empire, for example a war that made the situation difficult, any price fluctuation must not be lowered or raised too drastically.

This rule also applied in reverse so commoners could not take advantage of nobles. They needed each other, after all.

Now that something so outrageous was happening right in front of him, there was no way Aldrian would simply stand back and watch when he had the power to stop it.

"But—"

"I will see that the village head is given more energy stones, enough to cover your family’s needs for years," Aldrian said, cutting off the village head’s words. Aldrian looked Renfil directly in the eyes.

"I can hear your inner thoughts, you know? At this moment, you are wondering who I am. You are cursing me and the village head, and hoping that we will just leave without causing much trouble. You want to gain as much profit as possible from the village head? Not on my watch."

The village head widened his eyes in shock, while Renfil’s expression contorted in fury.

"You... do you know who I am?! How dare you ask for more when I have already generously given you something! You should be thankful that you still got something from me! If not for my generosity, I would have taken your things without paying anything!" he shouted.

"This is taking too much time if we keep going like this," Aldrian said with boredom. Suddenly, Renfil’s body stiffened before relaxing. His furious expression froze, then slowly turned blank.

"I want you to give the village head the energy stones that he was supposed to receive all this time from selling Crimson Flame Mushroom," Aldrian said.

"Yes, my lord," Renfil replied flatly. He then walked to one side of the room while Aldrian took a seat on the sofa and smiled at the village head.

"Come, sit, village head. Let’s wait until he is done," he said.

The village head, who still did not know what had happened, looked at Renfil in confusion before turning back to Aldrian.

"Young master, what did you do to Sir Renfil?" he asked.

Aldrian put on an oblivious expression. "Hm? I did not do anything. This esteemed Sir Renfil might be having a moment of realization that he was in the wrong and is doing something to redeem his mistakes."

The village head knew that Aldrian was spouting nonsense.

What realization? He must have done something to Renfil!

The village head looked at Renfil again as he reached one of the walls and pressed on a certain part of it. Suddenly, the wall opened to both sides, revealing what was hidden behind it. It was a vault the size of a wardrobe, with the same height as Renfil.

Renfil then touched the vault and injected his energy into it. The moment the vault opened, a strong aura spread across the room, making the village head astonished. A refreshing sensation and rich heaven and earth energy filled the air, making his body instinctively want to absorb it.

The village head then saw Renfil take out a large sack from his storage ring and begin filling it with energy stones. They were white stones, each about the size of a pigeon’s egg.

The village head trembled as he watched. The number of energy stones was staggering, and every one of them was at peak level!

Renfil kept filling the sack until it was almost full. Then he took out another sack and continued. He repeated the process until there were three sacks filled with peak-level energy stones.

After he was done, he closed the vault and the wall.

Renfil then brought the three sacks to the village head, who was still speechless and did not know what to do. He stood frozen, able only to watch as Renfil placed three sacks full of peak-level energy stones in front of him.

The village head gulped. This much was already enough for him and his family to live comfortably for years to come. He could even develop the village into a much better place and still have many energy stones left.

However, for Aldrian, seeing this sight only made him irritated. With that many peak-level energy stones, this meant the village head had been taken advantage of for many years.

Aldrian stood up and walked toward the village head, who still was not sure what he needed to do. He looked at Aldrian again.

"Let me bring it for you, village head," Aldrian said as he put the three sacks into his storage ring. He then looked at Renfil, who still had a blank expression.

"After we leave this place, you will forget everything that happened here just now, regarding our visit," he said.

"Yes, my lord," Renfil replied.

Aldrian nodded and looked at the village head. "Let’s go. We can leave this place."

The village head nodded, but everything still felt surreal to him. What happened to Renfil? Why was he suddenly obeying Aldrian?

However, he did not dare to ask Aldrian and simply followed him out of the room and then out of the building. The moment they stepped outside, Renfil, who was still standing there with a blank expression, finally regained some clarity in his eyes and blinked a few times.

He looked at his surroundings with slight confusion. He felt that something was strange, but he did not know what.

He wondered why he was standing there at that moment. He tried to remember what had happened, but he truly could not recall why he was standing there or what he was supposed to be doing.

It was as if he had wanted to do something just a moment ago, but he had already forgotten what it was, which left him confused. After a few moments of confusion, he simply brushed it off and shrugged.

’Well, whatever,’ he thought, before continuing what he had been doing before meeting the village head and Aldrian. He was still oblivious to the fact that almost half of the peak-level energy stones in his private vault were already gone.

This was the direct effect of Aldrian’s hypnotic technique on lower-level cultivators. Without even needing to erase memories directly from their minds, Aldrian could achieve this with a single command using his hypnotic technique.

Aldrian’s hypnosis was far too strong for cultivators below his level.

When he ordered them to forget something, their minds would obey and erase the related memories on their own. Their subconscious would act accordingly, making them think they had wanted to do something but had simply forgotten about it.

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On the busy street, Aldrian and the village head were walking side by side toward the market area.

This was a routine the village head always followed after selling Crimson Flame Mushrooms. He would buy daily necessities for his family, such as food.

Throughout the walk, the village head wanted to ask Aldrian regarding Renfil, but he did not dare to. Still, it was obvious that he looked worried.

Aldrian smiled at him as they neared the market.

"You don’t have to worry about Renfil, village head. He will not look for trouble with you even if you meet him again in the future. Well, if you still want to meet him. With the energy stones you have now, I think you can elevate your family to a better life."

The village head sighed. "I’m sorry, young master. To think that you involved yourself in this for my sake, I feel ashamed."

Aldrian waved his hand. "No problem. It just irked me to see someone like that. Taking benefits while you are struggling with life. Don’t you know that Crimson Flame Mushrooms are truly valuable? Selling them for only low level energy stones is simply ridiculous."

The village head sighed again. "Of course I know, young master, but..." His gaze turned resigned.

"I just cannot do anything about it."