NoGift

Chapter 142: trouble or not

CLAY rushed forward, inserting himself between the two and successfuly gripping the hand of the man holding a knife. Completely stopping the man's action of trying to stab the boy. "What are you doing?"

"Let go! Let go! I have to kill that devil!" the man shouted madly, still struggling and trying to stab the kid.

The little boy gripped the hem of Clay's shirt tightly. "B-big brother..."

Clay looked down and his face sank when he saw the condition of the boy. His golden brown hair was completely messy. Even with his sun-kissed skin, anyone could clearly see the bruises on his arms and face. The swollen left eye was even more eyecatching. It was so swollen that one couldn't even see the color of his iris. Which was actually the same golden brown as his hair.

Clay immediately felt a deep anger. One of the things he hated was the abused of children. Growing up in an environment where kids were constantly abused by people of high authority could do that to a person. So he couldn't turn a blind eye whenever he saw a child being abused by others. This kid didn't even look like he's more than ten years old. Which only made Clay's anger deeper.

"Don't be afraid. I won't let him hurt you. I promise," he said gently to the boy.

The boy only held the hem of his shirt tighter, showing that he was still afraid.

Clay turned to the crazy man who was still madly struggling and shouting nonsense.

"I will kill you, you devil! You must die! Die! Die--"

The man didn't manage to finish what he was saying because Clay didn't hesitate to break the man's hand holding the knife. The man screamed in pain. Clay let go of him and kicked the knife that had fallen on the ground. He gently pulled the boy away from the screaming man. Then they suddenly heard a series of footsteps. Clay looked to his right and saw Aurum leading two knights in their direction.

"What happened here?" asked one of the knights looking at the man on the ground and then looking sternly at Clay, as if everything that happened here was Clay's fault. "What did you do to this man?"

This kind of attitude immediately aroused Aurum's annoyance. "Are you deaf as well as blind? Did you not even understand a single word I said to you earlier? That man squeeling like a pig over there was trying to stab that boy. My brother was obviously trying to help. So what's with your tone? Is this the attitude of the knights in Victoria City towards their guests? Hah. You really refreshed my views today."

Clay's mouth twitched, trying hard not to laugh. This kind of arrogance without thinking of the consequence, he'd only seen it in the Blackbourne twins.

The face of the knight who just spoke turned red in embarrassment. It looked like he wanted to refute what Aurum said but the other knight was faster.

"Our apologies, my lady. My comrade here just spoke out of turn. Please, forgive him," the knight said amiably.

"Then take that guy away. If you're advertising this city as a crime free place then you should do a better job in keeping peace. You're not being paid to just stand around and do nothing, are you?" Aurum said, not even curbing her arrogance a little.

"Yes, my lady." The knight took hold of the arm of the man on the ground. The other knight, despite his obvious dissatisfaction, still held the man's other arm. "What about the child, my lady?"

With the knight's question, the boy didn't hesitate to hug Clay's arm. A silent indication that he didn't want to go with the two knights.

"We'll take care of him for the time being," Clay answered.

The knight added and the two pulled the man out of the alley. But even with that, the man continued his mad shouting.

"You'll regret it! That kid is the devil! He'll kill you! Hahaha!" the man shouted while letting out a crazed laugh.

Aurum frowned looking at the back of the man. She tried to read the man's mind, because that kind of madness was not like he was installing it. It's like he truly believed that the kid was the devil. Aurum wanted to make sure if he was telling the truth. Because if he was, then that meant this kid was trouble. She didn't want to bring in an unknown dangerous factor during this sensitive time.

But what surprised Aurum was that the man's mind was so messy she couldn't even get one proper scene. It's like opening a book and you found out that the words inside were all jumbled up. At the end, you couldn't understand a single thing. That's how Aurum felt when she looked inside the man's mind.

She suddenly remembered something that one of her teachers at Starlight Academy taught her. A person with telepathic Gift at the highest level was not omnipotent. Yes, they could do a lot of things that involved the human mind. But when faced with a person stronger than you, you'd just be the same as a sitting duck in that person's eyes.

Another factor was if a person was trained to strengthen their mental defense. Yes, a telepath could break that mental defense, especially if their Gift level was higher. But it would take a lot of effort. And if that person happened to have a very strong mentality, then whatever effort you put might just be all in vain.

The final thing to consider was the person's mental state. If a person's mind was broken, you wouldn't get any specific information you wanted. Because their thoughts were incoherrent. Trying to read or control a broken mind could just bring a negative effect on the telepath. It might even break their own mind if they were not careful.

So Aurum took back her Mana and no longer concerned herself with the mad man. Instead, she turned her attention to the boy.

The boy looked like he was about nine or ten years old. All his exposed skin was full of bruises and scratches. He definitely looked like he experienced a lot of abuse. Considering how she acts in front of people, Aurum long learned not to trust things at face value. Especially when it came to humans. Because she knew personally how easy it was to deceive a person's eyes.

She slowly spread her Mana towards the boy. And then it felt like she encountered a very thick wall. No matter how hard she pushed, the wall didn't move. Aurum no longer tried and just took back her Mana. And then she frowned. That wall was definitely this boy's mental defense. Could a kid with this strong mental defense be ordinary? The answer was definitely a big no.

The kid looked up at her and hid behind Clay. As if afraid of Aurum.

Clay noticed his little move and then kneeled in front of the boy. "Don't be scared. That big sister just look fierce but really she's kind and sweet."

Aurum was annoyed by Clay's small rhetoric. Kind and sweet your ass.

"What's your name?" Clay asked the boy with a gentle tone.

The boy fidgeted, as if full of nervousness. Then he looked up, the eye that was not swollen was clean and full of innocence. "S-Solis. My name is Solis."