A skinny young boy with pale skin and sunken cheeks sat outside a bustling food stall. He held a worn-out cap in his hands, its frayed fabric turned upward as he begged for coins.
"Anyone, please spare me some money so I can buy food to eat! Anyone, please!" His pleas were met with icy stares as the surrounding pedestrians continued to ignore him.
"Give it up, boy, who would spare change for an unblessed like you." A deep voice rang out from the food stall.
"You're so cruel! How could you discriminate against me just because of that!" The young boy quipped back. "Are you really going to let me starve and die right Infront of your stall?"
"Why not? No one gives a damn about you, anyway!" The stall owner replied, snorting at the young boy's words.
Bastard... If you're not going to give me food, I am going to make sure you won't be able to even sell them, the young boy thought.
He then took a deep breath.
"This cruel old man! Letting me die of starvation right Infront of his stall! Don't buy from him! Don't buy from him!" The boy cried out.
Hearing this, the other pedestrians could not help but frown in disgust, avoiding going near the food stall and the boy completely. The reason, however, was quite the opposite of sympathy, the unblessed weren't worth a copper in this city—no power, no status, no wonder they avoided the boy!
"Oi! What do you think you are doing!" The old man cried out.
The boy looked up at the old man, his mouth curled into a mischievous grin.
"What does it look like? I'm scaring off your customers. Keep starving me, and I'll keep shouting. Let's see who loses more." The boy said casually.
"You little..." The veins on the old store owner's bald head looked like it was going to burst at any moment because of anger. "Do you think I do not dare to kill you? You're trash, no, worse than trash!"
At this moment, bright red flames burst out from the old store owner's hands as he tried to grab the young boy's small face.
Rank two fire hand! The young boy's eyes widened as he quickly ducked and rolled toward the side, avoiding the old man's grip. Beads of sweat dripped down from his forehead as he felt the heat from the old man's attack.
"Help! Help! "This old man has gone crazy and is trying to kill me!" the young boy shouted. However, no one paid mind to still, continuing to go on with their day.
Seeing this, the boy could not help but tsk in frustration.
"Even the police wouldn't care about an unblessed like you, much less the public!" The old man, oozing killing intent as he walked out from his stall.
The boy, who was on the ground, got up as fast as possible, narrowly avoiding the old man's second strike.
"Help! Someone, help, please!" The young boy once again pleaded in vain as he ran past the old man, picking up a piece of meat from the old man's stall while pushing the rest onto the ground.
Seeing this, the old man was even more enraged, shouting.
"You little rat! I will burn you alive!" The old man charged forward once again, trying to grab the boy.
Not wasting a second of time, the young boy continued to run forward, weaving through the crowd with his small stature.
"Someone grab him!" The old man shouted as he tried his best to push his way through. In his frenzy, he accidentally hit a young girl in the face, causing her to collapse.
"Ouch!" the young girl cried out, as tears started to form in her eyes.
"You scum!" The mother of the girl shouted out as she gave the old man a tight slap across the face.
"I-I'm sorry, ma'am." The old man said in pain as he continued to push forward.
"Hehehe, stupid old man," the young boy snickered. Using the crowd as cover, he discreetly entered a nearby alleyway, losing the old man. After blending in with the darkness, he finally allowed himself to stop, panting heavily. Cain should have already gotten the food, I need to head back to the hideout now! After catching his breath, he slowly walked further into the alley disappearing into the darkness.
Meanwhile, the old man panting with exhaustion, stop amidst the crowd, trying to spot the young boy. Dammit! Where is he? I swear I will make sure he suffers once I catch him. The old man cursed inwardly.
The old man prepared to start chasing once again, but a was stopped by a woman's voice from behind.
"There he is! That is the scoundrel who hurt my daughter." Turning behind, the old man saw the mother from before, pointing her index finger at him. Next to her, was a young an dress in a blue outfit with a crest on his right chest area.
The young man had deep black eyes and hazel brown short hair. He then walked forward towards the old man, taking out a notebook.
"Sir, may I ask what happened?" The young man asked.
Recognizing that the young man was a police officer, the old man could only give up chasing the boy and answer the man.
"Young man, there was this unblessed boy just now who stole my stall's food and ran off! I was only chasing him!"
While writing this down, the police officer asked his second question. "Is it true that you hit this lady's daughter?"
The man started to sweat profusely as his eyes darted around.
"Well... Uh..."
"He is the one! He is the old man that hit me!" Before the man could answer, the same young girl as before cried out, her eyes red from crying.
Hearing this, the police officer frowned as he stopped writing.
"Sir, I don't care what you do with that unblessed boy, however, using magic in public is a major crime. You even injured an innocent girl!"
"It — it was an accident! I didn't mean to hit her, I only wanted to teach that brat a lesson, but he ran into the crowd." The old man franticly said.
Not showing a hint of sympathy, the police officer put away his book.
"Regardless, you will have to follow me to the police station."
"But-but!" The police officer cut the man off before he could rebut.
"This is not a request. You will go, by choice or by force!" The police officer coldly stated.
With no other choice, the old man could only reluctantly follow the police officer, while the mother and the daughter continued to stare daggers at him.
All around, the old man could hear the people snickering and mocking him.
"That stupid old man, actually using magic in public and injuring a young girl."
"Tsk. He should've dealt with the unblessed quietly. Now he's dragged all of us into it."
"What a disgrace. We'll lose business for days because of him."
It's all that boy's fault! I will never forgive him, never! The old man swore in his heart as he held his head low, avoiding the crowd's gaze.