Although the shopkeeper was humiliating himself and asking for mercy, but Alfred did not care about his pleas and gave a signal to his bodyguard, who punched the shopkeeper in the face hard, which made the area where he was hit swell and swell, the onlookers did not make any movement and watched the show in front of them with all interest, it is clear that many of them realize how cunning the shopkeeper is, and they considered what was happening to him as a result of his bad actions, but nevertheless some of them went to tell the Navy men what was happening.
A few minutes later, the three Marines came with their weapons, but as soon as they entered the store and saw Alfred greeting him respectfully, which made all the spectators surprised by this strange development, the captain of the Marines came forward and said in a friendly voice, " Mr. Alfred, what's going on here?"
Alfred greeted them amicably and pointed to the shopkeeper, whose face was full of bruises, and said, " take this man, he tried to scam me and steal money, and if it weren't for this good young man, I would have been deceived without realizing."
The captain of the Marines took a quick look at the shopkeeper and said, " Yes, sir, but isn't what you're doing a little exaggerated. this guy got his reward, look at his face."
Alfred sighed and signaled to his bodyguard, " leave him, get my money and let's go."
The guard pushed the shopkeeper so hard that he hit the ground, then took the two hundred thousand berries out of his pocket and presented them to Alfred, and started walking outside, but Alfred stopped and looked at Nicholas, " boy, come with me."
Nicholas pretended he hadn't heard him and pointed to himself, " you mean me."
"Yes, you, boy, come with me."
Nicholas smiled happily inside as he maintained his expressions full of doubts, hesitantly shaving balfrid and his bodyguard.
Nicholas continued to walk behind Alfred for several minutes until they moved away from the crowds and reached a part of the village that was almost empty of people, at that moment Nicholas raised his head and looked at The Sun that had set and there was only a dim light about to disappear, then he heard Alfred say, " Boy, thanks for helping me a little while ago, but I wonder how I managed to notice this when I couldn't."
Nicholas thought for a brief moment and said hesitantly, " it's clear that you are a rich person who is not a resident of this village, maybe you are trying to disguise yourself as an ordinary man, but unfortunately you are bad at disguising, you are very different from the villagers, your gait, looks, cleanliness, even your clothes are very clean, everyone will know that you are rich immediately upon seeing you, and it seems that the owner of that shop realized that too."
Alfred clasped his hands behind his back and looked at Nicholas with a strange look, " so it seems that I was stupid, but you didn't tell me how I knew that I was deceived."
Nicholas shook his head, " this is very clear, when I returned the box to the shop owner, he returned it to its place under the table, which made it blocked to see you, and this is something that merchants do not do, they do not return the goods to its place only after making sure that you do not want it, and obviously you showed great interest in those earrings, and he realized that you were going to buy them, so he left room for himself to exchange them, and also even the original piece that I saw at the beginning is not really original, it's just a well-made copy."
Alfred shook his head as a sign of his support for Nicholas 'statement and then said sarcastically," It seems that my eyes are starting to lose their sharpness because I made a silly mistake like this, thank you, boy, tell me what you want as a reward for your help."
Nicholas raised his hands and stopped the trader who pulled out his wallet, " there's really no need for that, I didn't help you out of a desire for me to get a reward, I'm not like that trader and he doesn't want to exploit you."
Alfred returned his wallet to his robe and shook his head contentedly.
Tate! Tate!
Tate! Tate!
The watch in Nicholas's hand began to ring faintly as a faint purple light in it began to light up and go out, attracting the eyes of Alfred who was amazed at what he saw.
Nicholas pressed the fire button and looked at the clock, and while showing an awkward expression, he said, " Well, sir, I'm sorry but I have to go now, I have an important appointment in half an hour."
Nicholas took a step forward, but felt Alfred's hand grab him by the shoulder, which made him calmly turn around and look at him wonderingly, "is there something I can help you with, Sir?"
"Boy, tell me what that thing is in your hand."
Nicholas looked at his hand curiously, raised his head and said, " I mean, my wristwatch."
"I mean, this is a watch that is worn in the hand, but it's very strange. I've seen several watches in my life, but I've never seen one that makes a sound and light like yours, where did I get it from?"
Nicholas felt a little embarrassed and replied, " Actually I got this watch as a gift from my father and he told me that he got it from a famous scientist called vigabank, when he was working in the Navy."
Alfred was shocked by Nicholas's words, but controlled himself and did not show an exaggerated expression: "I liked this watch, can you sell it to me?"
Nicholas arched his eyebrows, felt some discomfort and said apologetically, " I apologize, sir, but this is a valuable watch for me and my parents recommended me not to give it up, unless I have to."
Nicholas turned around and wanted to leave, but Alfred stopped him and said apologetically, " forgive me, boy, I didn't realize how much she's worth to you, but I really want to get her and I'll give you anything you want for her, what do you think of a million berries?"
Nicholas's eyes brightened and he looked a little greedy, but he shook his head and apologized again, " your offer is very tempting, but I will not give it up, and far from its material value, it has a great moral value to me."
"I understand what you mean, boy, so I'll double the amount you gave, what do you think with three million, this is not an easy amount, and it can make you live a good life for a long time "
Nicholas's eyes shone, he looked at Alfred in disbelief and asked, " Do you mean what you're saying?" "
Alfred smiled and said, " I'm not kidding, then will you sell it to me?"
Nicholas scratched his chin and began to think carefully, then he said in a serious voice, " I really need the money and the amount you provided is very valuable, but I feel that our trade is unfair, you paid for the material price of the watch, but you did not pay for its moral value.
Nicholas was silent for a moment, his eyes brightened and he said: "I'll make a deal with you, give me the dearest thing except your heart, you carry it with you now and three million Berry and I'll give you the watch."
Alfred looked at Nicholas strangely and felt some embarrassment and after a minute of silence he said resignedly "you are a cunning person, you have trapped me in your trap, you made me realize how difficult it is to give up something you love" resignedly Alfred took the gold ring from his hand and gave it to Nicholas " this ring is dear to my heart because it was the first gift I got from my wife and here I am giving it away for a fair trade "
Nicholas smiled happily and grabbed the ring, but the merchant at that moment sensed something strange and seemed to have made a serious mistake.
[Conditions have been met ]
[Would you like to enslave the noble Alfred duclaren ]
'Yes' Nicholas was overjoyed and wanted to laugh out loud but resisted that urge and kept his face calm.
[Would you like Alfred to see the chains of enslavement ]
Nicholas shook his eyebrow and replied, ' Yes, I don't know what chains of bondage are, but it's good for him to realize that he has become my slave.'
As soon as Nicholas gave the order, a thin red metal chain with a pointed Arrowhead-like head came out of his chest, and headed towards Alfred, who felt very scared at the sight of it, but before he could scream or move, the head of the chain sank into his chest and pierced him, and then the small chain began to wrap around his heart and judge him, because of this Alfred felt very painful, almost vomited blood, but strangely remained standing in place while showing a pained expression.
His bodyguard was standing a little further back from him so he didn't see Alfred's pained expressions but strangely he didn't see the little chain.
This process lasted for a few seconds, but for Alfred it seemed like several hours because of the pain he felt, and as soon as the pain subsided he looked at Nicholas with eyes full of shock and wanted to scream, but Nicholas acted quickly and ordered him very softly " shut up."
Nicholas's mouth opened, but no words came out of it, as if he were dumb.
Nicholas smiled wickedly and said, " nice to deal with you."