"This will be troublesome." He muttered after a while, his brows furrowed.
Even though he wanted something in return, by giving him the dagger and the booklet, Old Man Smith had done him a great favor. So, despite knowing it would invite more trouble, he couldn't turn a blind eye to the fact that he was dead and let his cold body rot here.
So, he sighed and walked over. Lifting him in his arms, he went to the small backyard where he dug open a grave for him and placed his body in it.
"I hope you reunite with your family in the afterlife and stay happy, Elder." prayed Max, bowed toward the grave and turned to leave.
However, suddenly a thought crossed his mind and he stopped.
He didn't know why the City Lord didn't want anyone to interact with him, why would he keep him alive by providing the daily necessities to him or why would the guard would leave when the old man invited him inside, but he believed the City Lord might be aware of old man's treasures—the Dagger and Booklet.
So, once he realized the old man was dead, his people would overturn the whole house and wouldn't even spare his grave to find them.
Since Max was the last person to visit him, the City Lord would come after him, so it was already troublesome.
But there was still some hope that if he feigned ignorance of the treasures and old man's death, the City Lord might not bother him too much but if he tried to hide the old man's grave like he wanted to so it wasn't desecrated later on, he would no longer be able to get rid of the City Lord.
"Fuck it. Maybe the reason I met him would be the reason enough for him to target me, so there is no need to hesitate too much." Max threw caution to the wind and began covering the grave with grass and dried leaves.
A while later, the backyard looked relatively untouched. Nodding in satisfaction, he bowed in respect toward the old man's grave one last time before leaving the house.
Maybe only one guard, who should have already gone to report his visit, was assigned to watch over the Old Man Smith, so there was no one watching over the house.
Therefore, without encountering any problem, he left the place and headed back to his house.
When he arrived at home, Anna looked at him in confusion, "What happened, Big Brother? Why are you back so soon?"
She then craned her neck and glanced behind him, "And where is Grandpa?"
Without saying anything, Max took her inside, closed the door and with a serious look on his face, he said, "An, don't worry and don't ask anything, just listen to me carefully. You have less than half an hour, pack the bags and only take the most essential things, alright?"
Anna grew anxious hearing this but when she saw her big brother didn't look panicked, she calmed down and nodded, "I understand, Big Brother."
"Good." Max smiled and patted her small head, "I'll send Grandpa back. He will take you to a safer place. If nothing goes wrong, we can return here, otherwise your Big Brother will take you and Grandpa to Vistara City."
Saying this, he left the house. Anna locked the door, stood there in silence for a few seconds before she burst into action and began packing things.
…
Ten minutes later, Max arrived in front of the City Lord Mansion and while trying to not look suspicious, he entered it and went back to the backyard where all the wood and other things were stored.
There, he saw his Grandpa Ryu, chopping the logs while heaving deep breaths, clearly exhausted from all the chopping he had done since early morning until now.
"Grandpa!" He called out.
Old Man Ryu and other workers looked over. Seeing it was Max, save for Ryu, everyone else, after staring at him for a while, refocused on their work.
"Why are you here, Little Max? Shouldn't you rest a few days more at home?" Old Man Ryu asked, placing his axe against the chopping block.
"I'm feeling fine right now. However, I'm not here to take over but to take you back home for lunch." Max shook his head.
"Ah, why did you bother? I was about to return on my own." Grandpa Ryu said. Then he went to wash his face, hands and feet.
"How are you feeling, boy? I heard you were seriously ill?" A wood chopper nearby asked.
Normally, every worker kept to them and didn't interact much with each other for one reason or another.
Though the most prominent among them was that they were afraid that if they made friends here, their friends might ask them to lend some money because now-a-days, almost everyone was short of it.
However, this middle-aged man, his wood chopping companion, was different. He was quite friendly and would talk to him and Grandpa Ryu whenever he rested.
After they became acquaintances, he realized why this was the case—he didn't have a family, so he had some savings and would help anyone he could. In fact, on many occasions, he had lent them money too.
Max smiled, "I'm perfectly fine now, Uncle Sam. I hope you have been well too."
"Of course, I have been well. But the darned City Lord has increased the booze prices, making it hard for me to enjoy myself properly." Uncle Sam grumbled unhappily.
"Maybe this is a sign from the Gods. They don't want you to drink too much." Max joked.
Uncle Sam gave him a sidelong glance and was about to retort when he saw Granda Ryu return and waved his hand, "Go boy, take the old man back home and since you are alright now, let him rest. He has exhausted himself quite a bit for the past few days."
"Sure," Max nodded, bid him farewell and left the City Lord Mansion with the old man.
When they left and no one tried to stop him or even look at him differently, Max raised his brows in confusion, 'Has that guard not reported yet?'
Just as this thought crossed his mind, he saw the guard in question walk over from a street and head toward the City Lord Mansion.
Max quickly turned away with Grandpa Ryu. After the guard had passed, the old man looked at him with a questioning but concerned look on his face, "What happened little Max? Why were you hiding from him?"
Max took a deep breath, "I'll tell you later, Grandpa. For now, you should hurry home, take Anna and go to Grandpa Paul's house. But make sure no one sees you go there."
Saying this, he turned around and hurried toward the city gate, a grim light flickering in his eyes.