Chapter43

"Adventurer card," he said.
"I don't have one."
"Then you will get the public rate," the man said, picking up the shards and barely glancing at them before he gave his offer. " I can only offer six silver for both."
'Lowballing me already,' he thought, but he did not feel like arguing with a smug guild clerk in a room full of armed idiots, so when the man pushed the pouch across the desk he took it and turned to leave.
He had only taken two steps when Juna suddenly went stiff behind him, the shift in the air enough to make him turn back right away.
Some man had moved in from the side and grabbed her by the arm before she could pull away.
"Why doesn't she come with me instead?" he said, smiling in a way that made Hajin's skin crawl. His fingers stayed tight on her arm while his eyes dragged over her face and the blanket around her shoulders. "What do you say, buddy? Can I buy her off you?"
Hajin looked at him and although his face didn't change, his eyes went cold so fast that the bloodlust in them felt almost physical.
He felt the urge to just reach out and snap the man's wrist, but he forced himself to stop, his fingers curling into a tight fist at his side.
'Calm down,' he told himself, taking a slow breath while his vision pulsed red at the edges, 'you are in the capital, and starting a brawl in a guild hall is the fastest way to get thrown in a cell before you even have a place to sleep.'
He forced his expression to flatten and walked up to the man, keeping his voice steady and polite.
"Excuse me," he said, stopping a few inches away, "but I'd appreciate it if you let go of her now."
The man didn't move, instead looking Hajin up and down with a smug grin that only made the blood in Hajin's veins feel hotter. He didn't let go, his grip tightening on Juna's arm just to show he could.
Juna felt the shift immediately, and a flash of cold disappointment hit her chest. She looked at Hajin's polite face and felt a wave of disgust, because this was exactly what she expected.