Chapter 191: 'Pay up, then leave.'

Nox looked down at Liam and sighed.

"Ah, you should have stayed standing. Now everyone will think you were kneeling to me."

A few people in the surrounding crowd couldn’t hold back and burst into laughter.

Liam’s face turned from pale to dark red.

He finally forced himself up, his teeth clenched so hard that a vein pulsed on his forehead.

"YOU!... You used some dirty trick!" he spat.

"A defective can’t create Alpha pressure!"

Moon, who had been sitting all along, stood up. With his arms crossed, he spoke in a calm voice.

"Whether it is a dirty trick or not, you already lost the bet. Ten times the price. Or do you plan to eat your words in front of so many people?"

Liam’s eyes flashed with humiliation.

Before he could answer, a familiar, arrogant voice cut through the crowd.

"What is going on here?"

Silas pushed through the people with two of his attendants and Ellen holding his arm.

Nox raised his brows.

"Here comes another trouble," he whispered.

But the girls still heard him and started to giggle.

Silas looked at Axe, Ugo, and Nox first, then at Moon. The corner of his mouth lifted into a mocking smile.

"So this is what you have been reduced to? Setting up a dirty little stall in the market like common merchants? And using some trickery to scare people?"

Nox’s smile broadened.

Axe shook his head at Silas’s bad luck.

Moon raised his brows and leaned forward, placing his weight on the table.

"Ah! It’s you, the future Alpha of the Vaelis Pack. Silas, you arrived just in time. Your brother just lost a bet. One hundred thousand siki. I don’t think he can pay up. As the future Alpha, isn’t it your responsibility to uphold your pack’s word?"

Silas’s face darkened.

"Don’t talk nonsense. I am not yet Alpha, and Alphas don’t have this kind of responsibility. What’s more, how can a defective wolf produce real Alpha pressure? It must be your black witchcraft that only works once."

The surrounding crowd suddenly gasped. The words "black witchcraft" really hit a nerve.

Moon chuckled.

"So what? Of course, we don’t have any Alpha among us who can exert such pressure. But aren’t you forgetting the real purpose of an artifact?"

He looked at the surrounding crowd and spoke again.

"Are you even a warrior, Silas? Don’t you know the basics? You don’t judge a weapon by whether it’s made of gold, iron, or regal wolf bone. All you need to know is its effect. As long as you can defeat your enemy and make them prostrate themselves before you, any weapon will do. Or are you going to take the time to check whether your opponent’s weapon is made of iron or gold? That would be a foolish move."

"Pfft..."

Someone laughed, breaking the gloomy atmosphere.

However, black witchcraft was still something wolves hated.

Someone in the crowd grunted.

"What you said is right, but we can’t corrupt our blood with black witchcraft. That’s unethical."

Moon turned to the man, who was clearly a warrior with a muscular build.

He smiled at him.

"You can’t be unethical, and you shouldn’t be. But just because a real Alpha didn’t create the pressure doesn’t mean it’s black witchcraft. First, you need to know what is black and what is white. Unlike some people who randomly accuse others of being black witches, even though they themselves break the blood bonds of the weak and chase them to their deaths just because they can’t get what they want."

He looked at Silas mockingly.

The man laughed. "Sure, what you said is right."

Although exiling defective wolves and removing their blood bonds was common practice among packs, no one would admit to it openly.

After all, driving out your own offspring was not a good act, even among wolves.

"So, what did you use? Nothing that corrupts our bloodline?" another man asked from a corner.

"No. This is just pressure. Nothing else. No corruption. But you can call it witchcraft since he used an array in the bracelet."

"An array!"

"Fuck!"

"An array master?"

"Just a bracelet, though."

"What do you mean, just a bracelet? Even Moonveil Academy has had a hard time producing an array master. All arrays and formations are monopolized by witches!"

"Is he really a wolf? Or a witch?"

"Didn’t you hear about the defective heirs of Vaelis? They are those five brothers. I don’t see the other two, though. I heard they died in the gorge."

Everyone started chattering at once.

Silas’s face grew even darker.

"Nonsense! Who has ever heard of a defective wolf creating a refined array?"

But this time, no one paid him much attention.

Seeing the growing interest, the girl who was holding the bracelet panicked. She leaned over the table, moving closer to Moon and Nox.

"Sell me the other ones you have, too. I’m paying! How many do you have?"

She swiftly took out a pouch and placed it on the table.

Moon raised his brows, as did Nox, Axe, and Ugo. They hadn’t expected her to be so rich or so eager.

Silas clearly saw her move, and his face turned ugly. How dare this girl openly dismiss him?

"Darling, let it go. Let’s go back," Ellen urged.

"Brother, no! I don’t have a hundred thousand siki!" Liam pleaded with Silas.

"Idiot! Why would we pay them for some fraudulent goods?"

Axe slowly stood up and suddenly took out a machete.

"Say that one more time, and I will forget you were once my sibling."

A mocking surprise flashed in Silas’s eyes.

"You want to confront me? An Eclipse wolf spirit? A defective?"

"Eclipse? Have you even tested your wolf spirit yet?" Axe asked, seeming genuinely amazed.

Silas’s eyes narrowed at the machete in Axe’s hand. He had an ominous feeling, but he didn’t want to admit it.

"Axe, for the sake of our blood, I will leave you alone," he said before turning away.

"Tsk! Where are you going!"

Saying that, Axe lowered his hand and vaulted over the table.

As his feet landed on the ground, he swiftly moved in front of Silas, blocking his way.

His machete glinted in his hand as he made a slicing motion.

"Pay up, then leave."