Chapter 169: paying a fine

Hearing a threat from the steward was a scary thing. The way he smiles and talks makes it even scarier. Duna respected himself and stayed in the spot where he was.

The steward then turned and looked at Alex. "You attacked first and by the rules, I'm meant to discipline you." He said.

"I know." Alex shook the hand that he used to block Duna's kick. It was still numb from the force of the kick.

Duna chuckled and smirked at Alex. He was happy with what the steward said.

Alex's teammates were agitated by what the steward said and spoke in Alex's defense.

"If Duna hadn't continued to infuriate him then Alex wouldn't have done anything. We have been peaceful since we've been here. But from the moment these good for nothing arrived, they were intent on causing trouble." Emma said in Alex's defense.

"Not only were they intent on causing trouble, but they also challenged him here," Drake added.

"If Alex is going to be punished then they should be punished too," Adrian mentioned.

"It takes two to tango, without them then this wouldn't have happened. The two parties should be punished." Katherine joined in.

"People in your team do not know what fear is. Even when my cultivation is higher than yours, you still openly offend me, are you guys craving a beating?" Duna growled.

He had been in this Academy for over two years and he had never seen below his social status disrespect him like the members of the seraphim team.

"You speak as if you deserve it, no one fears or respects you. It is your family's name that they fear, you are not worthy of a sneeze from me." Drake retorted.

Duna was about to speak but the steward raised a finger and everyone kept quiet.

"What you kids said makes sense. Since both parties are at fault, both parties will be punished."

"What!? Why!?" Duna interrupted him.

For the first time since Alex had met the steward, he saw him open his eyes. Although he couldn't see what his eyes looked like because the steward was looking at Duna, Alex felt threatened to the extreme.

The smile on the steward's face disappeared too.

It was like unstoppable flying daggers were heading at him from every corner. Alex started to sweat and his mouth went dry. He didn't even feel this way when he was against Lilith.

['There are many scary people in this world that are hidden in plain sight. Why is someone like him here as a steward?'] Alex thought.

Duna stared into the steward's eyes, he only did so for a few seconds and Duna fell to his knees in fear. He felt like an ant that was standing in front of a giant.

Everyone there fell to the floor because the steward's eyes were open, everyone but Alex.

The steward closed his eyes just seconds after he opened them and his smile returned to his face. He noticed that Alex was the only that remained standing after he attempted intimidation. With his eyes closed, the stewards arched an eyebrow at Alex.

He was surprised to see that Alex could withstand that. Nonetheless, he proceeded to say what he wanted to say before Duna interrupted him.

"Both parties are to pay a fine, if the fine cannot be paid, then you will be evicted from the guest inn." He declared.

It took Alex a few more seconds to snap out of the intimated state that he was in. He cleared his throat and brought out the purple card he got from Xiao En.

"Fine by me." He went forward and handed it over to the steward.

The steward collected it and nodded at Alex. "After the fine has been deducted, the card will be sent back to your suite." Alex bobbed his head at his statement and started walking towards the back entrance of the inn.

At the entrance, he saw Xiao En standing and smiling. "After seeing your short joust with that unpleasant person, my interest in have gotten bigger. How are you able to pitch an attack on par with a rank-7 disaster realm cultivator when you are still in the nascent realm?"

"I don't know either." Alex shook the hand that he used to block Duna's kick. It was still numb and had started to swell.

Xiao En saw this and chuckled. "You should get that healed." She ended the conversation there and Alex left.

"How much is the fine?" Duna gathered the courage to stand up and speak when he found out that Alex was the only one that wasn't affected by what the steward did.

Duna felt like punching himself for falling. He fell and Alex didn't.

'It must be because the steward protected him from whatever he did to the rest of us. That is the only reasonable explanation, I'm stronger than that fool. He has people that are backing him.' Duna concluded.

At this moment his pride wasn't allowing him to think properly.

"10 HD-ECs," The steward answered his question.

Duna felt like he was going to vomit blood, 10 high-density energy crystals were a lot to him. He looked at Alex walk away, unbothered by the price of the fine that they were asked to pay.

'If he can pay for it and not be bothered by it, I should also be able to do so.' He said to comfort himself.

Duna squeezed his face as he painfully brought out 10 HD-ECs from his storage ring and handed it to the steward.

Alex's teammate only got up when Alex was out of sight. They immediately chased after him, and so did Duna.

"Remember not to make any more trouble." The steward's warning reached Duna's ears as he chased after Alex.

Duna looked back to see if the steward was still there. By the time that he did that the steward had already left the area…

A minute later Duna and his underlings caught up with Alex. When he did, he didn't say anything, he just on following Alex.

Alex wasn't in the mood to speak so he ignored Duna and made his way to his suite. When they were a few turns away from the hall that the entrance to Alex's suite was, a man in the same type uniform that the steward wears – showed up and blocked Duna's way.

"I am sorry, but you are not allowed to wander in this part of the inn." The man said in a friendly tone to Duna.

"Why am I not allowed here but he is?" He asked in a frustrated tone. Duna felt like everyone in the inn was against him.

"Because this is the VIP part of the inn, and he is a VIP guest of the inn. His suite is not far from here." The man answered still, with his friendly tone.

'So he bought their loyalty.' Duna thought. He was referring to the staff of the inn that seemed to be against him.

"What about them?" He pointed to Alex's teammates.

"They have the VIP's permission to access him suite." The steward used his hand to indicate that Duna should turn around.

Seeing that he couldn't do anything but comply in this situation, Duna turned around and left for his own room in the guest inn…

Upon entering his suite, Alex's teammates voiced their concerns.

"Are you alright, Alex?" Adrian was the first to ask.

"Yeah, I'm fine."

"That kick that he gave you," Katherine said when she saw the hand that Alex used to block Duna's kick. It had already started to swell.

Alex raised his hand. "This will heal in a little while. I'll be going to my room to cultivate now. I need to eat the miracle fruit with me." He mentioned and made his way to his room. He left them there in the living room.

"Ahh!!! I'm dead." Drake ran his hands through his spikey hair and made it rough. He fell to the ground and looked at the ceiling.

Katherine and the rest knew what was troubling Drake. They would be lying if they said that they weren't also being troubled by the same issue.

"I just had to open my big mouth and insult Duna. If I'm caught outside this inn, he'll kill me."

"He'll kill us." Katherine corrected.

"It's not like I regret saying it. I have already pledged my loyalty and allegiance to Alex. If I cannot face his enemies with him because I am afraid of the repercussions, then that would truly be a shame." Adrian pointed out and Emma agreed with him.

"We just need to get stronger, that way he'll have to cautious before he does anything to any of us." Katherine stated…

Down at the principal's office, Camron was seated and waiting for the principal to arrive. Since he had completed the first task that the principal gave to him, he hadn't had the chance to meet him again. Either he was absent from the school, or Camron was on a mission.

When they got back to the school, he got a summon from the principal's office, asking him to come when he had the chance to.

-Whoosh.

The principal appeared before him.