BXBX NOVEL Chapter 136: Utterly Humiliated
He took out an audiovisual crystal he purchased from the system a few minutes ago while he was trying to lure Arnold into a bet and activated it to record everything Arnold said.
"I, Arnold Parker, swear on the name of the illustrious Eusford Academy, that I will give everything on the counter along with three thousand silver coins to this Colzen Academy student should his transaction be greater than mine!"
Right after capturing what he needed to, Shye immediately stored the audiovisual crystal in the safety of the system\'s inventory as his "slightly panicked" look disappeared without a trace, replaced by a wide smile and a confident look.
Seeing the sudden change in Shye\'s disposition made Arnold shiver and he couldn\'t help but slightly panic as if a bucket of cold water was suddenly poured onto him.
Unfortunately, it was too late for him to pull back on the agreement as he already swore on the name of his academy which was equivalent to a life guarantee.
If he reneged on this bet then he would be tarnishing the name of Eusford Academy which also meant that the academy would hunt him down to every edge of the world to protect their reputation.
Should that happen, then his life would be as good as over.
With an anxiety-filled heart, Arnold couldn\'t do anything but watch as Shye confidently walked closer to the counter and took out his stuff in front of thousands of people.
He then took out two greatswords, the Nightbringer which was given to him by Dean Snowcrest, and the Darkripper, another platinum-tier greatsword he got from the weapon chest inside the third room of the labyrinth.
Upon realizing what Shye took out, Arnold was momentarily horrified. However, upon realizing that the competition was about the "value of the transaction" and not the value of the items themselves, he slightly calmed down.
Even if Shye takes out ten pieces of lesser-grade enchantment gemstones, it just means that they were both going for a low-grade relic upgrade, meaning his transaction was simply equal to his and not "greater"
Arnold\'s confidence temporarily returned before being utterly crushed once again as Shye took out five pieces of mid-grade enchantment sapphire and five pieces of mid-grade enchantment opal.
"N-No…How can someone like you…T-This isn\'t real! I see now! You two are in cahoots!" Arnold exclaimed, his heart consumed by a mix of shock, disbelief, anger, and humiliation.
Desperate to find a way out for himself, he even accused Shopkeeper Alice and Shye of being in cahoots with each other.
Naturally, this stupid claim was easily debunked by Shye.
"In cahoots? How would we be in cahoots when I arrived here just a few seconds before you did? If you don\'t believe me you can ask everyone here. I believe someone saw me enter just now." Shye said as his eyes scanned the crowd.
As expected, with schadenfreude written all over his face, a man stepped up and said:
"Indeed, I can testify that he just arrived here so your accusations are not only baseless, they are outright wrong."
Even Arnold didn\'t think that the two were in cahoots, he just blurted the words out of desperation.
Arnold was starting to go crazy, he was used to humiliating people in public but this was his first time being humiliated himself.
But then, he realized something.
\'How could someone from a trashy Colzen Academy have money to pay for this transaction? Two mid-grade relic upgrades would cost at least 7000 silver coins.\'
\'I, a recent graduate from the renowned Eusford Academy who has been adventuring for almost a year didn\'t even have that amount so how could this guy have it?\'
Arnold thought as his confidence returned once again. He then looked at Shye and said:
"Ha! I admit that you almost got me by purposely showing me such stuff. However, how could we determine if your transaction is really greater when you haven\'t even paid for it?! Do you even have the money to pay for it?! If you can pay for it then I\'ll gladly accept my loss!"
Hearing his logical argument, the people were swayed.
He\'s right, 7000 silver coins is a huge amount.
Could this Colzen Academy student pay for it? If not, then he was indeed just bluffing.
As for Shye, he simply laughed before rummaging through his sack bag, pretending to take out coin sacks from the bag when in fact, he was retrieving it from the system\'s inventory.
At that moment, time slowed down to a crawl for Arnold as the onlookers excitedly watched the proceedings.
Would it be the Eusford Academy graduate or the Colzen Academy student who will be humiliated?
1000 silver coins…2000 silver coins…3000 silver coins…
Shye continuously took out coin sacks containing a thousand silver coins each, igniting the fires of envy in the hearts of the onlookers as ideas of robbing Shye surfaced in their greedy minds.
He expected this to happen but he didn\'t care. These punks can\'t take action inside the city anyway and they could only try to rob him outside the city gates.
If these guys can defeat the two deans along with around 40 elite students working together, then sure, they can take all of his stuff.
The notion of defeating two diamond-ranked adventurers along with 40 adventurers who were around steel-ranked to gold-ranked in strength was almost impossible for these greedy bastards anyway so he wasn\'t too concerned.
Finally, after a few moments which seemed like an eternity for Arnold, Shye finished taking out 7 coin sacks containing one thousand silver coins each.
Shopkeeper Alice counted the coins using a magic device and once the value 7000 was displayed on the device\'s screen, Arnold felt all of his strength leave his body.
He felt like he was going insane as he slowly fell on his butt, not daring to believe what just happened.
Seeing his pathetic state just felt too damn satisfying to Shye.
They were often humiliated by these arrogant rich people when he and Maia were living as street rats so it felt good to defeat these people in their own game.
Fortunately, the third room in the tomb contained hills of silver coins which he estimated to be around 50,000 silver coins, allowing him to survive today\'s encounter while gaining an additional three thousand silver coins along with two pieces of equipment and ten low-grade enchantment gemstones.
"Thank you for your transaction Sir Crowley, that would be a total of 10,000 silver coins for four pieces of equipment. You may return in 30 hours to retrieve your upgraded equipment!"
Shopkeeper Alice said with a beaming smile, seemingly very happy after landing a huge transaction.
As for Shye, he simply ignored the humiliated and destroyed Arnold sitting on the ground, leaving the shop with a contented and happy heart.
After the conclusion of the bet has been decided, the people watching gradually dispersed while whispering mockeries, infuriating the humiliated Arnold even further.
Gnashing his teeth in fury and humiliation, Arnold stood up and left the shop 3000 silver coins, two pieces of equipment, and ten pieces of lesser enchantment jade poorer, achieving nothing but embarrassment for himself.
He then walked towards an empty corner, took out some sort of device, and inserted a communication talisman worth 100 silver coins before clicking a button, seemingly calling someone for help in getting revenge.
"Hmm? Hello? Senior Arnold? What\'s up? We\'re in the middle of preparations for the upcoming Adventurer Academy Competition so please make it quick." A young man said from the other side of the communication device.
Hearing the young man\'s voice, Arnold coldly smiled as he replied:
"Harper, I\'ve encountered an arrogant representative student from Colzen Academy, not even putting our Eusford Academy in his eyes. The guy seems to be named Crowley, make sure to destroy his ego and dignity in the upcoming adventurer academy competition."
The young man grinned, feeling intrigued after hearing what Arnold said.
Although he didn\'t regard this senior of his too highly, he liked the feeling of humiliating students from lower-ranked academies, especially when he had a reason to.
Thus, he took a mental note of this student named Crowley from the insignificant Colzen Academy, aiming to humiliate him through his underlings from other academies or even better, humiliate the guy personally if their academies somehow get matched in the competition.
"Got it."