Chapter 22
Mare wasn't the only one worried. The old man was equally worried, but he wasn't worried about Michelle, he was worried about himself, because Michelle's red irises signaled danger. He gulped down and looked at the book she was holding. To his surprise, she was holding his cheapest and oldest book. "That's for five pennies," he said.
Michelle reached into her sleeve and took out a pouch of money. She didn't have pennies inside, only silver and golden ingots, so she handed a silver ingot to the old man. "You can keep it, Gramps. You were a great help today." She smiled as she put away her pouch.
The old man was shocked. "My Lady, this is far too much!"
"Gramps!" Michelle took the book and stood up from the chest. "Your words made me realize something, and good advice is priceless."
Michelle was well aware that she gave way too much to the old man, but seeing how strange he was acting, she felt that he was no ordinary person, and that she should remain on good terms with it. As to how much more she gave him, one golden ingot equaled to a hundred silver ingots, and one silver ingot equaled to a hundred pennies.
The old man looked at Michelle with a puzzled look. He just couldn't understand what his words could have made Michelle realize something, since he didn't say much, but seeing her still red eyes, he didn't dare refute anything, and just decided to even out the silver ingot. "My Lady, since you don't want the change, at least take a few more books, or this old man will feel too guilty to sleep at night." He pointed at the chest.
Seeing the old man's gaze, Michelle sighed and squat back down to the chest, looking through the books. But this time, she looked properly, not just by the feeling of the pull since that was already gone.
Very quickly, she found out that though most of the books weren't suitable for her way of fighting, they were all excellent and priceless. "Gramps, your books are priceless!" Michelle looked at the old man with her eyes gleaming with red. The red seemed to be caused by her excitement.
The old man couldn't understand what was so priceless about the old books. "My Lady, I've been trying to sell off these books for a long time, and everyone said that they are just junk. What can you see in them?" His voice was a bit down cast as he spoke.