Chapter 36 - Crown Stars

"What did you say?" The old man's voice came from somewhere around the counter.

"I

said,

'how much for these coins'?!" Cassius raised his voice so the slightly deaf old man could hear.

"Oh, now I can hear you. Let me come and take a look." The old man walked over and Cassius handed him the eight coins in his hand.

With the sunlight filtering through the antique shop's window, it gave the copper coins a slightly reflective quality. The two of them could clearly see that the coins were engraved with a raised emblem of a crown that had gemstones with intricate markings embedded in, and a cross sitting atop. Except, the cross was tilted slightly to the right.

"These are Crown Stars. I'll charge you ten bucks apiece. They're not really worth anything unless you're a coin collector," the old man explained as he put the magnifying glass down.

Ten bucks apiece and at eight coins, this would come out to a total of eighty. It was pretty cheap.

Cassius actually had principles when it came to things like these. He'd usually buy the antique after absorbing the lingering attachment energy. It wouldn’t sit right with him, otherwise, even if the shop owner was none the wiser.

Now if he came across an antique he couldn't afford, Cassius wouldn't pretend to be the good guy. After all, he was the only one who could absorb the lingering attachment from the antique and once he did, it wasn't like the antique would change! No one would be able to tell the difference and the shop could still make a profit by selling it to other people.

And when it came to making reasonable usage of his special ability to enhance his strength... Cassius’s principles became a little more flexible.

"I'll buy them all," he said. He pulled out a pale yellow Hongli Federation banknote from his pocket. The front showed the number "one hundred," and the back depicted a middle-aged man with thick hair and a prominent hooked nose—Grand Duke Hongli from over a century ago.

"Wait a moment, let me go to the counter and get your change."

"No need, old man. Consider the extra twenty as payment for the soybean sandwich. I actually quite like the taste."

The old man beamed when he heard that Cassius liked the soybean sandwich. "I'll get a box for you to put them in then." He picked up a beautifully exquisite wooden box from the shelf. The box alone looked like it cost more than the twenty dollars.

Cassius's generosity had backfired on him. But he accepted it in the end, because he found it a little difficult to refuse the old man when he clearly meant well. Plus Cassius wasn’t fussy about such small matters. Elderly people sometimes did this as a sign of respect. Excessive humility might make them feel like their goodwill was not appreciated.

Once the exchange was completed, Cassius took the opportunity to ask the old man about the coins' origins. These copper coins all had the same design and were clearly from a series.

Although the old man was forgetful, he had a sharp memory when it came to his antiques. The tilted crown emblem on this coin was called the Crown Star, originally named the St. Basiway Crown.

Several hundred years ago, in the Northern Reef Continent of the Hongli Federation, there existed the Duchy of Lante which was originally under the Puka Dynasty's rule. Of course, the Puka Dynasty no longer existed in the present.

Back then, Grand Duke Basiway inherited his father's position to become the Duke of Lante, and was later crowned king. During this time, he crafted the first crown in Lante's history, which became known as the Crown Star Coin. Being the pious person that he was, he placed a golden cross at the top of the crown, making for quite a luxurious appearance.

Two hundred years ago, much to everyone's shock, the crown accidentally fell to the ground, bending the golden cross on top. The king at the time, and the ones after, didn't bother straightening it and simply wore the crooked crown during their coronations. Later on, the fifty dollar Lante coins featured the crooked crown.

One hundred and fifty years ago, just after the Hongli Federation was founded, the Duchy of Lante launched a revolution, and the king was sent to the guillotine. During the execution, the crowd threw coins and Wally IV's blood, the blood of the king, turned the coins red.

Years later, many people collected these coins because of its historical significance. But no one really knew which ones truly had the emperor's blood on them since plenty fifty dollar Lante coins existed, which meant these coins weren’t very valuable. During the antique craze twenty years ago, they were quite popular because you could buy one for cheap and boast about its story to friends. Nowadays, they were only popular amongst some coin collectors.

As for where the coins in the shop came from, the old man himself was not sure. Most of the strange antiques in the shop were sent by Uncle Yun, who was a big traveler. If Cassius wanted answers, he’d have to wait at least a month for Uncle Yun to be back.

A month... Hopefully, I'm still here in Baichuan City then

. Cassius bid farewell to the old man, picked up the box, and left the antique shop. There were hardly any pedestrians on the street now.

There probably won't be any buses or carriages passing through here. Looks like I'll have to walk to the main road myself

... Cassius lamented.

***

Cassius hit up most of the antique shops in Baichuan City between 2 p.m. to 3:50 p.m. Most of his time was spent traveling as he had come up with quite an efficient routine when scouring the shops; he only needed to check the new antiques that had arrived in the past two days.

Aside from the unexpected finds at the Old Man's Antique Shop, the day was just like any other. He ended up spending over a hundred bucks on transportation.

Thud

.

His shoes hit the hard ground. A tall young man with a wide-brimmed hat stepped off the tram, surveyed the nearby Hongta Street, and then started walking, casually tossing his ticket into a trash can.

Krrrk.

The door of the Gray Seal Martial Arts Hall was pushed open.

The old man with bat-like hair was sitting at the counter and was thoroughly engrossed in his newspaper. In fact, he was concentrating so hard, he didn't even notice Cassius coming in until his shadow blocked the page.

"..." Cassius had barely looked down before he averted his gaze. He was speechless.

Hidden behind the Baichuan Morning News was a thick porn magazine featuring seductive women in suggestive clothing, complete with descriptive introductions and measurements.

"

Ahem, ahem

..."

The old man quickly shoved the magazine underneath the counter, coughing awkwardly. "Oh...you're here, Instructor Li Wei. Your students are waiting. Here's the key to the training room."

Cassius laughed, grabbed the key, and turned to leave.

"What are you, some kind of ghost? Waltzing in here without making a sound..." The old man grumbled. Once he was assured that no one else was around him, he resumed his little scheme. He lowered his head, hunched his shoulders, and squinted his eyes, concentrating on the task at hand. He looked very much like a pervert with his lecherous expression.