The Return of The Warlord

“It’s been awhile since I’ve seen my wife, I need to get her a gift,” Alan said with a smile as he walked into a jewellery shop.

It’s been four years since he left home. 

He graduated from school six years ago, at that time he was to join the army. She had been quite worried about him and insisted that they get married before he could leave. They had a small wedding in the district chapel. It was a memorable wedding, with just a few of her friends and her parents. His cousin and a few of his friends had come around to support him as well. Just a group of loved ones, it made it mean more than he could say.

That same year, he went to bleed and toil for his country as a soldier and to make a name for himself. The heavens seemed to have been on his side, as the young, fresh recruit soon became a captain in the country’s Army Special Forces, ‘Advanced Tactical Command’.

He was known as the invincible god of war by all his colleagues and the entire army as well, but due to the nature of the special forces, everything about members of the Advanced Tactical Command was highly classified. In the entire country, only about three people that weren’t a part of the Advanced Tactical Command had access to any information on them; the President, the Defense Minister, and the National Security Adviser to the President. No one knew what the ATC does, and how they work. 

The last four years had been pure hell for him, he couldn’t make calls home during missions, and to his misfortune, the mission he was first deployed in only led to more and more missions for years. Now, he was a Captain of his own team and the consecutive missions had come to an end too. He could finally meet his wife. 

He felt guilty for not being able to reach her all these years and was thinking of how to make it up to her.

Alan’s eyes scanned the items on display in the jewellery store, his mind fixed on finding the perfect gift. He spotted a beautiful necklace in a transparent case, its delicate design and sparkling gemstones captivated him. As he was about to take it out, a female attendant walked towards him.

“I’ll take this one please,” He said with excitement in his words.

The sales attendant, a slender woman with a gaze filled with disdain, sneered at him. “Did you look at the price before making such a demand? This is way above your league, mister!”

She glanced down at him, cringing at his sight. He was an eyesore! His clothes won’t even cost more than a hundred bucks and he was here claiming that he wanted to buy a necklace! Can he not see the level of the establishment?!

Alan saw the disgust in the attendant’s eyes but he didn’t mind. The joy of seeing his wife again filled his heart. “How much is it?”

“Hehe, you didn’t even look at the price tag and you wanted to touch it with your filthy hands. This necklace costs more than you can make in a year. Don’t embarrass yourself!”

True to the attendant’s words, the price tag was on the case. The necklace was $200,000.

“$200,000 for a necklace?” Alan blurted out. 

The attendant snorted. “I told you it was way out of your league. Just get out of here before I call the security on you! I’m sure you’re here to steal and not to buy any jewellery.”

Alan felt his blood boil. He was only here to get a necklace, why was she trying to make a fuss?

“I’ll take it!”

The attendant laughed so hard that tears rolled down her cheeks. Her loud laughter attracted the gazes of the other patrons in the store. “This has to be the funniest joke of the year. Your clothes don’t even cost up to a hundred bucks and you want to buy an expensive necklace? What are you? A circus clown?!”

The others who were looking at them couldn’t help but burst into laughter at the attendant’s words.

“He sure does look like a circus clown after all, their clothes don't even cost a fortune to purchase.”

“He’s such an imbecile to have come here to make trouble.”

“Perhaps, he came here to steal and he was caught by her so he decided to act all up this way to save himself from embarrassment.”

“He’s sure a fool. If he is really escaping from embarrassment, this shouldn’t be the right way to do it. Hehe, the lady might call the police soon.”

Alan’s face darkened on hearing the whispers. A killing intent flashed through his eyes, plummeting the room temperature to a few degrees. Some of the patrons rubbed themselves because of the sudden cold. Even the attendant had to take a step back, intimidated by Alan’s sudden malicious vibe.

“Hey! You can’t scare us. Get out of here before I call the police on you!” The sales attendant spat out angrily.

“What is going on here?!” A voice rang out.

Seeing how the attendant eyes were filled with fear and respect at the arrival of a man, Alan figured out that he was her superior. “Lin, what’s going on here?” He asked again, with a frown.

“Sir, this man came here with the intention of stealing but when I caught him, he decided to lie saying he wants to get a necklace and this necklace is $200,000 and he says he wants to buy it. Can you imagine? He doesn’t even look like he can buy himself his next meal” Lin, the attendant said with a mocking snort.

The manager didn’t find this funny at all; Ann immediately stopped laughing on seeing his stern expression. She had disturbed the other patrons who were shopping in the store with such a petty matter.

“Did you catch him stealing anything?”

“Uhm-” Lin was at a loss for words. Indeed, she had not seen anything implicating Alan, and this placed her in a very difficult situation. Her superior might see that she was making a fuss over nothing.

“I thought as much,” The manager shook his head and glanced at Alan. The emotions in his eyes complicated a bit, Lin’s description of him was valid. He was really dressed in plain clothes but having stayed among the upper class, he knew most rich scions wouldn’t want to reveal their identities too much so they would dress plainly to disguise themselves.

Maybe this gentleman was one of them, he did possess a mysterious aura and even he felt intimidated by this young man’s aura.

“Sir, you seem interested in this particular necklace. Should I get someone to wrap it up for you?” He asked politely.

“Hmph,” Alan replied. He had already lost interest in buying the necklace anymore but it was getting late already and he was sure other stores might have closed by now.

“Would you like to pay via transfer or card?”

“Card.”

Lin couldn’t help but throw a mocking glance at Alan. If he had opted for transfer, he might have cooked up some stories about the signal not being good but now, he had dug his own grave by opting for a card.

Bringing out the pos machine, she handed it over to the manager and they watched as Rex causally brought out a card.

Damn, it’s a black card!