Brooks smiled and said, "I'm sure that he will be alright."
Then he asked, "So, my lady, do we continue watching him, or should we return now?"
Lady Vena thought about it and said, "Let me see what else he is up to. I need to know, or I would conjure frightening antics in my head."
She had followed Arthur into the city yesterday. Then she had waited outside his house very early in the morning to see what he would do now that he was independent.
She half expected him to return home to give the servants bread. But now she knows that it isn't about the people. Arthur is just generous, and he will give anyone bread.
But she isn't willing to cut off her surveillance this soon. Now that she is already out and about snooping on him, she wants to see how far he was willing to go for charity. So the two of them continued to track his carriage.
Unfortunately, they didn't see much because Arthur went to buy wine next. He bought a lot of sweet wine and transported it back to his house with the carriage.
He didn't leave his house for the rest of the day. She was sure of thay because she waited outside his compound until late at night. She didn't leave until she was sure that he was asleep.
What she saw mollified her. She said, "It is just one tiny flaw in his character. I guess it is alright since no one is perfect."
She said that, but she didn't leave yet. She wanted to make sure that he wasn't up to no good at night, so she waited in front of his house all through the morning.
Morning came, and she still didn't leave yet. She said that she wanted to see if he would escalate his spending on bread.
It was only until she saw and confirmed that he spent the same amount of money on the bread that she became relaxed enough to leave. But she still didn't leave yet.
She said that she wanted to see him return home before she leaves. Brooks could only sigh and oblige her.
On the other side of the street, Arthur's scalp tingled at the sea of people waiting for him.
It was an understatement to say there were more people present than yesterday. There were at least three times more people.
He thought to himself, "At least I won't need to wait for people to gather around."
He was saying that to console himself. Not that he had a choice. He couldn't complain about having a lot of people to give his bread to.
Their large number means he will be able to harvest a lot of karma when he decides to increase his budget for bread. The high demand also means that his limited amount of bread will be more appreciated.
So it was a good thing that there was a large demand for his bread. This gave him the encouragement not to let the large number of people scare him.
He raised his signboard to threaten them. "Form a line. If you don't stay in line, you will get nothing. If you try to rush me, I will break your head. Don't test me."
He was big, but he still sounded like a child. This would have made him endearing in a normal situation, but this situation is not normal.
In this situation, he is serious about his threat. It showed in his eyes that he would truly kill them.
Some of them also remembered how he caved someone's head in yesterday with that large wooden board. So they know that even though he looked strong, he was actually stronger than he looked.
His warning made those close to him form a line. The ones farther away tried to form a line, but it devolved into fighting.
He didn't say anything about the fighting, but he kept an eye on those causing trouble in his line. He was mentally noting down those he wouldn't give bread.
As for the obedient ones, he gave them a loaf of bread and said to them, "My dojo will open today. It will be open from 8 am to 10 am for children between the ages of 10 and 16."
"Training is free. Remember to tell everyone you know."
As he was doing this, a group of men and women approached him. They wore different clothing, but they all had the same black band tied to their arms.
He didn't let their presence stop him from doing what he was doing. He didn't even address them until one of them spoke.
Someone who appeared to be their leader stood out from the group of 7 and said to him, "Sirs, we ares the blacks bands group."
She said that as if he was supposed to know who they were. He didn't, so he asked, "So?"
The woman continued to smile as she replied, "This is ours territory."
He asked again, "So what?"
This time she frowned. She felt as if she had said all that needed to be said, but he was acting as if he didn't understand her.
She wasn't the only one who frowned. He had frowned when he asked that question. He even decided to take away his attention from his line and examine them thoroughly.
He asked them, "Are you a gang?"
She replied with a smile, feeling as if he did understand her. "Yes sirs. We protects this portions of the city."
He said, "Why are you here? Don't tell me that you've come to complain that my act of charity is interfering with your acts of charity."
He chuckled at his joke and said, "That will be absurd because from the looks of things, I don't think the five hundred loaves of bread I distribute are enough to satiate the hunger of these people. I'm sure that there will still be more willing to eat whatever it is that you give them on a daily basis."