The Pathway Of Wisdom-Chapter 64: Antonio’s Little Adventure. Part-1.

City of Ilma, Outskirts.

An old abandoned mill existed far away from the slums area of the city of Ilma.

It was located on a small hill and was abandoned decades ago because the owner of the mill committed su*cide inside the mill due to going bankrupt and being buried in debts.

Rumor has it that the grieving soul of the mill owner still haunts that abandoned mill; due to this reason, no one has bought and renovated this place again.

A few local thugs even used the abandoned building as their hideout for a while, but even the thugs refused to stay there after some time because of various strange incidents that happened quite often.

Antonio, who once used to be a textile merchant and fraud, was sent to this location at the orders of the leader of the organization he had just joined recently.

His mission was simple: go to the abandoned mill and make a report of any irregular thing happening inside the mill.

"Ugh... I seriously don’t like the vibe of this place... thankfully, I came here in morning at least..."

Wearing a coat and a hat, Antonio stood in front of the abandoned mill as he scratched the back of his neck to calm down his nervousness.

"This place is giving me chills even though it’s early in the morning right now... how horrific would this place look if it was at night, I wonder..."

Just thinking about such a scenario made Antonio feel scared.

The abandoned mill had three buildings and an open area in between and a massive wooden-wall boundary surrounding the entire area.

The road leading to the front gate of the mill was barely even visible due to not being maintained for a long time and was completely covered by grass and various wild plants.

Antonio was thankful that he had a habit of wearing leather boots, and he didn’t have to worry about snakes or other insects biting his legs while walking through this dense vegetation.

He slowly made his way to the front door of the boundary, and there was a massive wooden signboard hanging on the wide-open and half-broken door.

{Do Not Enter,

Cherish Your Life,

Su*cide Is Not A Good Option.

There Is More To Life Than Depression!]

The person who hung that signboard seemed to be openly telling people not to commit su*cide by entering this place.

Even the signboard had dried blood marks on it, so Antonio felt his legs go weak the very moment he saw it.

’I-i... Do I really need to go inside?... I already wanna go home though...’

Thinking about home, a look of pain and regret appeared on Antonio’s face.

Antonio was a textile merchant; he travelled from one place to another all year round, but he was also not an honest person. To earn a lot of money, he often did a lot of fraud work.

He would often take tons of loans, buy cheap clothes, and then sell them to ignorant people before running away with both the loan money and the money he earned through taking advantage of the people.

Then he would repeat the same cycle in the next town or city.

He had been doing this business his whole life and had also been caught a few times.

But he was often able to escape by bribing the officials and the people in charge of the jail, but this time was different.

When he tried to do the same thing in the city of Ilma, a traveller recognized him, and he got caught.

He wasn’t even able to make money before being thrown into the jail and couldn’t even bribe, as he had no money at hand in that moment!

Alex freed him and asked him why he was doing all this endless fraud.

Antonio’s reason was simple: he needed money. His entire childhood had been spent in poverty, and he had seen his family members starve to death because of lack of money!

Antonio was obsessed over money because he had seen how crucial it was for life!

His own sister had starved to death just because they had no money to feed her! 𝕗𝚛𝚎𝚎𝐰𝗲𝗯𝗻𝚘𝚟𝚎𝗹.𝕔𝐨𝕞

That day Antonio swore to earn money by whatever means possible, and the only way he knew was swindling and doing fraud!

Alex smiled at him gently and offered him a great deal.

"If you work for me... I will offer you the opportunity to do trade and earn a tremendous amount of money in the entire city of Ilma!"

Antonio agreed to it very easily!

And this was his first mission since entering the organization!

’Ugh... standing guard at the door for the organization was boring but I for sure didn’t want this much of thrilling job either...’

’I just hope that the paycheck makes up for all the suffering later...’

Shaking his head, Antonio placed his hand on his waist, where a small hidden dagger was, and took it out.

While holding the dagger in his hand tightly, Antonio entered the old mill.

"Whatever is here, just don’t come out... I am here only for the sightseeing... I will go back after I am done wandering around a bit..."

"I have a sick mother waiting for me at home so please take pity on me and just let me be..."

The old mill was covered in vegetation, and even the buildings were heavily damaged from wear and tear due to a long time of lack of maintenance.

The biggest building was the main mill, the second one was a warehouse, and the third one was a cabin for the mill owner to stay at night.

The small cabin was nearly completely broken down, so there was no need to explore it, but Antonio needed to explore the rest of the two buildings to complete his investigation report.

’I seriously do not understand why I was the one sent here... shouldn’t they have sent Ron here...’

’That guy’s got combat prowess and much better survival skills...’

Although Antonio was scared, for the sake of a better future, he was not going to back down.