Brooks considered her question for a brief moment before nodding.
He said, "They should be. I am not familiar with their organization anymore, but there should be an overseeing coalition that determines the legitimacy of gangs and settles matters between gangs."
Her smile became wider as she said, "They should be offended by his actions. If they are not offended, I will make sure that they become offended. That way they will retaliate against Arthur."
She grinned wider. "It will be great if they can pressure him and make him give up on his foolishness. I don't want too much. I just want him to focus on making money or cultivation."
Brooks asked tentatively, "Wouldn't that be dangerous to the young master?"
She waved his concern aside. "It won't be too dangerous. It'll be just a little bit dangerous. I'll jump in to save him when he can't handle it anymore. Then I will gloat in his misfortune. He will surely listen to me then since I saved him."
Brooks hesitated before saying, "But this plan might also backfire. Especially if the young master finds out that you have been pulling strings against him. I don't think he likes you meddling in his business. If I am right, I think that is one of the major reasons he left the house."
Lady Vena looked at him and glared as she said, "He won't find out because no one will tell him. Is that clear?"
Brooks nodded and said sincerely, "Very clear, my lady."
Her smile returned as she said, "Good."
She was in a very good mood now that she had figured out a plan to teach Arthur a lesson. But then she saw Arthur raid the base of the Black Band gang only to come out with a chest, raise it up, and say to the onlookers loudly, "More bread tomorrow for everyone."
People cheered and thanked him. The sounds they made soured Lady Vena's mood. She felt like retching.
"This is disgusting. He got all that money but decided to give it away. I can't believe that I gave birth to such a foolish son."
Brooks tried to console her. "At least this way, he won't be spending his money on the bread. He will just be spending his time."
But it didn't work. She said, "It would be good if he didn't spend any of his time on it. It would be better if he kept the money for himself. But he did none of them."
She said with determination, "Now I have to go through with my plan. It is up to me to make sure that he regrets this before it is too late."
Arthur left the slums and returned to his house. His mood was as high as the sky. After all, he was returning with victory, karma, and wealth.
He thought to himself as he ran with all his might while holding onto a small chest of money, "If I can earn money and karma by liberating the people, can I earn karma by creating problems for the people and saving them from it?"
The wind howled in his ear and ruffled his large mane of red hair as he dashed across the street.
He felt as if a new world of possibilities had opened up to him. He is now considering the different ways he can use to earn karma other than giving people bread.
The best methods he could think of were acts of charity such as opening a dojo to teach children cultivation for free and giving people things. But now he is thinking of acts of kindness that don't require him to give his time or money, such as saving people from tyrants.
The fact that he earned karma from killing thugs has also got him thinking about other possible unconventional ways of earning karma. He is considering creating problems and saving people from them, such as creating a plague that only he has a cure for.
"I don't even need to have the cure to it. I just need to be there for them and help them out when they are in need. But the time and effort I put in has to be worth more than the time and effort I put in to just give people bread."
It is all about efficiency. If he can just give people bread and earn karma from it, then causing trouble and offering the solution has to give him a lot more karma for it to be worth it.
Those are just considerations for now. He currently has his hands full with his dojo, the bread, and the liberation of the people. When he has run out of ideas and solutions to solve, he will give creating problems a try.
He was eager to return home to count his spoils of war. He had opened the chest earlier and saw that it was full of money. But he doesn't know exactly how much was in it because he didn't have time to count.
His dojo was going to open in 30 minutes, and he wanted to be there early, so he postponed counting his loot until he got home.
This is why he didn't take a carriage. He is much faster than a carriage, so it was better to run if he wanted to be early.
He was in so much of a hurry that he jumped over the gate in his compound. He didn't want to spend time unlocking the gate, so he went through the direct route.
Ruff raised his head and barked at him when he landed in the compound. But then it recognized Arthur. So it rushed over to him, wagging his tail.
Arthur was in a hurry so he could rub Ruff's fur for a few seconds. Then he sat on the chair on his porch and opened the chest to count his loot.
Coins fell out of the chest in a large amount. The coins were mostly silver. A few of them were bronze, while there were no gold coins.