When Hoggy went between them, Ren regained his clarity and somehow held himself back. He then stored his weapon in his inventory and stood to the side. He knew better than to challenge the Caravan’s authority at this point in time.
Hoggy gave a short nod in Ren’s way before facing the trio, who didn’t intend to back down.
“My dear clients. Put your weapons away. This is your last warning,” Hoggy said again. Its squinty eyes slightly opened, glinting in threat.
However, the trio didn’t listen and even went into a fighting stance.
“Stand away, fugly!” shouted Edgar, spit flying from his mouth.
“You ****. I’ll make your family pay for this!” hissed Cal, face twisting in anger. “I will search for you in all corners of the world!”
Ren just smirked behind his hood.
Good luck with that.
Ren’s ID number was safer than the money in New Era’s Bank, and Cal didn’t know his face. Without either one of that, Cal would have a hard time investigating him. And even if he did manage, it would take years of investigation, and by that time, Ren would already accumulate enough wealth to rival the Lu’s and protect himself.
Harris and Salud stepped forward when the three were about to attack again. With their tiny frame, a giant ax appeared in Salud’s little hands while a massive broad Sword appeared in Harris.
With a single swing, Harris cleaved Edgar into two before he burst into particles without knowing how he died.
Cal and his other friend took a step back with shaking, horror-filled eyes, face white and skin glistening in sweat.
“Y-you!” Cal pointed his shaking finger at the two bodyguards before he shouted in false bravado. “D-don’t you dare do anything to me! Don’t you know who I am?! I am Cal Lu––!”
Cal hadn’t finished his sentence when he and his friend were flung to the sky by Salud’s giant ax before they twinkled and burst into particles leaving only their cries echoing through the night.
. . .
. . .
Everyone’s mouth dropped, and they blinked rapidly before all of them scampered away from Hoggy’s two bodyguards.
Ren took a deep breath and calmed himself. Just the mention of Sleeping Dragon made his blood boil. The only thing that could rattle him right now was that name. He needed to take control of his emotions, or it would be the end of him.
Ren released a large breath before he took his seat.
Hoggy released a hearty laugh in an attempt to disperse the tense situation. “Ohohoho. Don’t worry, my dear clients. As long as everyone behaves, you’re all safe in this Caravan.”
The others looked at each other before they awkwardly let out a smile.
“Come. Come. Let’s eat. Let’s not spoil the food because of some unruly players.” Hoggy urged the others to buy his kebab, and everyone hurriedly spent their gil, afraid they would be flung to the air with massive weapons in the hands of a little Kobold and Hobgoblin.
Ren also bought two, and he gave one to little Pii. While eating, the five teenagers slowly crept on him until they sat on one log.
. . .
. . .
“What is it?” Ren sighed and asked, disrupting the boys’ and girls’ hush tones. They were arguing on who to speak to first.
“Uhm . . . Thank you, sir,” a boy said with beads of green hair. “My name is Josh, and this is Ray, Zack, Kylie, and Lilly. Thank you for standing for us against those bullies when others didn’t.”
Ren nodded and introduced, “Ren. And no need to give thanks. I have a thing against their guild.”
Ren made it clear that he had no intention of saving them in the first place since the Caravan would interfere even when he didn’t do anything. So they didn’t have to think that they owed him, especially when not. It just so happened that those three mentioned that they belonged to Sleeping Dragon.
“Who’s that?” Lily asked immediately, and her friends were shocked when she suddenly spoke. Her Golden hair framed her pretty face, and her big green eyes were sparkling like jewels.
It was the first time that Lily spoke ever since they rode the Hogs. She wasn’t talkative but wasn’t shy either. She just didn’t like to talk; usually, Kylie, her best friend, spoke for her.
Upon hearing her sweet voice, all the boys’ hard faces melted, and their eyes turned dreamy. It was apparent that the three boys had a thing for Lily, especially Zack, who couldn’t keep his eyes off her.
“Pii, my pet,” Ren said simply.
“Pii . . .” Lily muttered, and her face brightened into a big smile, and Ren and the others had to squeeze their eyes because it was blinding.
Ren slightly shook his head. Lily’s dimple smile would cause a lot of trouble for her, just like Evie and Silvia.
“How much are you willing to sell it?” she told Ren with an innocent face and tone. Her fluffy cat ears wiggled at the side of her head.
“Lily,” Kylie reprimanded before she looked over at Ren apologetically. “Sorry. She’s a little . . . dense.”
Ren didn’t mind. Pii was just too cute to pass off. He couldn’t blame her. He looked at Lily and her friends. He took a guess that their age was about sixteen or seventeen. Still in high school. Still a little too innocent and mischievous.
“It’s not for sale,” said Ren.
“Everything is for sale.” Zack immediately countered. His tone was overbearing as his face when he said, “Name your price. I can pay you right now. And you can send the pet as a gift to Lily.”
Zack was also a young master, from the looks of it. But Ren didn’t know from which family, and he wasn’t interested to know.
“Not for sale,” Ren only repeated again and took another bite from his kebab.
At that point, Zack frowned. He could see that Lily really wanted the Pet on Ren’s shoulder. Lily couldn’t take her eyes off it. Lily loved adorable things, which was also why she chose to be a beast with an Animist subclass.
If Zack could get that pet from Ren, he was sure that would put him ahead in Lily’s eyes. Josh and Ray were also vying for Lily’s attention, but he was confident they weren’t a threat to him. He was the best-looking and had the most wealth from the three of them.
This was his chance to get close to Lily . . . If only Josh and Ray didn’t take wind of his plans and insisted on coming along, he and Lily would have gotten a lot closer by now.
“I’m sure ten thousand is enough, right?” Zack insisted.
“Zack,” Josh reproached with a soft tone when he sensed that the atmosphere might turn worst if Zack persisted.
Ren had saved them from those thugs, and Josh didn’t want their benefactor to think worst of them. They just wanted to thank Ren, but it seemed things would take a wrong turn. And as much as he liked Lily, he wasn’t blinded by his feeling to the point that he couldn’t see what was right and wrong.
However, Josh knew that Zack might persist even more if he was contradicted. The more they say no to Zack, the more he would persevere.
So Josh changed the topic to Lily. The one thing he knew that would work against Zack.
“Lily, I saw a small beast over there. Want to take a look at it?” Josh said while Lily’s face glowed and a flower bloomed over her head in delight.
The group then immediately went exploring the oasis after they gave thanks to Ren once more.
“Sorry about that,” Ray said, still sitting on the log while his other friends were taking Lily near a strange flower were fireflies glowed on its petals.
Ren didn’t reply.
Ray was the quietest out of the three boys and had a serious face. He was a looker too and stuck to the leaner frame with dark violate fringe swept to the side.
“What are you going to do in Pink Salty Dessert?” Ren asked after a minute of silence. After deducting that Ray wouldn’t leave his side, he tried to make small talk with the boy. And he was curious, so he might as well.
Ray shrugged and answered, “Nothing really. Just sightseeing and grinding. Lily heard Kylie talked about it, so she was curious about the Pink Salty Dessert and pink flamingos, so . . . we’re going there to tour around the place.”
“I see . . .” Ren believed Ray since the kid didn’t have any reason to lie, and it was evident that all of them were just here because they wanted to please the girl, Lily.
“Aren’t you going to come with them?” Ren nod in the others direction when the darkness was about to swallow them away.
Ray just stretched his hands and yawned. “I’d rather eat and sleep. I have no chance anyway. Out of the three of us, I’m the poorest. In fact, I have to log out later since I don’t have a pod. I’m just renting at a café, and the influx of players only left me an hour or so.”
Ren didn’t reply. Even though they said that everything was fair in love and all things were equal in God’s eyes, the thing was, women would still choose a man with money, and not everyone was equal in the eyes of people and society. You have to die first before you taste that equality.
“Be careful on Pink Salty Dessert,” Ren told Ray instead, even though there was zero chance that they would encounter the [World Boss] this early in time.
Ray thought that Ren was pertaining to other bullies. And those players who wanted to mess with them because of their youthful appearance.
“We’ll do. Those three are idiots.” Ray sneered with a slight laugh. “They didn’t know that Zack’s father is also a wealthy businessman in Zone B.”
He then shook his head with a biter smile. “Money is everything, huh?”
“. . .”
“We’ll be fine,” Ray assured when he noticed that Ren was silent. “Those guys just caught us off guard, tis’ all.”
It wasn’t those guys you should worry about in Pink Salty Dessert. Ren thought but didn’t say anymore.