The cold wind on the highlands removed heat from their bodies rapidly like sharp knives taking away blood.
Today was the sixth day of the latter half of the Month of Harvest. They did not know Brute Cavern was located on highlands, so most people were wearing shorts and light clothing. Now, the cold air made them shiver like mad.
“Gods beyond. Not a single soul around? Are we abandoned?” A young man wearing black and white striped cotton hat knelt down and yelled. He even went down sprawling as he cried.
The knight sword wrapped in tattered cloth on his waist hit the ground along with his action, creating a loud and clear metal noise.
“Ah… It’s so painful to be abandoned. How my heart pained. Oh no, I’m not going to make it…” He rolled on the ground in an exaggerated manner.
People around him slowly moved away while claiming that they did not know this man at all.
A bulky man with handlebar mustache crouched beside him with a smile, “Hey, I saw some winter flowers over there. We can make a good dish using ketchup and oxtail tenderloin.”
Then he nudged the young man on the ground, “Orlando, wanna have some for lunch?”
The young man named Orlando quickly brightened up and nodded rapidly, “Yes, yes! I’ll eat it!”
“Get up then.”
Orlando stood up like a good kid and moved behind the mustache man with admiration showed on his expression.
The mustache man turned to the other people and silently revealed an “I got him” using his lips.
Angor was intrigued by their small interaction. Now he thought about it, there were only a few people among the talents of Brute Cavern who were not showing hostility to him. The mustache man and Orlando were two of them.
“I’m Roffig, from Blackwing Continent,” said the mustache man as he addressed everyone. Next, he pointed to the young man behind him and said, “This is Orlando, a close friend of mine. He’s a little silly, please excuse him.”
With that, Roffig dragged Orlando away and joined the crowd.
Roffig and Orlando did not show up much in front of everyone. Previously, people thought they were arrogant. Looked like they were wrong.
Sailum pulled on Angor’s clothes and whispered, “Orlando has a strange temperament, but he’s the only one who’s qualified as a formal knight among us. Don’t underestimate him.”
The qualification as a knight was a dream to Sailum before he heard about the wizarding world, so the boy was extra interested in this character who was carrying a knight sword.
“What do we do now? Are we tricked? There’s no one here,” A pockmark-faced young man who often hung around Hookdick spoke in discontentment.
“Did they drop us in the middle of nowhere because they think we don’t have enough talent?” A fatty standing beside the pockmark boy spoke this time. He sounded like he was about to cry as he said, “I want my mother, I want to go home…”
Despite the weeping tone, his eyes proved that he was not sad at all.
Once he drew everyone’s attention with his voice, the fatty immediately changed the topic, “I miss my mom, I miss home. I want to eat the ketchup ox tenderloin and the, the flower or something…”
“Idiot. The winter flower!” The pockmark boy added.
It was obvious that these two people were acting.
Hearing their speech, everyone glimpsed at Roffig who had been hiding among the crowd.
Roffig rolled his eyes at the sky helplessly.
“Another strange pair,” Angor mumbled. The pockmark boy and the fatty seemed to be Hookdick’s handymen or something. Every time he walked by, he would receive hostile snickers from them. Angor thought these two people were merely someone up to no good. But… wow. They had no shame.
Hookdick accepted such people as followers? Wouldn’t he get tricked?
Angor peeked at Hookdick and realized the violent chieftain had covered his face as if he felt ashamed in front of everyone.
Well… he is already in a bad position anyway.
Angor silently looked away.
Roffig never responded to the fatty’s “request”, so the latter was still screaming. It was the only thing people could hear on the tranquil plateau.
A low and raucous voice suddenly boomed out of the terrible crying and reached everyone’s ears like thunder.
“Shut up or I’ll kill you.”
It was a bald young man with dark-brown skin.
He was not wearing anything on his upper half, and those stomach muscles shined like tempered and oiled steel. Short, tight leather pants covered part of his legs, revealing thick leg hair above a pair of chamois leather boots. He also had a loincloth with a tiger-stripe pattern around his waist.
His exposed skin did not shrink due to the coldness. Instead, it gave out a glimmer like the palm oil under the strong ultraviolet light on the highlands, giving him a wild look.
“Balba!” Everyone on the scene silently called his name in their minds.
As the strongest being among the talents, Balba’s warning instantly silenced the fatty. Hookdick slowly lowered his head as he tried to hide his expression which was mixed with disdain and fear.
Even Nausica would avoid getting involved in Balba’s anger.
Everyone stopped talking after Balba’s outburst. The absolute silence remained for ten full minutes until it was broken by a small voice.
“Angor, do you know what’s going on?”
It was Sailum. The boy tried to talk to Angor as softly as he could. However, since it was too quiet around here, people could still hear him.
Sailum noticed what he just did as well. His face went pale and he glanced at Balba, fearing that he would get scolded like the fatty.
Balba did not say anything this time. Instead, he directed a questioning look toward Angor.
Well, everyone else was looking at Angor.
Most of the people hated Angor. Yet, at the same time, they all knew that Angor had some relationship with the wizard on the cloud whale, considering how Angor was allowed to enter the wizard’s tent.
This unknown situation was the reason why Hookdick did not dare to attack Angor openly. To slowly weaken the boy’s defense, Hookdick tried to pick on those around Angor. Too bad, he got squashed by Nausica in the process.
Nausica, Hookdick, Balba… and everyone else had their attention on Angor at this moment.
Angor remained calm. He secretly glanced at somewhere in the sky as he talked to them slowly, “I’m not sure. I think they want us to wait, and it won’t take long. Take it easy.”
Angor put a hand on Sailum’s shoulder to comfort the boy.
They felt something weird in those words, but that was about it. People did not give it much thought.
Well, except for three people. Nausica seemed to be considering something carefully upon hearing Angor, but she got rid of her expression soon and put on her usual joyful attitude.
Orlando was the second one. He had a strange and childish character, but he still realized something.
The third one was Balba. As a half-blood from another world, Balba possessed both raw, otherworldly strength, and the same level of intelligence of humans, if not better.
“Thanks!” Nausica expressed something to Angor secretly using lip language.
On the other side, Orlando and Balba also nodded to Angor in acknowledgment. They did not say anything, but at least they revealed friendliness.
Angor smiled mildly at their reaction. He meant it when he said he did not know what was going on, just…
He glanced at a certain direction in the sky again and sighed helplessly.