(Mordred POV) [The leader of the Circular Round Flat Surface party]
It was a rather surreal sight to see four out of this world beauties bowing to you in apology.
It was even weirder to see the same four girls plus another additional fox youkai prostrate themselves in front of a kid less than half their age and begging for his forgiveness inside a tent.
That was already ignoring the fact that there is a young girl about his age currently sleeping on his lap. It was only then that I realised that the girl's hair seemed to be shimmering but I shrugged it off as a trick of the light.
The boy gave a sigh that was unbefitting his age, "Mordred was it? I apologize on their behalf for your party member's injury. I hope you can forgive them."
I shook my head quickly, years of experience adventuring has already clued me in on these girls' capabilities. Even with my entire party backing me up, we might not even be able to take down one of them if we wanted to.
If all of them were subservient to this kid, I shouldn't piss him off either.
"Don't worry about it, it was our fault for occupying your camp in the first place. We'll just be on our way."
"Hold on," The kid raised his hand. "You guys are hunting slavers right?"
I nodded.
He scratched his chin, "In that case, take my dis… Sisters along. They can help you locate the camp and bring you there. Just don't get them involved in the fighting. It will be suitable as their punishment."
Punishment? What kind of younger brother punishes his elder sisters? Unless… They have that kind of relationship?
That is really envio… I mean weird.
As much as I wouldn't mind a couple of beauties accompanying me, something tells me that if I were to outright accept his deal, I might find myself dead and buried somewhere later.
"Oh. That wouldn't be necessary. I don't want to impose on your sisters anymore than I already have. The wound isn't a big one either so just bandaging it is enough to keep him going."
"Ah, that's right. I have something better for you to use."
The boy flexed his hand, giving me a clear view of his storage ring on his index finger.
Unless he was wearing that for show, that ring is proof that the kid was a Practitioner. But I highly doubt there's any Practitioners at that age right?
The ring glowed before a small pill bottle appeared in his palm, most of the girls gasping in shock when they saw the bottle appear.
"Mas… Brother… Isn't that too valuable for them?" The one with golden hair asked.
The kid gave her a look, "To fix your mistake, this is nothing."
He turned back to me before tossing the bottle in the air, the small bottle landing in the middle of my palm.
I managed to catch it while still recovering from my shock of knowing that the kid was a Practitioner.
"Let him eat one of that and his injury should be healed instantly. No side effects as well. You can keep the rest for your party," The boy waved his hand dismissively.
Instantly? Even the most expensive healing pills we bought from the Alchemy Guild takes effect over the course of an entire day! Because of the difficulty in producing those pills, the Alchemy Guild sells them at the Auction and each of these can go up to two gold a piece!
Now this kid is just handing me a bottle full of what he claims is better than what the best pills of the Alchemy Guild can produce?
I'm not sure if he was exaggerating or telling the truth, either of these aren't good news to me.
If what he gave me was a sham, I'm basically playing into the hands of a scammer and god knows what he plans to do with me. But if what he is giving is the real deal, that means we most likely stepped on the toes of someone with incredible backing and we're all walking dead men.
Still… I really hope that what this kid says about the pills he handed me is true, we could really use such a miracle pill for some of my men back at base.
As for his offer of his sisters accompanying us…
"It's fine kid, I already said the fault lies with us. I really don't want to trouble you guys anymore than we have. I'll just take the pills for my men and we can call it even."
The kid shook his head, "I insist. It seems my sisters have grown rather arrogant with their power lately and some humbling would be good for them. I'm not asking you to let them fight for you, but just as guides will do."
Upon hearing his words, the girls seemed to look down dejectedly.
Seriously, what's their relationship like? The little brother dominating the elder sisters?! That is such a drea– I mean… That is so absurd!
Damn… Maybe I should just accept it? Then I can ask those girls on how to settle my own relationship problems with my sister in law? Yeah, sounds like an idea.
"In that case… I will have to impose on the ladies then. Please take care of me."
"Good, no more messing around girls. I will wait here until you return," The kid folded his arms across his chest, signalling our conversation was over.
This kid… Well, he does seem to be wise beyond his years. Maybe his sisters dig the older man mentality? Not that I'm going to say it out loud, mind you.
The five girls got up from their spot before following me out of the tent.
Not wanting to get off on a bad foot, I turned to the ladies, "Er… I suppose I should apologize for getting all of you involved first."
The one with the golden hair shook her head, "No… Mas… Brother is right, we have let the little bit of power that was bestowed upon us get to our heads."
I really am restraining myself to ask about the relationship between you and your brother right now, you know?
The one wearing a qipao stepped towards me, "You are looking for the slaver's camp right? We already found it when we were on our way to bathe, just follow us."
"Oh? Well that's convenient I suppose. I'll just give this pill to my injured party member and we'll be good to go."
The golden haired one nodded, "We will wait for you outside the camp, it's a rather long walk."
Without wasting time, I hurried off to the rest of my party to prepare them to move out. I'll get Krileen to eat this miracle pill and hopefully this thing heals him back to full health.
If it doesn't, we'll just have to cut our losses and leg it out of here before we get dragged into something beyond our pay grade.
