The old man took a deep breath, calming his emotions before adding, "it's not a big secret anyway. It all started twenty years ago…"
William listened to an old and common tale from this man. He lost his entire family, parents, sisters and brothers at the hands of a monster outbreak led by the scarlet monsters.
He didn't face bears back then. Scarlet Leopards, Scarlet Lions, and Scarlet Tigers were there, in addition to other weaker scarlet monsters like the monkeys.
So, he held a deep grudge against any scarlet monster, paying lots of crystals in return for killing more of them.
William could only inwardly sigh. Despite how tragic this might look like; it was just normal at any place outside this fort.
Yet this man was wealthy and inherited his family's thriving business from a young age. So, he had the choice to exert his revenge in such an extravagant way.
He didn't need to dirt his hands, didn't even need to place himself in any risk at all. He only instigated others using his wealth to kill more of these monsters.
This was a choice not many people actually had in this world. And despite that, William still felt respectful towards him.
At least he decided to act, used what he excelled at to have his revenge. It was lucky that the monsters he held grudge against were one of the most troublesome dudes in the monster world. And that made this old man, who acted a bit childish in William's eyes, served a great deal to the greater good of humanity.
"I understand you now," like he wasn't a kid and an adult, William said such words in a heavy tone. But as he was the one who gave everyone here quite the shock, his words didn't look any weird at all, "I'm going to give you the way to kill these bears, in return for what I asked for… And her."
Out of the blue, William pointed towards the daughter, Rose, who was sitting next to the man.
"This…"
"No, I'm not for sale!"
His sudden request came out of the blue, out of what this man even expected. And against what William had in his mind, the man took the wrong idea about his question, totally the wrong impression about this.
"Kid, I admit you are truly something. And even if you came from such a backyard academy, you have what makes it clear to anyone about your potential and uniqueness. However… My daughter isn't part of any deal I make, never will be."
"I don't want her to be with me as you thought," William smiled, in a way that didn't suit the current situation, "I want her to be part of my team."
"No! I don't like joining anyone! I always lead others, not to be led around by… You!" Rose was quite decisive in this, instantly rejecting William's offer again, even after what he explained.
And as if he didn't hear her at all, William kept talking, "my team is one that I will personally lead and guide. As you can tell, I'm not just a normal spirit master. In fact, I got a scary and formidable master behind me. She asked me to go out, venture the world, form a team of capable and worthy to nourish spirit masters…"
"No! I won't join your damn team!"
William ignored the all enraged and slightly panicking Rose as he added:
"In addition to that, my team is going to do the most troublesome missions here. For example, we will handle any scary group of monsters, the likes of Scarlet Bears. And also we will handle the dark spirit masters. In fact, you can go around and ask, ask about who changed the outer grand battle that happened not a long time ago outside the fort. And you'll hear descriptions of me as the one who led everyone back there to crush those despicable enemies."
"Still no! No way I'm going to join you! You are crazy! I'd prefer to kill myself and not join you!"
"Rose!" The old man panicked the moment his daughter used this soft spot of his against him. As the man got such trauma from losing his family, he would never tolerate such threatening actions from his daughter and would eventually listen to her.
"Without Rose… There is no deal," but unlike what the man expected when he looked at William in plea, expecting him to stand by his side and help, William grabbed a tank of gasoline and poured it over his daughter's head with his firm words.
"Dad! Kick him out of here! I don't want to see his face or hear his damn name again!" Rose acted like she got stung by a snake or something, jolted up, and screamed in such panic and anger.
"Kid… Can't we discuss other terms?"
"Sorry sir, but I only set my eyes over gems," William knew he got the man exactly where he wanted him to be, "and your daughter is just a fine one."
"Damn you! Trying to coat your filthy desires and greed with such high ideals and words! Aren't you ashamed of yourself? I'm leaving!"
Rose didn't even wait for her father to say anything, turned around and started walking, or actually running, vanishing from everyone's sights in a few seconds.
"You said you want gems?" And when his daughter left, the man couldn't help but turn back towards William.
He wanted such knowledge from this kid to help in killing more scarlet monsters. But that would never come at the cost of losing another member of his family.
But in the middle of William's words, this sharp witted man spotted a glimpse of hope. In fact, it wasn't hope, it was a well hidden trap laid by William. And that smart and experienced man just fell directly into it.
"The gem I wanted is gone," William waved his arms as if things went out of his control.
Updat𝒆d fr𝒐m freew𝒆bnov𝒆l.c(o)m