Their son was just bored at first, until he saw the buildings in the middle of nowhere and was a little excited, heading out to explore. He was closely followed by one of the bodyguards, as assigned by the lord.
Unexpectedly, this guard had an acquaintance here.
They turned a corner and bumped into a staff member. "OW! How dare you! Leek!" he yelled, and the guard stepped forward, ready to punish whoever was stupid enough to turn a corner without looking (conveniently forgetting they had done the same).
The guard paused when he saw it was Micc, the young man he used to beat up a lot growing up. "HEH, so it’s true!" he said, grinning arrogantly. By habit, he grabbed the collar of Micc’s uniform, making the man’s eyes sharpen.
This was another one of Micc’s bullies growing up. He got even more arrogant as time passed, especially when he became a mercenary, and absolutely had his chin up when he was assigned to guard the Lord’s wife.
He also made his brother’s life as an apprentice very difficult back then, apparently mumbling things to the blacksmith. The blacksmith, afraid of getting implicated, made sure to make Haurus’ life difficult.
Micc glared at the man, whose finger repeatedly poked at his head, blabbering about things Micc didn’t care to listen to.
"TSK," Micc just tutted, making the other man’s eyebrows furrow in annoyance.
Without another word, he just kicked the bastard out!
The young lad gaped, staring at the guard outside the barrier, banging on it, and unable to get inside. "My guard! GET HIM IN!"
"He broke a rule of the inn and was punished accordingly," was all he said before moving away. The lad wanted to grab him, but a wall of earth appeared between them, causing the boy to lose his balance.
With red eyes, he turned in the direction of his parents. "MOTHER!"
...
The boy was very noisy. He also tattled so fast that Finn believed he had talent for rapping.
The Lord sighed and looked at Finn. "Can you let the guard in?"
Unexpectedly, Finn shook his head. "I’m sorry, rules are rules."
"What do you mean?" The Lord did not expect to be rejected like this and his jaw clenched in annoyance.
The wife was much more direct. "How dare you?!"
She released the aura of a fortified-level woman, which was rare, though he had an inkling most of it was bought cores. Gideon appeared next to him, making the woman calm down, and the couple to take more offense.
Finn was a bit annoyed that a potentially good deal was getting ruined like this. He wasn’t blaming Micc at all of course, but rather this arrogant woman.
The Lord himself looked like a decent and rational bloke. Even when humiliated, Finn didn’t feel a murderous aura from him.
Don’t get him wrong: The Lord’s pride was damaged, and he was definitely angry. However, his wife was glaring at him as if she were her sworn enemy, which made Finn even more steadfast in his decision.
This type of woman, if you made an exception to the rules, would only ask for more.
Finn remained steadfast but decided to give the Lord some face. "I am sorry, Lord," he said. "But I also have to take care of my staff, who are like family to me. Besides, as long as your person stays near the barrier, they should be alright. We have plenty of fighters around.
"I doubt the lady’s personal guard would be so weak as to suffer at Level 1."
This made them unable to gather enough face for a mere guard.
Finn nodded, and he then pointed at the extra corner that was created by the barrier protrusion made by the mercenary training ground and the main barrier area.
Because the dude was a mercenary, he could ask his fellowmen to protect him. Of course, that would still depend on his attitude, especially since the other mercenaries there were from other teams, if not from other towns.
Well, considering that bastard’s arrogance, Finn had a feeling no one would want to do him a favor, not unless he paid a huge amount, which was a good enough punishment for now.
"Let us forget about misbehaving employees, shall we?" he asked, very politely. In a sense, this was giving them face, separating them from the person actually humiliated.
"May I guide you myself?" he asked, and his attitude wiped most of the previous annoyance away. For the Lord, anyway.
He looked at the boy. He looked annoyed and felt things were unfair, and glared at Finn in turn.
"Don’t you want to know what I have to offer before making an enemy out of me?"
"..."
The lad pursed his lips and then turned away while crossing his arms, but Finn could see he had softened up a bit.
As for the wife, Finn was only polite. He had no plans on becoming friendly with this one. At least her son didn’t seem that bad yet, just very spoiled and misguided.
He toured them through several buildings and gave them an overview of their functions. He told them about the canteen, the workshops, the stores, and the bathhouse. He also took them to the communication center, making their eyes sparkle in interest and, to varying degrees, greed.
"How much are you selling it for?" a feminine voice sounded at the side, and he frowned, looking at the Lord’s wife. His eyes shifted to the Lord, whose eyebrows were also furrowed, obviously unaware of this.
Finn thought for a moment before responding. "It depends on who’s asking," he said. He naturally would not sell it, but he certainly wanted to know who was interested.
"Our Branch Mercenary Hall."
"Well, it’s not for sale, never will."
The woman frowned with gritted teeth. Finn gave her a look. "Please tone down your murderous thoughts, or else you might get kicked out like that guard."
The woman snapped, raising her hand to slap him. "You—"
Before her slap ouched his face, a black and white critter appeared, slapping the woman’s face, making her—-BANG! —fly smack to a tree outside and fall down with a red paw mark on her face.
"Milady!!" The guards rushed out to help her, especially since there were a number of mobs outside, fought off by those training in the easements, but monsters would naturally prefer the prey already outside more, so they headed straight to her.
This time, the mercenaries were forced to protect her. So, outside the barrier, they carried her near the angle created by the main barrier and their training area, letting her stay there.
The rest could only gape, especially those who had never seen Pang in action.
Though there had been many troubles the past couple of weeks, not everyone was witness to them. Not to mention, many of them were new and hadn’t actually heard of him in action yet.
In their minds, he was just a cute, unusual creature who liked to sleep and be patted!
At this, Lingen stepped forward, looking at Finn with shame and a complicated look on his face.
Before he could speak, Finn raised his hand. "I’m sorry, rules are rules and I don’t make them," he said, once again throwing the fictitious master under the bus.
If they had been alone and were actually friendly, he might have asked the Lord to reconsider his wife. She seemed to be more trouble than she’s worth!
Connections and networking were good, sure, but seriously: how can he wake up to that every day?
...
"Potion!" someone yelled as the lady was injured by the dense monsters (and maybe accidentally hit by a mercenary, which was normal because they were so congested).
"YOU BASTARDS! WAIT TIL DADDY TAKES OVER THIS PLACE!" she screeched, hurting people’s ears. "AFTER LOTUS TOWN, THIS PLACE WILL BE NEXT!!"
Lord Lingen’s eyes darkened as he listened to this. He then looked at his son, who was just confused, and then dragged him off. "We’re going home," he said, having no face to stay here.
Further, after hearing his wife’s thoughts, he had a feeling he needed to clear the air back home as soon as possible.
As they watched the carriage disappear from view, Finn could not help but look at Athie.
Others might not have seen, but he saw it was this little guy who handed the potion.
"Oh, it’s a new honesty potion I developed," the boy shrugged, toddling away with Lily in tow.
"..."