“Of course, That troublesome disease took the life of our guild member” said Lau with scorn.  

“Then, how do you cure the disease?” asked Bold frantically. 
 
“I dunno. But I do mention someone saying that you need a small blue figure of sorts? Of a person? If I remember correctly?”

“Blue figure?” repeated Bold. 

“Oh, you mean this?” said Mikhail and pulled out the manal figure from his bag.

“Oh yeah, that’s the one” said Lau.

“Really?” asked Amanda with surprise in her eyes.

Lau shrugged his shoulders.
 
“So, how do we use it?” asked Bold.

Emma was crying and yelling next to them. Mikhail swiftly grabbed her from her shoulder and pulled her gently to his side. But doing a 180 in terms of personality he slammed the figure’s head into her mouth.

“Mikhail, what the hell are you doing?!” yelled Bold. 

“Uhh, now that I became more aware. It seems kind of a dumb idea” said Mikhail.

Emma spat the figure out, pushed away Mikhail and continued to yell and pant.

“Anyone else have any bright ideas?” asked Amanda.

“I do” said Mikhail. 

“I said anyone else”.

“No wait. I seriously have an idea”

Mikhail looked at the figure carefully and starting chanting something in his mouth. It wasn’t in English but judging from the sounds that he was making it was probably from Tibet or Sanskrit. Immediately after he finished chanting a green juice spilled out of the buddha’s eyes.

“Woah, someone get a cup, quick!”.

Thompson who was all too quiet until now quickly stretched his arm and grabbed a bowl for him. After letting the leftover liquid pour into the bowl Mikhail grabbed Emma by the back and put the bowl to her mouth.

“Drink it”

She pushed the bowl away angrily.

“Hey, she is not drinking it. What do I do?”

“Be a little assertive like a man would you?” said Amanda. 

“K”

Mikhail clamped her neck tight with his hand and slammed the tip of the bowl at her mouth. Emma nervously resisted in panic but Mikhail wrapped his arm around her neck and forced the bowl to her lips.

“Drink it. Drink it you blonde bimbo”

“Braahhhbrrhghj” 

"What the fuck" cried Bold.  

“Mikhail, stop. You’re gonna suffocate her” yelled Thompson.

“But muh manly assertiveness”

But regardless of their concerns Mikhail finally succeeded at making her drink the liquid with force. And after gulping it all down her eyes softened and her body loosened. Her eyelids dropped and she let out a deep sigh. Mikhail put her gently on the bed and covered her with the sheets and got up.

“Well, I think it worked”.

“Thank god. The cure was with us all along” said Bold

“Yeah, and to think that we wasted so much time running around. Truth really is always near, I guess” said Mikhail with a smile.

“Heh, that figure is gonna be pretty valuable. Back in the day, our gang tried to find a cure for the disease but unfortunately couldn't” said Lau.

“Then we’ll sure to hold it tightly” said Mikhail.
 
He chanted the mantra again and when the bowl was filled again with the green juice he gave it to Bold. Bold drank it and immediately he could feel the aching in his legs subsiding.   

“Wow, the effects are fast”

"Hah, that's fantastic" said Thompson with a booming voice.  
 
They headed out of the room with relieved faces but heard a quarrel happening in the dining room.      

“Say that again, you son of a bitch” roared Diego and raised his foot in the air.

Kenji grabbed him from his armpits and pulled him back.

“Hah. I’m not lying. You couldn’t defend your sister in the past. How could you keep her safe now? Nothing changed” taunted Kranos with a smirk.

“He now has this team and this house. I presume Gabi will be safe here” said Kenji confidently.

“Oh please. She’ll only be safe with our group. She is as good as dead without a strong protection from a guild”             

“I’ll decide on my own on what to do. I don’t need your insults and mockery” hissed Gabi at the long-haired man.

“Fact won’t change with angst, little maiden”.    

“Kranos, that’s enough!” said Lau.

Unlike the childish attitude Lau has previously shown, there was authority in that statement. Seeing Lau’s icy eyes and deadpan face Kranos spat on the floor and raised his hands in the air.

“I’m sorry boss. Kinda gone ahead of myself. I’ll go out and smoke if you don’t mind”.

“No need. We are going to leave now”.

“You are?” asked Bold.

A playful smile appeared on Lau’s face. He turned around and spoke with a high voice:

“Oh, you want me to stay now? Didn’t you want to get rid of me? Oh, Bold, you little tsun tsun”.

“Grhr. No…its just that, it hasn’t been long since you got here” mumbled Bold.

“Don’t worry about that. I am a man of speed and excitement. Sitting around and relaxing just isn’t my style. It’s too boring” said Lau with a grin. 

“That part of you still hasn’t changed?”

“Hey, it’s a good quality to have”

Lau went past him but declared out loud:

“Don’t mess around, Bold. If you didn’t get good at the game the next time I see you…I’ll kill you”

The last sentence had an aura of sinisterness attached to it. Without bothering to wait for a reply, Lau headed towards the door and his men followed him. Stunned by his words the others stared Lau’s men with contempt until they were sure all of them left.  

“Enough of that. Let’s clean this place” said Amanda, seeing how everyone had taken Lau’s last words seriously.  

Amanda, Gabi, Diego and Kenji got into their job of cleaning up the dishes and the plates while Bold brought water and towels. Mikhail however went to the living room and jumped on to the swinging bed and laid there happily. Seeing him chilling and running away from duty Amanda felt irritated and arrived next to him. 

“Won’t you help us?”

“Hey, I’m the one who did a great deal of work today. Saving Gabi and Emma and all other stuff. You’re the one who was home all the time. I feel it’s your time to move”

Amanda frowned at him and kicked his butt from under the bed. In pain and panic Mikhail rolled to his right and fell on the floor.

“You’ve got some talkative mouth. I thought warriors were meant to be people who speak with their actions. The only way to fix that is manual labor” said Amanda with contempt.

“Please stop. I got wounded terribly in the battle. And I suffer from…butt fatigue. My ass was beaten so hard, it needs a rest” said Mikhail with a baby voice.

Amanda pinched his ears and pulled him into the dining room.