“Wait! Wouldn’t the demons and such attempt to steal the Legendary Sword of Justice with force?” Lakshman asked with a puzzled expression on his face.

“The Phoenix Clan may have some of their authority, but they still are needed. They will still be protecting the Legendary Sword of Justice. In fact, it’s currently placed inside many layered barriers for safe keeping,” Dalban informed Lakshman.

“Ah! That’s good to hear!” Lakshman said in relief.

After that, the adults talked about their thing which quickly bored Lakshman. He felt hot under the armour and wanted to take it off. So he went into his room and said “Armour Out” and he returned his thirteen year old self.

Later, Ondine came out of the kitchen with his dinner, but did not see him at the table. Then she checked if he was with the adults, but he was not there as well. Then she guessed that he was in their room. So she delivered the food to their room where he ate with great gusto.

When he choked once, she patted his back and said “Eat carefully, master.”

“Yeah, but I’m hungry!” Lakshman said as he eat quickly.

Tetra was asleep while lying on the bed. Lately, they have been going out so often that she was getting tired maintaining the armour and using her powers for him. Lakshman did begin controlling the armour’s power, but she continued to maintain it for greater part.

“I wonder if there’s some way I could improve on maintaining because Tetra is getting tired,” Lakshman said in a wondering voice.

“Maybe focus on supressing your power output? I know it has an effect on the release of energy. That’s possibly why Tetra is having to maintain such heavy load,” Ondine suggested to him.

“Mmm... I’ll work it out in my meditation session tomorrow. For now, I’ll eat and go to bed. We’ve been sleeping late almost every day now...”

At his words, Ondine laughed and said “It’s because you’re always out patrolling during the night, master. I think you should just do it once in a while.”

“Eh? Then how am I supposed to be help when there’s trouble?”

“If there is trouble, then you should be at full strength. Even heroes need to watch out for their health, master. You are not exception no matter how crazily different you are from the rest of us!”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“Mmm... I think it means exactly what it means,” Ondine with a cheeky grin.

“Ah... Fine,” Lakshman said as he relented in realising he will not win his point.

After finishing eating the food, Ondine took the plate and left. He climbed into bed and Tetra immediately hugged his right arm while muttering his name. Smiling, he caressed her hair gently.

“You’ve done a good job, Tetra,” he whispered and was pleased to see her smile in her sleep.

Hr laid down just as Ondine returned. She closed the door and said “Lights Out” and it caused all the lights in the room to be extinguished.

Once she climbed into bed, she whispered “Good night, master.”

“Yeah. Good night, Ondine,” Lakshman whispered back.

Ondine quickly fell asleep. Women are a wonder in his opinion. Then he suddenly realised he had two girls sleeping beside him on the same bed.

“Two flowers on either side... Maybe this is what it means to be loved...” Lakshman muttered sleepily.

Then he yawned and closed his eyes. Due to how tired he was, he quickly fell asleep. The next morning, Lakshman woke up and felt refreshed. He had not been feeling so refreshed in a while.

“We’re out of food supplies,” Marilia announced during breakfast.

“We are?” Darian asked while looking surprised.

She nodded and said “Yes. So we need to go shopping today to get all of them!”

Hearing those words, Rumble groaned and she swirled in his direction.

“You can train all day, but you can’t help a lady do the shopping?!” She asked incredulously.

Darian laughed before saying “Why don’t we just eat at the hotel? They provide tasty meals and other snacks as well!”

“Oh...?! You prefer the hotel food to mine? Is it because I cook that badly?!” Marilia asked and her hair began to rise because of her anger.

“N-No! I didn’t mean it that way at all! I just want to save you the trouble of having to cook all the time!” Darian said quickly.

“Hmph! It’s no trouble at all! Besides, I don’t like to eat outside. For one thing, I don’t know the kind of stuff they put in the food. If I make it, you know it’ll be tasty and healthy!”

“Yes... It is tasty and healthy to eat rabbit food...” Rumble muttered under his breath.

The next instant, a tomato was splattered on Rumble’s face. Marilia had got very annoyed and threw a spare tomato at him.

Rumble groaned as he struggled to get the splattered tomato off his face.

“Be lucky we don’t have any eggs around to use you for target practice!” Marilia said in an annoyed voice.

Lakshman was the first to laugh and then everyone else joined in. Rumble also joined in the laughter once he cleaned his face with a cloth.

Once they finished eating, everyone got a things to buy list from Marilia. Then Darian pulled out an Item Box which he opened by saying the command. He put his hand into it for a moment and pulled out piles of gold that stunned Lakshman.

“You’re keeping your gold inside that thing?” Lakshman asked in amazement.

“Yes. It’s easier and safer to use the Item Boxes for this sort of things,” Darian said. Then he looked shrewd and said “Let me guess... You’ve only been storing items and such in it while keeping your money in that sack. Not a good idea. You might lose the money one day.”

“Okay,” Lakshman said and made a metal note to start using the Item Box as his primary storage holder.

Darian handed each of them a pile of gold which they pocketed. This was to be used for buying the supplies, but Marilia warned them they will be severely punished if they misuse it. Once all preparations and instructions were given, the group dispersed.

It took a while for Lakshman, Ondine and Tetra to find all the supplies written on their list. It took them to several parts of the capital. They took breaks sitting down or resting by simply standing. Meanwhile, everyone minded their own business as they walked along the path.

“There sure are a lot of people here today,” Lakshman said when they came to another shop to buy from.

“What do you mean, master? There’s always been this many around,” Ondine told him as if it was obvious.

“Always? I never noticed until now...” Lakshman said in amazement while he looked around.

“Really, master. You need to pay attention to your surroundings. Otherwise, something important to you will get stolen!” Ondine said and she looked at him sternly.

“Yes, yes,” Lakshman said weakly.

Once they purchased the goods, Lakshman opened the Item Box and threw them into it. Then he restored it and tucked it into his pocket. He marvelled at how light it felt even though it carried weight that he certainly would have had trouble carrying even with all his strength.

After that, they went around the shops looking for the rest. He left Ondine and Tetra do the shopping while he acted as the escort. The girls found shopping to be highly fascinating, going through each of them and deciding whether it should be bought or not, none of which made any sense to him.

Meanwhile, he kept guard with a casual hand near his sword which he borrowed from Darian. Everywhere he looked, there were people minding their own business and going about their usual way. However, he felt an air of uncertainty which he understood because of the random monster summoned attacks.

Since he was there, if anything went he and anyone strong enough could handle it. However, it is a completely different story when there lots of people and no warriors around to help. It was a scary thought to Lakshman as he imagined the destruction that could happen.

At that moment, there was the sudden loud scream. It alerted everyone and they began to panic thinking it was another monster attack. Then they released where it came from and headed in that direction.

Curious, but cautious, Lakshman followed them. When he got to where people were, he saw that they were grouped around what looked like a shoe shop. He pushed his way to the front and was shocked to find what it was about.

A man was standing there while holding a girl tightly. There was a long dagger dangerously placed near the girl’s throat.

Lakshman recognised the girl as Emilia and she was panicking as the dagger pressed against her throat. He gritted his teeth and looked at who her assailant was. It was a man he did not recognise, but it was a man he knew had to take down immediately.

“Go away, I tell you! Go away! Let me be!” The man shouted at the mass of crowd.

There were boxes of shoes around the man which indicated that this was a robbery. In his haste to escape, he bumped into Emilia and caught everyone’s attention. Realising he will get arrested, he pulled out his butcher knife and planned to use her as a hostage to get away.

“Get away!” The man shouted.

Some strong looking people tried to get close, but the man did not want them to. He desperately waved the butcher knife at them. They backed away feeling it will cause the madman to hurt the girl.

Emilia was panicking slightly as the man moved around restlessly. She felt cold at the fear of death whenever he brought the knife close to her throat. That was the first time, she felt extremely helpless about her situation.

Looking around, she suddenly spotted Lakshman among the people. Her blinked in surprise to make sure it was really him. Being spotted by her, Lakshman wondered what he should do. Then, like a hero, smiled at her reassuringly.

Then everyone gasped as blood began trickling down her neck. The crazed man had pressed the knife a little too hard against her and caused a cut to appear. As the blood tricked down her neck, Emilia suddenly realised her life was about to be extinguished.

“Get away or the girl dies! Let me be or I’ll cut the neck! Move! Get away!” The man bellowed at them with mad eyes.

Lakshman saw the blood dripping down her neck as a cut appeared. The cut created by the butcher knife the man held in his hands. In that instance, as Lakshman’s eyes widened in shock, something inside him snapped.

“That... bastard...!” Lakshman said in a low voice.

“I will seriously kill her! So get back! Let me go! She’ll die if you don’t get away from me!” The man shouted at them continuously.

“Ah for crying out loud! Just do it!” A loud voice was heard.

Everyone looked towards the source of the shout and saw Lakshman. He was glaring at the man fiercely with his hands bunched into fists.

Lakshman raised his voice again and shouted “Come on! Do it so I can kill you!”

“W-W-What the hell are you saying, kid?!” One of the people in the crowd shouted at them.

Lakshman suddenly turned to them and shouted “Shut up! I don’t see you doing any better!”

Turning back to face the crazed man, he shouted “Come on already! Just get it done and be over with!”

As he began to walk forward, the crazed man’s eyes widened and he screamed “Stay away! I’ll kill her! I’ll seriously kill her if you come any closer!”

“Then do it already!” Lakshman shouted as he came to a stop and waved a finger at him. Then he shouted “I dare you to do it! I doubt dare you to do it! No! I triple dare you to do it! Do it already so I can kill you!”

At that moment, Ondine and Tetra pushed their way to see what all the shouting was about. Just as they reached the front, Lakshman made his move.

“Fine! I’ll do it for you!”

Lakshman quickly withdrew his sword from his sheathe and raised his above his head. Then, as he swung it down, he released a cutting wind towards the Emilia and her assailant. It quickly reached went forward and hit both of them.

Emilia screamed as several cuts appeared on her body and blood escaped. She felt herself flying through the air. The next moment, strong hands gripped her tightly as they landed. Emilia turned and saw Lakshman looking at her with a panicked expression on his face.

“I’m sorry Emilia, but I had no choice! If I didn’t do something, he would’ve hurt you!” Lakshman told her desperately.

Then, as the blood from her body seethed, Emilia cried out in pain.

“Emilia! Hold on! I’m going to heal you!” Lakshman said quickly and he let go of his sword.

“Healing Force!” Lakshman shouted and a green light emanated around Emilia’s body.

Emilia could feel the energy surging through her body, restoring her vitality and healing her wounded body. Then she suddenly looked frightened when she saw a shadow tower over them. Seeing the shadow, Lakshman looked over his shoulders while continuing to heal Emilia.

The crazed man was also hit by the attack which hurt his right hand badly. Numerous cuts on it caused the blood to seep out in a bunch. Yet, even with all this pain, he held the butcher knife in his left hand as he looked at them with mad eyes.

“Die!”  The man screamed and he lunged towards them.

The man lunged at him, but was suddenly punched by someone that got in his way.

“What do you think you’re doing to my master?!” Ondine shouted angrily as her bunched up fist shook.

Standing to Ondine was Tetra and she also looked very angry.

The man recovered and got back to his feet and brandished the butcher knife. Then he lunged at them with mad expression on his face.

Ondine quickly reacted and went at him.  She jumped up and firmly implanted her knee into the man’s face. Blood spurted from the man’s nose as he fell backwards. Then swords mysteriously rained down and pinned his down by his clothes.

“Be glad master doesn’t like murderous actions even if he does commit desperate actions!” Tetra said coldly.

With that, they brought down a crazed man who had attempted to rob shoes from a shoe shop.