Aaron got out from the wooden barrel and walked towards an empty room while saying : "Follow me." He didn't stop or even look at Lucas who remained in his kneeling position all this time.

"Yes young master." There wasn't a single sign of the arrogance and confidence that Lucas used to naturally have in his body language, when he followed Aaron he was hunching his back forwards submissively in a servile behavior.

Aaron twisted his lips from disgust when the stench coming from the bathroom area entered his nose, Lucas mistook it for a sign of annoyance towards himself and began to shiver once he remembered how it felt earlier when that pain struck him out of nowhere.

"Go clean it! How am I supposed to bathe in here?" Aaron rolled his eyes when he noticed how frightened Lucas became once he revealed a slightly displeased expression on his face and thought to himself : 'It's fun to spook this dude!'

Lucas felt like he was just given amnesty from hell fire and quickly snatched a nearby bucket and filled it with water and began to work, he even prepared a few pieces of wood for the boy to stand on them when he's taking a bath.

That way none of the dirt is going to get caught between his toes.

Aaron shook his head once he saw the result as if to say : "It's so so" Before takin off his underwear and gesturing for Lucas to pour the water for his young master.

Of course Aaron seemed careless about his vulnerability in this situation in the eyes of Lucas but the gang-leader was unaware that his young master Ron was extremely cautious during every single second of his short bath and his all of his defensive and offensive Skills were a split second away from activation!

"Hold these." Aaron said before tossing a change of clothes to Lucas then used the blanket Sera left him to dry his body from water which was both cold and not that clean to begin with.

While his new lackey Lucas stood nearby looking at his own toes politely while holding the clothes of his young master, Aaron took his time to wipe his skin dry before storing the blanket/towel in his Inventory Space then taking the underwear that his lackey offered with both hands.

"Remember to tell Pio that he's an idiot, he bought me clothes and forgot to buy me a proper shoes while not forgetting to buy his woman a gift! You also need to go gather the Gold Coins since your gang is no more, also visit that Mr Smith and ask him when is a good time for me to visit him to discuss the matter of some business." Aaron frowned when his toes entered the straw slippers but he quickly left the room after saying that.

'Gladly!' Lucas thought while following after his young master, just the opportunity to scold someone, anyone! And vent all these stifled emotions within his chest is an idea that's very much welcome for this former gang-leader.

"Grandpa Sid. Thank you very much for all the help, how much do I owe you for all the service you gave me and my servant?" Aaron didn't mince words at all.

Sid struggled inwardly for a few seconds before opening his mouth to say : "I'm ashamed to say it but the ingredients I used to heal Lucas and young master Ron were a bit-"

Aaron raised his hand to stop Sid from saying anymore, "Just name your price I'm not one to take advantage of others." He said.

"Since young master R-"

"Little Ron. Dispense with the honorifics, I owe you at least that much! Please continue." Once again Aaron stopped Sid from saying anymore.

"Uh. Little Ron, I don't know if you're aware how rare it's for hunters to actually gather the ingredients for my concoctions." Sid sighed before continuing to say : "Most of them ignore my requests because on their way to hunt they don't pick any of these ingredients because most of them would become useless after the hunters spend long journeys that extends for a month sometimes, on their way back these hunters would be in a hurry to return to the village with the spoils they got and more so exhausted after the long journey."

Aaron nodded before shrugging his shoulders and saying : "I get all that but, what has that got to do with my payment?" He was really confused because Sid was talking in a roundabout way.

*Cough!*

Sid was feeling ashamed after Aaron abruptly cut to the chase, "Let me explain myself here," He cleared his throat before continuing to say : "Actually Gold Coins would be of no use for me at all if my stock of medicinal-extracts ran out, I'd run out of business then starve to death once I spend my coins. Someone of my age with nobody to look after him wouldn't live long if that happened," Seeing Aaron and Lucas nodding after hearing what he said encouraged Sid, "What I'm trying to say her is, can you please help me gather some of these ingredients?"

Aaron fell silent for few seconds and thoroughly considered the pros and cons of this request.

Sid felt like he's standing on needles during that short interval.

Lucas was looking in silence from the side seemingly interested to know the answer his young master is going to give Sid.

"On a scale of one to ten, what's the danger?" Aaron asked.

"Uh! Taking into account Pio and Lucas's assistance?" Sid inquired.

"Uh-huh." Aaron answered.

"Hmmm... I'd say five if you're not targeting all the items on the list, considering that Pio isn't an expert and everything then I'd say eight or nine of you're targeting everything with the help of just two men. Of course your guards need to be properly armed first, you and Pio also need to prepare and spend some time training with me and getting to know ways of a hunter and the methods of gathering and identifying the characteristics of different herbs and ingredients." Sid had this fanatic glow shining within his eyes when he spoke.

Aaron just frowned because doing so would delay his plans to train everyday, his plans to build a treehouse as a base of operations when he's outside the village, his plans to reconstruct his house in the village, and his plans to create some armor with the help of Mr Smith! Not to mention going on a shopping spree because he's freaking rich and he can afford it.

"I understand that it's much of me to ask of you all of a sudden," Sid noticed the signs of struggle within Aaron's eyes, "How about helping me collect the ingredients that are easier to gather first? Maybe help me toss a few words about my situation in the ears of Chief Peter since his son Roger isn't one to listen!"

This time Aaron nodded to agree without hesitation, "Forgive me grandpa Sid. I really do have other things to do right now but I promise to help you once I'm done with these matters, of course I'm going to pay you for your service and gather these ingredients for you while also telling Chief Peter about the danger of leaving the village lacking the necessary supply of medicinal ingredients." Afterwards he looked towards Lucas and ordered : "Go get the Gold Coins and pay grandpa Sid when you return, then find Pio and follow me to Chief Peter's house. Also don't forget to get the details about the ingredients we should gather from grandpa Sid."

"Yes young master." Lucas immediately left Sid's shop and walked towards the lair of his old gang to get the treasure him and his gang-members had been accumulating for months.

Sid watched the boy leave his shop while thinking to himself : 'He really is an anomaly! Just a few words and he understood why it's dangerous for the whole village if my shop lacks medicinal ingredients, he's also firm in his opinions and wouldn't be swayed by others no matter what the reasons are he calmly remains steady because he's well aware of his own priorities.'

Aaron strolled the village streets until he reached a fenced house in the center, a team of six men were guarding the gate and their leader happened to be talking with Roger at that time.

Both Roger and the captain of the guards noticed the boy walking towards them and their conversation was put to a momentary halt.

"Well. If it isn't the most famous kid in the village! To what do we owe the pleasure of this unexpected visit?" Roger said.

'Looking at him from here, he really is a big fellow. This is one dangerous opponent for me if he does manage to get this close.' Aaron thought to himself while straining his neck to look up at Roger who towered over him and cast a long shadow behind, "That would be old Sid," He shrugged before continuing to say : "He asked me to gather some ingredients for his medicinal concoctions but I wouldn't be able to do much with the help of my two men, that's why I came here to discuss the issue with Chief Peter since the matter is sensitive."

'He really is one odd kid, those around his age would at least be shaking in their boots whenever they're affected by my aura!' Roger thought while carefully watching every expression on the boy's face and every subtle movement of his body, "Old man Sid isn't the only one worried about that matter, my old man and my little brother are also concerned but the men just can't do everything in just one journey. It's either hunt or gather! Whenever we focus on one job it's easier to minimize our casualties, getting distracted or separating the team-members in a dangerous place like the Dark-Forest is a stupid thing to do. Humph." Roger snorted before turning towards the captain of these guards and continued to say : "You take your time and think about what we talked earlier, joining my Elite-Force is much more fun compared to guarding the old man. Your potential is being wasted in this village, you've got to spread these wings sooner or later my friend." Afterwards he walked towards the house through the gate.

"In the mean time I'll be waiting for your answer before head back to hunt that bloody beast, damn him Lucas... if it weren't for that selfish coward then Bruce would've been here to help." Roger left those words behind.

"Hah! Now that you've finally exposed your true intentions, then let me say this first... you have to admit that I'm the only option you've got left." The captain of the guards seemed to enjoy the moment since she's practically an invaluable team-member in this situation.

"Manji. Y-you bastard! Don't you go too far... Bruce was ten times better than you in tracking and you know it." Roger turned and glared at that Manji.

Manji just snorted before opening her mouth to say : "Tsk. What kind of attitude is that? You come ask me for help when you're waist-deep in trouble yet you refuse to bow that knucklehead of yours and ask politely! Do you believe that you own everyone in this village or something? Did you forget who saved your ass back then when you snuck int-"

"Alright! Alright. I'm sorry, you win." Roger quickly interrupted the woman from saying anything that would embarrass him in front of his men while frowning deeply he thought to himself : 'Why does she keep bringing that shit up every single time?' Roger continued to say : "My lady Manji. I'm helpless and I really need your help. Satisfied?"

"Humph. You should've done so from the beginning you idiot, my word... is all you can do in life is either fight or being a pain in my ass when you act all stubborn like an old mule?" Manji crossed her arms and rolled her eyes at Roger while asking that question.

Roger opened his mouth to retort then quickly closed it shut when Manji glared at him as if to say : "Go ahead big fellow, say something clever and see how quickly I'm going to make you regret it all."

'Whoa! That chick really is something, she got that Roger guy on a tight leash.' Aaron thought to himself when he saw it happen.

Finally Roger opened his mouth to say : "Just think about for now and we'll talk later." Then he looked towards Aaron and said : "Come my young friend, father and Sen are in the study." Afterwards Roger entered the building without hesitation as if to run from Manji who smiled triumphantly when she saw it happen.

Aaron gave the woman one final glance to memorize her face before entering the three-story building which is twice as big as Todd's restaurant.

Manji wasn't expecting this clear sign of interest from Aaron and tilted her head to the side slightly before shaking all the thoughts away while thinking to herself : 'How silly of me to overthink things, he's a child and it's normal to be curious about everything around that age. But these eyes felt somehow dangerous! Is it because of what I heard... the things that happened in the forest yesterday really gives me the creeps.' She remembered what Betty told her earlier today, that information was fresh out from Pio's gasping mouth after his head hit the pillow once the excellent cook milked him dry after a long night of good old "Bed Tumbling" and if what her lustful best friend said is true... then this boy Ron is no less dangerous than Sera the Whispering Sister.