"Y-young master Ron. M-maybe we should join merchant Arturo in his journey to Meteor City." Pio urged while formulating plans to drag Betty with them even if he has to tie her up!

Sen frowned because without Sera's protection this village doesn't stand a chance against a Beast-Wave of a Minor-Scale, but he kept his mouth shut and waited for Aaron's response to his request.

"Of course we're going to Meteor City with Arturo," When Aaron gave that answer Pio released a stifled breath while Sen felt like this is the end of the road for those living within Pine-Breeze Village, "But we're not running with our tails between our legs, these Beasts have another thing coming their way if they think that they can chase me away from my birthplace."

"Huh!" Sen squinted his eyes.

Pio raised an eyebrow before saying : "But young master Ron."

Aaron twisted his body to look behind him, "Are you going to disobey my orders?" He asked.

"No!" Pio waved his hands in the air, "It's just that you were born elsewhere." Afterwards he added in a pleading tone of voice : "Can we get the hell of this place? Please!"

"You shut your trap! Damn coward, trembling like a leaf at the mention of mindless Beasts. Humph, have you no shame? have you no functionable brain in that skull of yours? Don't we still have Sera to take care of our safety? Keep being a chicken and I'll roast you myself." Aaron was really annoyed by Pio's cowardly behavior and felt like he lost face in front of their guest.

This time Pio was reminded of the few times Aaron used his flames and the painful experiences that followed, he lowered his head and nodded in silence while thinking : 'Forgive me Betty, I really tried and failed. Now it seems like you and me are not destined to have a future together!'

"What do you have to bring to the table?" Aaron turned towards Sen and asked directly without beating around the bush.

"Besides the eternal gratitude from everyone in our village, the only thing we have to offer is some Gold Coins and a share of whatever we get our hands on from the Beasts we manage to kill or capture during the Beast-Wave." Sen seemed to be in great spirit when he mentioned the prize they could offer.

Aaron rolled his eyes at the intelligent-looking man before saying : "Not enough."

Pio gawked because the precious materials and resources extracted from the Beasts killed during a Beast-Wave amounts to great quantities and the total price is usually sky-high, even a fragment of the final number is going to be more than a few times more than what Lucas had in his wooden box!

Sen seemed to have expected this result from the kid and opened his mouth to say : "I believe we can reach an agreement as long as you promise that lady Sera is going to act as the last line of defense to Pine-Breeze Village."

"You let me worry about that and try to come with better terms to our agreement." Aaron said while continuing his meal.

He was certain that Sen is aware of how valuable Sera's assistance is going to become crucial when the time comes, that's why Aaron had no worries in getting his hands on more advantages from this situation.

"Let me be completely honest with you," Sen leaned forward in his seat and lowered his voice before continuing to say : "Our financial situation is really bad after having to buy all the medicine we could get our hands on from Arturo, what remained of our budget was used to buy Mr smith's stock of Arrows and Spears in preparation of our incoming fight to defend the village."

Aaron shrugged, "I get it that you're in a difficult situation and all that, but you must be dreaming if you think that I'm going to trouble myself and work for you for free."

Sen felt himself losing patience quickly while watching the kid's attitude, "We're willing to give you first pick on five items after we successfully defend the village against the Beast-Wave." He said that while thinking to himself : 'It's not like you're going to do anything when the Beasts siege the village, and Honorable Sister Sera is the one who's going to do all the work.'

"Still not enough." Aaron refused the offer almost immediately.

"What can we do to please you?" This time Sen was really about to lose his cool.

Aaron smiled before saying : "I need three experts to help me build my house, one Carpenter and two Builders. I also need the best Staff-user within the village to teach me for free, finally I need a team of ten men to help us until my house is completed."

Pio gawked because his young master Ron already has another team under his care which Arturo left him to manage!

'It seems like my young master Ron is going to command more men than Manji, I bet that would leave a bad taste in her mouth.' Pio thought while imagining her expression when she receives the news.

Sen frowned because the situation of their village is already bad as it is and they are lacking severely in workforce, be that guards to defend the village or workers of any other profession.

Builders and Carpenters are going to be extremely important, especially in the days to come.

"We can lend you the men to help build your house for ten days, there's going to be no problem in finding a person with deep mastery in using the Staff because most of those who use the Spear actually begin training with the Staff." Sen finally said.

"Fifteen!" Aaron countered the offer with one of his own.

"Twelve. That's really the most I can do considering our current situation." Sen presented the kid with his final offer while hoping to strike the deal even if it means that his house is going to make a loss.

'At least the village isn't going to be removed from the map and the people would get to live another day, some of them would.' Sen thought while waiting for Aaron to give him an answer.

"Alright. Stop making that face, I'm not that heartless." Aaron said.

*Snort*

Sen just made a nasal sound before saying : "Since we've reached an agreement, I'll be taking my leave. Goodbye." Afterwards he got up and left the way he came.

"Heh." Pio smirked once teacher Sen who's famous for his great mind was unable to take advantage of his young master Ron.

"Humph. Don't make appearances fool you, that dude already got more than enough from this deal and he's just acting the part of receiving the short-end of the stick." Aaron shook his head once he saw his bodyguard being all smug.

"Really?" Pio didn't believe it at all.

Aaron just rolled his eyes before saying : "Think about it. Doesn't it mean a win for them if the village isn't destroyed by that Beast-Wave? They can always run but they can't always defend the village, if they run then they're going to have to rebuild the village afterwards but if they choose to stand and fight then they might lose their lives."

Pio tilted his head to the side, "Indeed they do, but what makes Chief Peter and his two sons gain from having to defend the village while paying us most of the reward?" He asked while feeling really confused by this weird situation.

"That's what makes that Sen guy scary. He didn't mind letting me have the priority of first pick on five items and a share of the spoils despite having to do nothing other than convince Sera to take action at the moment before the village is overrun by Beasts, wanna know why?" Aaron asked while continuing his meal.

Pio nodded while feeling curious.

Aaron added : "Because he's already thinking about the gains he could get after the Beast-Wave is over, not from the materials and resources gathered from the bodies of fallen Beasts but from something that's much more important for those who know how to manipulate and use the effects of true power."

"Young master Ron. What do you mean by true power?" Pio asked.

"I mean reputation," Aaron looked towards the man who's about to leave the street, "He's already planning to spread the reputation of Pine-Breeze Village after rebelling the Beast-Wave to recruit the survivors from the surrounding villages, those who fall while defending against the Beast-Wave would have their spot filled by fresh recruits. Maybe he's planning to increase the limit of the maximum number of guards and use the rest of recruits to bolster the economical power of the village, I wouldn't be surprised if that man is already planning to use Mr Smith's smithy to speed up his plans."

Pio's lower-jaw was hanging freely in the air once he heard what Aaron said and felt frightened by Sen once he imagined what would happen if that man decided to target him in one of his schemes!

'But young master Ron is the most amazing one of these two, he could immediately see through everything and take advantage of the situation.' Pio thought while feeling less afraid of Sen and more proud of his young master Ron.

"But wouldn't that affect your partnership with Mr Smith and Arturo?" Pio suddenly asked while feeling like they need to do something to prevent Sen from affecting the business opportunity.

Aaron shook his head, "Actually we don't. Since someone is willing to do the work for me, then it'd be stupid of me to stop them from making the effort while I reap the results of their effort."

Pio frowned deeply before saying : "I really don't understand."

"Having more hands in the village means more materials and resources fresh out from the Dark-Forest at low prices, which means the smithy wouldn't be at risk of running out of stock." Aaron explained.

"I get it now!" Pio smiled widely before fisting his palm.

"The smithy also stand to gain even more publicity in the surrounding region thanks to his effort, that's why I'm willing to tolerate a few short-term gains in exchange for much more long-term gains." Aaron added.

"Young master Ron really is the best." Pio praised while removing the empty plates from the table.

"Heh. You bet your ass I am, all of that is just for a promise." Aaron smiled before falling into deep silence while thinking : 'Actually the one thing that's worrying me the most is Sera herself, I just hope she wouldn't make it difficult for me but I hope she's going to be convinced after tossing a few consumables in her lap.'

He worried that his prank with the Lemon juice from earlier wouldn't be taken seriously by the beauty.

By noon Lucas returned with a team of a dozen men from Arturo's guards and reported that Mt Smith's smithy is being built while the man himself is completing the job of putting the last touches on the Sword and the Shield, Sen dismissed them once their help was no longer needed there and sent a message to the kid to inform him that the two Builders, the Carpenter, the ten men, and the Staff-user are soon to follow their group.

Afterwards a lanky sharp-eyed man who appears to be in his forties arrived in the street leading thirteen other people, none of them seemed to have any sort of combat experience but that is yet to be confirmed.

"Why is it Scadur?" Lucas muttered while watching the Spearman move closer towards them until he stopped right in front of Aaron's table and stared him down from above.

"Are you the brat?" Scadur asked.

"Are you the one I'm supposed to drive a stick all the way up his ass?" Aaron smirked like a little devil before crossing his hands putting a leg on top of the other.

Scadur put his Spear on his shoulder and smiled while tapping it against his neck for a while before using its butt to attack the kid in an aim to sweep him off his feet.

"Bastard!" Lucas immediately drew his Sword while cursing.

Pio reacted a bit slower but he didn't hesitate to do the same and unsheathe his Sword which caused the dozen men from Arturo's guard to yank at the handle of their weapons!

Aaron reacted as fast as he could to dodge the surprise attack once he noticed the signs of it happening, but the lanky man must've done something mid-way through his sweeping attack because the wooden shaft of the Spear brushed against his butt.

It almost made Aaron lose his balance but he barely managed to avoid getting hit, the same couldn't be said about his chair though because it went flying and crashed against the wall of his house and instantly broke into pieces.

Which clearly signified how serious that previous attack from Scadur was.

'I might've been able to avoid it completely if my ribs weren't fractured, but just that brush shaved away almost ten of my HP! What kind of trick did this guy do to damage me to this extent?' Aaron frowned once he noticed his HP bar before looking at Scadur who didn't seem to be bothered by the amount of weapons pointed towards him at all.

The civilians behind Scadur panicked and began to retreat in fear once they saw sharp weapons being drawn and the glint of death flashing on these edges.

"All of you stand down," Aaron said before retrieving the remaining piece of meat from his Inventory Space and chewing on it to heal himself completely from the wounds he received from Mr Smith, "Which one of you is the Carpenter and which ones are the Builders? Step forward for me." He looked towards the people that arrived with Scadur and asked while ignoring the Spearman who smirked after succeeding in teaching the kid a lesson.

Two men and a woman separated themselves from the group before waiting anxiously in this heavy and stuffy atmosphere of tangible hostility!

Aaron pointed towards the home Snow left him, "That's my house and I don't like it at all, not a single bit." Afterwards he pointed towards Lucas and Pio then continued to say : "You can ask Pio and Lucas for anything you need if I'm not available, these guards and the people in your group are yours to command and they're here to help make things easier for you to do your job."

The two men and the woman seemed to sigh in relief when they were told that they're here to complete a task for this young master Ron, the most famous kid in the village is hiring their service which is something that's going to become the source of their bragging when they meet their friends and family.

News travel fast in the village and everyone practically enjoys a good session of exchanging gossip.

Seeing them nod and begin looking at the house Aaron added : "Now your first task is to demolish this house and clear the area as quickly as possible, I'd welcome the idea of making it as big as possible but I don't know if my neighbors are willing to vacate their residences for me to expand mine."

Afterwards Aaron looked towards Scadur and said : "Now I believe it's time for me to drive that stick of yours all the way up your ass." Without giving the man a chance to do anything he activated Lucid Nightmare to stun him before jumping towards him and snatching the Spear from his hand.

Right under the watch of everyone gathered at his house, this "brutal" kid used Scadur's own Spear to give him a merciless beating for Eight long seconds before the lanky sharp-eyed man could move again!

When he regained his freedom and could move again, Scadur only had one thought in his mind : 'What was that?' But he was too busy trying to avoid the wild, chaotic, and uncoordinated swings from this boy who didn't seem satisfied with the result of leaving Scadur both bruised and bloodied.