Gustump city

"You are one resilient insect haha.." Ryu had not even reached the camping ground when he heard the familiar voice taunting his arrival. "It will take a lot more than that to get rid of me, old geezer." He countered, to which the voice only laughed harder.

Ryu managed to somehow make his way towards their camp and not long after that, he saw two people rush in his direction. They were none other than Jenny and Courtney, both of whom had aggravated faces, probably because of his tragic state.

Both girls put their arms around him and held him up. Jenny looked like she was already on the verge of tears as she helped the boy walk back to their camp. Ryu was not in a state to stand on ceremony either, letting the girls carry him.

Itzel was ready with her medical tonics, pouncing on the kid as soon as he appeared. Although Courtney would have loved to play chair once again, Ryu was not even in a condition where he can actually sit on her.

The ladies made him lie down on his back, which was the only part of his body that was in a relatively better condition. "Master Lyod, he.. he needs a doctor.. these injuries.. it's way out of my expertise." Itzel pleaded.

Lyod had stopped his laughter and approached the wounded boy. Inspecting the bloody body he shook his head. "It only looks grievous. He can handle it. Just do whatever you can."

Itzel had a face that reeked of betrayal. Has the old man gone senile? There were more than a dozen deep cuts all over the boy. Not to mention the innumerable much smaller wounds.

The village priestess was not alone. Jenny looked like she was going to bite this old bastard to death. How can someone so dammed exist in this world? Why did her benevolent brother Ryu have to go through such a rough encounter? What rotten luck he had to call such a careless man his master?

So many things were going through the little girl's head that it was going to explode if she didn't calm down. "Let's listen to master Lyod for now, big sis. In any case, he needs urgent attention. We can decide on outstanding matters later." Courtney brought a sense of to the conversation.

No one can disagree with her. They must at least do whatever they can and then choose to haggle with the old guy. Itzel nodded hard and got to work, directing the other two girls as well.

"You are ruthless enough, old guy. Do you want to kill your daughter's only lover? Don't tell me this is a secret plot for you to get rid of me. Are you sure you are not a daughter-con?" Ryu taunted the old man in his monologue.

Lyod massaged his head. "Just the fact that you can talk so much gibberish is evidence that you are not in too much trouble."

"Hmph.." Ryu just huffed his chest. Even such a small action felt like someone was pushing a dagger into his guts.

Even though Lyod already announced his judgment, he still sat down and examined the boy much more closely this time around. Now a lot closer to the kid, he can tell that Ryu had truly lost a lot of his blood.

The only saving grace was that there were no broken bones, only damaged muscles. In a day or two, he should be recovered more or less. "This was another reason why I told you to kill that Kilur yesterday."

"I was not confident in you. Thinking you might mess up, I commanded you to fight with the intention to kill from the start. You always need a great deal of superiority over your opponent to spare his life."

Ryu rolled his eyes at the man as his chest was buried under a strong-smelling herbal paste. "Even so, you have constantly exceeded my expectations."

"Muhaha.. that's a given, old geezer. You think I am an ordinary guy?" Lyod smiled bitterly. "Did you hit your head somewhere? What's with the trash-talking?"

Ryu didn't say anything. Or it can be said he was not really in a position to say anything because of the shrill pain in his chest that restricted any further speech.

Lyod chuckled, amazingly finding the scene of Ryu struggling to speak up funny. "haha.. I truly didn't expect you to defeat a Dodoma. To tell you the truth, I had anticipated it will take you two or three tries to pull that off."

"As such, you can say I only planned until here. And it's not even been two complete days. Heck.. it's going to be tough to search for a new beast for you to fight against."

Lyod took some time organizing his thoughts, turning to find Ryu looking at him with interest probably waiting for an answer. "As I told, you already proved yourself plenty capable with this fight. I don't have any further expectations from you."

Ryu narrowed his eyes, obviously not pleased. "So we can wrap things up here and go back if you want." The old man's voice suddenly attracted Itzel and the company's attention.

Next, their gazes turned to Ryu at once. Alas.. the boy was too stubborn for his own good. "No way.." His response was short but filled with conviction.

Lyod didn't look astounded. "I thought so. Looks like even a Dodoma could not push you to your limits. Hm.. guess I need to be more prudent."

There were a ton of beasts deadlier than the rock-spitting beast. But Lyod must choose them carefully. If the beast is too strong, Ryu might lose his life even before he could intervene to save him.

He rubbed his chin for a while, thinking ever so deeply. "So be it. Take two days off and recover as much as you can. After that, we will go further deep. We might as well take a Brakeon head-on. It will be fun."

Ryu was shivering. Just thinking about another fight was making his heart pound. For someone so cautious about not losing his life in this new world, his sudden fascination with these savage fights was strange, to say the least.

**One day back**

Felicia's mount safely landed outside of Gustump city. "Oi.. if you brought me all the way over, why not drop me inside the city?" Shalam protested when the Cia made him drop off from her wyvern's back.

"Be grateful that I took pity on you, lowly peasant. Now if you can excuse me.. I can't be seen in public with people of such tiny stature." Shalam was left speechless, lacking any response.

Somehow he can tell even Cia's mount was giving him a smug look as if it could perfectly understand his master. Even with the thick skin of Shalam, it's not every day he will have to face this level of humiliation.

"Goodbye peasant.. will see you again in the city, if fate permits." Cia commanded her wyvern, who turned around its massive body deliberately swinging its whip-like tail in Shalam's direction, shooing him away.

"This bastard.." This was the first time the man witnessed even an animal kicking someone when they were already down. "Sha.. next time, I must get my revenge in bed."

With that being the only way for him to get back on the haughty woman, Shalam chose to walk over to his city. For a strong cultivator like him, it was not a big deal to travel such a distance.

It didn't take him long to step through the massive entrance gates of the Gustump city. There were a lot of people who immediately recognized him.

Then again, Shalam didn't have the best reputation around here so there were not many to greet him. Fastening his steps, the man quickly cascaded down the road to make it to the center of the city.

Situated here was the most expansive estate, belonging to Governor Pediot. Shalam didn't take the front entrance. He strolled over to a conspicuous corner, then sneaked through a rough patch of land.

With no guard in sight around this place, Shalam easily scaled the boundary wall. Swaggering over the massive lawn area in the front, the first thing the man noticed was the huge black wyvern that was being fed out in the distance.

Without any exception, that was the same wyvern he had ridden to this city from the capital. "As expected, she must be a dignity directly under the governor's invitation."

Ignoring the beast munching on a dead carcass, Shalam took the opposite route. Traveling through the town one can definitely sense the somber atmosphere around. All this only substantiated Cia's claim in his heart.

With heavy footsteps, he sneaked into a mansion. Scaling its walls, he intruded through one of the windows. Shalam's actions were practiced as if he had done the same drill almost a hundred times before.

Once inside, Shalam's demeanor changed. He crossed paths with the serving maids confidently. A few of them did recognize him, but no one stopped him from navigating through the corridors.

Shalam had been a regular visitor to this place, sometimes invited and at other times uninvited. And since the owner of this mansion didn't mind his presence, the maids too felt no rush to target him.

Walking past the doors, Shalam located the most familiar out of all. He raised his hands to knock, then changed his mind. With a single push, the doors split in between and gave way.

Entering the large accommodation, Shalam shut the door behind him, finding himself immersed in a desolate silence. There were several rooms inside, but he knew just where to look.

The next moment, he stood on another doorstep, finding a woman seated her legs stretched out. Sadness emanating from her face, Shalam observed two streaks of tears dripping down her face.

"I.. I just found out.. Mae.." Shalam sighed, then licked his dry lips. "I am sorry.. for the loss.." His words garnered little to no response from the woman. She had her head in her palm. Seated next to the wide window, she only glanced at the man before returning to stare at no one.

Shalam was not built for such situations. He was grossly unprepared to deal with the loss of a close one. Being alone in this world, he had seen deaths but never felt a sense of loss from it.

But this time it was different... No, it was way different. This was probably the only time when he felt like crying in this long life of his. The loss was surreal.

"Why did you come here?" After a very long time, the woman in the chair spoke. But even now, she refused to look at him. Shalam stood in shame, unable to utter a single word of response.

"Mae.. I.." He fumbled, clenching his fists hard. "Go away.. governor might not appreciate your presence here." Shalam's lips quivered but his throat seems to be splitting down.. he can't speak.

Taking two more steps of convention, the man dropped to his knees next to the lady. "I.. don't know what to do.. Mae..." Tears emerged from his eyes, rolling down his cheeks presenting a painfully despondent look. "I really don't.. know.."

The man finally broke down. A man was not supposed to cry like this, but Shalam can't help it. The loss.. the loss was too big for his shoulders to support.

Opposite to him, Mae can not remain unfazed by the scene. Her face spasmed uncontrollably. "Shalam.. my boy.. he.. was so young.. so young.." She took broke down completely in front of the man she once used to love.

Shalam gathered the courage to hold the woman in his arms as the couple cried their hearts out. "I know.. Mae.. This.. I never knew such a disaster will strike.. I.." They wanted to say so many things to each other, but it was extremely hard to produce any coherent words at this point.