42 Entering Bryarmont Town(End)

On hearing this sentence from the old man, Anissa folded her hands and grimaced before beginning to do something that puzzled Aaron.

She looked to the side, and acted as if the old man wasn't standing right in front of her.

The old man, who had made such a domineering entrance, had no option but to smile sheepishly and scratch his head as he saw this.

After a moment, he spoke out.

"Are you still angry that I didn't let you directly go to challenge that City Lord? There is an order of things, Anissa! If I let you get overconfident, you're the one who'll be regretting it later!"

These words had no effect, though, and Anissa even began to hum a casual tune as if she was bored.

Although Aaron was intrigued by this dialogue, he still had part of his attention on that corner from where the old man had walked out of.

Woof was the same. Its fangs were bared, and it looked like it was ready to pounce forward at any moment.

A second later, the reason behind this became clear.

Materializing exactly like how the old man had just done, a Tera that as dark as the night languidly walked toward them while yawning.

It looked extremely lazy and laid back, but the danger felt by Aaron and Woof only increased.

Instantly, they began to inch back, as they could tell that this was probably a foe they couldn't beat.

However, it looked like this Town was destined to keep surprising him.

"Here, Cathy. You did a good job!"

Saying so, the old man took out a green ball the size of a fingernail from his pocket and threw it in the direction of the Tera, whose eyes lit up the moment that ball was exposed to the air.

It leaped up and caught the ball before swallowing it and then landing beside the man. Munching on it with a very happy expression on its face, it joyfully purred and then rubbed its head against the man's leg.

W-wasn't this supposed to be an advanced Tera with high intellect? Then why the hell was it acting like it was some kind of garden-variety beast that hadn't even evolved to become a Tera?

The old man spoke out, dispelling Aaron's doubts.

"Oh, don't be so surprised. This is a Shadow Leopard that was born with a brain defect. It has the simplest of intellect, and according to what I read in a City, its a lot like a cat from before the Apocalypse. What I fed it was also catnip, that was made by my secret recipe. I'm training it as a utility Tera, as even though it's simple-minded, it has a special knack for learning skills."

This was the first time that Aaron was seeing that something like this was even possible.

When he thought about it, though, he realized why that was the case.

If a Tera was born with some kind of defect like this in the forest…it would die long before reaching adulthood.

Smiling genially on seeing the man and the Tera relax a bit, the old man bent down and recalled the Tera into his Core, following which he turned to Anissa again and said, "Alright, fine, Anissa. I'll think about it. Now, introduce your friend to me."

This made a smile bloom on Anissa's face, as she ran forward and hugged the man for a second.

This made him burst out into laughter, as he said, "When will you stop throwing tantrums to get what you want?"

Stepping back and smiling cheekily, Anissa answered, "When it stops working."

This made the man laugh even more, but Anissa pointed at Aaron and said, "He isn't my friend. He's an acquaintance of the guy who was dumb enough to jump in and try to save his Tera. He almost died as a result. Did you receive my message regarding him?"

The laughter instantly cut off as the man heard this. Turning to Edmond, he said, "Yes. And don't call it dumb. You were taught better than that."

This made Anissa frown before saying, "You're referring to that legend where Monarch Ekalos was supposed to have risked his life to save the offspring of a King Tera? He lost an arm because of that!"

"But he gained more than he could ever have otherwise. History exists to teach us, Anissa, if one is willing to learn. Sadly, you aren't."

"Humph. My mentor said that many 'learn' from this legend to create fake situations where they can cheat Teras into following them. That disgusts me."

Hearing this, even Aaron got a repulsive expression on his face, as this was one of the things that he would never stand for.

He always liked direct, honest confrontations, and he had always hated those Teras which liked to lie in the shadows and target those who were already exhausted after a fight. In fact, at one point, Aaron had even liked to hunt such Teras.

The man looked like he was about to begin arguing, but he stopped when he saw Aaron with that expression.

"Enough. We can bicker later, when we don't have guests. Anyway, I have carried out investigations. It's true. That guy got bored again."

This made anger appear on Anissa's face.

"Can't we do anything?! It's so cruel!"

With a sigh, the man replied, "He's a City Lord, Anissa. Men like them typically don't answer to those like us. But…there is still hope. I had to use our name, but he agreed to an audience where he promised to hear him out and maybe reverse what he has done."

This was said while pointing at Edmond.

"What are you talking about?"

Aaron had had enough of listening to stuff he didn't understand, so he spoke out, which made the two people in the room look at him.

They shared a look, and Anissa stepped forward to explain.

"Your f-…I mean, acquaintance is a target of a City Lord who occasionally gets bored and starts to engage in his most favorite pastime. He is a big fan of stories from the time before the Apocalypse, so he loves to see them played out in reality. Using a Tera which can manipulate one's mind, he makes these situations where his 'actor', who is, in this case, Edmond, is thrown into a scenario where he should either get stronger instantly or watch his father tortured to death. After the scenario plays out…the whole family is killed to remove all traces of meddling. You're really lucky you ran into us. Come tomorrow, this guy and his whole family, including his mother, would have been buried in an unmarked grave in the middle of nowhere. And you would have met the same fate, too, as you were associated with him."