Familar Face (1)

Luke collapsed after dealing with the four wolves on his own. It drained him of all his mana, and somewhat battered, considering he was barely resting more than four hours these days.

Rin was about to inquire about Luke about his state when his smile turned rigid. He sniffed the air as a familiar, terrible reek assaulted his nose.

Weirdly, he could sense that something was amiss from a distance. His superhuman intuition was growing pretty stupendously, not that he would like to sniff the disgusting reek all the time.

"What's wrong?" Luke asked, finding his expression changing.

"Let's go and find out," Rin suggested, and the duo hastened towards the source.

Luke struggled to match his pace. Thankfully, it was merely two minutes on the path, they stumbled upon a dozen wolf carcasses haphazardly arranged on the wet ground, drenched in blood and pierced by swords, spears, and axes, with a few arrows still lodged in their lifeless bodies.

The sheer number and brutality of the wounds indicated that the assailants were a well-trained group.

Further ahead, Luke's expression soured, followed by Rin's as they realised what trouble was about to brew.

A dozen individuals had cornered Elise, though they left her space to escape, they could easily capture her if they tried. Elise had a fearful and tense expression, still sickly with blood soaked tattered clothing. She was fuming with anger, brandishing his machete.

Rin pondered how she had got herself in the middle of this precarious situation when Luke's voice broke through the commotion.

"What's the matter here?" Luke inquired as they approached to help Elise.

Elise's features softened with relief at the sight of her rescuers, though it was too hard to notice with her pupils glowing in red intensely.

The leading man of the group—dark-haired with handsome features—turned to observe the approaching duo. His eyes glinted, finding Luke.

"Ah, Kingmaker! What a pleasant surprise."

"Jason Mao?" Luke raised an eyebrow. "No surprise there, who else other than you would bring a dozen people to pressure a lone girl. Elise, are you alright?"

The petite girl certainly didn't look alright, but she nodded her head. Elise huddled behind Luke and joined Rin, as the gang barked at them, but none pursued them as the leader, Jason Mao, remained silent.

"What is the meaning of this?" Luke asked, his mind calculating over the chances of survival if the other party charred at them with their higher number. Unconsciously, he glanced at Ulysses from the corner of his eyes.

Ulysses simply shrugged. The little exchange didn't go unnoticed from the leader's eyes.

"I guess it does look back even when we were taking nicely to that little lady over there," Jason Mao said with a grin. "Now with you, I found why she rejected my offer so easily. Good finding, Kingmaker. Although, she's nothing but a noob, she's feisty and has a fighting spirit."

Luke narrowed his eyes and scanned Elise, who seemed to be too tired and out of her mind to converse properly.

"Anyway missy," Jason Mao said, addressing Elise. "My offer still stands, in case you get bored with the big boys over there, feel free to contact me."

"I'm not interested," Elise replied, her eyes glowing inhumanely.

After done with Elise, Jason looked over to Rin, as a frown appeared on his brows.

"Is that a new recruit as well," Jason asked, "you really are building your team from scratch, but aren't you worried about taking too many skinny fellows?"

Luke wasn't sure how to reply to that. Rin did it in his place.

"Well, well, Lil Jace," Ulysses said with a laugh, "you don't recognise your daddy?"

Jason narrowed his eyes, scrutinising Rin's face for an extended movement as realisation dawned upon him.

"Welp, I'll be damned," Jason said, his voice hard. "If it isn't the famed Ulysses. What happened to you, you looked no better than a crackhead with your original figure. Is that why you retired?"

Rin shrugged. "I still can show you a thing or two if you like, remember old times?"

Jason scoffed, clearly uncomfortable. "You're still unrestrained, as always. What if I take your words seriously and come after you?"

"Only you?" Rin smiled impudently.

A calculative look appeared on Jason's face as he considered the challenge. There was some beef between them a few years ago. He was reminded of that just by looking at the smug face of Rins.

"Well, you certainly have formed a colourful group," Ulysses said, narrowing his eyes at the lots.

There were precisely 13 youths—5 girls, and the rest were young men or boys, from their teenage years, in their early thirties. The girls easily drew his attention, as a few of them had fuller voluptuous figures, draped in white robes with black stripes.

Luke decided to take control of the situation, considering it could go either way if he left it to Rin.

"Anyway, we have other business to conduct," Luke said, drawing a conclusion to the meeting. "Elise, how many wolves did you kill?"

"I don't know," Elise answered. "Ten, maybe."

"Ten," Luke said, a little started. Four was still his limit, and he hadn't remembered the thin girl having that capability. "Loot ten corpses first, we'll depart after that."

Elise narrowed her eyes at Luke and then at the dozen people who were giving her unfriendly gazes. But since the leader of their group didn't voice out his disapproval, she quickly gathered her wits and looted ten corpses.

White mist oozed out of vanishing corpses, leaving only colourful gems, as Luke sighed in relief inwardly.

"Now, gentlemen and ladies," Luke said courtly, after Elise was done getting her rewards. "If you excuse us."

A few of the men and girls clearly disapproved of this action, but they didn't voice out anything, in the presence of their leader, Jason Mao, who watched it all with a contemplative look.

"Can you imagine, Lil Jace leading a group?" Rin said, nudging Luke on the shoulder as they departed. "I wonder which fool put his money on him."