First Conflict

"That was a really close call..."

The stick that the kid had been holding finally fell to the ground as he blinked a few more times. At the same time, the other kids also snapped out of their shock as they gathered in another hall. The first kid immediately shouted:

"Hey! You there! How can you act so casually after swinging your axe at me? I'm the grandson of the chief here! Do you think my father will just let you go!?"

"Of course."

He casually responded while taking another bite of bread and feeling quite satisfied with the taste. However, the kid was fuming with rage at his nonchalant attitude and shouted:

"You! What's your name? Tell me your name so I can call my father here!!!"

As he yelled that, the man pointed towards himself and questioned in confusion:

"What's my name?"

[Kael]

"Well, I guess it's 'Kael'."

He didn't take the kid's anger the slightest bit seriously. Seeing this attitude, the kid stormed out of the house, still fuming with rage, while the other kids remained inside, looking at Kael with curious eyes.

'Kael, huh... Well, it sounds cool and fits well with the culture of this world, so I guess it's Kael.'

He nodded to himself and finished the remaining piece of bread in one go. His gaze then shifted to the other kids and the girl who had brought him food.

"What's up?"

"I'm... I'm fine, I guess..."

The girl replied timidly. Kael smirked, but suddenly, his attention was drawn to the door of his house, which burst open with a loud roar. The splintered door was heading straight for his face.

"How dare an outsider swing an axe at my child!? Do you think you're a big shot just because you fought a few dogs outside!?"

Kael heard the roar and, with remarkable reflexes, grabbed all the pieces of the door without missing a beat. He managed to shield all the kids from the flying wood fragments with a single smooth motion.

"Well, yeah, I guess."

As Kael casually responded, his gaze shifted to the door. He noticed a man with disheveled brown hair and wearing white upper clothes standing there, brandishing a sword.

"Come out! Come out, and I will show you reality!!!"

The man was seething with anger. Kael looked back at the kids behind him, sighed, and nodded. He then retrieved an arm-sized wooden shield from his space pouch and addressed the man in front of him.

"Then create some distance first!"

With that, Kael hurled the shield in the direction of the man. The man had to dodge the shield and retreat a few steps, which gave Kael the opportunity to dash out of the house with a small axe in his hand, its wooden hilt.

"You cheap bastard!!!"

The man roared, but Kael remained calm. He noticed the villagers slowly emerging from their houses due to the commotion.

"Oh well, whatever! Prove whatever you wanted to prove."

Kael gave up on trying to explain, and as expected, the man immediately lunged at him. Kael remained composed and, with a single step, evaded the sword thrust. He attached his axe to the hilt of the man's sword, casually forcing the weapon downwards.

"I used to be a national-level fencer myself. I know a bit about swords... So don't be too resentful."

As Kael spoke, his fist struck the man's face, sending him crashing to the ground.

"You!!!"

Before the man could stand up, Kael was already standing in front of him, the edge of his axe lightly touching the man's forehead, preventing him from making any further moves.

"Well, I'm sorry about swinging my axe, but that was because I was tired. What kind of people send kids to a person like me, who's fought with people all his life? You should have been more cautious, right?"

Kael said that, retrieved his axe, and walked away. The man lay on the ground, defeated in both the argument and the fight.

"Well, if it was a mistake, then I guess I..."

He admitted his mistake, and Kael was satisfied with just that. However, at that moment, a sandal landed squarely on Kael's face. He looked up to see an angry woman with brown hair tied in a bun, releasing a deep breath.

"Hey, you hooligan! How dare you touch my husband and kid! Let me show you what this woman can do today!!!"

She arrived right in front of Kael, but it was an awkward moment for her to be attempting to beat Kael with a small stick when Kael stood easily over 6'2", while she was no more than 5'7".

"How dare you! You bully! What if you know how to fight! I don't care!!! I will beat you until you apologize!!!"

[Health -1 -1 -1 -1!]

'Stop the roasting session...'

Kael sighed as he watched the woman swinging her stick non-stop with her eyes closed. It was unclear whether she was swinging the stick or the stick was swinging her.

"This is just embarrassing. Whatever, I apologize. Are you happy now? Let me rest again. What's with these weird people here..."

Kael turned and left, leaving the kid and his parents just watching his back with blank expressions. Kael sighed as he saw his destroyed door. As he was about to enter his house again, suddenly the woods all around the house started shaking, and the next moment, the entire house collapsed in front of Kael.

"Excellent."

Kael commented with a blank look in his eyes as he noticed the house assigned to him turning into a pile of wood. Thankfully, all the kids were already outside, so there were no human casualties.

Kael's gaze shifted back to the man who had come raging down, destroying the gate of the house, which was already barely standing.

"Aha... Hahahaha..."

The moment was just awkward. Kael didn't blame anyone for anything, and he went ahead and removed the pile of wood, grabbed back his axe and the bag of materials, and moved out.

"What a crappy way to start the day..."

Kael sighed and picked up his stuff, then left the village. Even the guards didn't dare to stop him after what had happened, and now all the cold gazes were on that one man and his kid and wife.

"Nice job destroying the only house we had for guests..."

"Now we can't even ask him to pay for his night's stay."

"What an overreacting idiot."

"Man, you should listen to the other side too. How will you become chief at this rate?"

The people just scoffed, and the man also felt a bit guilty. He stood up again, dusting himself off, and muttered, "I'm such a dumbass..."

"Indeed you are."

As he moved his gaze around in surprise, he noticed Kael suddenly standing there, as if he had appeared out of thin air. Kael seemed to be carrying a whole tree over his shoulders.

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