Milo the Merchant

The dire wolves howled as they got closer to the caravan. The caravan didn't stop, ordering that the guards on the right side of the caravan take care of the problem quickly so they didn't lose any time.

Many of the guards were just 1st Rings, with only a handful being 2nd like Alex. Lucy and the old man Gerald also happened to be 2nd Rings and the caravan made sure to spread out the stronger members all around evenly to prevent ambushes to specific points.

Although Alex and several of the other guards felt the merchants of this caravan were rude, seeing them only as labor and not as people, Lucy assured him they had to be that way to keep people in line since many people who took the guard job would try to use their strength to intimidate and bully their employers of more money.

"Fuck! They want us to stop 50-something Direwolves by ourselves?! Are they stupid?" Another guard cursed his employers with a worried face.

Most of the guards who were on this side with Alex were all 1st Rings. There were probably only 3 or 4 other 2nd Rings but they were further down and weren't in range of the Direwolf pack. The 1st Rings were arguing about what to do as their chances of succeeding continued to go down as they stood around doing nothing.

Alex sighed at their idiocy. He quickly noticed after the last month or so of traveling with these people, that most of them were spineless. He wasn't sure if it was a common theme among adventurers, but at least these 1st Rings were just hoping for an easy pay for this guard trip.

The Edenbar Plains were only home to 1st Rings and small groups at that. So this large pack of Direwolves was very rare. To Alex though, it wasn't an issue.

"Get your heads out of your asses and just fight. My girl knows healing magic if you pussies are that worried about getting a scratch or two." Alex yelled out to those around them before stomping on the ground and launching himself toward the pack.

He traveled almost 100 km/h in an instant and the 1st Rings stared in shock and anger at his strength and his words. They cursed him in their minds, not only for being a prick but for also being very right about how scared they were.

None of them were willing to risk their lives for this job and were ready to ditch and leave the caravan to die if necessary.

Alex quickly reached the front of the pack where he could clearly see the wolves' drooly, snarling faces as they looked at him like he was their mortal enemy. Those close to him changed course and headed straight for him.

He wasn't overpowered so there were bound to be wolves that went around him. He could only hope those idiots behind him could remove those sticks from their butts and fight.

He continued to dash at full speed as his storage ring glowed slightly as he searched it for the items he needed and they suddenly appeared out of nowhere. The clanking of chains echoed in this portion of the flatlands as ten chains appeared and the ends of them glowed before attaching themselves to the arm guards by his wrists.

The usual light green glow of neutral essence glowed around those areas as the ends of the chains magnetized to several similar ends on his arm guards. The other ends of his chains already had long swords attached in the same manner and Alex used his aura and his Lost Art of the Living Chain skill, as well as his fingers to move all ten chains with precision as he spun around and shredded through the 1st Rings that came Within his range.

None of them could realize how they died as their blood flew everywhere and onto their kin and onto Alex. Alex smiled as he ended the lives of dozens of monsters in an instant. He moved quickly, disappearing from the vision of his enemies and allies alike as he was a blur most of the time and cutting off heads and slicing bodies in half.

The 1st RIng guards were pale as they watched him kill over 3 dozen enemies too quickly for them to follow. They already knew he was stronger than the guard captain of this caravan, but they didn't realize he was this strong!

They didn't think the captain could do this kind of damage so fast! They were also frightened by his strange use of those chain weapons that had full-length swords on the ends of them rather than knives or sickles of smaller sizes.

A chain weapon like that young man's should not be as effective as it was, yet he was able to somehow move them exactly how he wanted them to. It was like he had 10 long arms that expertly swung off the heads of its enemies with ease. They all had their own assumptions, but they weren't able to think more about it when the Direwolves that got around Alex charged at them.

They paled and gritted their teeth but still brought their weapons in front of them. They made their own pathetic war cries and fought against enemies that could kill them in a single strike if they weren't careful.

While those idiots fought for their lives, Alex was laughing as he slaughtered these beasts for sport. He was itching for a fight after being cooped up in the carriage or just walking for the majority of the trip.

He was able to let himself go a bit in his old Ether backyard, but he managed to kill off most of the monsters in the area near Floren so unless he wanted to go deeper or go off several hundred kilometers in another direction, he wouldn't be able to fight anything.

His next best thing for getting his workout was his spars with Alan but with Alan increasing the difficulty, it was hard for him to get an actual workout and not just get beat up.

Feeling a bit satisfied after the last Direwolf's head exploded from the force of his attack, he looked back to the other dozen or so guards fighting the remaining wolves.

"Eh, they're probably fine." Alex shrugged and used his living chains to remove the teeth of the several dozen Direwolves.

They wouldn't cost much, but every bit of cash was needed. He spent most of his fortune on his equipment so he was running a bit low for his taste even though he would probably be fine for the next few decades even if he didn't do anything.

He checked his equipment as the blood dripped down his semi-waterproof material trench coat to find everything was alright. He smiled at how good of an idea this was, to make such weapons.

He had several dozen chains, and "heads" of various weapons that could all attach to his chains, which in turn also attached to his arm guards. There were also several other spots on his clothes that had e-stone-powered magnets that he used to keep his equipment on his person.

He got the idea after feeling a bit like a certain web slinger from earth comics and movies or maybe one of that character's enemies that had metal arms like an octopus when he was using his chain to swing around trees in the Ether forest. He wanted to try and use his chains in a way that allowed him to still swing, but also not have to abandon or try to remove them from trees at bad times.

He splurged a ton on this stuff since it required e-stones in the process, also he finally got to see the blessing of the rogue in action when he was tinkering with these items himself. He found it was pretty easy to figure out how to get all the parts he had to work together. He never imagined his engineering knowledge would be so helpful in this matter and he was able to come up with many cool things, not just these chain weapons.

He still had many many cool items stuffed in his storage ring.

He casually started wiping off himself of blood as his chains worked like tentacles of his own body to grab the materials off his enemies that he needed. He left the bodies to rot since it would be too much work to process the bodies into meat and skin and separate all the parts.

He also wouldn't get much money for them, and since he wasn't THAT desperate for coin, he walked back to the caravan that continued moving slowly in the direction of their destination.

In the front of the caravan, there was one specific carriage that was more luxurious than the rest and also more heavily guarded. This was the leader of the caravan's carriage where there was even a soft bed inside, while other carts only had wooden seats with very few having cushions.

"Father, why didn't you stop the caravan? What if there are any injured who can't catch up? Are you just going to leave them to die?" A young woman with dark hair glared at a man with a salt and pepper colored beard and hair.

They both wore silk-like clothes that were neatly designed intricately and were drinking tea in a well-suspended carriage that kept it from rocking too much.

"Why should I? It is their job to protect us and it's our job to reach our destination on time. If we constantly stop at every single monster, we would never get anywhere, and getting injured is part of their job description. I'm not obligated to help them." The older man replied easily.

His daughter continued to glare at him but he wasn't going to fix his image in her eyes. He was the owner of a big company and still took his own trips every once in a while. This was one such trip and he took it mostly to teach his daughter about the world of business.

He wanted her to learn both the good and bad so she could become his heiress one day when he had to retire or die. She was a very smart woman but she lacked an understanding of how the world actually worked.

She was similar to Mia in many regards but she was actually following in her father's footsteps as the heiress. Soon, there was a knock on the door that interrupted the tension in the room.

"Sir, a report came in about the end of the Direwolf attack." A man's voice came from the other side of the carriage door.

"I don't care, just keep the records for the Guild. We will get the reward for it later." The old man waved his hand casually.

The number of monsters they had been attacked by this entire trip was only worth a few silver at most. It wasn't worth it to him to even keep their items but as a businessman, he would always accept free coin.

He wasn't the one killing these creatures so he could reap the rewards since it was in their contracts.

"But sir, there were more than 50 Direwolves!" The guard sounded a bit worried and his words made the two of them surprised.

The old man narrowed his eyes, could the guards in his "care" right now really defeat those monsters unless the majority of them were fighting? He just said not to stop the caravan so there would only be 15 or 16 1st Ring guards at most. Maybe one 2nd Ring.

But they wouldn't be able to finish the fight so fast!

Getting an unsettling feeling he left his daughter's side and opened the carriage door.

"Stay in the carriage Serena." the old man said.

"Sir Milo, you shouldn't leave the carriage while we are moving and with enemies in the area!" The guard turned pale as his employer left the safety of his carriage.

"You just told me that the attack was over, or did you lie to me?" Milo glared at the young guard.

"N-No sir but..." The young man tried to argue with a pale face but his employer already stormed off so he could only follow him.

He had to get down from his horse since only a few select guards were given one to ride, and those were usually for the people in the front, who were also the ones with the most potential and loyalty so Milo could spend his time winning them over to his side and giving them contracts.

He already won this young man over but he had no time to deal with him as he quickly followed the caravan to the back. His actions brought the caravan to a halt, even though he didn't want it to stop but he was too worried at the moment.

Serena didn't listen to her father as she too got down from the carriage to the dismay of her protectors and followed after her father. Milo was already at the back where he could see a few corpses of the Direwolves and some injured guards.

"Take out the teeth and prepare the carcasses." Milo barked some orders and the guards who noticed his presence shook in their boots a bit before following their orders.

"Where's Gerald?" He looked at a few people but couldn't find who he was looking for.

"Here sir." Gerald came over with a bit of blood that stained his armor and clothes.

Gerald had helped clean up Alex's stragglers since he was beaten by Alex to the main pack. He hardly got to fight at all and he was itching for a match as well so he was quite disappointed.

"What happened here? Where are all the Direwolves?" Milo narrowed his eyes in anger and confusion.

'If there really were 50 wolves, the back of the caravan should have been swarmed.' the old businessman thought as he only saw a few corpses. There were maybe 10, so where were the rest.

"Down there, sir." Gerald pointed down the small hill they were currently stopped on toward a big patch of grass that was dyed red.

But what concerned Milo more, was an unfamiliar, yet familiar figure at the same time. He gritted his teeth in anger as he saw Alex casually walking back up the hill, leaving the piles of money there to rot.

"Did you kill all those Direwolves?" Milo tried to smile but it was hard to with his popped-out veins getting in the way.

He had a very bad feeling about this but he tried to hold his head up high and pray it wasn't what he thought it was.

Alex could see how hard he was straining and smirked, glad he could irk this high and mighty man.

"What? Nooooo. I was just casually strolling through the fields and then those corpses just suddenly popped out of nowhere!" Alex overexaggerated his emotions and acted surprised when he looked back at the corpses.

His attitude served to anger Milo more, which was the plan.

"Well then if you didn't kill them, I will be cleaning up the corpses so they don't attract other monsters." Milo said with a half smile as he tried to play the good guy.

Alex just smiled back.

"Oh, by the way, I took their fangs if you don't mind. Finders keepers after all~" Alex chuckled to himself and Milo shook in his boots.

Most of those around weren't sure what was going on but it seemed like Alex had some sort of bad history with their employer. They weren't sure what was going on but it was kind of funny for most at how angry Milo was.

Those who were on the merchant leader's side, however, were also glaring and throwing their auras at Alex. Alex just evilly smiled at them all to get them to shut up as he focused back on this raging merchant.

"I'll have to ask you to hand over those materials boy," Milo sounded polite, but calling Alex a boy was meant to be an insult, "your contract states that these materials are now the property of the caravan so I will be holding on to them now."

Milo curled up his lip in victory, but that nagging feeling in him didn't go away and he wasn't sure why. It wasn't until the young man's next words that he almost coughed up blood.

"Contract? I don't think I sighed one of those. After all, I'm free labor for you since this is a favor from Alan, right?~" Alex teased and Milo paled a bit.

'Shit! That's why it was all so suspicious! He's that stupid brat's helper!" Milo cursed in his mind thinking of Alan Setter.