"Will you be alright?" Mrs. Lin grabbed Dye's hands, "will you really-really be alright? Can I trust my boy to protect you? Silly me, he's untrustable!"
"Ma!" Lin Mao's facce flushed red, to which Ynoir immediately teased.
"Anyways, you're such a sweet girl~ Take care of yourself! I will take good care of your guild!" Mrs. Lin hugged Dye before skipping off towards Lin Mao, "if I catch you making trouble for Little Dye, I will kill you."
After Mrs. Lin left to admire the newly refurbished Elementalists Guild, Lin Mao complained to Dye with a sour face. He glared at Dye as he said, "honestly, I didn't feel like I'm Ma's son anymore! You took over my place in her heart!"
"Who asked you to be a troublemaker," Dye mused. Lin Mao's face was a bit funny...
"Heh!" Lin Mao crossed his arms and walked towards Ynoir, "at least I still have my Ge Ynoir."
Ynoir closed his eyes before walking towards Dye's side, "I agree with Dye this one time."
"Ynoir you traitor!" Lin Mao shouted before looking at the last person in the group, "K-kaen, you forgive me...right?"
"I will always stand by my mom, Dye," Kaen glared at Lin Mao and hugged Dye's unoccupied left arm, "you are a troublemaker! I might kill you now if not for you having a relation with my mom!"
"Kaen, it's Dye," Dye corrected.
"Yes, Dye!" Kaen nuzzled his head onto Dye's shoulder, despite Dye being shorter...
"Why does no one stand on my side?" Lin Mao cried running ahead of them, before coming back. He was huffing and puffing like crazy, his face filled with fear. Dye deduced that he met a monster at the front.
'Why do I feel like a boyfriend walking his girlfriends?' Dye's face darkened, 'maybe I am thinking too much! I'm a girl, not a boy...I'm getting corrupted by Lin Mao...'
"D-d-d-dye! There's a group of bandits up ahead!" Lin Mao screamed.
"Bandits?" Dye felt that this was also another thing added by the system, because the humanoid monsters were supposed to show up after level 30.
"Yes, and t-the leader called me a boy-toy!" Lin Mao said.
"..."
'He does look like a beautiful boy...' The other three thought.
Although Lin Mao was much bulkier than Ynoir, he wasn't 'that' bulky. He also had a fair face and soft hair...
"Is the leader a man or a woman?" Dye asked Lin Mao.
"Obviously a man, duh!" Lin Mao cried, "I don't want to become a boy-toy! Help me Dye!"
"There's my cute little boy-toy~," a deep husky voice could be heard from their front. From the voice, Dye deduced that the leader wasn't that much older than them, probably nearing his twenties. Lin Mao was the same age as Ynoir's appeareance, something around 16 to 18. Although he was quite a powerful swordsman...
The leader was also of the same class as Lin Mao. Dye looked at the broadsword hung on his back with interest while the leader looked at Dye with disgust.
"I'm not into girls," he said.
"And I'm not into you either," Dye replied, "I'm the guardian of the person you just called a 'boy-toy'."
The leader gasped before saying, "nonsense! Men! Capture my boy-toy!"
The leader was handsome, but too obnoxious for Dye's taste. His long black hair and cerulean eyes did make him look like a nobleman, if not for the way he dressed. However, the obnoxious nobleman-like bandit underestimated Dye.
"Flame Ring,"
A ring of fire appeared around Dye and company. The fire was not red, but instead blue. The blue fire did not burn like how fire normally did, but it formed rings and looked like silver rings.
This was Dye's modification to one of the spells, Flame Encirclement.
All of the bandit's weapons immediately melted into puddles of metal. Terrified that they would be burned, the bandits walked back towards the leader.
"How could this be? I am Julian Ponto, a level 16 Swordsman, and my men should be at least level 12! How could you beat me when your level is very low?" the leader pointed at Dye.
"I'm a level 18 Cultivator, on what basis am I low-leveled?" Dye glared at Julian, "just admit that you're too weak to call one of my men a 'boy-toy'."