"Liam! Why were people discussing about you today?" A loud and confident voice woke up Liam, who had fallen asleep on the floor next to the well while he had been waiting for the wolf pelt to dry. There had been nothing to do for him after he had unlocked the chip's potential, so he had gotten extremely bored and tired.
As he wiped his eyes, Liam noticed that the man taking care of him, Tarkhan, was the one who had just spoke. He had given out a sigh of relief.
Tarkhan was the village head of the Trite Village that they stayed in. Since Liam's mother had died, he had taken on the responsibility for caring for his nephew and niece.
He worked as a senior hunter that hunted wildlife in the deep forest, and had plenty of combat experience from fighting with the residents there. As he did not want to put his nephew, Liam, in danger, he made him work as a farmer instead, which earned less but was way safer.
However, when Tarkhan has returned from his trip to the forest with some dead animals on his back, he had heard some gossip about Liam from the local villagers. "Liam... wolf..." He could vaguely guess that Liam had been involved in an incident involving wolves, so he rushed back to check Liam's safety.
To his surprise, Liam was sleeping very peacefully on the ground, and was moving about in his sleep, which was normal. However, something was abnormal. A slight feeling of fear was planted in Tarkhan. Still, he had ignored the sensation of fear and asked Liam about the gossip with a loud, hot-blooded shout.
As he watched his slim and fairly weak nephew arise from his sleep, he had let out a sigh of relief. Only then, he had turned to the source of fear in his heart, before the fear was replaced with shock.
Even though the ordinary average villagers would not notice anything amiss about the wolf pelt, he could clearly recognise its source! It was the legendary scarred demon wolf, the one that had killed two of his junior hunters in the forest!
It was a famously ferocious wolf, that had been the nemesis of Tarkhan since he had started hunting. It could paralyse the greatest of hunters with the aura it gave off, and had even nearly taken Tarkhan's life, if not for his junior hunters being targeted first.
"How did you get this wolf pelt?" Tarkhan turned his head around, with a half-crazed look. As it was on his clothesline, he immediately assumed that Liam had brought home this wolf pelt. To think that his nemesis had died so easily... it left almost a bad taste in his mouth, but he felt a bit of delight that the wolf was dead.
"Oh. The wolf was dying from a fatal wound, so I took its pelt." Liam casually replied with the best excuse he could think of. He had just woken up from his sleep after all.
"How could the wolf die from a fatal wound? It was extremely strong, to the point that it could even overpower two junior hunters easily. No hunter around here could have done it... unless? A bigger beast?" Tarkhan widened his eyes as fear appeared in his eyes. If a stronger beast than the scarred demon wolf had appeared, that would spell a lot of trouble for him to handle if it was hostile to humans too.
"Uncle, stop overreacting. A passing hunter had seen me get cornered by the beast and killed it, before he left immediately." The normal natives in this world appeared to be weak to the power of a person like him, since they were scared of a slightly stronger wolf.
This small Trite Village could not help him to advance any further, seeing that Tarkhan, the strongest hunter in the village, was not even capable of killing that wolf. He doubted that this village would ever have any chance to get Milock at all, much less any of the other materials he needed.
A fortuitous encounter was needed for him to progress any further in his journey to become stronger. Or maybe follow the magical power structure of this world, as shown on his system. He should be compatible due to him possessing a native's body.
"Uncle, I'm going to sell the wolf pelt for 5 bronze Deltas now. See you." Since the wolf pelt had dried, it was time for him to sell it to the shifty looking Mr Rogers. He certainly could find use for the money he obtained. Liam turned his back and headed for the general store.
"Wait! Liam, you're getting ripped off! Such a grand wolf pelt can be sold for 10 bronze Deltas, no, 20 bronze Deltas! I can help you get a better bargain!" Tarkhan chased after Liam upon hearing that he was about to sell the wolf pelt.
Liam stopped on his tracks, when he heard what Tarkhan said. That did sound plausible. The boy's memories was that wolf pelt could be sold for 5 bronze Deltas, but this was a wolf pelt with magical properties. It had slipped his mind that he could charge more for it.
Liam thought about killing Mr Rogers for trying to scam him, but it was a pity he could not take action. There was always a chance someone might discover his death, since he had connections to other states. If it was traced back to him, he might die. Whatever. With Tarkhan around, he should be able to get more bronze Deltas, since he was the village chief.
He waited at the location he was at, letting Tarkhan catch up to him. They then proceeded to move forwards to the store.
While moving there, Tarkhan thought about the mysterious hunter that could kill the demonic wolf. He had a suspicion that it could be a passing Mystic.
Ai, if only he could be a Mystic, he would have be able to save his sister and brother-in-law. At least, he could help his nephew and grow him into a respectable young man. That would be what Liam's parents would have wanted.