There were 3 old men, about the ages of 76-80, who said that they wanted to work in the mines, as fishermen or as hunters.
Their families stood at their backs and surprisingly looked at Landon with an apologetic gaze.
He didn't understand why they were looking at him in that manner.
But after talking with these men for a while, he fully understood the meaning behind those looks.
Their thinking was bizarre, and all 3 claimed to be as strong as an ox.
They instinctively wanted him to remember that.
One's name was Willow, while the other 2 were Hermon and Paitus.
Of course, Landon would never allow these men to work in the mines unless he was 99% sure that working there wouldn't affect their health in any way.
As he looked at the 3 men, he was even more convinced of his decision to say no.
Landon thought that if they stood outside on a windy day, the wind would for sure blow them away.
.
"Kid, do you think that we are weaklings?" old man Hermon asked.
"What?" Paitus asked Hermon, as he didn't fully hear what Hermon said.
Paitus had hearing problems due to old age.
"He said that we are weaklings!!" old man Willow repeated while shouting in Paitus' ear.
Now Paitus got the gist.
"What!!!! you dare say that we are weaklings!"
Landon didn't know whether to laugh or to cry. When did he say that they were weaklings? Aren't they just twisting his words?
"Do you know who he is?" Old man Paitus asked as he pointed at old man Willow.
'How the heck should I know?'Landon thought
As Paitus spoke, old man Willow turned from side to side as if posing in a male photoshoot. He started showing off his non-existent muscles as he flexed.
"Do you know who he is!!" Old man Hermon exclaimed as well.
"This man here is the strongest man in the world!"
'I beg to differ,' Landon thought as he looked at the flexing old man Willow.
"This guy here had once fought an assassin with a single finger... a real assassin! The deadliest of them!" Old man Hermon exclaimed while frantically waving his hands about.
"The fight was brutal, I tell yah!!.
He blocked a sword strike with his finger and used that same finger to slice off the man's ear."
'you think we are in a wuxia world?'
"It's true!!
He cut the man's ear off with one finger and re-attached it back with another while using his right leg to fend off the man's attacks." Old man Paitus said.
'That's biologically impossible.'
"He was also the only man to ever swim from Vienna to the continent of Carona without any boat!!".
'His limbs would have fallen out by now if it were true.'
"He also caught a sea fish the size of an entire estate and beat it to a pulp." Old man Hermon said.
'That would be a whale, and there's no way you could ever injure one.'
"He once juggled 5 gigantic rocks using his right hand while drinking wine with his left."
'What are you? Superman?' Landon thought
Old man Willow looked at the unconvinced Landon and scoffed.
"Fine!!
If you don't believe it, then I'll prove it!"
Before Landon or any of the knights could stop him, old man Willow had already tried to lift a large rock by his side.
"Crackkkk!!!"
It's safe to say that he had failed woefully.
"Ah!!!! My back!!!
You tricked me.
Why didn't you tell me that the rock was heavy? You're a damn cheat!" Old man Willow said while wailing in agony.
Landon hurriedly supported the man.
"So he cheated, aye?
How despicable!
How can you openly cheat like that?" old man Hermon exclaimed.
"What? He cheated?
Tch. So young, yet already a cheat.
It all makes sense.
How could the strongest man loose to a tiny stone like this?" old man Paitus said as he nodded vigorously.
'How did it come to him cheating? And what did he mean by tiny? that stone is at least 200 kg, alright?'
Landon turned around and saw Lucius and the knights trying to hold in their laughter.
"I request for a rematch.
I'm not weak, I tell ya!!
You probably bolted down the rock and cheated." Old man Willow said
'Old man, although I have the system, I would never use it in a fair competition, alright?
Wait, wait, wait!!
What am I even saying?
Since when was this a competition?
You clearly sprung this on me, and now you're claiming that I cheated?'
"Look. No one is saying that any of you are weak.
In fact, I think that you all are very powerful." Landon said.
"So you think I'm stronger than you?" old man Willow asked
"Absolutely," Landon replied
Landon felt genuinely helpless.
How else was he supposed to answer him?
"Good. Just so long as you know that I'm the strongest man in the world," old man Willow said while nodding his head.
Yes, yes, yes, you are the strongest man in the world.
Landon almost rolled his eyes at them.
In the end, Landon talked the men into accepting jobs like gardening. Landon only wanted them to snip bushes or twigs within the royal garden.
At first, they denied it because they thought it was a job for sissies.
So he had spent the last 25 minutes trying to stroke their egos.
These old men really made him feel like he was a bunch of annoying children.
They wanted to be coaxed and pampered. Everyone else called him your highness, but these men called him 'kid' or 'brat.'
One can tell that they had always acted like this wherever they went.
.
Landon looked at the large rock and decided to move it away from there.
Who knew how many senior citizens would try to prove their strengths to him.
So he carried it up in an attempt to discard it.
But just when he was about to move with the stone, the 3 old men who were about to leave saw him carrying the rock and ran back towards him.
"So you think you're better than us?"
"You think you're stronger than me?"
"Give the stone here; I will show you my strength."
Looking at the old men running towards him, Landon finally understood why their families kept looking at him like that.
'F***'