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°•○● ELEMENTA- The Tale of Immortality - Chapter"22" -/ T
"First Robbery" °•○●
Ren was half running with all his strength, half looking around. On his way home, he saw a group of several people in front of him acting how he acted. They were heading in the same direction as the Ren. There was also a boy who seemed to be with this group, but was clearly alone. With his red hair down to his shoulders, he was the first long-haired boy Ren had ever seen outside.
But Ren had to look at the trio before him, unable to pay attention to the long haired boy. They caught Ren's attention as all three of them kept looking back for fear of being followed. Eyes don't lie", they were truly afraid.
"These kids are afraid of something. Something is definitely wrong."
Just as the road was halfway over and Ren believed there would be no more trouble, several people were seen blocking the road ahead. In the middle of the road, at a narrow point in front of the section where the houses in the southern part are dense, a group of small numbers but not young had blocked the road. One of them was shouting at those who approached.
Behind them was a big boy with a nightmarish face. He cut his eyebrows right in the middle and tried to look like a dangerous person. He had a strange hair. But as disgusting as his hair and eyebrows were, his body and stature on the contrary were terrifying.
Although this boy was only 12-13 years old, he looked like an adult in size. It would be strange to call a child both small and big, but this is the first time Ren has seen an example.
This ugly boy was sitting on the floor. He watched as his friends in front of him blocked those who wanted to cross the road. His eyes were searching for someone causing trouble. Because his friends would collect taxes from passers-by.
"If you want to get through here without any hassle, you have to give us one of your energy pills. Don't try other ways. All the south, east and west parts of the house are closed by our other groups. If you pay your taxes and behave well, there will be no problem for a month. You will get our special protection. It will be an added bonus if you do this without force!"
Ren had already found it odd that nothing had happened to him in the two weeks he'd had since coming to the outer court. Turns out, this was because even theft and extortion were happening at certain times in this school!
Ren had never encountered anything like it in the stories he had heard. Even the bullies here had to improvise, obviously because there were so many students. Ren's eyes widened and he watched in amazement. Here, even what was done as a combination of tyranny and extortion had become an art.
Ren never thought it would be scary to be this lonely. Even Ezra thought of it for a moment. He was one of two people he knew at school. The other was someone who didn't wander around and couldn't communicate with. A naive older brother that Ren only knows his name as William.
Ren suddenly did something that made the children behind him turn to look at him.
He started laughing.
The greed that had begun to form in his eyes last night was now even more evident. He found what these tiny gangsters were doing creative and was jealous. A hunger that had never had the opportunity to appear before began to show itself.
...
Ren quickly stepped back and jumped into the garden of a large house next to the road. He sat on the secluded floor for a few minutes until the attention he had drawn on him vanishing.
While waiting, Ren was stroking the tattoo on his right forefinger, contemplating what he could do and also scanning the clothes inside the ring. And in the end, he had found both the clothes he wanted and a neat plan.
Ren wore clothes very similar to those the other students wore, but slightly looser. When he carefully passed several layers in a row, he looked twice as fat and meaty as he now was.
The skinny boy was gone and now a bigger and normal person came. Facial expression was very important as his father had taught him. Even though Ren knew that even the conversations with his father were created by his mother, he hadn't been able to destroy the trusty father icon in his head.
"Useful information, even if an imaginary father taught it." The little boy thought about a very strange "virtual reality" issue, wondering if imaginary things counted as family members. But because he didn't have time, he concentrated his thoughts on his plan.
He observed the crowd and noticed the behaviours. In addition, considering that the children did not go hungry because the tablets for shopping were never taken, he could understand that these children would not rebel.
Most of them were already very low in level and an energy pill would work for them in about a month's time. So for low-level mages and warriors, this was not the end of everything.
It took him half an hour to muster up his courage and be ready. But to get more benefits, Ren specifically waited an extra 15 minutes. As he sat, he straightened his clothes several times and wondered who this house belonged to.
This type of more luxurious and larger houses were closer to the center and in beautiful spots. Ren looked inside the house and realized that it was not used at the moment.
"Maybe it's the buildings they've reserved for high-level mages or guests. Or teachers...but teachers don't live here. What teacher would want to live in an area where the lowest class lives. I guess I just can't figure it out for now."
He looked for a path to the back of the house or a spot to climb. He was looking for a place to escape to if things went badly. But this part of the school was not designed to allow for crossings between different paths.
..
Ren was finally ready to enter the line again.
Then he mingled somewhere in the crowd of children who were slowly starting to form on the street.
Among those who wanted to collect taxes with the Rhine, there were only three groups of children. The ones walking ahead gave one of their pills, albeit reluctantly like the previous ones, and began to advance. In fact, even though they were used to this event as it happens every month, the angry expression on their faces was very evident.
But...
Ren wanted to turn this event into an opportunity. He had no intention of surrendering immediately like these children.
"If things go well this time, I should consider stealing rather than becoming a mage as my career plan."
As Ren got closer, he got serious and started to move faster. He wore a persuasive mean expression on his face. He walked half-steps ahead of the three children in front of him. He tried to appear calm and indifferent. He approached the group that was collecting the energy pills one by one and without haste.
There was a new expression on his face that someone who wanted to hurry would have. He even looked so innocent that those who saw his smile and facial expression at that moment might be surprised and not be fooled by this innocence. But the children blocking the road and the helpless students giving their pills were meeting Ren for the first time.
He added an impetuous personality to the innocent expression on his face, the emotions of someone in a hurry and a little bit scared.
"Hey clear the way. Idiots, that's very important.. Hahaha.(breathing..) Clear the road quickly. Here I am giving you your pill. Clear the way or your enemies will kill me. Get out of the way. I escaped so hard anyway. Hahahaha finally... Get out of my way too, hey , open the way!" Ren started yelling at the children who were half running, half running, half tripping over the road, rolling on the floor and blocking the road.
The two boys in the front, who used to be constantly shouting at those on the road, saw Ren and did not know what to do at first. Ren was clearly showing off an energy pill in his hand to cross the road.
As Ren half-run, he pretended that someone was following him from afar behind him, and threw the energy pill in his right hand into one of the collectors. All of the children trying to keep something so important in the air were focused on the pill in the air. In fact, as Ren had hoped, not just the two but everyone around was focused on the pill in the air.
He stumbled for a second among the boys, checking the back half fussy as Ren made his payment, then passed through the barricade. None of the boys on the edge of the barricade focused on Ren. As long as he made his payment, they wouldn't care if he fell and passed out on the ground.
This time, Ren really kept running at full speed, heading towards his house. He was relieved to see that the big boy with the weird hair and eyebrows wasn't paying attention to him either.
And so the first part of this strange event ended.
..
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