Dobbin watched as Feng Yongrui ate bite after bite of bread. He had regained his previous liveliness and shook his head.
"Tsk, tsk, tsk~ You said your name was 'Lucky', right?" Dobbin began talking.
"Hahaha~ Your name might be 'Lucky', but today, meeting the Guild Leader might not necessarily be your luck~"
"Why?" Feng Yongrui asked, curious.
"Heh, you might not know about this, but the Guild Leader is famous from having an eccentric temperament. Normal people can't communicate with him... and if he gets mad..."
Dobbin made a neck-cutting motion with his hand.
Feng Yongrui rolled his eyes.
"You're exaggerating," he scoffed. "He seems pretty okay to me."
"Pfft~ Hahaha~ And here I thought you were some sort of smart kid... It turns out you're just stupid," Dobbin giggled.
Feng Yongrui glared at him but said nothing, chewing on the bread.
"Do you think that just because the Guild Leader didn't do anything to you, you're special or something? Hah! Let me tell you, the Guild Leader is actually just..."
Dobbin purposely dragged out the last syllable and looked at Feng Yongrui provocatively.
Feng Yongrui raised an eyebrow questioningly.
"Hahaha~ If you beg me, I'll tell you," Dobbin smirked.
Feng Yongrui's lips twitched as he glared at Dobbin. This person was really... annoying.
***
A short man with a flat nose and reddish brown hair walked through the streets of the city. He weaved his way through the winding alleys of the city, neatly avoiding the knights and the numerous eyes that attempted to follow him.
Finally, the man stopped in front of a pottery shop and walked through the front door. A servant boy trotted over to his side and asked him what he wanted to buy.
"...An earthenware, preferably in the shape of an egg," the man said.
"Alright, Sir. What kind of egg?"
"An egg that was put under a carriage wheel and crushed underneath it as the carriage moved," came the reply.
The servant's eyes flashed but his expression remained the same.
"Sir, this kind of shape is rather difficult to make, so only the master of this shop can make something like this. Please come along and tell the master of this shop about the details..." the servant gestured for the man to come upstairs, and the man nodded.
The red haired man climbed the steps slowly but steadily, his heavy footsteps echoing throughout the small shop. When the man reached the second floor, he turned to the right and stopped in front of the room.
He knocked twice, and then pushed the door open. When he entered, he saw his boss, Igino Wolf, sitting in front of a desk piled up with papers. The man frowned in displeasure.
"Boss..." he wanted to say something, but the Guild Leader was quicker.
"These documents were sent over last night, but I'm too lazy to look at them. Read them one by one, sign the necessary documents, and then compile a report for me," the Guild Leader said.
"I want it done now."
The red haired man pursed his lips.
"And how do you expect me to finish reading all of those documents... by now?" he asked sarcastically.
The Guild Leaders shrugged his shoulders nonchalantly. "Just work hard. I'm sure you can do it."
The red haired man was obviously annoyed, but the expression on his face showed that this wasn't the first time this situation occurred. He sat down opposite the man and observed his face.
"You seem to be in a good mood, what's up?" he asked.
The man gave a small hum in reply, paused, and opened his mouth.
"I have a candidate for my successor," he said, a slight smile gracing his lips.
The red haired man, Milton, expressed his displeasure.
Speaking about successors, Igino Wolf was a capricious man who did what he wanted, when he wanted.
The search for a successor began about two years ago, and it all started on a whim. At that time, Igino had been drinking (competing) with another guild leader named Sorano.
Usually, Igino hated competitions. It was a boring and tedious task, and he found it meaningless because the winner was already decided (him).
However, he found Sorano to be a particularly interesting person because of his extremely incorrigible and stupid behavior, so Igino had agreed to compete with Sorano.
It had to be mentioned beforehand that Sorano was, indeed, a unique existence amongst mankind. He had set up a guild when he was eighteen, aiming to dominate the world...
Well, he ended up dominating the world, in a slightly different way. His guild became infamous for dealing with all kinds of rats and mice and moles that lurked in the shadows. No, not moles such as spies. He dealt with literal rats.
In other words, his guild was a mouse-catching guild. Surprisingly, he managed to profit from his business and even became rather notorious for killing any kind of vermin cleanly and neatly.
Now when Sorano and Igino met, the former proposed a competition, and Igino agreed. He thought that no matter what they competed in, he wouldn't lose.
It was at that moment that Sorano brought out his trump card. His successor.
The lad's name was Tom, and he wasn't very bright, like his predecessor. However, he was good at making cold jokes and making the most inappropriate comments at the worst possible moments.
Sorano wanted their successors to compete against each other, but Igino had no successors. In other words, he lost.
How could the almighty Igino stand this loss? Ever since that moment, he became rather obsessed with finding a successor. Not because he wanted to win against Sorano, no.
He simply thought it would be amusing to have a successor.
During these two years, whenever Igino found a child that caught his eye, he would bring the child under his wing, pamper the child, and teach the child everything he knew.
But when he got bored with the child, or when the child failed to amuse him or meet his expectations, he would strip the child of his "successor" title and give the child a choice.
Either continue to stay in the guild as a normal member, or leave the guild and never come back. Most of the children initially chose to stay, but after some time, because of the harsh training, they usually gave up and left the guild.
Igino didn't mind. Everything was just a game to him anyway.
When Milton realized that Igino had found another successor, or, in other words, another "victim", he didn't know what to say. Sometimes, he felt sorry for the children.
When they were suddenly clothed, fed, and pampered, their eyes were shining like stars. But once Igino was bored, he would throw them away. The children's life would drop from the highest pedestal and into the mud.
While he did feel sorry for the children, Milton wasn't a saint either. This was the world they had been born in -- a world where the strongest would prevail. Those children would have to learn, sooner or later, that there was no such thing as a free lunch in this world.
"What is he like?" Milton asked, looking at his Boss.
"Hmm... He's interesting," Igino said.
Milton sighed inside his heart. Which one of the children that the Boss picked up weren't called 'interesting'?
"What's his background?" Milton asked again, trying to sound casual.
Igino shrugged. "Don't know, I haven't checked yet," he replied.
Milton felt annoyed. His Boss was always like this.
"How can you not know? If Dobbin that idiot knows that you didn't check the kid's background, he'll run around in a circle scolding me," Milton wailed.
Igino glanced at his subordinate.
"Dobbin knows. He's taking care of the kid right now," he said.
Milton didn't know what to say.
"You let Dobbin, that idiot, take care of the kid? You know that Dobbin's no good at this... He'll probably bully the kid until he cries... Anyway, that's not the point!" Milton shifted the conversation and continued speaking.
"The point is that you shouldn't just bring kids with suspicious backgrounds into our guild," he said. "Don't you remember the last time you brought that kid? What was his name... Roger? Wasn't he was a spy? And because of him, we almost lost half of our goods, remember?"
Igino nodded his head. "I remember that incident. Wasn't it resolved peacefully?"
"What do you mean 'peacefully'? You had him killed, remember?"
"I remember. His face was particularly annoying." Igino shrugged his shoulders and added, "Besides, why are you making a fuss like this? When a problem arises and our guild is faced with imminent danger... Isn't that the fun part?"
Milton blinked twice and gave up trying to reason with his Boss. What was he hoping for? Every time the Boss picked up a new "successor", he wouldn't heed his subordinates' suggestions or feelings.
"So... what's the name of the kid?"
"Lucky."
"...And, if this 'Lucky' kid is actually a spy, what will you do?"
Igino looked at Milton as if he was a fool.
"What kind of question is that? Of course, I'll kill him."
***