"Hmfufufu...!"
Log was walking gleefully on the streets as we make our way to the market area. He has a bounce on his step and he was grinning ear to ear. If he still had his tail now, there's no doubt it would be wagging.
It's obvious what it was he was happy about. He just bought his first set of armor from his own pocket; he must be feeling like a kid who got himself his own toy after saving his money.
"You'll get lost if you walk too far ahead," I warned with a chuckle.
The market area was crowded as always. It's so crowded that it has become a challenge to navigate around the bodies of passersby. Surprisingly, there's even a huge traffic happening between the merchant cargos and other civilian vehicles, which make things even more difficult for us.
"Kuh! I'm sorry, master!" Log quickly apologized.
"Just stay close," I calmly replied.
It's not like he would actually get lost on my watch. He was walking ahead of me, so I have my eyes on him the entire time. But he might panic if he lost sight of me, so I want him to keep close.
We got deeper into the market area. Soon, the crowd lessen in number and we were able to finally smoothly walk around.
"Um... What are we going to buy here, master?"
"There's a bunch of things, but we'll just go randomly look around for now."
I have a checklist ready, but it will not be a problem to look for things that were not included in it. Who knows? I might stumble on a funny item I would want to have. I don't want to miss on that chance.
A while later, I was able to fill just about half of my checklist. Log and I bought some interesting items that caught our attention as well. We have the money, so why not spend it?
"Eria! Wait up!"
We were just about to enter another random shop when some familiar voices suddenly called out to me. I turned around and saw that it was the trio of Erika, Kai, and Harry.
"Hey, Eria! Are you shopping for supplies too?" Erika asked after excitedly greeting me.
"Yup. We've been questing a lot lately, so I quickly ran through my supplies."
"We...?" she repeated.
"Kah! It's the two of you again! You bastards!" Log pointed and shouted at Kai and Harry, hostility clear in his voice.
"Why are you angry at us!? We're not even doing anything!" the two shouted back.
"Oh, right... Your deciple's here too, huh? As usual, he's barking at them again," Erika weakly muttered.
The first meeting between the two boys in Erika's group and Log was messy to say the least. As boys at the peak of their teenage years, Kai and Harry couldn't seem to help themselves from staring intently at my body. So when I first introduced Log to their group, he did not fail to notice them doing just that. After declaring his hostility, he quickly lashed out at them and a fight broke out.
Because he was still a child, Kai and Harry merely defended themselves. They cannot morally fight back. In the end, despite Erika and my own interference, they still left with a few scratches on their skins.
I healed them immediately and apologized. I also reasonably scolded Log after. Since he's now under my care, anything bad that he does will be my responsibility. He felt guilty and he promised not to do it again, and yet...
"Do you want me to claw your eyes out of your skulls!?" Log mercilessly threatened the two of them.
"Guh! He's seriously scaring me...!" Harry panicked after hearing such a terrifying-sounding threat.
For someone who has the assassin class, he sure seems weak to threats like those. I do not blame him. Even my skin crawls, knowing that Log was actually capable of easily doing it if they let him try.
"Get along, will you?" Erika interjected.
"Guh... Erika-nee-san..." Log hesitantly groaned.
Log's meeting with Erika was completely opposite from Kai's and Harry's. She bridged the gap between the two of them from the beginning. Log wasn't even able to react properly to her advancements. As a result, he became shy and timid towards her.
Since then, Erika has been treating him like her little brother. She even asked him to start calling her nee-san. Log was embarrassed about it at first, but with how much constantly she was persisting him, his defenses eventually broke down and he reluctantly granted her wish.
"It's his fault! We're not even doing anything!" Kai argued.
"I know it's our fault back then, but now he's just being angry at us for no reason..." Harry added.
So he's acknowledging that they were indeed lecherously staring at me back then? Well, it's not like I care. I'm used to being stared at like that.
"Grr...!" Log growled.
"Hah..." I let out a weak sigh.
Seeing that Log won't really calm down even with Erika's intervention, I finally decided to step in and take the situation in my own hands.
"Keh! Wa-wait a minute, master! Eria-sama!" Log screamed in a panic.
"Pfuu...!" Erika let out a muffled chuckle after seeing what I've done.
"Th-this is really embarrassing, master...!"
"I'm holding you like this because you look like you might just leap at them at any moment."
I decided to hold Log's hand to prevent him from doing anything reckless. As I thought, it was easily effective. His focus weren't on Kai and Harry anymore. Right now, he's just meekly staring at the ground under his feet with crimson cheeks.
"As expected of you, Eria..." Erika mumbled in admiration.
Kai and Harry simply let out sighs of relief as soon as the malice directed at them dissapeared. They don't actually look that much scared of him, but the fact that they cannot fight back against a child if a fight indeed occurs might be stressing them out.