"What's your deal? Don't use that to insult us," Max was angered by the so-called Lord Hendrix's remark.
"How about you work for me as hunters? I mean the Wehyn beast cores are already valuable. I can only imagine how much more valuable beast cores and skins I could receive and pay you guys for in return," Lord Hendrix said.
"I'm sorry but we can't accept that job now even if we were to do so," Max spoke on behalf of the others much to their agreement.
Lord Hendrix briefly chuckled.
"As I said your words are born as a result of the poverty you must have dwelt in all your lives. You see, the pay is enticing."
"Old man mind your language," Cheryl warned.
Lord Hendrix shook his head slowly with a broad smile on his face.
"Earning 200 gems per beast kill is a lot," He shrugged.
"Damn your rude offer," The floating gem sneered.
In the least of anyone's expectations, the man swiftly lifted his cane and placed it hard against Chase's throat.
"I see you already have difficulty speaking which makes this gem relay your every thought that you wish to speak. Imagine not being able to even think when I take your life. Know your filthy place and learn to respect wealth," Lord Hendrix said with all confidence.
"You're being unreasonable now. Is this supposed to be a business offer or a way of turning us into your hunting dogs?" Roy stepped forward.
"You kids are too hard to make offers to. Foolish I must say," Lord Hendrix withdrew his sword from Chase's throat.
"I guess your wealth has sunk deep into your brain," Max scoffed.
In a flash, the middle-aged man swung his cane and brought it hard against Max's knees, making the boy fall onto them in pain.
"The power behind riches in Bazaar Ville is far much more than what you think it is, boy," Lord Hendrix smirked.
"That does not mean people who aren't rich do not have any power in them," Max managed to get back on his feet, having equipped the Beast slayer at that moment. With a swing of his arm, the tip of the sharp blade was just a few inches away from the man's left eye.
"Ooh," The lord sounded surprised all of a sudden. The group had misinterpreted his action as a result of being impressed by Max's display of skill but it happened that they were very much wrong. Something else had caught the wealthy man's eyes.
"What is such priced possession doing in your hands?" He asked as he used the tip of his finger to push the blade backward so he could get a clearer view of it.
"What masterpiece! Why is the great sword of Monthenia in the hands of a poverty-stricken child?" He continued speaking in riddles and slid his fingers down the sword while Max stared at him in confusion.
After a moment of drowning in the shock of seeing the Beast slayer in the hands of a teenage boy who looked nothing near the child of a wealthy lord, Lord Hendrix returned his gaze to the boy's face.
"Who are you? How did you get this sword?! Who gave it to you?! Answer me, boy!"
"It's none of your business as regards my property, ok?" Max glared at the man.
"No way! You can not leave my sight with such a piece of jewel," Lord Hendrix said. The once handsome expression he had on was now replaced by a strange look as if he had suddenly gone psyche.
"Try and stop me," Max scoffed as he started making his way past the man.
"Not when the power of riches is right near you, do you ever utter such nonsense," Lord Hendrix bellowed.
Max had barely walked a distance far enough from the man with the others following in his steps when he stop dead in his tracks. His eyeballs rolled to darkness and the boy dropped to the ground with a cane sticking out through his forehead from the back of his head while he fell to the ground and dwelt in a pool of his blood.
*. *. *.
Nicole could feel his head up against something that felt comfortable but at the same time, it didn't feel like a soft material. He slowly opened up his eyes to witness the most shocking experience of his life.
Tree parts and the ground rose as platforms for support and moved him ahead of Hillary who was just a few metres behind hurriedly making her way through the thick bushes which served as the entrance of the abode of the botanical beasts.
"What's happening?" He shouted to Hillary's hearing, his expression demanding an explanation.
"The fact that I'm trying to escape along with you. That's what's happening," Hillary rolled her eyes as a few tree branches interwove themselves to form a platform underneath her feet that carried her over an area full of thorny plants to a safe place so she could continue running as easily as she had been doing.
"Escape? From what?" Nicole kept on asking questions. Hillary's explanation didn't make anything less confusing for him.
"You idiot. Those tree women came for us again when we were out searching for Max thinking he was calling out to me," Hillary sighed.
"Oh that," Nicole demonstrated as someone who had suddenly regained a long-lost memory.
"We have to get out of here really soon. The tree branches won't be able to hold them back for too long," Hillary said.
"How the hell do those beasts even think we should know who a special one is?" Nicole asked.
"Not any means that I know of," Hillary replied.
"Oh my, We're gonna be in a lot of trouble before Max gets back," Nicole hit his forehead against his palm.
*. *. *.
Almost as immediately as Max had dropped to the ground, he had stood up as if under some kind of robotic control. He forcefully pulled out the cane that had gone through his head and the hole caused by it in his head speedily closed up, returning to as it had been before he was attacked.
"You think your regeneration can stop me from killing you and taking that sword from you? Now that I think of it, I don't need you punks to work for me as hunters anymore. That sword will be the one doing the work for me," Lord Hendrix smiled. He held out his palm and his now bloody cane retracted into it.
The wind around them had suddenly grown aggressive as the man released his aura that he had been concealing for long, unknown to them. A short blade popped out from either end of his cane which had converted itself to an ordinary stick. Special symbols that none of them had earlier noticed on his cane lit up in a golden colour.
"He sure is wealthy. His display is beginning to prove that," Cheryl said to the others as she pulled out her Rapier.
"Let's settle things as easily as eating a piece of cake and handing the sword over. Remember there's always a handsome pay," Lord Hendrix's voice calmly got to their hearing.
Max swung the beast slayer with pride before placing it against his shoulder with his head held up high. It felt so good to portray things he had only seen in movies. Perhaps being a hero was not the coolest thing. A troublemaker sounded more interesting.
"Hmph. I've never tried imagining pickles as cake before, why should I consider this as that now? Pfft, so old school," Max said in a tone that made Hendrix seem ridiculous.
Lord Hendrix smiled.
His feet flickered in a speeding movement and he appeared before Max with his weapon swinging down in the air in an attempt to finish off the annoying opponent.