Locus turned around to face the man from yesterday, who looked even bigger than before.
"That knife wasn't cheap, you know?"
Everyone present knew that this was a lie, but no one said anything.
"And what do you want me to do now?"
"Well, to begin with, you could pay me back."
It was a classical game of forcing someone to pay lots of money. By breaking the knife, Locus had given the guys a great opportunity to begin squeezing the money out of him.
"And what if I don't have money?"
The leader pointed at the katana that was tucked in Locus' belt.
"Oh, I'm sure you can afford to help us out. After all, we are your adventurer comrades."
Locus knew what was going on. He either gave them all his money, or they would attack him.
"But you were the one who attacked me. I was just defending myself."
Everyone from their group put on a confused look.
"I don't know what you're talking about. You drew your sword and attacked me. I barely survived, and my knife was broken."
The others from the group nodded.
"And how much did the knife cost?"
Genken intervened.
"Hmm, it was pretty expensive. Maybe about 50 gold?"
Locus was shocked. They weren't actually planning on trying this, right?
"If that's what it takes to satisfy you..."
Genken pulled out a pouch and opened it. Then he took out a gold coin, showed it to the guy, and tossed it back inside.
"Would this suffice?"
The man smiled.
"Do you really think this trick would work on me?"
It was true. Even Locus knew that that pouch was probably filled with copper coins.
Genken raised his eyebrows and showed the guy the pouch's content. It was actually filled with gold coins to the brim.
"Which trick? Although, if you don't want compensation anymore, I suppose that works just fine for us."
He closed the pouch and was about to put it away when the guy raised a hand as a means of stopping.
"Ah, I don't want to be mean, so let's say that it covers the expenses. For now."
Genken looked pleased. He handed the pouch to the man.
"This should be more than enough to buy yourself a knife of even better quality than before. Come, Locus, let's not bother the gentlemen any longer."
He grabbed Locus by the shoulder and dragged him outside when the ladder heard yelling from inside.
Genken chuckled.
"I gave the guy a pouch with copper coins."
Locus was confused. Again.
"But I saw that there were gold coins inside of it. How could you change that?"
Just when he said that while they turned around a corner, Locus heard the sound of the group of adventurers storming out of the guild.
"How, you ask? I'll show you how."
The group was closing in on the two. Locus trembled in fear while Genken was still looking like it was 3 am and he had just woken up.
"What are we supposed to do now?"
"Oh, don't worry. You can get rid of them when you've gotten stronger. But for now, we'll retreat."
"But how are you planning on doing that? They're right behind us!"
Genken smiled and led Locus around the next corner.
"Space is just a way for existence to shorten the time that living beings have left, making it all the more precious."
Locus' eyes were wide open as he looked at his surroundings.
Both of them were suddenly standing in the middle of the forest.