All the villagers' mouths were gapping when they saw Rasmus in his crimson red suit, black shirt, black trousers, and loafers. They had never seen that kind of fashion before, not to mention the villagers only wore simple clothes. Their focus was divided between Rasmus and Videl, a man that they had never seen before.
"Good God! Look at you!" Eduard was chuckling and shaking his head in disbelief when he looked at Rasmus's appearance. "Where did you get those?!" he looked at Rasmus from his loafers up to his suit.
"Made it myself," Rasmus answered with a faint smile on his face.
"You're joking? I didn't know you had talent in tailoring," Eduard crossed his arms, amazed by Rasmus's talents. He then glanced at Videl and immediately furrowed his brows. "And who's that guy behind you?" he arched his brows.
"My butler, Videl. You don't want to know, Eduard," Rasmus answered with a hint of warning.
Eduard raised his hands as he nodded slightly.
"Put your belongings in the wagon, we'll be leaving in a minute," Eduard said and then went to check the goods that he was going to sell in the capital city.
Rasmus and Videl got into the wagon and the villagers were looking at them with confused looks on their faces. They wondered where Rasmus was going since he hadn't said anything to them. Until Sinclair, Cinder, and Abigail approached the wagon and looked up at Rasmus.
"Sir, where are you going?" Sinclair asked.
"Are you going to the capital city?" Cinder asked.
"Are you leaving us?" Abigail frowned.
Rasmus smiled as he patted the girls' heads gently.
"Yes, I'm leaving, and no, I'm not going to be in the capital," Rasmus answered as he looked at them with a warm gaze and smile. "Your teacher will be teaching up there," he pointed at the sky.
The three girls looked up and confused for a moment until Sinclair gasped, her eyes wide open.
"You're going to teach in the Gratlan Academy?!" Sinclair shouted, and her voice was heard by the villagers.
Everyone gasped when they found out that Rasmus was going to teach at the Gratlan Academy, the most prestigious academy in the whole of Neva. They immediately approached the wagon and congratulated him. They were all so happy for him.
"You good back there?" Eduard laughed as he looked at Rasmus from over his shoulder, holding the reins. "We are leaving."
As soon as the wagon began to move, everyone waved their hands, waving their handkerchief at Rasmus. Videl watched Rasmus smile, but it was an empty one. He could see that Rasmus didn't hold any lingering feelings for them.
"So heartless," Videl chuckled as he kept staring at Rasmus.
"Look yourself in the mirror before you talk," Rasmus said under his breath as he made himself comfortable in the wagon.
The wagon took a detour as Rasmus requested to another village where Malric and his friends lived. They took the shortest path which was going through a forest rather than going around it. It was a bit dangerous because there were bandits who robbed merchants, but Eduard knew that Rasmus could deal with them.
An hour had passed and the forest was so dense that the sunlight barely reached the ground. The wagon abruptly stopped as the horses began to neigh. Eduard looked at the surrounding trees and then he saw people coming out and blocking his path.
"Eduard! Long time no see..." Malric said as he held an axe, a smirk painted on his face.
Eduard gave a stoic expression and then looked at the other bandits, realizing some of them were Malric's friends. In his mind, he was smiling widely because he never expected the bandits that stopped him to be the people that Rasmus was looking for.
"So you became a bandit now?" Eduard asked, keeping his stoic face.
"Yeah! It's fun and makes me fucking rich!" Malric laughed as he rested the axe on his shoulder. "But what are you doing here, huh? You're smart enough to not use this path, and yet you did," he raised his brows.
Before Eduard could open his mouth, Rasmus tapped his shoulder and revealed himself to Malric and his friends. At that moment Eduard knew that he was no longer involved in whatever was going to happen, keeping his mouth shut.
Malric furrowed his brows when he looked at Rasmus, but then he raised his brows, surprised to see the drastic change in Rasmus's appearance. He remembered Rasmus was skinny and weak, but this time Rasmus had gained more weight and visible muscles underneath his suit.
"Wow, look at this kid..." Malric chuckled as he looked at Rasmus from top to bottom. "Living a good life, eh? Looks like you have something nice with you," he looked at the shiny wristwatch on Rasmus's wrist.
Rasmus didn't say a word as he jumped down from the wagon, walking toward Malric and his friends. He looked at the bandits one by one, remembering their faces.
"Give me that thing," Malric reached out his hand at Rasmus as he swung his axe.
Rasmus looked at Malric's palm and he immediately gathered Mana on it. A fireball formed above Malric's palm, and it shocked him. Before he could retract his arm, the ball exploded, blowing his hand off.
"Fuck!" Malric screamed his lungs out in pain as blood dripped and went down to his knees, gripping his arm tightly.
The other bandits, including Malric's friends, began to raise their weapons and charged toward Rasmus. Rasmus clenched his right fist and a lightning bolt appeared on top of one of them and traveled through the others, hitting them in the chest.
Eduard and Malric who witnessed what had just happened were completely shocked that their eyes and mouths were wide open. The moment Rasmus moved his head toward Malric, that was when Malric fell on his back, trying to run away but his legs were weak because of fear.
The dead bodies of the bandits suddenly caught on flame and Malric began to scream for help as he crawled with his elbows. The pain was no longer his concern, his only purpose was to run away, but suddenly Rasmus blocked his path.
"Please... spare my life..." Malric went on his knees as he looked up at Rasmus. "I beg you! Please!" his voice was shaky and weak similar to his condition. His body was covered in dirt and his own blood.
Rasmus stared down with a stoic expression and slowly grabbed Malric's axe from the ground. He lifted the axe and swung it horizontally, decapitating Malric's head then incinerated the body with fire magic just like he did to the rest of them.
Eduard was petrified after he watched how sadistic Rasmus was. He never thought behind that pretty face of Rasmus, there was a sadistic side inside it. He had never seen anyone that heartless and sadistic in his whole life.
When Rasmus walked toward the wagon, he stopped right in front of the horses, staring right into Eduard's eyes.
"You didn't see anything, right?" Rasmus asked with his brows raised, his eyes cold and empty.
"Y-yeah... I didn't see anything..." Eduard nodded repeatedly, his voice shaky.
"Good," Rasmus floated and landed on the wagon. "Let's turn around since we don't need to visit the village anymore," he smiled, staring at Eduard from behind, giving Eduard a chill down his spine.
Eduard could only nod repeatedly, guiding the horses to turn around with his trembling hands.
Rasmus sighed as he made himself comfortable in the wagon. He looked at Videl who couldn't stop grinning widely at him. He raised his brows, questioning Videl's expression, and Videl only chuckled in approval.
There was only silence on their journey to the capital city.