Itou Merchant Group
About an hour after Chang Guan entered the waiting area, a clerk entered the waiting room and announced,
"Excuse me, I'm looking for Chang Guan, Hideki Yamashita & Yoshida Taiki. Your employer is here and wants to meet you."
Following the short message, the clerk hurried out of the room and returned to his desk. 3 men, including Chang Guan, stood up at around the same time and headed towards the exit.
Of the 2 men who weren't Chang Guan, one was a big and burly man with a giant axe on his back, and the other was a tall man with a sword hanging around his waist.
After giving the 2 men a quick glance, Chang Guan tried to estimate their power. On a scale from 1 - 10, with 1 being a normal civilian, the burly man was a 4 and the tall man was a 3.
Since he had already judged their capabilities, Chang Guan had no reason left to care about them and was the first to leave the waiting room.
The moment they left the waiting room, they met a young man, he seemed about 18 years old and was dressed like a knight. His eyes contained an easily discernable disdain, and as he was examining the 3 of them, he scoffed and said arrogantly,
"Alright, listen up! My name is Itou Hachirou and I am your leader for this mission, this means you listen to my orders! You will be the bodyguards of the Itou Merchant Group, and I won't tolerate any slacking."
Chang Guan observed Itou Hachirou, and thought, `Hmm, a 7? Not bad´.
That's right, this Itou Hachirou was, on a scale from 1 - 10, a 7. Of course, on the same scale, Chang Guan counted as at least 100, but for a pure mortal, this sort of strength would be close to the peak of power, capable of killing a small battalion by himself. After a closer look, however, Chang Guan was surprised to notice that Itou Hachirou was actually classified as a Cultivator.
Although Chang Guan noticed his strength and didn't care about his behavior, It wasn't the same for the other 2 men. Of which the burly one was furious and roared,
"You dare to insult me!"
And reached out his hand in order to choke Itou Hachirou. However, the moment the hand was about to reach his neck, it was cut by Itou Hacirou. The slash was so fast that it would appear invisible to any ordinary person. Of course, Chang Guan easily saw the sword but made no effort to block it for the burly man; Why should he?
"ARGGHHHHHH!"
The burly man yelled in agony, continued with,
"How dare yo-"
But he was broken off mid-sentence by Itou Hachirou, who coldly said,
"Hideki Yamashita, was it? I suppose now would be a good time to tell you that it would be best for you to leave. After all, we can't bring crippled people with us on our important journey. We also won't be giving you any compensation since you haven't done anything to deserve it."
Hideki Yamashita was the name of the burly man, and as he heard those words his face became pale and he began begging Itou Hachirou,
"Wa - Wait, Sir, Please! I have a wife and kid at home, please have mercy! If I can't bring any money to them we'll starve, please let me come with you! I beg you!"
But despite his pleading, Itou Hachirou completely ignored him and instead looked over at Chang Guan and the tall man, Yoshida Taiki, and said,
"I hope that will serve as a lesson for you; don't step out of line! All right, follow me and I'll take you to the Itou Merchant's caravan."
Chang Guan and Yoshida Taiki followed Itou Hacirou. Yoshida Taiki looked over at Itou Hachirou, and then at Chang Guan, who was completely calm, and whispered,
"Hey, Chang Guan, I'm Yoshida Taiki, but you can just call me Taiki."
Chang Guan silently stared at him for a moment before answering,
"Chang Guan. Nice to meet you."
And then broke eye contact, clearly unwilling to continue the conversation. After a few minutes of walking, Itou Hachirou finally came to a stop in front of a group of carriages. There were 3 in total, with one clearly being higher quality than the other 2, probably for the Itou Merchants, and one was fully loaded with tradeable goods.
This left only one empty, which was probably for the 2 adventurers, Chang Guan and Yoshida Taiki. Their suspicions were quickly confirmed, as Itou Hachirou declared,
"You see the empty carriage, that one's for the 2 of you. It should be quite spacious seeing it was meant for 3 of you."
Chang Guan glanced at Itou Hachirou and wordlessly entered the carriage Yoshida Taiki Followed nervously and it was only when he was aboard the carriage that he began relaxing.
===
Inside of the high-quality carriage sat a middle-aged man and a young girl, about 11 years old. This was the head of the Itou Merchant Group, Itou Ueda, and his daughter, Itou Ayaka.
Itou Ueda was reading a fairytale to her when suddenly a young man, Itou Hachirou, entered the carriage.
Upon seeing him enter, Itou Ueda's eyes brightened and he said,
"Hachirou! How did it go?"
"*sigh*, I ended up having to deal with one of them, but luckily the other two were compliant. It's just..."
"Hmm? Just what?"
"I just have a weird feeling about one of them, the one called Chang Guan."
As he heard this, Itou Ueda's expression became serious, as he replied,
"Did you did you notice anything off about him?"
"No, he seemed about as strong as the other one, but I don't know, I just have this gut feeling that he isn't ordinary."
Then, he bitterly smiled and said,
"Maybe it's just my imagination."
"I hope so."
After a moment of silence, both of them took a deep sigh. It was at this moment that Itou Ayaka innocently said,
"Hachirou, play with me."
This innocent comment instantly eased up the mood, as Itou Hachirou started playing with Itou Ayaka.