Saving the Fatty

The entire group was focused on Shui who was walking by. He was completely apathetic to what they were doing, but since he didn't bother to hide his presence they caught sight of him and couldn't look away. Shui tried to keep his gaze away from them and leave, but that didn't allow him to escape. The moment they saw him, all of the women in the group were swooning over his looks, This snapped the men out of their daze and filled them with jealously.

"Hey, you!"

The man with his arm wrapped around a shapely woman, the leader of the group with dark skin and a tattoo that peeked through his bare chest, called him. Naturally, Shui ignored him, but there was already a group surrounding him at the same time as he was called. As he was coming from one trouble to another, Shui just sighed.

'I was careless.'

At first, he only looked like a pretty boy, but when Shui glared at them the group of men flinched and had to step back. Shui then looked at the man who called him.

"What do you want?"

The man wanted to prove to the women that he was much better than this guy, but the look he received forced him to reconsider. He definitely wasn't afraid of him, but even if he had the rest of the group gang up on him then the women would just look down on them.

'Yeah, we need a pretext. I'm not afraid or anything, but we can't make the first move.'

As the man wondered how he would taunt Shui into attacking one of them, the fat man on the ground noticed an opportunity and took it.

"Please, virtuous sir! You must help me!"

The fat man noticed that the group was wary of the handsome young man and since he also sensed that his true strength wasn't as his cultivation suggested, he literally crawled over to him and latched onto his leg.

"Huh? What the heck! Let go of me!"

"No virtuous sir, you must help me! You must fight against this injustice!"

With Shui's strength, just a slight shake of his foot should have been enough to shake him off, but he was still stuck to his leg. He considered seriously trying to remove him, but then he noticed something interesting about the fatty's body.

'This isn't normal fat. It's more elastic while also being tougher. And despite all this fat he's rather healthy. Is it a saint physique?'

Shui was originally just going to find the easiest way to get out of this without causing trouble, but now that the fatty interested him he changed his mind. When Shui stopped trying to remove the fatty from his leg as if he gave up, the leader of the group shouted.

"So the two of you know each other! Boys, get them!"

"Wait!"

Right after he gave the order to attack, the woman beside him wrapped her arms around him while purposefully pushing their chests together and tried to stop him. The other women who were on the sidelines also tried to appease the group.

"Haven't we beaten the fatty enough?"

"It's not like that guy did anything."

"Look at their faces, they can't be friends!"

As the women argued for them to be let go, some of the men faltered, but the leader was unmoved. He pushed the flirtatious woman off him and slapped her to the ground.

"Hmph, don't you go acting all cutesy, you're just lusting after this kid. Stay there and watch what a real man can do."

After leaving a bright red mark on the woman's face, he stepped towards Shui and the fatty. The woman looked at his back in a daze, as if she couldn't believe that he just hit her. The other women were also shocked by this and quickly backed away as he approached. A few of them felt sorry for Shui, but even these few didn't consider staying on his side. They thought he looked cute, but it wasn't enough to risk their positions for.

"Looks like your good looks won't save you."

The leader of the group swaggered towards Shui. Though he kept a smile on his face, he was still infuriated by how these fickle women tried to protect him. Shui didn't have to do anything and he was already a hated enemy.

"..."

By this time, the man and the rest of the group expected some fear to appear on Shui's face, but he was still aloof. Even when the women were trying to protect him his heart wasn't moved, so when they stopped he felt nothing. At the start, he didn't want any trouble, but now it didn't matter.

"Let us pass."

When Shui said this, the fat man clinging to him was happy that he was being included but he was sure things wouldn't be so simple. He was certain that this handsome young man had some tricks up his sleeves, but wasn't sure if he could handle the group by himself.

'If necessary I'll get up and take the beatings with him.'

However, unlike his reasonable guess, the group obeyed Shui without question.

"Huh?"

Without a single complaint, a path opened in front of Shui that he walked through while dragging the fatty along. This might have seemed like something he could have done from the start, but messing with the human mind wasn't an act Shui preferred to do frequently because there was always a chance that it might fail and there would be serious damage either to him or the one he was trying to use it on. Still as long as they were in the same realm as him, there was little chance that they could resist his manipulation.

The fat man couldn't believe that the group suddenly became obedient, so while still clinging onto Shui's leg, he checked their expressions.

'This is...'

He didn't need to use his spiritual sense, their hollow eyes were enough to guess what happened.

'Is this a charm spell or something similar? But for him to activate it without a single one resisting...'

The fat man suddenly realized that he was grabbing the leg of someone very dangerous, but he didn't dare let go. Only when they made it past the group and Shui looked at him, did the fat man quickly jump off him but kept himself kneeling on the ground.

"Thank you so much virtuous sir for saving my life. I shall do whatever it takes to return this favour."

"Really? That makes things simple then." Shui replied.

"Huh?"

When the fat man heard Shui's reply, he instantly became afraid of what he would ask of him.

'Damn me and my big mouth!'

"What's your name?"

"Fatty Zain."

"...So your name is actually fatty."

"Yes, I was very plump as child. Though it may be hard to believe now."

"Huh, well anyways, here's the deal. I want you to be my follower. If you do whatever I say and never betray me, I'll make sure you never regret it."

Rather than a single request, he was basically asking him to be a servant. Still, Fatty wondered why he didn't just 'charm' him.

'Why doesn't he just control me like he did with those guys? Does he want me to follow him of my own volition, or is he just that confident? Either way, it's not a bad deal for me since I get someone to back me up, and since he's good-looking he must know a lot of cute girls. Hmm...'

Once he made his decision, Fatty nodded and stayed on one knee and said, "Okay, from now on I will call you Boss."

Shui nodded his head at Fatty's decisiveness before taking something out of his storage ring.

"Here, take this for now."

Fatty caught the bag that Shui threw at him and found a bundle of 'Alert' talismans and some high quality spirit gems.

"Woah! This, this is ...!?"

"I'll show you how to use the talismans later. For now, follow me."

As he saw Shui start to walk away, Fatty quickly awoke from his stupor and chased after him. He had just called him Boss and was already getting this treatment so he was sure he made the right decision.