The Golden Hair

Thinking of making them his disciples, Heretic Saint turned to look at Jajah as he remarked again with sneering laughter, ''That kid is also good, haha. She knows well how much of a pussy Tikbalang really is, hahaha.''

"..." The Tikbalang tried his best not to react to that maddening comment. His expression was already dark long ago. But with the help of this bastard, it only got darker. He was afraid that if this went on, he would fail to control himself as he would make a move to hit his head without warning.

So, he remained silent despite having a hard time holding his frustration in.

''Alright, alright, enough chitchat.'' Heretic Saint spoke again with a wide and excited smile. ''As all of you can see, this horse here is the sought after mythical beast, Tikbalang. And you brats are right, he is the one helping you all this while.''

His tone suddenly became sarcastic as he went on, ''Don't mind the reason, since this guy here is just too benevolent for a beast. He's doing it as a hobby.''

He scanned through their expressions and seeing that they were still listening, he continued, ''In any case, you don't need to concern yourselves on him since I already plucked his golden hair out. He doesn't have any use for you anymore.''

There was a few moments of silence before Jax, the leader of the group, replied.

''How are we supposed to believe you?'' There was an obvious doubt carried by his tone of voice. As far as he knew, Tikbalang wasn't that easy to catch. In fact, catching it was almost close to impossible, since there was only one person in the world who was ever recorded to have caught the Tikbalang.

And that was from 600 years ago, before the beginning of the Era of Mana. At that time, someone lunatic wished for a drastic change in the world so that it could contain mana and the creatures living in it could use this very mana to become entirely new different creatures.

That aside, from what Jax could see, he thought that the Tikbalang was the one who caught the man before him instead.

But that man claimed to have caught it as he had already plucked its golden hair?

But thinking about it again, he and that mythical beast were currently together. Wasn't what he said also held some truth?

Still, he couldn't deny that he still held a lot of doubts. After all, he didn't know that man. He didn't know his capability. How was he supposed to believe what he said just because he said so?

''Haha, it seems like you don't believe me.'' Heretic Saint replied with a burst of mild laughter. And with a smug smile, he added, ''Let me show you what it looks like.''

He put his hand into the pocket of his shorts and retrieved a small transparent plastic bag from it. He raised his hand for the kids to see it.

Inside the plastic bag was a thick strand of glowing golden hair, stretching 5 to 7 inches. Strangely enough, that golden hair alone contained an incredible amount of mana that could make even an ant be attracted to it.

Jax and the others were obviously taken aback. They could feel it. They didn't need to think twice or examine it to confirm the authenticity of that thing.

That must be the golden hair of the Tikbalang!

But...

Why in the world did he put such a heaven-defying treasure in a mere plastic bag? What the hell was going on in his mind? Had he gone nuts?

Jax couldn't understand the other party. He ended up scratching his head as he didn't know how to react anymore.

''But this matter is not important now,'' Seeing that all those kids had likely believed him, Heretic Saint spoke again with a faint smile. He put the plastic bag back into his pocket as if it was a thing of no importance. ''Let's set the useless matters aside and talk about something of some value.''

''I know that all of you are curious. No, you must be dying to know what really happened to you all when you guys are supposed to be dead by now.''

"..." Jax and his comrades suddenly went seriously silent. The other party was right. Although they tried to ignore it, they couldn't deny the fact that they were really eager to know what happened to them.

Heretic Saint grinned now that he had finally caught their full attention. He continued doing his pose earlier as he again spread his arms wide.

Then with a smug face, he spoke again, ''As I said before, you brats have already died. But because of me, all of you got revived. Don't you think it's only right for you little brats to return the favor?''

''...'' For a few moments, Jax and the others were silent. They scrutinized the man before them, but no matter how they looked at him, he only seemed like an ordinary person.

But their guts were telling them not to be deceived by mere appearance.

This man must not be as simple as he seemed!

Although they didn't know how he pulled such a trick to revive them, it was still the fact that they got revived. And they should at least listen to what this man was asking from them.

''So, you want us to accept you as our master?'' Jax finally responded with a question. According to what he heard from this man earlier, he wanted them to become his disciples.

Although he didn't know what made him interested in them.

''Exactly,'' Heretic Saint replied. The bright smile on his face was just as if the smile of an expert swindler.

And Jax suddenly felt like running away now.

But he persisted and acted calmly to find out more about that man.

''But why?'' Jax then asked seriously as he narrowed his eyes slightly and added, ''We are but a mere band of thieves. We make a living through this dirty work. We're nothing special. Rather, we are hated and scorned. So, why would you want us to become your disciples?''

"..." For a few moments, Heretic Saint remained silent. He scanned through their expressions as he couldn't help but sigh in the end.