Chapter 13

"Robin do you want to play with us?"

It was early morning and the sand still kept a faint chill from last night. Robin was sitting near the "orphanage" tent and contemplating various things he had learned these days.

Maybe some of the other children believed him to be lonely so one of them invited Robin to join in on their fun. Naturally, he refused, though he did so with a smile and soft words. He appreciated the sentiment, but he'd rather be bored than go insane playing house with a bunch of munchkins.

As he watched the kid return to his friends with a dejected look on his face, Robin heard a familiar voice calling out to him.

"Oi, mutt!"

Robin's eyebrow twitched. He turned around and saw the familiar scene of Hilda being accompanied by Vance. The former seemed worried while the latter was scowling, something that Robin was accustomed to these days.

Vance was a funny little shit most of the time, but everything changed when his crush was around. Though, in a way, his jealous behavior was also quite amusing. He didn't have the heart to tell him the target of his affections was about three times his age or that she was already engaged.

Different from Vance, Hilda was becoming somewhat frustrating to be around. The girl meant well, but she was obsessed with the fact that Robin had almost no friends. She always tried to make him more social, often suggesting to other kids to invite him to their games.

It was quite bothersome, but Robin knew his behavior would be quite the red flag for most normal children. In the end, he simply tolerated this and hoped she would give up soon.

"Hello Vance, Hilda~." He said, making sure to slur his speech a bit when he spoke the girl's name.

He often did this when Vance was around for no other reason than just to mess with him. As expected, the little packet of steam grew red in the face.

"Grrr."

"Did you just growl? I thought I was supposed to do that." Robin said with a laugh.

"Boys, please. Friends shouldn't fight." Hilda said with a sigh.

That one set Vance off. "Who's friends with this weirdo!?"

"Aww, you hurt my feelings." Robin said while fully understanding that he was indeed a weirdo, but that wasn't a reason not to infuriate the boy even more.

"Shut up you girly bastard!"

"Vance, language!" Hilda admonished.

That one had actually annoyed him. It was a bit unfortunate, but Robin did have a delicate face. Couple with his frail physique and long hair he could easily be mistaken for a girl.

Vance on the other hand had a square jaw and broad forehead. Add in the blonde hair and blue eyes and he would look like the standard jock when he grew up.

They were still very young, but you could easily see how different in appearance the two of them would be. This was also one of the reasons Robin wanted some better nutrition. His face was alright even if a bit too pretty for his tastes, but his body shouldn't be anything less than strong and sturdy.

"In any case, why are you two looking for me?" Robin curiously asked.

"Today I was planning on gathering some Bee Beetles for the hunters. On my way, I stumbled across Vance here and he agreed to help me. He also said you're bored most of the time and wanted to invite you to come with us." She explained with a small smile.

"Aww Vance, you actually do care about me."

"Who cares about you!? I just thought Hilda would have an easier time if we had more people." He said flustered and avoiding eye contact.

Robin chucked and agreed to help. Petunia was feeling under the weather these days so the morning lessons were canceled. He took a sack from Hilda and the three of them set off to the neighboring sand dunes.

Bee Beetles were actually related to the unfinished lesson he had with Rick a few days ago. Their shape was similar to a rhinoceros beetle and the size was about the same. The difference lay in the fact that they were golden in color with black stripes across their carapace, hence they were called Bee Beetles.

Their livers, or at least what people around here assumed to be livers, were the central ingredient for the Yiaya's special paralytic poison. Unfortunately, the little bastards were a famous pain in the ass to catch.

Let alone the fact that they could fly, even if not very fast, but the color scheme made it a nightmare to distinguish from the sand.

They were also annoying little things that would bite and scratch you the first opportunity they got. Unfortunately, the tribe could not afford special insect catching gloves so pain was expected when hunting them.

"Ouch, violent little creature aren't you?" Robin said as he changed his hold on the Bee Beetle that had just bitten him. The wound was small, less threatening than even a paper cut, but it stung just the same.

After snapping its head, he threw it in the sack where another five of his compatriots lay. It was already noon and they had been wandering the dunes for about four hours already.

Unfortunately, they didn't have the numbers to show for it. The little buggers were hard to spot among the sand and even harder to catch without them bitting you and then running off.

With this recent addition, he had a total of six Bee Beetles which meant around ten grams of paralytic poison after processing. Hilda had ten and Vance…

"Hey Vance, how many have you got?"

"..."

"Vance?"

"...none."

Robin blinked. He was pretty sure Vance would have had more than him. He had pretty good eyesight and easily spotted them among the sand.

Robin scratched his head in confusion but refrained from asking further when, out of the corner of his eye, he saw another beetle near Vance.

"Hey, there's one right there." He pointed out.

"...you take it." Vance casually responded and refused to move an inch from his spot.

For some reason his face was pale.

---------------------

If you wish to support this story, read ahead and more please visit:

--->patre on.com/spicyfiction