Chapter 2: Thieving Friend? What a joke!

Crunch!

"Thank you for your purchase. Please come again, young lad," the elderly man behind the store front bowed to a young man in his 20's in goodbye. The violet purple pupils of the young man were soft as he too bid his farewells to the old man with a wave of his hand.

Walking off, the young man was heading to no specific destination. It has been three days since the annually held New Year's Festival that continues from before the New Year's to a day after, had passed. Abner had traveled to a town near the Capital before it ended and was starting to feel a little bored. Although he knows his goal as of now is revenge...how could he get started if he doesn't know where exactly to begin?

Taking another bite out of the yummy red apple he got for a discounted price because of the New Year's, Abner hummed in both distress of his situation and enjoyment of his delicious apple thinking that he should buy apples from that old man next time as well before heading out of town.

But first, before everything else, he needs to find a way to get more money. Tilting his head downwards, Abner directed his gaze to his waist. Using his left hand, he squeezed the bag containing all the money he had currently. It was only enough to last for less than a week and that's only if he eats one meal a day—a small one.

Walking down the dirt road, Abner strolled around aimlessly for hours. Accumulating slowly, the few people on the streets in the early morning had gradually increased greatly by the time afternoon was near. Families were starting to prepare food for lunch, causing the market to become overcrowded.

Squeezing here and there, there was hardly any room left to breathe. One can only wonder if this is a common occurrence during before-meal hours.

While Abner was in the midst of being shoved by someone among the flood of people, he suddenly felt a breeze by his side. Looking at his waist, Abner found his money bag missing.

Instead of being enraged at the thief, Abner only smiled mildly.

"Because this is not the Slums I have accidentally let down my guard. I can't forget that pocket pickers and thieves still exist outside of my hometown," Abner said as his mild smile turned bigger and bigger until it became a grin. Abner could feel his blood boiling and his nerves jump in excitement.

Unknowingly, the thieving person had foolishly stolen from a dormant beast. Regret in the future will not help lighten his burdens.

"I guess it can count as a workout...I needed to run more anyways." Saying that, Abner chased after the person. Although the other party had already gotten far away, it was no problem for Abner. To Abner who is not lacking when it comes to tracking a person and tailing them, even if his running is slower than the other party, he won't lose track of him.

"Huff! I have been exercising...huff...for the past three days but nothing significant can...change about this weak...chicken body!" Ever since leaving the Capital and even on the road to this large town, Abner has been exercising daily in order to tone up his new body.

Coincidentally, Abner found out that this body is very suitable for learning fighting and killing techniques and has great aptitude for martial arts. Subsequently, a seed of doubt was sowed in Abner's mind as to why this body full of great potential was never trained. But he dismissed it since thinking about it would yield no result when he knew nothing about the original owner of the body.

Pushing aside his distracting thoughts, Abner concentrated his all into chasing the inane thief.

Running like the wind, the thief exhibited extraordinary speed, astonishing Abner who was always a distance away behind the green-haired thief.

"Woo! Watch it!"

"Ahh! My fruits!"

Angry voices and aggrieved tones all mixed together to create a discordant melody. The thief seemed clumsy as he kept on bumping into people's carts and stalls and even their baskets, knocking down tons of merchandise and stalls as they rolled onto the open road. It slowed down his speed slightly. The other might appear clumsy and careless in his rush to get away but every one of his moves held a specific purpose. 

He aimed to slow down Abner by introducing obstacles to his path.

However, out of all expectations, Abner easily jumped over or avoided the incoming objects and fruits and smoothly continued to chase after the green-haired thief. With far more ease than the green-haired thief, leaving the latter stunned in his heart.

A distance away in front of Abner, the green-haired thief wanted to swear, looking back behind him, he could still see the faint figure of a young man chasing closely behind him. No matter how many obstacles he threw his way the other just wouldn't relent. No matter which direction he went or how abruptly he changed angles, he couldn't shake him off. He should be getting irritated, however, he couldn't help but become excited seeing the strange guy's outstanding ability to track him even when he's always lagging behind and unable to catch up.

In the middle of fleeing, the green-haired thief looked back to check on Abner and unknowingly closed in on an old lady who was walking out of the corner of a street in front of him carrying ingredients for lunch. When he had looked forward again, it was already too late to stop himself. So the green-haired thief's body unintentionally collided with her, the impact had knocked the old lady off her feet and the basket with ingredients launched into the sky. Thankfully nothing broke, only her mental state was a bit shaken.

"Ah crap!" The green-haired thief wanted to turn around and help the old lady up but when he saw the incoming Abner, he didn't dare to waste time and immediately continued to run three steps at a time. So with guilt padding his heart, the green-haired thief resolutely took off.

When Abner finally caught up to where the thief had stopped for a brief second, instead of carrying on with his pursuit, Abner slowed down to a halt and bent down to help the disoriented old lady back onto her feet. The old lady profusely thanked him for his kindness.

Abner also assisted in picking up her fallen basket and the fruits and vegetables that were dropped and spilt all over the street.

While Abner was helping the old lady, the green-haired thief had disappeared far off into the distance; his figure couldn't be seen anymore.

So when Abner had finally finished helping the old lady, there was no way Abner could continue to pursue him, not when he didn't even know which direction he had gone in. But he doesn't regret stopping to aid an old grandmother who was going home to cook lunch for her grandchildren—something he found out from the old grandmother herself. It's just that ration will become a problem since he is now officially broke.

As if sensing Abner's distress, the old grandmother said, "Young man, thank you for helping this poor old woman. I am sorry if I caused you trouble. You were chasing the person who had bumped into me, am I right?"

Abner nodded, and spoke, "It's no trouble, old lady, it was nothing too big. No need to worry, I am just glad you are fine." And that was the truth. More than catching a thief, or filling his stomach, he prefers people like this kind old lady to stay safe. As it was also partly his fault that the old lady was involved, Abner was even more stubborn in helping her.

The kind old grandmother's eyes softened. She was touched as she can feel the complete sincerity in the young lad's voice. She had never seen such a sweet and kind young man like Abner before. Because Abner had helped her, her favorability towards him was high to begin with, now her favorability increased again. His honesty and sincerity raised her view of him even more and made her take a particular liking to the young man.

The old lady smiled, the skin around her eyes wrinkling, "Come, young man. Let me show you my thanks. I'm about to prepare lunch for my family, you are very welcome to join us."

At first, Abner wanted to refuse. After all, in this age where the Royal family is pressing down on their citizens more heavily than in the past, it is hard to earn a lot of income and have enough food to eat. So with an additional person, even if it's only once, the old grandmother's family would be burdened to feed him. And Abner does not want to burden them. But then with the old grandmother's persistent and unrelenting persuasion, Abner soon caved in and went to the old grandmother's family to have a meal. At which he was warmly welcomed by the rest of the family.

☀️☀️☀️☀️☀️☀️☀️☀️☀️☀️

By a lakeside in the dark of night. Humans and animals alike were deep asleep and dreaming of sweet dreams. Only nocturnal beasts and pesky night-calling insects like frogs and crickets were active in the moonlit night. A night owl perched onto the branch of a large tree grown near the lake and gave out a low "who" sound. Adding another melody to the orchestra of the night.

With everything seemingly at rest and in peace, there was a slight disturbance by the lake some minutes away from the large town Abner was in earlier in the day.

Dangerous, bulky men with muscles and sneers and scowls on their faces were spotted at the lakeside. The atmosphere was heavy and drenched in tension. Their moods were all agitated like stirred beasts. The one man in the lead growlingly spoke, "Green-haired bast**d! We've finally tracked you down! You better return the things you had stolen, or else!!" The man cracked his knuckles and glowered hatefully at the person in front of him so fiercely that if looks could kill, the other party would already be six feet deep into the ground.

Though the other was not killed by the man's glare, he was truly feeling the pressure. His cold sweat had long drenched his clothes wet, but he can only forcefully sketch a smile on his face. This person being cornered and surrounded by about 10 menacing men was the same green-haired thief from back in the afternoon who was persistently chased by Abner.

"Woo, brother, calm down. I...think you mistook me for someone else, I've never met you before," the green-haired thief, Arlo, hurriedly tried to get himself out of this mess. On the surface he wore a puzzled and sincere look, however, on the inside, he was cursing up a storm in frustration and indignation. He couldn't believe that these dumbos could actually find him when the Ever Kingdom was so wide. He was flaming on the inside.

'All I "took" from them was just their leader's broken sword, it wasn't even worth that much! And I might've wiped their layer clean of anything especially valuable, but that's no reason to chase me all the way here! It's not like I killed their ancestor!'

In reality, the "broken sword" Arlo mentioned that he took from this bandit group's leader was actually the sword used by the bandit head of all the previous generations, and it is definitely worth a lot symbolically. Except that because Arlo had stolen from so many different places and from so many different people, he judged that since that sword couldn't compare to the value of the least valuable treasure he had stolen, it wasn't worth much.

Someone might ask why such a talented and brilliant thief would become a pocketpicker? The reason was very simple and stupid. He had done it on a whim—and he acts on a lot of whimsical choices so he tends to get in trouble often. However, he had always somehow escaped with his life and body intact.

Not this time, however.

It seems that this time Arlo will not be getting off easy.

"Mistook? You think I, we would mistake you for someone else. You have the same disgusting green hair color and irking voice as him! You think I would mistake that!" The leading man yelled as his anger peaked, the veins on his arms and forehead bulged. The men behind him all made noises of acknowledgement.

How could they forget him!? Because of this jerk, they had to suffer their leader's wrath! Spending countless sleepless nights and tiring days searching for him.

They all gritted their teeth in resentment as their anger and hatred soared as they were reminded of what they had gone through all because of this infuriating jerk!

At this point in time, Arlo can only pray to the Lord.

Somewhere far from the scene, a lone figure walked leisurely on the road outside the large town, heading in the lake's direction. The closer he got to the lake, the more curious he became. He could hear people's voices nearby that were getting progressively louder the closer he neared the lake.

Soon he will be arriving at the clearing before the lake. So before he did, he found a tall tree with wide and thick branches and countless leaves and silently climbed onto one of its larger, steadier branches to view the scene beside the lake while hiding his presence. Lo and behold, he saw numerous large and muscular men surrounding a single, skinny man. And to his surprise, the man being surrounded had forest-green hair.

A pair of violet purple eyes gleamed in the dark.

Arlo was a thief, a great thief, but he's no fighter. But he has to fight even if he can't. What can he do besides that when he's surrounded by vengeful bandits who won't let him go?

So readying his heart and calming his tense nerves, Arlo gulped as he watched the men before him closely for their first move.

"Brothers! Beat him up until he spits out where our leader's treasure is!" The leading man growled his final words out before charging wildly at Arlo, his wide and broad sword swinging and cutting the air into slices. His swordsmanship was fast and reckless, and more accurately, uncultured. However, because of his brute strength and Arlo's almost non-existent fighting skills, he seemed rather frightening.

Although Arlo had faced this type of situation many times in the past, he can never get used to seeing someone trying to kill him. He really does wonder why he never learned how to fight.

'Ah...That's right. I was too lazy to learn.' Arlo can only blame himself for being too lazy and his idiotic complacency about his survival skills in dangerous situations such as the present one. Thinking that all he needed to know was how to dodge others and escape.

But unfortunately for him, there is no such thing as medicine for regret.

"Roar!!" All the men behind the leading man followed suit his actions and swung their swords at Arlo like unleashed wild beasts.

Whoosh!

Hoo!

Dud!

Nimbly, Arlo successfully dodged and avoided every attack coming at him. He was lucky that he had a natural-born flexible body that he did not have to train hard for, or else he wouldn't know how many times those giant swords would have slashed and sliced his body into pieces.

A sword abruptly came from above. Arlo crouched down to dodge. Then another sword came swinging at him from below up. Arlo hurriedly jumped. But then yet another sword slashed at him in the air resulting in Arlo having to also turn sideways while in the air. This was a difficult and high-level move that most people could never pull off, but miraculously, Arlo managed to actually accomplish it while he simultaneously kicked the underling.

"No fair. Ganging up on me, huh. Humph!"

Then when Arlo finally thought he could relax for at least a second, a fourth sword came into the mix while he was still high in the air, this unexpected development again left him with no room to breathe. Performing all these high-level aerobic moves that require laser-sharp concentration needs massive amounts of energy—and he was about to become drained. Taking in a sharp breath, Arlo braced himself and fell down. When he was near the fourth sword, he controlled every fiber in his leg carefully as he stepped on the side of the sword and, using that as leverage, jumped high into the air once again, but this time, he turned to get out of the encirclement.

Sadly for him, he didn't succeed. The leading man had a lucky stroke and managed to stop him, ruining Arlo's chance to escape.

High above in a tree, Abner was watching everything happening in amusement.

"Although that thief can't fight, he can dodge and move his body very well—even in midair," Abner commented in praise. Then he wondered if he should interfere.

"Hmm," his eyes glazed over in thought, "Although this body is still lacking sufficient strength, it is adapting very well to my soul and is very flexible and nimble in movement. If I only aim at their weak spots and fatal points, I should be easily able to get rid of them. It could also count as training since I am lacking someone to spar with."

Thinking like so, Abner jumped down out of his hiding spot and somersaulted his landing to cushion his fall.

Thud!

His movement was smooth and swift, yet because this body is still like that of a novice, a loud sound was created from his landing, directing the attention of the fighting men to look his way. Including Arlo who is currently on the ground once again.

'Well, that wasn't quite the entrance I had expected,' Abner humored to himself, 'but it wasn't as bad as it could've been for a weak-chicken body. At the very least, I did not faceplant myself onto the ground.'

Ignoring the gazes that landed on him, he slowly walked forward. Whether it was the bulky men's cautious and predatory eyes or the sudden recognition in Arlo's eyes, he ignored them all as if they didn't exist. He only focused on walking forward.

The silence that had abruptly settled in was abruptly disrupted by an impatient man—the leading man. "Punk, get away before I go berserk and kill you. You better act as if you've seen nothing!" Although he seemed like he was acting thoughtlessly and appeared bold, in truth, the leading man was also very wary of this intruder who had suddenly appeared from a tree. It must mean that he had been watching them for a while now yet he didn't sense his presence at all. This had caused his senses to ring in alarm and his guts gave him a bad feeling about this.

Abner smiled lightly, as if what he was seeing wasn't at all a bunch of men trying to murder a single man. He opened his mouth and spoke in a laughing tone, "What if I refuse?"

Abner's answer infuriated the leading man, especially with his laughing tone as if laughing at him.

The leading man said through clenched teeth, "You had better not regret enraging this wild beast!"

Abner only shrugged in response.

Finally, the man snapped, "Men, get that green-haired bast**d and make sure he can't escape! I'll take this arrogant little brat on myself!"

"Yes, sir!" The men shouted in unison as they resumed swinging and slashing their swords at Arlo.

The leading man's attention turned back to Abner, he smirked as he pointed his broad sword at him. "Little brat, you're going to regret messing with me while I was still being nice." In reply, Abner only gave a smirk of his own. However, Abner was not sure if he can defeat this guy, his stamina and strength are both below the other in the end.

There was one way Abner thought of to kill this man and the men with him. Pressure points. If he can successfully hit on the right pressure points with the precise strength needed, this fight will be a lot easier.

So to end this faster, Abner made the first move.

The leading man raised one of his eyebrows in surprise, "Quite daring, are we now?"

Without answering, not even making a sound in acknowledgement, Abner shot towards the leading man with his fastest speed. Reaching him in seconds, Abner was met with a blade.

Clang!

The loud screeching sound of metal against metal resounded out in the surroundings. The leading man looked surprised at the dagger in Abner's hand that he never realized the other party had. But dismissing it, he lifted his sword and sliced down.

Abner again met with the incoming blade, his arm trembling at the huge pressure it was resisting against. He gritted his teeth, he couldn't let this continue. As was said before, Abner was currently lacking in both strength and stamina; he would eventually deplete faster than the opponent, so he can't waste his energy like this.

Doing a bold move, Abner swiftly retreated a few steps back and launched himself forward. The man thought he was repeating the same move as before—but he was wrong. Instead of going head to head with his opponent, Abner dodged the sword and headed straight to the man's side. Acting as quickly as possible, he took this brief moment of surprise to press a pressure point to numb the man's arm. And then using that opportunity to kick with the weight of his body at the broad sword in the man's hand. Although it was a risky move, it paid off as the sword was knocked out of the man's hand and landed far away from where they were.

This bold move had given Abner a higher chance at victory. So from then on, Abner wasn't as cautious as before when the man had his sword. He began pressing more and more fatal pressure points on the man's body, making the man numb or paralyzed for a few seconds. Of course the man wouldn't just let him do what he wanted, so he always tried to punch and kick him off or to distance himself. All this had tired him out. Similarly, Abner was also nearing his limits.

Letting out an enraged roar, the man again charged at Abner like the numerous times when he couldn't control his temper anymore due to irritation. The fight was about to come to an end.

It was at that exact moment. Mysteriously, it seemed as if Abner was given a boost of strength, but he suddenly charged at the man the same time the man had charged at him. It was as if they both knew their fight was about to end and the victor would be decided in this one last exchange.

Showing matchless strength, Abner dodged and parried every one of the man's attacks. 

An opening!

Finally Abner struck down a truly fatal blow when he saw the weakened defense at the man's heart after all the attacks were blocked. 

He stabbed his sharp dagger into the man's heart and twisted the blade after it went in while flipping himself into the air and landing back down on the ground before the man. But not before he gave two quick hits on another pressure point that dealt the final fatal blow.

Drops of crimson blood mixed with black dripped onto the grassy ground beside the lake, changing the color of the blades of grass. The rest was quickly absorbed by the never-sated earth, always thirsty for more.

The man opened his mouth to say something, but not a single word or sound came out. Before long, the man slowly kneeled down and fell face first onto the ground—dead. 

All this happened in only minutes. Very concentrated minutes.

And while Abner's fight was happening, the poor Arlo was still painfully and tiredly dodging and avoiding every attack headed his way. He really was at his very limit. More and more wounds appeared on his body, his clothes cut. If he has to carry on with this for another minute, he'll become a human skewer.

When the sound of a dead person dropping onto the ground was heard, Arlo finally took a breather only to gasp in surprise at what he saw. He couldn't believe his eyes!

Neither can the men. 

All of them uniformly looked at the dead body of the man who had died in the fight unexpectedly. They had been full of confidence that their group leader would win against the young and pampered-looking young man.

Dumbfounded looks were on all of the man's underling's faces until a sudden realization hit them. Looking in Abner's direction, all they could see was a calm young man who looked like he still had energy left to take care of some leftovers. This caused the small fries to become frightened. So even without anyone saying anything, they all scattered and scampered away in different directions as a result of losing their commander. None were willing to stay and avenged their group leader.

Stay? Why would they stay? They don't want to die!

Loyalty? What the heck is loyalty? Never heard of it!

Abner sighed secretly in relief. 'If those men didn't leave, I think my only choice would've been to run. I honestly don't have any more stamina to go against them anymore. Merely fighting their leader already exhausted all of my strength.'

Seeing that they were all gone, Abner finally relaxed and sat down on the grassy floor. While resting his body and regulating his breath, Abner looked up and saw the approaching Arlo. He smiled in amusement even in his tired state. 

Although Arlo is a thief and has stolen great treasures countless times, he still had his morals and principles, and since this young man had saved him, he would by all means give him his most sincere thanks. It was just that it was a bit awkward since Arlo remembered that this was the young man he had pickpocketed earlier in the day. 

However, Arlo soon threw those thoughts he deemed useless aside. He had a thick face and was unashamed of it!

"Little brother, thank you for your life saving grace. Sorry for the wrong I have done to you in the past. Here is the bag of money I took from you this afternoon," Arlo said without blushing as he handed the money bag that belonged to Abner back to its rightful owner.

Abner took back the money bag and placed it back at his waist belt. Then he looked at Arlo with concealed amusement, clearly enjoying this guy's blatant shamelessness.

Arlo talked on, "For your life-saving grace, I have decided to repay you by becoming friends with you. From now on, we will be friends! Please take care of me!" He declared loudly with the widest smile in the world on his brimming-with-confidence and smug face, as if becoming his friend is the greatest thing in the world.

Abner didn't speak for a moment as he considered what to say in reply, he doesn't feel as if the green-haired thief will let him refuse. The end result will most likely be the same even if he does refuse, especially since this thief is so thick-skinned from what he had seen so far. 

Abner nodded his head as he made up his mind for his next course of actions. He looked straight into Arlo's eyes and spoke these words.

"Friends with a thief? What a joke!"