Chapter 98: Dain Kaline

Dain Kaline is a man who has experienced many things in his life, including loss of those he loved. He is a man who has aged to 43 years old and has fought in wars for his selfish country. He was just a foot soldier when he entered the military at the age of 16, and yet, by the age of 31, he became a Major General, having command of thousands of men, but even then, he was not as strong as the other generals.

He was weak compared to them. They were talented people that had achieved great success at an age earlier than his, and look at him, an untalented loser.

Then, at the age of 33, he died fighting in the war. Well, he did not technically die as he used his fellow generals' bodies as cover to play dead. Cowardly, yes, but sometimes cowardness is needed to continue on living.

But he was lost at the time, having nothing in his hands. He decided that time that he was never going back to his empire because of its endless battle with the other empire. Their war is never-ending and he doesn't want to be a part of it anymore.

One day, at the age of 34, he saw a merchant caravan having difficulties defending itself from goblins. He wanted to leave it alone, knowing that it won't benefit him even if he helped it, but his body suddenly moved on its own and helped them, regardless of his thoughts.

After the battle with the goblins, the merchant thanked him for protecting his caravan. But the merchant had nothing to give to him because he was just starting his business at the time so Dain wanted to leave it there, trying to leave, but the merchant then gave him an opportunity; an opportunity to become someone in the world.

The merchant hired him as his assistant, and he was introduced to the underground world of the Coexistence Sect.

He spent almost a decade in this place and he loved every second of it. This place was free from the usual fighting in the outside world, though, from time to time, some people would fight over some stuff but it's mostly harmless.

He was happy for some time, until the original merchant died of old age 3 years ago, and he became the successor because of his previous boss' lack of descendants. As you can see, he is very successful at managing this business, keeping it going for many years now, earning hundreds of gold notes every single day.

He managed to build 6 restaurants all over the city, each earning thousands of silver notes per day. All of the ingredients used in the restaurants come from the original shop since he buys too much vegetables and meat each month.

Overall, he earns 15,000 gold notes every month and 1/10 of that is invested in buying ingredients and items for his business. Then, he would have to pay his employees, and he has 120 of them. 60 of them are paid with 5 gold notes a month, 30 are paid with 20 gold notes a month, and the other 30 are paid with 50 gold notes a month.

More or less, he still earns 11,000 gold notes for himself. He uses that money to treat his employees sometimes for leisure stuff, such as shopping, eating out, and many other things.

Anyway, the city is very different from the sect since most people here just want peace in their life. Crime here is almost nonexistent, unlike his previous place, which was filled with crimes every single day.

In the Albion Empire, almost all soldiers are bribed by the nobles to do their bidding. Most soldiers there are corrupt, basically have no shred of kindness in their soul, and would kill strangers that didn't even do anything to them.

He wanted to do something about it but to discuss this to his fellow soldiers would not only have the government execute him for treason, they would also put him into the deepest parts of the dungeon prison the empire created for the worst of the worst before killing him. He would've died a slow and agonizing death if he tried to do something, and, as a selfish man, he chose his life over helping his people.

Even now, he still regrets not doing anything, and now, he is coming back to that same place again. It's been more than a hundredth time already but it's still hard to look at his home, his previous home. The people there are suffering, and the ruler, the Emperor, does nothing about it.

Bah, why would they care anyway? Werewolves are monsters through and through. They don't care about anything other than their instincts. They may seem like humans in their outside form, but inside, they are capable of destroying an entire kingdom in a matter of days.

Those werewolves probably just made that empire for their own self-amusement. But even then, he is too weak. He is probably but an ant in front of one of their members.

As he kept mulling about his past, he didn't notice the 5 individuals that walked into his shop.

He only snapped out of it when he heard a woman's voice say, "Uh, is this the Great Food Shop?"

(Scene Change)

When I saw the outside of the shop, it looked quite bland to me. An orange sign that says "The Great Food Shop", a pinkish screen door, a window on each side of the entrance, and some plants here and there. When I entered the shop, I saw many vegetables on each side in front of me, which were stocked into large wooden boxes. At the end of the room, I saw the clerk behind the counter, which had some candies for some reason.

The clerk was a middle aged man, having spiky brown hair, a slightly long chin, eyebrows the same color as his hair, and his most defining face feature, his dead-fish eyes that seemed to hold laziness and wisdom in them. He wore baggy clothes, yet I could see that he was hiding his physique for some reason. This guy is no push over, and no ordinary person could be a threat to him. He has more mana than the norm, and looking at the giant sword behind him, I could tell that he must've used it many times in his life because I could see the countless scratches on its blade.

"Uh, is this the Great Food Shop?" Cecelia asked, a bit unsure.

The middle aged man seemed to snap out of his thoughts, and turned to look at us, then said, "Ah, you five must be the disciples that took my mission, right?"

'Ah, so this is Dain Kaline,' I thought in realization.

The others also seem to have reached the same conclusion as I.

"Yes," Answered Cecelia.

Dain observed us for a moment, before he nodded in satisfaction, and said, forming a grin, "Good, you five are strong, especially the kid," He then looked at me, "Ah, it is my honor that the disciple of the patriarch himself has come to my aid!"

While I'm not that great in terms of observing people, I can say that this guy is most likely trying to get on my good side since, you know, he's a merchant. With my status as the only disciple of Yule Atlas, every merchant would be drooling at just the thought of getting to know me in person. Pah, they would probably offer me loads of 'gifts' just for me to advertise for them.

I mean, I don't dislike that.

"Stop the flattering, and let's get straight to the point," I said quite rudely.

Dain nodded, that grin never leaving his face, and said, "Blunt, aren't we? I like that, it doesn't waste my time." Then he took out a long list of papers, reading it for a moment, before hiding it again in his left packet, then said, "In the brief explanation of my mission description, I said that all of you are just going to protect my caravan, correct?" We nodded, "Well, that's not at all. I forgot to add that I'll also be needing you guys to help me carry all the items I'm buying in the central city of the Albion Empire since they are pretty heavy. Don't worry, I'll increase the payment by another 20 sect points to each of you. Any complaints?"

He looked at us, and we only shook our heads, making him nod in satisfaction.