Fear

Ayumi was dumbfounded for a second after hearing the boy's denial. "You said it won't be enough?" She questioned as she straightened her spine in her chair.

"A thousand silver coins is enough for me; I don't need ten gold coins. Wanting more would be disrespectful to the other bodyguards."

Although Luke was a thief and hated tediously working hard, he respected those who worked honestly, even though he always robbed the city guards. And he didn't understand economics as well as Meredith, but Luke knew that each gold coin was worth the equivalent of five hundred silver coins, so they had high value.

"So, what kind of service will it be?" The half-wolf questioned the Matriarch, who gave a charming smile after hearing this. 

*

— Three days passed after the day of the test. —

The Strogueher selection was a recurring topic, mainly because they rejected an S-Class, but the result passed on to the public was not the truth. 

"Did you hear that the Champion of the Tournament of Legends was hired by the Strogueher family?"

"Ah, man! This life is so unfair! I wish I had been born as rich and talented as her."

In Oukiwa's commercial center, two street vendors were chatting during a rest break.

"Excuse me, sorry to disturb your rest. Are you still selling that communication necklace?" Matthew asked the dwarf, whose eyes sparkled, as that would be his first sale of the day.

"Yes, yes, yes!"

"I want to buy si—"

"What are you doing?" Meredith questioned after pulling Matthew.

"Uff! I'm just buying."

"We can't afford six communication necklaces, you know that..." She said, trying to keep calm in public to not attract attention. "Not to mention those trinkets suck. Let's go."

The dwarf watched his first client of the day leave, and as he looked to the side, he saw his brother eating the rest of his snack. "Waaah! Why did you do that, idiot?!"

Meredith dragged Matthew to a little busy alley and inquired, concerned: 

"Why do you want to invest so much in all this? In this plan…"

The man, who already had several gray strands in his beard and hair, looked both ways before answering. "For the same reason that everyone accepted the risk of the plan. Jess finally wants to start something serious, and she asked me to get out of that life. But I'm not leaving, after all these years, with nothing."

"Psst. What are you two arguing about in public?" John asked. He came looking for his friends.

"Matthew was looking to buy six communication necklaces…" The half-fox explained the situation.

"But that would cost about eighty percent of what's in our safe. We can't risk that much. Forget about it, let's go home... Luke is waiting for us to say goodbye."

When they arrived at the shed, everyone heard Zack's loud laugh echo through the house. "Hahaha! Wasn't that a good one, Luke?" His voice came from the kitchen.

Meredith, Matthew, and John went over to see what was going on, and for the first time in their lives, they saw something they had never expected to see.

"Hehe! It was really good." Luke said with a smile on his face.

Most of the time, the half-wolf was the quiet, grumpy type; he worried easily and rarely went out for fun. The day at the bar was the first time he agreed to go out after a robbery.

Everyone in the group thought he was too serious, yet they always insisted on inviting him because he gave the group an air of security, as if any problem could be solved when he was present. For a long time, the gang had leaned on Luke's back, and this time was no different, and everyone knew it.

"Luke, are you really going?" John asked as he entered the kitchen.

"It's been three days, and I couldn't convince you guys that everything is okay?" The half-wolf asked. "I'm just going to the neighboring town; it's not like I'm leaving the mainland."

"Yes, but you will be living under the same roof as the Strogueher, who is our target."

"You know that if they suspect anything, you will die." Matthew was the most pessimistic and the most real.

"I know," Luke said and started looking at the woodstove. "But do we have any other choice? You all can't take this life anymore, and there's never been a greater opportunity than this to get rich, very rich."

The silence lasted for a few seconds, and just as Meredith was ready to rebut again, the shed door opened. "I'm home!" shouted Ynosuke from the doorway. 

"We're in the kitchen!" warned Zack.

When Ynosuke appeared over the kitchen doorway, he held a thin and long package covered with cardboard. The long-haired man looked at Luke and said nothing, just held out the package with both arms to the half-wolf.

"What's that?" Luke inquired.

"Open it, and you will discover," Ynosuke replied with a smile.

Everyone was quiet and waited anxiously for the half-wolf to open the present. Then Luke opened the package. When placed on the wooden kitchen table, to the others, it seemed much heavier than it looked while Ynosuke and Luke held it.

The wooden table wobbled when the half-wolf placed the package on it. He slowly unwrapped the gift. When opened, everyone could see a sword whose hilt looked like a dragon's head, and the blade was capped by a cheap sheath.

"I've never seen you using a weapon, so I assumed this one would suit you," Ynosuke said, looking shy for the first time since joining the gang. "Sorry, I don't have a belt to carry it."

"Thank you very much, Ynosuke. That is a beautiful weapon." Luke thanked him. Among thieves refusing a gift was not allowed.

"Come on, open it soon," Zack asked, eager to see the blade of the sword.

Without delay, Luke rose from his chair, raised the sword high, and drew it. The slightly curved blade of the sword, and very sharp, gleamed in the dim flame of the woodstove.

At that moment, Luke knew that he would have to make some modifications to make the weapon suit his fighting style, but he decided that he would definitely use it.

"Thanks again so much; it will be very useful inside the Dungeons."

"Ah, man... I can hardly believe she hired you to enter the newly discovered Dungeons in Vasconcelos." John said, upset. He had always wanted to enter a Dungeon; however, he was too weak to enter an even F-Class one.

"I will go only to protect Ayumi's daughter. I'm not going to battle against bosses," spoke Luke, trying to appease John.

______

Discord for illustrations of the characters: 

https://discord.gg/qz2vDAn7Kb