"My lady! Do you know how long you've been gone? Why didn't you come back?"
A beautiful woman dressed in elegant attire suddenly appeared in the middle of the street, dispersing the crowd that had gathered around Maria. From the worried expression on her face and Maria's embarrassed reaction to the question, it was clear that they were close.
The girl had blonde hair and a wild appearance. She wore a short skirt and a blouse that exposed her stomach and shoulders. A small axe was attached to her skirt's belt, and a sword sheath was visible on her back.
She was no ordinary person. She was a warrior.
Of course, Mais didn't notice any of this. Kasuur, on the other hand, was fixated on the girl's beautiful face, staring at her like a pervert. He hadn't even realized that if he kept staring, she might kick his ass.
But Maria had. She immediately blocked Kasuur's view and stepped in front of the girl.
"Milena, these are Kasuur and Mais. They were the ones who saved my life. Kasuur, Mais, this is Milena."
Milena turned her head and glanced at Kasuur's fat, plump body with disgust. After Kasuur's excited wait, she ignored him and looked at Mais.
"Is he blind?" She said in surprise. Mais was touching the ground with his cane to walk, and with the huge sword wound on his face, it shouldn't have been too difficult to tell that he was blind.
Still, it was rude to say it so directly to his face, but Mais didn't let it spoil his smile.
"Are you Maria's servant?" he asked politely. Maria's face turned pale, and Kasuur saw no problem with being rude to the girl ignoring him. Inside that fat body was a cruel mind.
Milena's face soured. For a moment, her hand went to her axe. But then she saw Maria slowly shake her head. She looked at the children in front of her again. The fat one had a white sword on his back. The sword emitted waves of origin energy. So it was at least an Origin Weapon.
Maria said that these children saved them.
"You should talk to your father about them. Let's go now. I can't be around them anymore."
It was fortunate that she had whispered her last words. Still, a vein appeared on Mais's neck, and he was about to smash the girl's head with his staff in response to her insolence.
But this wasn't the place for it. There must be a wise person on the girl's side high enough in rank to speak so casually with Maria. Even if the White Immortal was among them, it wasn't certain that he could kill a sage. They might not even be able to escape. He suppressed his anger.
"We'll walk around the city. You go back to your father," Kasuur said. Mais should have said this, but the little boy had already turned around and started moving toward the city center.
"Ugh..."
Maria scowled and cursed behind him while Milena frowned. She didn't think she had ever seen someone so disrespectful.
When Kasuur turned around and started following Mais, Maria grabbed Milena by the chest of her dress.
Maria was so fast that all Milena could do was stare at her in shock.
"Are you trying to get yourself killed?! Do you think two little kids from the Beginning Realm are going to save you? If they were just two simple children, they would have torn you apart by now! There was a sage beast among the clothes of the blind child you mocked!"
Maria's angry curses were quiet, but they rang in Milena's ears with incredible fury. Even though Milena knew Maria said those things because she loved her, she couldn't help but be afraid. Her willpower wasn't strong enough to overcome her cultivation. A deep caste system lay within her heart. That's why she had been so disrespectful to Mais and Kasuur.
"I-I'm sorry."
Mais, who was waiting in the distance with his staff planted on the ground, couldn't help but smile after hearing these words.
"It seems you're not so tough after all."
Maria released Milena's collar. Then, she turned around and approached the fat, bald man waiting at the gate of the gray walls.
"If you don't curb your pride, your death will curse us too." God! You should have thanked them, even when I said they saved me."
***
The city could not be described as bustling. Though the buildings were only a few stories high, life here was far from harmonious with nature. There was a clear caste system between the coal miners and the gold miners. There was also a clear power dynamic. The gold mine was deeper in the forest where wild wolves with power in the Beginning Realm roamed. Despite the presence of soldiers, the excavation was not without risk as monsters could appear at any time.
None of them could be called cultivators. There were leaders among them, however, who were cultivators. The miners relied on their extraordinary physical strength.
"There's a crowd ahead, Mais."
Kasuur put his hand on Mais's shoulder. They were walking down a street lined with buildings when they saw a crowd gathered at the door of a tavern. The crowd was made up of miners, not their families. Of course, there were also ordinary people among them.
"Haha! Is there anyone who can beat Bolt? I'll bet three gold pieces on it!"
"Haha! Do you really think someone would dare take that bet? You're betting three gold pieces!" Hahaha! I'll bet twenty gold pieces!"
"Me too! Me too! Ten gold pieces!"
"Fourteen gold pieces!"
Mais furrowed his brows.
"They must be pretty wealthy."
Kasuur shook his head and laughed.
"These men are miners. Some of them seem to have been working for years. I'm sure they're risking their savings." But Mais shook his head, his face not seeming to agree.
"I don't think so."
The men were muscular and bald with long white beards. Some of them were missing an eye. Some had deep scars on their shoulders. They had dirt stains that showed they had just come from work. Their pickaxes were by their sides. They looked poor. Even though Mais didn't see it, he didn't think they had that much money. They must have stolen it from the mines.
"What are they doing?"
"Arm wrestling."
When we turned back to the crowd, we could see that only one person was sitting there. He was a miner who looked much younger than the others, but he was definitely in his thirties. Kasuur couldn't see him clearly because of the crowd. His biceps seemed to be at least 90 cm in circumference. His red beard reached almost to his chest. He had thick red eyebrows that clearly indicated he was naturally redheaded, and he had red hair tied at the back of his head. His black eyes were filled with terrifying hunger and greed as he searched for a new opponent.
"Make way! I'll be his opponent!"
Suddenly, a voice rose from the crowd. Without the crowd needing to part, the head of a man over two meters tall—fat and muscular—appeared. He made a loud noise with every step and took his place in the chair opposite Bolt. The miners had covered themselves so tightly that Kasuur couldn't see them. Mais couldn't see them either.
The two-meter-tall man sat down and extended his arm. Bolt laughed and grabbed the outstretched hand. A small child had been brought forward to be the referee. The child looked very calm. He was the same age as Mais. He was thin and pale. He looked sickly, as if he were going to die tomorrow. He had black hair and eyes. His clothes were torn and ragged, more fitting for a poor beggar than a miner.
"Come on, tear each other apart, big men!"
BOOM!
"RAAAAAAARGH!!!"
With the table shattered, there could be only one winner. The crowd went wild and tried to rush forward, but the miners at the front stayed calmer, containing the chaos somewhat.
At that moment, the two-meter-tall man was on the ground, and Redbeard Bolt was showing off his biceps to the crowd.