“Hey, old hag! Get you saggy ass out here, right now!” a youthful male voice could be heard from the front yard followed by 2 snort-like laughter.

In front of the hut, a trio let himself inside the fence, awaiting for the arrival of the resident. The person in the middle was a short and fat youth. His bowl-cut black hair just reached his rather large ears. In his left ear he was wearing an earring, that to be honest looked rather comical instead of being fashionable. To top off its headwear he was wearing a crimson colored conical hat as well.

His rather plum body was covered in a tight, crimson and brandy colored tight waistcoat adorned with golden buttons in the middle, fastened by tags. Below that, he was in a very close-fitting breeches, which just further displayed the outlines of his figure. His arms were covered in sleeves, although the end was slashed. His back was adorned in a mantle trimmed with white fur.

Stomping his feet on the ground once more, his stylish leather boots slushed in the mud.

“Damn this ugly place! Get out here RIGHT NOW!” cursed the young man.

On his both sides, 2 grinning, muscular guys were standing adorned in black simple looking clothes. The only differentiator was that they wore a tunic adorned with the picture of the outline of a roaring lion on their chests. They were both holding a simple looking longsword in their hands.

Looking at his 2 minions, the young man commanded.

“If the hag doesn’t come out shortly, go and break into this sorry excuse of a home, got it?!”

Both of them grinned evilly and nodded their heads.

“Yes, young master!” they replied in unison.

The front door slowly creaked open and an elderly woman wrapped in ragged red clothes slowly came out. A young creole skinned boy with silky black hair came with her supporting her steps. The trio could catch a glimpse of his slightly glowing golden eyes as the boy briefly looked at them. Even though the boy was expressionless, all 3 of them suddenly got a chill running through their spines as their gazes met.

‘Who is this brat?!’ exclaimed the young master inwardly.

“How can I help you Young Master Leon?” asked the Granny with a kind smile on her face once she arrived on her front porch. She was holding the boy’s right hand with her left.

The boy remained expressionless and just looked at the trio. They could feel the boy’s golden eyes scanning them, like if it was trying to rip their secrets open from their very soul. It was a very unsettling experience. The cronies gripped their swords tighter, while the young master snorted loudly, in an arrogant tone.

“Who is that brat next to you? Another one of the filth you found?”

Looking at the boy her smile turned gentler.

“Who he is, is none of your concern. But if you really want to know, he is my grandson.”

Measuring the boy, the young master’s arrogant tone has not changed after Granny’s answer.

“He is just some filth you found, and taken in, just like that mongrel you call your granddaughter. She is inside isn’t she? You should know such filth belongs in chains, under my boots, and not in a household. She was born to be a slave until she dies. “stopping for a moment, his arrogant gaze looked over the boy once again, then he continued. “Just like this mut.”

Aiden’s expressionless gaze morphed into an angry one, when he heard this pig-of-a-man referring to the innocent, cute Lily as a slave. Feeling the air around Aiden starting to vibrate with energy, and seeing how he stared at the young master, she gripped his hand a bit tighter.

Whispering to him softly, so only he could hear, she tried to calm the boy.

“Calm down Aiden, he is just trying to rile you up. Don’t bother with him.”

Seeing his mockery managed to rile the boy up, he continued.

“What mut? How dare you look at your master like that? Your only saving grace is that you are with this waste of a human, this old sack of bones, this… “he spat on the ground before finishing his mocking.” …hag.”

Aiden could barely hold himself, but as he wanted to listen to Granny, he closed his eyes, exhaling loudly, and instead tried focusing his sensing ability to scan the energy level of this pig’s 2 followers.

‘They didn’t amount to much. This fat guy is the weakest among them. Not sure how he can order those two around…’

Seeing his newest attempt didn’t have any success, he coldly snorted, then looked at Granny.

“Old hag. Hand over the healing mixture you prepared. I have decided that I will be taking over your order this week. You shouldn’t really butt into our business, you are not townsfolk. Besides, you know that my family is the number one, alchemist’s in the city, don’t compete with us.”

Smiling gently, Granny responded.

“Young master, I’m not sure what you are trying to get to, coming into my home in the forest and trying to threaten with empty words. My deal was with Mr. Norton, and not with your family.”

The young master snorted coldly, and waved for his 2 minions to come closer.

“I don’t care who you had dealings with. You are not part of MY town, and any deals you made are now MY deals. Now move, and bring me MY merchandise, otherwise I will just take it from your dead corpses.”

Then looking at the fragile boy, he grinned evilly.

“Otherwise, we will start gutting this mut.”

Granny’s gentle smile hasn’t changed a bit, upon hearing the threats, instead she just shook his head.

“Your threats do not work here young master. As I said before, my deal was with Mr. Norton and not with you or your family. Also, let me point out the slight error in your previous statement. The city is not yours nor your family’s. Or should I go and visit the region lord and ask if this has changed since the last time I was in town?”

“Peasants like yourself have no rights to visit the Lordship! It’s only a matter of time, before it happens… Anyways, my patience wears thin hag, BRING ME MY MERCHANDISE!” The young man was practically screaming the last part of his dialogue.

In Aiden’s eyes, this ‘sorry excuse of a man’ was sounding more and more comical by the second.

‘How can he be so arrogant, with so little power to back it up?’ Looking at the 2 other guys behind him, he couldn’t really understand his behavior at all. He shook his head in contempt, however at this second, he heard a ding, and saw a notification popping up blocking his vision momentarily, almost transforming his face to a wide grin.

[Analysis complete, Information processed. Skill: Language: Common (-) created.]

‘This skill has no levels.. Interesting..’

Seeing the contemptuous gaze of the boy, the young master flew into a rage. Looking back at him, he snarled.

“You got a problem mut? Want to die right now? I wanted to save you until we got what we wanted, but I guess we can make an excuse and send you to the afterlife now!”

It was the first time since his arrival that the young master could see a change in Granny’s expression, her face showed worry finally, making him feel even better at himself.

“What hag, you finally realised the trouble you are facing? It’s too late now, if you would have been cooperative from the start, you wouldn’t have to lose this filth… Bo-“

Looking back at his cronies, he was just about to order, but Granny interrupted him.

“The boy cannot talk because of a trauma. I’m not worried about his safety, but yours Young Master. I would advise not to cause trouble for yourself by angering my grandson. It would be ill-advised.”

Misinterpreting the advice as a threat, he stared back at the old lady.

“Are you threatening me, old hag? You do know the consequences if I tell it to my father, right? Just because of this, I will now-“

Before he could finish, he was once again interrupted, but this time it was the young boy, who spoke. His clear, and deep voice resounded in the area. It was almost like it wasn’t coming from the boy, but from the entire jungle was speaking to them.

“No. You weak worm, how can you be so arrogant with this little power to back up your words? Tell me, weakling, how do you plan to back up your words, if your power is below an average frog? Are you gonna perhaps rely on your 2 ‘friends’? They are barely stronger than yourself. Tell me, human, what were you planning to do…”

While he was talking, Aiden’s eyes were glowing, radiating that strange golden light, his hands were slowly transforming, dark, black scales were slowly emerging all over his arms. His fingers now had ended with terrifying black claws. At the very end of his monologue, his voice was also much deeper, as if a thunderstorm raged around them.

It was as if a dragon had descended…