Hunters: The Prequel - Chapter 254

“Who is that twerp,” Mane ignored the approaching group and turned to question Lam who stood on his left? Lam and Lily stopped walking, so Mane stopped as well.

“The Village Head’s son,” Lam took some time to answer, likely startled by the fact that Mane called the son of the Village Head a twerp. Unlike his earlier smiling demeanor, Lam was back to his strict expression. His eyes as he looked at the approaching group were cold and expressionless. Like millennium old ice tempered by the waters of Cocytus, Lam’s gaze sought to freeze the incoming group over.

“He doesn’t seem to like you much,” Mane smiled, noticing Lam’s change. It seemed that Lam was the kind of person who was generous and outspoken to those he liked, and repulsive and cold to those he disliked.

“The feeling is mutual,” Lam answered calmly. Beneath that layer of calm was a bubbling lake of anger. But Lam’s feminine voice didn’t convey the emotions he felt to Mane. However, Mane could tell he was furious.

“It isn’t simply at the level of disliking him. You seem to hate him” Mane pointed out what he observed. As the group was still a little distance away from them, Mane thought he could ask some important questions concerning those who were approaching him with smug expressions on their faces.

However, Lam didn’t answer Mane’s question. He remained silent, choosing to watch the group approach. Mane didn’t push him for an explanation. If he wasn’t going to say anything, Mane would respect that. Fortunately, the hiding Lily wasn’t willing to keep mute.

“It’s because of me,” Lily whispered from behind Mane.

“Lily,” Lam harshly mentioned her name! His intention was to stop her from saying anything more. However, Lily who had displayed weakness in the short time Mane had gotten to know her, was unyielding this time.

“Before our parents died, my father was the Village Head. It was a position he naturally obtained as his birthright since he was my grandfather’s only son” Lily quickly spoke.

“Oh, you mean Elder Fan,” Mane asked? He didn’t dare call their grandfather Old Fan like Dan. After all, although Dan looked middle aged, he was actually quite old. It was appropriate for him to call Old Fan so, but not Mane.

“Yes. After they died, Grandfather was supposed to reclaim his position as the Village Head until Elder Brother Lam was of age. After all, one can only become the Head of the Village after they undergo the A.d.u.l.thood Rites which happens when one is 18. But since Elder Brother Lam was only 14 at the time, he wasn’t ready” Lily explained.

Mane learned a few things from this story. One, Lam was the older of the two twins. Secondly, there was something called A.d.u.l.thood Rites which every a.d.u.l.t had to go through. He didn’t know if it was the same for every part of this world. But at least for this village, it was the norm.

“But Grandfather refused to accept the position. Rather, he chose someone else to fill the role until Elder Brother Lam was ready to lead the village.”

Mane smiled whilst pointing at the group that was now much closer to him and said, “Let me guess. His father was the lucky candidate”

“Yes. But since we are twins, his father figured that if he could marry me, their family would have as much right to the position of Village Head as ours.” Lily explained through her gritted teeth.

“I see. And then he started harassing you. Since you are beautiful, he knew he wouldn’t lose anything by acquiring you. But you kept on rejecting his advances, so that emotion has ballooned into something unpleasant and is now an obsession” Mane continued.

Lily nodded her head with a slight blush on her face. The blush appeared when Mane called her beautiful. She looked at Mane with a bit of praise since he was able to easily understand the situation with the information he had been given.

“Why are you telling me all this,” Mane asked curiously?

“I can feel that you are a good person,” Lily stated shyly as she bowed her head.

“Good? If only she knew how many Celestials and Battle Beasts had lost their lives for the sake of your training, she wouldn’t be saying such things” Hildegarde scoffed in disdain.

Mane’s brows twitched in annoyance, but he couldn’t pick her up and throw her off his shoulder. He ignored her and turned to face Lam.

“If it’s so simple, why didn’t you want to say anything,” Mane smiled at Lam and asked? Lam still kept his silence. However, he wasn’t the only one here.

“Elder Brother didn’t want to involve you. Everyone who has gotten in their way has been hurt one way or another. The few Elders who opposed the Village Head mysteriously sustained severe injuries, and some of them even died. As for our friends, they were harassed by Tito and his group until they distanced themselves from us” Lily explained, her face sullen.

“You can leave if you want to,” Lam finally spoke. He made his offer with a nonchalant expression, but Mane could tell that his breathing was a little hurried. It seemed that his tough words were just a front.

“I see,” Mane smiled and walked ahead. Seeing that Mane was walking away, Lam looked a little disappointed. ‘It’s all for the best. Since Lily likes him, he must be a good person. We can’t put a good person in trouble just because of our own selfishness’ he thought bitterly to himself. Lily’s vision blurred as tears formed in her eyes.

“Huh. Why are you still standing there?” Mane turned to face the stagnant brother and sister duo with a look of irritation on his face.

“What,” Lam was so surprised that his hardened face crumbled?

“If we stand here waiting for them, it would take too long. I need to bash their heads in to vent some of my frustrations from this morning’s spar” Mane mumbled as he massaged his left fist. Although he was able to fend off Dan during their duel, the feeling of not being able to properly beat him up was uncomfortable, and Mane needed a suitable place to vent his frustrations. Hearing Lily’s story, he was filled with negative emotions towards the group approaching him. Since a punching bag had presented itself before him, Mane didn’t see the reason to decline the offer to use it.

“You’re really like Sir Dan,” Lam smiled and followed Mane. Lily quickly wiped off the tears that threatened to fall from her eyes and chased after them.

“I thought you stopped walking because you were afraid. It’s good to see that you still have some courage” the obnoxious looking boy was the first to open his mouth when the two groups were finally face to face.

“And who are you brat,” the boy Lily referred to as Tito pointed at Mane and said? He looked irritated seeing that Lily was hiding behind Mane’s back. Although he called Mane a brat, Mane was actually taller than him. He was about the same height as Lam, only more muscular than the feminine boy.

“Ignore him,” Lam tried to pull Mane and avoid the group. But he realized that he couldn’t even force Mane to budge a single step. The smiling boy was like a heavy rock. No matter what happened, he would not be moved.

“My name is Mane,” Mane smiled and introduced himself.

“Oi, the sissy doesn’t have any strength,” the boy laughed rambunctiously after seeing Lam’s failed attempt to drag Mane away. His entourage laughed with him, causing Lam to blush slightly. But Lam was a little stunned by Mane’s strength. When Dan said that the two of them were having a spar, Lam thought it was only an excuse, and that Dan didn’t want to reveal what had really happened. After all, although the villagers weren’t aware of Dan’s true strength, the Old Fan knew of just how strong Dan was. That was because, every time Dan hunted Magical Beasts, he always sneaked several of them into their house and gifted them to Old Fan. Actually, the Village Head Dan told Mane he had gifted the Dark Bulls to, was Old Fan. Mane’s new guardian still unconsciously referred to Old Fan as the Village Head because he had been in this village since Old Fan was the leader. If Dan was telling the truth, then his nephew must be a monster like he was!

“First and foremost, the one you call a sissy is stronger than you,” Mane gently lifted up his finger and said. The laughter ceased, and Lam looked at Mane in gratitude. He thought that Mane was trying to make him feel better. What he didn’t know was that Mane wasn’t lying. Although the boy in front of him looked muscular and strong, he was actually weak. Well, he was okay, but Lam was stronger. Lam’s strength and agility stats surpassed the boy’s by 0.3 and 0.4 points respectively, but his stamina was poor. However, it seemed that it wasn’t the boy who was weak, but Lam who was strong. The three other boys behind the obnoxious boy were weaker than the Village Head’s son, proving that he wasn’t really weak. But Lam still surpassed them all. Lam’s physical stats were as follows:

Name: Lam

Age: 16

Physical Attributes – Strength: 1.5

Agility: 1.7

Stamina: 0.6

It was clear that Lam didn’t know how to fight, and his stats were inherent. After all, if he did know how to fight, his stamina wouldn’t be so poor because of constant training. He was what one would refer to as a genius. On the other hand, the current Village Head’s son had a high stamina of 1.5, higher than all his other stats, proving that he trained regularly.

“What did you say brat,” Tito angrily cracked his knuckles after hearing Mane’s words? His eyes shifted from Lily to Mane, and they were now filled with ill intent. A few villagers heard the commotion and came to see what was happening. Some quickly returned to their rooms when they saw the son of the Village Head. Others peeped through their windows to see the entire show. Mane could hear the whispers.

“He’s at it again”

“Another handsome boy is about to get his face destroyed”

“He is growing increasingly rampant.”

“Shh. He would hear you”

Mane naturally ignored the murmurs around him, and even ignored the boy threatening him and continued with his speech.

“Secondly, you do not ask another for their name before mentioning yours”

“This brat,” one of the boys was tired of listening to Mane and attempted to punch Mane in the face. Lily quickly shut her eyes, but Lam watched on. He felt that Mane was very strong and didn’t even need his help. Plus, Mane was firmly holding onto both his wrists with only one hand, so Lam could do nothing but watch the powerful fist approach its target.

“A pity,” one of the onlookers sighed and tried to turn away. However, the scene he expected to see didn’t happen. The man watched wide-eyed as Mane easily caught the fist that was coming towards him and continued talking like it was nothing.

“Thirdly, no one who makes me their enemy, laughs at the end – and they don’t laugh at the beginning either,” Mane smiled and increased the strength of his grip.

*Crack*

“AHHH,” A voice filled with agony filled the village grounds as the boy who attempted to punch Mane cried in agony. The tears in his eyes told the story of his pain and misery. Mane smiled at the boy and tossed him towards the side like a trash can.

“My hand…my hand,” the boy writhed in agony as he rolled on the ground. The surrounding spectators looked at Mane with fear in their eyes, clearly stunned by the unexpected development.

“Would you let go of me for a second there, dear Lily” Mane turned and smiled at Lily who was strongly holding on to his shirt. In her dazed state, she unconsciously let go of Mane’s clothes. Mane then let go of Lam’s wrists and charged into the group of three that were watching him with a stupefied expression.

“Watch Lam: This is how you take care of pests,” Mane smilingly declared as he dashed towards the group of four, who had now been reduced to three.

*Bam*

*Crunch*

*Swish*

*Boom*

*Bang*

“AHH!”

“Please no more!”

“Wait we are sorry!”

“My father would hear of this!”

“Please have mercy”

Along with the sounds of breaking bones and aching muscles, the cries of the victims filled the surrounding spectators with a sense of disbelief. The woeful cries of teenage boys served as the music for this space for some time, filling all who heard it with a sense of dread. The ones who were usually doing the bullying, were being one-sidedly dominated with little effort. And all this was done by one man.

Lily looked at the fighting Mane with a slight blush on her face. She pulled her brother’s clothes to get his attention and said, “Elder Brother, doesn’t Mane look really cool right now.”

Lam shook his head wryly at her words, and was a little scared that his docile sister liked what she was seeing.

“Listen Lily, although they are annoying, what Mane is doing isn’t the right thing to do,” he decided to let his sister know that violence wasn’t the way out.

“Mhm,” Lily nodded absentmindedly, her eyes still glued to Mane’s elusive figure as he thrashed the annoying bunch that had made her life so miserable for so long. It was obvious that she didn’t hear anything Lam said.

Lam smiled bitterly seeing that she wasn’t paying him any heed, and thought to himself, “Surely he inherited his Uncle’s monstrous abilities.”